When I picked up my newspaper from the driveway yesterday morning, it felt heavier than usual. As I generally go directly to the Opinion section, I found the reason almost immediately. While normally there are less than a dozen Letters to the Editor in my hometown newspaper, yesterday there were a whopping 21 of them, all heavily laden with sarcasm, ridicule, scorn and indignation about and against the governor...

The New York Times has just released the results of a New York Times/CBS News Poll conducted April 5 through April 12. The findings just reported by the New York Times are intriguing: The fierce animosity that Tea Party supporters harbor toward Washington and President Obama in particular is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration...

Dana Milbank had a full-blown temper tantrum in his column today over media access at the recently concluded global nuclear security conference, shrieking, “Obama’s Disregard for Media Reaches New Heights at Nuclear Summit.”

With most pundits predicting that voters will hand the Democrats their heads in this fall’s midterm elections, you’d think Republicans would be basking in the glow of public affection. Not so says a recent poll by Public Policy Polling. Only 28% of respondents view the current direction of the Republicans favorably, while 51% disapprove. Only 54% of registered Republicans approve of the current...

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

I’ve written on defining “activism” before but this op-ed in today’s New York Times is superb, as an op-ed and as an argument for why U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is as activist as was the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger. From professor of law, Geoffrey R. Stone (University of Chicago – yeah yeah yeah where President Obama taught) who also is an...

Courtesy of Memeorandum River:

Just about a year ago, and just after Limbaugh added to his infamous wish list his hope that Obama and our economy would fail, I started writing naïve, optimistic (“optimalistic” I called them) posts grasping at every “green shoot,” chasing every “glimmer of hope,” reaching for every silver lining in the hope that maybe, just maybe, our economy was beginning to recover from the deep and tragic...

As President Obama kicks off the Nuclear Summit, the question is whether Obama is having a world influence. Steve Clemons, writing in The Politico, argues that Obama is having a big impact not only on how Iran is handled but on global nuclear policy as well. Here’s the beginning of his post: Sir Francis Bacon once said, “In civil business, what first? Boldness. What second and third? Boldness. And yet...

I have been surprised by many of the Republicans’ newly discovered passions. Take for example their newfound passion against parliamentary procedures they themselves have generously practiced in the past, such as reconciliation, “deem and pass,” etc. Or their newfound passion to zealously and liberally use parliamentary tactics they have roundly condemned in the past, such as serial filibusters, holds,...

One of the most fascinating new books to come out is by A Time to Betray by Reza Kahlili (I will be reading it soon myself) — a book written by purported CIA Iranian informant. RealClearWorld’s Kevin Sullivan has an equally fascinating, must-read Q&A with him. Here’s how Sullivan intros it: RCW recently spoke with Reza Kahlili (a pseudonym), who claims to have served for over a decade...

As the Obama Administration makes public its short list of potential nominees to replace John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court, politicians on both sides of the aisle are preparing to politicize the nomination. Republicans have been clear since Steven’s retirement that they will not rule out a filibuster. It is widely expected that they will attempt to portray any nominee from Obama to be a radical liberal...

Dario Castillejos, Dario La Crisis This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

I just read Forbes on-line in-depther on Glenn Beck, the entertainer/pop-culturalist who parlayed attention deficit disorder into a financial empire as one of America’s top talk show hosts. I admit my bewilderment why so many cling to his every word while the rest of us think he is certified insane. Beck is the reincarnation in real life of the fictional television news anchor Howard Beale in the movie...

Monte Wolverton, Cagle Cartoons This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

The golf at the Masters this weekend was as exciting as hitting a ball into a hole can be, but the morality play starring Tiger Woods was fascinating in more complex ways. The fallen hero did not achieve redemption with his clubs and came away unsatisfied, saying “I enter events to win–I didn’t get that done,” and now is taking “time off” to “reevaluate this.” “This”...

Christo Komarnitski, Bulgaria This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

In George Orwell’s novel, 1984:

What’s that old saying “With friends like these….” (fill in the blank). Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is at it again: The president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has cast doubt over Nato’s planned summer offensive against the Taliban in the southern province of Kandahar, as more than 10,000 American troops pour in for the fight. Karzai threatened to delay or even cancel the operation...

Since the United States announced its revamped nuclear use policy, critics here and abroad have raised questions as to whether the Obama administration was undermining a major threat that could cause hostile countries (or groups) from thinking twice. Did this undermine the decades long concept of detterence? But today two top Obama administration officials made it clear: the U.S. will respond forcefully with...

Note: This was written Saturday 10th April It has been interesting experiencing the national/International narrative surrounding Tiger Woods’ return to golf this week. Supposed experts of golf have been shocked that Tiger hasn’t missed a beat, that the pressure of the last 5 months hasn’t affected Tiger’s game. Well, duh. I have never lost sight of the fact that Tiger Woods is in all probability...

This weekend marks the 300th anniversary of the Statute of Anne, the first modern copyright law. Understanding that the original intent of copyright law in the U.S. was to foster creativity, how do we think today’s copyright terms — life of the author +70 years — will help a dead person produce new creative works? We’re always talking about how this or that program impoverishes our children....

On April 12, 1951, Israel’s Knesset proclaimed “Holocaust and Ghetto Revolt Remembrance Day” (Yom Hashoah U’Mered HaGetao) to be the 27th of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. The name was later simplified to Yom Hashoah. The date marks the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, and is in remembrance of the six million Jews who were murdered, of all those who suffered, of all those who fought...

Fiesta Days have arrived in Cave Creek, Arizona. The morning parade stretched for three miles. Cave Creek Road was lined the entire length of the parade route as locals and visitors listened to the local High School Band, watched the horses, saluted and took off their hats for the American flag each time it passed, and waited for the live country band on a wagon pulled by a semi. The rodeo was in town. Arizona’s...

Okay, I wasn’t going to blog on the WikiLeaks video again, but Glenn Greenwald’s conversation with a former soldier, Spc. Josh Steiber, who served in the same company (Bravo 2-16) at the same time as the ground troops who were involved in the July, 2007, engagement shown in the video — is too important to pass over.