Obama, Take 2

As a follow-up to my last post, there was one small section of Sen. Barack Obama's speech earlier this week that I appreciated. It was this:"I may be opposed to abortion for religious reasons, but if I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I cannot simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God's will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all.Now this is going to be difficult for some who believe in the inerrancy of the...

It's Nonsense (Even When Obama Says It)

Sen. Barack Obama's recent speech at a conference of faith-based activists is causing a bit of a stir. I was a bit perturbed earlier this week when I read the opening paragraph from the AP story:Sen. Barack Obama chastised fellow Democrats on Wednesday for failing to "acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people," and said the party must compete for the support of evangelicals and other churchgoing Americans.Obama's remarks included this soundbite:"Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the...

As the World Cup Continues (Without Us)

Joel Pett, Lexington Herald-Leader...

This Is My City Government

From the Washington Post -- read it and weep:D.C. Council member Vincent B. Orange Sr. tried to hold a public meeting yesterday on a bill that would ban government bodies from holding private meetings. But he couldn't, because his colleagues were elsewhere -- holding a private meeting about the measure.... (Orange) waited and waited in Room 123 at the John A. Wilson Building. Of the five committee members, only Orange...

Fokke and Sukke Explain Everything

A late bulletin clarifies the collapse of the Dutch cabinet:Title: Fokke & Sukke have yet another loophole.Fokke: Ho, ho!Sukke: According to Somali law, the cabinet has absolutely not collapse...

Nutjob

As Eugene reported, the Ugandan government is going to talk to Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army and "public enemy no. 1" at the International Criminal Court.Turns out Kony isn't just a war criminal; he's also a lunat...

You Know You're in Trouble When...

...things at home are so bad that you flee into Darfur to esca...

I Haven't the Foggiest

It's 2 a.m. here. I got in at around midnight from an interesting evening out, turned on the TV, and discovered that the government had collapsed.Two hours later, this is what I think happened. Considering how little sense it makes, I'm hoping a kind Dutchman will explain what's really going on.The Hirsi Ali drama is what brought down the government. As you may recall from my earlier posts, Minister for Integration (i.e., for kicking out asylum-seekers) Rita Verdonk suddenly "discovered" something that had been known for a...

Spinmeisters and Demagogues, Start Your Engines

I'm going to read the Supreme Court's decision in the Hamdan case over the coming days. Reading through the syllabus, however, I can already see that it's got lots of very difficult and esoteric legal issues, which means it's ripe for being misrepresented and misunderstood. I expect the president's apologists to be out there saying that the Supreme Court has ceded U.S. sovereignty to the U.N., for example.For now, there are two points that seem interesting. I'm sure more will become apparent on a thorough reading.First is the...

The Military Tribunal Decision

This morning, in a 5-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court strongly limited the power of the Bush administration to conduct military tribunals for suspected terrorists who are imprisoned at a U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.Some excerpts from the majority opinion:At a minimum, the government must make a substantial showing that the crime for which it seeks to try a defendant by military commission is acknowledged to be an offense against the law of war.That burden is far from satisfied here. The crime of "conspiracy" has rarely...

A Values Mystery

Yesterday, a House committee was set to consider a bill protecting the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. But given that 1) Republicans love to play up these kinds of "values" issues, and 2) the GOP holds a firm majority on this House committee, how is it that the bill failed to secure committee approval?Tapped's Garance Franke-Ruta explains what happen...

Gadfly or Victim?

There's been a bit of a to-do here over the past week about a professor at the University of Utrecht. Pieter van der Horst just retired as a theology professor specializing in Judaism. According to him, the university's rector censored van der Horst's farewell address, which was on the subject of the enduring myth of Jewish cannibalism (e.g., the "blood libel" that we drink the blood of Christian children at Passover). The rector supposedly made van der Horst take out the section of the speech that addressed contemporary anti-Semitism...

Dobson's Full of It (Once Again)

In this commentary on CNN.com, arch homophobe James Dobson whines that the media is largely to blame for the U.S. Senate’s recent rejection of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Here's his argument:With the help of the media, which laid down "cover" by claiming voters didn't care about marriage, 40 Democrats, one Independent and seven Republicans turned their backs on this most basic social institution.…...

