SOURCE: New York Times [CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE]
IOWAS: A CHANGE IS GONNA COME or HOW THE PRIMARIES ARE LIKE A TRIP TO THE MALL
BY AMY Z. QUINN Look, it’s not that I’m not excited — moved, really — by the fact that a black man just won the Iowa caucuses. And if a person is elected president in November who is not a white man, it will be one of the proudest and most significant moments in America’s history. There, that’s out of the way. But I’d be a lot more emotional if the Democratic winner of Iowa ever actually won the presidency — since 1972, the only ones who have (Carter ’76 and Clinton ’96) were incumbents competing in Iowa the second […]
THE DUDE ABIDES: “Sometimes there’s a man – I won’t say a hee-ro, ’cause what’s a hee-ro? – sometimes there’s a man who, well, he’s the man for his time ‘n place, he fits right in there – and that’s the Dude.” –Big Lebowski
ASSOCIATED PRESS: DES MOINES, Iowa — Sen. Barack Obama, bidding to become the nation’s first black president, captured the Iowa caucuses Thursday night, opening test in the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination. Mike Huckabee rode a wave of support from evangelical Christians to victory in the Republican caucuses. MORE
GLOBE: Bhutto Was To Give Specter Vote Fraud Proof
BOSTON GLOBE: Bhutto had been scheduled to meet hours later with US Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. Senator Latif Khosa, a lawmaker from Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party, said she had planned to give the lawmakers a report outlining complaints on “pre-poll rigging” by Musharraf’s government and the military-run Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Khosa said he did not know whether Bhutto’s killing was linked to her plans to release the document. Officials at the Information Ministry and the Interior Ministry declined comment. MORE PREVIOUSLY: Arlen Specter Was Set To Meet With Bhutto The Day She […]
PRESS THE FLESH: Philadelphia, Meet Your Mayor
INQUIRER: Mayor-elect Michael Nutter, ever aware of the finest political detail, plans to celebrate the first full day of his administration by having a flood of regular Philadelphians walk through City Hall, winding up marble and granite stairwells to shake hands with the man who promised “a new day, a new way.” On Jan. 8 — Nutter’s first full day as mayor — he wants the public to come to City Hall and shake his hand. There will be free refreshments in an event tent in the courtyard. “We’re hoping people will get a feel for the new feel of […]
TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN: iMAYOR Changes Mind, Takes Pay Raise He Turned Down For 3 Years In A Row
INQUIRER: The fuss, critics said, is about political deceit and the stoking of citizen cynicism. “The mayor got credit from the public for turning down a big pay raise. Then, by the end of the term, he took it,” said City Controller Alan Butkovitz. “It undermines the credibility of the government.” For some of those who have long been frustrated with Street, news of the retroactive raises was a fitting capstone for an administration that is seen to have struggled in its final years. “This guy just doesn’t seem to have a shame bone in his body,” said Brett Mandel, […]
THERE WILL BE BLOOD: Benazir Bhutto 1953-2007
NPR: Charred vehicles burned in overnight rioting lay at the roadside in the town. A mob in Karachi looted three banks and set them on fire, police said. About 7,000 people in the central city of Molten ransacked banks and a gas station and threw stones at police, who responded by firing tear gas. In the capital, Islamabad, about 100 protesters burned tires in a commercial quarter of the city. Paramilitary rangers were given the authority to use live fire to stop rioters from damaging property in southern Pakistan, said Maj. Asad Ali, the rangers’ spokesman. Violent mobs burned 10 […]
Arlen Specter Was Scheduled To Meet Bhutto Tonight
Islamabad, Pakistan (Dec. 27) – Senator Arlen Specter lays flowers for former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after her assassination. Senator Specter visited Bhutto’s local party headquarters in the wake of the assassination with Representative Patrick Kennedy (left) and U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson UPDATE: Bhutto had been scheduled to meet hours later with US Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island. Senator Latif Khosa, a lawmaker from Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party, said she had planned to give the lawmakers a report outlining complaints on “pre-poll rigging” by Musharraf’s government and the military-run Inter-Services […]
EARLY WORD: Free Speech Ain’t Free
Philadelphia, PA (December 27, 2007) — The National Constitution Center, in partnership with the Freedom to Read Foundation, welcomes two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Lewis, one of the country’s most esteemed experts on the First Amendment and the author of the classic, Gideon’s Trumpet, to share his latest work, Freedom for the Thought That We Hate, on the importance of freedom of expression. Lewis’s new book tells the story of how the right of free expression evolved along with our nation and makes a compelling case for the adaptability of our Constitution. Lewis will discuss how our First Amendment rights […]
WHOOPSIE: DN Runs Pro-Pitbull Cover The Day After Woman Was Mauled To Death By…Wait For It…Pitbulls
ASSOCIATED PRESS: BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) — A pack of pit bulls surrounded a woman [NOT pictured] and mauled her to death, authorities said Wednesday. Police found Kelly Caldwell, 45, lying in the street around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, and took her to a hospital, where she later died, the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department said. After the mauling, the dogs ran to a nearby house. Deputies shot one dog to death when it returned to the scene and acted aggressively as paramedics were trying to save Caldwell’s life, authorities said.A second dog was shot to death Wednesday morning when it, too, […]
BREAKING: Death of the ‘Peoples’ Prime Minister’
NEW YORK TIMES: RAWALPINDI, Islamabad — An attack on a political rally killed the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto near the capital, Islamabad, Thursday. Witnesses said Ms. Bhutto was fired upon before the blast, and an official from her party said Ms. Bhutto was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker. At least a dozen more people were killed. “At 6:16 p.m. she expired,” said Wasif Ali Khan, a member of Ms. Bhutto’s party who was at Rawalpindi General Hospital where she was taken after the attack, according to The Associated Press. Hundreds of […]
DECLASSIFIED: FBI Plan To Suspend Habeas Corpus & Detain 12,000 ‘Disloyal’ Americans In Military Prisons
NEW YORK TIMES: A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty. Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, 12 days after the Korean War began. It envisioned putting suspect Americans in military prisons. Hoover wanted President Harry S. Truman to proclaim the mass arrests necessary to “protect the country against treason, espionage and sabotage.” The F.B.I would “apprehend all individuals potentially dangerous” to national security, Hoover’s proposal said. The […]