Feds Cut Anti-Terror Funding in NYC, D.C.

The Department of Homeland Security slashed anti-terrorism money for Washington and New York in favor of cities like Jacksonville and Sacramento. Stunner: “A DHS risk scorecard for the city asserted that the home of the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge has ‘zero’ national monuments or icons.”

Posted on Jun 1, 2006 READ MORE  | 69 READS

Batwoman Returns as a Lesbian

“We decided to give her a different point of view,” said a DC Comics exec. “We wanted to make her a more unique personality than others in the Bat-family. That’s one of the reasons we went in this direction.”

Posted on Jun 1, 2006 READ MORE  | 45 READS

Was Bush’s Offer to Iran Designed to Fail?

That’s the provocative question posed by this N.Y. Times article. “It became obvious to Mr. Bush that he could not ... consider military strikes on Iranian nuclear sites unless he first showed a willingness to engage Iran’s leadership directly over its nuclear program and exhaust every nonmilitary option.”
Has a decision to hit Iran already been made? Are we seeing a charade like the one before the Iraq war?

Posted on Jun 1, 2006 READ MORE  | 45 READS

Bush: Sept. 11 ‘Ended on a Relatively Humorous Note’

In a 2003 interview with Ladies Home Journal, Bush told Peggy Noonan that during the late-night hours of Sept. 11, he and wife Laura were hustled around the White House in their bedtime clothes because it was thought a jet was going to crash into the building. “[T]he day ended on a relatively humorous note,” he said. “We got a laugh out of it.”
“Bad taste” doesn’t really seem to do this justice.
(h/t: Daou Report. Also: full-text interview.)

Posted on Jun 1, 2006 READ MORE  | 317 READS

Global Warming? Better Figure Out How to Live With It

Many climate scientists now see global warming as inevitable (to a certain extent), and are now focusing on the controversial idea of figuring out how to live with it. U.S. News & World Report serves up the surprising details.

A ‘Wingman’ for the Wooing Wars

The Washington Post explores the rules and etiquette of functioning as a good “wingman”—“the guy who accompanies his buddy to a bar to help him pick up babes.” (Tom Cruise and Anthony Edwards demonstrate the technique above in a scene from “Top Gun.”)

Posted on May 31, 2006 READ MORE  | 106 READS

New Book: Gay Bosses Outperforming Their Straight Counterparts

That’s the conclusion of a career development expert with a new book about gay leadership in the workplace. He found “job engagement, job satisfaction and workplace morale among employees reporting to white-collar gay men to be upwards of 35% higher than nationally reported statistics.”

Posted on May 31, 2006 READ MORE  | 160 READS

USA Today: Afghanistan Resembling Iraq

In the wake of a massive anti-U.S. riot in the streets of Kabul, the paper’s editorial board writes that Afghanistan is starting to look like Iraq.

Posted on May 31, 2006 READ MORE  | 69 READS

U.S. Prepared to Join Direct Talks With Iran

Sec. of State Rice said America will join Europe in direct talks if Iran suspends its programs to enrich uranium and reprocess spent nuclear fuel. It’s a dramatic about-face, and comes a mere three weeks after the Iranian president sent a personal letter to Bush—the first direct communication between the two countries in over 20 years.

Posted on May 31, 2006 READ MORE  | 61 READS

Robert Redford: Americans Ready to Kick the Oil Habit

“Today the American people are way out in front of our leaders,” says the actor and noted environmental activist. “I believe America is ready to kick the oil habit and launch a new movement for real solutions and a better future.”

Posted on May 31, 2006 READ MORE  | 78 READS

Bush’s New Policy Advisor Wished ‘Explosion’ on Reporters in Iraq

Karl Zinsmeister, Bush’s new chief domestic policy advisor, said this in 2003 about journalists in Iraq: “A significant number are whiny and appallingly soft. ? I almost wished there would be a very loud explosion very nearby just to shut up their rattling.”

Posted on May 31, 2006 READ MORE  | 73 READS

The Purpose-Driven Life Takers

Christian fundamentalist Tim LaHaye’s series of “Left Behind” books has been made into a Grand Theft Auto-style video game. Preview: The main character says “Praise the Lord” after blowing away a heathen. (Talk2action has more.)
Let’s see: We’ve got a deputy undersecretary of defense who sees the war on terror as a fight between Judeo-Christians and Satan; a president who has called the war on terror a “crusade” and, now, video game makers encouraging preteens to kill heathens. If those are the people being saved, Leave Me Behind.

Posted on May 31, 2006 READ MORE  | 66 READS

Military Report: Evidence Points to Marine Massacre in Haditha

A military investigator reportedly has evidence that the Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha last November were the victims of bullet wounds, not a roadside bomb, as the Marines implicated in the crime had claimed.

Posted on May 31, 2006 READ MORE  | 30 READS

Lamont Seen as ‘Serious’ Challenger to Lieberman

A key Democratic Party opinion-maker says this about Ned Lamont, who is challenging Joe Lieberman for a Conn. Senate seat: “He’s intelligent. He’s accomplished. There are no personal warts. He teaches in the Bridgeport public schools. How many people of his pedigree and background go do that?”

Iraqi Ambassador to U.S.: Marines Killed My Cousin

The new Iraqi ambassador to America, fresh after meeting Bush in Washington for the first time, told CNN that U.S. Marines killed his cousin in cold blood in Haditha five months before the November massacre there. (h/t: The Dan Report)
This is huge: The ambassador of a newly minted “friendly” country went on national TV to accuse the U.S. of murdering a relative. Diplomatically speaking, it’s a violent smack across Bush’s face.

Posted on May 30, 2006 READ MORE  | 255 READS