Herald blogs: The Republic: December 2004
Entries published December 2004
Sealed, delivered, and signed?
It has now been revealed that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has not personally signed many of the letters sent to the next of kin of those killed in battle. I am a fan of the Bush administration, supporter of the war in Iraq, and believer that the world is… Read more »
Man of the Year
Time magazine has named President Bush its Man of the Year. The selection seems like a no-brainer in light of last month’s national Republican electoral sweep headed by the President, who won his own race over Mr. Kerry. The November victories affirm a unique style of leadership that will persevere… Read more »
ACLU, CIA in the same business
In a definite sign of the apocalypse, it has been revealed that the ACLU is spying on its own members. This would be like appointing Joe Camel to be Attorney General, putting Betty Ford on the board of Johnnie Walker or requesting a trio of Purple Hearts for self inflicted… Read more »
From the Not-All-Democrats-Are-Brainy-Intellectuals Dept.
Minnesota elector mistakenly casts electoral vote ballot for John Edwards “Senior moment,” indeed. Good luck on finals, everybody. Update: Slate’s Timothy Noah says this is just one more example of the many “idiocies” of the Electoral College.… Read more »
"You're Fired!" (But I won't tell you why)
More than six months ago, a tragic thing happened to Aliakbar and Shahla Afshari: they were both fired from their laboratory jobs at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The reason, they were told, was because they failed secret background checks that classified them as “threats to the… Read more »
Another one bites the dust
Matt Drudge may have summed it up best with his headline, “On second thought, Mr. President.” And just like that, Bernard Kerik - the former NYC top cop who even had the support of Hillary Clinton - is out of consideration for Secretary of Homeland Security, a job that was… Read more »
Manufacturers: Rumsfeld's pants on fire
U.S. soldiers in Iraq had a rare opportunity to exercise their First Amendment rights when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was recently broadsided by the troops he was giving a pep talk to. They asked him why they were underequipped, overextended, and why they were lacking armor: “Why do we… Read more »
Update: O'Reilly: ADL chief a "nut"
Bill O’Reilly, who as some of you may recall recently told a Jewish caller to “go to Israel” if he didn’t approve of Christmas being celebrated in schools, has responded to his critics (such as Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith president Abraham Foxman), who are evidently “the most vile, despicable… Read more »
Running with the Devil
While some will use this as yet another opportunity to mock the Catholic Church, I believe the Pontifical University in Rome is absolutely right on this one. The university will hold a two-month “theoretical and practical” course for Roman Catholic priests on Satanism and exorcism. The attitude toward Wicca in… Read more »
One step ahead
Canadian Supreme Court: gay marriage is constitutional. Note that the scope of the ruling was limited, meaning gay marriage legislation will proceed piecemeal on a province-by-province basis. Extended analysis is available at SCOTUSBlog.… Read more »
4th Grade Alcoholics?
With the holidays coming up, there are food drives, people asking for donations on State Street, toy drives, warm clothing drives, and so many more ways to help out. But not everyone is lucky enough to benifit from these drives. Recently, a fourth grader in New Orleans was suspended for… Read more »
"Yes, I Made A Mistake And I Am Sorry."
These are words that we will, unfortunately, never hear from our current Commander in Chief. In a recent article, Adam Lichtenheld noted that President Clinton had admitted his mistake in not classifying what was going on in Rwanda as genocide. Now, I’m pretty sure the point of that was not… Read more »
"America Is So Much Better Than This"
Wisconsin’s junior Senator Russ Feingold has characteristically voiced his support for a Presidential nominee (in this case, Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State) because he feels it is his constitutional duty to do so. Nevertheless he has presented an eloquent and compelling critique of the U.S.’s foreign policy record over… Read more »
O'Reilly: Get the Christmas spirit, or get out
While it would hardly be worthwhile to note every gaffe, faux pas, gaucherie, and all the other acts of tactlessness with French names that Bill O’Reilly engages in, it’s worth noting his most recent outburst, in which he told a Jewish caller to “go to Israel” when he complained about… Read more »
A day that should live in infamy
Today marks the 63rd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And while the haunting words of President Roosevelt - promising that the day “shall live in infamy” - still reverberate through American schools, the truth is that the magnificent power of time - healer of all wounds -… Read more »
The dollar in decline
Why the continuing fall of the dollar against the euro, pound sterling, etc. is no good thing: an Economist.com link The dollar has been the leading international currency for as long as most people can remember. But its dominant role can no longer be taken for granted. If America keeps… Read more »
Lots of Testing, Little Learning
Yes, the U.S. educational system has shown its inferiority once again. A report released yesterday, which tested young high school students of the world’s richest countries on real life, basic math problems, ranked the U.S. 24th out of 29 countries. Ouch. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41278-2004Dec6.html Despite steady rises in standardized tests scores (in… Read more »
So long, Tommy
