The Debate Link welcomes the new blog Black Prof to the blogosphere with a spotlight post. The focus is on an article by BP contributor and GW Law Professor Paul Butler: Much Respect: Toward a Hip-Hop Theory of Punishment, 56 STAN. L. REV. 983 (2004). It's actually a great article--unfortunately, it's not available online. But it is a serious and readable piece that raises … [Read more...] about Much Respect

Hurricane Rita is racing towards southeast Texas in all her fury — and is now a Category 5 storm, CNN reports:Residents in southeast Texas and coastal Louisiana scurried to get out of the way of Hurricane Rita, a Category 5 hurricane expected to hit the Lone Star State this weekend. The National Hurricane Center said at 4 p.m. that the storm has intensified and now packs … [Read more...] about Hurricane Rita Hits Category 5

Galveston, Texas, watch out: newly grown Category 4 Hurricane Rita is headed your way: — setting the stage for the Gulf Coast possibly recieving a double-whammy dose of disaster...or TRIPLE WHAMMY if it morphs into a Category 5:GALVESTON, Texas - Hospital and nursing home patients were evacuated and as many as 1 million other people were ordered to clear out along the … [Read more...] about Category 4 Hurricane Rita Storms Towards Gulf Coast

With the federal deficit already north of $300 billion and the price of Katrina estimated at close to $200 billion dollars, Republicans in Congress are beginning to think of some ways to offset the new spending. As The Hill's Jonathan Allen reports, the Budget Committee Chairman in the Senate is thinking about a very novel idea (at least for someone in his party) — a tax … [Read more...] about GOP Debates Adding Hundreds of Billions to Deficit

Warning to the press: it is definitely your job to ask tough questions and to never be intimidated by efforts to evade you or discredit you when you do. BUT — if you get stuck in pack journalism mode where it begins you're almost playing a role filled by Central Casting in Hollywood — acting the way what you think a journalist must act — you could become … [Read more...] about “Stuck On Stupid”: A New Immortal Catch Phrase

It's strictly a coincidence, of course, as the AP story shows::WASHINGTON - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in his family's hospital corporation about two weeks before it issued a disappointing earnings report and the price fell nearly 15 percent. Frist held an undisclosed amount of stock in Hospital Corporation … [Read more...] about Frist Gets Lucky Selling His Hospital Shares

San Diego's year-and-a-half-old new ballpark for the San Diego Padres is a West Coast version of Chicago's Wrigley Field. Photo by teen photographer Greg Powell. … [Read more...] about The Pride Of San Diego

The Daou Report's Peter Daou has a very special piece here exploring the power (or lack of it) of weblogs. It's something that will be of interest to anyone intested in politics, of any party (or no party) and to bloggers of all persuasions in particular. We'd ruin it by taking tidbits out of context so we'll offer you a chunk from a couple of sections — and you should … [Read more...] about THE TRIANGLE: Limits of Blog Power

Some gentle poetry from one of our favorite poets, the inimitable Michael Silverstein, aka Wall Street Poet (visit his great site and check his poetry out): By Michael Silverstein What does 'fiscal conservative' mean anymore When constraints on big spending we simply ignore Whether meds for the old or some dumb foreign war Or tax breaks for the rich, sops for hurricane's … [Read more...] about GUEST POET: A Fiscal Conservative’s Lament

NOTE: From time to time TMV runs a Guest Voice column by a reader or the author of another weblog. The following Guest Voice post is by Dean Reese who has a great site, Todays Democracy (we've added this excellent site under Center Voices on our blogroll). By Dean Reese The overturning of Roe vs. Wade would be a controversial turn in America's short history. While few would … [Read more...] about GUEST VOICE: What Overturning Roe vs. Wade Would Do To American Politics

We thought the New York Times' idea to charge internet readers to read their top columnists was an unwise idea and could boomerang — but it now seems even worse when you view it in this turbulent context. (The "top emailed stories"? That list CAN'T be accurate. It doesn't include any posts from our site!) UPDATE: On the other hand, Gary Farber at the end of this post … [Read more...] about Troubled Days At The New York Times

It's John McCain versus Bill Frist once again:Angry over what he considers a breach of Senate courtesy by GOP leaders, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has teamed with Democrats and centrist Republicans to force the leaders to back down on an effort to undermine fundraising limits he helped make law in 2002. With assurance from Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that he would have … [Read more...] about It’s McCain Versus Frist

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has announced that he's going to vote against John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court — and the question now becomes whether this will set the pattern for other Democrats. And, if so, will this prove to be a line-in-the-sand that's a wise move — or one that'll come back to haunt the Democrats? Is it a smart … [Read more...] about Senator Harry Reid Will Vote Against John Roberts

Then head over to check out The Carnival of the Liberated. … [Read more...] about Do You Want To Read Some Good Iraqi And Afghani Blogs?

There's a big crock of anger in LA over the search for someone named Reggie:Gator wranglers from Florida have abruptly quit their search for the city's elusive 7-foot alligator, livid that they were publicly ridiculed by a brash Hurricane Katrina evacuee that a councilwoman brought in to help nab the reptile. Thomas "T-Bone" Quinn described as "retarded" the tactics employed … [Read more...] about Big Scale Anger In LA Is A Crock

One of our all-time favorite centrist bloggers Bull Moose makes a convincing case for John Roberts' confirmation as Supreme Court Chief Justice. Looking at his analysis in detail:Senator Moose would vote to confirm Roberts.* The Moose knew of Judges Bork, Thomas and Scalia, although he was not their friend. And John Roberts is no Bork, Thomas or Scalia. Roberts has shown that … [Read more...] about A Centrist’s Case For John Roberts

They're back! In case you missed it, John Kerry and John Edwards, the two components of last year's Democratic presidential ticket, have gone on the offensive, with Bush as the target: President Bush came under withering criticism for his handling of Hurricane Katrina yesterday, with Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) charging that the storm exposed the administration's incompetence … [Read more...] about Kerry-Edwards ’05

With all the problems in the world, is this really necessary? The FBI is joining the Bush administration's War on Porn. And it's looking for a few good agents. Early last month, the bureau's Washington Field Office began recruiting for a new anti-obscenity squad. Attached to the job posting was a July 29 Electronic Communication from FBI headquarters to all 56 field offices, … [Read more...] about Bush’s War on Porn

Here's yet another score for the "Yes" side. Seems America's biggest retailer denied lunch breaks to some of its workers. Nice. … [Read more...] about Is Wal-Mart evil?

In light of the recent sentencing of former Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski for looting the company (8 1/3 to 25 years), I have some thoughts over at The Reaction. Suffice it to say here that this may finally bring some closure to an ugly story. Next up: Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling. And it's about time. … [Read more...] about Confessions of a Tyco shareholder