“The best way to track the spread of swine flu across the United States in the coming weeks may be to imagine it riding a dollar bill. The routes taken by millions of them are at the core of a computer model at Northwestern University that is predicting the epidemic’s future. Reassuringly, it foresees only about 2,000 cases by the end of this month, mostly in New York, Los Angeles, Miami and Houston.” (New York Times )
Daily Archives: 3 May 09
Specter’s Plan to Rein In the Presidency
“The current issue of the New York Review of Books includes an article by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican Democrat of Pennsylvania, called “The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs,” which suggests that Mr. Specter has not switched parties with the intention of simply serving as a rubber stamp for President Barack Obama.
Finding Mr. Specter’s byline in the left-leaning Review would seem to underscore that, as he said in his official statement on Tuesday, his “political philosophy” is now “more in line with Democrats than Republicans.” But the article itself makes clear that the newest Democrat hopes to use his position to rein in the power of the presidency.
In it, Mr. Specter makes the case that “since September 11, the United States has witnessed one of the greatest expansions of executive authority in its history, at the expense of the constitutionally mandated separation of powers.”
He then lays out an ambitious effort to roll back those powers, in words that indeed seem more natural coming from a senator of the majority party, rather than one in the minority…” via The Lede Blog – NYTimes.
Annals of Inanity
“Rep. John Boehner cites cows’ flatulence to defend his sacred carbon emissions…Is it any wonder that Americans think the Limbaugh National Committee is out of their collective minds?” (Crooks and Liars via abby).
Related:
- John Boehner Demonstrates The GOP Obstruction Plan (oliverwillis.com)
- Sunday Morning Bobblehead Thread (crooksandliars.com)
Annals of Depravity
The Sheikh with Tony Blair.
“Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan is now under investigation in the United Arab Emirates after the shocking tape showed him beating a man with a nailed plank, setting him on fire, attacking him with a cattle prod and running him over.
But now lawyers for American businessman Bassam Nabulsi, who smuggled the tape out of the UAE, have written to the justice minister of Abu Dhabi – the most powerful of the emirates that make up the UAE – claiming to have considerably more evidence against Issa.
“I have more than two hours of video footage showing Sheikh Issa’s involvement in the torture of more than 25 people,” wrote Texas-based lawyer Anthony Buzbee in a letter obtained by the Observer.” (The Observer [via boing boing]).
Related:
- UAE to probe sheikh torture tape (news.bbc.co.uk)
- UAE sheikh in abuse tape scandal (news.bbc.co.uk)
- U.S. officials: Torture tape delays U.S.-UAE nuke deal (cnn.com)
- Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh (3quarksdaily.com)
- ABC News Exclusive: Torture Tape Implicates UAE Royal Sheikh (abcnews.go.com)
- Royal Torture Video ‘To Be Investigated’ (news.sky.com)
- Horrific ‘Royal’ UAE Torture Video Condemned (news.sky.com)
Pete Seeger is 90!
Springsteen leads Seeger 90th birthday tribute (Reuters). Elsewhere around the country, for example here in Cambridge, MA, people are coming together at folk clubs to sing out in celebration. Happy birthday and many happy returns, Pete, you are an American cultural treasure.
