Domestic Affairs

SF Bay Guardian: But after the 1989 Loma Prieta quake and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City, residents found there was still a way to reach their loved ones and let the world know they were OK; they used an old-fashioned communications tool that’s low tech, securely grounded, publicly accessible, and reliable. It’s called a pay phone. NYT: There is a reason for their survival: Public telephones are one of the stranger cash cows in…

WashPost.: South Carolina’s Republican Party will move its 2008 presidential primary forward to Jan. 19, sources said yesterday, a decision almost certain to spark a cascade of calendar changes that could push the start of voting to New Year’s Day or even to before Christmas. The move, set to be announced today, is likely to cause the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses to be shifted at least to early January, and other states are actively angling to stake out…

I realize that I’m probably the only person among my peer group who watches/listens to The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer even on a semi-occasional basis. Basically, my radio is either tuned to KQED or KALX, or I’m listening to music via CD/iPod. So that means if I happen to be listening to KQED between the hours of 3 and 4 pm, I catch part or all of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. On May 8, there was a ridiculous “debate”…

I just found Paul Wolfowitz’ home address using Google. The New York Times just published the above picture of Paul Wolfowitz coming out of his Chevy Chase, Md., home. The street address, 7104, is clearly visible. So, as an experiment, I typed in 7104 chevy chase wolfowitz into Google. My first result came back with this: Report from Paul Wolfowitz demo at his 7104 Pinehurst Pkwy, Chevy Chase home. Wow.

So I made it back to the good ol’ US of A, and I was greeted with these two events: First, an Oakland freeway connector collapses. I take this stretch pretty much every time I drive home from San Francisco. Now I’ll have to take a different route via surface streets, which will make my drive home take an extra 10-15 minutes or so. But I’m glad that I don’t have to drive over this area every day. Second, today…

Los Angeles Times: IMAGINE a presidential debate in which John McCain answers Hillary Clinton’s arguments by stripping down to his underwear or breaking into a rap song. Strange as it might sound, such tactics are gaining cachet — and victories — in a top breeding ground for future politicians: America’s college debate circuit. In recent years, renegade rhetoricians from Cal State Fullerton and other underdog schools have clobbered debate kingpins from Harvard and UC Berkeley with a hodgepodge of unorthodox…

My editor at Foreign Policy, Mike Boyer, had this scathing comment on FP Passport today with regard to CNN Headline News‘ reaction to Congressman-elect Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first Muslim to be elected to our legislative body: When it comes to Rep.-elect Keith Ellison of Minnesota, CNN Headline News host Glenn Beck just isn’t sure. That’s because Ellison is Muslim, which Beck said made him “nervous.” Interviewing Ellison on Tuesday, Beck said he felt like questioning Ellison’s loyalty to America.…

Rich: well, didn’t you hear, speaker pelosi is going to infect congress with her SAN FRANCISCO VALUES David: awesome. pretty soon everyone in america will eat tacos and not hate gay people.