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Nowhere was Tea Party Congressman Joe Walsh’s decision not to seek re-election in the 8th Congressional district mourned more noticeably Thursday than at a fund-raiser for his would-be successor, Democrat Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth and her supporters — including President Barack Obama’s chief political strategist David Axelrod — hoisted Walsh’s image at Fulton’s on the River … Continue reading
The tantalizing possibility of of life on Mars, our planetary neighbor, has been a cultural fixation going back at least as far as the publication of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds in 1898. If they were out there, what would they be like? Who would they be? As the saying goes, we’ve met … Continue reading
When the Supreme Court rejected Troy Davis’ request for a delay in his execution Wednesday night, there were no noted dissents attached to the one-sentence order. But that does not mean there were no justices opposed to the execution. The vote count might forever remain unknown. No member of the court currently believes that the … Continue reading
Once again, Republicans held a presidential debate on Thursday night. And once again, the live audience helped give the party a black eye. The debate, which took place in Orlando, Fla., and aired on Fox News, included questions from a panel of Fox personalities and from voters, who were invited to submit theirs through YouTube. … Continue reading
Over the past decade-and-a-half a variety of social-networking sites have risen only to fall shortly thereafter. Friendster is shorthand for this cycle but it’s not alone: Geocities, SixDegrees, MySpace, and LiveJournal followed similar trajectories. After a period of dominance, their empires ended with the barbarians at the gates. Some of those communities still exist today, … Continue reading
Twitter, which just got into the advertising business last year, will start selling political ads this week. An example of a promoted political tweet, from Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. The ads will appear as Promoted Tweets, which come up under certain search terms or in the timeline of Twitter users who follow a political campaign. … Continue reading
As a convoy of Swiss and Omani diplomats rolled through the gates of Tehran’s Evin Prison on Wednesday afternoon, the relieved families of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, the American hikers held behind its gates for the past 26 months, were preparing to welcome them home — a reunion further delayed this week by a … Continue reading
Voters in at least one Illinois congressional district will have to choose between two Republican incumbents next year after Representative Joe Walsh announced Wednesday that he will seek re-election in a new district, pitting him against a fellow Republican, Representative Randy Hultgren, in a primary. Mr. Walsh, a darling of the Tea Party and a … Continue reading
The surprise defeat in the House Wednesday of a special funding measure to keep the federal government functioning past Sept. 30 was a sharp rebuke of the GOP leadership that controls the chamber and a testament to the fragility of the majority itself. The rejection of the measure resurrected the specter of a government shutdown … Continue reading
[Editress’ Note: “The law says ‘reasonable doubt,’ but I think a defendant’s entitled to the shadow of a doubt.” -Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird] Despite evidence that threw into question the veracity of Troy Davis’ conviction, pleas from a former president and the Pope, and even a last-minute review by the US Supreme Court on … Continue reading
Remember Rick Santorum? (He is running for president.) Well, in some Rick Santorum “news” of the oddly sourced variety, we learn that the former Pennsylvania senator has “contacted Google” to try to deal with his well known “Google problem.” I say “oddly sourced” because here is the Politico article about it, and as you can see, the headline … Continue reading
A House Republican freshman on Tuesday night called on the federal government to step up enforcement of U.S. immigration laws, and said removing illegal aliens is one way to create needed jobs for Americans. “There is a surefire way to create jobs now for American citizens,” Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) said on the House floor. … Continue reading
When the Obama administration wanted to be certain that Congress would not block $50 million in new aid to thePalestinian Authority last month, it turned to a singularly influential lobbyist: Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Representative Kay Granger has urged the Palestinians to resolve issues in direct talks. At the request of the American Embassy and Secretary of … Continue reading
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), a Tea Party leader, on Wednesday announced he will run from the new 14th congressional district in Illinois, setting up a potential primary with Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.) Walsh now represents the 8th district and Hultgren the 14th. By running from the 14th, Republicans are without a well known candidate in … Continue reading
President Obama’s proposal for a new tax on millionaires echoes a call in many countries struggling with budget deficits and overwhelming debts to make the wealthy pay more. Britain and France have imposed new taxes on their highest earners — and Italy, Spain, Greece and Japan are considering similar moves, despite some protests. Whether the … Continue reading
There has been no shortage of liberal discontent with the path pursued by President Barack Obama during his first few years in office. But when the discontent manifests itself (as it occasionally does) in talk of a primary challenge in 2012, the chatter usually succumbs to political reality. For all the Democratic base’s tiffs with … Continue reading
David Hall thought that he’d been careful, working diligently in his job as an Air Force sergeant, and staying quiet about his outside life, including his sexual orientation. Then, a female cadet went to his commander, with the revelation that Hall — who had been first in his ROTC pilot’s training class and long aspired … Continue reading
Dan Choi, the outspoken gay activist who was discharged from the army for revealing his sexuality, told Politico on Tuesday that he plans to re-enlist in the armed forces now that ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ is no longer law. Choi, a former army lieutenant who served in Iraq from 2006-2007, became a public face of … Continue reading
The frontrunners for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination are touting the backing of governors while keeping lawmakers on the back burner. With anti-Washington fervor playing a huge role on the campaign trail, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) have done little to court Capitol Hill, according to lawmakers interviewed for … Continue reading
President Barack Obama is back in the good graces of progressives. For now. Hours after Obama delivered a fiery speech demanding that the wealthiest Americans “pay their fair share” in taxes as part of his $4 trillion deficit-reduction plan, MoveOn.org launched a new television ad on Monday hammering in the president’s message and ripping Republicans … Continue reading
At 12:01 a.m., Sept. 20, 2011, an 18-year-old blot on America’s sense of fairness and the military’s reliance on integrity will be removed. Don’t ask don’t tell (DADT), which has been responsible for removing more than 14,500 able men and women from the armed forces because of their sexual orientation, will cease to be the … Continue reading
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt called on Washington to think big about solutions for the nation’s struggling economy calling the current emphasis on cutting spending instead of new stimulus “ludicrous.” The economy would need “not just something like the jobs bill, but also significant government stimulation in terms of buying power and investment,” said Schmidt on … Continue reading
The decision by the Republican controlled House to back and pass a plan authored by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan that would turn Medicare into a voucher system is regarded by many Democrats as a strategic error of colossal proportions. And so, it was not by accident that when President Obama addressed the need to reform … Continue reading
Israel’s most vocal supporters in the U.S. have long complained that the United Nations is a bastion of anti-Israeli sentiment, and this year’s General Assembly debate could be worse than ever. Palestinians are seeking U.N. membership as a state even though there’s no peace deal with Israel. Israel is also under diplomatic pressure from regional … Continue reading
President Obama will deliver a critical address Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly expected to be dominated by questions about Palestinian statehood. Obama’s administration will veto any request by the Palestinians for the UN Security Council to grant them a sovereign state, but the White House hopes to avoid that step. Such a vote … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 