The White House

Open Secret: Corruption in Iraq

Claymates Bring Down Our National IQ

Obama Ain't Funny!

Obama's Kitchen Cabinet

White House Phones Not Working So Good

The new White House website looks great and has been enthusiastically reviewed. Unfortunately, when you call the phone number listed for "Comments" under "Contact Us" (202-456-1111), at this writing you're told the new Administration is "unable to answer your call at this time." If you try the switc ... More >>

Obama Eats Food, Roams Halls, Reports ABC

What's Jake Tapper up to as ABC's senior White House correspondent? Today he reported on the President's life in the White House. "At 6:45 (super: digital watch) he's in the gym," Tapper told a breathless nation; Obama runs on a treadmill and listens to Jay-Z (brief musical sting). His "heathful" br ... More >>

Overheard Quotes in the Night

These utterances are verbatim, folks--they were spewed in all seriousness by various partygoers and clubcrawlers--and it's my moral obligation to pass them on to you without comment. I mean without MUCH comment: "Why did Martin Luther King get credit for 'I have a dream'? It started in Gypsy!" (Sou ... More >>

Obama's Billions: $75B for Housing Market

The new, transparent White House sends out the text of speeches ahead of time, so we don't have to watch the President announce in Phoenix this afternoon that he'll ask Congress for up to $75 billion to bail out the housing market. First, they'll remove existing restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddi ... More >>

What Would Freud Say?

The new, transparent White House sends out the text of speeches ahead of time, so we don't have to watch the President announce in Phoenix this afternoon that he'll ask Congress for up to $75 billion to bail out the housing market. First, they'll remove existing restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddi ... More >>

Obama: Who Is He Now?

In Chicago and the Illinois State Legislature, Barack Obama made a difference—he did not just 'hope'

Alternative Realities

Cosmic commies, Christian rockers, and gay Republicans at the 13th annual NYUFF

A MySpace for Casual Gamers?

Cosmic commies, Christian rockers, and gay Republicans at the 13th annual NYUFF

Act Like a Drunk Johnny Depp

Cosmic commies, Christian rockers, and gay Republicans at the 13th annual NYUFF

Blind to Torture

Our European allies in the CIA's criminal missions are finally held accountable

Arlen Specter's Sellout

Senate Judiciary Committee chair intent on rescuing Bush from felony charges

Michelle Obama's Place is in the Kitchen?

Never mind the hysteria over the Obamas' choice of Blue Hill for dinner on Saturday. According to Amanda Hesser, Mrs. Obama should have been in the kitchen herself. In a Saturday op-ed in the Times, Hesser first inexplicably reminds us that Mrs. Obama has "roots in the working class," and goes on ... More >>

Truth Squad

Ill communication: Intelligence expert explains the WMD situation

Coal Miners' Slaughter

Weak government, strong industry in the West Virginia disaster

Alito Vague on Torture Ban

Supreme Court nominee hems, haws through Kennedy questions

A Question of 'Compromise'

McCain's deal on prisoners means White House lawlessness rolls on

'There Is No Law Here'

A funny thing happened on the way to monarchy: a rare Supreme Court take-back

Crisis-Mode Rudy

Just wait till the rest of the country sees Giuliani unhinged

RAISING HELL

Ministry give their fans one final pummeling

Giuliani's Immigration Problem

Much as he hates to admit it, Rudy loved (most of) those huddled masses

Trail of Torture Tapes

What did Bush know and when did he know it? Will the next president pardon him?

'No Skeletons in My Closet!'

Oh yeah? How Michael Mukasey and Bernie Kerik are haunting Rudy's run.

The Gestapo Inheritance

'We do not torture': Groans from the CIA's black sites beg to differ

Pearl of the Antilles

The elephant in Guantanamo's living room gets 4,200 calories a day and a Koran

The Seekers

The birth and life of the '9-11 Truth movement'

Anatomy of a Murder

Not only our enemies around the world scoff when Bush speaks of human rights

2nd Flyover Narrowly Averted by Quick-Thinking FAA, Mayor

Another socialist White House flyover! This time involving some of Obama's fellow-traitor Navy flyers! Also, this one never happened: It was cancelled at the last minute by the FAA , which probably thinks everyone's had enough agita for one term, and had the presence of mind to ask the Mayor's opin ... More >>

White House Attack on Fox: Everybody W(h)in(e)s?

