Cicero recently welcomed a new co-worker into his office, and shares what he thinks this particular Pakistani feels about his extremist brethren: I asked him if he was Muslim. “Yes,� he said, “but really it doesn’t mean much. I eat pork and drink beer. I never go to the mosque.� He seemed anxious to let me know that he was just a normal guy. “In the city, most the people I know are like me. We live good lives and try to stay away from politics. It’s totally...

If the United States was a person, what would he/she look like? Is it a pudgy, near-sighted, dumb guy or something more complicated? This cartoon by Cox and Forkum prompted Cicero to share a few opinions.

That’s the question a lot of donkeys are probably asking themselves after reading a recent WSJ op-ed piece. In short, conservatives have more kids so their voter base is growing much quicker than the liberal’s, and that could spell big trouble for the progressive movement in the years to come. I explore the implications here.

Amba has the answer. More here.

The Utah politician recently suggested that electing Democrats is what the terrorists want. *sigh* I have more here on this ridiculous statement.

It’s starting to happen, and this time from a very unlikely source. Find out who here.

I asked the $87+ billion question yesterday and now M. Takhallus of Sideways Mencken has a few ideas of what we might be able to do in Iraq. However, as expected, none of them are pretty, and it appears as if only one of them is truly feasible. I don’t think I have to tell you which option that is. Personally, the only idea that makes sense for me is listed as number 3 on his list, but it’s simply political hemlock: Reload And Do It Right. This is what John McCain wants. What I want,...

I know…it seems like a trick question, but it’s most certainly not. Find out my reason for asking it here.

Sean Aqui has some suggestions… More here.

First this… WASHINGTON, July 16 — The Bush administration says it plans sweeping changes in Medicare payments to hospitals that could cut payments by 20 percent to 30 percent for many complex treatments and new technologies. [...] Medicare pays more than $125 billion a year to nearly 5,000 hospitals. The new plan is not expected to save money, but will shift around billions of dollars, creating clear winners and losers. The effects will ripple through the health care system because many...

New Donklephant contributor Tom Strong injects some reality into the biofuel argument. While the tiny ethanol and biodiesel industries have seen a mini-boom last year, the market took a sharp hit this past spring. Future growth may speed up again, but there’s a very real limit to how much biodiesel and ethanol we can produce without cutting into our food supply. What’s more, both biodiesel and ethanol are currently subsidized by the federal government – and that’s on...

That’s what Amba says, as does Winds of Change contributor AMac. Putting facts above partisanship. Gotta love it. Read more here.

Here’s another classic comedy bit, in answer to emailed reader requests for more of them. This is THE classic Abbott & Costello bit “Who’s on First.” There are many versions of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello doing this bit (which was entered into the Baseball Hall of Fame) — but this one is perhaps the best version on film. Here’s what I wrote about it on a ventriloquist’s email list: If you’ve been to a (ventriloquists’) convention then you’ve...

Note to Iraq leaders…the US has tried this before…it doesn’t work. The enemy of your enemy is still your enemy. Especially in this new Islamic extremist fight we find ourselves in. Example: Osama Bin Laden. And we’ve seen how that movie ends already. I’m not too keen on seeing the sequel. From USA Today: BAGHDAD — Iraq’s government is studying a request from some local insurgent leaders to supply them with weapons so they can turn on the heavily armed foreign...

John Boehner is describing the Dems calls for raising the minimum wage a cynical ploy to drum up support for the fall elections. I’m sorry…a Republican politician describing a non-wedge issue as cynical? I share my thoughts here.

A couple of days ago I did something I didn’t want to do. I banned a frequent Donklephant commenter from the site for suggesting that a NY Times editor should be handed over to terrorists. Why was he so angry that he said something like this? Well, because the NY Times printed information about the government searching through our bank records. Those comments got me thinking, particularly about how many people are crying “Treason!� Not only in the right-wing blogosphere, but also...

No? Maybe the name sounds vaguely familiar? Well, after you read this post you’ll understand why I pose the question and hopefully you want to find out even more still.

“Party unity is important but not as valuable as an open debate about how best to change course.” — Hillary Clinton. On reading Joe’s post on Hillary Clinton: Democrats Do Not Blindly Follow Like Republicans, I am reminded of my Delhi University days where I was studying for my honours degree in political science in the mid-1960s…the days of Vietnam, flower children, the Beatles, the rise of ultra-communism in India (Naxalism)… It was then that I read Karl Popper’s...

Sean Aqui doesn’t think so, but he has the same concerns I do… This program, created as a temporary, emergency measure right after 9/11, is becoming entrenched as a permanent tool. If this is going to be a long-term effort, then the program needs to ensure that it takes careful care of individual rights. And passages like these from the Wash Post give me little comfort… Together with a hundredfold expansion of the FBI’s use of “national security letters” to obtain...

The National Science Foundation commissioned a study on Hurricane Katrina. The question being asked? Did global warming have any effect on the strength of the storm? Here’s an excerpt of the release from the group that conducted the study, the National Center for Atmospheric Research: Global warming does not guarantee that each year will set records for hurricanes, according to Trenberth. He notes that last year’s activity was related to very favorable upper-level winds as well as the...

Daniel DiRito thinks so. More here.

That’s the conclusion of Truthout.org in their non-apology/explanation to their readers. A taste: Yes, it does appear that Truthout was used, but not lied to or misled. The facts appear to have been accurate. We reported them, and in so doing, apparently became an instrument. From all indications, our reports, first on May 13 that Rove had been indicted, and then on June 12 when we published case number “06 cr 128,” forced Rove and Luskin back to the table with Fitzgerald, not once...

There are many stories about the war-torn country, but Sean Aqui has a unique perspective… Reporters are criticized for not covering “good newsâ€?, while others counter by pointing to the high death toll among journalists in Iraq, and note that if Iraq is so dangerous reporters can’t leave the Green Zone, that says all we need to know about the security situation. There’s probably some truth to the “not reporting good newsâ€? argument, for a couple of mundane...

Heartening news on the religious front. More here.

The ruling today basically makes it so the cops don’t have to knock and announce anymore when they have a warrant. What’s that about activist judges again? More here.