Over the past few months, when Tom Cruise wasn’t busy jumping on sofas on Oprah, getting squirted in the face, or lecturing Matt Lauer about the evils of psychiatry (which Cruise has studied, he reminds us) he has attracted much attention for blasting Brooke Shields. In the course of less than a year, Cruise has gone from being a low-profile, carefully handled multi-millionaire charismatic star to being a perpetual human embodiement of the Howard Dean scream. Still, many people could live...

Attention Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: you better hope that George Bush has your back: Within hours after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s announced retirement from the Supreme Court, members of conservative groups around the country convened in five national conference calls in which, participants said, they shared one big concern: heading off any effort by President Bush to nominate his attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales, to replace her. The reason: he is not pure enough. And...

Now Newsweek is pointing its finger at Bush’s political Svengali Karl Rove in the Plame case, in another “now-it-can-be-told” item by Michael Isikoff: Now the story may be about to take another turn. The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper’s sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic...

The Left wants to continue believing there were no links between Saddam and the September 11 attacks. After all, it gives them the groundwork to continue attacking our Commander-in-Chief. Their negativity, though, is beginning to defy evidence as revelations break that Hussein has been proven linked to 9/11 mastermind Mohammed Atta.

The Washington Post offers this list of those reportedly under serious consideration for the opened-up Supreme Court slot and it’s clear President George Bush he has many options and can choose one of those on this list that will be highly polarizing or one that might sail through easier and spare the nation a lot of grief. The key point is: Bush will face Democratic opposition no matter what on most of his nominees since there’s a genuine difference between a candidate who sparks traditional...

L.A.’s new mayor was sworn in yesterday — but the most glaring news was one more sign of how the once wildly popular Governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting almost as many boos as some of his movies: When he introduced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at Friday’s inauguration, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa set off a sustained wave of boos from those gathered at City Hall. “Angelenos, excuse me,” Villaraigosa scolded the governor’s detractors. “There...

RedState has a superb piece on how President George Bush should proceed on filling the Supreme Court slot by Jay Cost, a graduate student at the University of Chicago who is working toward his Ph.D in political science. In the post that you MUST read in its entirety, Cost outlines 9 tips for GWB in filling the Supreme Court seat left by Sandra Day O’Connor’s resignation yesterday. And you can immediately tell the difference between how Cost, a political scientist, views achieving tactical...

This news item raises the question: is a legal scandal about to swirl around Karl Rove — and if there is one will he actually face consquences? Now that Time Inc. has turned over documents to federal court, presumably revealing who its reporter, Matt Cooper, identified as his source in the Valerie Plame/CIA case, speculation runs rampant on the name of that source, and what might happen to him or her. Tonight, on the syndicated McLaughlin Group political talk show, Lawrence O’Donnell,...

Our periodic linkfest pointing you to interesting posts from DIFFERING viewpoints. These viewpoints do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Moderate Voice or its co-bloggers. What Would Be The Impact If Journalists Blogged? Tom Watson (moonlighting on The Huffington Post) tells you here. Terri Schiavo’s Autopsy is put under the microscope by Eros Colored Glasses in a post called The Blind Spot. NOTE: Eros is looking for a blog that’s willing to host and engage in a debate with...

A few weeks ago a big scandal broke involving Republican Congressman Randy Cunningham here in San Diego and he sponsored a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. Maybe it’s time now for him to push for a constitutional amendment banning draft card or social security card burning: SAN DIEGO — FBI agents searched the California home of U.S. Rep. Randy “Dukeâ€? Cunningham on Friday, and served warrants in Washington, D.C., at the yacht where he has been living, a Justice...

I mean, these REALLY are not good days for Florida…

WHOOPS! I made a mistake. But it’s a natural error.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has expressed regret over blunt, anti-Indian commments captured for posterity on one of the late President Richard Nixon’s tapes (these are the tapes that are the news reporters’ gifts that keep on giving): Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has expressed regret over anti-India comments he made to former US President Richard Nixon. “The Indians are bastards,” Mr Kissinger said shortly before the India-Pakistan war of 1971,...

Sanda Day O’Connor, the Supreme Court’s swing vote on many issues, has announced that she’s retiring — so get ready for the mother of all political battles and the possible return of hearing the words “nuclear option”: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court and a key swing vote on issues such as abortion and the death penalty, said Friday she is retiring. O’Connor, 75, said she will leave before the start of the...

A movement for autonomy in the primarily Shi’ite southern provinces of Iraq is growing in popularity and momentum. The emerging issue may have lasting effects on the Iraqi National Assembly’s attempts to forge a constitution and pass it without a single provincial veto. Full federalization of the Iraqi government, one of the United States’ initial goals under the Coalition Provisional Authority, is looking more like a possibility. However, there are fears that religious Shi’a,...

Here’s an interesting item from the military newspaper Stars And Stripes: Love him or hate him, Garry Trudeau, the man responsible for the “Doonesbury” comic strip, is doing his part to help wounded troops and their families. Trudeau is donating all his proceeds from the sale of his newly released book “The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time” to the Fisher House Foundation. Also, Andrews McMeel Publishing, the book’s publisher, is contributing 10 percent of its take from the book...

Spain’s still-dead dictator Francisco Franco must be rolling over in his grave tonight due to two major events in Spain — one that has attracted lots of publicity and one that has not. Spain’s Parliament has given the green light to gay marriage — and even that is jarring for several reasons: (1)Spain is the latest of several countries that have moved to legalize same-sex marriage. (2)Up until a quarter of a century ago Spain was perceived as among the most conservative countries...

Talk Left’s Jeralyn Merrit did the segment on blogs on MSNBC’s Connected yesterday. The focus was on journalists protecting sources and the move by some blogs to declare themselves on-line magazines. During the segment this site is mentioned. Watch the VIDEO HERE. A word on this rush for blogs to declare themselves online magazines. We REFUSE to leap on the bandwagon and say “me, too” on this issue and declare ourselves an online magazine. We would NOT be so cutesy and crass. However,...