Outside the Beltway

Cory Booker, Michael Bloomberg, and Chris Christie have been in the news this week due to the political fallout over their handling of the East Coast blizzard.

Is Jon Stewart the next Edward R. Murrow? No.

Might Rudy do better in 2012 than he did in 2008?

The repeal of DADT may open the doors for ROTC to return to many elite institutions, if cost doesn’t get in the way.

Washington D.C.’s 34 year-old Metro system is about to become the latest stage for Security Theater.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he isn’t running for President, but he’s sure acting like a guy who’s at least thinking about it.

Less than expulsion, but more than a slap on the wrist. The House Ethics Committee recommends that New York Congressman be censured for cheating on his taxes and breaking the rules of Congress.

Vice-President Joe Biden’s motorcade has been involved in at least five crashes.

In yet another move designed to take the fun out of being a kid, San Francisco has banned the Happy Meal.

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg thinks a President independent of either political party would be a good idea. Is he right?

Jim Treacher has coined a new term, Oprahturfing, to describe wealthy celebrities funding attendance at political rallies. While clever, the concept of “Astroturfing” is being misused by both sides.

Responding to the rant that got Rick Sanchez fired, Slate’s Brian Palmer investigates the question, “Do Jews Really Control the Media?” His short answer, “Maybe the movies, but not the news.”

A Vanity Fair piece imagines what John Lennon’s life would have been like had he survived an assassin’s bullet.

A staffer for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss left a threatening slur on an Internet discussion of the right of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military.

The Army and its officer corps are becoming increasingly Southern and rural. Is this a bad thing? If so, what can we do about it?

Ok, Saudi Arabia has less freedom than the US. Why do some people think that should form the basis of an argument about appropriate behavior in the US?

The guy who ran George W. Bush’s campaign and the Republican National Committee has realized after only 43 years that he likes dudes.

Glenn Greenwald argues that the “Ground Zero Mosque” debate is about more than just a “mosque” near Ground Zero. He’s right, but that also means the debate is likely to get uglier.

Steve Emerson has reportedly found 13 hours of tape of Cordoba Initiative chairman Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and found him to be a “radical extremist cleric who cloaks himself in sheep’s clothing.” Does it matter?

Some Republicans are start to wonder if it’s such a good idea for their party to be so closely associated with the heated rhetoric surrounding the future of this former Burlington Coat Factory.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, appearing on San Francisco’s KCBS radio, called for an investigation in the efforts to stop the building of a Muslim cultural center at the hallowed Burlington Coat Factory location blocks from Ground Zero.

Given public opinion on the proposed Islamic community center that is currently cominating the news, we would expect that opposition to the project would be strongest in Manhattan itself.

How did the future of this former Burlington Coat Factory turn into a national political issue ? Well, it’s a rather interesting story.

Renowned author Ray Bradbury hates big government but wants it to fund the colonization of Mars. That a man of his intelligence and insight can hold such diametrically opposed thoughts is an amusing reminder of the limits of human rationality.

The GOP is playing a dangerous game with the anti-Islamic rhetoric that it seems to be courting these days.

President Obama’s decision to speak out on the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” has turned what was a hot-button cable news item into a political issue that even his fellow Democrats don’t want to deal with.

Steve Slater, the JetBlue sky waiter whose recent meltdown became a viral sensation, wants his old job back.

Are government imposed mandates making it impossible for businesses to justify hiring new workers?

The United States Congress is starting to resemble a grade-school playground.

Charles Rangel, who recently stepped aside as Chairman of House Ways And Means Committee, is facing ethics charges.

Newt Gingrich says that because there are no churches in Riyadh, we shouldn’t allow a mosque in New York.

Sarah Palin tweeted, and took the wrong side in a story that doesn’t even deserve to be a controversy.

“It’s illogical to hunt a species to extinction.” – Spock