Which of these lovely ladies wins the Ultimate Princess Showdown and takes the title of world’s hottest princess?
Photo by Kriston CappsMy first instinct was to go with Sleeping Beauty, since it’s right there in the name — she’s hot. But then, of course, there’s Belle. And for that matter, Snow White is “the fairest of them all.” I’m afraid that Princess Jasmine, Cinderella, and Ariel are out of luck.
Is this “new Baghdad crackdown” part of the new Baghdad security initiative, or is it an even newer plan that supersedes the old new plan Bush and Maliki announced just after the New Year?
During today’s House debate on Iraq, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) debuted the Davy Crockett defense:
AKIN: Could you picture Davy Crockett at the Alamo looking at his Blackberry getting a message from Congress? “Davy Crockett, we support you. The only thing is we are not going to send any troops.” I’m sure that would really be impressive to Davy Crockett.
UPDATE: From commenter Mike:
I think Davy Crockett would be more impressed with the odd contraption that is sending him messages in the 1836 and why it was Congress calling when Texas wasn’t annexed until 1845.
“OMG Davy, u r on ur own, lollers ;) C-gress”
On Sunday, anonymous administration officials presented evidence purportedly showing that weapons have been smuggled into Iraq with “the approval of senior Iranian officials.” Yesterday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace seemed to contradict this claim, saying that he has not seen evidence that the Iranian government “clearly knows or is complicit” in the weapons smuggling.
Today on CNN, CentCom Commander William Fallon, the top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, was asked about the administration’s claim. Fallon said, “I have no idea who may be actually with hands-on in this stuff.”
Watch it:
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow failed to address reporters’ questions about Pace today, and according to the AP, the Pentagon had similar troubles:
Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Tuesday he could not explain the apparent contradiction and referred questions to Pace’s office and to American forces in Baghdad.
A military official on Pace’s staff said the general stands by his comments. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.
John Hutson, a retired former Navy judge advocate general and dean of the Franklin Pierce Law School, said of the intel debate, “I think we have to take away from it a huge dose of caution.”
Transcript: Read more
“It’s difficult to say that you’re against the war and at the same time not say that you’re against the troops.” — Today show co-host Campbell Brown.
MSNBC is reporting that the Kansas school board, “long ridiculed for its resistance to teaching evolution,” today rebuffed social conservatives and approved “science guidelines that embrace Charles Darwin’s mainstream theories.”
The “international fairness” issue is the emotional home run. Given the chance, Americans will demand that all nations be part of any international global warming treaty. Nations such as China, Mexico and India would have to sign such an agreement for the majority of Americans to support it.
–Frank Luntz, 2002
We don’t need an international treaty with rules and regulations that will handcuff the American economy or our ability to make our environment cleaner, safer and healthier.
–Frank Luntz, 2002
What country’s insatiable thirst for oil imports is most responsible for the tightening world market since the mid- 1990s? Hint: It’s not China. From 1995 to 2004, China’s annual imports grew by 2.8 million barrels a day. Ours grew 3.9 million. China sucks up about 6 percent of all global oil exports. We demand 25 percent, even though China has a billion more consumers.
In what year will China’s total contribution to climate change from burning fossil fuels surpass ours? Hint: Climate change is driven by rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, and those concentrations have been driven by cumulative emissions since the dawn of the industrial revolution. While China’s CO2 emissions might well exceed ours by 2010, its cumulative emissions might not surpass ours until after 2050.
This week, the House of Representatives is debating a resolution opposing President Bush’s Iraq escalation. The resolution is just 58 words long, and has only one purpose: “Disapproving of the decision of the President announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq.”
But a leaked letter obtained today by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) office reveals that conservatives have formulated a strategy to avoid talking about the central question of the debate.
In the letter, leading conservative Reps. John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) inform their allies: “The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily.” Shadegg and Hoekstra warn, if conservatives are forced to debate “the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose.”
Instead, they write, “the debate must be about the global threat of the radical Islamic movement.” The problem is they lose that debate too.
UPDATE: Greg Sargent has more.
UPDATE II: A text version of the letter is HERE.
Today, President Bush commemorated the fifth anniversary of the USA Freedom Corps by praising America’s volunteers:
“We’re heralding volunteerism here today. It is a really important aspect of American society. I’m proud of our fellow citizens who have answered the call. I encourage you to continue on.”
Bush loves praising volunteerism. In his 2002 State of the Union address, Bush called on “every American to commit at least two years, 4,000 hours over the rest of your lifetime, to the service of your neighbors and your nation.”
But Bush also loves cutting funding for AmeriCorps, which President Bill Clinton created in 1993 “as a kind of domestic counterpart to the Peace Corps.” Since that time, more than 200,000 Americans have served in AmeriCorps. A look at Bush’s real “commitment” to volunteerism:
2003: “The president promised to expand AmeriCorps by 50 percent, from 50,000 volunteers to 75,000 volunteers. But in 2003, he signed legislation that cut AmeriCorps’s operating budget by 30 percent.”
2004: “The President in his FY 2004 budget request proposed $324 million for AmeriCorps, a $40 million decrease from FY 2003.”
2005: Bush’s budget included $442 million for AmeriCorps, which was “level funded from FY 2004.”
2006: Bush’s budget proposed to “reduce funding for Americorps from $287.7 million in FY ’05 to $275 million in FY ’06.”
2007: “Beginning next year [2007], the White House would reduce funding for the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps from $27 million to $5 million with the goal of closing it down, according to the president’s budget. About 81 full-time staff members would lose their jobs.”
2008: The Bush administration’s fiscal 2008 budget would allocate about $480 million to AmeriCorps programs — more than $25 million less than what’s called for in the 2007 spending plan that Democratic Congressional leaders have crafted and significantly less than the fiscal 2006 enacted total.
I forgot to link to any articles about it, but it’s pretty hilarious that Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood keep getting into fights. One always wishes that somehow Thomas’ mind, heart, or spirit could be transplanted into Brendan Haywood’s body. He looks like a very good center, but sure doesn’t play like it. I dunno how many times the fans have been reduced to incoherent rage watching him blow a layup when he could have dunked it.
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