Yesterday at The Reaction I mentioned that the Supreme Court of Canada (SCOC) was set to rule on a high-profile case involving: -- abortion? -- the death penalty? -- church and state? -- police powers? No: swingers clubs. That post, which includes some background to the case and my own take on, well, swinging, is here. ********** The ruling is in. SCOC has upheld the rights … [Read more...] about Canada’s Supreme Court upholds swingers’ rights

Iran -- the land of, among other things, Holocaust denial, an emerging nuclear program, and the rather overrated Abbas Kiarostami* -- has taken an unfortunate step to cut itself off further from the West. The BBC reports: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned Western and "indecent" music from state-run TV and radio stations. The ban follows a ruling in October by … [Read more...] about Iran bans Western music

From The New York Times: In a chaotic conclusion to the Congressional year, the Senate blocked an effort on Wednesday to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and struck a last-minute accord to extend the antiterrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act for six months. With Vice President Dick Cheney casting the decisive vote, the Senate also approved a $40 … [Read more...] about Torture, terrorism, and oil drilling in the U.S. Senate

The AUMF, or authorization for the use of military force, gave Bush the right to use whatever force he deemed necessary to fight any country or organization in the War on Terrorism. For a moment, let's set aside the fact that the War on Terrorism is essentially a war on a tactic, and instead focus on the AUMF as University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein sees it:This … [Read more...] about Will The AUMF Be Bush’s Saving Grace In Wiretap Scandal?

Yes, it's unfortunately sad and true... More here. … [Read more...] about New Orleans Destroyed By Category 3 Hurricane?

Miami University of Ohio has domestic partner benefits. Some people don't like that and want to take the benefits away using the Ohio Marriage Amendment. Of course, this will discourage top-level faculty from coming to Ohio. That, in turn, will discourage top-level students from coming to Ohio. Cincinnati Enquirer: Miami University has asked a Butler County court to throw … [Read more...] about Attacking Domestic Partner Benefits

If you've been following this story...the other shoe has just dropped:Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro (R) ended her campaign against New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday, bringing to a close a brief and decidedly rocky attempt to unseat perhaps the country's most famous Democratic officeholder. Even as she announced she would shutter her … [Read more...] about Pirro Abandons Race Against Sen. Hillary Clinton

President George Bush has this new LIST... … [Read more...] about Did You Know THIS?

Or, rather, the (non-Letterman) Top 10 Signs... … [Read more...] about Signs That It’s Christmas At The White House

If you thought 2005 was a nasty year with growing polarization, festering political rage on both sides, politicians going after politicans, parties going after parties and bloggers going after bloggers....well, then, you better brace yourself: Newsweek's Howard Fineman makes the case that the worst is yet to come:As best I can tell — and this really isn’t my beat — the … [Read more...] about Howard Fineman: 2006 Will Be The Nastiest Political Year Ever

I didn't either...but she does... … [Read more...] about Did You Know That David Letterman Uses A Secret Sinister Code?

Recently, I've defended the media against any inherent bias over at Donklephant. I think the media do the best job they can in real time. Yes...it's a difficult job bringing the world story after story, day in and day out. This hasn't always been my view, but it most certainly is currently. And now a Donklephant contributor, Callimachus, weighs in on what constitutes bias in … [Read more...] about How Do We Define Media Bias?

All the cute you ever could want, and more. I can feel my heterosexuality being sapped...[/sarcasm] … [Read more...] about Cute Overload

A Harvard Women's Studies Professor throws down the gauntlet to her leftist peers. … [Read more...] about “Must We Always Non-Intervene?”

An attempt to open Alaska's ANWR arctic refuge to oil drilling has been nixed by a narrow vote in the Senate — a vote underscored by anger over an attempt to lump in the proposal with a critical defense spending bill. Several things are clear from this 56 to 44 vote: The tactic, stemming from the drilling provision super-glued into the defense bill in the House, did not … [Read more...] about Arctic Drilling Blocked By Senate

John Schmidt, associate attorney general of the United States under President Clinton from 1994 to 1997, writes in the Chicago Tribune that President George W. Bush did have the authority to do the controversial warrantless wiretaps:President Bush's post- Sept. 11, 2001, authorization to the National Security Agency to carry out electronic surveillance into private phone calls … [Read more...] about Former Clinton Justice Official: Bush Did Have Authorization For Taps

An NPR report on OxyContin abuse by Upper-Class White Teenagers raises disturbing questions. Do they feel pressure to "act White"? How can we crack down on the rash of thefts and other petty crime that supports such habits? Should these children be taken into foster care, given their parents' obvious neglect? And most importantly, why is it that these questions are only asked … [Read more...] about White Upper-Class Drug Abuse

For those of you who just can't get enough of it, I've got a round-up of some of the best blogospheric commentary on the domestic spying controversy (a.k.a. Snoopgate) over at The Reaction. There's a lot of good, provocative reading out there. Enjoy. … [Read more...] about Spies R Us — the Snoopgate story

Canada election update: Does Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper not love Canada? And does he have a secret agenda? If so, what is it? These questions and more are asked (and answered) here by one of my extremely talented co-bloggers at The Reaction. … [Read more...] about How much do you love Canada? (Or do you not?)

Forgive me if I get a bit defensive on this one. What makes Tucker Carlson tick? (Please send me your answers. It's an open question.) Several months ago, I called the bow-tied buffoon "MSNBC's new weenie" -- see here. Hard to believe that I once liked him, that I once thought he was one of the more thoughtful, less partisan conservatives of the punditocracy. He may still … [Read more...] about Anti-Canadianism on the American right