(Note: The link below has been fixed. Edward updates his post every day, counting down to the end of the poll. If for some reason it doesn’t work again, go to his main page here.) Edward Copeland is running a fun poll at his film blog: What are the ten worst Best Picture winners of all time? Go through the list of winners and pick your 10 least favourite. Or, to put it another way, the 10 you dislike the most — in order, with 1 the worst and 10 the 10th worst. E-mail your list to Edward...

(Note: This post has also been published at the One America Committee Blog. An earlier version was published at The Reaction.) From the L.A. Times: “A crowd estimated by police at more than 500,000 boisterously marched in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall along the U.S.’s southern border.” It should go without saying, but it is often forgotten: America is...

See if you can spot the gross ignorance/indifference. This is from Scott McClellan’s Tuesday press briefing: Q: Can you talk a little bit more about Cancun and the other side of the talks, with Canada — border, immigration? Are those high priorities? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, this will be — you’re talking about Canada? I mean, the President had a — first of all, had a good discussion with Prime Minister Martin [sic] yesterday. That was a call that Prime Minister Martin...

Would Republicans lose if Democrats shifted the debate to “what matters most to working people” — to education, health care, jobs, etc.? See here.

I am generally quite proud of my country, and I will usually defend it against its critics, but our seal hunt leaves me disgusted and ashamed. Whatever the excuses for it — its supposed economic benefits, the alleged need to control the seal population — there is simply no good reason for it. We’re talking about the killing, the brutal killing, of 325,000 seals, most of them babies. Shame on Canada for allowing this to take place year after year. And shame on Prime Minister Harper...

Vivek Krishnamurthy examines the potential downside to the recent upsurge of the Fairtrade movement. In the end, it could all be quite self-defeating, whatever it’s noble intentions. For more, see here.

According to the L.A. Times, “Iran is moving faster than expected and is just days from making the first steps toward enriching uranium”. What does this mean? — “If engineers encounter no major technical problems, Iran could manufacture enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb within three years, much more quickly than the common estimate of five to 10 years.” Iran denies that it intends to build nuclear weapons, but its unwillingness to use Russian-enriched...

It wasn’t so long ago that pro-West reformer Viktor Yushchenko was the toast of Kiev, at least among the democratic masses. Well, how far the mighty have fallen! Last September, Yushchenko was brought low by internal divisions and allegations of corruption. And in this weekend’s parliamentary elections, according to the BBC, “he has been beaten into third place by the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych and his former Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko”. Defeat from within...

It’s gone from balloting to protesting in Belarus, as opposition parties and supporters took to the streets this past weekend — the anniversary of the establishment of the Belarussian republic in 1918 — to protest the results of the recent presidential election. The BBC has the story here, the Post here. My two posts on “Balloting in Belarus” are here and here.

At Newsweek, Michael Hirsh (who provides us with yet another must-read) looks at the recent re-emergence of Andrew Natsios, the former head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) who is now a professor at Georgetown and, since just recently, a harsh critic of “the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq occupation”: “In an interview with NEWSWEEK on Tuesday, he harshly criticized the Coalition Provisional Authority led by L. Paul Bremer III for botching...

Why all this talk about high-level personnel changes in the West Wing? Surely the magicians are just trying to change the subject, to redirect media attention away from all the bad news out there. I have more thoughts here.

At The Reaction, guest blogger Right Democrat argues that “Democrats have the opportunity now to emerge as the party of fiscal responsibility”. See his full post here. And I encourage you to check out his blog of the same name, a blog for moderate and conservative Democrats. He himself is a social conservative and economic populist who supports working families and traditional values. Good, thoughtful stuff.

This past Sunday, I reported on the tainted presidential election in Belarus — see here. Leading opposition candidate Alexander Milinkevich called the election “a complete farce” and demanded a re-vote. Since then, protests have continued, in the streets. President Alexander Lukashenko, an old-style authoritarian, promised to crack down on protesters. And he has. Here’s an update from the BBC: “Riot police in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, have broken up a five-day...

