This article by Youssef Ibrahim in the NY Sun describes how all the Shiite leaders were all trained in the same place, and are working together in manipulating the US and Iraq. They may talk about a new bargain at the White House, but in Qom they vowed to pursue the reversal of 13 centuries of humiliation by Sunnis and others. “I will show you death so that you will accept a headache.” We need more Rug Merchants among our leaders.

From my favorite global thinker “>Thomas Barnett NEWS: Students Cry Out for Freedom in Large Demonstration at Tehran University “Imagine what Air Force One touching down in Tehran might set off? Indeed, that’s why I titled the original section in the Feb 05 article in Esquire: “Nixon Goes to Tehran.” Going on the offensive in the Long War ain’t always about going kinetic, but it’s always about shaking things up and putting the other guy on his heels. You...

This article at the NY Times focuses on using biometrics to identify people traveling through Heathrow Airport. Some folks are anxious about the misuse of this data. Some folks are concerned about the reliability of the technology. I am begining to warm up to its possibilities because I would like for it to be easier to intercept predators, and to exonerate the harmless. I like that biometrics may allow us to bypass documents that can be lost or forged. The processing of immigrants and travelers...

The Carpetbagger Report relayed an item about Senator Arlen Specter working to undo the damage of allowing the reduction in Habeas Corpus protection. “When the Military Commissions Act, which among other things suspended habeas corpus for suspected terrorists, went to the Senate floor in September, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) voiced some relatively passive concerns. He offered an amendment that would have protected habeas, which was defeated. Specter didn’t seem terribly concerned about...

From the Wall Street Journal: “>Some Republicans Take a Scorched-Hill Tack Leaving Budget Decisions To Democrats Could Disrupt New Leadership’s Agenda Like a retreating army, Republicans are tearing up railroad track and planting legislative land mines to make it harder for Democrats to govern when they take power in Congress next month. …The unstated goal is to disrupt the Democratic agenda and make it harder for the new majority to meet its promise to reinstitute “pay-as-you-go”...

From an Orange County Editorial Here are the basics from the governor’s statement: “The proposal creates a Citizens Redistricting Commission to develop an open and fair process for redrawing our political district lines. The commission would be composed of 11 independent and politically balanced members who reflect our state’s diversity and who are free from conflicts of interest. “Four members would be from each of the state’s two largest political parties. The remaining...

David Broder writes in today’s Washington Post “>A Study In Comity about the process of the Iraq Study Group. Whatever the final impact of the Iraq Study Group report being issued today, for the 10 commission members this was an exhilarating experience, a demonstration of genuine bipartisanship that they hope will serve as an example to the broader political world. “It was a very wonderful experience,” former Republican senator Al Simpson of Wyoming told me last weekend....

Contenders for DCCC chairmanship campaign quietly …The party committee chairman is charged with recruiting candidates, fundraising and formulating an earned media strategy. …Democratic aides agree only on the uncertainty surrounding the vacancy and the members on the short list to fill it. They include Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), who, according to Democratic sources, appears to have the inside track over other possible contenders such as Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.),...

Reported in The Hill President Bush has invited leaders of the conservative Blue Dog and New Democrat coalitions to the White House Friday to discuss areas of “mutual cooperation” in the words of one Democratic Congressional aide. The outreach comes at a time when Bush’s image on Capitol Hill and around the country has taken a serious beating. The meeting is scheduled just two days after the Iraq Study Group is scheduled to release its findings and one day after the Senate Armed...

Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake blog has a commentary on Centrism at The Huffington Post with an interesting collection of comments. The term centrism is like a Rorschach test. Everyone brings something different to the interpretation. For many it is an absurd attempt to take the average of opposing views. For some it is a cowardly effort to avoid taking a stand. For me it is less about the issues and more about a commitment to the process of building consensus among stakeholders.

A fresh thought over at “>The Washington Note “He said that there is only one non-military way to break Iran’s current course, and that the military option was not credible and would not be supported in the region. This official said that the only way to stop Iran at this point was to make the price of oil plummet. He said that America could engineer this with coordinated support from oil producers in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The price of a dramatic increase in oil production...

50 House members promote Leach for ambassador A Democratic congressman said today he will continue to push for Republican Rep. Jim Leach of Iowa to be named as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. I likey.

