Author’s Note: The last sentence of the first paragraph has been slightly edited for clarity. Justin Elliott at TPMMuckraker has comprehensive details about yesterday’s exoneration of John  Yoo and Jay Bybee, the Bush lawyers who crafted memos designed to give the C.I.A. and the White House legal cover for their torture program — euphemistically called “enhanced interrogation techniques”...

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

Harry Reid is now saying that health care reform will be passed by April, using reconciliation:

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

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 full credit to SNL for coming up with the commentary concept I have a few thoughts on the news today. Driving home I caught the noon news and the first words I heard were “In our top story today Tiger Woods” (this on CNN Radio but I assume all are the same). So let’s consider that statement. On the international scene what is going on ? War in Iraq and Afghanistan Iran on the verge of...

People in Washington this week are wrapping the flag around themselves as protection from most Americans who have sweated and bled for our country in good times and bad. At the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee, the defining document is “The Mount Vernon Statement,” an ode of the Constitution by a list of right-wing elders headed by Edwin Meese, who helped subvert it in...

Here’s how you can watch the Tiger Woods’ press event live online from the PGA’s headquarters in Florida today at 11 a.m. EST: ESPN will have live streaming video online. So will CBS News’s USTREAM. YouTube is also broadcasting it live on its politics channel CitizenTube. Both the PR pros and the sports business types agree: this apology strategy doesn’t fit the typical mold and is...

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

Kate Zernike reports that it’s already begun:

She put books in the White House Library about socialism! Here is the incriminating evidence, brought to us by Rob Port at SayAnythingBlog.com:

Now the net neutrality debate is spreading across the pond to Europe, even as it continues to be batted around in Congress. Personally I’ve been wrestling with the net neutrality question for some time now and it’s not an easy one for me to nail down. On the one hand, there’s a certain libertarian, “Fight The Man” side of me that immediately gravitates toward it. We want the little...

Not very. In fact, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Oracle and Applied Materials all argued that the race and gender of their work force is a trade secret and so cannot be released. After an 18-month Freedom of Information battle, the San Jose Mercury News won. It’s no wonder the companies wanted to keep the data hidden: The Labor Department data ultimately obtained by the Mercury News shows that while the collective...

WASHINGTON — If you want to be honest, face these facts: At this moment, President Obama is losing, Democrats are losing, and liberals are losing. Who’s winning? Republicans, conservatives, the practitioners of obstruction, and the Tea Party. The two immediate causes for this state of affairs are a single election result in Massachusetts, and the way the United States Senate operates....

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“?

Oh those wild and crazy conservatives: Attendees at a conservative conference in town [D.C.] this week will have the opportunity to whack a pinata of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Conservative Political Action Conference “CPAC” begins Thursday here in D.C. and will feature a party Friday evening where guests will have the opportunity to whack a Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) piñata. On the other...

As news about the Haiti earthquake tragedy is relegated to the inside pages of our newspapers, the suffering continues. But so do the humanitarian and reconstruction efforts. Our troops who were among the first to reach the victims and to provide search and rescue—then, recovery—are still there, albeit in fewer numbers. As the number of U.S. military in and around Haiti decreases, so have the...

Now you would understand why I love the Brits… It seems they haven’t lost their legendary sense of wit and humour. Try this recent story in The Times of London: “Far right Australian politician Pauline Hanson moving to Britain.” I specially enjoyed the comments that followed this article. Here are three sample comments: “Coming to England to avoid Asians is a bit like emigrating...

One reason for the out-of-balance economic, financial, trade, and jobs situation between China and the U.S. can be traced to the Chinese policy of artificially pegging the value of its currency, the Renminbi or Yuan, to the U.S. dollar. No matter what the U.S. does to increase domestic productivity, reduce costs, or innovate, the Chinese can always do it cheaper because they prevent their currency from moving...

Neptunus Lex justifiably praises the joint Pakistani-U.S. intelligence operation that snagged the Taliban’s top military commander last week:

This is an amazingly cool story ! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/16/chris-scott-911-operator_n_463725.html Semper Fi !

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...