Will former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack become Hillary’s VP? Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has assumed a role in Sen. Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign unlike any of the New York Democrat’s other national advisers. He campaigns for her in Iowa and other key states, spends hours each week on the phone with donors and elected officials and has helped forge policy ideas Clinton presents on the campaign trail. In this way, Vilsack has made the quick and seemingly effortless transition...

Governor Bill Richardson told MSNBC’s Tim Russert that he would stop mentioning an American soldier who died in Iraq back in ’04. Richardson shared the story of Lance Cpl. Aaron Austin on several occasions. Lance Cpl. Aaron Austin died a heroic death in 2004: The Marines were searching buildings in the war-torn Jolan neighborhood when they came under attack in one of the bloodiest clashes between the U.S. military and insurgents that spring. Austin helped evacuate the wounded and led...

David Greenberg sent me an e-mail earlier today, asking me whether I wanted to check out his website and to tell him what I think of it: the website is about Judaism, a subject I am greatly interested in. Of course, I headed over to his website immediately and found it to be fascinating. The website is called “Judaism Online“. It contains many, many highly interesting articles about Judaism, such as Why Don’t Jews Believe in Jesus, Judaism and Islam, Judaism and Buddhism, but also...

A fascinating episode in the history of Judaism: Far away from the eyes of the Jewish mainstream, in modern-day Turkey there live hundreds, if not thousands, of crypto-Jews — and today, one of their most sacred shrines is in danger. This is the hidden, fascinating tale of the doenmeh, descendants of the faithful followers of the 17th-century false messiah Sabbetai Tzvi, who converted to Islam in 1666. Tzvi’s own conversion came under duress: The Ottoman sultan demanded that he don the...

Al Gore received an Oscar for a documentary about global warming; more and more people realize that global warming is a major problem; Europe is willing to take the lead; America, meanwhile, continues to act as if nothing is wrong. The US has rejected any prospect of a deal on climate change at the G8 summit in Germany next month, according to a leaked document. Despite Tony Blair’s declaration on Thursday that Washington would sign up to “at least the beginnings” of action to cut...

For a great series about World War II, head over to Bob McCarty’s place. Bob published 12 stories of / about his father who fought in World War II.

Guess who’s back, back again Sadr’s back, tell a friend Guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back… He is a monster, cuz nobody wants to See bin laden no more they want Sadr He’s chopped liver Well if you want Sadr, then this is what he’ll give ya A little bit of Bin mixed with some hard liquor Some vodka that will jumpstart his heart quicker Then...

Two biographies of Hillary Clinton have just been published and both paint a negative picture of Democratic Senator for New York, and presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton: Two new books on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York offer fresh and often critical portraits of the Democratic presidential candidate that depict a tortured relationship with her husband and her past and challenge the image she has presented on the campaign trail. The Hillary Clinton who emerges from the pages of...

This CBS poll certainly won’t make George W. Bush very happy: - How is the war going? Well, 23%; badly, 76%. - Did the US do the right thing going to war with Iraq? Right thing, 35%; should have stayed out 61%. - Is the country headed in the right direction? Yes, 24%; no, wrong direction, 72%. - Approve or disapprove of the job Bush is doing? Approve, 30%; disapprove, 63%. Republicans are still, mostly, rallying behind Bush / the war in Iraq and the surge, but the polls show that Americans...

A short while after I published a post about an article that appeared today in the Washington Post, I received an e-mail from the National Journal‘s Neil Munro. Neil shared two things with me: first, an article he wrote which appeared in the 5/12/07 edition of the National Journal; second, information from what will remain an unnamed source. The source wrote that “there is a fundamental flaw” in before mentioned WaPo article: the US doesn’t know “who is killing whom.”...

Jim Martin and… what liberal media? Booker Rising quotes Ken Blackwell on evolution. Brad DeLong explains why the American Prospect is shrill. It seems that David Anderson received some friendly comments (and e-mails). Sebastian at Obsidian Wings on Voter ID (data).

Oops: LONG-STANDING rumours that the former French president Jacques Chirac holds a secret multi-million-euro bank account in Japan appear to have been confirmed by files seized from the home of a senior spy. Papers seized by two investigating magistrates from General Philippe Rondot, a former head of the DGSE, France’s intelligence service, show Mr Chirac opened an account in the mid-1990s at Tokyo Sowa Bank, credited with the equivalent of £30 million. It is not known where the money came...

An interesting article by Gideon Rachman at the Financial Times. If you happen to be passing though Malibu next month, why not pop into an intriguing-sounding conference at Pepperdine University on “The Collapse of Europe”. One of the early sessions is entitled – “Eurabia: Is Muslim domination of Europe inevitable?” My answer to this is “No” it’s not inevitable. In fact, given that the Muslim population of Europe is just 4% at the moment, I would say...