Dems Hold Big Edge in Voter Enthusiasm

The Pew Center has released this new poll on voter attitudes:With less than five months to go before Election Day, Democrats hold two distinct advantages in the midterm campaign that they have not enjoyed for some time.First, Americans continue to say they favor the Democratic candidate in their district, by a 51% to 39% margin.Second, the level of enthusiasm about voting among Democrats is unusually high, and is atypically low among Republicans. In fact, Democrats now hold a voter enthusiasm advantage that is the mirror image...

Kony Speaks

Sam Farmar of the London Times managed to track down the infamous, and infamously enigmatic, Joseph Kony of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. For twenty years, Kony and his (predominantly kidnapped) minions have terrorized the Acholi people of northern Uganda, savagely killing and disfiguring thousands for no apparent reason. Last year, Kony and a few others were indicted by the International Criminal Court for their twenty years of brutality, and earlier this year he began making ovetures to the Ugandan government, via Sudan,...

True or False? Bush Has Never Vetoed a Bill

Technically, that's true, but the answer depends on how you define the term "veto." During Senate hearings yesterday, Democrats accused the Bush administration of “making unprecedented claims for unchecked power.”Senate Dems were referring to President Bush's use of presidential "signing statements." These statements generally contain instructions on how the executive branch intends to implement legislation that Congress has passed and the president has signed into law.But, as the Financial Times explains, these signing statements...

"Fahrenheit 9/11" Marine Dies in Iraq

The Associated Press reports:A U.S. Marine and one-time recruiter who appeared in Michael Moore's acclaimed documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" has died in a roadside bombing in Iraq.Although Staff Sgt. Raymond J. Plouhar willingly appeared in a segment of the 2004 film, his father, Raymond, said Tuesday that his son did not realize that it was for a movie critical of the war. The 57-year-old Plouhar said his son took four years off from active duty to serve as a recruiter in Michigan after donating one of his kidneys to his uncle.......

Burning Idiots

Of all the issues to debate in congress the flag burning ban amendment has to be the STUPIDEST. It's one of those perennial issues that hardens my jadedness and thickens my disgust with American politics. The flag amendment is a propagandistic tool used by demagogues of the lowest, most craven sort. Frankly, the whole debate should end and begin on one point-- the official, proper way to "decommission" and dispose of an American flag is to burn it. Every year Boy Scouts and veterans groups burn thousands of flags. In some places...

Ranking of the World's Most Polite Cities

Recently, Reader's Digest released the results of a survey that ranked 35 cities around the world on the basis of politeness. New York ranked first, Zurich second. Asian cities ranked at the bottom.As you might guess, this has brought a, well, rude response from Asians. A professor of accounting at the University of Bahrain slammed the RD ranking: ... the three criteria chosen to measure politeness were trivial things. For example, saying "thank you" or "please" is not the only measure of politeness or kindness. Every country...

Whatever

I realize that people are concerned about Darfur and feeling somewhat powerless, but this is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of On Thursday, June 29 at Noon EDT, thousands will hold their breath at simultaneous events that will take place in New York, Washington, Albuquerque, Brussels and Rwanda, to draw attention to the genocide that is taking place in Darfur, Sudan. The New York City event will be held at 346 Broadway, (on corner of Leonard and Broadway) and will feature former Sudanese slave and noted human rights...

Santorum Blows Smoke on Immigration Issue

This past weekend, Senator Rick “Two Terms Is Enough” Santorum (R-Pa.) launched the first television ads of his re-election campaign. The subject of those ads? The Associated Press explains: … [The Santorum TV ad] argues he's been tough in cracking down on illegal immigration. In the 30-second ad, the senator said his father and grandfather immigrated to western Pennsylvania from Italy, and his grandfather worked in...

Feinstein and the Flag Amendment

It bothers me that any senator would have voted yesterday for the Flag Amendment, even those from states with more conservative electorates. But what the hell is Senator Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) excuse?In addition to voting for this nonsense, Feinstein also spoke on the Senate floor in support of the amendment, which was more about protecting the GOP's majority than it was about protecting a flag.Even Sen. Robert...