Tommy Thompson announced his resignation Friday, ending his four year tenure as the head man of Health and Human Services in President Bush’s cabinet. A few days before the November election, I had the opportunity to travel with Thompson as he stumped for Bush throughout Western Wisconsin. And he was… Read more »
Keeping sex in the closet
(Caution: Reading this post may cause pregnancy, infertility, or AIDS.) Given the Republican backlash against the new film about Alfred Kinsey, the University of Indiana researcher whose work put the lie to widespread perception of American sexual Puritanism, it’s not entirely surprising that the Bush Administration’s approach to sex-ed has… Read more »
Terrorism in Africa
Buried in the back of the New York Times of Friday’s issue is an international report that thousands of refugees have been fleeing an area in eastern Congo near the Rwandan border. The article claims that this has caused “heightening fears that the Congo war…may be erupting once more.” If… Read more »
Congress Kills Anti-Gun Program
The Republican-controlled Congress is once again betraying its leadership in the White House. After the intelligence fiasco of last month, Congress cut funds to local and state law enforcement agencies that are used to investigate and prosecute gun crimes (might need to create a login for this website). This Justice… Read more »
A wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track
In the Herald’s continuing mission to bring you up to date on the news from other parts of the country, here’s a brief look at the political situation in Alabama. Sexual toys have been banned by a state law upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Viagra and other… Read more »
Welcome Back!
Well, if you enjoyed the Election Blog, welcome to the new blog…the one where we just talk a bunch of smack about national, state, and whatever issues we feel like. So here’s my first topic…it seems like embedded reporters are just so pesky. They uncover uncomfortable truths, and what’s bad… Read more »
A few thousand years after Plato
And so we inaugurate a new Herald weblog, this one focused on the national politics often excluded from the pages of our newspaper yet still ever-present in the minds of our writing staff. In the coming days, weeks and months you can turn to this space for commentary and analysis… Read more »
Welcome--and warning
Welcome to The Republic, the Badger Herald Opinion & Editorial Page’s blog for national and political news. Read this blog for running analysis and commentary from the Herald’s editors and columnists on the stories that define the current state of the nation. Now, let’s get down to business. President Bush’s… Read more »
Sealed, delivered, and signed?
It has now been revealed that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has not personally signed many of the letters sent to the next of kin of those killed in battle. I am a fan of the Bush administration, supporter of the war in Iraq, and believer that the world is… Read more »
Man of the Year
Time magazine has named President Bush its Man of the Year. The selection seems like a no-brainer in light of last month’s national Republican electoral sweep headed by the President, who won his own race over Mr. Kerry. The November victories affirm a unique style of leadership that will persevere… Read more »
ACLU, CIA in the same business
In a definite sign of the apocalypse, it has been revealed that the ACLU is spying on its own members. This would be like appointing Joe Camel to be Attorney General, putting Betty Ford on the board of Johnnie Walker or requesting a trio of Purple Hearts for self inflicted… Read more »
From the Not-All-Democrats-Are-Brainy-Intellectuals Dept.
Minnesota elector mistakenly casts electoral vote ballot for John Edwards “Senior moment,” indeed. Good luck on finals, everybody. Update: Slate’s Timothy Noah says this is just one more example of the many “idiocies” of the Electoral College.… Read more »
"You're Fired!" (But I won't tell you why)
More than six months ago, a tragic thing happened to Aliakbar and Shahla Afshari: they were both fired from their laboratory jobs at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The reason, they were told, was because they failed secret background checks that classified them as “threats to the… Read more »
Another one bites the dust
Matt Drudge may have summed it up best with his headline, “On second thought, Mr. President.” And just like that, Bernard Kerik - the former NYC top cop who even had the support of Hillary Clinton - is out of consideration for Secretary of Homeland Security, a job that was… Read more »
Manufacturers: Rumsfeld's pants on fire
U.S. soldiers in Iraq had a rare opportunity to exercise their First Amendment rights when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was recently broadsided by the troops he was giving a pep talk to. They asked him why they were underequipped, overextended, and why they were lacking armor: “Why do we… Read more »
Update: O'Reilly: ADL chief a "nut"
Bill O’Reilly, who as some of you may recall recently told a Jewish caller to “go to Israel” if he didn’t approve of Christmas being celebrated in schools, has responded to his critics (such as Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith president Abraham Foxman), who are evidently “the most vile, despicable… Read more »
Running with the Devil
While some will use this as yet another opportunity to mock the Catholic Church, I believe the Pontifical University in Rome is absolutely right on this one. The university will hold a two-month “theoretical and practical” course for Roman Catholic priests on Satanism and exorcism. The attitude toward Wicca in… Read more »
One step ahead
Canadian Supreme Court: gay marriage is constitutional. Note that the scope of the ruling was limited, meaning gay marriage legislation will proceed piecemeal on a province-by-province basis. Extended analysis is available at SCOTUSBlog.… Read more »
4th Grade Alcoholics?
