You’ve heard of “death by police” where someone makes a move and goads police into shooting him? Here’s death by mouth — where Al Qaeda’s captured Zacarias Moussaoui virtually signs his own death warrent in testifying without his lawyers’ approval: Laying out a stunning new version of his terrorist mission, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui testified Monday that he was supposed to hijack a fifth jetliner on Sept. 11, 2001, with would-be shoe bomber...

Centrist columnist John Avlon (who wrote the classic book on centrism The Independent Nation) looks at President George Bush’s growing credibility gap in terms of historic and current roots in his latest New York Sun column. And it shows there may be no quick “out” for Bush, if you factor in his political style and personality. Here are some excerpts: Despite his campaign in 2000 as a “uniter, not a divider,” President Bush has been a polarizing figure since reaching...

Yet another reason why Islam has to change. More here.

To me, movement away from the radical religious fringe and towards a humble, moral center is a great thing. And somehow, the fact that it’s happening in Texas makes it even better. COVINGTON, Texas (ABP) — Pastor and politician Kerry Horn has been called an agent of Satan. He has faced country farmers trembling with rage. And his faith has been questioned by members of his own congregation. And that’s just the reaction of his “Christianâ€? constituents. “People find...

Talk about “hot talk.” Listen to this talk radio confrontation between actor Alec Baldwin and conservative talkers Sean Hannity and Mark Levin on WABC’s Brian Whitman show. What’s interesteing is how Baldwin keeps wondering why the host has to have Hannity and Levin on when he has regular listeners waiting on line. But the nature of talk radio is “hot talk” — rage, anger..stuff that gets the adrenalin going. Still, if you can detatch yourself from the whole...

“University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” –Henry Kissenger. Small stakes or not, if you peek inside the department office, you’ll see knives on the table and blood on the floor.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, writer for the Weekly Standard, emails TMV and seems to think that Scalia’s recent speeches are perfectly within reason. And after reading his article, I think Daveed has a valid point: BY ALL ACCOUNTS, Scalia’s Freiburg speech did not go beyond the views he already expressed in his Rasul and Hamdi dissents. The applicable legal standard for recusal is supplied by 28 U.S.C. S 455(a), which states: “Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States...

…he is out of pocket today. His posts will likely resume towards the end of the day. There are some key issues that’ll be dealt with today or for tomorrow’s blog. Plus, we’re anxious to resume our Around The Sphere linkfest. Due to logistics involving extensive travels, posting time has been quite limited. But, as you can see, our co-bloggers have a lot to say..so keep checking back!

Would Republicans lose if Democrats shifted the debate to “what matters most to working people” — to education, health care, jobs, etc.? See here.

Formely of The Yellow Line, Alan Stewart Carl is one of the more thoughtful centrist writers around. He recently started up Maverick Views, which I consider a must read. Give Alan a visit and show him some love.

I am generally quite proud of my country, and I will usually defend it against its critics, but our seal hunt leaves me disgusted and ashamed. Whatever the excuses for it — its supposed economic benefits, the alleged need to control the seal population — there is simply no good reason for it. We’re talking about the killing, the brutal killing, of 325,000 seals, most of them babies. Shame on Canada for allowing this to take place year after year. And shame on Prime Minister Harper...

Vivek Krishnamurthy examines the potential downside to the recent upsurge of the Fairtrade movement. In the end, it could all be quite self-defeating, whatever it’s noble intentions. For more, see here.

This isn’t the first time this has been reported in the world media — but a New York Times piece is now giving wider circulation to a British memo that paints a picture of President George Bush as being intent to invade Iraq, no matter what — even to the point of suggesting that an incident was needed to provoke a U.S. invasion: In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations resolution condemning Iraq,...

According to the L.A. Times, “Iran is moving faster than expected and is just days from making the first steps toward enriching uranium”. What does this mean? — “If engineers encounter no major technical problems, Iran could manufacture enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb within three years, much more quickly than the common estimate of five to 10 years.” Iran denies that it intends to build nuclear weapons, but its unwillingness to use Russian-enriched...

It wasn’t so long ago that pro-West reformer Viktor Yushchenko was the toast of Kiev, at least among the democratic masses. Well, how far the mighty have fallen! Last September, Yushchenko was brought low by internal divisions and allegations of corruption. And in this weekend’s parliamentary elections, according to the BBC, “he has been beaten into third place by the pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych and his former Orange Revolution ally Yulia Tymoshenko”. Defeat from within...

We’re having some severe posting problems right now. We see that our co-bloggers have gotten some posts up and some are in the timer. But TMV himself was unable to write last night due to being unable to connect to the server. These problems should be resolved but please keep checking back. If you see posts its due to in inability to get them on the site right now.

It’s gone from balloting to protesting in Belarus, as opposition parties and supporters took to the streets this past weekend — the anniversary of the establishment of the Belarussian republic in 1918 — to protest the results of the recent presidential election. The BBC has the story here, the Post here. My two posts on “Balloting in Belarus” are here and here.

With race in the media, it’s damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

At first glance, this seems like fantastic news. After all, the guy is being let off. But the opening on this story certainly gave me pause: KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan court on Sunday dismissed a case against a man who converted from Islam to Christianity because of a lack of evidence and he will be released soon, officials said. Well, what does that mean for the next convert to Christianity where the evidence is overwhelming? Will that person be put to death? I guess we’ll have to...

See why.

Michael Reynolds just celebrated a year in the blogosphere. But he forgot the date. Trust me, I sympathize… I have never been any good at keeping track of dates. Every single year for 26 years I’ve missed the day my wife and I celebrate as our anniversary. July 1st, by the way, I know that. She forgets it, too. It’s not the day we got married (neither of us has a clue about that) it’s the day we met. Approximately. We’re not sure. I keep track of my kid’s birthdays...

Cicero questions our strategy. In spite of the view that the globalized world will deliver long-term freedom and prosperity, I have begun to wonder if openness will be an option as we cross history’s harsh thresholds, hidden in the tall grass. History always reaps the unexpected; its scythe is strident. [...] I believe we are already at a historical threshold. The first indication is utter confusion. The secular world’s response to Shi’a Islam’s nuclear ambition is confused,...

This just in from investigative reporter Scott Ott: U.S. Needs ‘Guest Worker’ to Answer Helen Thomas by Scott Ott (2006-03-24) — President George Bush today defended his controversial guest worker immigration proposal contending that without the policy, the United States will soon have no way of accomplishing many unpleasant tasks such as harvesting vegetables, cleaning rooms, mowing yards, installing roofing and answering questions from veteran reporter Helen Thomas. “There...

Time reports that there’s a sinking feeling now on the part of Republicans. Its sub-headline says it all: If the midterm elections were held today, top strategists of both parties say privately, the Republicans would probably lose the 15 seats they need to keep control of the House of Representatives. How bad is it? According to Time, there’s even a slim chance — versus the remote, no-way Jose, you’ve gotta be kidding chance analysts diagnosed a short time ago – that...

Where are all the Ninjas? h/t Asia Pundit.