Political Hotsheet
Feb 12, 4:59PM
By Stephanie Condon / 22 comments

Tea Party Nation Accepts Apology for Captain America Comic

(Marvel)
Subscribers of the Tea Party movement, who find commonality in their patriotism if little else, butted heads this week with a character who would seem a natural ally: Captain America. Marvel Comics, the creator of the character, has apologized for the dust up, however, and it appears leaders of the Tea Party movement are ready to move on.

Word spread online this week about the new story line in Marvel's Captain America comic called "Two Americas." In the story line, Captain America and his African-American partner the Falcon go after a white supremacist, anti-government group.

In one illustration, the two heroes observe a protest of people holding signs that read "stop the socialists" and "tea bag libs before they tea bag you" -- a phrase actually used on a sign at a Tea Party rally. Captain America devises a plan to intentionally anger the group by having the Falcon pose as a tax collector.

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Nov 11, 1:56PM
By Brian Montopoli / 8 comments

In Shortage, Should Generic Tamiflu be Imported?

(Roche/Cipla)
The antiviral medication Tamiflu is the most commonly prescribed anti-flu medicine, and, as with the H1N1 vaccine, there may not be enough to go around.

In an effort to address anticipated shortages, federal officials released the last of their stockpile of children's Tamiflu at the end of last month, as the New York Times reported; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has ordered new shipments of the drug, but they're not scheduled to arrive until January. (The CDC still has millions of doses of adult Tamiflu in its stockpile.)

Tamiflu is manufactured by a Swiss company called Roche Holdings, and the company has a patent on the medicine in the United States through 2016. Kristina Becker, a spokesperson for Roche, said in an interview Tuesday that the company is "confident" that it has the resources to meet demand for the drug.

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Nov 3, 8:22AM
By Brian Montopoli / 195 comments

Should Signers of Anti-Gay Rights Petition Be Exposed?

(CBS/iStockphoto)
Voters in Washington state will decide today on a referendum that could effectively roll back legislation passed in May to extend domestic partnership rights and responsibilities to gay and lesbian couples similar to those granted married heterosexual couples.

In addition to the fierce battle over the referendum itself, there has been another bitter fight: One over whether the names of the more than 120,000 people who signed a petition to get the referendum on the ballot should be made public.

On one side of the debate is Larry Stickney, the campaign manager of Protect Marriage Washington and one of the main people who got the referendum, known as Referendum 71, on the ballot. Stickney opposes releasing the names, arguing that doing so opens signatories up to intimidation and harassment.

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Jul 10, 7:21PM
By Charles Cooper / 17 comments

The Obama White House's First Try At Second Life

Since entering the White House in January, the Obama administration has made use of a myriad of social networking and Internet communications tools, such as blogs, the YouTube video service and Twitter, to interact with the public.

Come Saturday, you can add a virtual world appearance to the list.

When President Obama, who is visiting Ghana, speaks to a live audience tomorrow morning, his speech will be streamed on Second Life and Metaplace. These computer-simulated worlds offer 3D avatar-driven environments where participants can use voice or text chat to communicate. In this instance, however, there will be no Obama avatar.

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Jun 25, 4:58PM
By Brian Montopoli / 7 comments

Hot Topic: When Sex Meets Politics

(CBS/ AP)
Two weeks ago, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Nevada Sen. John Ensign were rising stars in the Republican Party, a pair of politicians believed to be contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

Today – at least according to the conventional wisdom – those prospects, and quite possibly their political careers, have been diminished.

The reason, of course, is sex. Sanford's surreal disclosure of an affair with a woman from Argentina and Ensign's admission of an affair with a staffer were the latest headline fodder for a nation that has been fed a steady diet of political sex scandals in the past few years.

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Jun 11, 6:13PM
By Brian Montopoli / 68 comments

Hot Topic: How Much Should The U.S. Regulate Tobacco?

(GETTY)
The Senate on Thursday passed long-in-the-works legislation that will give the Food And Drug Administration power to regulate the sale, manufacture and marketing of tobacco products.

The bill, which the president plans to sign into law, will mean that regulators can do the following: limit the nicotine and tar levels in cigarettes; ban certain sorts of flavored tobacco that appeal to young people; force more prominent warning labels; ban words like "light" or "mild" in cigarette packaging; and give states the power to dictate how and where cigarettes are sold.

