Today’s New York Times has an op-ed by Tenzin Gyatso, who happens to be the 14th Dalai Lama: SCIENCE has always fascinated me. As a child in Tibet, I was keenly curious about how things worked. When I got a toy I would play with it a bit, then take it apart to see how it was put together. As I became older, I applied the same scrutiny to a movie projector and an antique automobile… Cross-Posted...

The Washington Post has a piece that raises a point that has become all-too familiar these days: it contends President George W. Bush’s speech contained a fundamental inaccuracy that some are sure to dismiss as a slight oversight and others will insist represents falsification. You can read about the President’s speech basically saying war critics are undercutting the war effort here (we are reposting...

If you’re a political junkie, here’s an important fact to file away; according to the New York Times, under Howard Dean the Democrats are seriously behind the Republicans in the quest to raise vital campaign funds: The Democratic National Committee under Howard Dean is losing the fundraising race against Republicans by nearly 2 to 1, a slow start that is stirring concern among strategists who worry...

This bill is something everyone should be able to agree on.

Best one-liner nominee: “Personally, I view the continued health of Pat Robertson to be evidence there is no God.” –John Cole, responding to Rev. Robertson’s claims that Dover voters have “voted God out of [their] city.”

From The Washington Post: Lawyers for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) tried unsuccessfully in late September to head off felony criminal indictments against the then-majority leader on charges of violating Texas campaign law by signaling that DeLay might plead guilty to a misdemeanor, according to four sources familiar with the events. The lawyers’ principal aim was to try to preserve DeLay’s leadership...

NOTE: This speech is highly controversial and the debate over it is likely to continue throughout the weekend. So we’re reposting this from yesterday. On Veterans’ Day, a day when Americans from all walks of life and political parties are asked to unite in honoring veterans and their sacrifices, President George W. Bush delivered a major address defending his Iraq war policy and essentially accusing...

It seems that the Bush administration is working furiously behind the scenes to scuttle any US intervention to stop the genocide in Darfur. Absolutely appalling.

Since Tuesday’s election — generally seen as a debacle for the GOP in general and President George W. Bush in particular — there have been a host of articles suggesting that a resurgence of the political center is underway in American politics. And indeed, it would seem that a backlash may be underway against base-oriented and polarization politics. The latest, perhaps bluntest, assessment...

Some folks say that our chief objective now is to convince moderate Muslims to reclaim their religion from the extremists. I disagree: I think that the reaction to the Jordan bombings proves that they absolutely repudiate terror. Instead, the burden now is on us to destroy terror where it’s achieved a critical mass (and doesn’t need “mainstream” support to survive), and sell our own society...

A terrorism expert has warned that Israel should brace itself for a major Al Qaeda terrorist attack, according to The Jerusalem Post: It is only a matter of time before Israel becomes the target of a large scale attack launched by al-Qaida, Dr. Yoram Kahati, senior research fellow at the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies in Glilot told The Jerusalem Post. The well...

Today is Veteran’s Day here in the United States. It’s Remembrance Day in Canada. If you haven’t already, read Michael Stickings’ item below. And take his advice.

Today, November 11, is Remembrance Day in Canada. John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields” In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our...

Cross posted at The Smoking Room Fox is cancelling “Arrested Development,” only the funniest sitcom since Seinfeld, because the idiot suits at Rupert’s network couldn’t figure out how to sell it. They gave it a sh—y time slot the first season (9:30 Sunday), moved it up last season (8:30) and now, finally, it has the lead it deserves (8, albeit on Monday). They preempted it for...

As if Tuesday’s election results weren’t enough, the Republicans have another problem, this time in Congress: Facing defeat, House Republican leaders on Thursday abruptly called off a vote on a contentious budget-cutting bill in a striking display of the discord and political anxiety running through the party’s ranks. Despite making major concessions to moderate Republicans, House leaders failed...

TMV is excited to now be a member of the new Government Relations Blog Network. We’ve had people suggest we join other blog networks or groups that are more identified with a specific ideology and we’ve politely declined. This one is for independent blogs and definitely fits what we try to do here — and why this site was started nearly two years ago. One of the blogs involved, Hobnob Blog,...

Judith Miller, newly divorced from her marriage to the New York Times due to incompatible differences, had a lot to say on Larry King last night: Appearing for a full hour on CNN’s Larry King Live Thursday night, Judith Miller defended herself from criticism for her role in the Plame/CIA leak case and her flawed reporting on WMD in Iraq, but would not discuss Scooter Libby. The former New York Times reporter...

Oxblog’s Patrick Belton gives you all the details. If you haven’t already, make sure you read our co-blogger Jack Grant’s superb report from elsewhere in France (he is a scientist living and working in France).

Pat Robertson has a direct connection with You Know Who and he has delivered a warning to a town in Pennsylvania that dared oust school board candidates who favored intelligent design: God is going to GET YOU for that: VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they “voted God out of your...

After the nomination of Harriet Miers was withdrawn, there was much talk among the puditry that President Bush’s approval would begin inching back up as social conservatives came back into the fold. As Fox News’ Dana Blanton reports, this hasn’t happened. Today, 36 percent of Americans approve and 53 percent disapprove of the job Bush is doing as president. For comparison, two weeks ago 41...

Many conservatives are up in arms over the GOP leadership’s decision not to press for drilling in ANWAR. An excellent compilation of nearly unfiltered reaction to it is available via Michelle Malkin who has a big collection of readers’ letters…and is adding more of them them throughout the day. TMV himself welcomes the decision. But, then, he is a proud, card-carrying member of a group that...

Compare the morally bankrupt Bill Frist with Andrew Sullivan, Geoffrey Stone, and every Republican with a soul.

A couple of days ago, I pointed out that “what’s going on in France is complicated” and that [m]ultiple triggers have sent alienated and in some cases highly politicized youth into the streets”. An obvious observation, I thought, but that hasn’t stopped some observers from engaging in astonishing exaggeration and misrepresentation. Leading the way in this regard is noted academic...

The other day, David Schraub posted on the possible use of phosphorus as an incendiary weapon in Iraq, specifically in Fallujah. His post is here. His post aroused a good deal of commentary, as did mine over at The Reaction — see here. Many of the comments are quite interesting, but the general response was that a) phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon; b) there’s nothing wrong with using...

Bull Moose looks at the election results and explains that it signals a resurgence in the power and clout of Democratic governors — a good sign for the Democrats. Read the entire post but here’s the most intriguing quote: Look for a White House intervention by the Bushie Consigliere, Jimmy Baker. Undoubtedly, a 911 call has gone out from Kennebunkport pleading, “Houston, we have a problem.”...