Frankly, I don’t like the “L” word. It’s been misused so many times in the collective political conversations the past decade, it has started to lose meaning. But, as Michael Reynolds points out over at The Mighty Middle, I don’t know if Bush can talk his way out of this one. “I didn’t want war. [...]

…there are a lot more people in the Democratic party who do what the Good Book says: Take care of the poor and the afflicted and the downtrodden. I took flak from some of my Republican colleagues for working with the mentally ill, for working with some of the underprivileged from the Children’s Health Insurance [...]

Plain and simple, if pastors are starting to attend GOP get-out-the-vote seminars, their churches should be taxed. More from the NY Times: WASHINGTON, March 20 � Weeks after the Internal Revenue Service announced a crackdown on political activities by churches and other tax-exempt organizations, a coalition of nonprofit conservative groups is holding training sessions to [...]

The Washington Post unveiled Red America today, a political blog written by Ben Domenech. Since I first read about this a few days ago, I’ve been looking forward to reading it. After all, this is a big step for a major newspaper/online news provider to do this blog thing in an open and honest way. [...]

Writing for the Washington Post, pollster Mark Penn argues that the nation isn’t rigidly divided and, in fact, swing voters are more numerous and important than ever. These voters are untethered to either political party. While it’s become conventional wisdom to say that voters’ minds are firmly made up, and that certain candidates can or [...]

Get ready for it. Don your battle armor. The flaming is about to begin. A careful personality study of 95 children from the Berkeley area, tracking them from nursery school to adulthood over 20 years, concludes that “the whiny, insecure kid in nursery school, the one who always thought everyone was out to get him, [...]

As a self-employed individual, I loathe tax season. I always owe money. And penalties. And I always pay a higher percentage of my earnings than those who make the exact same amount but work for a traditional employer. The tax system is not very pro self-employment. But it should be. I look at the problems [...]

We surrendered the advantages we brought to the fight, and we let the Baathists and Al Qaeda define the terms of the battle.

Yes. Former Iraq PM Ayad Allawi: “”It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more. If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is.” No. VP Dick Cheney: “I think the assessment that [...]

In Greek histories, Spartan mothers sent their sons to war with the commandment, “Come back with your shield, or on it.” Spartan mothers loved their babies, too — they did not want to see dead bodies of their son brought back, as was the custom, sprawled on their shields. But if a warrior returned alive [...]

The veterans remember the war, in the Washington Post. On the three-year anniversary. Arriving in Baghdad, “I had an Iraqi citizen come up to me,” said Lance Cpl. Daniel Finn, a Marine infantryman. “She was a female. She opened her mouth and she had no tongue. She was pointing at the statue” of Saddam Hussein. [...]

A lost video where he talks about karate, Hollywood, et al…is truly interesting. From Google Video.

And if it’s internal bleeding…ehhh…that’s okay too. So listen, for those who REALLY think that Abu Ghraib was an isolated incident…please, consider this new evidence and take a hard look at what our military is condoning by their silence. Placards posted by soldiers at the detention area advised, “NO BLOOD, NO FOUL.” The slogan, as [...]

Promoting Centrism

I suppose I could have posted this in the comments section of Justin’s post about polygamy, but it’s rather long. Besides, Justin gave me posting privileges and what better way to use them than to question his reasoning? Justin asks: “what’s so bad about polygamy?� Well, here’s the answer: The problem with polygamy is that [...]

Surprising news of direct talks proposed between Iran and the U.S. regarding Iraq … A senior Iranian official said Thursday that Iran would enter into direct talks with the United States about Iraq, opening the way for the two countries to hold their first face-to-face discussion about Iran’s western neighbor since shortly after the U.S.-led [...]

An editorial from the Minneapolis Star Tribune makes the leap that if same-sex marriage is not outlawed by the state’s constitution, then polygamy is the next step. My question to all of you is, what’s so bad about polygamy? Seriously. After all, polygamy is still practiced in all corners of the globe and has been [...]

Bored, bored, bored. Won’t you all be glad when Blogger comes back to life and I can go back to posting at my own place? It occurs to me that some commenters need practice in insults. I understand the habit doesn’t come naturally to every soul. But we “centrists” ought to eschew the Neanderthal grunts [...]

Apparently, there are nine: The Age Issue How Electable Is McCain Really? What’s Wrong With Actually Having A Loyal Republican As The Republican Nominee? How Can You Be Pro-Life And Pro-Roe v. Wade At The Same Time? Kyoto By Any Other Name Would Still Smell As Rotten McCain Vs. The Bush Tax Cuts McCain May [...]

Yup, it’s that time of year again, when leprechauns (and bookies) make merry while bracket spots are agonized over as the office pool $ grows — yes, it’s March and let the NCAA March Madness begin! The NCAA men’s basketball tournament begins today, and for the first time, every game of the 19-day ritual known [...]