From Kevin Sites on the scene: We ride our motorbikes — my 17 year-old translator Mohammed and me--as far as we can down a rutted, muddy path to the village of Darussalam. We see a fire a little way ahead and stop at a swampy opening of palm trees. Two brothers — in their early twenties are sifting through the remains of a house about twenty yards across the water … [Read more...] about Tracing The Path Of The Horrifying Tsunami

We continue to be amazed at the steady decline in basic humanity and the increase in brutality these days. The young woman to the left turned herself in...and we will only give you a tiny part of this story here (it's too sordid) but you can click on this link to read more: BOISE (AP) — A member of a punk clique surrendered Wednesday for scalping another member, … [Read more...] about Accused Of Scalping A Teenage Girl

Efforts at cloning humans may be formally launched real soon. And licensed, too: LONDON: The British scientist who created Dolly the sheep will embark on an attempt to clone human embryos after securing a licence to use the technique to find a cure for motor neurone disease. Ian Wilmut, of the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, has been awarded Britain's second licence to … [Read more...] about Oh, NO! Does This Mean TWO Alan Keyes?

We had a minor problem on the trackbacks which has now been fixed. If you send a trackback to us, you should see it appear (let us know if it doesn't). And if Powerblogs' cool automatic pinging of your site doesn't appear (The Moderate Voice is The Dense Voice because he was looking in the wrong spot when he posted), we will send you a trackback manually. … [Read more...] about Our Trackbacks Are Now Working

....continues on Dean's World where Dean Esmay, after reading tons of material, doing his own interviews, etc., now reaches a conclusion: I simply no longer believe HIV causes AIDS, and I have yet to hear what I consider an honest and decent person give me a rational reason to believe that it does. I lay it out there for anyone who wants to mock me: There is no AIDS virus. It … [Read more...] about The Debate Over HIV And AIDS….

...read Iraqi bloggers via the Carnival of the Liberated. … [Read more...] about To Find Out What’s Happening In Iraq…..

The era of Big Government Republicanism is here, the Washington Post reports, effectively scrapping the now-outmoded vision of Newt Gingrich and other Republicans for shrinking the size of government. And, the Post reports, there is some concern among Republicans over the new mega-federal direction in which their party is racing: President Bush's second-term agenda would … [Read more...] about New Government Republicanism Trumps Newt Gingrich Vision

So is California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger REALLY someone who is not under the thumb of either political party? We'll know very soon, according to the Los Angeles Times: SACRAMENTO — Worried about losing clout in Congress, influential Republicans in Washington are telling Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that he should drop his effort to redraw congressional voting … [Read more...] about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Moment Of Truth

Here's an amazing example of a birdbrain who isn't in politics. Maybe that's why he's so smart. We're not kidding: CLICK HERE. … [Read more...] about A Truly AMAZING PARROT

An inspiring, must-view photo of a float in Germany... … [Read more...] about Moon Exploration

The Mac Mini technolgy has exciting implications for biological computing, writes scientist Jack Grant of Random Fate. Read the whole thing. But here's a tiny taste of what Grant (who is a Guest Blogger on this site) writes about on what the new technology means: The pieces are falling into place for an infrastructure to build custom genes, similar to how we can already … [Read more...] about Will Mac Mini Technolgy Point The Way For Building Custom Genes?

...at some Drudge Report-format clones on both sides of the political aisle. All of them are well done and almost addicting. Wes Roth's conservative The Roth Report is going great-guns since he changed his format in December. And then there is the Drudge Retort, an excellent an stylistically near carbon copy of The-You-Know-Who Report, except it's not conservative and doesn't … [Read more...] about Take A Peek…

Is this a sign of the times? ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Applications for the Class of 2009 at the Naval Academy fell 20 percent from the year before, a drop mirrored at the nation's other military colleges. As of its Jan. 31 application deadline, the Annapolis academy had received 11,140 applications, down from 13,922 at the same time last year. The slump is the first in four years … [Read more...] about Naval Academy Applications Drop

What? They can't give face lifts to dogs? What will Cher do? No, wait...It's not that: The mayor of West Hollywood — a liberal, pet-embracing city adjacent to Los Angeles that two years ago brought America a ban on the declawing of cats — has proposed a new ordinance making "tail-docking" and "ear-cropping" illegal. The new law, which was scheduled for debate … [Read more...] about West Hollywood May Ban Cosmetic Surgery for Pets

Hopes are cautiously inching up — we can't say "flying high" — in the latest effort by Israelis and Palestians to short-circuit violence in the Middle East. Hopes have been raised — and dashed — before, but some analysts say this time it could be different. The Christian Science Monitor notes: But recent history has shown that going beyond summitry to … [Read more...] about Hopes Raised (Again) In The Middle East

The controversy over whether CNN Chief News Executive Eason Jordan said American forces have intentionally killed journalists will further tarnish CNN — and now seems to be staining the reputation of Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz. In the case of Jordan, the prevailing view seems to be that he put his foot in his mouth and either refused to back off or … [Read more...] about CNN Executive’s Fire Storm Tarnishes CNN And WaPo’s Howard Kurtz

Some people emailed asking about registration for our comments. Its' very easy. You don't even have to put down your email address. Try it, you'll like it. … [Read more...] about Using Our New Comments Is Easy

Maybe it's a sign of age, but every year it seems drivers look younger and younger, for instance: A 4-year-old boy drove his mother's car to a video store a quarter-mile from their apartment in Sand Lake, about 15 miles north of Grand Rapids. Unable to reach the accelerator, the boy managed to put the car in gear and make his way to the store about 1:30 a.m. Friday, Sand Lake … [Read more...] about We Know Some People Want To Lower The Driving Age But…

..compiled by Doctors Without Borders. … [Read more...] about The 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories…

A new word is being used in the case of Pope John Paul II and it's "retirement": VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said Monday Pope John Paul would remain in hospital for a few more days as his top aide spoke openly about the possibility of the frail Pontiff eventually retiring for the good of the Church. In its latest health bulletin the Vatican said that although the … [Read more...] about Will The Pope Retire?