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Saturday, March 17, 2007
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Andrew Sullivan: "Here's a simple challenge to the Democrats. Your two leading candidates do not believe that homosexuality is immoral; another, Bill Richardson, is calling for an end to the ban on openly gay soldiers in the miiltary. Discharges for homosexuality are at a record low, as they often are in wartime, when gay soldiers are needed. (Isn't that in itself a refutation of the policy? That the gay ban is more enforced when we are at peace? If gay soldiers are a real threat to military effectiveness, shouldn't discharge rates go up in wartime?) The public overwhelmingly supports openly gay service. The U.S.'s closest allies, including Britain and Israel, allow openly gay people to serve."
"2008 pres"
8:48:13 AM 
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Pollster.com: "A new Zogby telephone survey of 1,028 likely voters nationwide (conducted 3/7 through 3/9) finds 53% of Americans would never vote for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for president; 46% say the same for Sen. Hillary Clinton."
Caucus Cooler: "Romney criticizes McCain on immigration in 2007, calling it 'amnesty.' In 2005, he thought it was 'quite different from amnesty.' Scott Helman, per usual, has the story."
TalkLeft: "Acknowledging it's risky to support medical marijuana in an election year in which he's running for President, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said yesterday, 'So what if it's risky? It's the right thing to do.'"
Pollster.com: "A new Franklin Pierce College/WBZ-TV statewide survey of 400 likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire (conducted 3/7 through 3/12) finds: Sen. John McCain and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani each receive favorable ratings from more than 75% of New Hampshire Republicans; In a statewide presidential primary, McCain runs at 29%, Giuliani at 28%, former Gov. Mitt Romney at 22%, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 5%."
"2008 pres"
8:41:03 AM
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unbossed: "When discussing women and politics, the images that come to mind are solemn suffragists in drab black dresses earnestly demanding the right to vote and righteous feminists advancing the still-yet-to-be-passed Equal Rights Amendment.
"But those eras have long since passed. Today, new generations of savvy young women are flexing their political muscles in a variety of ways.
"A national poll released last month revealed that a strong majority of Americans believe that a woman would be equal to or better than a man as president. The poll, conducted by Roper Public Affairs for The White House Project, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing women's leadership, reported that 74 percent of those surveyed were comfortable with the concept of a woman president. Even higher majorities expressed confidence in a woman's ability to lead the nation on foreign policy (78 percent), homeland security (77 percent) and the economy (88 percent)."
"2008 pres"
8:39:29 AM
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Andrew Sullivan: "Kristol and the Christianists: Bill seems to be having second thoughts about the invasive moralizing of his religious allies. Maybe he should have thought of that, say, a decade ago, when he did all he could to integrate Christian fundamentalism, with its corrosive effect on the right to privacy, into the Republican party. But better late than never, I guess. I can imagine Bill Clinton reading this column and completely losing it. As well he might."
"2008 pres"
8:33:43 AM
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Political Wire: "'I don't know if they're bad people. I don't know what's going on. I just know they got us into a mess, the likes of which this country has probably never seen. It's one of the great catastrophes of all time.' -- Donald Trump, in a CNN interview, on the Bush administration."
Here's the link to the video of Valerie Plame's testimony yesterday from Think Progress. Thanks to TalkLeft for the link.
"2008 pres"
8:27:32 AM
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Captain's Quarters: "The explanations keep shifting on the firing of eight federal prosecutors, creating a sustained firestorm out of what should have been a nine-day wonder. Karl Rove may now have to testify before a Senate committee to answer questions about the genesis of the plan to cull out those US Attorneys the administration felt did not support their policies."
TalkLeft: "Dan Froomkin, writing in Friday's Washington Post, The Politics of Distraction, warns us not to miss the forest for the trees. Whether Alberto Gonzales stays or goes, there's more to the story of the U.S. Attorney firings, and Karl Rove is in the midst of the soup."
Oliver Willis: "For much of President Clinton's term, cons made much noise and hay of the fact that Hillary Clinton was not elected, and ergo should have no input on White House policy. Of course, at the time she was the President's spouse and First Lady. So, why is it a guy like Karl Rove, who has never been elected nor gone through a congressional vetting is the huge decision maker in the Bush White House (deflating the 'decider' myth somewhat) and there's nary a peep? You get the sense that these people just have blind hatred towards Hillary Clinton without regard for facts or principles. Or something."
