Yesterday, President Bush said he will propose significantly increasing international AIDS funding. It has been described as a doubling of funding, but that's not strictly accurate - at least according to a number of news sources, like the San Francisco...
You've got to wonder how many more investigations into Justice Department activities will be opened in the coming months. We've got investigations by both chambers into the attorney firings, an internal investigation into political-based hiring for non-partisan positions, and today...
I was skeptical when I saw the headline at the L.A. Times: Bush urges goals on emissions. Bush and his administration have been, by and large, hardcore deniers of global warming and its causes. So I wasn't expecting to be...
Bob Dole and Tom Daschle are hawking a plan to reduce farm subsidies and shift that money to biofuels....
For some, today was a glorious, magical day. The Creation Museum - a museum that tells their side of the story - opened to the public today. Over 4,000 visitors showed up to celebrate. And the O'Reilly Factor covered it,...
I was hanging out with a friend this weekend, and you know what he said to me? "Mike, I'm not seeing enough POLJUNK posts on honeybees lately. Can you kick it up a notch?" Al, this one is for you......
Everyone can sleep a little bit easier tonight. Former Senator Bill Frist has withdrawn his name from consideration as a replacement for Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank. I'm still advocating for Paul O'Neill, but I don't think the White...
Over at the Washington Post, Sebastian Mallaby asks the question: why is the Congress considering spending billions on the supposed risk illegal immigration poses, when there isn't enough money to fund all our other homeland security needs?...
At the upcoming G-8 summit, Tony Blair had hoped to get his buddy George Bush to agree to real change to slow down global warming. Based on a draft U.S. communique obtained by Greenpeace, that ain't going to happen. Some...
Daniel Schorr - whose voice you'll recognize if you listen to NPR - on why walls are a bad idea....
On Saturday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) flew to Europe with 7 other House Democrats for meetings with European politicians and scientists on how to successfully tackle global warming. They will be making stops in Belgium, Germany, and...
Over 3,400 American troops have died in Iraq so far. More than 25,000 troops have been wounded in action. Iraqi casualties are estimated at 100,000 to 650,000, depending on the assessment you're looking at. The death toll of this war...
After getting pilloried by the Bushies for his "worst in history" comment, Jimmy Carter retreated from some pretty damning statements made during a BBC interview. But he was right, and a quick run down of some of the stories in...
After the Memorial Day recess, the Senate Armed Services Committee plans to release a bill that will shore up the rights of detainees held in Guantanamo. Which, currently, aren't so hot. From the AP: Under the current system, President Bush...
And the North Dakota legislature wants them to as well. They've passed 5 bills related to the issue this year, and the governor has signed three of them. The laws basically lay out a framework for growing industrial hemp in...
Jon Stewart ties the whole attorney purge thing together:...
The New York Times ran a piece earlier this week about Ray Anderson, who founded and runs a carpet tile company called Interface. Sounds fascinating, right? Well, it turns out Anderson had an epiphany of sorts in the mid 90s,...
Here's some good political satire for you on a Friday morning, delivered in a way that only Stephen Colbert can deliver. In his own special way, he takes the Chicago Tribune and Politico.com to task for some super nitpicky stories...
Monica Goodling testified for 5 hours in front of the House Judiciary Committee yesterday. She admitted to "crossing the line" and "mistakes" - typical Republican-speak for "breaking the law" - but there weren't the damning indictments I hoped for in...
Well, that's what a decision by the Food and Drug Administration seems to suggest. But it's crazy, and bad public policy. On Wednesday, the FDA reaffirmed a policy in place since 1983 that prohibits gay men from donating blood. The...
This one pretty much speaks for itself....
On Monday, two House Democrats - Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Artur Davis (D-AL) - introduced a bill that calls for a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Gonzales. Since then, the list of co-sponsors has grown to 108. From...
And you can watch it at the Washington Post. And other places, I'm sure. Also, Huff Post has a wire story, and fresh pictures on the main site page of Goodling at the hearing (instead of that tired shot of...
