I am not gay. It is a reason I seldom venture into gay rights issues. I’ll defer that usually to persons closer to the cause or the gay community themselves. But I also believe I am a compassionate individual. And believe me, Buster, that compassion turns to outrage when a person’s basic dignity and civil rights are abused by government or special interests. I don’t care whether that person...

Adele Stan at AlterNet unpacks Glenn Beck’s keynote speech at CPAC. Via Heather at Crooks and Liars and Digby at Hullabaloo. Complete video set at YouTube.

As the March 7 Iraqi national elections approach, America’s apparent attempt to inject some balance between ruling Shiites and the Sunni minority have resulted in controversy. And at the center of the storm is none other than Ahmad Chalibi, a man who was a major force behind the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, who once sat next to Laura Bush during a State of the Union address, and who was later disowned...

One hears a great deal about Shariah (Muslim law) and its strict code of conduct, especially with regard to women. So a recent story about an antiquated Jewish law came as an eye-opener. The Independent reports that Susan Zinkin, who divorced her husband in 1962, was forbidden from looking for new love for almost 50 years. Only when her husband died an old man this week was she released from being a “chained...

Apology accepted, Tiger. Now return to the golf course while you still have some mojo in your bones. Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn what others think about Tiger Woods. I have always considered Tiger what he is — perhaps the greatest professional golfer of all time. Period. Granted, off the course he’s been a jerk. Being a superstar and a jerk at the same time is nothing new in American...

I have been watching and listening to the pundits and talking heads pontificate about the tragedy that struck my beautiful city yesterday—a tragedy that may have taken at least one innocent life and injured several other innocent human beings. I have also been watching these same experts wave, quote and expound on the killer’s so-called manifesto, as if it were some new Magna Carta of terrorism rights....

With 97,000 U.S. troops still stationed in Iraq, recent turmoil over de-Baathification in the run-up to March’s national elections there is not a welcomed development. Two articles we’ve translated over the past few days, one from Iraq and the other from Algeria, highlight America’s continuing role in that still-divided land – and what in Iraq is called the ‘Accountability and...

Can you find the missing word in the Republican Party’s new manifesto “recommit[ing] ourselves to the ideas of the American Founding“?

Are the tactics now being used by the ‘U.S.-led coalition’ in Marjah and the rest of Afghanistan ‘doomed to go the way of the Soviets’? That is the argument put forward in this strongly-worded editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post, which paints the strategy of chasing out the Taliban and paying them off as cluelessly naive. The Frontier Post editorial says in part: The very depiction...

I have written in support of giving women in our military equal responsibilities, duty assignments and advancement opportunities as their male counterparts. (Here and here) I have also been a consistent supporter of permitting gays and lesbians to serve openly and honorably in our military. (Such as here and here) Finally, I have written admiringly of the Israel Defense Forces. In my opinion, the Israeli military...

Are the West and Iran out of control and poised on the brink of disaster? That’s the tone of this editorial from China’s state-controlled Global Times, which warns both sides that Beijing won’t be pressured to choose one or the other – and that a resort to force, as far as Chinese leaders are concerned, is out of the question. The article gives good insight into Beijing’s thinking...

Glenn Greenwald linked to this post by Digby in one of the updates to his post about right-wing hypocrisy in regard to the treatment of American missionaries arrested in Haiti, but I did not actually read it until just now.

The recent arrest of 10 American missionaries who went to Haiti on a supposed “rescue mission” and left that country with 33 Haitian children without the knowledge or authorization of Haitian authorities has exposed an ugly double standard among those on the right who have been the most contemptuous of human rights advocates and the work they do.

Joe.My.God quotes Kenya’s newspaper The Daily Nation*: Police on Friday rescued three men accused of being gays in Mtwapa town in Kilifi district from hundreds of angry youth baying for their blood. Subsequently, a same-sex marriage that was planned to take place in the coastal town failed to take off as two men who announced the wedding went into hiding. Police were forced to intervene to save the three...

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that a stunning three-quarters of the American people want gay and lesbian Americans to be allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military:

Warning: This post describes the intramural wars of current and former staffers at The New Republic. It should not be read by anyone who thinks pundits spend too much time analyzing themselves. That said… It all started on Monday when Leon Wieseltier published a long essay in TNR suggesting that Andrew Sullivan has begun to sink into the poisonous mire of anti-Semitism. Alternately, you might say it...

Is there a case to be made that Iran has every right to enrich uranium and even pursue a nuclear weapon if it so wishes? There are many people, particularly in developing countries, who see the “big five” nuclear powers as hypocrites that refuse to consider the strategic imperatives of Iranian geopolitics. This editorial from yesterday’s edition of Mexico’s La Jornada says in part: To...

Whether you’re a young, old or middle-aged man or woman, of any skin color, inexperienced or experienced, and possessing many or few degrees, you’re unlikely to be hired initially, or ever again, by any large private company as a full-time employee. Get over it and figure out how you’ll make a living by your wits, determination, charm and overall doggedness. We have to realize that persistently high...

Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who has seen it all before, favors a rapid demilitarization of the situation in Afghanistan. In this opinion piece from Russia’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Mr. Gorbachev reveals some of his Afghanistan battle scars, says the allies have only a “50-50″ chance of success, and tells of the advice he offered President Obama. For Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Mikhail Gorbachev writes in...

Dude. If you don’t like being mistaken for Torquemada, stop acting like Torquemada (emphasis is in original):

New York Times columnist Frank Rich must not read The Moderate Voice. In a column today in the Times, discussing the reaction to Adm. Mullen’s testimony on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Rich says: A funny thing happened after Adm. Mike Mullen called for gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military: A curious silence befell much of the right. If this were a Sherlock Holmes story, it would be the...

ABC News has just reported that the Americans held in Haiti and charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy have fired their Haitian lawyer. For more details, background and updates please click here.

Yesterday, the National Prayer Breakfast was held in Washington, D.C. As most people who follow politics know, this is an annual event that has been held for decades (more than five of them, to be exact), and that every POTUS since Eisenhower has attended — and more to the point, has to attend if wanting to avoid creating a Major Political Scandal.

The catastrophic earthquake in Haiti has brought out the best in people, organizations and governments. In particular in the case of the thousands of existing orphans (some sources put this figure to be around 380,000) and newly orphaned children (tens of thousands more) in that devastated country, people, organizations and what was left of the Haitian government opened up their hearts, their homes and cut red...

Sir Winston Churchill, statesman and British Prime Minister during the 1940′s and 1950′s was at his best when insulting others with his famous wit. He was an originator of the political “sound-bite.” He may also have been blind to or in denial of the obvious steep decline of the British Empire from World War One through the Independence of India. At best he tried to ameliorate its collapse...