Below The Beltway

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Archive for April, 2009

General Motors To Shut Down Pontiac

by Doug Mataconis @ Monday, April 27th, 2009. Filed under Auto Industry, Business, Economics

Later this morning, General Motors will announce a restructuring plan that includes shutting down an 83 year-old brand:
DETROIT — The storied Pontiac brand is dead and more car factories and jobs are about to disappear — the latest casualties of a massive restructuring plan that GM is counting on to help it stave off bankruptcy [...]

Barney Frank Was For The Housing Bubble Before He Was Against It

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, April 26th, 2009. Filed under Dumbasses, Politics

Barney Frank circa 2005 — There is no housing bubble:

Barney Frank today — We all knew there was a housing bubble, and the Republicans created it:

H/T: Hot Air

The Miss California Flap: It Has Nothing To Do With Freedom Of Speech

by Doug Mataconis @ Friday, April 24th, 2009. Filed under Celebrities, Freedom of Religion, In The News, Individual Liberty

I had hoped to make it though the week without blogging about the faux controversy surrounding the remarks that Miss California Carrie Prejean made at Sunday’s Miss USA contest, but Wendy Sullivan makes a point that bears repeating:
Miss Prejean has as much free speech as anyone else in America. She was asked for her opinion, [...]

Rasmussen: Toomey Beating Specter In 2010 Republican Primary

by Doug Mataconis @ Friday, April 24th, 2009. Filed under Congress, Politics, Republicans

If these new numbers hold up a year from now, Arlen Specter may regret his decision to stay in the Republican Party:
Incumbent Senator Arlen Specter trails former Congressman Pat Toomey by 21 points in an early look at Pennsylvania’s 2010 Republican Primary. Fifty-one percent (51%) of Republican voters statewide say they’d vote for Toomey while [...]

Is Obama Unstoppable ? No, But Republicans Are Still Screwed

by Doug Mataconis @ Friday, April 24th, 2009. Filed under Barack Obama, Politics, Republicans

Kevin Boyd looks at the latest Associated Press poll, along with what looks to be a Democratic victory in the special election in New York’s 20th Congressional District, and comes to a rather grim conclusion for those of us who oppose the President’s policies:
The first thing we libertarians and small government conservatives need to admit [...]

Jim Webb: Marijuana Legalization Should Be “On The Table”

by Doug Mataconis @ Friday, April 24th, 2009. Filed under Individual Liberty, Legal, Virginia, Virginia Politics, War On Drugs

Virginia Senator Jim Webb thinks that we should consider reforming marijuana laws as part of an overall reform of criminal justice:
The leader of a congressional effort to reform the criminal justice system said Thursday that all issues — including drug legalization — need to be on the table.
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has made criminal [...]

No, Torture Doesn’t Work

by Doug Mataconis @ Thursday, April 23rd, 2009. Filed under War On Terror

A former F.B.I. Special Agent, who supervised the interrogation of one of the primary al Qaeda leaders in American custody, takes issue with the conclusions reached by those supporting so-called “harsh interrogation tactics”:
One of the most striking parts of the memos is the false premises on which they are based. The first, dated August 2002, [...]

Obama Leads All Challengers In Early 2012 Polling

by Doug Mataconis @ Thursday, April 23rd, 2009. Filed under 2012 Election, Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Politics, Sarah Palin

Yes, it’s way too early for this to mean all that much, nonetheless this looks like bad news for the GOP all around:
Huckabee fares the best of the top Republican contenders at this point in time, trailing Obama 49-42. That margin is basically the same as what Obama won by against John McCain in November. [...]

A Chrysler Bankruptcy Now Seems Inevitable

by Doug Mataconis @ Thursday, April 23rd, 2009. Filed under Auto Industry, Business, Economics, Politics

So reports The New York Times:
DETROIT — The Treasury Department is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Chrysler that could come as soon as next week, people with direct knowledge of the action said Thursday.
The Treasury has an agreement in principle with the United Automobile Workers union, whose members’ pensions and retiree health care [...]

Shephard Smith Gets It Right

by Doug Mataconis @ Thursday, April 23rd, 2009. Filed under Foreign Affairs, Politics, War On Terror

This is America, we don’t f***ing torture:

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