Adele Stan

The New York Times is out today with a couple of monster investigative stories, one on a major bribery scandal involving officials of Wal-Mart and the Mexican government, and another on the American Legislative Exchange Council, of which Wal-Mart remains a stalwart member, even as a cadre of big corporations make their exodus from the […]

Because we inadvertently created something of a Ted Nugent beat for ourselves, we are compelled to announce that the has-been rocker was booted from the concert roster at Fort Knox, where he slated to entertain our men and women in uniform in a June 23 concert. (Actually, given the choice words he’s had for women […]

Poor Orrin Hatch. In his home state of Utah, the six-term U.S. senator just can’t get no respect, thanks to the Tea Party movement. As we mentioned yesterday, the maneuverings at yesterday’s Utah Republican Party convention yielded Hatch a primary challenger — his first in decades. On June 26, Hatch will face state Sen. Dan […]

I still remember my first Earth Day, April 1970. I was in junior high school at the time, and we were marched out of class to plant seedlings in the grassy area behind our classroom. Back then, it was called Ecology Day, and had its own flag and everything — green and white stripes with […]

I’m packing up my uke to go jam with some friends, and will catch you in the morning. In the meantime, a few ends to go with my odds: * Orrin Hatch, the long-serving U.S. senator from Utah, failed to stave off a Tea Party-fueled primary challenge at the state party convention today. Hatch will […]

With his recall election looming in early June, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is leaving no stone unturned in amassing his money advantage over the four Democratic candidates vying to take the governor’s mansion from him in retribution for his union-bashing law that all but stripped state employees of their collective bargaining rights. But a lot […]

You will all be relieved to know that Ted Nugent, the washed-up-rocker Mitt Romney endorser who urged NRA members to “cut off [Democrats’] heads in November,” had a very nice meeting with the Secret Service earlier this week. As reported by Politico’s M.J. Lee: “The meeting could not have gone better,” Nugent said. “I thanked […]

Ever since the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, the Republican Party — now a very right-wing enterprise, indeed — has enjoyed remarkably good fortune consolidating its power in legislatures and governor’s mansions across the country. But as the presidential election approaches, writes Michael Cooper in the New York Times, G.O.P. strategists have begun […]

Good morning, Animals! I’ll be sitting in this weekend as your guest blogger, trying to navigate between the barking dogs and panting Secret Service agents, high atop Capitol Hill. When not blogging or playing the ukulele, I’m the Washington correspondent for AlterNet, where I spend a bit of time covering the right wing of the […]

It’s sign-off time, and I’d like to thank everybody for your comments and your kindness toward yours truly, your weekend guest blogger. Some odds and ends to leave you with: * Vladmir Putin is poised to “win” the Russian presidential election (surprise!), and not everyone is happy. * Rick Santorum is playing down expectations in […]