Now yet another White House official has been named as an alleged source in the stories that revealed the identify of a CIA officer whose husband was in a political tiff with the administration. And, as in the case of the already-steeped-in-controversy Bush political Svengali Karl Rove, the White House had also reportedly long denied that this aide — the Vice President’s chief of staff, Lewis Libby — was involved: The vice president’s chief of staff, Lewis Libby, was a source...

Great Britain’s Mirror has a fascinating piece raising the question: were London’s suicide bombers TRICKED by their Al Qaeda bosses into thinking they could escape? If so, it would not be beyond the realm of possibility. Remember that (in)famous tape of Osama bin Laden gleefully recounting how some of the 911 hijackers didn’t know they were going to die but thought they were on board to provide the passenger-control muscle? Consider this (read the whole post…this is only part...

This report should be troubling news to all Americans: One of the bombers in last week’s attacks made a direct phone call to a suspected recruiter for an extremist group in New York. Authorities told ABC News that records show Mohammed Sidique Khan, the eldest of the bombers now believed to be the field commander of the attacks, had called a person who is associated with the Islamic Center, a mosque in Queens, N.Y. Yet, a member of that mosque claimed they had no knowledge of the phone call....

Here’s yet ANOTHER INSTANCE of adults who get so carried away with sublimating when it comes to kids’ sports that they should be kept as far away from it as possible…and this time an allegation involving a kids’ COACH: NORTH UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A T-ball coach seeking to keep a player with a mental disability off the he field allegedly asked another player to hurt the boy, state police said Friday. The alleged incident happened June 27 at R.W. Clark Little League Field...

TMV is writing this in the wee hours of the morning Sunday after JUST getting into his hotel near the Omaha airport after performing at the Jefferson County Fair in Fairbury, Nebraska. He’s staying here because he has a VERY early morning flight back to San Diego. TMV’s posting will be erratic (versus erotic) today. His new posts will likely be on the site around mid-afternoon today, at the earliest. He will do one tonight before retiring and he’s not 65 yet. HOWEVER: keep checking...

Her first move.

I don’t share this blogger’s contempt for the “MSM” (considering I’m part of it), and he’s quite partisan about it, but he gives a pretty good — and link-rich — history of the Plame/Novak/Rove matter, and what we know up to this point. It needs to be reiterated that until Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation is over, or someone involved leaks the direction he’s going, we have no idea what line of inquiry he’s pursuing. I think it’s...

Just like in one of his movie parts where the hero is seemingly defeated but rises to fight again, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has done emergency damage control by ending a big, fat contract with a muscle magazine that promised to sandbag his remaining — and waning — popularity in California with a big, fat controversy. The Washington Post reports: In the showdown over dueling roles as chief executive of California and figurehead for muscle magazines, the nation’s...

Polls are see saws but in President George Bush’s case the latest AP-Ipsos poll is more “saw” than “see”: 1. Generally speaking, would you say things in this country are heading in the right direction, or are they off on the wrong track?Right direction, 36 percent ; Wrong track, 59 percent: Not sure, 5 percent 2. Overall, do you approve, disapprove or have mixed feelings about the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president? Approve, 42 percent ; Disapprove,...

Democratic centrist blogger Bull Moose (allied with the Demcratic Leadership Council) has an as-usual intriguing post that MUST be read in full here. Here are some key excerpts 4 U. He urges Democrats not to obssess on Karl Rove, and notes that much of this will be resolved in the courts, and then: In the meantime, if the Democrats obsess on him and he is innocent of the charges, he could re-emerge even stronger. If he or another member of the Administration is indicted, however, it will be devastating...

Here is part of why I believe what I believe–specifically, why I fear overarching “principles” and dogma. Guest-starring–a link to co-TMVer Jack’s stellar post on the depressed state of politics!

comes out tonight at midnight. Presumably, there is fresh bloggable material about this. But I don’t have it. So instead, I’ll just point you to a flashback of the Marxist critique of HP. Regrettably, it’s archived now, but you can access a summary of the debate here, as well as my own original post (mostly just giving outward links). I’m sure there will be plenty of generic Potter discussion permeating the blogosphere today and tommorow, but let’s try and narrow the...