... And Talking Points Memo has put together a short video primer on who she is and why her testimony could be very important - not to mention damaging to the White House and the Gonzales Justice Department. How someone...
Yesterday, Senate Democrats agreed to a compromise on Iraq funding. If, by compromise, we mean giving the President exactly what he wants. Which is certainly the White House's preferred type of compromise....
Susan Ralston used to work for Karl Rove. After the House Government Reform Committee reported 485 contacts between Abramoff and the White House, she abruptly resigned. That was last September. Today, at a deposition for the same committee, Ralston invoked...
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg announces a plan for all hybrid cabs in NYC by 2012. Said Bloomberg: There's an awful lot of taxicabs on the streets of New York City obviously, so it makes a real big difference ... These...
Every time the debate about illegal immigration reaches a fever pitch, the call for more border fencing gets louder and more hysterical. The current debate over an immigration bill in the Senate is no exception. The compromise bill under consideration...
Robert Greenwald - the man who brought us Iraq for Sale and Outfoxed - has put together a short clip illustrating some of the many lies and obfuscations Attorney General "I don't recall" Gonzales has told Congress over the U.S....
In a Washington Post op-ed piece yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) and Governor Jodi Rell (R-CT) laid into the Bush administration for not doing anything to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and for blocking efforts by states like California and Connecticut...
The energy challenge in the United States is different than it is in India. While we share some of the same challenges - growing demand, limited supply - our immediate problem is less about providing energy to those who need...
India is the world's most populous democracy. And they have a problem: a growing economy and a growing middle class that have needs and wants more akin to what we see in the United States than in other parts of...
After Jimmy Carter went after the Bush administration this weekend - more agressively than probably any ex-president has gone after a sitting president - the administration is responding in kind. According to White House spokesman Tony Fratto, Carter is "irrelevant"...
Almost a week after Jerry Falwell's death, the New York Times runs a piece this morning on the changing nature of the modern evangelical. Whereas Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and those like them are all about fire and brimestone,...
On Face the Nation this morning, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) suggested that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will resign before a Democrat-sponsored no-confidence vote could occur in the Senate. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plan to introduce a no-confidence...
Ethanol from corn is basically a bad idea. It takes as much energy to make the ethanol as the ethanol generates. Sugarcane, though, has more sugar and it's easier to extract. Which is why Brazil has been successful with ethanol....
Michael Moore's new documentary on healthcare in the United States - Sicko - was warmly received at Cannes. The Bush administration, though, is all over Moore for a trip to Cuba with sick 9/11 workers. And it's ongoing. But the...
In an interview with the BBC, Jimmy Carter called President Bush's foreign policy the worst of any president in history. He also condemns Blair for being subservient to Bush, and giving the invasion of Iraq a patina of legitimacy by...
Eugene Robinson is the one of the best, most insightful contributors to the Washington Post op-ed section. Today's piece by Robinson is a case in point. He takes Gonzales to task for his many sins, and marvels at the fact...
There are about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. That's still at least 50,000 below the estimate General Shinseki gave Congress before the invasion (his words were "several hundred thousand soldiers" would be necessary to maintain "post-hostilities control" in Iraq). At...
While the President continues to have "full confidence" in Alberto Gonzales as his Attorney General, op-ed pages around the country disagree. Dallas Morning News, May 17, 2007: If you had any doubts about whether Alberto Gonzales has the professional judgment...
I think I'm going to be sick. For real this time. According to Think Progress, Bill Frist is being floated as a candidate for World Bank president. And yes, that's the same Senator Frist who adopted, killed, and dissected cats...
Want to be embarrassed as an American? Watch Bush in action, evading answering a reporter's question about whether or not he ordered former Chief of Staff Andy Card and then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to the bedside of a...
With Wolfowitz out the door, the question in my mind is, what about Fredo? How many more days does he have? The President clearly intends to extend his own stay in fantasy land with the latest statement from the White...
