War, Politics, and Life by Bruce Maulden
The new normal for Republicans exemplified by such goings on: Inverness Police say former Cook County Republican Chairman Gary Skoien admitted having two prostitutes in his children’s playroom when his wife walked in on him early Sunday morning. The allegation is in a domestic battery report from Skoien, 55, against his 36-year-old, 5-foot-4-inch, 110-pound wife.…
Last graph in Al-Jazeera‘s report on Tuesday’s shooting in south Alabama: “The right to own guns has been fiercely defended in the US since the country’s civil war in the 19th century, and they are widely available for purchase for reasons of self-defence and hunting.” (Residents of Samson, Ala. Illustration found here). Samson, Ala., Mayor Clay…
After nearly a year, an arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, charging the guy with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The good Mr. President, however, told the International Criminal Court to literally stuff it, and then performed a kind of nasty-wacko dictator routine: Speaking on Tuesday ahead of the announcement, Mr…
Why the US is losing the “hearts and minds” of the Afghan population: Between 1-2am on the rainy night of 16 January 2008, a large number of international military personnel wearing desert camouflage surrounded the house of two brothers living in a two-family house in Kandahar. According to various family members, the soldiers knocked loudly…
This dream-like, can’t-believe-my-eyes presidency continues: “And I think it’s fair to say that had I not been a Stevie Wonder fan, Michelle might not have dated me. We might not have married. The fact that we agreed on Stevie was part of the essence of our courtship.” (Illustration found here). And the bare-armed, kick-ass First…
In what could be a major metaphor for the entire climate change debate occurred Tuesday, starting first at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and ending up in the Indian Ocean near Antarctica. NASA and climate researchers are weighing their options after yesterday’s crash of a new satellite designed to monitor atmospheric carbon dioxide with…
Corruption rot spawned from lies. The entire Iraqi misadventure is a horror-shame of an affair. From UK’s The Independent on Monday: In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American authorities have started to investigate the alleged role of senior military officers in the misuse of $125bn (£88bn) in a…
Today has been what’s most-definitely called a big news-event day, from all things financial — the ongoing stimulus package finally passed Congress, bank CEOs were grilled on Capitol Hill, more fallout came from yesterday’s unveiling of Bank Bailout Two and Bernie Madoff’s old lady snatched $10 million from a brokerage firm the day before the…
This morning a note on words misplaced by right-wing, wingnuts suffering intently from schizophasia in a most non-oblique fashion. An ex-Detroit Lions coach had to apologize for being nasty and petulent last month after saying “Good-bye, ladies,” to three male Detroit sports writers. Reminds one of California’s Governator proclaiming members of the state legislature as…