One of the most notable aspects of President George W. Bush's latest speech on the war in Iraq was how in several ways it seemed to be throwing out the old playbook:It was from the Oval Office. For some weird reason this President and his staff have underused that setting for his speeches. The Oval Office as a setting tends to envelop its occupant as he speaks (even Richard … [Read more...] about Bush’s War Speech: Throwing Out The Old Playbook?

You could get a government visitor. … [Read more...] about Be Careful What Books You Check Out

What do you do when your highly controversial proposal to drill for oil in the for-centuries-pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge runs into political trouble? What if Democrats, environmentalists and moderates in your own party have grouped together to keep the measure from going through? What is a friend of the oil industry to DO? Here's an idea: attach it to a DEFENSE … [Read more...] about GOP Attaches Arctic Drilling To Defense Spending Bill

The Wizbang 2005 Weblog Awards results have been announced. And while TMV didn't win for Best Group Blog we were genuinely thrilled at being nominated (because anyone who knows TMV personally knows how this blog is literally done on the run all the time). We were pleased to find out that TMV was named Best Moderate Blog in the 2005 LOSLI Blog Awards. (How did they take that … [Read more...] about Blog Awards And More Blog Awards

You can find it here. I gave it a "B". Not bad by any stretch, but it still remained mired in what I believe are the major flaws in Bush's Iraq perspective: a refusal to address criticisms on their merits (as opposed to caricatures), and an inability to transcend partisan concerns in building and maintaining support for his programs. … [Read more...] about My Reaction To Bush’s Speech

If you don't laugh or smile at the following video clip, you might be suffering from depression. Or maybe you're just one of those "cat" people... … [Read more...] about Quick Test

A reminder that this site's normal posting flow has been a bit erratic over the past few weeks due to some logistical problems and other matters connected with many of the bloggers. It should be getting back to normal as of tomorrow. So keep checking back.... … [Read more...] about Thanks For Your Patience

Got a breaking news email from the BBC: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is taken to hospital after suffering a minor stroke, Israeli media report. Haaretz: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was rushed to hospital in Jerusalem on Sunday evening after suffering a minor stroke, the Israeli media reported. According to Channel 2 television, 77-year-old Sharon was taken to … [Read more...] about I hope that he watches out at the hospital!

It's called "Disease Mongering." … [Read more...] about A Medical Issue To Consider

The Advocate: Annie Proulx tells the story behind "Brokeback Mountain" New York Times: Masculinity and Its Discontents in Marlboro Country Cross-posted at Julien's List. … [Read more...] about More on Brokeback Mountain

Someone emailed this to me, apparently it's by Molly Ivins: FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2005, AND THEREAFTER From the Texas Observer AUSTIN, Texas — The Lord Impersonator is back again. This fella reappears every couple of years and causes no end of trouble. The jokester goes around persuading feeble-minded persons he is the Lord Almighty and that they are to … [Read more...] about The Lord Impersonator is back again

Oh yes, it's true. And yet, China continues to rack up the brownie points with the world community given their "blistering" economy... When will they let their people go? More here...HONG KONG, Dec. 16 — At first glance, it looked like a spirited online discussion about an essay written nearly 80 years ago by modern China's greatest author. But then again, the exchange … [Read more...] about Chinese Continue To Evade Censorship

Looks like good money wasted...WASHINGTON — U.S. military officials in Iraq were fully aware that a Pentagon contractor regularly paid Iraqi newspapers to publish positive stories about the war, and made it clear that none of the stories should be traced to the United States, according to several current and former employees of Lincoln Group, the Washington-based … [Read more...] about More On Planted US Stories

The true inventor of the internet started a blog at the beginning of the month. Here's his latest post.In 1989 one of the main objectives of the WWW was to be a space for sharing information. It seemed evident that it should be a space in which anyone could be creative, to which anyone could contribute. The first browser was actually a browser/editor, which allowed one to edit … [Read more...] about Tim Berners-Lee Has A Blog!

Yet ANOTHER new question is being raised about Senate Majority Bill Frist: were consultants paid out of funds from his AIDS charity? According to the AP, the answer is yes: Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's AIDS charity paid nearly a half-million dollars in consulting fees to members of his political inner circle, according to tax returns providing the first financial … [Read more...] about Frist’s AIDS Charity Funds Were Used To Pay Consultants

I always like discovering great quotes or arguments from old blog posts that I missed when they first came out. Just due to the nature of the blogosphere, even the best posts tend to sink into the morass, such that if you don't see it within the first few days of their posting, you're never going to see it at all. Hence, finding a gem in an older post (usually when another … [Read more...] about Oh Snap!

Via Haaretz & Reuters: LONDON - Britain ran a secret prison in Germany for two years after the end of World War Two where inmates including Nazi party members were tortured and starved to death, the Guardian said on Saturday. Citing Foreign Office files which were opened after a request under the Freedom of Information act, the newspaper said Britain had held men and … [Read more...] about Guardian (UK): Report: Britain ran secret prison in Germany after end of WWII

This just in: Running Scared ain't. We've been dropped by some blogs on their blogrolls because they got mad at what we wrote. In our case, we have a monster blogroll — which we use extensively for our posts and on the road. If we're dropped, unless its an essential site, we simply follow suit. We then add a new link for that category on our blogroll. There are many … [Read more...] about Ideology Over Reason: Dropping A Blog From A Blogroll (UPDATED)

...the amount of snow matters... (This one was a testicle testimony to creativity) … [Read more...] about Snow Sculpture Can Be FUN And

In the United States we (and this unfortunately includes this weblog) get so bogged down in events facing and involving our nation that we forget a tiny fact: there are other important foreign policy stories or items that get scant coverage or are buried in the back of the news section or used as "evergreen" padding for the Sunday papers. On television, these stories often get … [Read more...] about Those Ignored Foreign Stories