Washington Babylon

From David Rothkopf: [CNN] has in fact recently transformed itself into the Cadaver News Network. Between its non-stop coverage of Michael Jackson’s demise (that was a guy who really knew…

Read more

From the Port Clinton News Herald: Authorities fielded a flurry of calls Saturday from concerned residents who saw men in ski masks, Ghostbusters, ballerinas, ninjas and Little Red Riding Hood.…

Read more

From the St. Petersburg Times: Ousted House Speaker Ray Sansom racked up about $173,000 on his Republican Party-issued credit card, taking his family on a trip to Europe, making visits…

Read more

From Public Citizen: Lobbyists and lobbying firms representing seven of the top 10 TARP recipients in the financial services industry as well as four of their major trade association allies…

Read more

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution: U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican candidate for governor in 2010, personally intervened with Georgia leaders to preserve an obscure state program that earns his…

Read more

“South Auckland man Paea Taufa was found roasting his pitbull terrier-cross in an umu pit at his home in Mangere,” reads a story in the New Zealand Herald. “The dog…

Read more

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York issued a press release today announcing the arrest of Hassan Nemazee, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nemazee…

Read more

The Justice Department is sending UBS bankers to prison: Former UBS banker, Bradley Birkenfeld of Weymouth, Mass., has been sentenced to 40 months incarceration by Judge William J. Zloch in…

Read more

“Grass-Roots Battle Tests The Obama Movement,” ran a headline in the Washington Post yesterday atop an article that looked at why health care reform has bogged down. The story examined…

Read more

P.J. Tobia provides some interesting analysis: > Yesterday I met with a high-level official from the UN backed Election Complaints Commission(ECC.) The ECC ’s job is to look into allegations…

Read more

From Investment International: > In his last years in the Senate, Gramm succeeded in blocking legislation that, in the words of The New York Times, would have made it easier…

Read more

From Fox: > Police are looking for the people who stole the head of baby Jesus off a marble statue at a church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. > “Somewhere someone is…

Read more

From Haaretz: She believes Obama poses a threat to Israel not only because of his support of radical Islamic groups such as Hamas, but also because of his “radical socialist”…

Read more

From The Onion: After months of committee meetings and hundreds of hours of heated debate, the United States Congress remained deadlocked this week over the best possible way to deny…

Read more

From IPS: Afghanistan’s presidential election has long been viewed by U.S. officials as a key to conferring legitimacy on the Afghan government, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his powerful…

Read more

From the St. Petersburg Times: On Aug. 1, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home burglary. Among the stolen items — original records that purportedly showed illegal reimbursements…

Read more

Great read from the New York Post (via Talkingpointsmemo): On Dec. 4, 2001, five members of a Las Vegas-based charter crew were detained by Russian authorities after they landed without…

Read more

From Foreign Policy: The release of John Yettaw to Senator Jim Webb illustrates just how tricky the engagement calculus is. Yettaw is the Missouri man who said a vision compelled…

Read more

From ProPublica: >The United States has turned to the cheapest labor possible. About two-thirds of the 200,000 civilians working under federal contracts in the war zones are foreigners. Many come…

Read more

Rick Perlstein provides the context and history: > It used to be different. You never heard the late Walter Cronkite taking time on the evening news to “debunk” claims that…

Read more

From Bloomberg: If there is any doubt that President Barack Obama’s plan to overhaul U.S. health care is the hottest topic in Congress, just ask the 3,300 lobbyists who have…

Read more

From ProPublica: Back in July, a software company named Smartronix landed an $18 million contract to build a Web site where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money.…

Read more

From Gawker: Just before midnight, a “note” was posted on Sarah Palin’s Facebook page titled, “Concerning the “Death Panels.” Predictably, the media latched onto it and reported her thoughts. However,…

Read more

From Politico: Add former Sen. Rick Santorum to the list of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates. POLITICO has learned Santorum will visit first-in-the-nation Iowa this fall for a series of…

Read more

“The United States will not meet its goals in Afghanistan without a major increase in planned spending on development and civilian reconstruction next year, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul has…

Read more

A reader did not care for the item I posted a few days ago about Anne Wexler, the former Eugene McCarthy activist turned Fortune 500 lobbyist. (My item cited a…

Read more

From the Washington Post: The pile of economic data indicating that the worst of the recession is over just keeps growing. In the past few weeks, the government has reported…

Read more

Michael Kinsley has a good piece in the Washington Post today about the recently departed Anne Wexler, whose death has been widely mourned in Washington media circles. Wexler started out…

Read more