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Archive for August, 2009

A Political Earthquake In Japan

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under Foreign Affairs, Japan

A political party that has only been in existence since 1998 has been swept into power in Tokyo:
TOKYO, Aug. 30 — Breaking a half-century hammerlock of one-party rule in Japan, the opposition Democratic Party won a crushing election victory on Sunday with pledges to revive the country’s stalled economy and steer a foreign-policy course less [...]

Cheney Continues To Fight Torture Inquiry, And Defends Breaking The Law

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under Al Qaeda, Dick Cheney, George W Bush, Homeland Security, Politics, War On Terror

Former Vice-President Cheney continued his one-man crusade to convince Americans that the “enhanced interrogation techniques” that he favored worked and that the don’t need to be investigated any further:
WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney asserted on Sunday that the Justice Department’s decision to review detainee interrogation practices by Central Intelligence Agency workers and contractors [...]

The Vultures Are Circling Over Mark Sanford

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under Dumbasses, Mark Sanford, Politics

South Carolina Republicans are meeting this week to discuss efforts to remove Mark Sanford from the Governor’s Mansion:
Fifty-six Republican members of the South Carolina state House met Saturday in Myrtle Beach, and not a single one voiced support for embattled Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, numerous sources inside the meeting told POLITICO.
But despite a growing number [...]

Anti-War Movement Turning Its Attention To Afghanistan

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under Afghanistan, Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, Politics

With American involvement in Iraq slowly but surely coming to an end, the anti-war movement is planning to ramp up protests against the war in Afghanistan:
A restive antiwar movement, largely dormant since the election of Barack Obama, is preparing a nationwide campaign this fall to challenge the administration’s policies on Afghanistan.
Anticipating a Pentagon request for [...]

The Death Of The Phone Book

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under Internet, Media, Technology

One blogger asks whether it’s time to get rid of the paper phone books that seem to show up on our doorsteps whether we want them or not:
When was the last time you looked up something in the phone book? What did you do the last time you got a free phone book dropped off [...]

When Ted Kennedy Conspired With The Soviets

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under Foreign Affairs, History, Politics

In May 1984 1983, Senator Ted Kennedy conveyed a message to Yuri Andropov, the leader of the Soviet Union, through a long-time Kennedy friend and confidant:
Kennedy’s message was simple. He proposed an unabashed quid pro quo. Kennedy would lend Andropov a hand in dealing with President Reagan. In return, the Soviet leader would lend the [...]

Bob McDonnell Version 1.0

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under 2009 Governor's Race, Bob McDonnell, Virginia, Virginia Politics

Today’s Washington Post has an interesting story about Bob McDonnell before he was the Republican nominee for Virginia Governor:
At age 34, two years before his first election and two decades before he would run for governor of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell submitted a master’s thesis to the evangelical school he was attending in Virginia Beach [...]

Glenn Beck: A Wingnut Who Can’t Spell

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under Dumbasses, Politics

See if you can tell where Glenn gets it wrong here…….

Of course, Glenn figured out his mistake the next day and tried to correct it:

What a moron.
H/T: Donklephant

Lawyer For Abortion Doctor Murderer Eyes “Justifiable Homicide” Defense

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under In The News, Legal, Politics

The attorney enlisted to defend the man who murdered Dr. George Tiller is apparently planning to argue that the murder was justified:
WICHITA, Kan. – The suspect in the killing of abortion provider George Tiller is in talks with a prominent attorney who represents anti-abortion protesters and has long advocated justifiable homicide as a legal defense [...]

Lockerbie Mass Murderer “Set Free For Oil”

by Doug Mataconis @ Sunday, August 30th, 2009. Filed under Foreign Affairs, War On Terror

There’s yet more evidence that the release of the only man convicted for the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 was part of a quid pro quo deal:
The British government decided it was “in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom” to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, [...]

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