She’s inviting you. Seriously:

These days EVERYONE’S a critic: For two decades until his capture in 1994, Carlos the Jackal murdered, bombed and kidnapped his way to infamy, retaining the title of world’s most dangerous terrorist before Osama Bin Laden stole his crown. But speaking from the Clair-vaux prison in northeast France last week he berated terrorist cells said to have targeted Britain, criticising them for plotting to kill ordinary people. And there you have a fundamental difference, which doesn’t...

That’ll get redundant real fast as Republican candidates start dropping out, but former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore has become the first man to drop out of the GOP Presidential race.

Washington Post: Gilmore Drops Out of 2008 Race Former Va. governor ends his long-shot campaign to win the Republican nomination for president.

Al Jazeera West is at it again. ABC TV’s doughty “investigative team,” which specializes in Al Qaeda handouts, is reporting the impending Mother of All Terrorist Attacks, as gleaned from an exclusive interview with Taliban military commander Mansour Dadullah. “You will, God willing, be witness to more attacks,” he told a Pakistani journalist, according to ABC. “Just last month,” the network notes, “Dadullah presided over what was termed a terror training...

Friday, 7/13/07: Cheney naps while Bush fiddles. Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP-Getty Images

Given the shaky state of the mainstream media, it is easy for oldsters to get all weak in the knees when we think back to the era of I.F. Stone. So who the hay is I.F. Stone? If you don’t know and value incisive reporting and commentary, it’s time that you got to know this chap, whom the WaPo’s Dan Froomkin calls the world’s first blogger. More here.

Wall Street Journal columnist and former Ronald Reagan writer Peggy Noonan has made it known in the past that she has soured on President George Bush. But in her latest column, she suggests that she has totally had it — and that other Republicans would fire him if they had a chance. The key point is in the sub-headline: We can’t fire the president right now, so we’re waiting it out. She raises the issue at the very start of her piece which is yet another sign that there are many...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune

Where’d everybody go? Another election cycle, another NAACP Presidential Candidate Forum. The civil rights group invited all nine Republican wannabes, but only Tom Tancredo showed up. Meanwhile, all of the Democratic presidential hopefuls appeared and, not surprisingly, Barack Obama brought down the house. The excuses given by the Republican candidates’ campaign staffs mostly had to do with scheduling conflicts. They were just too busy to make it. Ahem. More here and here.

From The Oil Drum: In my annual new years predictions, I said that the most significant, and surprising, development of 2007 would be the collapse of both Mexico’s economy and its very existence as a viable Nation-State. While there hasn’t been a spectacular, single event confirming my prediction, there has been a steady erosion on all fronts—with five months left in the year, I’m not yet willing to push back my prediction of Mexico’s “collapse” to 2008....

A heart-breaking story out of Buffalo, New York suggests that text messaging while driving could have played a role in a car crash that killed 5 high school graduates. As someone who drives an enormous amount (this site may not be updated much today since I will drive today a total of 6 hours round-trip from San Diego to Compton, near Los Angeles) the most dreaded person on the road is now the person with the cell phone. He/she comes in all ages now, from the brand, new driver to the older driver...

Just letting you all know as well: I am on vacation. Yesterday I completed the first stage of my trip, today I hope to complete the second stage, and tomorrow the final stage before I arrive at my (final) destination. I will be gone for four weeks. In those four weeks I will barely post, if I post at all. To the two or three of you who will actually miss my posts: I’ll be back August 10. My own blog will – luckily – be updated regularly by Jason Steck, Rich Horton and Pamela Leavey....

No, this isn’t about the White House. It’s a You Tube video showing the opening to the 1943 film (way before my time) “Crazy House,” which featured the comedy team of Olsen & Johnson re-creating their smash, zany Broadway show. Note The Three Stooges’ Shemp Howard in a role before he replaced his brother “Curley” in the act, after Curley’s 1948 stroke.

An interesting tidbit from Ynetnews, a popular and reputable Israeli news site: Iranian intelligence operatives recently detained over a dozen squirrels found within the nation’s borders, claiming the rodents were serving as spies for Western powers determined to undermine the Islamic Republic. “In recent weeks, intelligence operatives have arrested 14 squirrels within Iran’s borders,” state-sponsored news agency IRNA reported. “The squirrels were carrying spy gear...

Health care is moving front and center as the domestic issue for Democrats while Republicans still maunder about keeping us safe from terrorists. A Washington Post headline this week sums up their approach: “For Democrats, Pragmatism On Universal Health Care” It’s a little like saying, “There are burglars in the house, but let’s be cautious about getting them out.” The burglars are private insurers who take almost one out of every three dollars we spend and...

I realize that Joe already covered this story in a previous post, but I think that the post-debate exchange that took place between Edwards and Clinton and was—unbeknownst to them— picked up by microphones bears posting for everyone at TMV to see: EDWARDS:…at some point…(unintelligible)…maybe the Fall. We should try to have…a more serious and a smaller group. CLINTON: (nodding head) Well…we…we’ve got to cut the number…because they are…because...

I’ve been following this back and forth over Ken Burn’s new WWII documentary between Ken and some (not all) Hispanic groups who were upset that their contributions weren’t included. After hearing their complaints, Ken gave in and offered to add shorts that would be spread throughout the series, but they wanted more. He took the offer back and they put together protest groups and put up websites labeling him a racist. Now, it looks like he is giving in again. Ken Burns and the Old...

A forthcoming reality TV disaster from Fox.

The Iranian populace, a new poll has revealed, is a heck of a lot more moderate than their government. Take, for example, the fact that 80% of Iranians favor an end to the nuclear program in exchange for international aid.

The Opposite Direction, hosted by Faisal al-Qassem, is the Arab world’s most popular program. Broadcast on al-Jazeera, Qassem’s debate show regularly pits two people against each other to discuss highly controversial topics. I’ve written about the show before, and noted that al-Jazeera, by facilitating such programs, has been an awesome force for change in the Middle East. Recently, The Opposite Direction hosted a debate on this explosive question: do Islamists or secularists pose...

File this one in your OOPS File and the Get Ready For The Political Firestorm File: Democrats John Edwards and Hillary Rodham Clinton consider themselves among the top presidential candidates. They were caught by Fox News microphones discussing their desire to limit future joint appearances to exclude some lower rivals after a forum in Detroit Thursday. Edwards says, “We should try to have a more serious and a smaller group.” Clinton agrees, saying, “We’ve got to cut the number”...

The BBC has apologized to the Queen for “misrepresentation.” Even worse, as this BBC report notes, there is now a major inquiry about whether there have been other BBC journalistic glitches. Watch the report and you’ll note the key role of “fatal” journalistic ASSUMPTIONS…which led to misreporting…which led to the Queen’s image being soiled (to “assume” makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me”). Which led to...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com