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Emily Esfahani Smith

23 articles 2009–2010

For Neda

Emily Esfahani Smith · June 12, 2010

Nearly a year ago, the final seconds of Neda Agha Soltan’s life flashed across computer screens worldwide. Peacefully protesting the controversial Iranian presidential elections of last year, 26-year old Neda was shot in the heart by a member of the para-governmental Basij militia. Her dying…

Democrat in Danger

Emily Esfahani Smith · February 22, 2010

Frank Kratovil is perhaps the most vulnerable Democrat in the House of Representatives. The 41-year-old freshman won Maryland’s First Congressional District by just 1 percentage point in 2008. But it’s a district that has historically tended red, and its citizens are far less enamored of Kratovil a…

Pahlavi's Hope for a Better Iran

Emily Esfahani Smith · February 18, 2010

Reza Pahlavi learned an important lesson from Vaclav Havel: The Cold War opposition only thought they might be successful when Ronald Reagan called Russia an evil empire and triumphantly commanded Mr. Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Pahlavi hopes Barack Obama speaks as definitively against…

Specter to Bachmann: Act Like a "Lady"

Emily Esfahani Smith · January 22, 2010

In case you missed it, be sure to listen to this radio clip from a local Pennsylvania show, in which Senator Arlen Specter gets testy with Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. Specter accuses Bachmann of interrupting him and says “I am going to treat you like a lady, so act like one.”

China versus Google

Emily Esfahani Smith · January 18, 2010

The recent news that Google might be shuttering operations in China after government officials there tried to hack into email accounts of human rights activists has given Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) an opportunity to publicize a piece of legislation he’s been touting since 2006. On Capitol Hill last…

Guilty Until Proven Innocent at Duke

Emily Esfahani Smith · January 7, 2010

A few years ago—as you probably remember—Duke University received a lot of bad publicity when a group of lacrosse players were (falsely, as it turned out) accused of brutally gang-raping a black stripper in Durham, North Carolina. Today, with the recent changes in the school's sexual misconduct…

Islam U.

Emily Esfahani Smith · December 11, 2009

Zaytuna College, which plans to be the first accredited Muslim college in the United States, is set to open next fall in Berkeley, California. The college has been hailed as a victory for moderate Islam, a place to promote religious understanding by "blending traditional Islam and American culture…

Teachers Paid Not to Teach

Emily Esfahani Smith · November 12, 2009

At the end of last month, the New York City teachers' contract expired, opening the door to a series of negotiations between the teachers' union and the city's department of education, led by chancellor Joel Klein. But more than a week into negotiations over the new contract, the talks are…

Exposing Obama

Emily Esfahani Smith · October 6, 2009

Pamela Key does not work for the Republican National Committee. She has no formal training in journalism. An illustrator of children's books, she never finished college. And yet, her oppositional research, her investigative journalism, and her philosophical convictions have all come together to…

Just a Co-Author From the Neighborhood?

Emily Esfahani Smith · September 24, 2009

It's been a rumor since the 2008 presidential campaign that Bill Ayers ghost-wrote or co-wrote Barack Obama's memoir, Dreams from my Father. The story seems to be on fire again, though, because a new Obama-friendly book by best-selling author Chris Anderson, perhaps without realizing it, seems to…

The Battle on Capitol Hill

Emily Esfahani Smith · September 22, 2009

"I served in al Anbar [Iraq]. I tried to conduct a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign with insufficient resources . . . I didn't have enough boots on the ground." The Iraqi insurgents killed his troops. They blew up his economic projects. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations…

What Independent Voters Want in 2010

Emily Esfahani Smith · September 15, 2009

Former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie and respected pollster Whit Ayers have joined forces to launch Resurgent Republic, what Ayers describes the "Democracy Corps" of the right. Founded by James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, Democracy Corps-like Resurgent Republic-conducts…

Susan Rice: Please Don't Judge Our Policies Yet

Emily Esfahani Smith · September 12, 2009

"We have a crucial stake in Afghanistan," said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., speaking at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington D.C. On this eighth anniversary of September 11th, the ambassador took aim at Nancy Pelosi's remarks about Afghanistan…

A Bipartisan Consensus on Voter Registration?

Emily Esfahani Smith · September 1, 2009

Forget health care, the Iraq war, and economic stimulus -- "the big issue of [the] 2008 [election] was voter registration." So says Doug Chapin, the director of election initiatives for the PEW Center on the States, which yesterday hosted a meeting introducing the new 13-person Committee to…

A Bipartisan Consensus on Voter Registration?

Emily Esfahani Smith · September 1, 2009

Forget health care, the Iraq war, and economic stimulus -- "the big issue of [the] 2008 [election] was voter registration." So says Doug Chapin, the director of election initiatives for the PEW Center on the States, which today hosted a meeting introducing the new 13-person Committee to Modernize…