Is it underrated? Is it hopelessly sabotaged by fears of "acting white?" How does family structure play in? I respond to some prominent conservative myths about the subject. … [Read more...] about What’s The Deal With Education in the Black Community?

"Hey! I know how: let's cut school kids' lunch programs! By the way, Tom, let's go for some of that great Senate Bean Soup in the Senate dining room today." "Yeah! Let's do lunch there before we sit down in committee and write up the bill to make that cut in that program that's an unneeded, excessive burden on taxpayers. By the way, the dining room's banana split makes a great … [Read more...] about “How Can We Pay For ANOTHER Tax Cut?””

With respect to the Alito nomination, but also with respect to all the issues that divide us both in the blogosphere and beyond, I have a few more thoughts at The Reaction on why we need a more civilized debate instead of the usual name-calling and vindictiveness that often characterizes our efforts. In my view, this great medium deserves no less. Nor do our readers. … [Read more...] about Towards a more civilized blogosphere

If there's too much baggage on an airplane and it's starting to go down, what do you do with the baggage? You have to toss one out. Even if it's a durable designer model called Karl Rove: Top White House aides are privately discussing the future of Karl Rove, with some expressing doubt that President Bush can move beyond the damaging CIA leak case as long as his closest … [Read more...] about Signs White House Chopping Block Being Readied For Karl Rove?

And we don't mean Bridgeport, Connecticut.... Check out Michael Totten's great photojournalism post from Cyprus. FOOTNOTE: TMV did a long news feature in 1975 from Cyprus for the now-defunct and legendary Chicago Daily News (he was en route to set up his new base in Madrid, Spain). … [Read more...] about Visiting A Dead City

Yesterday, I introduced my new Scalitovision 2005 series at The Reaction. Part 1 is here. And here — for your continued pleasure — is Part 2. Please feel free to add your comments. I'm always impressed with the readership here at TMV and I'd like to know what you all think. Highlights: Conservatives are happy again, reuniting behind the nomination; Some … [Read more...] about SCALITOVISION 2005 — Part 2

Is George Lucas a postmodern genius? … [Read more...] about A Star Wars moment

News came down yesterday that a major face was being shown the door as a national hub of power cleans house and works feverishly to show a new face to the public. No, we're not talking about White House political guru Karl Rove and his job working for President George W. Bush (yet). We're talking about CNN's Aaron Brown, one of television's more low-key and cerebral anchors, … [Read more...] about CNN’s Once-Rising Star Aaron Brown Dumped For New Rising Star Anderson Cooper

When a near-apoplectic Majority Leader Bill Frist denounced Minority Leader Harry Reid for not giving him notice that he intended to demand the Senate go into closed session, it turns out there was a bit of interesting history there — history that it took a newspaper to uncover. To hear Frist tell it, Reid's move was shocking and had violated a gentlemen's agreement. In … [Read more...] about Democratic Senate Shutdown Has Previous Frist/Daschle Roots

See the video here -- and as usual we're SURE that Carter's comments will elicit strong (differing) reactions from people on the right and on the left... … [Read more...] about Former President Jimmy Carter At Full Throttle

The nomination of Samuel Alito promises to cause many pajamas to be wrinkled as bloggers stay up until the wee hours of the morning, writing posts and more posts about it...particularly as the issues swirling around him become more heated. Bloggers on the left, right and center see blogs as potentially playing an influential role in the ongoing debate. Here's a fascinating, … [Read more...] about Some Bloggers Ponder The Blogosophere’s Role In The Alito Nomination

I've got a post over at The Debate Link exploring a variety of recent points, arguments, and issues about conservatives and the judiciary. Topics include Alito, Scalia, originalism, the 9th Circuit, and extremists. Check it out. … [Read more...] about Grab Bag

When you look at new CBS poll numbers you realize not only the depth of the plunge in President George Bush's support — Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court has not yet driven them up — but that he's in deep trouble if you compare him to his predecessors. Note to readers: in earlier versions the important paragraph below was invadvertently … [Read more...] about Very Bad Polling News For George Bush (UPDATED)

THIS JUST IN! The Top 10 Things Said During the Closed Senate Session On Tuesday. Click HERE for the exclusive report. … [Read more...] about What Really Was Said In Closed Senate Session

I'm attending a lecture tonight, so no major blogging. However, I have reprinted an article I wrote for one of our on-campus journals about race colorblindness. It's entitled "Race LASIK", and I invite all of you to check out and leave comments at The Debate Link. … [Read more...] about On the Run

John Cole's new liberal co-blogger has, in my opinion, the best take on Reid's invocation of Rule 21. … [Read more...] about Playground Squabbles

...in Cincinnati … [Read more...] about Cows Hit the Road….

This just in: Shaun O'Mac, host of a great Internet talk show:SUBJECT2DISCUSSION Wednesday November 2 at 7pm PT 9pm CT and 10 pm ET welcomes Colby Buzzell author of My War about his experiences as a soldier in Iraq. As well as Justin Gardner of the Donklephant centrist blog and Andrew Evans of the American Centrist Party. To listen to the program go to www.LVROCKS.com click … [Read more...] about A Great Internet Talk Show

From the Canada desk: Last night, "Gomery" was the #9 search item at Technorati. Who knew there would be so much blogospheric attention on corruption in Canada? So what's going on up here? What's this corruption story that's dominating our news? Here's all the latest from The Globe and Mail, our leading newspaper. In brief: Mr. Justice John Gomery, our version of a special … [Read more...] about Canada’s scandal: The Gomery Report unveils corruption

Some of you may remember my "Miers Withdrawal Watch" series at The Reaction. If not, the name more or less speaks for itself. It was a five-part series looking at reactions to the Miers nomination from around the blogosphere and, to a lesser extent, the MSM. Part 5, with links to the previous 4, is here. In the end, as you all know, Miers withdrew, meaning that my watch was … [Read more...] about SCALITOVISION 2005 — Part 1