Harvey Milk Would Be Proud of Annise Parker
Yesterday, Houston voters elected Annise Parker Mayor of Houston. This makes the current Controller the first openly gay person to lead a major city in the U.S. Some might be surprised to see this happen in a red state like Texas, but Houston is definitely blue – the city hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1978. Voters don’t seem to have cared that much whether or not Parker was gay; they may have been more troubled with the fact that the leading candidates agreed on most issues…
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Washington Bigwigs Fighting For Their Careers
The ads for Harry Reid, Senator from Nevada (above), and Chris Dodd, Senator from Connecticut (below), show the distance between Washington and voters out in the country. Both Democratic lawmakers are up for re-election next year and they’re in deep trouble. The latest Rasmussen polls (taken a few days ago) show that Dodd faces particularly tough competition from Rob Simmons, a former Republican Congressman; Reid’s greatest challengers are a former state senator, Sue Lowden, and businessman Danny Tarkanian…
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Palin Uses Shatner to Disarm Critics
It’s easy to dislike former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, at least if you don’t belong to her nuttiest fans. The way she distorts facts is on a cheerfully offensive level that has rarely been seen before. But she’s a street-smart lady and knows how to disarm her critics with charm. Her performance tonight on The Tonight Show is a perfect example of that. For weeks now William Shatner has made highly amusing appearances on the show reading excerpts from her speeches and autobiography “Going Rogue”, accompanied by a few musicians…
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Goldstone, A Victim of Extremist Israelis and Palestinians
The YouTube clip above shows Richard Goldstone defending his hotly debated report on the 2008 Gaza War in an interview on Al Jazeera conducted by former CNN anchor Shihab Rattansi. Goldstone certainly gives a reasonable impression and I suppose this is one of the reasons why the South African jurist was handed the job by the UN Human Rights Council. He’s well respected in the legal community and a Jew, an ardent supporter of the state of Israel. However, considering the history of the Council I understand why principally Israelis and their allies objected against his appointment. One of the problems with the United Nations is the fact that dictatorships are allowed to be members of the Council even though they frequently commit the crimes that the UNHRC wishes to abolish…
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Oh Snap, Donald Rumsfeld!
The clip above shows MSNBC pundit Keith Olbermann taking down former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld more than a peg or two three years ago. It is still amazing how former President George W. Bush kept Rumsfeld as head of the Defense Department for close to six long years even though his incompetence was documented in books such as Bob Woodward’s “State of Denial” and Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s “Imperial Life in the Emerald City”. In my last blog entry I wrote a few words about the Bush Administration that were complimentary. I almost felt like taking a shower afterwards. These were generally speaking not good people…
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The Afghanistan Decision: Doomed If You Do, Doomed If You Don't
A few days ago, President Barack Obama announced at West Point that he would send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in an effort to win the war over the next three years. By then he’s counting on most U.S. troops to have left Afghanistan, but it all depends on what the situation looks like at the time. As pundits have noted, the President now owns the war; if everything goes wrong, or brilliantly, Obama is responsible for it. This is also his chance to actually earn the Nobel Peace Prize, an award that will come his way too soon in Oslo on December 10th…
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The Catholic Church's Kennedy Problem
U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island doesn’t always know what’s best for him. The late Senator Ted Kennedy’s son has had a few dependency problems and his latest controversy is of the nature that one doesn’t really know whom to believe. He claims to have been told by Bishop Thomas Tobin, the highest representative of the Roman Catholic Church in Rhode Island, that he is no longer eligible for Communion because of his political views on abortion…
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Jon Stewart Turns Into Jack Nicholson
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Glenn Beck, the current favorite conservative clown, is an emotional man. He’s even been known to cry on-air (youtube it if you feel you can put up with his dishonest crap). Not surprisingly, Daily Show host Jon Stewart wastes no time spoofing him. In the clip above, from November 6th (sorry, haven’t seen it until now), Stewart mocks Beck in a segment that isn’t one of his best… but it looks like it’s straight from his gut (which is how Beck works), so why not?…
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Barack Obama, the Human Being
Last night an Indian man sat down by a table in the United States to eat food prepared by a Swedish chef who was originally born in Ethiopia. This is indeed a global world. The Indian man was of course Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attending U.S. President Barack Obama’s first state dinner in Washington; the White House guest chef was Marcus Samuelsson. Guests included Hollywood heavyweights such as Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, actors Alfre Woodard and Blair Underwood, media personalities Katie Couric and Brian Williams, as well as political friends and enemies, including John Kerry, Bob Casey, Bobby Jindal, Richard Lugar and members of Obama’s cabinet…
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Governor or Senator, Giuliani Is Likely to Win
When former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the U.S. presidential race last year, his fall had been somewhat spectacular. In the summer of 2007 it looked like he would face Hillary Clinton in the end, but all that changed. Republican voters were looking for a truly conservative alternative to Clinton or Barack Obama and Giuliani did not meet their expectations, even though he tried his darndest. He also had previous demons to contend with; in 2000 he had dropped out of a bid for a U.S. Senate seat because of multiple problems, including his messy private life…
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A few thoughts on politics in the U.S. and, occasionally, elsewhere. All goodies brought to you by Stefan Hedmark.