Finally. Wolfowitz is out. He'll stick around through June, and then he's gone. Yesterday, he was trying to work it in such a way that he would resign if the board announced they had cleared him of wrong doing. Didn't...
A new report by the McKinsey Global Institute says the U.S. can reduce energy consumption by a third in residential buildings if we increase adoption of existing energy-efficient technologies, like compact flourescents and high efficiency appliances. But as the study...
Those of us who know anything about military history have known all along that the idea of a "surge" in Iraq is just a study in ridiculous wordplay. What Bush instituted this spring is an escalation, not a temporary influx...
This could be huge. Yesterday, as part of the Clinton Climate Initiative, Bill Clinton announced a program to help significantly reduce carbon emissions in 16 major cities around the world. How will they do it? 5 banks - ABN AMRO,...
On Wednesday, organic farmers testified before the House Agriculture committee, asking for their fair share of the money that gets handed out every year as part of the Farm Bill - $25 billion alone to industrial farmers who grow commodity...
At a mayor's summit in New York yesterday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on the world's mayors to take the lead in fighting global warming. According to Bloomberg, the cities of the world are responsible for 80% of the world's greenhouse...
File this under "Kids get the funniest things." Or something. Over in the land of Lincoln, a 30 year old father got his 10 month old son a gun permit. For the 12-gauge Beretta shotgun the boy's grandfather bought him....
According to the Guardian, Tony Blair hopes to convince George Bush to get his act together on global warming at the upcoming G8 summit. Working with Germany, the British hope to get not only the United States, but also China...
What a mess Paul Wolfowitz has created for himself. And he just keeps wallowing in it. Talk about a petulant child. Why does he want to stay at the World Bank so badly? It's clear that he's lost the confidence...
Jerry Falwell died this morning in his office at Liberty University. He was 73. A powerful, if hysterical, voice of the Christian right, he founded Liberty University in 1971, and founded the Moral Majority in 1979. After the terrorist attacks...
Yesterday, 18 House Democrats - all Catholics - issued a statement objecting to the Pope's contention that any Catholic politician who supports a woman's right to choose should be excommunicated from the church. From the statement: We are concerned with...
Like a petulant child, whose parents have told him he needs to clean up his room, Bush continues to delay the inevitable. But instead of dragging his feet on cleaning his room at his parent's request, Bush is dragging his...
Okay, I'll admit it. I once voted for a Republican. That would have been a vote for Fred Upton, a Congressional representative from southwestern Michigan's 6th District, in 1992. Mr. Upton was a Republican in the classic sense. He was...
A Washington Post editorial praises Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) for his plan to combat global warming, which is described in some detail on his presidential campaign Web site. He proposes a carbon tax on corporations - a bold move by...
A New York Times piece today, entitled Ground Zero Illnesses Clouding Giuliani's Legacy, delves into the Giuliani administration's culpability for the health problems thousands of Ground Zero workers are now experiencing. Over 8,000 city workers - police, firemen and others...
Not only that, he apparently hates Jeff Spicoli... Art and politics collide at event: Before the Illinois senator spoke Tuesday night at a Richmond art gallery to about 500 Democrats, an Obama advance woman asked the gallery to cover one...
In an expansive interview on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Senator Barack Obama said that, as president, he would support "rolling back the Bush tax cuts on the top 1 percent of people who don't need it." See this New...
I like the New York Times editorial pages. Good editorials, and good writers. I look forward to reading Frank Rich every week on Sunday, in particular. He is an insightful critic of the Bush administration. And he knows his facts....
What else can you call someone who poisons the Justice Department with political and religious based hiring practices? Lots of things, I guess, but not things I want to say here. The New York Times reports today on the nefarious...
Yes, that's right, it's that time of the week again... Time for Friday video fun. Here's a must see Daily Show clip on the "MessO'Potamia." About half way through, he goes after Cheney: "Would you look at him? He can't...
Earlier this week, NPR reported on a trend that is worrying the army. As we saw in Vietnam, more battle-tested captains are resigning their commissions as the Iraq war continues. Depending on who you ask, 13 to 25% of captains...
