It is a delicious irony of our times that on the one hand India launched on May 13th the year-round celebration of the 2550th anniversary of the enlightenment of Gautam Buddha, who preached peace and non-violence about fifth century before the Christian era, while on the other hand played footsie with the USA to acquire sophisticated arms. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh … [Read more...] about Buddha Jayanti: 2550th anniversary of enlightenment of an aristrocrat

TMV is continuing to evolve and as we head into this mid-term election year you may see more changes. Some are going on now: BLOGROLL: We're continuing to update our blogroll which means eliminating some sites. This is usually done of the blog is inactive. We don't eliminate sites that don't agree with this site (just check the blogs on the blogroll and that's clear). There … [Read more...] about TMV Continues Its Changes

This slipped past me last week, but Cory Booker won the Newark mayorial race in an out and out landslide. So why is Booker such a big deal? Well, anybody who's seen the Academy Award-nominated documentary Street Fight already knows how Booker's challenger in the 2002 mayorial contest, Democratic mayor Sharpe James, played extremely dirty politics against him. And yes, you … [Read more...] about Chalk One Up For The Good Guys

Cicero shares his journey with religion and how that may affect his 2 year-old daughter's spiritual life. More here. … [Read more...] about Why Do People Have Faith?

In Israel, water is the new oil By Karin Kloosterman May 14, 2006 The earth is a thirsty place. More than half of the world's countries need drinking water badly, and these countries are not just poor African nations landlocked by deserts. Among the list of 164 countries looking to secure potable water sources for the future include Spain, Greece and Portugal. For more … [Read more...] about More on Water from Israel21c.com

The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin offers this on last night's immigration speech by GWB. … [Read more...] about Froomkin: State of (Political) Emergency

(Caption: Accompanied by her children, a woman treks across a dried-out lake in search of water in the western Indian state of Gujarat. More than 75 percent of India's rural population does not have access to public water supplies, says the World Bank. Instead, groundwater fills the needs. But when rain stops and temperatures soar, villagers — as in this photo — go … [Read more...] about Water story in New England, England and India

Signs of an emerging, sometimes angry split among conservatives over the immigration issue can be seen on some weblogs: --Some readers of a popular conservative weblog hurl the angriest, worst adjective they can at it: "moderate." --A guest-blogger leaves another conservative weblog after the blog's owner reportedly told writers that they should either agree with him on … [Read more...] about Immigration Reform Splits Conservatives

A view from abroad. ----- EXTENDED BODY: … [Read more...] about Is America’s Mothers’ Day Being Defiled By Consumerism?

Is he a danger to democracy? … [Read more...] about Comedy Central‘s Jon Stewart

Usually our new posts are put on this site in the evening EST. Today will be a bit different. New posts will resume today after 6 a.m. TMV is on a massive drive and won't get to this site until the morning. On the other hand, our always vigilant co-bloggers may have some things to say before then, so keep checking back. … [Read more...] about Note On Today’s Posts From TMV

Some Rightwing nutcases want to use its lessons in the immigration debate. Horrifying. … [Read more...] about The Holocaust Worked So Well The First Time

He appeared. He talked. And he didn't quite conquer. On talk radio shows listened to on a long drive from Northern CA to Southern CA President George W. Bush was being either lambasted or somewhat-guiltily-defended by callers and talk show hosts. Bush didn't quite embrace the House's hard line but he didn't hurl kisses at the more conciliatory Senate bill either...although … [Read more...] about Bush Tries To Occupy Shaky Middle On Immigration Reform

Wasn't all of this surveillance supposed to be to hunt down terrorists? But that was SO YESTERDAY, you see... Here's the latest example why when government is given a new power everyone should worry that they will use it in a way that was not officially proclaimed. File this in the If You Have The Power Why Not Use It As You Want Department:A senior federal law enforcement … [Read more...] about FBI Is Reportedly Tracking Journalists’ Phone Calls

Why staying home in 2006 would be excellent tactics for the Christian right. … [Read more...] about Back One Step, Forwards Two

According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll, 51 percent of Americans "disapprove of a massive Pentagon database containing the records of billions of phone calls made by ordinary citizens". (Newsweek's Mark Hosenball and Evan Thomas have an excellent, must-read piece on the NSA here.) The White House would rather discuss terrorism than Iraq or, well, pretty much anything else, … [Read more...] about Most Americans oppose NSA database (and what Democrats can do about it)

In case you missed it, there's been a presidential election in Chad, a highly unstable African country known mostly these days for its association with Darfur (there are some 200,000 Darfur refugees in Chad, not to mention various rebel groups). According to the BBC, President Idriss Deby, who first came to power in 1990, won re-election with 77.5 percent of the vote. For more … [Read more...] about An election in Chad

It is not often that I find myself wanting to write in praise of something the House of Representatives has done, but I do enjoy those rare moments when they occur. Last week, the House voted 416-6 to sponsor an "H-Prize," program to encourage research into the use of hydrogen as an alternative automobile fuel. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bob Inglis and co-sponsored by 26 … [Read more...] about A Good Idea!

Tonight all the major TV networks will carry live a speech by President George Bush on immigration...a speech that will be highly significant and could put Bush in a political pincer. Why? Because he'll be proposing getting the National Guard more involved in border security — and the degree of that involvement may displease many, no matter what course he chooses. On … [Read more...] about Bush To Talk About Immigration As He Gets Caught In Political Pincer (UPDATED)

Yet another stand-back, thought provoking entry comes via CBS.com's Editorial Director Dick Meyer:The dumbed-down duopoly that controls political power in our 50 states is devoted to just one thing: self-preservation. Americans can't take it anymore, but there's no alternative. A few weeks ago, I wrote a column desperately begging for a real third party in 2008 and … [Read more...] about A Recipe For 3rd Party Victory