sirpaulsbuddy and I decided tonight to sponsor a new competition. The task is simple enough – we’re looking for new neo-con euphemisms. Entrants are asked to take a word or term that is thoroughly negative in connotation (examples would include things like “poverty,” “rape,” “quadriplegic,” “murder,” “ignorant,” etc.) and develop a new term that neutralizes the negative connotation or, even

Oh fuck. Sandra Day O’Connor leaving Supreme Court Friday, July 1, 2005; Posted: 11:11 a.m. EDT (15:11 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a key swing vote on issues such as abortion and the death penalty, said Friday she is retiring. (Story.) Well, there goes the center.

Today’s question is for Washington Post reporters Peter Baker and Dan Balz. LP: Gentlemen, in a recent “analysis” you granted anonymity to a senior White House official so he/she could “speak more freely” about the administration’s Iraq “policy,” at which point the source more or less commenced regurgitating a standard talking points memo. This decision on your part shed no

So I’m down in NC, spending a few days in the 336 consulting with the mayor and sundry powerful city business leaders, golfing, and generally laying up at sirpaulsbuddy‘s crib. Long story short – after quenching our thirst at the Foothills Brewing Co. we tackled the evening’s burning question – to wit: what is the difference between the Beastie Boys

Today’s question is for the third and fourth presidents of the United States, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and the “Father of the Bill of Rights,” George Mason. LP: Gentlemen, the US Supreme Court has in recent days ruled that a government can take private property for the purpose of handing it over to another private, commercial venture, and that

Today’s question is for Good Morning America co-host Diane Sawyer. LP: Ms. Sawyer, two things were clear in your recent interview with Brad Pitt. First, all Mr. Pitt really wanted to discuss was Africa and his efforts to bring relief to the ravaged continent’s desperately poor inhabitants. Second, all you really wanted to talk about was the titillating details of

Today’s question is for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. LP: Sen. Clinton, recent polls indicate good news and bad news for your potential presidential candidacy. On the one hand, significant numbers of likely voters say they’d support your bid for the White House, but an even larger number of people say they’d sell their children into white slavery

crackmonkeyjr offers a challenge to my framing of the Brushback, arguing that the Kelo v. New London decision “did little more than uphold Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff. The ‘public use’ requirement on eminent domain has pretty much always been liberally construed.” So I did a bit of shade-tree legal research. From what I’m finding, it’s probably fair to argue

Today’s question is for Justices Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg and Breyer. LP: Today you ruled in favor of a pack of land developers in Connecticut, and in doing so radically overturned hundreds of years of precedent and policy regarding the primacy of property ownership in America. Specifically, you stomped the final clause of the Fifth Amendment, which reads: “nor shall

carless_sam posted the initial item. Then sirpaulsbuddy volunteered drdenny to do a follow-up. Predictably, the conversation turns to the political economics of Big Media…. Good take by Denny, though.

Today’s question is for Jon Meacham, Managing Editor of Newsweek. LP: Mr. Meacham, on page 29 of your May 30 issue, you included the graph that’s reproduced here. Since the article and accompanying graphics all dealt with the growth of the US Latino population and their political influence, I took it to indicate that by the year 2020, Hispanics would

GOP Congressman Calls Democrats Anti-Christian Remarks in Floor Debate Stir Protest By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, June 21, 2005; Page A04 Business on the floor of the House was halted for 45 minutes yesterday after Rep. John N. Hostettler (R-Ind.) accused Democrats of “denigrating and demonizing Christians,” prompting a furious protest from across the aisle. (Story.) Hostettler

Today’s question is for California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. LP: Governor Schwarzenegger, a new poll shows that your approval ratings have dropped into the same range former governor Gray Davis experienced during the 2001 energy crisis. Given your stated position that “fiddling, fumbling and failing” politicians should be replaced, do you think it would be appropriate to add a gubernatorial recall

Normally when I post something I think needs reading I’ll snip a graf or two and offer some comment. Not on this one. Every brutally penetrating passage (and there are a couple dozen at least) serves the rising momentum of the whole in such a way that any excerpt, taken out of context, would lessen the power and relevance of

Today’s question is for convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy. LP: Mr. Liddy, if you could host a dinner party and invite your top ten political idols from throughout history, which one would you seat beside Hitler?