12/21/2006

Have a nice break

We're done for the semester. In fact, I am leaving The Beacon and Boston to go intern in NYC for The Nation, so this will be my last post.

I leave you with this.

Famous physicist, Stephen Hawking, posed a question on Yahoo! answers this year.

"How can the human race survive the next hundred years?"

Surely the future of the planet, and of humanity, is the question of the day and makes any and all other issues seem trivial. Hold on tight.


Thanks for reading.

12/19/2006

Buckley v. Chomsky 1969

Old, but still relevant.

Part 1:





Part 2:

12/18/2006

Kucinich: "I fully expect to win"

The Kuc gets a little cooler with each passing day.

12/08/2006

Romney and Gays

A Mitt Romney quote from 1994, in which he says the gay and lebian community "needs more support from the Republican Party," may haunt him in his efforts to win the presidency.

12/07/2006

Minimum Wage or a Living Wage

Jonathan Tasini says the $7.25 that Democrats are proposing is not enough

"Look at the facts. The federal poverty guidelines say that a family of three is considered to be below the poverty line when it earns $16,600 or less. The Democratic Party is proposing passing legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $7.25--and take two years to get there. That hike would bring a person working full-time to a grand total of about $15,000. "

12/06/2006

Feingold on the Baker Commision

Sen. Russ Feingold's response to the Baker Commision.


“Unfortunately, the Iraq Study Group report does too little to change the flawed mind-set that led to the misguided war in Iraq. Maybe there are still people in Washington who need a study group to tell them that the policy in Iraq isn’t working, but the American people are way ahead of this report.

While the report has regenerated a few good ideas, it doesn’t adequately put Iraq in the context of a broader national security strategy. We need an Iraq policy that is guided by our top national security priority – defeating the terrorist network that attacked us on 9/11 and its allies. We can’t continue to just look at Iraq in isolation. Unless we set a serious timetable for redeploying our troops from Iraq, we will be unable to effectively address these global threats. In the end, this report is a regrettable example of ‘official Washington’ missing the point.”

12/05/2006

Kristol on the Iraq Study Group

This piece in The Weekly Standard by William Kristol and Robert Kagan takes aim at the Baker Commision's report. It is a very interesting read.

12/03/2006

McGovern's Exit Strategy

Not long ago there was a debate on this blog about George McGovern's proposed Iraq exit strategy.

It appears the debate may have reached Washington, as Katrina vanden Heuvel reports in The Nation.

"There are detailed withdrawal plans available for consideration. Each one provides a framework for finding a way out of this disaster that has disintegrated into a humanitarian catastrophe. The Congressional Progressive Caucus – the largest caucus in Congress – met last week with George McGovern, co-author of the 142-page Out of Iraq: A Practical Plan for Withdrawal Now. Written with former history professor and State Department Middle East expert, William R. Polk, the book calls for a withdrawal to be completed over approximately seven months with a subsequent massive reconstruction effort led by Iraqis and largely funded by the United States (at a far cheaper cost than maintaining the occupation). "