The Death Penalty and Verifiability

Yesterday, the SCOTUS ruled in a 5-4 decision to uphold a Kansas law that tends to encourage jurors to render the death penalty. In this case (Kansas v. Marsh), Justice Antonin Scalia wrote an opinion in which he declared:Those ideologically driven to ferret out and proclaim a mistaken modern execution have not a single verifiable case to point to ...Scalia's statement may be technically accurate, although this depends on how one defines the term "verifiable." It could be argued that the mere fact that a jury finds a defendant...

If Only War Were As Fun As It Used to Be

That's not the title of the column written by Diana West at Townhall.com, but it's a more appropriate headline than the one she has chosen for her deeply offensive column. West writes: The question is, did, for example, bombing Dresden to defeat Hitler or, in the Pacific War, dropping two nuclear bombs to force Japan to stop fighting, make the Allies into barbarians?I think most people would still say, "of course not," and argue that such destructive measures were necessary to save civilization itself -- and certainly thousands...

They Could See It in Each Other's Eyes

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will arrive in the U.S. later this week, and he will be accompanied by President Bush this Friday on a private tour of Graceland -- the estate of Koizumi's boyhood idol, Elvis Presley.In an article on Koizumi's upcoming visit, the Washington Post's Anthony Faiola explains that the Graceland tour is a personal gesture by Bush to thank Koizumi for his support as the Japanese premier...

First Hirsi Ali and Now This

Johan Cruijff (often spelled Cruyff in English) may have been the greatest soccer player ever (I'm not saying he was, but he's one of a handful for whom a plausible argument could be made). As a player, he was opinionated and headstrong. Since his career ended, he has become an oracle of sorts. His wisdom is sought on any variety of subjects, and his obscure and ambiguous utterances are analyzed carefully. He's the sort of person who is either a genius or an idiot, and you're not sure which.His latest contribution to the national...

AU Force: The "Bull Without Horns"

Why has the African Union force been unable to protect civilians in Darfur? Slate's Linda Mason explains:Col. Kamili Karegye, the Rwandan A.U. sector commander, told me there had never been an attack in his sector during a firewood patrol. But although his troops conduct patrols for five camps, seven local camps are left unprotected for lack of A.U. personnel.... As Col. Kamili explained, the A.U. troops don't have the means to intervene in conflict. He had headed for Jebel Marra the previous week but had been turned back at...

On North Korea, Bush Admin. Is Not of One Mind

As Newsweek observes, the Bush administration's reaction to reports about North Korea have carried two distinct tones:... the Bush administration last week found itself tamping down the hyperbole it initiated. Reports from North Korea indicated that Kim Jong Il's regime had moved an advanced new rocket, possibly capable of hitting the United States, into position for its first missile test since 1998.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice initiated a media frenzy by declaring that if the test went ahead, "it would be a very serious...

This About Captures It

My kids stayed up late last night to watch the Netherlands in the round of 16 at the World Cup (or the "eighth-finals" as they're called here).I was embarrassed on behalf of adulthood.This article has it about right, I think. The referee has been getting a lot of criticism from various quarters, including the unpardonable quip by FIFA's president that he would like to give the referee a yellow card. But what is he supposed to do when the players start behaving like frustrated children and insist on committing bookable offense...

Muslims in Europe and the Virginity Game

From an Associated Press article:Chastity can exact a painful price from young Muslim women, forced into lies or surgery to go to the marriage bed as virgins.Hymen repair, fake virginity certificates and other deceptions, said to be commonplace in some Muslim countries, are practiced in France and elsewhere in Europe, where Muslim girls are more emancipated but still live under rigid codes of family honor.Such ploys have saved many a young woman from scorn and worse. But they also clash with the more liberal social mores of...

One of Those "Screw-Loose People"

Back in May at the Utah Republican Convention, five-term Congressman Chris Cannon was forced into a June primary election with political novice John Jacob. As the primary approaches, Jacob's inner wingnut seems to have fully surfaced.According to an article in today's Salt Lake Tribune: As if beating a five-term congressman wasn't hard enough, John Jacob said he has another foe working against him: the devil."There's another force that wants to keep us from going to Washington, D.C.," Jacob said. "It's the devil is what it is....

