Transliterators have been struggling for years with how to spell the name of Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi for English speakers. This spelling seems close to standard now. But when I was a kid a version beginning with a Q was the most common. And I think I’ve seen at least four or five spellings that are considered proper by this or that publication.
But just now I was stopping by Gaddafi’s personal website. And he has a totally outside the box spelling I don’t think I’ve ever seen before: al Gathafi.
Arnold Schwarzenegger says being governor of California cost him $200 million.
As we do on most federal holidays, we ran TPM on a skeleton staff today. And when we got word that Michael Steele was going to be on Hardball this afternoon at 5:00 PM it quickened the attention of the barebones staff in the New York office. The first media appearance for Michael Steele after getting denied a second term as chair of the RNC. I mean, Michael Steele says something newsworthy or bizarre even on the most normal day. What could possibly happen now that he’s liberated from the rack of the RNC sachemship?
Well, weirdly, freed of the rack of the RNC sachemship, he started sounding really normal.
TPM Reader CS points out that today is the 20th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War, which started as an air campaign on January 17, 1991. “I don’t see a peep about it in the news,” he writes. “Is it just me, or is that surprising?”
Personally, I’m not sure which is more surprising: that there’s not a peep about this in the news or that, my god, the Gulf War was 20 years ago.
I confess it makes me feel kind of old. But CS’s point is a good one. A quick glance at Google News shows very few references to the anniversary and a surprisingly large number of those in non-US publications. And yet on so many levels the Gulf War has proven to be a pivotal event in recent global history and an event of mammoth significance in recent US history. Read More
Sometime between when then-Gov. Mitt Romney mandated health insurance for Massachusetts residents and the current conservative legal assault on the insurance mandate as unconstitutional, the Republican Party did a complete 180 on one of the pillars of health care reform.
No one more exemplifies the sea change than Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) who went from touting a “bipartisan consensus” for mandates in 2009 to now believing them to be unconstitutional. Brian Beutler looks at how the goal of universal coverage — once a bipartisan goal even if the parties disagreed on how to achieve it — has been repudiated by the GOP.
The big — but not surprising — political news of the morning: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) will not seek re-election in 2012.
We’re about to kick off a major expansion of our operation here at TPM. And a key part of that will be expanding and deepening our coverage of Washington, DC. To that end, we’re excited to announce that Susan Crabtree will be joining our team as Reporter and Senior Editor working out of our DC Bureau. Susan joins us from The Hill newspaper.
See our press release here.
Joe Lieberman says he’ll announce tomorrow his plans for 2012, when he’s up for reelection.
Republicans saying recent good economic news probably due to recent GOP congressional victories.