Warning: Bingo can be deadly. Like "under G" for "gone..." As if the headlines weren't increasingly shocking enough — with stories about deaths due to road rage, schools where bullet-proof vests should become part of teachers' uniforms, and sports events where parents and kids wind up being jailed for murder — now we find out that there is a new danger as you … [Read more...] about VFW Leader Murdered Over Bingo Money

Pennyslvania Senator Rick Santorum has suddenly developed a political change of heart whether GOPers should exercise the so-called "nuclear option" and whack judicial filibusters on judicial issues. Perhaps the Senator's facing a tough re-election race in his homestate has something to do with it. Or perhaps he simply doesn't like the political Kool Aid that his charismatic … [Read more...] about Prominent GOP Senator Yells “WHOA!” On The ‘Nuclear Option”

We've heard it off and on over the years but now it's getting more conclusive: talk that eating too many processed meats can give you pancreatic cancer may not be just a lot of baloney. Here's the latest evidence via Elites TV: A new study indicates that eating too many hot dogs, sausages, lunch meats, and other processed types of meats may put a person at risk of pancreatic … [Read more...] about Processed Meat Pancreatic Cancer Risk May Not Be Baloney

When journalists and journalism buffs talk about the so-called blogging revolution they usually had a bit more in mind than what happens on most weblog websites (including this one). Blogging, it was suggested, would be a new form of citizens journalism. But, in more cases than not, as fascinating and exhilarating as blogging is (and it is), it is more like citizens' op-ed … [Read more...] about Blogging: Using Its Journalistic Potential?

A big international drama is unfolding in South America where Equador' s Ecuador's President Lucio Gutierrez was booted out by Congress there — and offered asylumn in Brazil. The catalyst for Ecuador's third presidential overthrow in eight years was growing, angry street protests. The Houston Chronicle reports this: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - Amid swelling street protests, … [Read more...] about Drama In Equador And Brazil As Guiterrez Falls

As the news headlines continue to screech about hardened positions on the left, right, or compromises extracted as easily as an ancient embedded wisdom tooth, there is one segment out there that doesn't get much attention: The political middle. It does exist. Really, it does. And columnist Kathleen Parker finally wrote what some have been grumbling about: as the most active … [Read more...] about Political Moderates: Clueless Or Crucial?

In Rome, people flocked to a square to see a new Pope. In Chicago, people are flocking to an underpass where they insist a miracle is taking place: A steady stream of the faithful and the curious, many carrying flowers and candles, have flocked to an expressway underpass for a view of a yellow and white stain on a concrete wall that some believe is an image of the Virgin … [Read more...] about The Virgin Mary’s Image In A Chicago Underpass?

As Joe noted below, Dana Milbank has an good piece on Karl Rove's speech on media shortcomings at a Maryland college. But just as interesting as Rove's thoughts is Milbank's less restrained style of writing here, considering he's supposed to be a straight-news reporter. His column is a good example of what I call cop-out journalism - not necessarily dumb, but pretending to be … [Read more...] about Dana Milbank, objective reporting and euphemisms

....but did you know it was first recorded in 1932? … [Read more...] about Britney Spears Made It Famous….

Subject2Discussion, an Internet-cast talk show that features bloggers talking about the news, is going to have a good one tonight: Bill from Peoria Pundit and also Danny Schechter from News Dissector -- who is coming back from the Middle East. The show "airs" via the Internet at 6 PM PST and is centered in Las Vegas. TMV has been on it and so have a host of other bloggers -- … [Read more...] about Hear Two Bloggers Live

There are some things we already could assume about the UK's teenagers. We assume they don't use their limited computer time visiting such sites as The Economist, this website or even improving their minds at the most educational site in the world, The Moderate Voice. But a new 8-year-old study finds England's teens aren't visiting another kind of site: porn sites. In fact … [Read more...] about UK Teens Reject Internet Porn For School Info

According to the BBC, a bunch of elephants raged through Seoul — but, no, it wasn't Tom DeLay and friends on yet another junket: South Korea's busy capital Seoul faced an added complication on Wednesday when six elephants escaped from an amusement park, causing chaos. The elephants broke into a restaurant in the east of the city, and tore through the garden of a … [Read more...] about Raging Elephants In Seoul

Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords will retire next year — so now the question becomes whether Democrats or Republicans can snatch his seat. Is he retiring because he feel he can't win? Or because of GOP ire due to the crisis he sparked four years ago when he dumped the GOP? Not really. It certainly sounds like it's for medical reasons: Jeffords will make the announcement … [Read more...] about Vermont’s Independent Senator Jeffords Won’t Run For Re-Election

Student/blogger Charles Roop got a call from his friend and co-blogger recently and was told to stop by work. There had been a shooting at the convenience store. And then he learned the terrible news: his boss, Robert Smith, had been shot...and was dead. Read his post in full here and you'll be haunted by it and struck again by the suddenness with which death can strike at or … [Read more...] about A Student Journalist/Blogger Copes With Sudden Death

Former ABC News reporter/anchor Sam Donaldson has flipped his wig over network news: Former ABC News reporter/anchor Sam Donaldson is ready to say the last rites for network news because it will soon lose its dominant position as Americans' primary source of news. "I think it's dead. Sorry," he said during a breakfast panel Tuesday at the National Association of Broadcasters' … [Read more...] about Sam Donaldson: R.I.P. TV Network News

They almost had to call the doctor, because I was eating carne asada here in San Diego and choked when I read THIS: The media have started applying the horse race style of campaign coverage to daily reporting on government, leading to adversarial reporting that can obscure the truth just to create conflict, President Bush's chief political strategist said Monday. Speaking … [Read more...] about Karl Rove: Press Coverage Is Shrill And Too Much Like A Horserace

There are still issues that are unrelated to the actions of men dressed in red who chose the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church. One of those issues is the state of partisanship within the government of the sole world superpower, the United States. In the not-so-distant past, members of the United States Congress would see beyond their differences to a larger … [Read more...] about Politics should not be a Death Match

When German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI there were two reactions in the square and around the world: great relief on the part of some — and great disappointment on the part of others. The reason: the new Pope Benedict XVI, in his earlier incarnation, was known as the Vatican's prime guardian of doctrinal orthodox, an efficient and unabashedly … [Read more...] about Mixed Reaction To Joseph Ratzinger As Pope Benedict XVI

With some good planning, Morning Edition on NPR today had a story on the future of dissent within the Roman Catholic Church, discussing how what they termed "one possible successor" Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now chosen as Pope with the self-selected name Benedict XVI might address this issue. From the summary page to the audio link, the man newly named Pope "seems to have … [Read more...] about The possible future of dissent under Pope Benedict XVI

In the end, the frontrunner, and a man closely tied to the late Pope John Paul II, became the new Pope: Germany's Cardinal Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 78, the Vatican's guardian of doctrinal orthodox — a man who called himself a "simple humble worker." Over the past few days speculation centered on whether the new Pope would be someone from Italy, Asia, Africa — … [Read more...] about Frontrunner Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger Is Pope Benedict XVI