You truly wonder sometimes: when will these politicians of both parties and public figures ever learn that they must use their mind before they open their mouths? Read this: In the course of a discussion on filibusters and Senate rules, Washington’s top Democrat gave the 60 juniors a lesson in partisan politics, particularly about the commander in chief. “The man’s father is a wonderful human being,” Reid said in response to a question about President Bush’s policies....

Here’s a story that pits common sense against unfeeling educational bureaucratic thinking: a high school student has been suspended for 10 days for refusing to end a mobile phone call with his mother who is serving in Iraq. Even when you read the bare-bones facts of this story from the AP it makes your blood boil: COLUMBUS, Ga. May 6, 2005 — A high school student was suspended for 10 days for refusing to end a mobile phone call with his mother, a soldier serving in Iraq, school officials...

The move is on by opponents of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to peel away many of the Democrats and independent voters who gave the politically slumping movie-star-turned-politician his victory in the recall. Part of the reason it’s happening is that the novelty of Schwarzenegger’s celebrity seems to have worn off with the Democrats at the same time as Schwarzenegger’s rhetoric began taking on a partisan harder edge. When he first came to power much of the talk was about...

Here’s yet another high profile resignation from the staff of a newspaper: USA Today’s respected Pentagon correspondent, Tom Squitieri reportedly resigned under pressure after it was learned he had lifted quotes from other publications without identifying them as such. According to the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz, one of the questioned pieces had a quote from a parent who’s son was killed in Iraq. The quote had appeared word for word in the Indianapolis Star last year,...

The remaking of beset House Majority leader Tom DeLay’s image has begun…as he edges towards a mea culpa…an act that usually has some success in American politics: House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) delivered an emotional homily yesterday on the need for greater humility in public servants, declaring himself a sinner before a largely Christian audience and warning that pride has brought down leaders throughout history. “Just think of what we could accomplish if we checked...

There are allegations that some doctors from the New York suburbs were helping mob figures with stick ups: Three doctors from the Westchester suburbs of New York City allegedly provided mob figures with erectile dysfunction drugs in exchange for various favors, the FBI said Thursday. The FBI arrested the doctors — Arlen Fleisher, Stephen Klass and George Shapiro — for allegedly illegally providing large quantities of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra as well as other prescription drugs and...

NOTE TO READERS: To be inducted into TMV’s prestigious Get A Life Club a person or organization must display silliness, pomposity or PC behavior that goes beyond the realm of normal rational beings. The story below marks the entrance of some new members into this exclusive club. See UPDATE at bottom of this post. Decency is indeed a valid and “appropriate” (favorite school word) issue, particularly at hormone-raging middle schools — but don’t you think this school...

We may start a little later than usual Friday morning on most of our posts. So do check back often. We do have some things on tap for today. NOTE: We also made a mistake on today’s edition of Around The ‘Sphere, our occasional linkfest, and put it on last night’s dated blog. We don’t know (yet) how to change that without messing up all the trackbacks to various blogs. So CLICK HERE to read TODAY’s edition of Around The Sphere…which went on last night. As of...

Our occasional linkfest. Links are NOT restriced to one viewpoint — and viewpoints don’t necessarily reflect our views. The Bush Administration Is Fighting A War Against Pornography: Here’s Jazz Shaw’s take on it. (My view? Pornography? I don’t even have a pornograph!) Is Hamas A Terrorist Group Or A Political Group? GeoPolitical Review explores the issue. Walter Mondale And The Nuclear Option: Yes, the former Veep wrote a piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune opposing...

Projections give Great Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair his third majority — but some are already predicting he’ll eventually be dumped by his party. The reason: even with what the BBC says is a “historic third term for Labour” the numbers otherwise show significant erosion: labor will have 66 seats — and in 2001 they won 167. Thus ends an election in which: Voters did not seem smitten with Labour but were less impressed with the Conservatives. Some analysts...

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is reportedly doing the equivilent of the political limbo in his efforts to avoid media-types and keep a low (for him) profile. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank in a “Washington Sketch” column reports: Tom DeLay sneaks around the Capitol like a fugitive these days, using back doors and basement passages to avoid television cameras. He skips meetings where reporters might get a chance to film his answers to their questions. He makes unscheduled appearances...

Today is the day of the annual March of the Living when a ceremony is held at the site of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in Poland — a meticulously preserved symbol of genocidal murder, racial demonization and utter dehumanization. Look at the photos to your left. Just look what they did to those children. And there are worse ones. We won’t show them here. Talk to people you know. Chances are you’ll find someone who had a relative, or who knows someone who had a relative,...

Here’s a scenario: conservative writer, TV personality and pundit Ann Coulter (who recently was irked by the picture Time used of her on its cover) is speaking at a university in Texas. At the end of the session, a student taking the mike during the obligatory Q&A for the high-paid speech asks a blunt and highly vulgar question, and even makes hand motions. He is then arrested for disorderly conduct. Reprehensible? Definitely, especially to anyone who like TMV wants to see the discourse...