The legislation has been heralded by anti-smoking advocates, who say it will reduce smoking-related deaths and health care costs. Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids, told the Associated Press it "represents the strongest action Congress has ever taken to reduce tobacco use."

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Jun 3, 4:17PM
By Brian Montopoli / 8 comments

Hot Topic: The Price Of Diplomacy

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
In Saudi Arabia, where President Obama arrived Wednesday morning, the legal system is based on Sharia, or Islamic law. It is illegal to spend time alone with someone of the opposite sex to whom you are not related, to drink, to smoke, or to engage in other behaviors deemed immoral. There is little freedom of expression and no freedom of religion. The media is state-controlled. The State Department has reported that religious police "intimidate, abuse, and detain citizens and foreigners" and has also reported on the "denial of public trials and lack of due process in the judicial system." Men have extensive power over women, who cannot drive vehicles or work without permission. Abuse of migrant workers is common, and torture is "widespread and committed with impunity," according to Amnesty International. One possible punishment for theft is amputation. Homosexuality, blasphemy, "witchcraft" and some other non-violent offenses are punishable by death.

In Egypt, where the president speaks Thursday, Emergency Law was recently extended. According to Human Rights Watch, that means authorities can "detain persons arbitrarily and try them in special security courts that do not meet international fair trial standards." Freedom of expression, religion and assembly are limited. Last year, according to the State Department, "security forces used unwarranted lethal force and tortured and abused prisoners and detainees," largely without consequences. During President Hosni Mubarak's 28 years in power, dissidents have been harassed and imprisoned. Student political groups are prohibited at the university where Mr. Obama plans to speak, and deans are chosen by the administration; one student blogger was recently jailed for two months for "public agitation."

When he arrived in Saudi Arabia, President Obama did not publicly discuss human rights issues. Of the country's head of state, King Abdullah, he said this: "I've been struck by his wisdom and his graciousness." The White House said following a private meeting that the two men discussed "a wide range of issues," including energy and Middle East peace, but human rights abuses was not listed among them.

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May 14, 4:42PM
By Brian Montopoli / 18 comments

Hot Topic: Terror Suspects On U.S. Soil?

(AP Photo)
There are no simple solutions to the question of what the Obama administration should do with the roughly 240 detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility, which the president vowed to close within a year of taking office.

Some of the less threatening detainees can be and have been approved for released to other countries, though that requires more than just putting them on an airplane – the United States, after all, does not want released suspects either to (a) undertake anti-American activities upon their release or (b) be tortured by foreign governments upon their being shipped overseas.

And as complex as those cases can be, they pale in comparison to questions about what to do with the most dangerous detainees. Consider the case of self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Faced with a self-imposed deadline for closing Guantanamo Bay, the president is now reportedly set to announce that he will revive military commission trials for suspects like Mohammed – despite criticizing such trials as a candidate and suspending them upon taking office.

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May 12, 6:18PM
By Charles Cooper / 113 comments

Does Torture Work? The Debate Heats Up

Richard Cohen may have hit upon the journalistic equivalent of that proverbial "eureka moment." In his Tuesday piece, the Washington Post columnist raised the question that became the cyber equivalent of catnip for the political blogosphere: What if Dick Cheney was right?

"Sacrilege!" screamed the left. "Told you so," countered the right. As for the rest of us, well, we're left with both feet planted firmly in mid-air.

I suppose that Cohen's liberal pedigree insulates him somewhat from critics accusing him of being a toady for the Bush administration's treatment of detainees accused of being terrorists, sort of a Nixon goes to China defense. I say "somewhat" because the torture question has become a touchstone issue for opponents of the Bush administration.

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May 5, 9:18PM
By Charles Cooper / 43 comments

Specter: I Hope Coleman Wins In Minnesota

(CBS)
Well, don't say it came as a proverbial bolt from the blue.

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who last week crossed parties to become a Democrat, said on Tuesday that he hoped Republican Norm Coleman would be declard the winner win Minnesota's dragged-out senate race.

In a question-and-answer interview with the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Times reporter Deborah Solomon wanted to know whether he cared that there now would be no more Jewish Republicans left in the United States Senate.

