Mother Jones Nov 3, 08 3:34 AM CST
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When President Bush leaves Washington in January, many of his appointees won't be going with him, Daniel Schulman writes in Mother Jones . Administration workers are "burrowing in," arranging to trade their political positions for cushy career jobs, even though many were unqualified when hired. They ensure that the civil service will be seeded "with ideologues whose influence may be felt for decades to come," Schulman warns.
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OPINION
The economic hole is deep, and 'we're all in it together': Pearlstein
Washington Post Sep 30, 08 1:47 PM CDT
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If people understood how bad the financial situation is, there would be less hostility toward the bailout, writes Steven Pearlstein in the Washington Post . Americans haven't owned up to having helped create the credit bubble that is now deflating, and Wall Streeters haven't owned up to their "greed, arrogance, and incompetence," either. Because of that standoff, we're all about to see just how deep a hole we are in.
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Operators will be made to pass qualification exams in wake of fatal accidents
Associated Press Sep 18, 08 4:24 PM CDT
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Crane operators will be made to pass certification tests, the AP reports, as the US Department of Labor, reacting to a number of deadly crane accidents this year, moved to make written and performance assessments mandatory in every state. In the first update since 1971, the tests will measure safety awareness, crane assembly/disassembly and operation near power lines. Only 15 states currently require crane operator qualification.
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OPINION
Laws designed to force public to choose healthy options is 'Orwellian'
Reason Magazine Aug 9, 08 9:57 AM CDT
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Under the banner of what’s good for you, an insidious new trend is growing. “Coercive paternalism,” Steve Chapman writes in Reason , is the wrong-minded older sibling of the much-in-vogue “libertarian paternalism” responsible for dietary information in chain restaurants. “Libertarian paternalists … limit themselves to promoting informed choices,” Chapman writes. “Coercive paternalists have a simpler approach: telling us what to do.”
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Berlusconi's pleas for patriotism fall on deaf ears
Bloomberg Jul 4, 08 5:33 PM CDT
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Fed up with government efforts to resuscitate Alitalia, many Italians think Rome needs to face reality and let the airline die, Bloomberg reports. PM Silvio Berluconi characterizes Alitalia’s survival as “a matter of national security,” but it hasn't turned a profit in nearly a decade. The latest plan for Alitalia is a restructuring scheme by Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s second-largest bank.
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OPINION
Morass of competing parties and gridlock mirrors US system
Wall Street Journal Jul 3, 08 12:37 PM CDT
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We’re having an entertaining campaign season, Daniel Henninger allows in the Wall Street Journal , but the US' fundamental political system is in deep trouble: “It’s an open question whether we have one, or are losing the one we’ve got.” He finds a microcosm in the World Trade Center rebuilding effort, “arguably the greatest political and bureaucratic fiasco in the history of the world.”
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People very much alive struggle to convince Social Security they're alive
MSNBC Mar 1, 08 9:08 AM CST
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It's not easy being dead—just ask Laura Todd. The Tennessee woman is one of an estimated 12,000 people a year the government declares dead—often because of a typo in the Social Security database—when they're still very much alive, MSNBC reports. The error can create a financial mess and is just shy of impossible to correct.
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Blair complains that any UK pol who cites God
is considered 'a nutter'
Daily Telegraph (UK) Nov 25, 07 6:18 PM CST
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Soon-to-be-Catholic Tony Blair has confessed that faith was "hugely important" in decisions he made as Britain's prime minister, and he wished he could, like President Bush, have been open about it at the time. But Britons are suspicious of religion, Blair said in a TV interview reported in the Telegraph . "You talk about it in our system and, frankly, people do think you're a nutter."
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Streets quiet over civil war fears as sides negotiate
Wall Street Journal Nov 22, 07 5:40 PM CST
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Lebanon's parties failed to pick a new president today, leaving them 24 hours to find a replacement before President Emile Lahoud's term ends, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lahoud has said the army chief may take over if sides remain deadlocked tomorrow at midnight—a turn that could spark blocs to pick their own candidates and set off civil war, officials fear.
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Anti-war mom threatens to challenge Speaker's House seat
Associated Press Jul 9, 07 4:46 AM CDT
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Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan declared her intention to challenge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her congressional seat yesterday unless the top-ranking Democrat draws up articles of impeachment against President Bush. "Democrats and Americans feel betrayed by the Democratic leadership," said Sheehan. "We hired them to bring an end to the war."
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Resignation, impeachment the only options, argues Olbermann
MSNBC Jul 4, 07 6:40 AM CDT
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MSNBC's Keith Olbermann came out swinging last night, demanding the resignation of both the president and VP—"two men who are now perilous to our democracy." Drawing on both John Wayne and James Madison, the anchor donned his commentator hat to contend that commuting Scooter Libby's sentence was the final straw in a string of baldly partisan actions.
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New York Times May 6, 07 9:07 PM CDT
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With Tony Blair about to step down, Alan Cowell considers the departing PM's most important accomplishments and failures. The former: moving Britain’s poiltical center of gravity away from Margaret Thatcher’s rugged individualism and toward a more compassionate society.
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Himalayan kingdom
not sold on the ride
or the mileage
International Herald Tribune Apr 24, 07 3:28 PM CDT
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The tiny Buddhist nation of Bhutan held a mock election Saturday in preparation for the transition from monarchy to democracy set for next year. The yellow thunder dragon defeated its blue, green, and red counterparts in the vote, a test run for the latest reform advocated by modernization-minded King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who plans to abdicate.
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Candidates charge fraud; observers say polling should be repeated
BBC Apr 23, 07 7:21 AM CDT
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Opposition candidates in Nigeria’s presidential elections have rejected the results of Saturday’s voting, accusing the governing party of fraud. Foreign observers concur that the polling was faulty, with violence, intimidation, missing ballot boxes, and even abduction and murder of electoral officials and the police officers escorting them the BBC reports.
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Officials court support by permitting calls for political reform
New York Times Apr 20, 07 12:26 PM CDT
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It's spring in China, and calls for democracy are in bloom, the New York Times reports. Articles are about the need for political reform are being published—even encouraged—and leaders are promising openness. But the outburst of rhetoric has more to do with the political calendar than with an inclination toward change.
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