I suspect everyone has a specific event from the Iraq war that stands out in their minds. For some, perhaps it’s Haditha; for others, maybe it’s Abu Ghraib. There were plenty to choose from, but time and further information have placed many of those incidents into context. As terrible as those stories were (and are), they have always been a part of war, and they serve as the ultimate reminder of why it should always be the last option. But there was one crime that seared my soul...

Online nastiness has been there since its inception, but once upon a time, one could make the argument that there was a line between cyberspace and the “real” world. “Don’t like it? Don’t read it” was the short-sighted thinking. But the lines aren’t just blurred today; they’re nonexistent. The internet has become an indispensable part of the modern world, and real lives are affected all the time now. The Houston Chronicle’s running a story...

Another day, another national event. How does Hallmark manage to keep up? This time, it’s National Prayer Day — and some folks are mad at President Obama. The National Day of Prayer Task Force, chaired by Shirley Dobson, will be holding an observance at the Cannon House Office Building on Thursday, May 7, from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon. That observance is open to the public. The White House has been asked to send a representative on behalf of the Executive Branch, but no response has been...

Note to John McCain: if you’re going to pluck someone out of the seething masses and hold him up as an icon in front of millions of people, you should vet that person first. Note to political parties in general: If you put someone forth as symbolic of your party and its values, people will — for good or ill — pay attention to him thereafter. Note to Republicans specifically: You created your own image problem and it’s a doozy. More here.

This is hysterical. La Crosse – Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appealed to the political middle Friday to join his party but added that the party itself wouldn’t moderate. “All you moderates out there, y’all come. I mean, that’s the message,” Steele said at a news conference. “The message of this party is this is a big table for everyone to have a seat. I have a place setting with your name on the front. “Understand that when...

In a ground-breaking move Thursday, the Texas Senate passed a bill approving new license plates that read “Choose Wife” — thus allowing Texans to publicly display their concern for high divorce rates in the state. The bill now moves to the House. If it passes there, concerned Texans will be able to order the metallic bumper stickers plates as soon as this fall. Like all vanity plates, they will cost more than the dry, boring, non-politicized plates, but ten percent of the higher...

Polimom’s local school district sent out the dreaded email alert this afternoon. Swine flu is here, in a school very nearby, and they’ve closed that school. Not only that, but Adorable Child tells me they think there’s a student from her school as well (though nothing’s been said about that yet) — so I’m fully expecting a forced vacation next week. I’ve been watching, jaw hanging, as the panic around the swine flu has ramped up. I’ve even poked a...

A couple of days ago, I relaunched a former blog — and right away was confronted by “Is Polimom really a ‘moderate’”? The question brought me up short, in part because I’ve never personally tried to define what I think a moderate is. While the question has been engaged here at TMV in the past, it’s been awhile — and I didn’t agree necessarily with everyone. So I thought I’d share here how I answered over there. I’m very interested...

I had an interesting conversation with a friend today about a boardwalk that has been constructed on the beach in her city. It’s a lovely walkway — I’ve been on it — and it was built with funds designated some years ago. You know… back when cities were flush (or at least solvent). But a beach boardwalk rests upon sand. Which blows. And so, the obvious is occurring: the boardwalk is being covered. My friend isn’t particularly bothered about this (yet), but...

In recent days, a number of prominent Republicans have made the news by declaring they’re crossing party lines to vote for Barack Obama. One after another, they’ve publicly stated their dissatisfaction with either the ticket, the direction of the GOP, or both — and they’re being pilloried for it. But the Colin Powells and Christopher Buckleys and Ken Adelmans of the political world are merely the public face of a very real problem for the Republicans. In fact, the very first...

Joe Wurzelbacher is a pretty ordinary guy — or at least, he was until Wednesday night, when John McCain decided to feed him to the wolves. Today, of course, he’s the devil incarnate (or a martyr, depending on one’s point of view). I wonder… did he have to borrow the horns and tail from Graeme Frost and his family? Or is there some government warehouse that both parties use?

Thank goodness the debates are done! Everybody ready to go vote now? I sure hope so, because I think we’ve covered tonight’s ground many times over now. Everything from here on out is gonna be pretty ugly. Rather than focus on the remaining three weeks of hostility, spin, and loose facts, I think we should give some credit for tonight’s lighter moments. (Transcript via CNN) I nominate Barack Obama for the “Best Euphemism in a Presidential Debate” award: “We...

As some of you know, I’ve been running a little civics experiment over at my blog. In it, I asked congressional candidates in local races whether they’d publicly commit to fiscal responsibility via PAYGO — and I was very careful in how I defined PAYGO: Once upon a time, in another era, the concept of ‘pay as you go’ was well understood. In recent years, unfortunately, partisanship and political polarization have distorted and undermined its effectiveness, and many in our...