Another Churchill Quote

On the same week as heated debate in Congress over the U.S. presence in Iraq, Oliver North weighs in, blasting what he calls the "surrender now crowd." In this column, North uses a Winston Churchill quote as a helpful prop:"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival." — Winston S. ChurchillSir Winston delivered that line in the House of Commons on May 13 1940, in his first address as Prime Minister.Churchill also delivered these...

Cheney: We're Screwed No Matter What We Do

At Daily Kos, Bill points to this excerpt from remarks made yesterday by Vice President Cheney ..."If we pull out, [the insurgents in Iraq] will follow us. It doesn't matter where we go. ... And it will continue — whether we complete the job or not in Iraq — only it'll get worse. Iraq will become a safe haven for terrorists."... and he wonders whether the vice president is telling America, we're screwed no matter what we do in Ir...

A New Film About Gitmo

Slate's Dana Stevens reviews the new film The Road to Guantanamo, which he describes as a "half-feature film, half-documentary" about three British youths who spent over two years in the infamous U.S.-operated, Cuban-based military prison for no justifiable reason. Stevens' verdict? The film is "exhausting, depressing, slightly nauseating, and unfortunately necessary."Read the full review he...

Let’s Hear It for “Concrete, Visible Results”

During Wednesday’s debate on the Senate floor over two proposals for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) offered these views: "There is clear proof that our many sacrifices to date are beginning to produce concrete, visible results that cannot be challenged. And to think at this time we would take any action on this floor to set back that momentum."I agree. We're seeing a lot of "concrete, visible results" -- just not the kind of results that anyone could be pleased with. If Sen. Warner and his staff...

Not That Facts Will Persuade the Bushies ....

.... but MSNBC reported today: Weighing in on the highest profile debate about global warming, the nation's premier science policy body on Thursday voiced a "high level of confidence" that Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, and possibly even the last 2,000 years.A panel convened by the National Research Council reached that conclusion in a broad review of scientific studies ...No doubt, our president will continue using the more innocuous term "climate chang...

Freedom of the Press

Big headlines here this morning over the decision by a Dutch judge in favor of a couple of reporters from the broadsheet-in-form, tabloid-at-heart Telegraaf.It seems the intrepid pair had acquired certain confidential files concerning big-time crook Mink K. (I thought Mink K. sounded like a hip-hop artist, but remember that the papers here always refer to a defendant by last initial so as to protect his or her anonymity). After the Telegraaf published an article about Mr. K., the AIVD (the Dutch intelligent service, like the...

Warm Welcome

The Netherlands is happy to welcome a new guest to the exclusive lodgings in the beach resort of Schevening...

Out of the Loop...

I've been a little checked-out from the blog lately, hopefully for good reason. The other day my wife and I put a bid on our first house, last night it was accepted! It's in different city and state than where we are now, and if all goes well we'll close by mid-August. Between now and then my blogging might be a little spotty at times, as my attention and energy will likely be sucked up by the process. I'll soon find out if you can take the Beltway out of the girl by removing the girl from the Beltway. Prolly not. I'd wager...

More Dutch Underwear

The saga of the "leeuwenhosen" just gets more funny. A few days ago, I linked to a story about the Dutch fans who ended up watching the World Cup match against Ivory Coast in their underwear. A small Dutch brewery called Bavaria (yes, I'm sure they realize that Bavaria is not in Holland) gave out "leeuwenhosen," which is a nice pun on the German lederhosen. These garments look like lederhosen (though they're not real leather), but they are bright orange and have a lion's tail on the back. Leeuw is Dutch for "lion," and the...

Your Enchanting Summer in Kazakhstan

No one can accuse the Lonely Planet travel guidebook of sugar-coating things. This is its introductory paragraph for people who want to learn more about visiting the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan:If you're not a fan of endless semi-arid steppe and decaying industrial cities, Kazakhstan may seem bleak, but those who enjoy remoteness, wide open spaces, lunar landscapes, long hypnotic train rides and horse sausage will definitely be in their element.Not a description that is likely to help sell airline tickets to Asta...

The Most Dangerous Profession in the World ....

.... would appear to be serving as an attorney for ex-dictator Saddam Hussein. As the New York Times reports:A lawyer on Saddam Hussein's defense team was kidnapped and later found dead this morning in a Baghdad neighborhood, the Interior Ministry said.He was the third lawyer representing Mr. Hussein or his co-defendants to have been killed since their trial started late last year.The Iraqi police found the body of Khamis al-Obeidi, one of Mr. Hussein's defense lawyers, riddled with bullets in east Baghdad ...

