The hottest term in post-veto Washington is suddenly "benchmarks." If you had a dollar for every time it's been bandied about his week, you could outbid Rupert Murdoch for the Wall Street Journal.
The Republican Ten seemed to be competing over: Who would stay in Iraq the longest? Who would cut taxes the deepest? Who would jump the highest if Roe v. Wade was reversed? Read More
Benchmarks: Yet Another Bush Mirage Shimmering in the Iraqi Desert?
If you had a dollar for every time "benchmarks" have been bandied about his week, you could outbid Rupert Murdoch for the Wall Street Journal. Read More
Why Didn't George Tenet Just Resign?
Here is a plea to all Bush administration officials: If you're finding it hard to reconcile what you see going on around you with what you know to be the truth, do the right thing and resign. While it matters. Read More
These are tough times for Public Displays of Affection. First, Richard Gere's public smooch of Bollywood beauty Shilpa Shetty in New Delhi resulted in his being burned in effigy and charged with violating local obscenity laws (I can see burning him in effigy for Autumn in New York, but a kiss?). Then, this week, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came under fire for kissing the hand of his elderly former schoolteacher. Actually, the Tehran Gigolo kissed the thick gloves she was wearing, along with a headscarf and long black coat (the scalawag!). "This type of indecency progressively has grave consequences," fumed one Iranian newspaper. Progressive indecency, indeed. Next thing you know he'll admit there was a Holocaust and concede that Israel has a right to exist.
As part of the Time 100 issue, I was asked to profile Zeng Jinyan, the 22-year old dissident Chinese blogger whose writing has offered us an intimate glimpse into her country as it teeters between openness and oppression.
At long last, a prominent public figure is being punished for serial reckless behavior and the willful denial of its consequences. Unfortunately, the public figure in question is Paris Hilton.
Iraq is George Bush's war, but Tony Blair's legacy will be forever tainted by the part of it he claimed for his own. Read More
Paris, the President, and Accountability: That's Hot! At long last, a prominent public figure is being punished for serial reckless behavior and the willful denial of its consequences. Unfortunately, the public figure in question is Paris Hilton, not George W. Bush. Read More
Time 100's Zeng Jinyan: Tiananmen 2.0 By blogging truth to power in China, Zeng is hopefully planting the seeds of a new -- and true -- cultural revolution. Let a thousand blogs bloom. Read More
Here is my favorite news tidbit of the week: in the wake of the Wolfowitz scandal, blue ribbons started cropping up all around the Washington headquarters of the World Bank -- worn on lapels, taped to doors, and added to e-mails as a silent symbolic protest against Wolfowitz's behavior. Then Wolfowitz was spotted wearing one. A case of utter obliviousness? Profound self-loathing? Either way, a priceless visual. Today, of course, is Mother's Day. So happy Mother's Day to all my fellow Huffpost moms. It's now seven years since I lost mine, and for what she means to me here and here are two columns I wrote about her. And here is a bouquet of beautiful posts written for our Mother/Daughter campaign, including posts by Christine Lahti, Naomi Wolf, Jane Fonda, Erica Jong, Amy Ephron, Melinda Gates, Kate Clinton, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, Peggy Drexler, and many others. Enjoy... then call your mother.
At the moment, everyone is giving advice to the Democrats about how to beat the Republican spinmeisters. Even Republican spinmeisters.
With the release of the names of the U.S. soldiers missing in Iraq, the story has become even more tragic, and achingly personal. Their names and faces put flesh and blood on what the political battle over the war taking place is really about.
The Republican Party's relationship to democracy has become, to put it charitably, very odd. Right now, they're barely on speaking terms, and if they could just have the whole relationship annulled, they probably would.
We can add two more Bush administration names to the rapidly-expanding "coulda, woulda, shoulda, but ultimately didn't resign in indignation" list: John Ashcroft and Robert Mueller. During this week's creepy testimony from former Deputy Attorney General James Comey about how Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card made a late night visit to the hospital room of a critically ill Ashcroft to pressure him to sign-off on the renewal of the NSA spy program, came the news that Ashcroft was so uncomfortable with the program he considered resigning. But didn't. According to Comey, Top G-Man Mueller also considered resigning over the domestic surveillance program. But didn't. If only doing the right thing had the same lure as $400,000, the resignation bonus that finally got Paul Wolfowitz to call it quits.
Her broad-brush attempt to blur her shape-shifting approach to Iraq is a favorite of pro-war Democrats desperately trying to align themselves with the majority of the American people, at least until the election.
When NBC's Kelly O'Donnell asked the president last week if he'd authorized the high-ranking goon squading of Ashcroft, he refused to answer the question. Twice. Isn't that something Congress should be looking into?
I'll be interviewing Gore for a HuffPost Q & A, and I'd love to get your input on the questions you'd like him to address. So put on your best Larry King-suspenders, HuffPosters, and let us know: What do you want to ask Al Gore?
As you can see, there are some big ch-ch-ch-changes afoot at HuffPost. We'll be working throughout this Memorial Day weekend, making some exciting additions and improvements to the site. The newly-expanded Huffington Post will be up and running first thing Tuesday, May 29. In the meantime, feel free to watch us renovate -- but we can't be responsible if you step on a nail. And remember, this is only a test! If you encounter any technical problems as you check out the changes-in-progress, please e-mail our tech team at updates@huffingtonpost.com. So be sure to come back on Tuesday to see what we've been working on. And bring your friends. In the meantime, have a great Memorial Day.
When it comes to Hillary's shape-shifting stances, explanations, and votes on the war, the authors offer a definitive and chilling portrait of a politician solely driven by political expedience.
As you can see, there have been some big ch-ch-ch-changes at HuffPost. Click here to read all about the five new sections we've added, and the rest of the improvements we've made.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates took the stage together at the D Conference in what was billed as a historic reunion (the last time they had been interviewed together was in 1991). The reunion lived up to expectations.
Gore is focused on the problems of environmental and cultural pollution, but perhaps his greatest strength as a leader comes from his hard-earned ability to withstand the pollution of the soul.
