Due to an emergency here, our posts will start later today than usual -- and this situation may remain in effect for the rest of this week. This merely means that most of our posts will be on the site starting around 6 a.m. San Diego Time -- which is 9 a.m. on the East Coast. Usually we have some on by 12 midnight East Coast/Powerblogs time which is 9 p.m. out here. But due to … [Read more...] about Our Posts Will Start Later Today

File this one in the Amazing But True Story department: it turns out that sex offenders have been getting Viagra — paid for by the state --- in New York State over the past five years. Late night comedians will have a field day with this story (is this to keep them at the top of their form?) but it's a very serious subject. The AP:Scores of convicted rapists and other … [Read more...] about Sex Offenders Getting Viagra In New York State

I mean, we've all just dreamed of a musical comedy where a key part of the show is someone saying "You're fired." … [Read more...] about A Dream Musical Comedy?

Thousands of Iraqi Sunni leaders have gathered in an effort to form a true opposition to the fundamentalist Shi'ite regime and affect the formation of Iraq's new constitution. I take a look at the particulars — it seems some guarded optimism may be due. … [Read more...] about Iraqi Sunnis Take an Unprecedented Step Forward

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