Swept in on a populace campaign with the support of Brit Pop stars and a feeling that Britannia was rising again, Tony Blair announced this week that he would step down in June from his post as Prime Minister, the...
Gonzales: 'I Haven't Really Thought About' Habeas Corpus That's right, the fucking Attorney General of the Unites States "hasn't really thought about" one of the basic tenets of our legal system and whether it should apply to prisoners held on...
The New York Times reports today on Pope Benedict's arrival in Brazil. He wasted no time in calling for politicians who support a woman's right to choose to be excommunicated (if they're catholic). While Mexico City recently legalized abortion, Brazil...
That's right. It's Bono's birthday. Again. The global poverty activist and front man for U2 turns 47 today. I still remember when Joshua Tree came out... and I'm not afraid to say I loved that record. But even more interesting...
Two new ads from the Richardson campaign. Kind of funny:...
A lot of talk about habeas corpus today. And the fact that the Congress and the President did an ignoble thing when they took it away. The New York Times and the Washington Post urge the Democrats in Congress to...
VoteVets.org, an organization of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that opposes the war in Iraq, is starting an ad campaign today. The ads feature ex-generals, like John Batiste, who oppose the current direction in Iraq. From the VoteVets site: VoteVets.org is...
Conservatives often confuse me. Well, modern conservatives anyways. I am not sure how to read this bizarre posting on The Jawa Report (great name, by the way): "Hopefully, Sarkozy can keep his momentum and grand vision for France going...
Yes, even the most articulate among us sometimes say stupid shit. This week it was Obama's turn. In a typically rousing speech, Barack Obama overstated the number of deaths in the Kansas tornado tragedy days ago. "In case you missed...
At the outset of a weeklong trip to the Middle East, Vice President Dick Cheney stopped in Baghdad to meet with Iraqi leaders. No word on exactly what was discussed when Cheney met with Maliki, but it's likely he used...
Yesterday, Governor Martin O'Malley (D-MD) signed a bill into law that requires a living wage for all employees at companies that do business with the state. The Maryland state minimum wage is currently $6.15, and this law will raise it...
European countries have a deal for Wolfowitz and the U.S.: If Wolfowitz resigns quietly, the European World Bank members won't make a fuss about the U.S. selecting a new president of the Bank....
On Monday, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) made his first campaign stop in Michigan. In a speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Obama took the U.S. auto industry to task for paying too little attention to building efficient cars, and too...
In a sober editorial yesterday, the LA Times called for an exit from Iraq. It is the largest paper in the country - with circulation over 800,000 - to call for withdrawal. In the coming weeks and months, we will...
Not a good day for Paul Wolfowitz, head of the World Bank. Not only did the World Bank committee investigating Mr. Wolfowitz affirm that there was a conflict of interest in how he handled the transfer, promotion, and pay raise...
If you're talking about how to provide energy to the people of Rwanda, that smell might be methane. Which Rwanda has a lot of, at the bottom of Lake Kivu, according to this BBC News article: ... the lake is...
Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) turns 75 today. With more than 34 years in the Senate, and over 13,000 floor votes under his belt, Domenici is the second most senior Republican in the Senate - and fifth among all Senators. He...
A devastating tornado almost wiped Greensburg, Kansas off the map this weekend. The town's entire main street was destroyed, and 8 residents have been confirmed dead so far. Emergency response will be slowed, though, because of the National Guard's involvement...
While the Republican party and conservatism in general are imploding here in the states, the French elected Nicolas Sarkozy as President this weekend. The White House was ecstatic. If they can't win hearts and minds here anymore, at least the...
This past Friday, the Pentagon publicly released a report on the mental health of soldiers in Iraq. It describes a high level of combat stress among soldiers stationed in Iraq. From the New York Times article: ... the report suggested...
It's true. Everybody likes Obama. Even major Republican donors who raised lots of money for Bush in 2004....
At least, polls don't lie when they say what you want them to. If they say something you don't want them to say, you just say polls are unimportant. Everybody wins. But Newsweek has some new, important polling data that...
