Just look at this. (A special thanks to you, Les, for bringing this to my attention. It’s a scream!)

Links are from sites with varying viewpoints. Opinions expressed do not necessarily express the views of TMV or its co-bloggers. A New Conservative Blog Promises To Have Lots Of ORIGINAL Writing: The blog is American Cicero. It promises to get right-to-the point and vows to be stylistically different than most blogs: The American Cicero is still able to think for himself, and his thoughts are presented here for your perusal, comment, and argument. His interests are wide-ranging and include politics...

NOTE TO READERS: Many regular readers of this site have noted that on weekends we used to shut down this site with a referring message that we were guest blogging on Dean’s World. Then we got lots of complaints so a few weeks ago we tried limited weekend blogging (we’d do a two original posts here and run pointer links to our others done on Dean’s World) and invited our always-independent and thoughtful co-bloggers to do whatever they wanted to do. All of this has been somewhat...

It’s hip to keep abreast of the latest medical news which suggests Haagen Daz may be good for your (female) health. The BBC reports: Curvy women are more likely to live longer than their slimmer counterparts, researchers have found. Institute of Preventative Medicine in Copenhagen researchers found those with wider hips also appeared to be protected against heart conditions. Women with a hip measurement smaller than 40 inches, or a size 14 would not have this protection, they said. The...

Cross-posted to Random Fate. From MSNBC.com: Turned off science Students may be the real victims of the evolution wars By Sandra Lilley News planning editor NBC News Updated: 1:49 p.m. ET June 3, 2005 The battle over teaching evolution is raging in communities across the country, but the headlines rarely focus on the “quiet” impact of this controversy. Science is becoming a political “hot potato” for some students – transforming what should be a dynamic, fascinating...

This NYT story about Tom Cruise’s bizarre behavior in recent weeks, as he promotes the Spielberg-directed “War of the Worlds” remake, is amusing enough. But what gave me a chuckle is that the Times went to two blogs to get screen shots (actually, photos) of Cruise’s now-infamous jag on Oprah: Defamer.com, Gawker’s LA, Hollywood-obsessed counterpart, and TVGasm.com. I’m not sure what to make of the Times’ color art outsourcing. Does it mean: 1. The newspaper...

Young blogger Jeremiah Lewis can’t get up much excitement for the unmasking of Deep Throat, identifying himself with the apathy of the iPod generation and casting doubts on Mark Felt’s hero status. But the media lovefest since the old man admitted his (hopefully) one common trait with the porn industry has gotten Lewis thinking about what we’ll really take from history – and what we’ll overlook: I suspect that history is being shaped, and has been since before the...

Deliberations are expected to begin today in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial — but as the see-saw fortunes of each side have unfolded the question arises: is this a case that’s likely to end in a conviction on just a few counts? Most media and court coverage has focused on the overall question of which side has been ahead and what that will mean to a guilty or not guilty verdict. However, Jackson is facing several counts. The 46-year-old self-proclaimed King Of Pop (whose...

Peggy Noonan’s latest Wall Street Journal column reads as if it’s a satire piece— but, no, folks it is 100 percent for real. It’s truly hard to believe it is. Before we even discuss it we MUST say a few things: This is the last column of her’s we’ll read. We already subscribe to Mad Magazine and although her writing is a bit funnier, we get more variety in Mad. And we suspect if the column below was submitted as a satire, Mad would reject it for being too off-the-wall....

Via Crooks And Liars a VIDEO of their appearance on the Today show yesterday. (Crooks And Liars always offers high quality video so if you missed on TV).

The murder of a prominent journalist makes it pretty clear that if you’re a prominent politico or journalist in Lebanon and oppose Syria you better have a nice, fat insurance policy to take care of your family when you’re gone: DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, June 2 – An outspoken journalist known for his writings against Syria’s presence in Lebanon was killed in a car bombing in Beirut today, raising tensions in Lebanon just four days after elections for a new Parliament began....

You SMELL trustworthy. We all know of people that simply smell, or positively reek of being untrustworthy (this blog being the exception, of course). But now scientists have discovered that nasal spray can develop trust — a fascinating development, just waiting to be abused by politicos, time-share salesmen, multi-level-marketing promoters and any person, government or corporation you can think of that would benefit from such a quick fix. Swiss researchers think they have found answer to...

