Middle East: Things Look Catastrophic but It Will Work Out, Why I’m Optimistic By Barry Rubin Every day dreadful things happen in the Middle East and in the echoes of that region—diplomacy, news coverage—in the West. Yet things are by no means as bad as they seem. Precisely because a lot of what happens simply doesn’t reflect reality, ultimately the material effect is minimized. “All that is...

As some of you may know there is a story circulating around the internet about an election in a 3rd grade class in Nashville, Tennessee. Because of the way things end up on the net, I am not going to swear to the veracity of the story itself but I am pretty sure something like this happened and it is certainly a great analogy for what is wrong with society. The story takes place in fall 2008 and involves a class...

The silly fabricated spat between the Obama Administration and FOX News is just that. For many years, most Americans have understood that Fox was the Republican mouthpiece. The Democrats need to wrestle complete control over NBC, CBS or ABC news and move on with their own dedicated mouthpiece. Some may argue that either MSNBC or PBS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DNC, but with each having about 1 or...

I’m pretty sick and tired of seeing and hearing President Obama every day. His words become more meaningless with each passing week. I already agree with half of his policies and the other half I’m willing to judge later after they are tested in the real world. I am even willing to give him an another award certifying that he is the most inspiring speaker of the 21st Century despite having 90 years left...

Two men, 38 and 40 years old, died, a third person, a 49 year old woman, passed away this past week… All three died after participating in a sweat lodge … which is meant to be deep prayer over all gathered in nakedness there; no clothing to mark status, everyone as they were when they came hot and steaming from their mothers long ago. The three died, and two dozen are ill, after, it seems, inhaling...

Mocking a Religion By Martha Randolph Carr Religious rites from every major religion have been passed down to us over the centuries and were originally inspired as a means to praise God and to serve the people. The kinks and potential hazards were worked out long ago. Safety measures were even built into some of them to prevent needless deaths or injuries. That’s what makes the three deaths from a recent sweat...

From World Nut Daily, the only rag that will publish Pat Buchanan anymore:

The New Yorker staff writer was asked in a Time Q&A, “If you were U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan — who has about $5 billion in discretionary funding and a mandate to fix our schools — what would you do?” There’s precious little experimentation in education. Instead there seems to be a desire for greater regimentation, which I think is nonsense. I think we need to try 100...

Mike Keefe, The Denver Post This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

One doesn’t normally expect to find articles of an inspirational nature in an in-flight magazine. On a flight yesterday, I started my perfunctory flipping of pages of the “American Way” magazine, and there, tucked among descriptions of alluring vacation paradises, interesting travelogues and colorful promotions for fine dining and wining, were not one, but two gripping and inspiring stories about our wounded...

Excellent piece from Steve Benen on what’s wrong with the way the mainstream media is framing the current war of words between Fox News and the White House:

Our political Quote of the Day comes from the a Chris Cillizza Washington Post piece on a new poll which he notes has some big, fat, warning flags to Republicans who think that they have Barack Obama and the Demmies on the political ropes: Republicans in Washington can barely contain their glee at the turn of President Obama’s political fortunes in the first nine months of the year but a new Washington...

by Walter and Rosemary Brasch One of the joys of Halloween is to dress in scary costumes and pretend to frighten others, who pretend to be frightened. But with less than two weeks until an evening of trick-or-treating, it’s possible there won’t be anything scarier than what’s already happened in the country. We are being told to fear the swine flu virus, and then learn that the vaccine, which...

I am not a huge fan of Dr. Laura but she does come on one of the radio stations I listen to and today she made a comment that prompted some thinking for me. One of her callers was asking how to resolve an issue she was having with her 17 year old son. At the time her son was born the caller was, in her own words, ‘not exactly the most responsible person’ and the father was no better. He had pretty...

Living in California has many benefits: good weather (except the summer), nice surroundings, fun places to visit, a generally laid back lifestyle. But there are some serious negatives, the most notable of which is wondering just how long it will be before the entire system collapses. Rising debt, rising taxes, crumbling infrastructure and utterly inept politicians are just a few of the many problems we must...

I ran across an interesting article about AT&T and Google Voice. I received an invitation to use Google Voice, and I find it very useful. It rings several phones when my Google Voice phone number is called, allowing me to give that number to a select few whom I want to be able to contact me anywhere. The article covers a dispute between AT&T and Google, and in involves the FCC. Regulation of the phone...

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

She’s working on beating the opposition at their own game:

Lovely:

This, folks, is why Thomas Franks called them the wrecking crew:

This morning AP reported that the Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws. The NYTimes points to the three-page memo spelling out the policy, but I’m thinking Reason’s Jacob Sullum still believes there’s good reason for legit distributors to worry: [T]he Drug Enforcement Administration can still participate in...

Last week we ran this post giving excerpts from Caroline Glick’s an intriguing article on RealClearWorld asking whether Turkey has left the West to join up with the Iranian axis. Now Steven Taylor, aka, Poliblogger has his own response. Here is a small part of it: Until Turkey quits NATO, rescinds its request to join the EU, and makes a public statement about joining Iran, any talk about the Turkey being...

WASHINGTON — Will the young and hopeful abandon the political playing field to older voters who are angry? That is the quiet crisis confronting President Obama and the Democrats. Left unattended, it could become a formidable obstacle for them in next year’s midterm elections. Moreover, the sour mood that has gripped the nation’s politics could only further turn off the young. This means...

If you thought the “balloon boy” story would float away, think again. With the latest news that a key law enforcement official has now branded the nationally covered incident a hoax, it will be more in the news than ever. Scroll below to read our blog posts, but here’s a cross section videos showing of how some of the news organizations are covering the latest news. Sheriff Jim Alderden of...

A few days ago, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés shared with us a letter from former president George H. W. Bush (#41) informing his “Fellow Members of the Texas A&M Family” of the gracious invitation he had extended to President Obama to come down to Aggie land to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bush’s “points of light” initiative, and to talk about “an issue that unites...