Do the Feds Need the Power to Wiretap the Internet?
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:28 am PDT
 The Atlantic Wire - In a move that's frightening privacy advocates, federal officials want to expand their authority to wiretap e-mails, Facebook accounts and other Internet services. Authorities argue that criminals are increasingly communicating online and merely monitoring their phone activity isn't sufficient. As the New York Times' Charlie Savage reports: Full Story | Top |
Is There No Good Choice for Califonia's Senate Seat?
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 05:43 am PDT
 The Atlantic Wire - One of California's largest—and notably left-leaning—newspapers has given GOP candidate Carly Fiorina a significant boost in her bid to unseat entrenched incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. The San Francisco Chronicle issued an a rare non-endorsement in the increasingly tight California Senate race, saying that Boxer has "failed to distinguish herself during her 18 years in office," while hedging that Fiorina's conservative agenda "would undermine this nation's need to move forward on addressing serious issues such as climate change, health care and immigration." Though the paper's editorial board was hardly favorable to the Republican challenger, its ringing non-endorsement was more an indictment of Barbara Boxer's "failure" rather than an assessment of the former Hewlett-Packard CEO. Pundits, who were generally surprised by the editorial, parsed its electoral implications.'Narcissistic' Move by the SF Chronicle contends Tim Cavanaugh at Reason. "If you can't get behind either Republocrat you should just run a box saying 'NO ENDORSEMENT,' or -- dare we say it? -- endorse a third party candidate. To the degree endorsements provide any service to the reader, the service is advice about the options in an election. A non-endorsement endorsement is like a tour book that tells you there's nothing to do where you're going."This Will 'Cost' Boxer a Fourth Term in Senate sarcastically relays The Daily Mail's Don Surber. "I have been writing editorials for 20+ years. You don’t kick a three-term senator to the curb without great deliberation. This is better for Carly Fiorina than an endorsement would be. It is a liberal choking on 18 years of elitist liberalism of an insufferable, self-absorbed Queen of Mean."The Chronicle's Decision Is 'Absurd' writes Robert Cruickshank at San Francisco's alternative online daily BeyondChron.org. Cruickshank defends Boxer's Senate record stating that her time in office has "generally been spent under an extreme right-wing majority in Congress, an extreme right-wing President, or both. Of Boxer's 18 years in Congress, only 6 of them came with a Democratic Congressional majority, and only 4 have come with a Democratic president. From 1995 to 2007, Boxer had to contend with Republicans who absolutely refused to make any deals with Democrats unless Democrats sold out their constituents and agreed to support a far-right agenda." He found the Chronicle's rationale for their non-endorsement "contradictory and ignorant of key facts, producing an outcome that lacks basic intellectual credibility."Chronicle 'Goes As Far as It Can to Support Fiorina' ventures Red State's Moe Lane. It's important to remember, the blogger reminds us, that "an endorsement of the Republican candidate for Senate by the San Francisco Chronicle would be about as likely as my being able to get to the Moon by jumping up and down on the ground hard enough. What they did instead was to give as strong a statement about Carly’s technical campaign skills as possible…then helpfully noting Carly’s (actually mostly mainstream) conservative positions."The Paper 'Isn't as Liberal' as Many SF Residents, but a reigning incumbent Democrat like Boxer still should have been able to garner an endorsement, observes Kerry Picket at The Washington Times. The Chronicle makes the case that "she did not make herself available enough to her constituents and only won elections because her opponents were underfunded and not terribly talented candidates." Needless to say, this may hurt come election day: "If this is the amount of excitement coming from Ms. Boxer's own liberal base, one can hardly imagine what kind of turnout Senator Boxer can expect in November." Full Story | Top |
Are the Tables Tilted Against Women on Wall Street?
Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:42 am PDT
 The Atlantic Wire - Why are there so few women in finance and other fields, and how should this best be addressed? The Goldman Sachs class-action gender discrimination lawsuit, filed by three former female employees, is raising these questions amid a larger debate. For many, the firm represents the ultimate in a Wall Street boys club mentality--a place where go-getter networking ability, stereotypically male aggression, and an appreciation of scotch, sports, and sheer stockings might pay off. At the same time, Goldman has been at the forefront of the effort to diversify Wall Street, particularly with regard to gender. Full Story | Top |
How Health Care Will Determine the Midterms
Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:01 am PDT
 The Atlantic Wire - Six months to the day after President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats passed health care reform, the policy is returning to the political main stage. Obama and Democrats are seeking to campaign on the sweeping and popular legislation, Republicans are running against it as too costly and are attempting to channel Tea Party challenges to the law's legality. Republicans have long promised to repeal health care reform, several key provisions of which go into effect today. Here's the political battle and what it means the midterms as well as health care. Full Story | Top |
How Likely Is California to Legalize Pot?
