Big developments In Iran. Meir Javedanfar, writing on RealClearWorld: The most important takeaway message from Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s Friday sermon in Iran today is that the regime now faces one of the most important crisis since the inception of the Islamic Republic. This is in direct contrast to President Ahmadinejad, who has dismissed the events as marginal and minor incidents. By using the...

People wonder about mothers, human and animal, who walk away from their babies… who refuse and do not nurture their young, who literally walk away, stray out late, leave the child in the bush, in the car, at home alone unable to reach the doorknob and without food… the children cry themselves to sleep, furry or human child, matters not… each needs a mother, her warmth, her regard, her watching...

As President Obama’s personal popularity sinks to the 50-yard line, his landmark climate change and healthcare bills in deep doo doo, the stimulus bill tied up in bureaucratic knots and his continual flummoxing over Bush Administration torture and secret CIA operations, one thing remains certain. The public has an insatiable thirst for the guy. It ranges from the fanatical extreme right fringe which went...

If you believe conservative commentators, liberals are a bunch of whining, carping, envious wimps, always complaining about some puffed up abuse of indigents or some other lefty lament. But believe me when I say that no group whines, moans, beats its heads against the wall in torment about a perceived injustice more than the very rich or their champions. Take the 5.4 percent surtax that is part of the House...

A report from the non partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) indicates that the proposed health care plan will not curb costs and could end up increasing costs. In a bemusing reaction many Democrats have attacked the report and tried to label CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf as a partisan hack of some kind. Considering that 1) the CBO has long been recognized as non partisan, 2) these same Democrats loved...

Many of us were not lucky enough to experience it the first time around but I urge everybody to keep their eyes for the many events covering the 40th anniversary of man landing on the moon. The net has tons of coverage including a minute by minute reenactment at We Chose The Moon CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc all plan to have extensive coverage over the weekend. 40 years ago tonight, the world held its breath as a countdown...

Another tragedy involving the boys in blue. Our prayers are with the families of all those who were injured.

If we are to believe U.S. intelligence officials that a plan to train assassination teams to strike Al-Qaeda leaders overseas including allied countries — a plan rejected for the most part and never operational — then I say more power to them. Keep in mind these plans work terrific in movies and Tom Clancy novels but rarely in the real world. The wrinkle is Central Intelligence Agency officials never...

A couple of nights ago I was watching the NBC nightly news. They had two stories, one right after the other, that were rather instructive. The first was about the growing shortage of primary care doctors in this country and the rush of medical students to train to become medical specialists. This report noted that average pay of primary care docs is $190,000 a year. Average pay for radiologists is $490,000 a...

Can’t we admit that the best legal representation is a right which should be available to all Americans? Aren’t we tired of those poncy, bourgeois bastages sucking up all best lawyers? It’s time.

Swiss neutrality is an article of faith among the people of that country, which is why something of a civil war has erupted between Switzerland’s collective head of state and its judiciary over whether documents, which are rumored to show CIA meddling in Swiss national affairs, should be destroyed. In a nutshell, the documents involve Swiss nationals who helped Pakistan nuclear scientist A. Q. Khan develop...

As many bloggers both here at TMV and around the net have already pointed out it seems likely that Justice to Be Sotomayor will win a fairly easy confirmation. It is probable that she will get unanimous support from the Democrats and a decent level of support from the GOP. So I thought I would offer a commentary on the criticism already appearing in some quarters about how the GOP is being obstructionist and...

As the Senate Supreme Court hearings for President Barack Obama’s nominee Sonia Sotomayor head into their third day, one thing has become abundantly clear: both parties are now playing to the future — reflecting and trying to consolidate their present constituencies while giving hints of their political warmaps for the future Supreme Court battles to come. On the Democratic side, it’s clear...

Here’s a cram course in “Family Values” for those who need the refresher.

This is unsettling: Swine flu resembles feared 1918 flu, study finds New H1N1 strain more likely to cause pneumonia than regular flu viruses The 1918 flu pandemic killed between 3% to 6% of the entire world population, and possibly may have killed more people than the Black Death. Yet, where are we putting most of our efforts? — Cross-posted to Random Fate and The Moderate Voice. — Technorati...

Okay, I have a few non-political, that is non-partisan, questions about an alleged Bush Administration cover-up of a CIA program that, if implemented, would have authorized killing foreign leaders. My questions go beyond the legality of such a program or about whether it was right for the former administration to conceal it from the Congress. I hope that those more steeped in constitutional law than I am can...

Obviously at this point I don’t have much to post in this thread but I thought it would be useful to have one in which we at TMV tracked the announced vote on the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor. I will update it as votes are announced, so if you’re wondering where things stand please keep an eye here.

The first day of hearings are complete and we didn’t really have any surprises. Members of both parties said what they were expected to say and for the most part they remained reasonably civil. Republicans were careful to strike a balance between satisfying the desire of their base for a thorough review of the nominee and avoiding going too far in their rhetoric. Democrats were careful to strike their...

I was searching for some way to add to this analysis by Robert J. Samuelson at the Washington Post, but frankly I’m just not that smart. If you want to step back from the partisan walls and see why the Republicans have been doing a bad job at planning for the country’s economic future and the Democrats’ current plans are making it worse, follow the link and read the entire thing for yourself....

This is without a doubt, swear on a stack of Bibles, the last article I will post on the announced soon-to-be resignation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — until she actually contributes something of value to national politics. This is not a political obituary for she shall return as certainly as Gen. MacArthur promised, a chap she fondly quoted recently. I take Sarah Palin for what she is. A former beauty...

Today marks the beginning of the hearings into the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Based on past history we can expect today to be more style than substance, with both the nominee and the members of the committee offering introductory statements and setting the ground for the rest of the hearings. As the hearings proceed I think it is proper for both parties to consider just how they...

Americans are an impatient lot. They demand instant gratification. That is why sodium-saturated frozen meals are microwaved in minutes and cholesterol-rich fast food restaurants so popular. When Americans apply this mentally imbalanced approach to solving our nation’s economic ills, they demonstrate a side of themselves that is at best naive and worst ignorant. So it comes as no surprise that President...

Sometimes you get the feeling that the government officials in charge of reanimating our economy don’t understand how this economy actually works. Last week provided a depressing example. It was announced at week’s end that the government plans to focus more on bailing out the country’s small business sector. Which raises the troubling question: how could they not have been focusing on this...

Recently the Nestle company had to recall a huge amount of cookie dough because of E Coli contamination. This recall probably cost them millions and it now seems they may have arrived at this point by trying to cut corners on food safety issues. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Nestle has repeatedly refused to cooperate with FDA requests to provide information during inspections. While they complied with...

As part of his visit to Ghana, President Obama took time to visit a former slave fort located on the African coast. To be sure there was more style than substance in this event but there was a pretty significant and moving nature to the event. Even for those of us who don’t support everything the President does there has always been a bit of pride in the fact that a nation that once allowed slavery is...