This seems to be the topic du jour at TMV today so allow me to throw in my two bits. Stephen Hawking was known as something of a mischievous youth, which makes me think his latest proncunciamento on the universe was deliberately calculated to raise the ire of believers of all stripes: God did not create the universe, world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking argues in a new book that aims to banish a divine creator...

You don’t have to be able to read tea leaves, examine entrails, or count the warts on a horny toad to know that conservatism is headed for a smashing victory in November. Or is it? Will the coming electoral tidal wave hide deficiencies that have yet to be addressed following a long decade of decline and exhaustion? What has changed in the intervening months? Certainly, the rising fortunes of the GOP has...

To those predisposed because of ideological animus to dismiss the notion of the tea party movement being the true inheritors of Martin Luther King’s dream, you might as well click away now. But if you want to engage on this issue in a reasonable manner, discussing the pros and cons rationally, you are invited to read on and ponder both the irony and the efficacy of these claims as they relate to history...

Hello there, Dr. E. here. We no longer call people ‘crip’ unless a person nicknamed themselves that… we no longer call people ‘that poor crippled person’ … and until we find a better phrase, we say people who need accommodations to have full access to life, ‘people with special needs.’ I’m one of the Commissioners for the first Special Needs District of...

Guest post by Peter Henne Peter S. Henne is a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University. He is a frequent contributor to TMV. Last week, a commission began investigating the final phase of a horrendous decades-long civil war. This war, which ended last year, caused tens of thousands of deaths, prompted military interventions from a regional power,...

You won’t want to miss tonight’s Rick Moran Show, one of the most popular conservative talk shows on Blog Talk Radio. Tonight, I welcome Dan Riehl of Riehl World View, Vodkapundit Stephen Green, American Thinker’s Larrey Anderson, and Scott Elliott, The Blogging Caesar. We’ll look at the hot political stories making news today. The show will air from 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central time....

Alright – everybody has made their points… SEVERAL DOZEN FREAKING TIMES! How many ways can you call the right intolerant and bigoted? Or refer to the left as Islamofascist sympathizers? Or moan about the degeneration of religious liberty in America? Or warn about creeping Sharia law? Build it. Don’t build it. Move it. Bah! Everyone has an opinion. That opinion has been expressed ad infinitum....

When Barack Obama became president, he promised to try and change the relationship dynamic between Islam and the west. His goal was to build bridges, lessen hostility, create trust, and generally lower the decibel level of conversation between the two cultures. There can be little argument regarding the president’s goals. The great struggle in which we are engaged against Islamism can only be won if we...

I suppose it was inevitable that the litmus test conservatives would begin purging those who don’t measure up to their very narrow, very limiting agenda. But it’s still something of a surprise to see World Net Daily – the rabid right wing online publication that has become famous for promoting the birther issue – canceling an appearance by the Queen of the Conservative Punditocracy Ann...

What a remarkable turn of events we’ve seen over the last 72 hours. The president of the United States, in what I considered at the time an act of true political courage, bucked 70% of his countrymen who oppose the construction of a mosque and Islamic center overlooking Ground Zero by making a strong statement in support of the constitutional rights of the Muslims who want to build it. But let me be clear:...

I have had mixed feelings about the question of whether to build a mosque and community center 2 miles from Ground Zero, which is the major reason I’ve been mostly silent about it. But the myth makers and apologists for radical Islam who feel no compunction in smearing all opponents of the mosque as bigots and haters have changed my mind. The constant appeal directed to the media and ordinary Americans...

Guest post by Peter Henne Peter S. Henne is a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a doctoral candidate at Georgetown University. Despite being an aspiring foreign policy wonk, I at first failed to realize the significance of August 31st, 2010. That is the date the US combat mission in Iraq will end. It is not that I was unaware of this date, or forgot. Instead, it was the near-absence...

This is the first in a series of posts that will examine issues and themes that will not be discussed in the upcoming election. At a time when America is questioning itself more than at any point that I can recall in my life, it occurs to me that the real issues that should be debated are not even being raised by candidates. Immigration, the deficit, Obama’s “socialism,” health care, and the...

