President George Bush discusses the benefits of Viagra.

President George Bush will hold his first prime time press conference in over a year, raising the question: what took him so long? The press conference will be at 8:30 EDT (does that stand for End DeLay Term? Well, probably not…) tonight. According to reports the prime purpose is to give more details on Social Security reform. The irony is: George Bush has usually done quite well with his press conferences. True, his performances may have been uneven, but in general he makes his case quite...

You have to wonder when radio talk show hosts on the left and right make jokes about murdering political leaders or foes whether they have a mental problem — or a mental to begin with. Don’t they read the PAPERS and see what kinds of crazy people we have out there? And I’m not just talking about the ones in Congress. The latest person to cross a DEFINITE line that EVERYONE knows exists is Air America’s feisty talk show host Randi Rhodes. Out of all of Air America’s hosts...

A political scandal continues to unfold in Colorado where it turns out that the chairman of the Young Republicans was apparently among those who booted three people from a speech by President George Bush. Their sin: they had an antiwar, anti-Bush bumper sticker on their car. Part of this scandal also includes allegations that the person who actually ejected them claimed to be a Secret Service agent — when he wasn’t. Now it turns out, according to the Rocky Mountain News, that a Republican...

Have the innocent, fun bikini-suicide-frisbee days of blogging passed?

Law professor, MSNBC columnist, and libertarian blogger Glenn Reynolds has this gentle warning to his party in one of his posts today in reference to President Bush’s declining poll numbers: I don’t think it’s much of a mystery, and I agree with Bush pollster Matthew Dowd that it has something to do with Terri Schiavo….Only it’s broader than that. The Democrats’ weakness is that people worry that they’re the party of Jane Fonda. They tried — but failed...

A false alarm involving a possible violation of White House airspace sent President George Bush into a bunker today. It underlined an important fact: although the U.S. government seems to have quietly discarded the color-coded terror alerts, the threat of terrorism still looms large — and anything touching on the issue is taken seriously. The last time Bush was moved to the underground bunker was on Sept. 11, 2001. Details from AP: President Bush was rushed from the Oval Office to an underground...

Today a monster commercial aircraft, operating with a small initial crew, successfully completed its a highly touted and covered test run — thus opening a new era for travelers under the assumption that “bigger is better.” The aircraft that took off from France’s Toulouse Blagnac airport was Airbus’ new 308 ton Airbus A380, a double-decker airplane-of-the-future-that-is-now that can carry some 800 passengers. Think of all the passengers, stale pretzels and lost luggage...

NOTE: This is the first in a formal series excerpting bloggers who use solid journalistic techniques that live up to the form’s potential. In the past we’ve informally pointed to innovative bloggers such as Citizen Smash, who has done original interviews and attended demonstrations (even organized one) and to The Talking Dog for his excellent recent Q&A report. In this occasional series, we’ll point to someone using serious journalism techniques, give you a link and a SMALL...

If you strip all the niceties away from a recent New York Times article, the highly controversial nomination of John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the UN can be boiled down to one sentence: Win this one for OUR team. The Times reports that Bolton’s nomination — beset with allegations that he has been a bully, irritated diplomats in England, and sparked negative private comments from Secretary of State Colin Powell — is being pressed feverishly behind the scenes and in public by...

Next time you turn on the tube and you see an ad for a certain kind of drug you might think you’re mentally strong enough to resist being greatly influenced by the advertising, and you might be right: you might not automatically embrace the drug just because you see it hyped on TV. But your doctor MIGHT. If a patient asks a doctor for a heavily hyped drug he’s apt to get it — maybe even if he doesn’t really need it. That’s the surprising finding of a new study that...

What happens when an American is seized and held hostage in Iraq? By now it’s predictable: it becomes a big story — but with each hostage seized it becomes a smaller story. It gets a bit of ink and a line on TV/cable news. And then you don’t hear about it. The reason: the media and public perceptions are becoming desensitized. But little by little you notice how weblogs are taking on the function that many originally thought they would do: they’re doing ORIGINAL reporting...

