Washington Babylon

For those keeping track of how Obama fulfills his campaign promises, the St. Petersburg Times offers a handy interactive guide. He’s off to a relatively good start, but there’s a…

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The CEO of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems, the two firms raided by the feds yesterday, was the director of a non-profit group that the Washington Post described in…

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Congressman John Murtha’s relationship with his campaign donors is a topic I’ve written about frequently in the past. Today the FBI raided the offices of one of those donors: Federal…

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The Senate seems likely to confirm Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State soon, but there’s still a hang-up over contributions to her husband’s foundation. I’ve been trying to get answers…

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Seth Hettena writes: How can you discuss Obama tackiness without mentioning this. Good point!…

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Barack Obama’s inauguration speech had some nice moments. I especially liked the section near the end where he said: In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months,…

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Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and other stars make their pledges to Barack Obama. Low point, among many: Jason Bateman promises to flush “only after a deuce, never a single.” Is…

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From the Washington Independent: In November, Obama announced that his presidential inauguration committee would not accept donations from corporations, lobbyists, political action committees, or unions. The move appeared to set…

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Inauguration fever is cresting with the inevitable flood of Obama merchandise. Here are three candidates for the worst of the lot: In the “cute and cloying” category, there’s the “Obama,…

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

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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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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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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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From Eric Janszen: Economic data coming out this week reveal an economy in free-fall. The Stats Every single working day in the month of December 2008: 190 U.S. companies filed…

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From John Judis: Does Barack Obama understand the seriousness of the economic crisis? Yesterday, he laid out his economic agenda, and it was filled with all sorts of important exhortations…

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From the New York Times: The International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday it had discovered “shocking” scenes — including small children next to their mothers’ corpses — when…

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I’ve mentioned here on previous occasions how the American media covers foreign news through the prism of United States foreign policy. If the U.S. government deems a country to be…

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Classic investigative reporting from Stephen Colbert, who takes us behind the scenes at CNN’s special report, “Penis in Peril.” Colbert also explains how Sanjay Gupta threatens America’s traditional food pyramid.

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From Augustus Richard Norton: Reportedly, two-time loser to be given a third chance to fail by Obama: Dennis Ross who was a dead-hand on the wheel as peacemaker in the…

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Stunning remarks from the man who helped sell the Iraq War. Jonathan Schwarz tells the story.

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When Barack Obama picked Mary Schapiro as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, her nomination was almost universally hailed in the press. Schapiro, it was said, was just the…

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From Taxpayers for Common Sense: Of all the industries in line for a handout in this financially frightening time, the defense industry would seem to bring up the rear. After…

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Is there a slimier United Nations department then UNESCO? In 2006, UNESCO awarded Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov with a medal for preserving Uzbekistan’s cultural heritage. Human Rights Watch said that…

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From Commentary: So let’s get this straight: Robert Gates will be the Defense Secretary, we’re ramping up U.S. forces in Afghanistan and providing a reasonable period of time for a…

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Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post had a fawning story today about Bret Baier, who has just replaced Britt Hume as the head of Fox’s Washington newscast. “Hume was a…

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