Although this Administration photo is seven weeks old, it now seems to mark the inauguration of the White House's "Bush/Bolton" strategy. According to this piece in yesterday's NYT, April is when Bolton began to assert himself, reshaping the previously insulated and hostile Dubya into someone who "reaches out."
Continue ReadingAs a liberal, I could marshall up as much outrage toward Ann Coulter as anyone. As a clinician, however, I would rather not.
Continue ReadingOf course, the "elimination" of Zarqawi was a strategic accomplishment which provides a moral boost both to the U.S. military and also the nascent government of Iraq. How big was Zarqawi, though? You can look at this pic from today's parade, and think he was huge. You have only to listen...
Continue ReadingMaybe the culture war's "battle of the week" was slated for Washington, but it seems Boston saw a lot more of a showdown. The AP reported Wednesday (via Huffington Post) that an anti-gay rights group in Boston had intimidated Macy's into removing two store-window mannequins honoring the 2006 Boston Pride...
Continue Readingtry to make us forget iraq new set of troops and new war Bagram President George W. Bush poses for photos with U.S. and Coalition troops Wednesday, March 1, 2006, during a stopover at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, prior to his visit to India and Pakistan.
Continue ReadingNot only does The Times set up the article by going through the decades-old litany of "wacko" Brown associations -- including Linda Ronstadt, We The People, Mother Teresa, Governor Moonbeam -- they reference the Ronstadt relationship twice by forcing Brown to comment to it. The most toxic aspect of...
Continue ReadingAs the Haditha killings work their way into the public consciousness and impact the political calculus of the war, The BAG is curious how the corresponding visual narrative is going to play. These three shots -- taken on a night raid in Haditha and dated simply "2005" -- showed up...
Continue ReadingA cultural topic that has been getting increased attention lately is the encroachment of Christian fundamentalism into professional sports. Recent stories have appeared, for example, in Salon, the NYT, Mother Jones and even The Washington Times. Although primarily a minor league phenomenon to date, the movement is hitting the...
Continue ReadingThe BAG received a number of messages about this pic. Intuitively, this makes a great rip. The "why," however, might be slightly less than obvious, or unanimous -- just like there are probably four of five basic ways to create a logical gestalt out of about eight, or so, discrete...
Continue ReadingFor that reason, situations have to get pretty out-of-whack first before they becomes apparent, and then obvious to those beyond the solid left. Over the years, The New Yorker cover has consistently managed to sense, mark and incisively articulate key moments in political time.... To me, what is most...
Continue ReadingHere is U.S. General Michael Hagee, the Marine Corps Commandant (right of Bush) yukking it up with the Commandeer-in-Chief in Washington on May 5th. About two weeks later, in a meeting with Jack Murtha, Hagee told the Congressman that he and his staff knew about the Haditha incident --...
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