Police in New Windsor NY knock down “lewd” snow sculpture to protect the tender sensibilities of passersby. Hat-Tip to Shakespeares’ Sister.

RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY Cover Story: Saudi Religious Extremism In Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, law is based on the Qu’ran and religion governs daily life. Shops are obliged to close three times a day for prayer, and Saudi television devotes hours to programs about religion, frequently broadcasting images of the holy city of Mecca, the site of the Hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam. In malls and other public spaces, religious police monitor behavior and enforce...

PRESS RELEASE: Religion Watch North Bellmore, NY, Dec. 14, 2005- After the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., evangelical leaders–from Franklin Graham to Jerry Vines of the Southern Baptist Convention– emerged as the strongest critics and even antagonists of Islam. Numerous surveys have likewise found evangelicals in general to have more negative views on Islam than other Americans. This rhetoric is reflected in evangelical books and articles that have been published in the last decade,...

(This is a fairly long analysis of President Bush’s speech yesterday at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. I originally wrote it for The Reaction yesterday evening. Rather than offer a link in a pointer post, however, I thought it better to re-post it in full here at TMV, along with links throughout to related posts. As always, I am curious to know what you, our valued readers, think.) ********** In a thoroughly misleading article on its website, CNN is...

A Donklephant contributor and freelance journalist, Michael Totten, attended a Hezbollah gathering in Beirut recently. It did not go well: There were two separate entrances, one for women, the other for journalists and VIPs. A gaggle of Hezbollah security agents manned the doors. Several sat behind a long table. This, apparently, was where I was supposed to check in. I showed my passport and press credentials to the man who looked like he was in charge. He stuffed them in his briefcase. “Which...

Washington Post: Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak, who has repeatedly declined to discuss his role in disclosing the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, said in a speech this week that he is certain President Bush knows who his mystery administration source is. Novak said Tuesday that the public and press should be asking the president about the official rather than pressing journalists who received the information…

Looks like the Washington Post is having an internal struggle. NEW YORK After two days of controversy, several newsroom staffers at The Washington Post, including Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., said today they do not object to online columnist Dan Froomkin’s “White House Briefing,” which has sparked a debate over its title and its alleged liberal content. But they contend that it should be clearly labeled an opinion column and urged Web editors to change the name. “We...

Our occasional linkfest from weblogs of all kinds and opinions. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TMV. George Clooney Is Tired Of “Liberal” Being A Dirty Word and here’s a conservative view on that. More On The Execution Of Stanley Tookie Williams at Politopics. And Even More in this MUST READ that mixes in some dramatic personal anecdotes to reach a conclusion (few tears shed). An Anti War Protest At…Gitmo? Apparently, yes… Everyday It Seems...

AP: RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — Former President Ford, suffering from “a horrible cold,” was in the hospital Tuesday for what his chief of staff called routine medical tests. Ford, 92, was admitted to Eisenhower Medical Center late Monday and was expected to be released Wednesday, spokeswoman Penny Circle said from Ford’s Rancho Mirage office about 110 miles east of Los Angeles…

The Washington Post‘s Bob Woodward received a megablast from Newsweek‘s Howard Fineman due to his journalistic technique — yet another sign of how the once-idolized, legendary Watergate reporter’s status has changed within his profession: MADISON — Howard Fineman, Newsweek’s chief political correspondent, said Monday night in the first program of a Drew University lecture series, that Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward had become a “court stenographer”...

The end finally came for Stanley Tookie Williams who was executed here in California early this morning but there is no end in sight for the debate over the issue of capital punishment. The AP reports the latest developments this way: CALIFORNIA prison officials last night executed Stanley “Tookie” Williams, 51, the ex-leader of the Crips gang who killed four people in 1979. He died after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected final appeals to spare his life. The unofficial time of death...

Just ran across this story that came out last week. From the AFP: Paul Wolfowitz suggested that US forces might not have invaded Iraq if Washington had known then that the regime of Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. “And I’m not sure based on the evidence we know now that we could have been absolutely convinced that there was no danger, absolutely no danger,” Wolfowitz said at National Press Club. “If somebody could have given you a Lloyds of London guarantee...

Dan Froomkin’s daily “White House Briefing” has recently been accused by the Washington Post’s own ombudsman as being “liberal and opinionated.” Froomkin takes issue with that, as do I.

Democrats who think it’s going to be enough to simply be the anti-Bush or go on the assumption that President George W. Bush’s poll numbers will remain low might think again: Amid a relentless and detailed political makeover, George Bush’s political numbers continue to go UP: WASHINGTON — President Bush’s job approval rating, on a long slide since his re-election last year, rebounded from historic lows in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken this weekend. In the survey,...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday denied clemency to Crips street gang founder Stanley Tookie Williams, who is now scheduled to die tonight at the hands of the people of California. I am opposed to the death penalty in all cases and I am tempted to criticize Schwarzenegger for refusing to do what seems to be the right thing. Yet I must agree with Ann Althouse on this, at least in part: “Personally, I’m opposed to the death penalty, but I can’t understand why this person deserves...

Hurricane Katrina devastated many lives and aspects of routine lives along the Gulf Coast when it wreaked its destruction this summer. And it absolutely DECIMATED Mississippi coast libraries. Libraries are a gathering place, a vital spot for youths, places where knowledge is spread and culture is perpetuated…and they need your help. Read The Kudzu Files HERE to find out more…and perhaps you can make a tax-free donation as well. Don’t leave hurricane-battered libraries in a bind.

Eugene Volokh wrote a post today slamming a prominent Atheist leader for rather naked anti-Semitism. Then, he did something all too rare. He made sure to stand up for atheists in general, and the prejudice they face in America today as a matter-of-course. I comment further over at The Debate Link.

BBC: A strong earthquake has hit north-eastern Afghanistan, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said. The tremor of 6.7 magnitude struck the mountainous Hindu Kush region bordering Pakistan early on Tuesday, it said….

Remember that Saudi donation that Rudy Giuliani turned down? The same source has decided to donate $20 million each to Georgetown and Harvard universities. According to the Washington Post: A prominent Saudi businessman said yesterday that he is donating $20 million each to Georgetown and Harvard universities for the study of Islam and the Muslim world as part of his philanthropic efforts to promote interfaith understanding. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, a member of the Saudi royal family, said in a...

Hey, here’s an idea for all our readers on the right, left, and middle: if your elderly father disagrees with you politically, then suggest he’s senile: “Fox News Sunday” anchorman Chris Wallace says father Mike Wallace has “lost it” – after the legendary CBS newsman told the Boston Globe last week that the fact George Bush had been elected president shows America is “[expletive]-up.” “He’s lost it. The man has lost it. What can I...