David Sirota is a prominent spokesperson for liberalism who often buries his insightful commentary under adolescent name calling. “Ok, I promised myself I wouldn’t get too into following Sen. Joe Lieberman (CfL-CT), but this is really just too disgusting. On 11/12/06, Tim Russert (aka. Pumpkinhead) asked Lieberman (aka. Rubberface) about Iraq: “Should we send more troops?â€?” Certainly folks all along the political spectrum say nasty things about their opponents. Often...

This long article in New York Magazine reviews Billionaire New York Mayor Bloomberg’s political past and possible future. Some nuggets: “…the sense that his persona—blunt, pragmatic, consensus-building, ideologically ambidextrous—is in sync with an electorate desperately craving calm, coherent centrism…. …Then came the fall campaign and his move beyond national issues to national electioneering—endorsing and raising money for a micro-slate of Bloombergian...

“>Newt Gingrich, one of my favorite conservatives, opened a controversy by saying “Either before we lose a city, or, if we are truly stupid, after we lose a city, we will adopt rules of engagement that use every technology we can find to break up [terrorists'] capacity to use the Internet, to break up their capacity to use free speech [protections] and to go after people who want to kill us — to stop them from recruiting people before they get to reach out and convince young...

The Wall Street Journal ran an article about how some Senators are asking the Oil Industry to stop resisting efforts to curb Global Warming. The WSJ articles says: “Every dogma has its day, and we’ve lived long enough to see more than one “consensus” blown apart within a few years of “everyone knowing” it was true. In recent decades environmentalists have been wrong about almost every other apocalyptic claim they’ve made: global famine, overpopulation, natural...

One way to explain the concept and process of Centrism is to look to the US Constitution. A group pledging their property, honor and lives needed to craft a mutual operating agreement that justified their risks. They tenaciously negotiated among themselves to find pragmatic mechanisms that could work and stand the test of time. They wanted the most modest organization that promoted life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. With mutual respect and mutual effort, they locked in passionate deliberation...

Michelle Malkin has an important post about new software to help bypass Internet censors in countries that censor the World Wide Web. Spread the word.

Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard suggests how the President can best use his remaining time in office. * Fire generals. * Keep John Bolton * Stop earmarks. * Give judicial nominees recess appointments. * Talk up the military option in Iran. * Apply the Kennedy model to North Korea. * Push a radical energy independence plan. * Implement the military option and take out all of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The details are important so...

“U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois told more than 2,000 evangelical leaders in Orange County on Friday that he “respectfully but unequivocallyâ€? disagrees with those who oppose condom distribution to fight the AIDS pandemic. But he said a solution to the worldwide spread of AIDS would also come from churches guiding people to make moral decisions…In measured words, he dismissed the notion that simply discouraging promiscuity could stop the spread of HIV, the virus that causes...

Can you all help me out by recommending blogs by experts? It would be nice to be able to read the opinions of people who are actually expert in their fields such as economics, taxes, foreign affairs, politics insiders… One that I particularly like is Thomas Barnett “Dr. Barnett is in high demand within government circles as a forecaster of global conflict and an expert of military transformation, as well as within corporate circles as a management consultant and conference presenter...

From the Boston Globe “…the chiefs of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler went to Washington to meet with the president and supported a suggestion John Kerry proposed during his presidential campaign: a reinsurance arrangement to pay for chronic or catastrophic healthcare costs, thereby effectively taking those cases out of private health-insurance plans. …The Plan called for having the federal government pay three-quarters of the additional expenses for patients whose healthcare...

Reyes to chair Intelligence panel House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen a Border-Patrol-agent-turned-congressman to lead the House Intelligence Committee. I think this is a great resolution to a delicate issue. Do you?

“>U.S. Prison Population Sets Record Who knows the exact percent of people in jail for personal use, but whatever it is is far too large. I think prison should be focused on predators. It seems like a better use of our resources to legalize pot and tax the hell out of it. Then the taxes can subsidize the enforcement.

I received this unsolicited email today, and got so inspired I sent Planned Parenthood a donation. “The purpose of No Room for Contraception is to expose the harms of contraception on marriage, society and women’s health. Both pro-choice and pro-life forces know that the end to legal abortion is coming soon, and many think that we should turn to contraception to decrease the need for abortion; the widespread availability and use of contraception, however, is what created the need for...