​A cynical person might ask how much Rupert Murdoch is paying the White House. This weekend Communications Director Anita Dunn told CNN "Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party," that the network is "undertaking a war against ... More >>

Obama Announces Recess Appointments

​In the face of Republican threats, President Obama announced today that he plans to push through recess appointments for 15 of the White House nominees currently pending before the Senate. The list of nominees announced for recess appointments includes Craig Becker for the National Labor Rela ... More >>

Suggestions For The Inevitable Ice-T/Aimee Mann Reconciliation

​So this happened. They'll patch it up. Here's how:

Barack Obama Was Really, Really Happy to Meet Pharrell Williams

God bless America. All photos via BBC.​And the award for best life this week goes to N.E.R.D's Pharrell Williams, who spent Monday night inducing Anna Wintour and Oprah to dance at the Met Gala after party, only to then head south on Wednesday to take part in the White House's Cinco De Mayo ce ... More >>

A Walk in a Corporate Garden; Grub Crawls A-Go-Go

​Corporations like PepsiCo have started planting organic corporate vegetable gardens, where employees can weed during breaks and take home the harvest. [NY Times] Grub crawls are all the rage these days. Neighborhoods like South Williamsburg and the Lower East Side are ideal for grazing at a ... More >>

The New York Times Takes a Stand Against the White House

​From the Department of You Done Good On This One: the New York Times declined an invitation to have lunch with the president and "about a dozen" other reporters at the White House today. Why?

Naming the Dead: the 1969 March on Washington

​Clip Job: an excerpt every day from the Voice archives. November 20, 1969, Vol. XIV, No. 58 A Half Million March For an Audience of One by Ron Rosenbaum WASHINGTON -- Thursday afternoon. "How to Attend a Military Funeral" was the title of a fact-filled article I found in Metronews, a PR mag ... More >>

What Did The Diplomats Who Were Shut Out Of Their Own White House Party Miss?

​That White House Social Secretary job must be cursed. CNN reports that "as many as 30 senior diplomats" were turned away from a party--held in their honor--at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue last night.

Barack Obama Wants to Freeze Pay for Federal Workers for the Next Two Years

​In what will surely generate an outcry among federal civilian workers, Obama-haters, and people who live to dissent around the nation, President Obama has proposed a wage freeze for certain federal employees for the next two years. According to the White House, this move (which requires congr ... More >>

Photos of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Co. Watching Osama Bin Laden Mission

​The official White House photographer Pete Souza captured a dramatic series of images yesterday, May 1, 2011, in the Situation Room of the White House as President Barack Obama gathered with Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other national security team members ... More >>

Newspaper Photoshops Hillary Clinton Out Of Situation Room Photo

​An ultra-Orthodox Hasidic newspaper, Der Tzitung, has photoshopped HIllary Clinton from the iconic White House situation room photo taken during the Bin Laden raid. (They also 'shopped out Director of Counterterrorism Audrey Tomason.) The paper has a policy against publishing photographs of ... More >>

Yet Another Hasidic Publication Denies the Existence of Hillary Clinton

It's been a rough couple of weeks for Hillary Clinton! First there were those allergies that caused her to cover her mouth in the iconic Situation Room photo taken by White House photographer Pete Souza as the administration watched the raid on Osama Bin Laden. Then she was unceremoniously removed f ... More >>

Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron Meet for Tea, Couch-Chat

Official White House photograph​The Obamas continued their tour of Europe this afternoon with a visit to the Downing Street residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha. In this official White House photo by Lawrence Jackson that's sure to inspire any number of moder ... More >>

This Week's Pop-Up Blog: Americana Week

White House Photo​"Do I dare to eat a peach?" as T.S. Eliot asked. Two weeks ago it was the Frozen Treat Fortnight, while last week it was the Big Gay Food Blog. This week the obsessive product our our blogging will be food that's become a special part of Americana in observance of Independen ... More >>

The White House Rickrolled Someone Today

Remember Rick Astley, the ginger-haired crooner with the boyish face and sultry dance moves from the '80s? Whoever is manning the White House Twitter sure does. When today's White House correspondence briefing was dubbed not "nearly as entertaining as yesterday's," they responded quickly, succinctly ... More >>

Sharon Stapel, Executive Director of the Anti-Violence Project, Named "Champion of Change" by the White House (Q&A)

​Sharon Stapel, the Executive Director of the New York Anti-Violence Project, was named a "Champion of Change" for her work with domestic violence in the LGBT community, the White House announced yesterday. "[I]n honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Valerie Jarrett will join White Hou ... More >>

White House Officially Denies Knowledge of Alien Life

"I wholeheartedly agree with the White House. Carry on."​The White House has officially responded to a petition signed by 12,078 people calling for the government to "formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race." The Office of Science & Technology Policy's Phil L ... More >>

Petition Demands 'Vapid, Condescending' Response From White House

​Lot of great White House petitions lately. First, the one demanding that the government "formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race" (the government refuses to do so); and now, a petition calling for a "vapid, condescending, meaningless, politically safe respons ... More >>