…does not seek for partisan advantage. I have cried out for that kind of leadership in my post “Our government is no place for political games for gain at any cost” at my own weblog, Random Fate. Please read and comment on it, especially if you disagree.

…through being distracted by shadow-boxing with fanatics?

Cross posted at The Smoking Room If you’re a fan of the Middle East Media Research Institute and the translations of Middle Eastern press they do, you might appreciate a relatively new site that translates media all over the world into English: The headline reads, “Columbus’ Discovery of America: History’s ‘Biggest Mistake.’ ” That might sound harsh to an American audience, but it’s less likely to ruffle Iraqis reading it in Arabic. Another zinger,...

Pseudo-Polymath disputes my argument that judicial nominees should be aggressively vetted by congress. I respond here.

With each passing day, and each new revelation — few of them bound to create happy smiles in the White House — you get a sense that the hourglass is running out on the controversy swirling around political maven Karl Rove’s alleged role in revealing the identity of a CIA operative. It’s a sense that whether Rove faces any legal consquences or not, this is a new era. And you also get a sense that no matter how this turns out there is little good that is going to come out of...

Once upon a time there was a Republican National Committee. It wanted to defuse tensions with a group called the NAACP, and offer this as a kind of olive branch to black Americans. But then a big, bad broadcaster opposed this overture — this overture that was clearly a (rare) sign of an effort to combat at least a small bit of a monster called polarization that had taken hold of a country called the United States. And since this broadcaster had so many loyal listeners who would immediately...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political star has been falling rapidly in California and this certainly won’t help stop the fall: SACRAMENTO — Two days before he was sworn into office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accepted a consulting job paying an estimated $8 million over five years to “further the business objectives” of a national publisher of health and bodybuilding magazines. The contract pays Schwarzenegger 1% of the magazines’ advertising revenue,...

Osama bin Laden and violence are losing support in the Muslim world, a Washington Post poll reports: Osama bin Laden’s standing has dropped significantly in some pivotal Muslim countries, while support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence has “declined dramatically,” according to a new survey released yesterday. Predominantly Muslim populations in a sampling of six North African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries share to a “considerable degree” Western concerns...

TMV in his other incarnation is on the road, appearing at a fair in Nebraska. We’re still doing our posts from the road but due to our schedule and our severe transmission problems you may see fewer by TMV himself. But keep checking back since our co-bloggers are posting some provocative material. And a word on that: When TMV was permanent weekend guest blogger for more than a year on Dean’s World Dean Esmay was nice enough to basically turn over his whole blog to him on weekends. Not...

Via Orin Kerr, this semi-bombshell from the Supreme Court. Not having a spot that can be relatively uncontroversially be filled by a conservative severely limits Bush’s options RE: O’Connor’s replacement. How will it affect the nomination fight? Discuss.

…but necessary none the less. James Wolcott condemns our insular outlook, especially as it has been shown in the wake of the terrorist attacks in London, and he makes his point well. — Cross-posted to Random Fate.

Former Ambassador Joe Wilson’s little-read book from last year is finally getting some attention from journalists, but not the kind that bolsters his case against the Bush administration for supposedly leaking his wife’s identity: In The Politics of Truth, former ambassador Joseph Wilson writes that he and his future wife both returned from overseas assignments in June 1997. Neither spouse, a reading of the book indicates, was again stationed overseas. They appear to have remained in...

Cross-posted to Digital Dissent I’d say, “fat chance”, but I’m willing to give him a shot. From CNN: Kim said “the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was the behest of President Kim Il Sung,” his late father and the North’s longtime former leader, the North’s Korean Central News Agency reported on Wednesday. According to the report, the reclusive leader said it was Pyongyang’s “consistent stand to seek a negotiated peaceful solution...