OTB Radio – Tonight at 5:30 Eastern
The next episode of OTB Radio, our BlogTalkRadio program, will record and air live from 5:30-6:30 Eastern. VodkaPundit's Stephen Green is tentatively scheduled to join Dave Schuler and me to talk about the Tea Party protests, Joe Wilson's outburst, the ACORN scandal, and various other items in the news. If Steve can't make it, blame it on Jimmy Carter. [UPDATE: No ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on September 16, 2009 17:01
Innocent Person’s Right Not to Be Executed
Though I follow a number of lawblogs, I missed a rather interesting Supreme Court decision until reading about it on the blog of entrepreneur Mark Cuban. For reasons understandable to those who follow Cuban, he has a Google alert for "prosecutorial misconduct," which yields more results than one would like. It led him to Michael Dorf's FindLaw essay "Did ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 28, 2009 10:12
Mary Jo Kopechne
In my early morning Teddy Kennedy Dead at 77 media roundup post, I observed, "That the Chappaquiddick scandal didn’t make the first several paragraphs — or even first page — of several of these obits is quite remarkable. It would be like writing an obit for Richard Nixon that didn’t mention Watergate or one for Michael Jackson that glossed over ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on August 26, 2009 14:31
If You’re Gonna Play the White House, There’s Gotta be a Fiddle in the Band
"I know folks think I’m a city boy, but I do appreciate listening to country music. It’s about folks telling their life story the best way they know how." - President Barack Obama Via Norm Geras, I see that the president hosted Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley, and Charley Pride as part of the White House Summer Music series. “They grabbed the contemporary ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 22, 2009 14:22
Jimmy Carter Quits Baptists (Again)
Former President Jimmy Carter quit the Southern Baptist Convention more than eight years ago because of its refusal to ordain women as pastors (rather odd, since the policy had been in place since the early seventeenth century origins of the Baptist faith based on the example of another follow with the initials J.C.). To make sure people noticed -- since ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 21, 2009 07:58
Obama Health Care = Bush Social Security
Patrick Ruffini has used considerably fewer than 140 characters to make an interesting point: "Obama Health Care = Bush Social Security." The analogy is a strong one. You will recall that President George W. Bush, fresh off re-election in 2004 pledged to use his "political capital" to pass a major reform of the Social Security system that included a private option. Despite ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on July 20, 2009 10:15
A Tale of Two Murders
DrewM. passes on Michelle Malkin's post and column noting that the murder of abortion doctor George Tiller by a white "Christian" got scads more media commentary and more intense presidential attention than did the murder of Private William Long and maiming and attempted murder of Private Quinton Ezeagwula by a black "Muslim." It's a fair point and very much worth noting ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on June 3, 2009 15:20
Souter Retiring in June
A couple weeks back, I wrote a post called "Souter Retiring?" The speculation was apparently well founded, as several outlets are now reporting that Justice David Souter will in fact step down at the end of the current session in June. NPR's Nina Totenberg makes the interesting observation that, "At 69, Souter is nowhere near the oldest member of the court. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on May 1, 2009 05:55
Navy Shoots, Obama Scores
The juxtaposition of two headlines this morning at memeorandum was rather amusing: As it turns out, Michael Shear's "An Early Military Victory for Obama" and Shailagh Murray's "Obama's Chief of Staff Grants Access, Gets Results" are unrelated stories combined through the vagaries of automated selection algorithms. Indeed, the inside headline on the latter is actually "Give-and-Take With Emanuel Advances President's Agenda ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on April 13, 2009 06:23
Quote of the Day
"Americans fall into two distinct categories today: those who remember how devastating the policies of Jimmy Carter were, and those who are about to find out." - Ron Hart The column declines somewhat after that. via Nick GillespiePosted in Outside The Beltway on February 17, 2009 13:55
Obama Invokes State Secrets Privilege
Meet the new boss -- same as the old boss: In a closely watched case involving rendition and torture, a lawyer for the Obama administration seemed to surprise a panel of federal appeals judges on Monday by pressing ahead with an argument for preserving state secrets originally developed by the Bush administration. In the case, Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian native, and four ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 10, 2009 08:03
Pragmatic Conservatism?
Andrew Sullivan has a powerful piece on the state of American conservatism, especially its alliance with the Republican Party. Two key excerpts from a very long piece: In contemporary America, the right is now in an almost parodic state of ideology. There isn't just a rigid set of beliefs, indifferent to any time or place (e.g. tax cuts are right in ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on February 5, 2009 14:15
Troubled Times? Compared to What?
In response to my comment about Barack Obama taking office during "troubled times," Charles Austin retorts: Not to diminish or belittle the very real problems for folks who find themselves on the wrong side of the various bubbles out there, but if these are troubled times, then we really do have it pretty good. Has everyone forgotten the late sixties ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 17, 2008 15:13
Obama TIME Person of the Year 2008
In its quadrennial no-brainer, TIME has named Barack Obama its Person of the Year. Oddly, it takes several paragraphs of throat clearing to get to anything like making a case for the choice: As Obama has moved with unprecedented speed to build an Administration that would bolster the confidence of a shaken world, his flash and dazzle have faded ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 17, 2008 11:10
Pulling Out: Debating Middle East Disengagement (Affirmative)
On January 23, 1980 President Jimmy Carter enunciated what became known as the Carter Doctrine. He stated, "An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including ...Posted in Outside The Beltway on December 15, 2008 12:52
