Reprising Molly Ivins “You could stand on the corner in Austin and spit across three Congressional districts because of what DeLay did.” —Defense attorney Dick DeGuerin quoting Molly Ivins   Austin, Texas I thought I had walked into the wrong courtroom. The electronic bulletin board that lists criminal defendants read: “DeLay, Thomas Dale.” The former […]

Read more

Redefining Terrorism—Long before right-wing opportunists began using the building of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan to inflame public passions, federal law-enforcement was focused on a less conspicuous address. The “prayer house” on 1257 Siskiyou Blvd. in Ashland, Oregon, was owned by the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation of Oregon, a Muslim charity that in 2001 was […]

Read more

Pucking Around With Science For a while, the hockey stick carried all before it, perhaps because it seemed to correlate well with the observed increase in carbon dioxide in the 20th century over its 10,000-year baseline. —From Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli’s brief in the Michael E. Mann investigation AUGUST WAS A GOOD MONTH FOR Virginia […]

Read more

GRAND ISLE IS Louisiana’s only inhabited barrier island and is normally a destination spot for tourists who want to experience the Gulf Coast Cajun-style. The sandy beaches that summer tourists and residents once flocked to are closed after being sullied by the crude oil washing up since late May, following the April 20 explosion of […]

Read more

A (Dead) Man, A (Response) Plan Rep. Markey: Mr. Lutz died in 2005, four years before the plan was actually filed. How, Mr. Tillerson, can you justify in a response plan having a person who has been dead for four years? Is that also an embarrassment? Mr. Tillerson: Well, it’s embarrassing. —Rep. Edward Markey questioning […]

Read more