It All Stems From Our Childhood...

It's no excuse but it sure does explain a lot. Report: U.S. May Have Been Abused During Formative YearsWASHINGTON, DC— A team of leading historians and psychiatrists issued a report Wednesday claiming that the United States was likely the victim of abuse by its founding fathers and motherland when it was a young colony."In its adulthood, the U.S. displays all the classic tendencies of a nation that was repeatedly mistreated in its infancy—difficulty forming lasting foreign relationships, viewing everyone as a potential enemy,...

The FBI's Resources

In the post-9/11 world, you'd think the FBI would have its hands full. But apparently not. According to USA Today, the Bureau has decided to devote greater resources to this:The FBI is cracking down on phony war heroes, who often buy medals on the Internet and wear them at public events.This year, federal agents have launched a dozen investigations against people allegedly masquerading as decorated veterans. At that pace, the FBI would open about twice as many cases as it did last year.Now, don't get me wrong. People who...

Actually, They Have a Pretty Lengthy Definition

I don't know why I'm bothering to point out this crock-o-s**t written by one Justin Darr on some website I've never heard of, but I am.Darr apparently takes issue with a proposal being floated to create an international rapid reaction force that could be quickly deployed by the United Nations in order to make good on its responsibility to protect civilians from genocide and whatnot. Darr doesn't like the idea - but rather than getting into an argument over the merits of such a proposal, I'll just highlight this assertion he...

The Facts and Fiction Surrounding al-Zarqawi

Mary Anne Weaver has written this interesting article in the new edition of The Atlantic Monthly -- "The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi." This excerpt reminds us (yet again) that so much of what the Bush administration has said about Iraq and the war effort is at odds with reality.Weaver notes:U.S. officials, for example, had often reported that in 2002, al-Zarqawi had had one of his legs amputated in Baghdad, a claim presumably meant to substantiate a link between al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein’s regime. But he...

A Random Process Beats an Orderly One

Corporations, governments and other institutions sometimes devote a lot of thought, strategizing and intricate planning to produce "solutions" that make a problem worse. Today's issue of USA Today offers an example from the corporate world -- the boarding process for commercial jetliners.For years, it seemed only logical that boarding planes by row, starting from the rear of the aircraft, would shorten the time needed to fully board all passengers. But, apparently, the airlines were making a false assumption: Beginning in late...

It's "Inexplicable" .... Well, Maybe Not

A paragraph from a recent National Review article caused Tapped's Sam Rosenfeld to laugh out loud. Read his post to find out w...

Stiff Competition From the NSA

The nation's public schools are having a tough time recruiting math and science teachers. In the case of the former category, this tidbit from Harper's Index may help explain why:Rank of the National Security Agency among top U.S. employers of mathematicians:...

Then Why Continue the Boycott?

This is a quick follow-up to Zoe’s post last week about delusional claims by the American Family Association that its anti-gay boycott of Ford Motor Corp. is responsible for driving down the automaker’s sales. In her post, Zoe punched plenty of holes in an e-mail message by AFA founder Don Wildmon bragging about the boycott’s impact. But it was this idiotic statement by Wildmon that stood out to me:It is clear that Chairman Bill Ford is willing to take Ford into bankruptcy to appease a small group of homosexual leaders.This...

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Leave it to Slate.com to celebrate its 10th anniversary with a variety of articles and interactive features such as this one -- everything you ever wanted to know in the post-9/11 world about whom the U.S. tortures, where and w...

To Know Why So Many People Hate Italian Football...

...just watch them against the U.S. in tonight's match.So many players with outstanding talent, matchless creativity, and unquestionable passion. And yet......so much diving, whining, dirty play, diving, negative tactics, diving, cynicism, and diving.Update: As usual, the Italian team's fiercest critics are their own press and supporte...

Laat de Leeuw niet in z'n hempie staan

Life imitates art.As you may know, much of the world is in a quadrennial state of mass temporary insanity over the World Cup. This certainly is true of the Netherlands. And if you don't believe that there is true madness involved, consider this story.It must have seemed ironic when the Dutch fans launched into their perennial song "Hup, Holland, Hup," whose second line is the title of this post. I think I'm missing some of the flavor of the language, but it translates roughly as "Don't leave the lion standing in his underwear"...

