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Archive: Jan 2009

Murder in Moscow

Another spectacular homicide with strong political overtones in Russia’s capital–Stanislav Markelov, who represented Russia’s best known exposé journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, was shot dead just after giving a press conference. The…

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Overseas, Expectations Build for Torture Prosecutions

America’s closest allies overseas never understood the Bush Administration’s obsession with torture. “It’s as if an old friend had a stroke and suddenly went delusional,” a British Tory politician told…

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Ratyfeit and Found Gude

It occured to me this morning that tomorrow’s key word, “inauguration,” might merit scrutiny. Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary gives a typically terrific definition (of the verb): INAUG’URATE, v.t. [supra.] To…

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Keeping the Knives Sharp

I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of an attack by Matt Taibbi. He’s not a gonzo journalist, but given the inventiveness of his prose I keep thinking…

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A Dream Matures

…I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked…

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The Inaugural Cocktail

Four million Americans, it is reported, plan to attend activities connected with the Obama–Biden Inaugural in Washington–roughly ten times the prior record. That’s enough to convince any sane person to…

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Whitman – For You, O Democracy

Come, I will make the continent indissoluble, I will make the most splendid race the sun ever shone upon, I will make divine magnetic lands, With the love of comrades,…

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An Epitaph for the Bush Years

Today, Bush and his family moved out of the White House to Camp David, where they plan to vacation before Inaugural Day. As we await the formal transfer of power,…

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Worst. President. Ever.

Bush’s Karl Rove-directed legacy tour is over and the votes are in: he leaves office as the most disliked president in American history. The final New York Times-CBS News poll…

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Augustine on the Sovereign’s Duty to Do Justice

[C]um hominum felicitatem non possis ostendere, semper in bellicis cladibus et in sanguine ciuili uel hostili, tamen humano cum tenebroso timore et cruenta cupiditate uersantium, ut uitrea lætitia comparetur fragiliter…

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The Gates of Forgetfulness

“Just what I tasted, did, smelled, saw, and heard, not to mention touched, between ten thirty and the completion of the evening meal,” writes E.E. Cummings in The Enormous Room,…

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Six Questions for Edwin Burrows, Author of Forgotten Patriots

Edwin Burrows, a professor at Brooklyn College, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for co-authoring Gotham, the authoritative account of the history of New York City up to the point…

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Farewells, Then and Now

In 1796 a President beloved by his countrymen delivered his farewell, a tradition that has continued through last night. He opened by confessing his concerns–that he was unworthy to the…

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The Dead-Enders

After the fall of Baghdad, American occupation forces continued to be menaced by sniper and bombing attacks. “They’re Saddam’s dead-enders,” Donald Rumsfeld said, suggesting he believed the source of the…

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What to Do About Judge Bybee?

Jay Bybee is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which sits in San Francisco. He is also a suspected war criminal and the…

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Perfectly Different

“With the reader’s permission I beg, at this point of my narrative, to indulge in one or two extrinsic observations.” I find that request irresistible–not because I’ve come to know…

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Another Admission: Okay, So We Tortured

Susan J. Crawford served as general counsel to the Army for Ronald Reagan and as Dick Cheney’s inspector general while he was secretary of defense, then landed an appointment to…

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Obama’s Middle East Dealmaker

Dennis Ross, Barack Obama’s proposed new Middle East guru/envoy, has gotten generally fawning coverage from the press. In Newsweek,, Michael Hersh wrote: “One man who will probably be running ahead…

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Žižek on Chomsky: Black, white, and red all over

The German culture magazine Lettre International, true to its name, publishes writing from around the world. Their Winter 2008 issue includes translations into German from Swedish, Italian, Hungarian, French, Spanish,…

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Civil Rights, Coffee and Race

Talkingpointsmemo notes a footnote to the new Inspector General’s report on the politicization of the Civil Rights Division at DOJ: In that incident in August 2004, Voting Section Chief John…

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The Way Florida Works

Congressman Kendrick Meek of Florida has announced that he will run for the U.S. Senate. Which may require that he answer some questions about this story from 2007: Boston developer…

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DOJ Internal Probe Confirms Politicization, Again

As anticipated, the Department of Justice internal probe into the conduct of former Civil Rights Division senior lawyer and former U.S. Attorney in Kansas City Brad Schlozman concludes that he…

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“I Should Have Wikipedia-ed Neville Chamberlain”: A pundit’s lament

The Daily Show takes us on a tour of pundit boot camp. Attack, you maggots!…

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Note To Retirees: If Bush Social Security plan had passed, you’d really be screwed

From the Washington Post: If your year-end 401(k) statement made you ill, I have one consolation for you: It could be worse. How’s that possible, given how horrible last year…

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Weekly Review

The war between Israel and Hamas entered its third week as Israeli forces pushed into heavily populated areas of Gaza City. A UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, which…

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Israeli War Correspondents

From Philip Weiss: The New Republic seems to depend on former IDF soldiers for more of its Israel coverage than just about anyone else. Benny Morris, Jeffrey Goldberg. And here…

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Bush Justice Department: It has a dream

Time is running out on the Bush administration but the Justice Department’s civil rights division is fighting to its last breath — to defend the rights of white people.

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