NYC Council Election Results Josh got 20% of the vote in district 6, the Upper West Side. The best showing for a Republican Council Candidate on the UWS in more than two decades!! That is an even better showing considering that he got started in late June and ran on a single ballot line. In the previous races, the Republican got 18% in 2005 and 14% in 2001. Also, here is an Lcom thread on the local coverage of the race.
Gordon Brown was under mounting pressure last night to withdraw British troops from Afghanistan after five of them were slaughtered by a rogue policeman. Two former Labour ministers and a series of bereaved families called for an end to the UK's military involvement after the soldiers were cut down in a hail of machine gun fire. Six others were seriously injured in the attack by a man they trusted as
The problem is enormous. It’s estimated that as many as 100,000 homes across the country, built between 2004 and 2008, could have defective and potentially dangerous Chinese drywall. The bad wallboard has excessively high levels of sulfur. Homeowners complain the fumes given off make them sick and corrode the copper in home wiring, fixtures and appliances, including computers, televisions and air conditioners.
Does the National Journal's Hotline inhabit the same universe as the rest of us? Democrats lost two-out-of-three among last night's big races. But in declaring Winners and Losers among non-candidates involved with the campaigns, the only Losers Hotline saw were . . . Republicans and conservatives, with nary a Dem in sight! Chris Matthews was only too happy to seize on the Hotline hitlist
Conservatives grass-roots activists asserted Wednesday that third-party candidate Doug Hoffman’s loss in a New York special election was no setback but, rather, signaled a victory for the burgeoning political movement. Hoffman, who surged to the brink of victory after becoming a rallying point for disaffected Republicans and tea party activists, lost to Democrat Bill Owens 49 percent to 46 percent in a contest that grabbed national headlines.
As we mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the emphasis should not be on speeches and ceremonies but rather on the lessons of the fall of communism for the war on terror. (Snip) communism and political Islam are essentially the same. Both are radical ideologies that divide the world into the elect and the profane. Both deny individuality and suppress free will.
Big Hollywood has already posted a couple disturbing videos of young school children singing/speaking praises to President Obama, but when eleven more dropped in our email box it came as quite a shock. What seemed like an aberration now appears to be a troubling pattern. Maybe “epidemic” is a better word. Each one of the videos below is creepier than the last because
Iranian protesters took to the streets today as they do every Nov. 4 to mark the 30th anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover. (Snip) While supporters of the regime led chants of ''death to America,'' crowds nearby shouted ''death to the dictator,'' a veiled reference to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his political ally, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. State security forces had issued a warning against opposition protests, and broke up the crowds
If you followed the suspense of Tuesday's elections, odds are you landed on Fox News. Fox News Channel absolutely crushed the other networks in prime-time election coverage ratings. Between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. (8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time), Fox News grabbed 4.04 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The other stations weren't even close. MSNBC had 974,000 viewers. The CNN-owned HLN (previously CNN2 or CNN Headline News)
MADISON, Wis. - A year after his historic election, President Barack Obama sought to remind Americans on Wednesday the biggest problems he is grappling with -- from the economy to the war in Afghanistan -- are the legacy of his predecessor, George W. Bush. With his approval ratings down from once-lofty levels and Tuesday's Democratic election losses raising questions about his political clout, Obama held no special ceremony to mark the anniversary of his election
Cold War: The White House has announced our absence at ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Meanwhile, Russia has been practicing a nuclear invasion of an abandoned Poland. (snip) We need to press the reset button again, back to the days when American presidents stood in Berlin and echoed the cry of Scottish patriot William Wallace: "Freedom!"
A man being held in a secure Melbourne psychiatric hospital for murder is being interviewed by police after the fatal stabbing of two other convicted murderers last night. (Snip) Det Sgt Cheesman said he could not yet release the names of the three men, but all had committed murder. ''It's my understanding that both the victims and offender were in the facility after committing the offence of murder,'' he said.
America’s “permanent Democratic majority” ran smack into the economy’s apparent “new normal” of high unemployment and big deficits. Score one for the economy — and for Republicans.(Snip) Voter revulsion at trillion-dollar deficits and impatience about unemployment is creating a toxic environment for the Obama White House and congressional Democrats. Major legislative items like healthcare, energy and financial reform are already slipping into next year.
After their rout Tuesday in key state elections, Democrats would be wise to take a lesson from history. No, we're not talking 1994, when the GOP took back Congress after two years of Clinton. We're talking 1938. With FDR in the White House, and still very popular, a rogue Congress with radical ideas embarked on a series of legislative initiatives that helped push a recovering economy back into depression.