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May 1, 5:30PM
By Brian Montopoli / 145 comments

Hot Topic: Illegal Immigration

(AP)
If there is one thing that the thousands of protesters who hit the streets Friday for May Day demonstrations on immigration policy can agree on, it's this: The current system isn't working.

In Los Angeles, where at least seven marches were scheduled, immigrant advocates are calling for illegal immigrants to be given legal status, as well as the end of raids and deportations that can separate families, the Los Angeles Times reports. Though turnout at the May Day protests is significantly down from previous years – in part because of N1N1 flu concerns – thousands came out to protest for immigrant rights in Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Seattle and other cities.

(AP)
In Orange County, meanwhile, a small group of anti-illegal immigration activists marked the occasion with a counter-protest that reflects the beliefs of those who strongly oppose granting citizenship to illegal immigrants. (On some conservative blogs, there have also been complaints that illegal immigrants are responsible for bringing H1N1 into the U.S.A.)

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Apr 21, 2:23PM
By Brian Montopoli / 79 comments

Hot Topic: Is "Enhanced Interrogation" Justifiable?

(AP)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney told Fox News on Monday that the Obama administration should release CIA memos that, he says, will show "the success" of the CIA's use of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" during the Bush administration.

Last week, the administration released previously top-secret CIA memos authorizing the use of tactics such as stripping prisoners nude, depriving them of sleep, slapping them, placing them in a cramped box filled with insects, and employing the process of simulated drowning known as waterboarding. Waterboarding is now considered by the government to be torture.

Cheney said he found the decision to release those memos – but not others that he says show the success of the use of the tactics – "a little bit disturbing." He said he has read classified memos "that lay out what we learned through the interrogation process and what the consequences were for the country," arguing that they should be made public so the country can have an "honest debate."

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Apr 14, 12:01PM
By Brian Montopoli / 444 comments

Hot Topic: Is U.S. A "Christian Nation?"

(iStockphoto)
Late last week, the polling organization Gallup announced that "the percentage of Americans who identify with some form of a Christian religion has been dropping in recent decades, and now stands at 77 percent." In 1948, the percentage of Christians was 91 percent.

Another poll, the American Religious Identification Survey, found that 15 percent of Americans now claim no religious affiliation, nearly double the percentage in 1990.

Those figures suggest that Christianity is on the decline. Yet it remains a major force in American life: More than three in four Americans identify as Christians, and religion – Christianity in particular – is connected to many aspects of our lives.

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Apr 10, 2:54PM
By Daniel Carty / 28 comments

Hot Topic: The U.S.-Cuba Relationship

(AP Photo/Geovany Fernandez)
Anytime lawmakers mention the possibility of tweaking government policy toward decades-old national foes, eyebrows are sure to be raised. So it's not surprising that members of the Congressional Black Caucus caught some heat after their recent trip to Havana, where they met with Cuban leaders, including the perpetually ailing Fidel Castro.

During a meeting with three of the lawmakers, the 82-year-old former dictator reportedly asked them this: "How can we help President Obama?" It was certainly an interesting question coming from someone who has clashed with so many of Mr. Obama's predecessors.

Upon her return, the delegation's leader, California Democrat Barbara Lee (seen above with current Cuban president, Raul Castro) expressed confidence in Cuba's "desire to trade with the United States under normal diplomatic and trade relations."

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Apr 7, 3:12PM
By Brian Montopoli / 87 comments

Hot Topic: Jiverly Wong And Guns

(AP Photo/News 10 Now)
Yesterday brought word that Jiverly Wong, who last week killed 13 people and himself at a Binghamton, N.Y. immigrant community center, mailed a letter to a Syracuse television station before committing the murders.

The letter revealed a man who appeared to have lost touch with reality. In broken English, he complained that an undercover policemen had been spying on him 24 hours a day, using "the technique of ultramodern and camera for burn the chemical in my house."

(AP/Binghamton Police Dept.)
Wong said the mystery policeman acted to adjust the fan in his home, "connect the music into my ear," and "made me unbreathable." He added that the officer would break into his room, "three time touch me when I was sleeping," and would try to get into car accidents with him. (The New York Times has posted the whole letter here.)

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