Bush Should Watch More Documentaries

Stunning!Bush to Create World's Largest Marine Protected Area Near Hawaii--A swath of the Pacific near Hawaii will be the largest such preserve in the world. The president was inspired to act by a Cousteau film.--President Bush today will create the world's largest marine protected area, a total of 140,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean surrounding a necklace of islands and atolls that stretch from the main Hawaiian Islands to Midway Atoll and beyond, senior administration officials said.The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National...

Stop Making Sense

Yesterday Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich (R) fired DC Metro Board Transit Authority board member Robert Smith for saying the following on a local public access show.On last weekend's show, Smith interrupted another speaker who was talking about federalism and Vice President Cheney's daughter. The speaker said Cheney's daughter, who is a lesbian, would not want the government interfering in her life, according to a recording of that portion of the show."That's fine, that's fine," Smith interrupted. "But that doesn't mean that...

"The Capital of Human Suffering"

A very interesting debate within Israel (and, indeed, involving diaspora Jews as well).Although the article doesn't shed any light on this point, I wonder whether the sharpness of the debate has been heightened by the U.S. (and other states') using the G-word about Darf...

Uniting the People of East Africa

Well, there's one thing the diverse and often quarelling states of East Africa can agree on: they hate the side we're supporting in Somalia.Update: Thanks to Rambuncle for pointing out that I linked to the wrong article. The link has been fix...

Differing Opinions

The International Court of Justice issued a judgment concerning a territorial dispute between Nigeria and Cameroon. The two states recently reached an agreement on carrying out the judgment. Under the agreement, the Bakassi Peninsula, which has been under Nigerian control, will be transferred to Cameroon.Here's how the British Foreign and Commeanwealth Office Minister for Africa sees the settlement: This agreement represents a significant progress. It also demonstrates to Africa and the World that territorial disputes can be...

Delusions of Power or Powerful Delusions?

From American Family Association's founder and chairman Don Wildmon:The boycott of Ford Motor Company is working! Sales of automobiles made by Ford dropped 2% in May. This follows drops of 5% in March and 7% in April. When AFA began the boycott of Ford on March 13th, their stock was selling for $7.86 a share. As of Tuesday the stock had fallen to $6.68, a drop of $1.18 or 13%....It is clear that Chairman Bill Ford is willing to take Ford into bankruptcy to appease a small group of homosexual leaders. As you and other AFA Online...

There, I've Said It

I have to say that I do not like Michelle Wie or the entire hype machine that has sprung up around her. [Well, I guess I don't have to say it - but I'm saying it nonetheless.]While she is undoubtedly a talented golfer, her insistence that she is, at this point in her very short career, qualified to play on the PGA Tour is growing increasingly annoying. Especially when she can't even manage to, you know, actually qualify for high profile PGA tournaments But with shadows stretching across the course and a spot in the United...

No More Big Ben?

Wow, this is really sad.Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger ["Big Ben"] is in serious but stable condition and in surgery this afternoon following a serious head injury this morning after his motorcycle collided with a car on Second Avenue near the 10th Street Bridge, police said. Roethlisberger lost most of his teeth, fractured his left sinus cavity bone, suffered a nine-inch laceration to the back of his head and a broken jaw, and severely injured both of his knees when he hit the ground, police said. A plastic surgeon...

Because It's Worked So Well Before

You'd think we'd learn from the brilliant success of funding Osama and his pals in the Mujaheddin.You'd also think that in the battle for hearts 'n' minds, the fact that a group of people are known as "warlords" might suggest it wouldn't be a great idea to funnel money to them.You'd be wro...

Don't Let the Door Hit You...

especially one of those heavy, wooden doors on the Capitol. The World's Biggest(TM) Asshole's reign is officially over. From the House floor/stage Tom DeLay shared his own first guiding principle -- the Principle of Political Douchebaggery."It is not the principled partisan, however obnoxious he may seem to his opponents, who degrades our public debate, but the preening, self-styled statesman who elevates compromise to a first principle," DeLay said, adding that true statesmen "are not defined by what they compromise, but by...