Washington Babylon

From the magazine’s current issue: More than one major transportation-based industry in America besides Detroit is on the ropes. For the fourth time in our history the ethanol industry has…

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I recently posted an item about the ongoing bloodshed in Sri Lanka and reported that the lobbying firm of Patton Boggs was being paid $35,000 per month by that country’s…

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Richard Berman, a prominent lobbyist for the food and restaurant industry, is one of the leading opponents of the hotly-debated Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it easier…

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From Huffington Post: The FBI is investigating allegations that former Senator Norm Coleman had clothing and other items purchased on his behalf by a longtime friend and businessman Nasser Kazeminy,…

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Via michaelmoore.com: Obama ’09: In a reversal, President Barack Obama objected on Wednesday to the release of dozens of photographs showing the abuse of terrorism suspects, fearing the pictures could…

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From Wonkette: The worst writer in America, Richard Cohen — that thoughtless, valueless, condescending, sociopathic sexist poster-boy for the vapidity of the Washington Post’s opinion section — has written such…

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Jesse Ventura on Larry King: Jesse Ventura: I would prosecute every person who was involved in that torture. I would prosecute the people that did it, I would prosecute the…

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I’ve posted several items over the past month on how Congressman John Murtha & friends have been supporting a controversial biodefense facility that would develop and manufacture “vaccines and other…

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The Washington Post reports that a “former CIA high-value detainee, who provided bogus information that was cited by the Bush administration in the run-up to the Iraq war, has died…

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The description in the headline comes from Christian Slater, which is quite a testament to the multitudes that assembled at the dinner. A Washington Post reader had a different opinion:…

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From the Kansas City Star: U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver likes earmarks. His rule: If they come to his district, federal funds are well worth wrangling over, especially for infrastructure repairs…

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The Onion has the scoop: “When will the MSM dinosaurs realize that they’re TOTALLY irrelevant?” wrote 39-year-old part-time librarian James Last, commenting on coverage of Obama’s first 100 days in…

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From Chris Lehmann: How does one make sense, after all, of an event where you can see Ashton Kutcher directly in the path of an onrushing Donald Rumsfeld? Where Michael…

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From Andrew Sullivan: Here we have it in broad daylight: the New York Times’ cowardice in the face of its own government. In an obit today, the editors manage to…

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Experience the joys of small government.

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Washington is a town of self-indulgence, huge egos, and self-congratulation. A yearly ritual at which such traits are most grandly on display is nearly upon us. Tomorrow night is the…

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From Foreign Policy: Want to get a sense of just how bad things are? Take a spin on Google Earth. The latest issue of International Economy, edited by FP contributor…

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From Tom Ricks: If you haven’t yet reviewed the papers from the Midwest Political Science Conference, here’s a little gem that will tell you more about Iraqi politics than a…

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“Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said Thursday that so far a breakneck schedule for writing a health care overhaul into law remains on track, with a committee markup scheduled for…

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From page 8 of today’s Washington Post: “The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday he had dispatched a joint U.S.-Afghan team to investigate U.S. airstrikes that killed more than…

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“The Obama administration’s controversial pick to be the Department of Homeland Security’s geek-in-chief is either a leading authority on the deadliest terror threats — or a biowar chicken little, dangerously…

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From the Detroit News : Rep. John Conyers’ campaign committee spent nearly $46,000 on travel and transportation during the first three months of 2009, a figure far higher than his…

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From the Center for Public Integrity: The top subprime lenders whose loans are largely blamed for triggering the global economic meltdown were owned or bankrolled by banks now collecting billions…

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In December 2000, the National Intelligence Board, under the authority of the CIA, released a report called “Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About The Future With Nongovernment Experts.” The experts…

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From the Washington Post: The headquarters of Murtech, in a low-slung, bland building in a Glen Burnie business park, has its blinds drawn tight and few signs of life. On…

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The Atlantic has a good piece in its current issue called “The Quiet Coup: How bankers took power, and how they’re impeding recovery”, written by a former IMF official named…

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The Daily Mail reports that Dolph Lundgren is struggling to “maintain his trim physique” and was “displaying a slightly rounded tummy as he holidayed in the Mexican Riviera.” Indeed, as…

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From Secrecy News: Last January 30, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz disclosed a secret Israeli government database on settlements in the occupied West Bank, and posted the Hebrew text of the…

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