PBS this week aired "The Age of AIDS," perhaps the most powerful and devastating documentary on American television in years. The two part, four-hour special featured interviews and history from six continents and over a dozen countries detailing the path, the politics and the pain of 25 years of the AIDS pandemic. Perhaps the most […]

On Sunday, the cancer of domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency continued to metastasize. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales declared that journalists can and should be prosecuted for publishing stories involving classified national security information. "There are some statutes on the book which, if you read the language carefully, would seem to indicate that that […]

Last week, White House press secretary Tony Snow used his virgin press briefing to reintroduce the racial slur "tar baby" back into the vernacular. But while an unrepentant Snow attacked his critics as "unfamiliar with the pathways of American culture," it would appear that eBay offers a clear picture as to why Random House suggests […]

Nothing seems to frustrate the White House and the Republican leadership more than their abysmal poll numbers on the economy at a time of booming GDP and a resurgent job market. It is, they claim, all about the war. But as I wrote in the "Bush League Economy," the issue for the President and the […]

During his virgin White House briefing today, new press spokesman Tony Snow reverted to his Fox News roots with his casual use of a racial slur. But in referring to a thorny question regarding President Bush's illegal NSA domestic spying programs as a "tar baby," Snow is just the latest conservative to show why the […]

A new poll from the Washington Post suggests that the President Bush may be winning a double victory with his illegal NSA domestic surveillance programs. Americans seem willing to buy the White House's "tough on terrorism" hype at the expense of the law and their own civil liberties. And as an added ironic bonus, the […]

Washington is all abuzz about the new book from Mary Cheney, "Now It's My Turn." But while bloggers and gay rights activists ponder the question of Mary Cheney's lesbian self-loathing in her father's Republican Party, another epic tale of forbidden love from the Cheney family has largely been forgotten. Back in 1981, Mary's mother Lynne […]

One day after Cinco de Mayo, the puerile Michelle Malkin was once again on the culture warpath. The target of her outrage this time? Baseball's Texas Rangers, who donned uniforms on Friday bearing the text "Los Rangers." While I'm no supporter of the Rangers pandering to their growing Hispanic fan base, I find the virtriol […]

One of the Right's favorite bogeymen is the trial lawyers, the ambulance chasers supposedly behind skyrocketing health care costs and bankrolling the Democratic Party. But as Bush family consigliere James Baker III showed once again on the Larry King show last night, Republicans are just fine with trial lawyers when they need one. Baker and […]

It was a mixed week for the Avenging Angel, punisher of conservative miscreants. Two evil doers of the right, Lester Crawford and Rush Limbaugh, found themselves in trouble this week for doing bad things with prescription pills. Sadly, only one faces the prospect of true justice. Dr. Crawford, the former head of the Bush FDA, […]