Five weeks ago, President Obama stood before the U.N. General Assembly and spoke of having "sought in word and deed a new era of engagement with the world." He went on, "It is my deeply held belief that in the year 2009 - more than at any other time (Snip)In other words, goodbye Bushian "cowboy diplomacy," hello Obamaesque cerebral "engagement." Coupled with his "I'm not Bush" charm offensive, Mr. Obama sold "engagement"
NEW YORK - Democrats who saw how close their candidate came to unseating New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg agonized Wednesday about what might have happened if the national party had not abandoned the party's little-known challenger. (Snip) The president's tepid endorsement of Thompson didn't even come from his mouth. It was delivered by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. In response to a question, Gibbs said Obama is the leader of the party
Could the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights actually subpoena U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.? That scenario is unlikely, but it suddenly has entered the realm of possibility. The Civil Rights Commission is making a full inquiry into a controversy about a voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party and several of its members and has escalated its investigation. At its meeting last Friday, the commission voted 5-2 on a motion
Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive officer, announced Wednesday she will run for a U.S. Senate seat from California. (Snip)"Get ready," Mrs. Fiorina said during a town-hall-style event in Orange County. "I can take a punch, and I can throw a punch. I'm not a brawler, and I'm not a boxer, [but] I can take on Barbara Boxer."
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) confirmed Wednesday that he reached out to influential Republican insider Fred Malek and sought his counsel on how to court former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s endorsement for his Senate bid. As first reported by the Washington Post, Kirk sent a memo to Malek seeking advice on how to acquire a “quick and decisive” endorsement from Palin urging Republicans to embrace Kirk as the “lead candidate” in Illinois.
The family of a Connecticut woman mauled and blinded by a chimpanzee is seeking to sue the state for $US150 million ($A166.06 million). Lawyers for Charla Nash's family filed a notice on Wednesday with a state agency asking for permission to sue. (Snip) A Connecticut state biologist had warned state officials beforehand that Travis could seriously hurt someone.
Fox News was the clear winner in the cable ratings last night, averaging 4.04 million total viewers during prime-time, with 1.13 million in the 25-54 demo alone. Fox beat the other three networks combined. MSNBC came in second (974K, 308K), according to Nielsen, with HLN taking third (842K, 341K). CNN, which won the 2008 election night, continues to struggle in prime-time. The network placed fourth for the month of October,
The House could hold a rare Saturday vote this weekend to pass its healthcare reform legislation. An aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that a vote could happen at 6 p.m. on Saturday, a schedule House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) suggested in reports Wednesday afternoon. (Snip) Slaughter and the Rules Committee will meet at 2 p.m. on Friday to determine the rules for the final health debate.
Across Washington, political pros are quietly putting together their report cards on the first year of the Obama presidency. On some issues – like Obama’s diplomatic overtures to Iran – it’s too early to tell whether they’re political wins or losses. (Snip) Where you stand, as in so much of life, depends on where you sit. But on much of Obama’s presidency, there is a surprising bipartisan consensus
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) is blaming Republican lawmakers for the District of Columbia’s high HIV/AIDS rate. In a letter posted on her website, Norton lashed out at Republican efforts in recent years to attach riders to annual congressional spending bills that limited the District from using locally raised revenues to support needle exchange programs. She said this explains ''in large part'' why the District has a higher HIV/AIDS rate than do similar cities.
Even as a Senate global-warming bill remained in limbo with Democrats refusing to delay a committee vote until an economic analysis was completed, hopes rose for a potential bipartisan compromise. The Senate, meanwhile, appears to be moving away from the bill, authored by Sen. Barbara Boxer (Snip) Kerry, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., held a news conference to announce they are working on a compromise that might attract GOP votes and
If it’s the day after an election, losing political operatives, donors and elected officials are waking up across America, dusting off the cobwebs from a long night of drowning their sorrows and gazing into the bathroom mirror with a question that always begins: “What if…?” Second-guessing a losing campaign is an inevitable political ritual, but it’s not merely an exercise in Wednesday-morning-quarterbacking. Rationalizations aside—“If they had only listened to me!”—
New York, NY - Radio and TV commentator Glenn Beck is recovering after being stricken by appendicitis while he was on the air. Beck was in the middle of his national radio show Wednesday when he suddenly told listeners he would be leaving early because he wasn't feeling well. Regular show contributor Pat Gray filled in for the final hours of the show, and it was soon learned that Beck had suffered an appendicitis attack.