As part of a major intelligence bill being considered in the House, Democrats have included a measure instructing the intelligence community to produce a National Intelligence Estimate on the impacts of climate change and the global risks it will create....
We're very sad to report the loss of the great political artist, Tom Benton. Most famous for creating Hunter S. Thompson's famous poster of the double-thumbed fist clutching a peyote button, he created a series of images for the "Aspen...
Forbes released its annual survey of CEO compensation yesterday. It covers the CEOs at the 500 biggest companies in the country. Steve Jobs came out on top, with $647 million in compensation. Which is uncanny, because that's about what I...
On Thursday, Senators Hillary Clinton and Robert Byrd introduced a measure to de-authorize the Iraq war by repealing the authority the Congress gave the president back in 2002 (Clinton voted for that authority; Byrd did not). On Tuesday, shortly after...
Rush Limbaugh: "Long after we're all dead and gone, when historians who are not yet born begin to write about this era, they're going to place George Bush in the upper echelon of presidents who had a great vision for...
Once again demonstrating his party's contempt for gay Americans, the president issued a veto threat yesterday. In what would only be the third veto in his adminstration - which tells you how much the president and his base hate gay...
There's always more Republican malfeasance going on than we can document here, but here's a sampling of Republican misdeeds worth noting this morning: - Bush Administration wants more domestic spying: In a Senate Committee hearing, National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell...
Today, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff authorized a Secret Service detail for Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). According to the Associated Press, this is the earliest a presidential candidate has ever been assigned a Secret Service detail. Good or bad,...
The Bush administration decided to take a seat at the adult table today, as Secretary Rice met with her Syrian counterpart, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem. It was a short meeting - 30 minutes - but it was the first significant...
Back in late April, Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced a bill that would force U.S. commanders to begin withdrawing forces if the Iraqis don't meet certain benchmarks within four months. The benchmarks are based on six criteria that President Bush...
This is not good. Colony Collapse Disorder has spread to 27 states, with the country losing about a quarter of its honeybee population. It sounds like they're closer to identifying the culprit(s), though, and the problem is getting more attention....
Last night on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart captured the crux of the conflict of interest charges facing Paul Wolfowitz, the beleaguered president of the World Bank (and architect of the disaster in Iraq). And in less than two minutes:...
Every Monday, Rasmussen Reports releases the results of a new poll on the Democratic primary. For the first time this election cycle, Rasmussen released poll results that show Obama overtaking Clinton. Obama barely squeaked ahead with 32% versus Clinton's 30%....
Word from the front is that the insurgents have launched a bit of a surge to meet our own, which reminds us at POLJUNK of Newton's Third Law of Physics: Every Action has an Equal and Opposite Reaction. While I...
An Interior Department official, slated to testify before Congress next week, submitted her resignation today. Julie MacDonald, formerly the deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, is in hot water for her role in pressuring scientists to change research...
From the New York Times: Gov. Eliot Spitzer proposed legislation on Friday that would make New York the second state in the country to legally sanction same-sex marriage, fulfilling a longtime pledge to supporters of gay rights. Will New York...
From 1995 to 2000, Dick Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton. While he was in charge, Halliburton was doing a lot of business with Iran. In fact, as CEO, Cheney spoke out against sanctions on Iran - sanctions put in...
Yesterday was Willie Nelson's 74th birthday, and there's no sign that he is slowing down. He performed at Coachella on Sunday, beat a marijuana possession charge earlier in the month, and is the most recognizable advocate for using biodiesel fuel....
Yesterday, Americans United for Change unfurled a "Mission Accomplished?" banner in front of the White House, to mark today as the 4 year anniversary of President Bush's "victory in Iraq" speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Brad Woodhouse of Americans...
Today is May 1st. Which you probably already knew. But it's also the four year anniversary of President Bush's declaration of the end of major combat operations in Iraq beneath a "Mission Accomplished" banner. On an aircraft carrier, in the...