With the holidays coming up, there are food drives, people asking for donations on State Street, toy drives, warm clothing drives, and so many more ways to help out. But not everyone is lucky enough to benifit from these drives. Recently, a fourth grader in New Orleans was suspended for… Read more »
"Yes, I Made A Mistake And I Am Sorry."
These are words that we will, unfortunately, never hear from our current Commander in Chief. In a recent article, Adam Lichtenheld noted that President Clinton had admitted his mistake in not classifying what was going on in Rwanda as genocide. Now, I’m pretty sure the point of that was not… Read more »
"America Is So Much Better Than This"
Wisconsin’s junior Senator Russ Feingold has characteristically voiced his support for a Presidential nominee (in this case, Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State) because he feels it is his constitutional duty to do so. Nevertheless he has presented an eloquent and compelling critique of the U.S.’s foreign policy record over… Read more »
O'Reilly: Get the Christmas spirit, or get out
While it would hardly be worthwhile to note every gaffe, faux pas, gaucherie, and all the other acts of tactlessness with French names that Bill O’Reilly engages in, it’s worth noting his most recent outburst, in which he told a Jewish caller to “go to Israel” when he complained about… Read more »
A day that should live in infamy
Today marks the 63rd anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And while the haunting words of President Roosevelt - promising that the day “shall live in infamy” - still reverberate through American schools, the truth is that the magnificent power of time - healer of all wounds -… Read more »
The dollar in decline
Why the continuing fall of the dollar against the euro, pound sterling, etc. is no good thing: an Economist.com link The dollar has been the leading international currency for as long as most people can remember. But its dominant role can no longer be taken for granted. If America keeps… Read more »
Lots of Testing, Little Learning
Yes, the U.S. educational system has shown its inferiority once again. A report released yesterday, which tested young high school students of the world’s richest countries on real life, basic math problems, ranked the U.S. 24th out of 29 countries. Ouch. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41278-2004Dec6.html Despite steady rises in standardized tests scores (in… Read more »
So long, Tommy
Tommy Thompson announced his resignation Friday, ending his four year tenure as the head man of Health and Human Services in President Bush’s cabinet. A few days before the November election, I had the opportunity to travel with Thompson as he stumped for Bush throughout Western Wisconsin. And he was… Read more »
Keeping sex in the closet
(Caution: Reading this post may cause pregnancy, infertility, or AIDS.) Given the Republican backlash against the new film about Alfred Kinsey, the University of Indiana researcher whose work put the lie to widespread perception of American sexual Puritanism, it’s not entirely surprising that the Bush Administration’s approach to sex-ed has… Read more »
Terrorism in Africa
Buried in the back of the New York Times of Friday’s issue is an international report that thousands of refugees have been fleeing an area in eastern Congo near the Rwandan border. The article claims that this has caused “heightening fears that the Congo war…may be erupting once more.” If… Read more »
Congress Kills Anti-Gun Program
The Republican-controlled Congress is once again betraying its leadership in the White House. After the intelligence fiasco of last month, Congress cut funds to local and state law enforcement agencies that are used to investigate and prosecute gun crimes (might need to create a login for this website). This Justice… Read more »
A wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track
In the Herald’s continuing mission to bring you up to date on the news from other parts of the country, here’s a brief look at the political situation in Alabama. Sexual toys have been banned by a state law upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. Viagra and other… Read more »
Welcome Back!
Well, if you enjoyed the Election Blog, welcome to the new blog…the one where we just talk a bunch of smack about national, state, and whatever issues we feel like. So here’s my first topic…it seems like embedded reporters are just so pesky. They uncover uncomfortable truths, and what’s bad… Read more »
A few thousand years after Plato
And so we inaugurate a new Herald weblog, this one focused on the national politics often excluded from the pages of our newspaper yet still ever-present in the minds of our writing staff. In the coming days, weeks and months you can turn to this space for commentary and analysis… Read more »
Welcome--and warning
Welcome to The Republic, the Badger Herald Opinion & Editorial Page’s blog for national and political news. Read this blog for running analysis and commentary from the Herald’s editors and columnists on the stories that define the current state of the nation. Now, let’s get down to business. President Bush’s… Read more »
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