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial up, with the headline: “The Poor Get Richer.” It’s been a rough week for John Edwards, and now comes more bad news for his “two Americas” campaign theme. A new study by the Congressional Budget Office says the poor have been getting less poor. On average, CBO found that low-wage households with children had incomes after inflation that were more than one-third higher in 2005 than in 1991. Jonathan Chait wondered why the CBO decided...

Keith Olbermann isn’t exactly happy with the compromise Republicans and Democrats reached on Iraq. He said that the president and the majority leaders have betrayed the American people. after six months of preparation and execution—half a year gathering the strands of public support; translating into action, the collective will of the nearly 70 percent of Americans who reject this War of Lies, the Democrats have managed only this: * The Democratic leadership has surrendered to a president—if...

Central Sanity crossed the 500-posts milestone. “Here’s a look back at the 25 most popular, based on percentage of hits among the last 4,000 visits.” Bob McCarty quotes Winston Churchill on Islam / Muslims. It ain’t nice. Libby writes at The Impolitic that the “Leaker-in-Chief” is back. Related: The Populist: “Bush brings out more Bin Ladin Boogie man Stories!” Andrew Sullivan: “The Netroots and the War.” The Gun Toting Liberal has a great...

The Royal Dutch Soccer Association (KNVB) has decided that the national Dutch team will not play any matches against Morocco for the coming five years. The reason: yesterday, the Young Dutch team played against Young Morocco. After the match, which was won by Morocco, Moroccan-Dutchmen ran onto the field and destroyed everything (and everyone) they could (as shown on the image above). All of this gave Dutch politician Geert Wilders a novel idea: young Moroccan-Dutchmen should, for a period of five...

Bradley Burston writes for the Haaretz: It may be nothing more than human nature, that takes a blessing and processes it into a curse. Or maybe it’s technology. Take the talkback feature. We had great hopes for it. We believed that it would offer readers a chance to respond to the news and the columns published in this newspaper and on this Website, that they would feel encouraged to express opinions, exchange views, engage in rational debate and perhaps forge bonds of understanding based on...

It seems that John McCain has decided to attack Mitt Romney relentlessly: The contrast could hardly be more striking. Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney have been mixing it up on the trail with increasing intensity ever since their feisty exchange at the last Republican debate. This week their arguments over immigration prompted Mr. McCain to suggest acidly that Mr. Romney’s solution might be “to get out his small-varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his lawn.” Standing...

Ankara seems to have been hit by a terrorist attack. A powerful explosion Tuesday in a busy commercial neighborhood in the Turkish capital has caused several casualties, CNN-Turk television reported. A CNN-Turk reporter at the site said he could see several bodies lying on the ground. Television footage showed medics tending to the injured and carrying people into ambulances on stretchers. The cause of the blast, outside one of the oldest shopping malls of Ankara and near bus stops, was not immediately...

I just received an e-mail from someone about a fascinating website: Quantcast. It keeps track of how many people visit blogs of the candidates (for president). For instance, look at this: a comparison between Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama. As you can see, Hillary’s entry into the presidential race this past January resulted in nearly 120K unique visitors in one day. If you go here you can find more specific information about, in this case, Hillary Clinton(‘s website)....

L. Thomas published a great series at his blog about conservatism: “What is Conservatism?” Four parts, part one is here; part two here; part three here and, lastly, you can read the epilogue by clicking here.

Americans are obsessed with gas prices. If the price rises a bit, an immediate firestorm is the result. At this moment, I am told in today’s open thread, “gas prices are now at an all-time high in the US: $3.18 per gallon.” $3.28 per gallon = $1,1312 per liter $1,1312 = euro 0.840094 Gas prices in the Netherlands: euro 1.523 euro 1.523 = $2.05055 We pay, per liter, 1,21 euros more. That’s $1.63. Per liter. Read more.

There is still a lot going on in Turkey (the CHP is the party founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk): Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal and Democratic Left Party (DSP) leader Zeki Sezer criticized the prime minister’s comments on the election alliance of their parties Saturday, with Baykal accusing Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan of being out of control. Wondering what Erdogan said? Erdo: “If you combine 40 rotten eggs, you cannot get one fresh one.” Baykal responded,...

Many conservatives are not exactly happy with the immigration reform bill. John Fund for the Wall Street Journal: It’s understandable that the White House and its Senate negotiating partners want to rush through the compromise immigration bill they agreed to Thursday. Supporters acknowledge that the delicately balanced legislation could collapse if a single destructive amendment is attached to it. Its sponsors admit they want to minimize the political debate. “We all know this issue can...