Thu, 23 Sep 2010 05:40 am PDT
 The Atlantic Wire - Marijuana is up for legalization in California this November. Will the measure--Proposition 19--pass? New numbers from Public Policy Polling are favorable: 47% to 38%. But there are a couple of quirks and complicating factors in this vote. Full Story | Top |
Conservatives Amused by Planned Liberal Rally
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:42 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - Hoping to steal the spotlight away from the Tea Parties and Glenn Beck, some 300 liberal groups are descending on Washington this Saturday for a rally. The event, dubbed "One Nation Working Together," aims to faithfully represent America's "embattled middle class." Full Story | Top |
R.I.P. Political Establishment
Mon, 20 Sep 2010 10:00 pm PDT
RealClearPolitics.com - The big story of American politics stretches from the netroots to Barack Obama's victory to the tea party movement. The political establishment's reign has finally ended. Full Story | Top |
North Korea and the perils of a third Kim regime
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 01:06 pm PDT
The Christian Science Monitor - During the long rule of North Korea by one family, the capital of Pyongyang has been built for grand gestures. Its wide boulevards, giant stadiums, and tall monuments offer up illusions of power and majesty. Residents are not allowed pets. Bicycles are few. Each day workers march to their offices and then back to sterile apartment blocks. Full Story | Top |
The Fifty Most Influential Progressives of the Twentieth Century
Thu, 16 Sep 2010 10:50 am PDT
The Nation - The Nation -- A hundred years ago, any soapbox orator who called for women's suffrage, laws protecting the environment, an end to lynching, workers' right to form unions, a progressive income tax, a federal minimum wage, old-age insurance, the eight-hour workday and government-subsidized healthcare would be considered an impractical utopian dreamer or a dangerous socialist. Full Story | Top |
IT WAS NOT POLITICIANS WHO 'TOOK OUR COUNTRY'
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 04:55 pm PDT
Richard Reeves - WASHINGTON -- More than 30 years ago, Martin and Susan Tolchin wrote a book called "To the Victor," about political patronage in the days when the mayor of Chicago could hand out jobs as city sewer workers or even cops and firefighters. Looking back, that volume reads like "Goodnight Moon." Full Story | Top |
Conservative editors spar over GOP ‘Pledge’ report
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 02:59 pm PDT
The Upshot - Daily Caller editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson followed up on Friday's report the House Republicans "prearranged" a National Review editorial supporting the "Pledge to America" with a provocative question on Monday. "Why won't National Review explain how it coordinated with the GOP establishment?" he asked. National Review editor Rich Lowry has now explained the supposed "coordination" on [...] Full Story | Top |
'Tea party' is rejuvenating American politics
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:20 am PDT
The Christian Science Monitor - The "tea party" movement has a lot more going for it than a rightward shift in electoral preferences. It's restoring competition to congressional seats long dominated by incumbents. It's forcing the public to confront the toll of the Democratic Party's alliance with public-sector unions on America's fiscal health. And, for a conservative in Massachusetts like me, it means elected officials and candidates will take my views more seriously. Full Story | Top |
Richard Dawkins Responds to Papal Attack on Atheists
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:12 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - "Ratzinger is an enemy of humanity," declares famous scientist and outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins. In a speech republished as an edited, 1683-word piece in the Guardian, Dawkins attacks the pope's swipes at atheism while visiting the United Kingdom. Pope Benedict suggested that atheism was responsible for some 20th-century atrocities, including those of the Third Reich. Dawkins's rebuttal is fierce and provocative. Here are the highlights. Full Story | Top |
Should Congress regulate political ad money?
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:11 am PDT
The Christian Science Monitor - Yes: Voters have every right to follow the moneyTransparency of money is the cornerstone of free and fair elections. Transparency is the bedrock against special interests trying to buy favors from officeholders. It allows the public to monitor whether official favors and privileges are being doled out to those paying for campaign ads. Full Story | Top |
What's Driving Wal-Mart's African Expansion?
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 10:52 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - Wal-Mart took its aggressive approach to international expansion to new heights Monday, entering a $4.2 billion bid for South African retailer Massmart. Currently South Africa's third biggest retailer with a presence in 13 other sub-Saharan countries, Massmart's base of operations offers the Arkansas-based retailer the ability to rapidly make in-roads on the continent. Similarly aggressive expansion has paid dividends for the company in China and Brazil. Will Africa yield the same results? A sampling of opinions: Full Story | Top |
Why 'The Social Network' Is the Film of the Year
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 10:27 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - A 'Work of Art,' writes David Denby at The New Yorker. "The portrait of Zuckerberg is many-sided and ambiguous; no two viewers will see him in quite the same way. The debate about the movie’s accuracy has already begun, but Fincher and Sorkin, selecting from known facts and then freely interpreting them, have created a work of art. Accuracy is now a secondary issue... 'The Social Network' is shrewdly perceptive about such things as class, manners, ethics, and the emptying out of self that accompanies a genius’s absorption in his work. It has the hard-charging excitement of a very recent revolution, the surge and sweep of big money moving fast and chewing people up in its wake." Full Story | Top |
Zero-Carbon City of Masdar: A Model for the Future?
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 10:19 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - Masdar, a sci-fi like, sustainable city being planned in the U.A.E. promises to be the next big step in responsible city planning. Or, from a different perspective, another self-indulgent experiment for the wealthy. Despite Masdar's promise, most folks are leaning toward the latter view. The Times' Nicolai Ouroussoff describes the project: Full Story | Top |
Happy Hour Vid: The 'Lowest Response' Anderson Cooper Has Ever Heard
Mon, 27 Sep 2010 09:57 am PDT
The Atlantic Wire - It takes a lot to ruffle the usually unflappable Anderson Cooper on his own show, but Renee Ellmers, a Republican House candidate in North Carolina managed to do just that when she was interviewed by the CNN host last Friday night. In discussing her latest campaign ad, a 30-second spot that strongly denounces the Islamic community center near Ground Zero, Cooper takes the candidate to task for interchangeably using the words "Muslim" and "terrorist" in the video and asked her to clarify. This discussion quickly devolved into the validity of the political shock ad's assertion that Muslims traditionally built "victory mosques" on the cities they conquered and that "they" now want to do so on the site of the 9/11 attacks. Full Story | Top |
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