First the US casualty count. Then the terrorist casualty count. Who’s winning? I’ll give you one guess. UPDATE: Woops, switched the links on this one. My apologies. Much thanks to Vincent in the comment section for the catch.

Tommy G. Thompson, former health and human services secretary, explains the role of American generosity as a powerful force in winning the war on terrorism. But if we have any hope of spreading democracy and ending tyranny in every corner of the globe, it is vital that we use all of the weapons of freedom [...]

His words. My thoughts. In other words, democracy is nice â€â€? eventually â€â€? but the bigger issue is kicking over the status quo in the Middle East and forcing change. And the hawks would argue that this is happening. Slowly and fitfully, to be sure, but let’s count up the successes so far: Iraq and [...]

One more reason to give the Walmart cheer? Surprising news, especially given skyrocketing health care costs, the number of companies recently announcing cuts to their health plans, and Wal-Mart’s less than stellar reputation to date in the area of employee benefits. Wal-Mart, which has long been criticized for the benefits it offers to its workers, [...]

The end of an era is coming upon our nation. Yes, The Fed Man, Alan Greenspan is finally going to retire. Despite offers of cloning to keep at least a version of him at the helm, a successor has been nominated. Bernanke, a Republican who holds a doctorate in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of [...]

Hello! This is my first blogging experience as a regular contributor, so I’m looking forward to learning and growing in this new role. As far as my political interests, I’m a Moderate Conservative on most issues i.e. strong military, family values, etc. I believe that the size of our federal government, as well as degree [...]

You do it to yourself, you do And that’s what really hurts Is that you do it to yourself Just you and no one else You do it to yourself You do it to yourself -From Radiohead’s song ‘Just’. John Fund writes in the Opinion Journal that the White House is threatening conservatives who break [...]

Are you ready for a full frontal assault on the special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald? Well, as expected, Republicans are gearing up to question the indictments that are about to be handed down in the Valerie Plame case. And by the way, indictments are very likely to be handed down (via NY Times). Patrick J. Fitzgerald, [...]

Sometimes the state goes too far. I think this is one of those times. New York, Oct. 21, 2005 (CNA) – 5-year old Antonio Peck had no idea when he turned in his homework assignment–a poster about protecting the environment–that it would land him in federal court. Peck, then a kindergarten student at Baldwinsville, NY’s [...]

Ask Michael Totten. He’s on the ground in Beirut with this report: Fear and apprehension turned to anger and relief in Beirut after the Mehlis report named Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law as the chief suspect, and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud as a possible accomplice, in the assassination of Rafik Hariri. The city didn’t explode. [...]

More and more, it seems like the outrage against Michael Brown’s leadership was justified. Michelle Malkin recounts some interesting details: I received a bit of flack from some of my conservative friends for highlighting FEMA’s inadequate response–particularly former FEMA chief Michael Brown’s embarrassing performance–during Hurricane Katrina. This week, Department of Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff [...]

Lots of interesting stuff in this talk by Larry Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s chief of staff at the State Department. It’s been widely linked, and among the sections many commentators have picked out is this one, reminding those who easily forget such things how broad was the consensus in early 2003 that Saddam Hussein had some [...]

As they say, heh. [Continued from here]

Brooklyn was quiet during the recently concluded Jewish High Holy Days. So were Jewish neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Chicago, Cincinnati and the suburbs of Houston. Even in the venerable old City of David, the Jews did not riot, did not clash with police and did not burn Palestinian flags. Unlike allegations that the American military [...]

Tom Maguire and Mickey Kaus are having a discussion of the Plame-Wilson affair that touches on some of the uncomfortable points I’ve been wondering about, including “exactly how undercover was she,” “what is the CIA’s angle in all this,” and “isn’t there a lot of duplicity involved in her husband’s behavior?” I’ve seen some commentary [...]

Wow. Donklephant is worth $90,890.94.How much is your blog worth? (HT: Dean’s World)

Constant server issues have made watching our site seem a bit like going on a rollercoaster ride. Thankfully we’re back up, and as the editor I can assure you that I’m doing everything in my power to make sure the site doesn’t go down again. That doesn’t mean it won’t, but I’m trying really hard [...]

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to talk about how meditation can help people think more positively at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, and a bunch of brain researchers are trying to ban him from the event. Why? Well, they say that not enough research has been done into the links between meditation [...]

As a followup to my post about a new stem cell extraction method, we have this story about that and another new method. At the time I posted, at least one blogger was saying that this method still wouldn’t appease the critics. Well, she seems to be correct. From Wired: Headlines this week trumpeted a [...]

Looks like Frist is saying he has to push it back, but Specter is threatening to attach it to a “must-pass spending bill for federal education, labor, health and welfare programs.” However, Frist has a compromise. From Wired: In the deal Frist is floating, Specter would drop his threat in exchange for a stem-cell vote [...]