Sen. Russ Feingold (in photo), D-Wis., said on NBC’s "Meet the Press" that he will try again to persuade his colleagues in Congress to censure President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and perhaps others — this time for the Iraq mess and terrorism-related "assault" on the Constitution. The liberal senator’s persistent desire for accountability is understandable, given the mishandling of the Iraq war. But with the administration getting lamer by the day and partisanship already paralyzing Congress, a censure debate would be time badly misspent.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Discussion of the dustup between Elizabeth Edwards (in photo) and Hillary Clinton pushed the panel on "Fox News Sunday" toward a fresh idea for what’s already a snore of a campaign: "The Democratic Spouses’ Debate," as the Weekly Standard’s William Kristol put it. He said he finds Elizabeth Edwards and Bill Clinton more interesting than their candidate spouses and he’s "a fan of Michelle Obama." The ratings likely would be good, for the curiosity factor alone.
(Bloggers: Commence adding sexist comments about the wife of Dennis Kucinich and, if you want to be bipartisan, the wife of Fred Thompson.)
Why stop there? A "Republican Ex-Spouses Debate" could be fun, too.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Among registered voters, 46 percent of women have a favorable view of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., while 33 percent have an unfavorable view, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll. But only 34 percent of men have a positive view of Clinton and 47 percent have a negative view.
The good news for Clinton is that women made up 54 percent of voters in the past presidential election. But her support among women drops with age: 27 percent of those under age 45 view her negatively, 33 percent of those ages 45 to 64 view her negatively, and 40 percent of those 64 and older view her negatively.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Dispatch from the war on drugs: 1 in 12 full-time workers admit to having used illegal drugs in the past month, according to a new federal study.
And among workers ages 18 to 25, a full 1 in 5 report having used illegal drugs recently. Restaurant workers (17 percent) and construction workers (15 percent) had the highest usage rates, with marijuana by far the drug of choice. The results are eye-opening, considering half the workers said their employers give drug tests.
A roughly equal number of workers, about 8 percent, reported heavy alcohol use.
Still, it’s unclear how many dopers and drinkers actually use on the job. Let’s just hope they aren’t operating heavy machinery.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
Maybe, as filmmaker Michael Moore claims in “Sicko,” the French really do have it better than Americans — at least in the hours of vacation they enjoy. Among other generous benefits, every French worker is guaranteed at least a month of paid vacation each year.
“The United States is the only advanced economy in the world that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation,” according to a recent study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
In America, the average is two weeks of vacation for full-time workers — and 1 in 10 full-timers get no vacation whatsoever.
Can’t we do better than that?
Posted by Randy Scholfield