Make room in your lexicon for yet another way to refer to neoconservatives. If Pakistan had prosecuted Raymond Davis for murder, would that have given American ‘Indo-Zionists’, aka/neocons, just the excuse they needed to “devastate Pakistan” the way they did Iraq? For the Pak Tribune, columnist Usman Khalid writes that it was better to let Pakistani intelligence quietly expel U.S. clandestine...

Is Washington giving Saudi Arabia and Bahrain a free pass when it comes to democratic reform? According to this article by Demétrio Magnoli for Brazil’s Estadao, the Obama Administration will have to move beyond pressuring countries like Syria and move on to its Persian Gulf allies if it wants to be seen as putting its values before its interests. For Estadao, Demétrio Magnoli writes in part: The direction...

I do not insert myself in the community forum after I post articles on TMV for a variety of reasons. The last time I participated in the forum was in August 2009 when I got into a needlessly nasty tussle with former conservative TMV contributor Jazz Shaw over healthcare reform. Disgusted with myself I even stopped writing anything for TMV for several months as a result of it. I believe TMV readers have a...

The current budget impasse threatening a government shutdown appears to revolve around highly controversial federal funding for Planned Parenthood and its ancillary provision of legal abortions. Republicans want to eliminate all Federal Funds of around $360 million per year and Democrats are fighting to keep the funding. I support the Republican position in this fight. This position might surprise some TMV...

SCAPEGOATS & THE BLAME GAME Human beings need someone or something to blame when things go wrong. This is probably part of our genetic code. It doesn’t even matter if the person or thing identified as the scapegoat had anything whatsoever to do with the actual mishap or disaster. Basic logic and scientific or legal causation are simply unimportant when compared to the emotional satisfaction of laying...

In an effort to ‘retrospectively legitimize’ their own policies, are neoconservatives wrongly comparing the Libya campaign to the Iraq War? Columnist Liuis Bassets of Spain’s El Pais writes that Spain’s former president and Bush ally José María Aznar is wrong – as are the rest of the neocons – to see Obama’s policies as some form of approval. For Spain’s El...

Who is more to blame for the murder of 10 U.N. workers killed after U.S. Pastor Terry Jones burned a Quran: The people who committed the murders or Terry Jones himself? For Poland’s Rzeczpospolita, columnist Jerzy Haszczynski expresses the view that what the world needs most is for Muslims to condemn the criminal behavior of people who killed innocents for the misbehavior of one U.S. pastor. For Rzeczpospolita,...

Guest post by Hamid M. Khan Hamid M. Khan, an Adjunct Professor of Islamic Law at the University of Colorado Law School, is a Rule of Law Adviser with the U.S. Institute of Peace in Kabul, Afghanistan, and a fellow with the Truman National Security Project in Washington D.C. Last Friday’s heinous attack on U.N. workers in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, which was prompted by the burning of a Qur’an...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

And so the right-wing Supreme Court continues to erode the First Amendment: The Supreme Court on Monday let stand an Arizona program that aids religious schools, saying in a 5-to-4 decision that the plaintiffs had no standing to challenge it. The program itself is novel and complicated, and allowing it to go forward may be of no particular moment. But by closing the courthouse door to some kinds of suits that...

You may have noticed that I have been posting less lately; and saying less when I do post. That’s because I am deep in the production of a short video profile of the openly lesbian Baptist preacher who officiated at the Renewing Our Commitment ceremony held when my partner and I celebrated our 10th anniversary in 2009. The pastor, Genie Hargrove, is a beautiful person with a fascinating story. The video...

A “School Tuition Organization” is an entity that collects donations which are then distributed to private schools. In Arizona, such contributions receive a state tax credit. So far, those tax credits have cost the state in excess of $350 million in revenue. The vast majority of the schools benefiting from such funding in Arizona are religiously affiliated. Today in the case of Arizona Christian School...