The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward reveals how meeting an older man led to a friendship that morphed into a mentorship — and how eventually this chance encounter gave him the most important solid anonymous source in journalism history. This is a fascinating piece for several reasons: (a)it underlines the role of fate (b)it underlines the importance of keeping in touch with interesting people (c)it’s a nice footnote because, as we all know, in the end Vanity Fair and not Bob Woodward...

Matt (at his swank new digs) points to this Democracy Arsenal post which, in turn, references a new survey on US public support for humanitarian intervention in Darfur. It seems that the American public is, overall, supportive of an increased US role in clamping down on genocide in Sudan. The conversation that has developed from this, thanks to Matt, is whether or not public opinion itself is really what’s behind the US’s notorious aversion to stepping into humanitarian crises. Here’s...

Links are from sites with varying viewpoints. Opinions expressed do not necessarily express the views of TMV or its co-bloggers. Watergate Wars: Revenge Of The Nixonites: Pat Buchanan and Chuck Colson hopped in a time machine and showed Today viewers the mind-set of people who were around Richard Nixon. And some people wonder why Nixon went down? And, no, it just isn’t TMV who feels this way. View THIS VIDEO via Crooks And Liars of Tom Brokaw, after the former NBC newsman gets a chance to mentally...

The thumbs down by Dutch voters to the proposed European constitution is due to the long pursued ideal of a European Union having run into an unexpected roadblock: voters who analyze and exercise their democratic right to say no. The news has NOT been good for the leaders and political scientists who’ve dreamed of a United Europe. Coming on the heels of France’s nixing of the constitution it’s a brutal double whammy. The AP: AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Dutch voters overwhelmingly...

…but does it love them back? A Democratic advocacy group did some research that is likely to be ignored by the groups now controlling the party.

I am one of the guest-posters that Joe often refers to when he has other, more important and pressing issues to attend to than this weblog. I apologize for not being able to add any additional commentary this evening than a few brief posts linking to some recommended reading. I am currently living in France, and it is after 2:00AM here. For me it is after an evening out with colleagues and friends, so I have little energy left, not even for my own weblog, Random Fate. I hope you have followed the...

Pennywit, who hosts a quasi-group blog at Pennywit.com (based upon a Drupal publishing system, the contributions of others frequently make the front page and RSS feed) and who is self-described as a liberal, has posted a response to the writings of one of his conservative contributors regarding the recent behaviors of the Democratic Party: The Ridiculousness of Being a Conservative I recommend making Pennywit.com a regular read, because even if you do not agree with his politics, often topics are...

The Commissar at The Politburo Diktat is a self-described conservative; however he is uncomfortable with much of what he has seen written by bloggers, even those on the right-wing, as he illustrates here in this recommended reading: Questioning Patriotism Think seriously about what he has to say.

Passions over Watergate apparently still runs VERY HIGH: some former Nixon aides are now blasting former FBI deputy director Mark Felt who is now confirmed as being the Washington Post’s mysterious Watergate source “Deep Throat.” Felt is being accused of, at best, not going through proper channels and, at worst, of being a “traitor.” One former aide even accuses Nixon’s critics of losing two Southeast Asia countries and sparking genocide. (So much for claims...

There is a series of remarkable, intensely honest, posts on drinking and AA, mostly on Dean’s World. We don’t want to wreck them by quoting from them so we STRONGLY urge readers to read each one in its entirety, starting from the first the last. You can see the thought that goes into them, as you read the progression in order. First, read this post by Dean Esmay. Then, read Industrialblog’s response to that. Next, read Dean Esmay’s response to that, indicating that Industrialblog...

President Jacques Chirac found a scapegoat accepted the resignation of Jean-Pierre Raffarin in the wake of the country’s decisive rejection of the EU constitution and replaced him with a longtime ally. The replacement: Dominique de Villepin. So is this someone who will help Chirac chart a new course? Someone with a different view, a different approach. Unlikely, according to the BBC: Mr de Villepin, 51, is best known abroad for expressing France’s implacable opposition to the war in...

It sounds like some folks need to spend a little more time meditating: BANGKOK (Reuters) – Five Thai Buddhist monks have been defrocked and fined after a brawl with monks from a nearby temple, police and newspapers said Tuesday. The street fight was the culmination of years of antagonism between monks from the two temples who had often exchanged curses, insults and rude gestures as they collected alms on different sides of a road, the Manager newspaper said. “When an ordinary person...

What’s being called the world’s first All Good News network. That means it can’t run any news about Congress.