As Time admits, the story the Jordanians are telling about the CIA suicide bomber,Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawim may simply be their attempt at spin. Nevertheless, they’re saying that al-Balawi was not a double agent; rather he attacked the base because he was angry about all the civilian deaths The Jordanians say that in December, al-Balawi [...]

In an article lacking some pretty important follow-up questions, Jodi Kantor tucks in this judgment, from C Street member Bart Stupak. He is trying to pass the health care overhaul, he insists, not sabotage it, and predicts that the legislation will ultimately collapse for reasons apart from abortion. But he will be blamed anyway, he [...]

Tucked into an article on GM CEO (and former AT&T CEO) Edward Whitacre’s promise that GM will return to profitability is this tidbit: Last month, G.M. hired two former AT&T executives who had worked with Mr. Whitacre to run its Washington office. Mr. Whitacre said he felt G.M. needed to improve its image with some [...]

As Brian Beutler reports, Nancy Pelosi’s snippy comment about Obama’s campaign promises was a reference to the White House’s demand that the House accept the Senate excise tax. [Pelosi] aides say she’s particularly steamed that the White House wants her to largely adopt the Senate bill in its entirety. And she’s particularly unhappy that the [...]

When news of the attack at the CIA based in Khost, I suggested that Blackwater contractors were likely among the victims (recall that Erik Prince boasted of being involved in such operating bases in his Vanity Fair interview). Sure enough… (h/t Susie) Jeremy Wise, the former Navy SEAL killed in a suicide bomber’s attack on [...]

Just before the holiday, Democratic leaders forced Senator Byron Dorgan to forgo a key policy initiative–drug reimportation–so as to push through a stinker of a health care reform bill. And while he says his decision “does not relate to any dissatisfaction that I have about serving in the Senate,” over the holiday he decided not [...]

Faced with twin crises in MI and UM’s athletic program, the best anyone seems to be able to come up with is … pizza.

Two of the most conservative members of the DC Circuit, Janice Rogers Brown and Brett Kavanaugh, have ruled that detainees captured on the battlefield do not have access to all the procedural habeas rights a domestic criminal would. The case involves Ghaleb Nassar al-Bihani, who argued, firstly, that he was not legally detained under international [...]

Someone launched a Judy Miller-type (that is, fake) anthrax attack on a bunch of Republicans in AL–and two academics in CA. (h/t TPMM) Envelopes containing white powder set off anthrax scares in five Alabama cities, shutting down two federal courthouses Monday and trapping a congressman in his office as authorities tested the substance. No one [...]

I often joke with Californians that even as their environmental regulations make MI’s main industry defunct (admittedly, largely because of the short sightedness of Michiganders), MI will take over CA’s role as the lead Ag state. CA, after all, is fighting water problems because of its own short-sightedness. We, on the other hand, have got [...]