We’ve gotten irate emails and comments because we did this sarcastic post about the (in)famous Georgia bride. Not because it was sarcastic, mind you, but because dared to post it on this site. It wasn’t a serious issue, some readers felt. People also seem to get mad if we have some fun with a subject or find a story that we personally find fascinating (such as the one about Sinatra below). If all of this this sounds flippant, it isn’t: it’s actually a serious subject. The...

Did Frank Sinatra once act as a kind of courier for the mafia — carrying a huge stash of cash in a briefcase? According to a controversial new book he did. When a big show biz or political figure dies, it usually takes a few years for unflattering tidbits to come out. Sinatra (STILL one of our favorite singers) died in 1998 at age 82 after surviving a tempestuous life and enough negative press coverage to require the cutting down of a forest. These new allegations, among the most sensational...

And now a new addition to the PC list: be careful how you use the words “jihad” and “theocracy” because Evangelicals don’t like it. We’re sure some readers will look at TMV’s name “Gandelman” and ask, “Well, what does that old Jew know about this issue?” — and that’s just our Jewish readers — but Washington Post columnist John McCandlish Phillips raises a valid issue in his column “When Columnists Cry ‘Jihad’…....

A pro-Israel lobby group is being fingered as the recipient of secret information about potential attacks on U.S. forces that has led to the arrest of a Pentagon analyist. A Defense Department analyst was arrested on Wednesday on charges of disclosing classified information about potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq to two individuals with a pro-Israel lobbying group. Lawrence Franklin, 58, surrendered to the FBI and faces charges of disclosing classified U.S. national defense information to...

The arrest of Al Qaeda’s No. 3 commander and close associate of terrorist chief Osama bin Laden has increased cautious hopes that the arrest might help the hunt for bin Laden himself. Everything depends on what information officials get out of Abu Farraj al-Libbi , who one counter terrorism official told the AP was the No. 3 al-Qaeda figure behind bin Laden and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who was captured in March 2003. al-Libbi’s arrest should also be welcome news to Pakistan’s President...

And you thought finding a FINGER in your chile or custard was bad: US spy chiefs ordered agents to deliver Osama bin Laden’s severed head in a box of dry ice and hoist heads of other Al-Qaeda leaders on pikes, a retired field officer has disclosed. What’s wrong with that? It just sounds like these spy chiefs wanted to get ahead in the world. MORE: As America reeled in shock days after the September 11 attacks in 2001, former CIA officer Gary Schroen was sent to Afghanistan to...

The more details that come out about Pajama Media’s proposed blogger network, the more interesting (and enticing) it is: In a dramatic sign that Web logs are going mainstream, three of the largest political blogs are banding together to form what is believed to be a first-of-its kind ad-supported network. To broaden their appeal beyond national security issues, the three – ArmedLiberal.com, RogerLSimon.com, and LittleGreenFootballs.com – will receive editorial advice from the...

During his term, NBC’s Saturday Night Live had a field day satirizing then-President Bill Clinton’s love affair with junk food — portraying him campaigning in a McDonald’s, grabbing food from patrons plates and shoving it in his mouth and talking with his mouth full. Indeed, some press reports suggested that Bill Clinton never met a piece of junk food that he didn’t like. But then came his serious heart problems. So now Clinton is using his own lifetime weight problems...

China has declared it wants to gift two Pandas to the people of Taiwan — but wants the Taipei government to grin and bear it on tough conditions for resuming regular contacts. Is there a warming of long-frigid relations between these two rivals? On one hand, China has dangled giving or lending Pandas to Taiwan for some 20 years. And the Financial Times reports that one Chinese bigwig called on opposition party members in Taiwan to make sure that the gift is accepted:”"Taiwanese compatriots...

No one likes icy fingers…especially if it winds up in the custard you’re eating. Yes: there is a another case of a finger showing up in food but this time — unlike the (in)famous case of the finger found in the chili at Wendy’s that was part of an apparent scam leading to the arrest of the supposedly shocked customer — no one doubts its for real. It’s getting so when you go into a restuarant they’re going to start to give fingernail clippers with each meal...

On a day when Iraq swore in its first democratically elected government, U.S. military officials report seizing what they say is a letter from Iraqi insurgents earmarked for terrorist bigwig Abu Musab al-Zarqawi grousing about low morale in his followers’ ranks and waning insurgency support. First off, this is kind of news report which is an interesting piece of a puzzle — if you go on the assumption it is a piece. Reports note that it has NOT been confirmed. But, if it is accurate,...

L.A. Times Editorial Page and Opinion Editor Michael Kinsley — often one of the wittiest commentators around on the left or right — has looked at President George Bush’s last press conference and gives him high marks for political honesty and guts for his social security indexing proposal. He rattles off a bunch of other things, then writes: There was a remarkable amount of honesty and near honesty. Bush’s rebuff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was superb. The people...