Ray Kurzweil has the answer…maybe. First, try taking a look at his new book, Fantastic Voyage, and see what you think. Sure, he could be full of it, but something tells me he’s onto something special. Just look to Aubrey de Grey‘s research on free radicals and cell destruction, and you’ll get even more affirmation that Kurzweil’s thought may have some serious merit. Anyway, more...

A new poll confirms that most Americans think the Dems’ call-outs on the war are damaging our soldiers’ resolve. From the Washington Post: Democrats fumed last week at Vice President Cheney’s suggestion that criticism of the administration’s war policies was itself becoming a hindrance to the war effort. But a new poll indicates most Americans are sympathetic to Cheney’s point. Seventy...

Needless to say, Aljazeera is not amused. I’ve got an update on this story here.

Kevin Drum on taking terrorism seriously: “The American public can hardly be expected to take terrorism seriously if it’s obvious that the Bush administration itself views al-Qaeda as primarily a political opportunity rather than a real problem. Sooner or later, we’re going to pay the price for this feckless and irresponsible approach.” I think America’s paying it already. ********** See...

“The hallmark of the Dick Cheney administration is its illegitimacy.” Does that get your attention? It should. It’s the first line of “The long march of Dick Cheney,” Sidney Blumenthal’s latest piece at Salon.com (thankfully available in full here). Here’s the next line: “Its essential method is bypassing established lines of authority; its goal is the concentration...

Is she Robert Novak’s niece? Heh…sorry Viveca… Click here to find out more.

Finding new drug combinations to fight the ever-mutating disease is an amazingly difficult task. That’s why supercomputers all across the world are linking up in hopes of discovering new ways to defeat this worldwide scourge. Discover more here.

Alito’s personal opinions in 1985 of the Warren Court’s views on reapportionment have raised eyebrows on both sides of the aisle recently, but understandably only Democrats have been making hay about it given its importance to black voting rights. Here’s more from the Washington Post: Democrats began raising questions about Judge Alito’s position on the principle of one person one vote...

Bioethics writer Wesley J. Smith notes some Europeans are growing worried their rationed health care programs might devolve into excuses for euthanasia by governments that want to avoid caring for the most vulnerable – and expensive – patients: Soon euthanasia might be the price the solidarity principle of the welfare state imposes on those people whose health care is costing society the most. Politicians...

According to Editor & Publisher (hat-tip AMERICAblog), two US Representatives have been injured in a truck accident near Baghdad. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) were sent to the hospital while other politicians present were uninjured.

That’s what Senator Joe Biden, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asked in an op-ed piece at in The Washington Post yesterday: “Over the next six months, we must forge a sustainable political compromise between Iraqi factions, strengthen the Iraqi government and bolster reconstruction efforts, and accelerate the training of Iraqi forces.” The problem is, there are just...

Republicans went nuts after John Murtha called for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, and I myself do not favour immediate withdrawal, but it already looks as though the Pentagon is preparing for withdrawal: Even as debate over the Iraq war continues to rage, signs are emerging of a convergence of opinion on how the Bush administration might begin to exit the conflict. In a departure from previous statements,...

So Bill Richardson was not drafted by the Kansas City A’s. If this is a time for confessions of self-aggrandizement, I have my own here. What about yours?

It now sounds as if when Russian President Vladmir Putin looked into Iranian leaders’ eyes he had the same degree of accuracy in getting a sense of their souls as President George Bush had looking into his: Iran is secretly training Chechen rebels in sophisticated terror techniques to enable them to carry out more effective attacks against Russian forces, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal. Teams of Chechen...

Here are 10 ways.

People often jog because they don’t want to feel like a wreck — but there’s a good chance they can provoke one in Shanghai: If Shanghaiist had a nickel for every jogger we have seen along the streets of Shanghai over the past three years, we’d have, oh, about a quarter. There is a reason for this — jogging along the streets of Shanghai will get you killed. And the Shanghai Police...

Spitting in public. FOOTNOTE: TMV (happily) lived in New Delhi for five months during his senior year in college and then for nearly two years after receiving his masters in journalism at grad school. He never thought of this as a major problem before…but now that he reads it…

The government actually uses The Diary of Anne Frank as a propaganda tool.

A host of departures will take place at the Los Angeles Times. A sign of the ailing newspaper industry…

If you read this site regularly you know that we don’t miss any chance to point out and ridicule political correctness. But, sorry, this story reads like a Saturday Night Life sketch: BOSTON (Reuters) – Boston set off a furor this week when it officially renamed a giant tree erected in a city park a “holiday tree” instead of a “Christmas tree.” The move drew an angry response...

Some thoughts here.

Maybe he should have said “nay” instead: An ex-Balliol student fined by police for calling a horse ‘gay’ has been summoned to Oxford (in Great Britain) magistrates court after refusing to pay his fine. Sam Brown, who graduated last summer, was arrested in May this year after a drunken conversation with a pair of mounted policemen on Cornmarket Street. He will appear before magistrates...

Here’s another twist…

Now, let’s get this straight: Centrists, Moderates, Democrats and independent-thinking Republicans who posed tough questions about Iraq were guilty of undercutting the troops and wanted to “cut and run” while all of THIS is going on within the Bush administration: Even as debate over the Iraq war continues to rage, signs are emerging of a convergence of opinion on how the Bush administration...

And since he’s a suspect… That’s good riddance? Federal authorities arrested an Islamic religious leader Friday as they began the process of deporting him for lying about ties to terrorist groups. Imam Fawaz Damra, the spiritual leader of Ohio’s largest mosque, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing ties to three groups that the U.S. government classifies as terrorist organizations...