Moderates and the Wimp Factor by Lou Zickar Perception is often reality in politics. Just ask George H.W. Bush. Twenty-three years ago this October, when he was beginning his campaign to succeed Ronald Reagan as President, Newsweek ran a cover story on him bearing this headline: “Fighting the Wimp Factor.” The gist of the story was that Bush didn’t have the backbone of Reagan. Of course, it was nonsense....

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of special Guest Voice posts by TMV readers. The Age of Hollywood Anti-Semitism or When Hollywood Demigods Attack! by Raymond Manley One thing about American culture is that there are some things we know and understand but don’t really talk about. That habit has drawbacks. A primary one: a culture of conspiracy. Not conspiracy as in me and three other...

After weeks of speculation where war opponents were licking their chops and the administration was sweating bullets, Wikileaks has released 92,000 documents summarizing in detail the day to day operations on the ground in Afghanistan as well as pungent assessments of our Afghan allies and our supposed friends in Pakistan. In truth, there are only mild surprises gleaned so far from the document dump. Three news...

Both the Sherrod matter and the Journolist revelations have one thing in common that the ideologues from both sides remain blissfully and determinedly unaware; the controversies are excellent examples of epistemic closure on both sides. To jog your memory, Julian Sanchez defined epistemic closure thusly: One of the more striking features of the contemporary conservative movement is the extent to which it has...

You won’t want to miss tonight’s Rick Moran Show, one of the most popular conservative talk shows on Blog Talk Radio. Tonight, Moran welcomes Monica Showalter, Fausta Wertz, and Jazz Shaw to talk about the Journolist scandal and other hot topics making news today. The show will air from 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central time. You can access the live stream here. A podcast will be available for streaming...

The “Tea Party Federation” – a group that purports to represent tea party groups across the country – has exorcised a demon from its midst. Mark Williams, a radio talk show host by trade, and a self-proclaimed “tea party leader” has been banished from the TPF for writing what might be the most tone deaf, racially insensitive blog post this side of an article praising the...

Christopher Orlet has struck a nerve among the internet addicts who are as compulsive in following politics and culture as a drunk reaching for the bottle on the night stand first thing in the morning: I have lived most of my life with but one or two persons I would call good friends. My fiancée, who collects friends like a baleen whale collects plankton, finds my lack of friends odd. I don’t doubt...

It is an article of faith for many on the right that government regulation of anything is inherently wasteful and inefficient; that government’s role as a watchdog or arbiter can only lead to less freedom, more restriction of the free market, and a less vibrant economy. More learned people than I make that argument so I will not dispute it. The question then; is there a case to be made for government regulation...

The recent brouhaha over the New Black Panther party getting away with what appeared to be a clear violation of the voting rights act when they stood outside of a Philadelphia polling place with the expressed and admitted purpose of intimidating voters has brought the race card into play from both sides. There are some on the right who point to the fact that the DoJ dropped the civil case against the NBPP as...

For many of you who use the Firefox browser to access my blog Right Wing Nuthouse, you may have found reading it an impossibility over the last 10 days or so. I ask your pardon. I was unaware of the problem until a reader emailed me and mentioned it. I was having problems accessing the site myself but I thought it was specific to my computer and not a general problem with viewing the website in Firefox (IE and...

You won’t want to miss tonight’s Rick Moran Show, one of the most popular conservative talk shows on Blog Talk Radio. Tonight, I welcome Dan Riehl of Riehl World View and PJTV personality and Vodkapundit Stephen Green for a discussion of some hot topics making news today, including a thorough look at both sides of the Department of Justice actions that have raised questions regarding the equal application...

I don’t often write in apocalyptic terms about the current administration, largely because America is too big and government too unwieldy to countenance sudden, dramatic change. However, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have made it quite obvious that they’re willing to give radicalism the old college try because America pre-Obama was not to their liking. Indeed, a look at America on...