Pervez Musharraf is often touted as an important ally in the war on terrorism. With his strong control over the military, he has cracked down on Islamic militants operating in Waziristan and other parts of Pakistan. Or so we’ve heard. Frederic Grare, in a new report from the Carnegie Center for International Peace, thinks that we’re being duped. He suggests that Musharraf is not so useful of an ally and that the billions of dollars of American aid since 9/11 have not been nearly as effective...

Despite widespread optimism that North Korea might agree to permanently dismantle its nuclear program, there have been some unnerving signs in recent days. Matt Dupuis, over at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, has written up a must-read analysis of the recent developments.

Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant

President Bush, of course, is fond of comparing his folly in Iraq with World War II and it is oft commented by his supporters that had there been polls during that war they would have showed the support of a fickle public ebbing and flowing with every battle won and lost. But Josh Marshall notes at Talking Points Memo that there was actually fairly extensive polling of public opinion during the Big One: “The key point is that many polls were taken during the war. And approval of the president’s...

Recent developments have pretty much cinched that George Bush will occupy a special place in American history as a coward of staggering proportions who gave even his most steadfast supporters the finger when they tried to help salvage his presidency and he then dumped the Iraq war on his successor. While the president technically has 18 months to prove me wrong, his continued obeisance to a strategy (if you’ll pardon the term) of shifting deadlines that cannot be met and changing promises...

And here you thought all nighters were only for college students? NOT QUITE. And here you thought due to 2006 that Republicans absolutely HATED the filibuster and demanded “up and down” votes as the only real manifestation of Democracy, not the old 19th and 20th century filibusters that (they argued last year) reflected a legislative mechanism so terribly out of date and undemocratic. NOT QUITE. And here you thought due to 2006 that Democrats virtually embraced device of the filibuster,...

John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri

This run up to the 2008 campaign is inspiring a slew of song parody videos getting huge viewerships on You Tube. The videos are marked by irreverence that will please foes of the given candidates and greatly enrage their supporters. Music and pointed lyrics are used to boost or ridicule candidates. Here are two of the newest making the rounds quickly.WARNING: There is some adult material. Debate ’08: Obama Girl vs Giuliani Girl is a follow up on the wildly popular video “Crush On Obama.” And...

Sounds as if the gunman was delusional: MSNBC Breaking News: Spokesman: Gunman shot, killed in Colo. governor’s office; governor OK AP via MSNBC: DENVER – An unidentified man armed with a gun was shot and killed just outside Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s offices Monday, Ritter’s spokesman said. The governor was not injured, spokesman Evan Dreyer said. The man was shot by a member of the governor’s security detail, Dreyer said. The governor’s offices include a lobby...

The prisons we build because we’re so terrified of crime, are doing nothing but creating more crime.

Of script-breaking and violence prevention.

Our famous linkfest offering readers interesting links to websites of varying opinions so they can explore the ‘sphere. Links do not not necessarily represent the viewpoints of The Moderate Voice or its writers. STICKS AND STONES: Are bloggers just too steamed up about how the mainstream media reports the news and has it now become one, big bore? Some thoughts here. ON THE OTHER HAND (what do you expect at TMV?) has the mainstream media been so impacted (and intimidated) by the blogo-you-know-what...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is reportedly losing the internal Bush administration “war” with Vice President Dick Cheney over whether “diplomacy” or military action is the best way to deal with Iran. If the report in The Guardian is correct, it’s yet one more sign of Cheney’s enormous influence and clout over Bush administration policy, even at a time when opinion polls show Bush, Cheney and the war in Iraq have dwindling political support amid increasing...

Irène Némirovsky The Internet and blogosphere notwithstanding, we live in an age of great books. Well, perhaps every age since Johannes Gutenberg invented moveable type around 1450 is a great age for books, but I revel in and continue to be amazed at at the incredible breadth and depth of the contemporary bookshelf. Following are five books that I’d recommend for summer reading. None are long, can be read between swims in the ocean, dips in the pool or TSA searches at the airport, and...

Look at the headlines, and particularly if you’re someone in a Western country it’s all so incredibly puzzling: how can young men and women blow themselves up? Datelines to stories become interchangeable. Pakistan. Israel. Iraq. News reports (as usual) detail a Middle East seemingly in peril. And a recent story claims a new Al Qaeda “cell” may be heading to the U.S. What’s the mentality? What’s the mindset? And why? Trying to find a DVD that isn’t a long...

Perhaps showing us symbolically that, yes, there can be many makeovers in life:

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com

Was the new Osama bin Laden video really an announcement of his death? And are there clear signs that it wasn’t a new video at all? DETAILS ARE HERE.

Antonio Neri Licón, Milenio, Mexico

A round up of recent posts by a few centrist, moderate, and independent bloggers. In Chicago with my family, I picked up a copy of the Sun-Times this morning, and thoroughly enjoyed this extended essay by Steven Pinker, “In defense of dangerous ideas.” An excerpt: … Since ideas are connected to other ideas, sometimes in circuitous and unpredictable ways, choosing to believe something that may not be true, or even maintaining walls of ignorance around some topic, can corrupt all...

The setting: NBC’s Meet The Press The scene: Senators Webb (D) and Graham (R) indulge in what seems more like a talk radio exchange than a typical Meet The Press interview or even a political debate. When when you watch it — if you’re not someone who watches these events deciding that the person who belongs to your party MUST be right — who comes across as sticking to talking points? Whose words somehow seem familiar with what was said in other forums (like the White House...

File photo shows Nader savoring audience reaction to one of his speeches It sounds as independent candidate Ralph Nader is getting ready to enter the 2008 race — and he is even serving notice that he’s going to get ready to battle the Democrats (whose votes he’ll likely drain away): Consumer advocate Ralph Nader told the Green Party’s national convention that he is considering a 2008 presidential run and accused Democrats of trying to shut smaller parties out of the political...

Al Qaeda terrorist chief Osama bin Laden is “back” — resurfacing on the world scene via a new video. Or IS the video new or that new? Some wonder…but also note that even if it’s not really new, it could be dangerous. Bin Laden doesn’t look in the pink of health in the 40-minute video, but that’s not what’s worrisome to terrorism experts. Was there a “signal” in there? Osama bin Laden stresses the importance of martyrdom for Muslim causes...

Quick! Somebody get a net! I’d like to revisit the matter of why the Republican Party continues to marginalize blacks and generally treats all people of color as second-class citizens. (The ones that are citizens, that is.) In responses to a post yesterday on the news that only Tom Tancredo of the nine Republican president wannabes appeared at an NAACP candidate forum, a number of commenters, all presumably Republicans, sought to deflect that criticism. Some noted that the NAACP is not exactly...

Coming hard on the heels of the reports that the Iraqi army remains unprepared to take over security of the war-torn country, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says his forces are capable and American troops can troops can leave “anytime they want.” Sounds good to me. Where’s the door? In another valentine to Washington, one of Al-Maliki’s top aides accused the U.S. of embarrassing the Iraqi government by violating human rights and treating his country like an “experiment...