Washington Babylon

From the Washington Post: The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new…

Read more

From ABC News: Department of Homeland Security investigators have contacted New Jersey officials with questions about the fate of federal grant money awarded to Stevens Institute of Technology to help…

Read more

From the New York Times: Previously undisclosed e-mail messages turned over to the F.B.I. and Senate ethics investigators provide new evidence about Senator John Ensign’s efforts to steer lobbying work…

Read more

From the New York Times: Senator Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who is playing a crucial role in bipartisan negotiations over financial regulation, pressed to remove a provision from draft…

Read more

From the Washington Post: Dozens of former federal officials are playing leading roles in helping carmakers handle federal investigations of auto defects, including those for Toyota’s runaway-acceleration problems. A Washington…

Read more

From ABC News: When the White House announced last week it would be losing the services of Lewis A. Sachs, one of the president’s top economic advisers, the reason given…

Read more

From the Washington Post: House Appropriations defense subcommittee member James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) works hard at fundraising: Two to three times a week, he telephones contributors to ask for…

Read more

From the Washington Post: When financial reform legislation finally lands on the Senate floor, a provision that advocates call the single most important item for Main Street investors will probably…

Read more

From Taxpayers for Common Sense: The Senate is working on a compliment to the recently passed $15 billion jobs bill. This nearly $150 billion package is supposed to help the…

Read more

Nice story in the Washington Post: Even by the standards of a city that celebrates extravagance, it was a spectacular shopping spree: In just two weeks early last year, an…

Read more

TPM ran an item yesterday in which American Bar Association President Carolyn Lamm made an emotional plea on behalf of the principle of legal representation for all. In response “to…

Read more

From Wired: In Israel, the military had to call off an entire operation after a trooper posted the time and place of an upcoming raid in the West Bank on…

Read more

I noted here recently that two former Pentagon officials had pitched their services to the government of Guinea, which is accused of the massacre of over 100 civilians last September.…

Read more

Peter Hessler is a staff writer at the New Yorker, where he served as Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007. Harper Collins just released his latest book, Country Driving, which…

Read more

On the Daily Show last night (video below), Jon Stewart highlighted Rick Sanchez’s coverage of the earthquake in Chile, saying that the CNN newsman reminded him of “a guy at…

Read more

Over the past month or so, the Supreme Court, Congress, and government agencies have taken a number of steps that, collectively, “define deviancy down” (in the words of one Washington…

Read more

Poor Desiree Rogers. A victim of the Salahi State Crashing affair, she’s now out as White House social secretary, replaced by fundraiser Julianna Smoot. When she took the job a…

Read more

From Dana Milbank, in yesterday’s Washington Post: Our president is not a bully; in fact, he is the victim of bullying. He is bullied by Republicans on health care. He…

Read more

Poor Obama. It must be hard being so much smarter than his political opponents, which was so evident at yesterday’s health care summit. Of course, being smart doesn’t always lead…

Read more

Sure, you can get a column at the Washington Post simply by marrying Ben Bradlee–but apparently you can’t keep it forever. At least not if it’s as awful as Sally…

Read more

From Africa Confidential: Blamed for the massacre of over 100 civilians last September, the junta in Conakry is trying to improve its image via a United States-based public relations company…

Read more

A few months back I noted here that Sting has traveled to Uzbekistan and played a concert at the invitation of Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of dictator Islam Karimov. Now…

Read more

From the Washington Post: Afghanistan’s biggest private bank — founded by the Islamic nation’s only world-class poker player — celebrated its fifth year in business last summer with a lottery…

Read more

Ken Silverstein is traveling. Washington Babylon will return next week.

Read more

“The snows that obliterated Washington in the past week interfered with many scheduled meetings, but they did not prevent the delivery of one important political message: Take Sarah Palin seriously,”…

Read more

Watch the Republicans put their finger on the pulse of America. From the Daily Show.

Read more

From The Plum Line: At the private White House meeting today between Obama and Congressional leaders, the President and John Boehner got into a testy exchange, aides say, with Obama…

Read more

From an email sent out this afternoon by Bellwether Consulting Group, which raises money for Republicans: Subject: Canceled Events: Granger, Burr, Isakson & Griffin Due to the inclement weather forecast,…

Read more