As we enter the second day of hostilities between Russia and Georgia, I see that the two major party candidates have already weighed in on the subject. (Has anyone even bothered asking the President, I wonder?) In a previous column, I posed the question, “do we even have a dog in this fight?” Some readers were quick in displaying the intellectual honesty to eschew any dithering over American parental obligations to the nascent Georgian democracy and the fragile Rose Revolution, pointing...

What better way to note the opening day of the Olympics than with a new war. James Joyner reports that Russi has tanks rolling over the border into the Caucasus region of South Ossetia in Georgia. (For all of you who consider yourself “caucasian” this may be your homeland. Ok… enough snark.) Indeed, news reports have already begun pouring in about military activity in the region, and this morning’s television news is reporting that Georgia has shot down two Russian war planes...

Can someone explain this to me, please? This isn’t some sort of rhetorical device, by the way. I honestly would like some help in understanding the questions surrounding Ron Suskind’s allegations regarding the forged documents which sought to tie Saddam to AQ in an effort to gin up support for the Iraq war. According to his account, George Tenet delivered the order from the White House to the CIA, and they forged the documents. Now, the American Conservative is claiming that while the...

What is the “best” form of government? Is there anything good about communism or faulty about democracies or republics? How is it that so few governments last over the long haul? Stop by Mid Stream Radio today at 1 pm eastern, 10 am pacific, and we’ll clear it all up for you. Oh, and we might have a surprise guest for you to chat with. Call us at (646) 595-3963 to have your say, or join us in the online web chat! See you on the radio.

A group of bloggers sat down for another conference call with Libertarian candidate for president, Bob Barr, his campaign manager Russ Verney, and staff members today. I’ll begin with some initial impressions. Bob Barr is one of the most refreshing faces in politics today in terms of interviews. Reporters who continue to be frustrated and annoyed by the major party candidates (who constantly seem to answer each and every question by falling back on one of the same half dozen canned talking...

Earlier, I wrote about a Washington Post story detailing some suspicious looking contributions to the McCain campaign bundled by Harry Sargeant III. Shortly after posting, a correction appeared in the original report, as follows: An earlier version of this story about campaign donations that Florida businessman Harry Sargeant III raised for Sen. John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton incorrectly identified three individuals as being among the donors Sargeant...

NOTE: There is an update and correction to this story. Please click through for the details. Is there trouble coming down the pike for the McCain campaign in the form of questionable campaign contributions? The Democrats experienced their share of woes with now famous bundler Norman Hsu, well known for generating large checks for Democrats from people of, shall we say, extremely modest means. Today we find out more about Harry Sargeant III. The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into...

And so it comes to this. We’re in the midst of a heated presidential contest, an energy crisis looms, the economy is on the skids, and I come before you today to once again write about… Paris Hilton. The celebrity – whose fame, as near as I can tell, resulted entirely from the circumstances of her mother having intercourse with William Baron Hilton’s boy – has responded to John McCain’s use of her image in his recent “celebrity” advertisement. See...

As each day of “Energy Watch 2008″ ticks by here at TMV I find myself more and more puzzled by the tactics being employed by Senator Obama’s campaign. Today, it seems, he’s showing up in the Buckeye State to talk about energy. (Well done!) Unfortunately, the message being put forth leaves me scratching my head. “McCain has taken a page out of the Cheney playbook.” “Under Senator McCain’s plan, the oil companies get billions more, we don’t pay any less at the pump,...

I would like to take a moment to suggest you pick up a copy of a very old book, A Collection of Essays by George Orwell. Much of the work comes from his early years, including reflections on his childhood in England and his time serving the country in India. One of the more soul crushing but essential essays from the latter period is, “Shooting an Elephant.” In it, Orwell speaks of an incident where he is summoned to a provincial village to kill a “rogue elephant” who has...

No sooner do I write a column defending Barack Obama from an unjust and, frankly, nonsensical attack, than I see him getting ready to slit his own parachute lines on energy again. Obama: Tap nation’s oil reserve to help gas prices LANSING, Mich. – In a reversal, Barack Obama proposed Monday that the government sell 70 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum stockpile to help reduce gasoline prices. The Democratic presidential candidate said in a major energy speech that in...

While it’s a tad early for this neck of the woods, the first tomato in my small garden finally reached full redness and ripeness today. (All of its brothers and sisters are still quite green.) With that, today marked the date of an annual ritual, as I brought it inside, washed it and, after admiring it for a bit, sliced it up to eat with just a dash of salt. If you’ve never experienced this, there’s really nothing like food that is so fresh that it’s less than two minutes...

In one of the sillier and least productive political stunts in this season of props, hi-jinks and distractions, ABC’s Rick Klein notes that the GOP will be handing out tire gauges to members of the press during Barack Obama’s visit to Michigan. For serious proponents of energy solutions, the humor of this may rightly escape you. Look for a tire gauge at a political event (or cable outlet) near you on Monday. Obama’s comment last week, about how proper tire inflation could save more gas...

One of the major hurdles which the Bob Barr campaign (along with any other third party candidates) must overcome is the sheer volume of footwork required to even get on the ballot in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. There are a dismaying number of hoops to jump through, none of which are required of the Republicans or Democrats. These can involve not only armies of boots on the ground, but daunting amounts of money. Just for one example, an independent candidate running for president...

I was reading the full text of John McCain’s speech to the Urban League today, but when I went to look for the media coverage of it, what I found was, shall we say, disappointing. The primary buzz in both newspapers and television was about the “cool” reception he received for some remarks concerning the policy proposals of his opponent, Senator Barack Obama. (Though the majority of reports were generous enough to note that Senator McCain received a respectful standing ovation from...

Yesterday, when Gary Hart delivered remarks suggesting that Barack Obama might soften his opposition to domestic oil drilling, I penned an unpopular opinion piece suggesting that the Illinois Senator might face some political fallout from such a move. It was even suggested that I must live in some sort of fantasyland for predicting that Obama’s detractors would label him, yet again, as a flipflopper for making such a move and that some of his supporters might revolt. Well, Gary Hart clearly...

For all of my enthusiastic, energy policy oriented readers, take a peek at this recent item from the Wall Street Journal. It recognizes, as I have been hammering on repeatedly, that the American public has been experiencing a sea change on domestic energy production. Gary Hart, acting in his capacity as an avid Obama supporter, had some remarkable things to say. Even the Obama campaign, stung by a new John McCain commercial that contrasts his celebrity cult status in Europe with his refusal to address...

My friend Ed Morrissey of Hot Air and I don’t generally see eye to eye when it comes to matters involving Iran, and his column today on that country’s nuclear power ambitions isn’t likely to change that. Most of the fuss arises from this short item from the BBC. It includes reports of a statement by Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani (pictured to the left) given as part of a speech delivered to students in Tehran. The official Iranian news agency (IRNA) quotes Expediency Council...

I am in the unfortunate position this week of learning far more about Paris Hilton than I ever wanted to know. It seems that the heiress and unintentional pornography star feels she coined the phrase “that’s hot” which all the cool kids are saying. (Apparently I don’t know any cool kids.) But the only “hot” involved between Paris and the McCain team is that the Hilton family is a bit hot under the collar. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems that...

It’s been a big week for NASA, no doubt about it. Not only did we find liquid lakes on Titan, but we have now finally proven beyond doubt that there not only was water on Mars, but it’s still there today. Laboratory tests aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander’s robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples. “We have water,” said William Boynton...