Captain's Quarters: "Peggy Noonan writes about the widespread impulse to act politically out of personal loyalty rather than agreement on policy on the part of American voters. In today's Wall Street Journal (subscription only), she decries the superficiality of brand loyalty, but interestingly, she doesn't extend that past candidates and campaigns."
"2008 pres"
8:15:08 AM
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From the Denver Post, "Colorado's chances of having a presidential primary appear dead, but lawmakers are edging closer to moving up the caucuses in order to take part in what's been dubbed 'Super Duper Tuesday.' Although there were bipartisan talks about having a primary on Feb. 5, the $2 million price tag led lawmakers to scrap the idea. Instead, they are leaning toward moving the caucuses, usually in the third week of March, to Feb. 5. A bill to formalize the move is expected to be introduced in the next two weeks. 'I'm excited about the idea. That day has basically become a Western regional primary,' said House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder. Utah, New Mexico, Idaho and Arizona have either set their contests for Feb. 5 or are considering doing so. Nevada's Jan. 19 caucus is sandwiched between the Iowa Democratic caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. On Thursday, California - the most populous state - moved its primary to Feb. 5, and another 20 states may end up holding their caucuses and primaries on that day."
"2008 pres"
7:55:10 AM
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Last night's Bill Maher show was a good one. Maher spoke, via satellite, with Chris Rock who had this to say about Rudy Giuliani: "Rudy, he's great in a crisis, he's like a pit bull. He's great if someone's breaking into your house, but if they're not, he might eat your kid."
Later in the show, also via satellite, Maher interviewed Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor told Maher that, "Vice President Cheney told me to tell you that he's not mad about anything you've said, and he wants to take you hunting."
"2008 pres"
7:46:36 AM
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Science Daily: "NOAA reports that February's combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the sixth warmest on record, but a strong El Niño in January helped push the winter to its highest value since records began in 1880.
"In the U.S., the December 2006-February 2007 winter season had an overall temperature that was near average, according to scientists at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Precipitation was above average in much of the center of the nation, while large sections of the East, Southeast and West were drier than average. The global average temperature was the warmest on record for the December-February period.
"The combined global land and ocean surface temperature was the sixth warmest on record in February, but a record warm January helped push the winter (December-February) to its highest value since records began in 1880 (1.30 degrees F/0.72 degrees C above the 20th century mean). El Niño conditions contributed to the season's record warmth, but the episode rapidly weakened in February, as ocean temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific cooled more than 0.5 degrees F/0.3 degrees C and were near average for the month.
"Separately, the global December-February land-surface temperature was the warmest on record, while the ocean-surface temperature tied for second warmest in the 128-year period of record, approximately 0.1 degree F (0.06 degrees C) cooler than the record established during the very strong El Niño episode of 1997-1998.
"During the past century, global surface temperatures have increased at a rate near 0.11 degrees F (0.06 degrees C) per decade, but the rate of increase has been three times larger since 1976, or 0.32 degrees F (0.18 degrees C) per decade, with some of the largest temperature increases occurring in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere."
University of Colorado at Boulder: "Arctic sea ice that has been dwindling for several decades may have reached a tipping point that could trigger a cascade of climate change reaching into Earth's temperate regions, says a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.
"Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at CU-Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center who led the study synthesizing results from recent research, said the Arctic sea-ice extent trend has been negative in every month since 1979, when concerted satellite record keeping efforts began. The team attributed the loss of ice, about 38,000 square miles annually as measured each September, to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases and strong natural variability in Arctic sea ice.
"'When the ice thins to a vulnerable state, the bottom will drop out and we may quickly move into a new, seasonally ice-free state of the Arctic,' Serreze said. 'I think there is some evidence that we may have reached that tipping point, and the impacts will not be confined to the Arctic region.'
"A review paper by Serreze and Julienne Stroeve of CU-Boulder's NSIDC and Marika Holland of the National Center for Atmospheric Research titled 'Perspectives on the Arctic's Shrinking Sea Ice Cover' appears in the March 16 issue of Science."
"2008 pres"
7:13:02 AM
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© Copyright 2009 John Orr.
Last update: 3/15/09; 12:43:48 PM.
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