Much has been made about the now infamous “shoe throwing incident” with President Bush in Baghdad last Sunday. Some have said that the size tens were precisely what Bush deserved. Some have labeled the incident a geo-political embarrassment. Still others have questioned how the incident could have taken place with security around the President of the United States as tight as it is. Fareed Zakaria, on the other hand, sees the incident as an indication of the slow and painful, but distinctive...

In Blagojevich’s public statement today he said, and I quote, I will fight, I will fight, I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong. What the Governor means is that as far as he’s concerned, and as far as it looks to this point, he hasn’t committed any criminal offense. But that’s not the same as having done “nothing wrong”. Not being a criminal is not the same as being an effective representative and leader for the people who elected...

I wrote a post earlier this week about the likability of George W. Bush that came in for some criticism. Some readers seem to conclude that my assertion of Bush being likable was, in some sense, an exoneration of Bush’s decisions and actions as president. As I explained in the comments, this is not the case. I’m not interested in backpedaling from the idea that Bush has a certain a likability about him. While not universal, I think this is still the case for at least some proportion...

It seems that Mick Jagger and Ben Affleck have joined hands to bring the latest in celebrity humanitarian efforts. I applaud both Jagger and Affleck for producing a film designed to raise awareness about the problems facing the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and yet my inner skeptic wonders how much impact the effort might really have? Criticisms are rife of celebrity efforts to use their fame in the service of addressing social justice and humanitarian efforts. Most prevalent, perhaps,...

His polling is among the worst of any president. He was used as a whipping post by all sides in the recent presidential election. And there are innumerable people, websites, and Facebook groups devoted to counting down his last days in office. In spite of all of this, in his final days as President of the United States, George W. Bush seems to be re-embracing and re-inhabiting some of the charm and sincerity that ingratiated him to millions of Americans in 2000 and 2004. Bush was sold to America...

Hello Good Readers, My name is Scott Payne and I’m happy to introduce myself as the newest author/contributor here at The Moderate Voice. You will be able to read my bio in the appropriate section before too long, but by way of introduction I’ll give you a sense of who I am and what I hope to bring to the site. As you may have already deduced from some of my spelling idiosyncrasies, I am a part-time Canadian writer who splits his time commenting on US, world, and Canadian political, social,...