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A Maryland man is one of four defense contractors being sued by former prisoners of Abu Ghraib.

Federal lawsuits were filed by three Iraqis and a Jordanian yesterday. The men say they were tortured by the defense contractors while being detained at the prison in 2003 and 2004. One of the employees named in the suit is Adel Nakhla, a Montgomery Village resident who worked as a translator in the prison.

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Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama made a patriotism-themed speech Monday in, of all places, Independence, Mo. This, of course, follows his high-profile joint appearance with former rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton last week in Unity, N.H. Anyone want to bet Obama visits Hope, Ark., before the general election?

Speaking of the Clintons, the former president spoke with Obama on Monday for the first time since the heated primary ended, according to the Associated Press. There had been speculation that Bill Clinton — just back from a five-nation tour overseas during which he attended Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday party — was giving Obama the silent treatment because he was bitter about his wife’s nomination loss. Citing a “senior Democrat who worked for Mr. Clinton,” The Telegraph of London even reported over the weekend that Clinton recently told friends Obama could “kiss my ass” in return for his support. Think that quote came up during their 20-minute phone conversation? Read the rest of this entry »

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will appear together today for the first time in Obama’s campaign at a rally in Unity, New Hampshire. You can watch the event live online at 1 p.m.

Not only does Unity have the perfect name for the occasion, but the town of 1,700 residents also awarded the same number of votes (107) to each candidate during the country’s first primary back in January. Very poetic.

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The Supreme Court just issued their first major decision on gun rights ever. Their conclusion: Americans have a right to own guns for the purposes of hunting and self-defense — making the District of Columbia’s 32-year ban on handguns unconstitutional.

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So I took off from work Sunday to go to Pearl Jam’s show at the Verizon Center in Washington (and I have to say it was one of the better performances I’ve seen from the band out of five concerts now — just check out the set list) and going in, I wondered how many songs it would take Eddie Vedder to address the audience about something political.

For the record, he made it through a whopping 13 songs before prefacing “Green Disease” with some comments about President Bush’s proposal to lift federal bans on offshore oil drilling in the face of soaring gasoline prices. Eddie came close earlier in the show, urging the crowd before “Do the Evolution” to “pay attention” amid “some good things” and “some bad things” going on with the country, but the offshore drilling remarks were the overt anti-Bush administration comments that I fully expected to hear ahead of the show. I mean, this is a guy who wrote “Bushleaguer” in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks — you think he’s going to take the stage down the street from the White House and stick to singing? That’s never been the socially conscious band’s style.

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Earlier this week, one of our loyal readers drew my attention to this article — something I completely missed last month when Governor O’Malley was signing legislation into law. And since this weekend is Pride, today seems like a good day to discuss it.

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Governor O’Malley is off again — traveling out of state for the third time in as many weeks, all to spread the word about Maryland.

This time, he’ll be attending the BIO International convention in sunny San Diego to “re-establish Maryland’s leadership role and ascendancy as a powerhouse of the bioscience economy in the world today.” Comptroller Peter Franchot will be joining him at the convention.

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Don’t worry, in the spirit of equal time, I’ll post a video spoofing the Democrats when Republican supporters get around to creating a response to this one. If you have any suggested links, do share.

It’s no secret that presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a basketball fan. Illustrating that point, he told Jimmy Kimmel in the above video that, should he win the general election, he’ll have a basketball court installed in the White House.

Said Obama, who has already showed he could use some more practice when it comes to other athletic endeavors such as bowling: “I hear there’s a bowling alley and obviously that hasn’t gone too well. So we’re getting rid of the bowling alley and replacing it with a basketball court in the White House.”

That’s cool. I’d like to see him play the sitting president in a little one-on-one action.   Read the rest of this entry »

So how was everyone’s weekend? Better than the one of Snoop Dogg’s wife, I hope. 

Mine included an eclectic mix of shock (Tim Russert is dead?), sports-watching satisfaction (UEFA Euro 2008 play in particular) and the feel-good neighborhood party that is Hampden’s annual Honfest (if the rain drove you away early Saturday evening, you missed a great set by the All Mighty Senators). 

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