It sounds like they are and that they will keep it bottled up. … [Read more...] about Is The White House Blocking The Pre-War Senate Intelligence Report?

Over the summer -- like Steve Clemons, Jeremy Dibbell, and many other bloggers out there -- I wrote a great deal about John Bolton's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N. (and his subsequent recess appointment when said nomination stalled in the Senate). I vehemently opposed Bolton's nomination (see here) and I objected to his recess appointment (see here). (For … [Read more...] about Burma and Bolton

Her comments calling John Murtha a coward (then it turning out that the person who she said told her to deliver that message on the House floor basically repudiated her version) did not go over well even in the GOP. Robert Novak:Newly elected Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio, excoriated by Democrats for intimating that Rep. John Murtha is a coward, faces a possible Republican primary … [Read more...] about Political Storm Clouds Over Jean Schmidt

Skippy (of Bush Kangaroo fame) has a good post on the necessity (or, rather, non-necessity) of Maureen Dowd. Like Skippy, I wonder why she's an op-ed columnist at arguably the most important newspaper in the world. I've previously written about her, unfavourably, here and here. (I've given her a chance time and time again, but, aside from a few moments of witty perspicacity, I … [Read more...] about No, Maureen Dowd is not necessary

Another attack in Iraq, "one of the deadliest in recent months". CNN reports here. The Left Coaster: "On the same day that the New York Times is reporting that the Pentagon admits they are fighting a decentralized nightmare now of nearly 100 insurgent groups in Iraq who are able to operate independently of each other and who weren’t there before we toppled Hussein, the … [Read more...] about Ten U.S. Marines killed in Iraq

Excellent Editorial Cartoon on current Israeli politics from the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. … [Read more...] about Excellent Editorial Cartoon…

A Fox News poll finds that President George Bush's "Victory Strategy" speech helped him gain some ground in his overall numbers — and suggests it brought back some wavering GOP and independent support:President George W. Bush's approval rating recovered a few points in the week's FOX News poll, though slightly more Americans still disapprove than approve of his job … [Read more...] about Speech Boosts Bush’s Poll Numbers

To me, it seems a no-brainer that proselytizing in publicly-funded military academies is completely inappropriate. I know that the Christians involved think that they're trying to "help" us but the targets of such evangelism find it more like an assault. Religion Spat In Air Force Becomes Issue In '06 Election By E.J. KESSLER in The Forward December 2, 2005 In a sign that … [Read more...] about Religion, Politics and the US Air Force Academy

The question really is more general: should overwhelmingly liberal colleges (like my own) implement affirmative action programs for conservatives? … [Read more...] about Should Carleton Have Affirmative Action For Conservatives?

NPR Talk of the Nation Science Friday Audio for this story Talk of the Nation, December 2, 2005 · Earlier this year, the president of Harvard was harshly criticized for suggesting that biology might explain why women lag behind men in fields such as science and math. What does science have to say about the differences in the male and female brain when it comes to cognitive … [Read more...] about Gender Differences and Cognitive Abilities

According to the BBC, the Murder Mavens have released a new video threatening to murder the four CPTers recently taken hostage in Iraq. The Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) may be deluded, naive and somewhat of a nuisance but they are good-hearted, well-intended and certainly not spies. … [Read more...] about BBC: Terrorists Seek Attention Again by Threatening to Murder Hostages

We might want to avoid donating money to THIS CHARITY until the situation is completely sorted out. … [Read more...] about Problems at a Non-Profit

Here is a POINTER to my post on this topic at Julien's List. … [Read more...] about Civil Religion, or the National Faith

Over the summer, Canada became the fourth country to legalize same-sex marriage -- a great milestone in Canadian history. Now South Africa has (almost) done the same: South Africa's highest court ruled on Thursday that gays and lesbians have a right to marry, and it gave the national parliament one year to change the words "husband" and "wife" to "spouse" in its marital … [Read more...] about South Africa approves same-sex marriage

From the BBC Website: The world today is dominated by science, but faith has not withered away. Robert Winston, respected scientist and committed Jew, examines the relationship between science and religion. … [Read more...] about Robert Winston: When science meets God

NEWS ALERT | 11:19 AM ET 10 U.S. Marines Are Killed by Bomb in Iraq Something about a home-made roadside bomb in or near Falluja. CNN: 10 Marines killed near Falluja … [Read more...] about NY Times News Alert: 10 More Marines Killed in Iraq

Courtesy of Ted Pease, WORDmeister & Professor of Interesting Stuff at Utah State University, Logan, Utah: News Flash: U.S. military, CIA plant positive stories about U.S. occupation in Iraqi press. "It may seem strange to suggest that the study of propaganda has relevance to contemporary politics. After all, when most people think about propaganda, they think of the … [Read more...] about TODAY’S WORD ON JOURNALISM–Friday, Dec. 2, 2005

It's only fringe or extremist groups that would be refused and run into trouble getting their message across on billboards, right? WRONG. … [Read more...] about In A Democracy You Can Run Billboard Ads, Right?

I always read this excellent publication covering the intersections between religion, politics and journalism. Here is the Table of Contents for the latest issue: RELIGION IN THE NEWS Fall 2005, Vol. 8, No. 2 The God Squadron: Evangelicals get their comeuppance at the Air Force Academy. By Anne C. Loveland From the Editor: Was New Orleans Asking For It? By Mark … [Read more...] about Religion in the News

Alas, we neglected to mention that yesterday was World AIDS Day. About 40 million people around the world are infected with HIV. Half of them live in Africa. For more information, a good resource is the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. … [Read more...] about World AIDS Day