Tag Archives: bush

Holder: U.S. a ‘nation of cowards’ on race discussions

In a blunt assessment of race relations in the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday called the American people "essentially a nation of cowards" in failing to openly discuss the issue of race. In his first major speech since being confirmed, the nation’s first black attorney general told an overflow crowd celebrating Black History Month at the Justice Department the nation remains “voluntarily socially segregated.” “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder declared. Holder urged Americans of all races to use Black History Month as a time to have a forthright national conversation between blacks and whites to discuss aspects of race which are ignored because they are uncomfortable.

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Why the 2010 Census Stirs Up Partisan Politics

When Republican Senator Judd Gregg announced on Thursday that he no longer wished to be the Commerce Secretary nominee, he said that the decision was based in part on serious disagreements with the Obama White House over the 2010 census. That night on Fox News, Sean Hannity called Obama’s plans for the census process “the biggest White House power grab ever,” as his guest Karl Rove voiced agreement. The same day, House Republicans declared that the White House had “an unprecedented plan” for the census that “will taint results and open doors to massive waste of taxpayer funds.” It may sound surprising to those who don’t consider the decennial headcount a red-hot political matter, but the census has become the controversial subject of an ongoing power struggle between Democrats and Republicans.

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Talking to Iran: What Are Washington’s Options?

President Obama says he’ll talk to Iran if Tehran “unclenches its fist”; President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran is open to negotiations but only on a basis of “fairness and mutual respect.” Both men’s coded conditionals are a reminder that after three decades of mutual hostility, talking won’t be easy. TIME tapped a number of Iran experts for perspective on some of the key questions facing U.S.-Iran diplomacy

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Panetta: From Washington Insider to CIA Outsider

For Leon Panetta, the CIA’s presumptive new boss, the hard part is yet to come. A confirmation hearing by the Senate Intelligence Committee was hardly the trial-by-fire that some had predicted for President Barack Obama’s nominee, and since he has been unanimously confirmed by the panel, his ratification by the full Senate is expected to be uncomplicated. But Panetta must now take charge of an agency battered by years of controversy and scandal, ranging from failure to anticipate the 9/11 attacks and faulty intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs to the torture of terrorism suspects and, most recently, allegations of rape by the agency’s Algeria station chief.

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