It is by now beyond apparent that Republicans hate women. They believe women to be lying, deceitful and slutty drains on the economy because outside of a proper Christian marriage they have a proclivity for screwing and then demanding abortions on the federal or state dime. Oh, and they also don’t deserve decent health care. How else to account for the latest GOP-perpetrated outrage: A Democratic-led...

Is it possible that in this case at least, the Beijing government version of the middle way is best for Libya? This editorial from China’s state-run Global Times lays out a convincing case for why it’s time for laying down weapons and launching talks, leading to a safe exit for Qaddafi and a process that puts Libyans on a track toward genuine nationhood. The Global Times editorial says in part: Qaddafi...

Is the West in Libya once again getting involved with tribal and sectarian disputes beyond its understanding? That is the message of this editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post, which outlines what is likely to happen as the ‘eastern revolutionaries’ close in on Tripoli – with NATO support. The Frontier Post editorial says in part: It’s more than apparent now: The Western adventurists...

Is it even possible that the Libyan conflict will end well? For Brazil’s Folha, columnist Joao Pereira Coutinho writes that whatever its intentions, there is a very strong likelihood that the latest Western quagmire has just begun. For Folha, Joao Pereira Coutinho writes in part: The first decade of the 21st century was marked by Western effort to combat terrorism by fundamentalists. That’s why,...

Yes, that’s right, America is becoming a godless nation under the leadership of Barack Obama and his supporting cast of liberal professors and their shills in the liberal media. According to the San Antonio News-Express, that’s what Newt Gingrich told the congregation in a 40 minute address at Cornerstone Church. That’s the church of right wing firebrand Pastor John Hagee. From the article: “He warned...

While President Obama was visiting El Salvador – it seems that the people of that country had a few other things on their minds. One of them being: Are Hugo Chavez and his closest Latin American allies worried that if Libyan dictator Mohummar Qaddafi is toppled, their own populations might take note of the precedent? For El Salvador’s El Mundo, Dr. Mauricio E. Colorado writes that President Chavez’...

The Dust of Eden It’s all a bit odd. Dirt covers the earth and pavement covers the dirt. People travel the pavement in cars. They sit in their cars, on their phones, talking to someone else, somewhere else. Eden is buried, it’s beneath us. Dirt covers the earth and buildings cover the dirt. In the buildings sit chairs, tables, and beds. The beds, tables, and chairs are turned towards screens. The...

If only Jeffrey Goldberg et al. became this exercised when major U.S. news organizations refer to the C.I.A.’s torture program as “what some call torture.”

All of the articles I’ve linked to below came to me via my Twitter feed.

UPDATE: According to the blog Israel Matzav there has been one death. Carl live-blogged, the newest updates are at the bottom of the post. ================================= MSNBC just reported that a bus blew up in Jerusalem and there are many casualties. This may signal a new reign of terror by Palestinians. A bus explosion in Jerusalem has caused dozens of casualties, police said Wednesday. Scores of ambulances...

I hate Monopoly! I grew up in a home that did not condone excessive use of the word “hate”. Whenever I whined the word “hate” to show my displeasure, my mother would remind me that “Hate is a very strong word that is best used to describe such things as the devil.” With this in mind, I want you to know that I hate the devil and I hate Monopoly! Charles B. Darrow created Monopoly in the early 1930s....

I found this excerpt in the Read the Spirit blog. Eugene H. Peterson’s new book may well express the lament of thousands upon thousands of religious leaders. This is worth reading to understand the current struggles many religious leaders face. EXCERPT OF “THE PASTOR: A MEMOIR” NEW FROM EUGENE H. PETERSON North American culture does not offer congenial conditions in which to live vocationally as...

How dramatically will Japan’s nuclear catastrophe affect the rest of the world? According to this editorial from Germany’s Die Welt, to address the ever-growing dangers and fears of nuclear power will require at least as much time, dedication and money as the developed world has spent on securing itself from terrorism since September 11, 2001. The Die Welt editorial says in small part: The earthquake...