Recently in Politics Category

Given my enthusiasm for his election, I should comment on his downfall. Sad:

The cast of the scandal in Portland, Ore., has a certain ring to it: Sam Adams. Bob Ball. Beau Breedlove and his dog Lolita ... "Everyone has porn names!" says Mark Wiener with a laugh. "Until yesterday, it had never occurred to me that the worst offending name was mine." Wiener (pronounced Wee-ner) is one of Oregon's most influential political consultants and a former -- and now disheartened -- campaign adviser to the protagonist in this political soap opera. That would be Sam Adams, the new mayor of Portland and the first openly gay man to lead a major American city. Then there's Bob Ball, an openly gay local real estate developer who once had mayoral ambitions himself. In 2007, Ball hinted that Adams' mentoring relationship with a former legislative intern, Beau Breedlove (now 21), was, in fact, a sexual one that had begun when the young man was just 17.

My nephew in tow, I voted for Jim Martin in early voting today.

Blog for Democracy asks if we remember the Imperial Sugar case?

This was a Georgia industrial disaster that killed 14 people and injured over 40 in an explosion caused by unsafe conditions at a sugar plant.

Saxby Chambliss' response to this disaster was to attack a company whistleblower whose advice, if followed, may have helped prevent the disaster.

Chambliss has been subpoenaed in a civil case brought by the families of the victims, and in true Bushian style, he is refusing to answer the subpoena:

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington debunks Chambliss' claims that the Speech or Debate Clause prevents him from testifying.

Frank Rich is grateful that Janet Jackson did not bare both breasts:

On the first anniversary of the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction that shook the world, it's clear that just one was big enough to wreak havoc. The ensuing Washington indecency crusade has unleashed a wave of self-censorship on American television unrivaled since the McCarthy era, with everyone from the dying D-Day heroes in "Saving Private Ryan" to cuddly animated animals on daytime television getting the ax. Even NBC's presentation of the Olympics last summer, in which actors donned body suits to simulate "nude" ancient Greek statues, is currently under federal investigation.

Public television is now so fearful of crossing its government patrons that it is flirting with self-immolation. Having disowned lesbians in the children's show "Postcards From Buster" and stripped suspect language from "Prime Suspect" on "Masterpiece Theater," PBS is editing its Feb. 23 broadcast of "Dirty War," the HBO-BBC film about a terrorist attack, to remove a glimpse of female nudity in a scene depicting nuclear detoxification. Next thing you know they'll be snipping lascivious flesh out of a documentary about Auschwitz.