A female veejay on a hugely popular music channel in Kabul was found shot to death, two months after her show was cancelled on the eve of its national launch. Mullahs had been highly critical of the station, Tolo TV, "for broadcasting music, naked dance and foreign films, which are against Islam and other national values of Afghanistan," but were most opposed to Shaima … [Read more...] about Death of an Afghani pop culture icon

What happens when you provide a topnotch action movie with a story people want to follow and state-of-art special effects? You have the Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Click here for the latest on the records its shattering...and a link that shows you what they cut out from the original script. … [Read more...] about Revenge Of The Storytellers

Hamas, after a meeting with the Palestinian Authority, has decided to stop firing mortars and rockets into Israel, something it had been doing since Wednesday. There's speculation that the violence was nothing more than a Hamas attempt to show exactly how powerless Abbas is in controlling the peace process and the overall security situation, and in that regard it was completely … [Read more...] about Hamas Agrees to Cease Renewed Violence

...at Balloon Juice. Balloon Juice is the blog of one John Cole, a well-known conservative blogger...with an important distinction: he is one of the most independent-thinking bloggers on the Internet. On several key issues he has broken with his own party and taken a lot of heat from (and lost) readers. He analyzes each issue, then filters it through a series of values that … [Read more...] about Take A Peek…..

Expressing shock and expressing indignation, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has called for custody of all Afghan prisoners and more control over U.S. miltiary operations in his country. In future weeks it should become more clear whether this is due to his own concern over the reports, a clamor within his own military establishment and security forces for more control, or … [Read more...] about Karzai Wants More Control Over Prisoners After Abuse Report

If you think the Bush administration's word games on "personal accounts" for Social Security is deceptive, check yourself for consistency with biotech's switcheroo on exactly what happens in cloning:They used to acknowledge the basic biological truth that cloning creates embryos. But now, to win a political debate, they claim cloning doesn't create embryos or any form of life … [Read more...] about Political correctness seeps into biotechnology

This film short is easily one of the best online marketing productions I've seen, and I agree with Josh Chafetz that "I don't even particularly like the cause." Few people would have the temerity to question this parody's claims about its competition, but I will note an artistic flaw: its blatant ripoff of a character from Spaceballs, one of the greatest parody films ever. … [Read more...] about “May the Farm be with you”

cross posted on my blog Basie! It will take government internvention to solve America's energy problems in earnest, but for now, it seems the market is finally beginning to correct itself. The New York Times' Danny Hakim has the story. But gas prices are a more unconquerable force of nature. With higher prices at the pump sinking in as something more than a blip on the radar, … [Read more...] about A Real Market-Based Solution to Our Energy Crunch

If a new poll is to be believed in Washington State, my former home, 1) Voters think the official governor isn't the legitimate one 2) They don't want a revote 3) They'd choose the challenger next time 4) They'd choose the challenger for Senate 5) No one likes either party. Sounds about par for the course in the Evergreen State, as I explain. … [Read more...] about Voters in Washington State: Call us in 3 years

This is the right idea:America's first lady said women already have achieved extraordinary gains in the Middle East and that change must come to any nation that wants to be considered truly free. "Women who have not yet won these rights are watching," she said at the World Economic Forum conference on the Middle East. "They are calling on the conscience of their countrymen, … [Read more...] about Sending the Right Message

The Weekly Standard's Jonathan Last gives a fond farewell to retiring Indiana Pacers veteran Reggie Miller, "certainly the best clutch shooter in the modern game (post-1980) not named Bird or Jordan." Miller is a rarity these days in the faltering NBA: a truly great player who stayed with the same team over nearly two decades and never got a ring. Last also says:He is the … [Read more...] about Farewell to a trash-talker

...and some landmarks in a life highlight how much things can change. … [Read more...] about Not everything is politics…

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay faces a double-whammy: running for re-election in what could be one of his toughest races yet and defending himself legally against ethics charges — and there is indeed a prospect DeLay's dilemmas could help the Democrats. But the Democrats better not take anything for granted. That's part of the conclusion reached by Larry Sabato, … [Read more...] about Larry Sabato: Can Democrats “Hammer” The GOP Majority?

Today TMV leaves scenic Gold Beach, Oregon for Eugene, Oregon...and hops on a plane to begin a two-connection flight back to his hometown of San Diego, CA. This means today's posts will be largely by TMV's co-bloggers. We've eliminated the phrase "Guest Bloggers" because each of the contributors to this site is on the same wavelength regarding the kinds of posts we do here … [Read more...] about TMV Wings His Way Home Today

Muqtada al-Sadr continues to be influential from well outside the Iraqi political structure. After American troops imprisoned 13 of his associates in a recent raid, Sadr called for massive demonstrations against the American occupation and his supporters have responded:The protests, which drew an estimated total of 6,000 demonstrators in the three cities, followed radical … [Read more...] about Looking the Other Way in Iraq

cross posted on my blog Basie! Extremist conservatives like to make somes issues black and white, no more so than those pertaining to "life." Stem cell research is a prime example, where further discoveries could lead to therapies and drugs that could save millions of lives, but the right still opposes funding because embryos in petri dishes — that would otherwise be … [Read more...] about The Orthodox Union Steps into the Stem Cell Debate

The American style of winning their hearts and minds and extracting information has not generally been perceived as being done by virtual sadism — but if a report in the New York Times is correct that seems to have been the modus operendi in some quarters. In a truly horrifying account that should do more than just raise eyebrows both in the U.S. and elswhere in the … [Read more...] about Did U.S. Forces Brutalize Afghan Prisoners Until At Least Two Died?

So now we have the answer to the world's most infrequently asked question about former Iraqi dictator Sadaam Hussein: briefs. We always knew the British tabloid The Sun was panting to get scoops, but Britain's biggest selling newspaper's front page photo of Sadaam in his underpants takes it to a new level (Martha Stewart: be grateful you didn't live in England):Washington … [Read more...] about Tabloid Runs Photos Of Sadaam In His Underwear

In case you haven't noticed, a quiet revolution of sorts has occured in Los Angeles, which has just elected its first Latino mayor with Mexican-American roots since 1872. Is it one of those one-shot deals that pundits generalize into a trend — or a watershed event, the beginning of a REAL trend? Over the years there has been a lot of lip service paid to the looming … [Read more...] about LA’s New Latino Mayor: A Harbinger Of Southwestern Politics?

Are there limits to implementing the goal of regime change — particularly if the goal is pressed too quickly? That's the view of LeFigaro. In an article translated from the original French by the must-read news aggregator Watching America, the newspaper takes a look at some of the challenges and, in effect, warns that the devil in the policy of regime change is in the … [Read more...] about Has America Hit The Limits Of Regime Change?