…and then there is cutting money off from a good investment. Can we really trust that this particular cut is wise, given both the previous success and the (relatively) low cost of seeing it through to conclusion? In a cost-cutting move prompted by President Bush’s moon-Mars initiative, NASA could summarily put an end to Voyager, the legendary 28-year mission that has sent a spacecraft farther from Earth than any object ever made by humans. The probable October shutdown of a program that...

…some advice for current liberals: In disunity there is strength. An interesting take on the value of public debate within a party.

Here come the “How can you call yourself a moderate?” comments. But we have to say it: I think they’re going nuts: SAN FRANCISCO (Hollywood Reporter) – The chairman of one of the entertainment industry’s most important congressional committees says he wants to take the enforcement of broadcast decency standards into the realm of criminal prosecution. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner III, R-Wis., told cable industry executives attending the National Cable & Telecommunications...

Will there be some mid-course political corrections at the White House? It’s going to be fascinating to watch in coming months since Gallup now says its latest poll puts President George Bush at a record settting low point for a second term President: NEW YORK President George W. Bush’s approval rating has plunged to the lowest level of any president since World War II at this point in his second term, the Gallup Organization reported today. “All other presidents who were re-elected...

Are we willing to give truth to a voice of evil? A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.    -Joseph Stalin Is it true that sometimes all you can do is despair?

From CNN.com: LONDON, England (Reuters) — It must rank as one of the most ironic twists in the tangled history of the British monarchy’s relations with Rome. When King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife and marry his pregnant lover, he denounced the pope and, in a flagrant act of rebellion against distant Rome, created the Church of England. Now, almost 500 years later, heir to the throne Prince Charles has postponed his wedding — to a divorcee at that — to go to Rome to...

Peter Jennings has announced he has lung cancer but will start treatment soon and remain on TV.

Remember that alleged memo from “party leaders” to Republican senators on the “great political issue” that was the Schiavo case? It generated lots of buzz, but the original reporters are backing off the implication…only so much.

Via the CommonSenseDesk and Shakespeare’s Sister comes news of this interesting bill before Congress: Constitution Restoration Act of 2005 – Amends the Federal judicial code to prohibit the U.S. Supreme Court and the Federal district courts from exercising jurisdiction over any matter in which relief is sought against an entity of Federal, State, or local government or an officer or agent of such government concerning that entity’s, officer’s, or agent’s acknowledgment...

Isn’t it time you show some DIVERSITY in selecting a Pope?

Female genital mutilation is going down in Senegal, formerly a hotbed of the activity, and setting an example in the region: Campaigners have tried for decades to bring an end to FGM. But their tactics of providing alternative employment to the circumcisers, introducing alternative rites of passage for girls, or demanding legislation to outlaw the practice have all failed to make a dent: an estimated 2 million girls in about 26 African countries are circumcised every year. The sea-change in Senegal...

…in attempting to regulate electoral blogging.

Lawyers say that if someone is on trial and if — as under California law — cases of past molestations or molestation allegations are allowed in to show a pattern, there’s a good chance that defendent is toast. Get out the marmalade for King of Pops Michael Jackson. In a truly devastating development, a now 24-year-old young man who did not want to testify in Jackson’s child molestation trial did — and if Jackson is convicted you can point to yesterday as the turning...

Bull Moose, one of the Internet’s most interesting weblogs (it is closely associated with the DLC Democratic centrists), has a post that should be read in full about the plight of GOP Moderates…and what may be in store for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. A few excerpts: The Moose urges the Environmental Protection Agency to grant endangered species protection to Republican moderates. In recent weeks, a host of Republican moderates have lamented the subservience of their party to the...

I thought we did. Will somebody kindly tell Senator John Cornyn? Sen. Cornyn has now seemingly given a perfect mental fig leaf for every nut on the right OR ON THE LEFT who wants to physically take out a judge (or the judge’s family) with whom he or she disagrees. All Cornyn needed to add in his execrable remarks was the “Twinkie defense.” In a Senate floor speech in which he sharply criticized a recent Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty, Cornyn (R-Tex.) — a former...

Take this quiz. P.S.: I flunked.

Really, it does: Teens believe oral sex is less risky to their health and emotions than regular sex, and they think it is more acceptable among their peers. Not surprisingly, they also are more likely to try oral sex. This view comes from a new survey of 580 ethnically diverse Northern California ninth-graders reported in the April issue of the journal Pediatrics. The students in general thought oral sex was less likely to have negative social and emotional consequences, such as creating bad...

The Pulitzer Prizes — the prizes that represent the highest honor in journalism — are in: NEW YORK – The Los Angeles Times won two Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, including the public service award for exposing deadly medical problems and racial injustice at an inner-city hospital. The Wall Street Journal also won two, including one for stories about the plight of cancer survivors. The Associated Press won for a series of photographs of bloody year-long combat inside Iraqi cities. The...

Now here’s a new reason why it’ll be easier than ever to have TV put you to sleep: Al Gore is starting a TV network. This is not a belated April Fool’s post. A film titled Bedtime For Bonzo would be a good fit for what it may well do to viewers, if its founder’s personality influences it. But we’ve heard somewhere that that film has a Republican connnection… Here are some details about AL TV: SAN FRANCISCO, April 4 /PRNewswire/ — Offering a glimpse of...

Vice President Dick Cheney has basically dissed House Majority Leader Tom Delay comments on court judges — and also thrown ice-cold water on a hot boomlet promoted by commentators and some GOPers for him to run for the top office in 1008. If I was Tom DeLay today I might accurately conclude I had a bit less suppport on one of my key issues: Vice President Cheney says he opposes revenge against judges for their refusal to prolong the life of the late Terri Schiavo, although he did not criticize...

According to The Christian Science Monitor, the new draconian bankruptcy reform bill passed by Congress is likely to hit one segment of the population especially hard: women. “Make no mistake, the new bankruptcy bill will fall hardest on women,” says Elizabeth Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School and coauthor of “All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan.” Even without the reform, more than 1 million women will find themselves in bankruptcy court this year, outnumbering...

Syria now promises to get all of its forces out of Lebanon by April 30th — and even let a United Nations verification team come in and see for itself that the troops are gone: Syria has promised to withdraw all its forces from Lebanon by April 30 and will let a United Nations team verify the pullout, a U.N. envoy said Sunday. Damascus ordered the withdrawal, demanded by a Security Council resolution seven months ago, after coming under intense international pressure over the Feb. 14 assassination...

Every few months we offer our readers a link so they can explore psychic predictions. Here’s a good one.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is apparently forgetting the late Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill’s oft-quoted warning that “all politics is local” — and a poll shows he’s taking a hit in his home district. So he’ll have to step up his campaign to equate questions raised about his ethics or the wisdom of shoving Congress into the Terri Schiavo case with an assault on the GOP, the GOP ruling majority, the GOP hold on the White House and Our Life As We Know...

Our occasional linkfest featuring interesting items from various weblogs. Links are NOT restricted to just one political viewpoint. Opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Moderate Voice or its Guest Bloggers. ARE IRAQI TERRORISTS LOOKING FOR AN EXIT STRATEGY? The always-thoughtful Donald Sensing thinks they are: I posted late last month of the report that native Iraqi terrorists seem to be looking for an exit strategy from their insurgency (al Qaeda terrorists not so). The insurgents...