The wire master and his puppets, 1875. Voting on Christmas Eve for the first time since 1895, the Senate passed a sweeping health-care bill that does not include a public…

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An American cattleman. News leaked that President Barack Obama would send roughly 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, with the possibility of sending 10,000 more in a year, even as NATO allies…

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A kinkajou, 1886. The U.S. Senate voted 60?39 to bring the $848 billion health-care plan, with a diminished public option, to the floor for debate, but only after Senate Majority… 

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A Christian martyr. The House of Representatives passed, by a vote of 220 to 215, a $1.1 trillion health-care bill that requires employers to provide insurance coverage or face a…

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An American cattleman. Abdullah Abdullah, presidential challenger to Hamid Karzai, announced that he was quitting the runoff election. In a choked-up voice he cited concerns about increased violence in Afghanistan… 

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Twilight of the American newspaper 

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A kinkajou, 1886. Twin car bomb attacks just outside the Green Zone in Baghdad destroyed three government buildings, killed 155 people, and injured 520. The attack was the country’s worst…

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On the frontiers of federalism and dope

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