It looks to me as though the Republican attempt to link Obama to radical leftists is having great success here in Texas. Political signs are going up all over the place in my neighborhood — and so far, every last one of them says, “McCain-Palin”. Of course, even when times are flush, the “tax and spend Democrats” line plays very well here, but things look a bit different this year. It seems that my neighbors are convinced that socialism is coming on little Obama-ridden hooves…...

The more radical elements of the Republican base have been getting a lot of attention lately — and not without reason. They really do sound pretty nuts. But they’re hardly alone in the wilderness. In fact, there’s a sort of beautiful balance to this whole thing.

I’ll preface this post by saying that the most conservative parts of the GOP base will not agree with it… nor will they see any reason McCain should care about the votes of people like me. I’m not a Republican, and I see that party as corrupted and twisted beyond all recognition these days. They’ve fully earned their time in the wilderness, and I know many (former) Republicans who won’t vote for them this year under any circumstances. Furthermore, the tactics McCain...

Like my fellow TMV bloggers, I’m glad to see John McCain attempt to confront and unravel some of his supporters’ increasingly worrisome (mis)perceptions about Barack Obama. I agree with those who say that the direction McCain’s campaign has gone was both disappointing and surprising, and I have no trouble understanding why some Republicans and conservatives have withdrawn their support of him as a result. A few days ago, there was a video from a rally that showed John McCain’s...

If you’re running Firefox and you’ve installed Greasemonkey, you can now view memeorandum in full living “political-bias” colors. While most political blogs are extremely partisan, their biases aren’t immediately obvious to outsiders like me. I wanted to see, at a glance, how conservative or liberal the blogs were without clicking through to every article. With the help of del.icio.us founder Joshua Schachter, we used a recommendation algorithm to score every blog on...

Regular readers here know that I’m frustrated by the profligate waste and fiscal irresponsibility our Washington leadership has demonstrated. After many posts and comments (and a great deal of anguish), I decided to bring my concerns directly to the people running for office in my area. Call it a civics experiment. To that end, I spent the vast majority of last weekend putting together a letter, and this past Monday morning I sent it to all the congressional candidates (20 or so people) in...

Okay — I understand now why McCain wanted the Townhall debate format. He is much, much better in this setting. Yes, he looked extremely stiff — and next to Obama, downright ancient. But McCain’s demeanor, and his answers, were much improved from the last debate. Furthermore, these questions were exponentially better than we’ve seen to date, and I was thrilled to hear somebody finally start nailing both candidates down on priorities and sacrifice in the face of prior fiscal...

In a thread yesterday, commenter JSpencer made reference to “the brilliant minds who conceived this country”. Although the context was narrowly contemporary (the 2008 election), the comment spoke to something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Would the Founding Fathers recognize the system we’re using today? Are we on the path they tried to set us on? If not, where do you think we went awry? Myself, I think we’ve followed a number of forks in the road, and I’d...

Almost a month ago, I wrote that I had taken the Obama sticker off the back of my truck and gone back on the fence. In large part, I needed to take a step back. Having declared myself for a candidate, I was finding myself defensive of him, and thus not able to evaluate positions fairly. Likewise, the screeches and screaming that arose around Sarah Palin’s elevation to the GOP ticket — ludicrously over the top — made it utterly impossible to judge her at all. So I pulled back…...

In the best of times, the presidency is a tough job. One can come in with all sorts of high-falutin’ ideas and goals, but something always comes up to complicate things. People flying airplanes into buildings… radicals taking a bunch of diplomats hostage… It’s always some dang thing or another. 2008, of course, is not the best of times. This morning, TMV co-blogger Jazz Shaw wrote: I’m quickly coming to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter who wins the presidential...

A month or so ago, when I wrote that I was back on the fence, I was met with quite a range of reaction. For most folks, it seems, these choices are just obvious — but the more I’ve cogitated on this, the more complex the decision has become. One of the most difficult internal hurdles I’ve encountered is my very strong belief in checks and balances… and my worries about one-party government have been magnified by the ongoing party purges of their moderates. I sent a WaPo...

Tonight’s debate was kind of a letdown, eh? No embarrassing gaffes (though there’s plenty of fodder for parsing and picking). No bumbling or incoherence. No bullying. Not even any bias from the moderator. Kind of bland for those of us who popped popcorn and expected a show. I did, however, come away with some impressions. First and foremost, of course, is that Sarah Palin did much better than the (ludicrously low) expectations. If all people wanted to know about her tonight was...