US Politics Opinion: Loathing and More Loathing in Washington DC

A wise man once told me there were two things in this world you do not want to see made: sausages and a political deal.

And so it is with the news that that the legislative and executive branches of the US Government have reached agreement on lifting the US debt ceiling, a step which should have been a formality. We are being treated to congratulatory statements by America’s political leaders of common sense prevailing and of the spirit of compromise.

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US WikiLeaks Video: Obama on Bradley Manning "He Broke the Law"

So much for due process of law, "innocent before proven guilty", etc. --- President Obama condemns Private Bradley Manning, held by the military in effective solitary confinement for allegedly passing information to WikiLeaks.

Video and transcript via Andy Greenberg:

OBAMA: People can have philosophical views about....

[Questioner: unintelligible]

No, no, but look, I can’t conduct diplomacy on an open source. That’s not how…the world works. If you’re in the military, and…I have to abide by certain classified information. If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law....We’re a nation of laws. We don’t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate....

He broke the law.

[Questioner: "You can make it harder to break the law."]

Well, what he did was he dumped....

[Questioner: something about President Nixon's prosecution of Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg]

It wasn’t the same thing. What Ellsberg released wasn’t classified in the same way. So. Anyway. Alright.

US Politics Special: Does Planned Parenthood Pay the Price for the Budget Deal?

Following up on this weekend's analysis of the last-minute deal on the Fiscal Year 2011 budget that averted the shutdown of the Federal Government....

As part of the deal, Democrats agreed to hold votes in the Senate on repealing the health care law and defunding Planned Parenthood. At first, this budget agreement appeared to be a victory for the Democratic position, holding the line against the level of cuts demanded by conservative members of the House of Representatives.

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WikiLeaks and The New Axis of Evil: Iran's Ahmadinejad = Owner of Baseball's New York Yankees

How to explain Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's personal involvement in Iranian football to the State Department in a meaningful way? How to get across how sports and politics can link controversial men from Tehran to New York?

A man named George Steinbrenner.

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