...but it can also be very interesting. … [Read more...] about Some People Think Archeology Is Boring….

QUESTION: Isn't it time for President George Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney to crack down on or completely repudiate the unprecedented verbal extremism that is making the GOP seem like a party teetering on openly calling for violence against judges whose decisions some partisans don't like? Answer: It most certainly is. And the latest evidence of verbal excess that … [Read more...] about So THIS Is The Guy Who’d Know What To Do With Those Damned (GOP-Appointed) Activist Judges?

In the wake of the death of Pope John Paul II, not all is in harmony. The wounds from the sexual abuse scandals involving Roman Catholic priests in the United States, particularly in the Boston area, have still not healed. … [Read more...] about Even in the Catholic Church, all politics are local

...after this rather terse story on CNN.com: Ailing WWII veteran finally gets medals Saturday, April 9, 2005 Posted: 2041 GMT (0441 HKT) ROSEMEAD, California (AP) — A gravely ill World War II veteran who was wounded in the Normandy invasion has been honored with a Bronze Star and other medals more than six decades after he stormed the coast of France. "I'm … [Read more...] about Questions arise…

The New York Times has a baffling piece on a gay Republican political consultant marrying his partner in a civil ceremony in Massachusetts. By most standards of the newsworthy - time to pull out your first-year journalism notes - this story has no reason for being. The wedding was in December; he lives in Massachusetts, so it wasn't a trek; his sexuality has been known for … [Read more...] about Newsworthy angle too shy to come out of the closet

Just a small affair today in Windsor: Charles and Camilla have had their wedding blessed in a ceremony at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. About 800 of the couple's family and friends attended including the Queen and Prince Philip. Earlier, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, as she is now known, were married in a private civil ceremony at the Guildhall in … [Read more...] about In other news

Prescription painkillers seem to be falling by the wayside in the FDA's wake, but how do regular users feel about their most effective drugs getting pulled? … [Read more...] about Balancing risk and discomfort

There are aspects of the recent "Schiavo talking points" imbroglio that make a strange mirror to the Dan Rather/forged National Guard memo affair. … [Read more...] about A not-so-distant mirror?

...it might be wise to take some time and consider the effects of rhetoric, appearances, and unintended outcomes. … [Read more...] about In this age of fast communication…

Now we KNOW Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is a fast-study in Washington power techniques and is aiming for The Big Time (White House) with the news that his administration has hired a local newspaper columnist to shill his policies: Governor Mitt Romney's administration has awarded a $10,000 contract to a Boston Herald op-ed columnist to promote the governor's … [Read more...] about More Ethical Political/Journalistic Stew: Another Columnist On Gov’t Payroll

Bad news for President George Bush and Congress: a new poll shows many Americans think you are effectiveness challenged. Don't quit your day jobs. Oh, wait: those are your day jobs...The poll numbers: President Bush's standing with the public is slumping just three months into his final term, but Americans have an even lower regard for the job being done by Congress. Bush's … [Read more...] about The Poll Numbers Continue Going Down

The T & A agency....we mean the TSA Agency...is going to be stripped of its powers and dismantled, according to reports. The agency that has come under fire for various high profile bungles, allegations of stealing, messes over a no-fly list and humiliating pat downs of women (including grandmas) will apparently be no more: The Transportation Security Administration, once … [Read more...] about DARN! Now There Won’t Be Any Place That Hires People Who Like To Pat Down Women

I can think of alternate uses for this personal technology. Fortunately I'm not an early adopter. … [Read more...] about Shake, rattle & therapy

TMV is here at Stanford University getting ready for the panel discussion tomorrow (see our post below). We'll be doing a report on it most likely late tomorrow afternoon or evening. Regular posts WILL appear on this site all this weekend. (This photo and other great photos of Stanford can be found here.) … [Read more...] about Blogging From Stanford University

Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom group on my blogroll, just released nominations for freedom blog awards. Jeff Jarvis has two bones to pick with them: only one Iraqi blog, Riverbend, which doesn't do reporting and is very anti-American:Now if they want to nominate her, that's fine; I get it. But then for Reporters Without Borders to not nominate the many bloggers who … [Read more...] about Reporters take a backseat on reporting

Like an avenging angel of the Internet, a judge has ruled that a spammer must spend 9 years in the slammer for cramming countless email boxes with millions of junk messages: However, Loudoun County Circuit Judge Thomas Horne delayed the start of Jeremy Jaynes' prison term while the case is appealed, saying the law is new and raises constitutional questions. A jury had … [Read more...] about Spammer Gets 9 Years In Slammer

...we can turn to CNet News, where in an article on weblogs the following is offered: The growth rate of blogs is impressive. Technorati, a search engine that monitors blogs, tracked more than 8 million online diaries as of March 21, up from 100,000 just two years ago. A new blog is created every 7.4 seconds. That adds up to 12,000 new blogs a day, 275,000 posts a day and … [Read more...] about For a bit of navel gazing…

Is the Tim Allen grunting oaf popular again with women? (And am I the lamest 25-year-old for using Tim Allen as a cultural reference?) A new poll - fittingly commissioned by Dodge Trucks - gives mixed and somewhat ambiguous results:•75 percent of women said their ideal man buys his grooming products at a grocery store or drugstore, not a salon. •72 percent of women … [Read more...] about Dudes preferable to pansies

...and the scenes in the courtroom more and more dramatic. And a pattern seems to emerging. More very bad news for Michael Jackson. UPDATE: 5:30 pm PST and the GREAT new tabloid site SPLOID offers this story about testimony touching on (literally) former child actor Macaulay Culkin. (Remember: Michael Jackson contends this is happening because he's black...) … [Read more...] about The Evidence Gets More And More Graphic…..

...abortion, that is. My college newspaper colleague Steve Barnett, now a law student in Oregon, describes his Con Law session on abortion law:We went silent because we knew blood was going to be shed. We knew after that day some of us would no longer would be friends. We knew passions would boil high, and our voices would be the piercing whistles telling others that we had … [Read more...] about A surprisingly respectful discussion on a polarizing issue…