Law student Steve Barnett has a manageable and eye-opening history of the filibuster, as well as current law surrounding its use on certain subjects. Forget that it was racist legislators who utilized the filibuster most effectively, to block civil rights legislation; and forget that the earliest filibuster landed the national capital in “a humid swamp now known as Washington, D.C.,” where I have the misfortune of living now. Read the whole thing, but especially see this section on...

How did we go from the certainties of World War II to the so-called age of irony we now endure with men proclaiming they are both moral and “did nothing illegal”? Some thoughts on the fifty year wound of the Cold War are expressed at Random Fate.

From The Christian Science Monitor: As the Senate moves toward a showdown over the so-called nuclear option, risks and rewards confront both Republicans and Democrats, whatever the outcome. Both sides concede that the move to lower the threshold required to end a filibuster from 60 votes to a simple majority could shut down the Senate. But it’s not clear for how long, with what consequences, and who would be blamed if the Senate’s work grinds to a halt. When almost half of federal employees...

As an expatriate in France during a time of expansion and transformation of the European Union and being a first-hand witness to the questioning of what it means to be “European”, I have had a unique opportunity to learn about this gallimaufry of cultures that gave rise to the “melting pot” in the United States. To help me understand what I see and hear, I write “letters from Europe.” The most recent letter, “Some opinions on the EU Constitution and EU membership...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has stuck a verbal pin in what apparently were trial balloons to see if there could be a compromise with Democrats to head off the use of the so-called “nuclear option” that would eliminate the filibuster for judicial nominees. What’s going on now is fascinating because there is so much at play here: Frist’s well-known presidential nominations, relations with the Democrats (whose support the GOP will need on some issues) for the rest of President...

Stay tuned today for some posts by our highly talented Guest Bloggers. TMV has to make a trip to L.A. which takes up basically the entire day. There should be some guests posts throughout the day. TMV will resume his posts starting tomorrow. See ya! (And do check back)

Syria yesterday pulled out of Lebanon yesterday sooner than expected — taking its remaining soldiers and what it said was its remaining intelligence agents with it. So a crisis that seemed to be heading to a confrontation-packed conclusion ended with a whimper, not a bang. And although no one can really confirm that Syria has ended its 29-year military presence completely by removing all of its intelligence operatives what it all boils down to is that there has been an official military pullout...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals just can’t get a break. They’ve been shut down by California’s high court on their false advertising suit against the state Milk Advisory Board, which has the bad taste to show “happy cows grazing in lush green pastures” in its commercials. I’d put this in the same category as fast-food restaurants’ depictions of their food in commercials – only fleetingly connected to the actual reality, but everyone knows...

Here’s a story about a mom who really gave her son the cold shoulder — and cold neck, and cold legs, and cold etc. (you get the idea). According to the AP, a Wisconsin man hept his dead mother in a freezer for several years because he wanted to collect her Social Security checks. This isn’t the first story of a son whose mother has a cold heart but it is a bit unusual, so here are the details: A man accused of holding off police for nearly 15 hours last week by threatening them...

And we do mean anything.

Our periodic linkfest to introduce readers to a WIDE VARIETY of views from all over the ‘Sphere. We do NOT restrict mentioned links to one viewpoint — and views do not necessary reflect the opinion of The Moderate Voice. SO NOW THERE’S A NEW POPE and skippy the bush kangaroo (who writes in all in lower case and coined the word Blogtopia) wonders if the new Pope was separated at birth. TWO JOURNALISTS ARE ASSIGNED TO DO A STORY ON DRINKING so what’s wrong with doing a little...

There’s something going on at Wendy’s restaurants and you can’t put your finger on it. Wait: let’s rephrase that. Bit by bit, customers are reportedly starting to give a thumbs up (whoops…sorry again) to the fast-food restaurant which just weeks before saw sales nosedive after a woman said she found a human finger in her Wendy’s chili at one of the company’s San Jose restaurants. The chain doesn’t scrimp on its chili recipe, but that was one ingredient...

Will Majority Leader Bill Frist and top Senate Democrat Harry Reid reach a compromise on President Bush’s court nominations — one that can head off the so-called “nuclear option” and thus prevent increased polarization and a possible Senate work slowdown? At issue are some 7 highly controversial court nominations that Democrats threatened to filibuster. The GOP for months has warned that if the Democrats don’t allow them to go to a vote they could opt for the “nuclear...