So Ryan Seacrest, he of American Idol fame/infamy, is the new Dick Clark. He’s just signed what is reported to be a three-year, $21-million dollar deal to host and produce for the E! network. Yup, you guessed it, this is yet another Sign of the Apocalypse.

According to the Globe and Mail / CTV tracking poll, the Conservatives are now just two points behind the governing Liberals. The Liberals are at 33%, while the Conservatives are at 31%. The New Democrats are third at 17%, the separatist Bloc Quebecois fourth at 13% (all in Quebec, of course). The Greens come in fifth at 5%. Regardless, these poll results indicate that no matter the outcome of the election, likely either a Liberal or Conservative minority government, Canada remains a largely liberal...

It seems like, well, forever since I last posted here at TMV. I was away on vacation in Prince Edward Island over the holidays, and I didn’t even go near a computer — which, I must say, was rather refreshing. Trust me. Try it. I started up The Reaction again on Monday, and it’s good finally to be back posting here at Joe’s great blog. But, before I get going again, let me wish you all a belated Happy New Year. I hope you all have a wonderful 2006.

From The Guardian: The Iranian government has been successfully scouring Europe for the sophisticated equipment needed to develop a nuclear bomb, according to the latest western intelligence assessment of the country’s weapons programmes. Scientists in Tehran are also shopping for parts for a ballistic missile capable of reaching Europe, with “import requests and acquisitions… registered almost daily”, the report seen by the Guardian concludes. For more on Iran’s...

Iran — the land of, among other things, Holocaust denial, an emerging nuclear program, and the rather overrated Abbas Kiarostami* — has taken an unfortunate step to cut itself off further from the West. The BBC reports: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned Western and “indecent” music from state-run TV and radio stations. The ban follows a ruling in October by the Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, which he heads, to ban Western songs from the airwaves. “Blocking...

For those of you who just can’t get enough of it, I’ve got a round-up of some of the best blogospheric commentary on the domestic spying controversy (a.k.a. Snoopgate) over at The Reaction. There’s a lot of good, provocative reading out there. Enjoy.

Canada election update: Does Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper not love Canada? And does he have a secret agenda? If so, what is it? These questions and more are asked (and answered) here by one of my extremely talented co-bloggers at The Reaction.

Forgive me if I get a bit defensive on this one. What makes Tucker Carlson tick? (Please send me your answers. It’s an open question.) Several months ago, I called the bow-tied buffoon “MSNBC’s new weenie” — see here. Hard to believe that I once liked him, that I once thought he was one of the more thoughtful, less partisan conservatives of the punditocracy. He may still have his thoughtful moments — I wouldn’t know. Like the vast majority of you, I don’t...

From The Washington Post: Sunni and secular political groups angrily claimed Tuesday that last week’s Iraqi national election was rigged, demanded a new vote and threatened to leave a shambles the delicate plan to bring the country’s wary factions together in a new government. Faced with preliminary vote counts that suggest a strong victory by the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of Shiite Muslim religious parties that dominates the outgoing government, political leaders of Iraq’s...

Speaking of Ariel Sharon (see below), there is much cause for concern: Over the weekend, Mr. Sharon suffered a minor stroke. In my view, he should have won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. More, his health and well-being should be of concern to anyone who cares about the prospect of peace between Israel and Palestine.

May I be permitted a spot of narcissism? Wampum, a great blog in its own right, has opened up nominations for the 2005 Koufax Awards — awards for left-of-center/liberal blogs. Although I blog here at TMV and am happy to call myself a moderate, broadly speaking, I think my work at The Reaction qualifies me for that sector of the blogosphere. If you like The Reaction, please click here and nominate it in one or more categories (scroll down to the comments section) — some appropriate categories...

As many of you know, I’ve been extremely critical of the conduct of the war in, and occupation of, Iraq (see here, here, and here, for example). But I do hope this election proves to be of lasting success. After all, however much we may dislike President Bush, however much we may be critical of his mismanaged war, what matters here is the well-being of the Iraqi people. Yesterday was an incredible day in Iraq. Saddam and his barbarous regime are gone and there was — gasp! — a democratic...