“Terrorism is a deadly tactic, not an institution or an ideology.” – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on the limits of the phrase “War on Terror” Here’s more… The foreign secretary wrote that since 9/11 the phrase “war on terror” had “defined the terrain” when it came to tackling terrorism and that although it had [...]

Bob Woodward outlines what the incoming administration should do differently. Presidents set the tone. Don’t be passive or tolerate virulent divisions. The president must insist that everyone speak out loud in front of the others, even — or especially — when there are vehement disagreements. A president must do the homework to master the fundamental [...]

The honeymoon continues, but trust that this number will go way down as economic realities start to sink in over the next year. From WSJ: Some 71% said they approve of the incoming administration’s efforts, while just 14% disapprove. Those ratings have held steady since the previous WSJ/NBC News poll in December, when slightly more [...]

Lots of festivities planned for next week, all designed to make the proceedings feel like the country is coming together for a common purpose. Personally, I can’t imagine being in D.C. right now. It’s probably a mad house. I’m more than happy to watch this on my laptop at home.

Back in November, Sarah Palin unloaded on the blogosphere in one of her first post-election interviews. And, she’s back at it again: (CNN) — Sarah Palin fired a new salvo in her war on the media, unloading in a new interview on her home state paper and “bored, anonymous, pathetic bloggers who lie.” The Alaska [...]

By now you’ve probably heard about the dinner Obama attended that featured the stalwarts of the right-wing media glitterati, but you hadn’t heard about what actually went down. Kudlow doesn’t really spill the beans on the content, but perhaps what’s more revealing is the mood…which could bode well for Obama’s ability to reach across the [...]

With the announced retirement of Republican Senators Mel Martinez (FL), Kit Bond (MO) and George Voinovich (OH), 2010 could be a tough year for the GOP in these three swing states. But the outlook isn’t all bad. In 2008, Republicans had a difficult time finding candidates who could compete for open seats. This time around, [...]

When I’m not bloviating (blogviating?) on the web or making an increasingly meager living as a freelance marketing writing, I write fiction. That’s why this piece of news is a nice ray of light amidst the dark news stories filling the new year. Fiction reading is on the rise for the first time since the [...]

Historians have forever debated if great moments create great men, or if the opposite holds true.    In a way, the same can be said for inaugural addresses.   As Barack Obama prepares to address the nation, will it be reminiscent of some of the classics – Lincoln’s two inaugurals, Franklin Roosevelt’s first, Kennedy, Reagan’s first [...]

Does new evidence incriminate the Mormon Church’s involvement with Proposition 8? This is Steven Greenstreet with American News Project. Activists claim that money from the Mormon Church was the deciding factor in passing Proposition 8 in California – banning gay marriage. The church claims to have only spent a few thousand dollars on the campaign, [...]

They finally admit it… The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial has concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, interrogating him with techniques that included sustained isolation, sleep deprivation, nudity and prolonged [...]

I’m not exactly sure what legal solution Obama will be applying to the enemy combatants currently being detained, but it seems that anything is better than the nothingburger they have in place currently. From Wash Post: A former military prosecutor said in a declaration filed in federal court yesterday that the system of handling evidence [...]

I was inspired by this NY times post…

There’s a big lesson for Barack Obama in the current Israeli-Hamas conflagration. Before I say what that is, please allow me to discourage anyone from thinking this is about right and wrong in that conflict; it isn’t. It is about cultural expectations and reality. The lesson for the President-elect is not that the Mideast is [...]

Missouri has long been considered the bellwether state for its penchant of siding with winners in Presidential elections. That status has slipped a bit this last year as John McCain edged Barack Obama by 3,900 votes. Alone as the top bellwether state is the unconventional Nevada. Nevada has accurately predicted the winner in every election [...]

The Barack Obama administration is pulling a lot of people from the Senate. That has already caused some big headaches. Now it looks like the protracted and highly secretive process to fill Hillary Clinton’s seat in New York may be violating state laws: Governor David Paterson has disclosed next to nothing about how he’s selecting [...]

Alex Massie, right again: Now it’s true that immigration reform is a tough subject for conservatives. True too, that when it comes to immigration there are some many on the restrictionist wing who consider Bush to be either a) a sentimentalist or b) corporate America’s pawn or c) both of the above. Equally, the orthodox [...]

50 cents a post to make your country look better? Joe The Plumber would approve. Here’s more from BBC: China is using an increasing number of paid “internet commentators” in a sophisticated attempt to control public opinion. [...] They have been dubbed the “50-cent party” because of how much they are reputed to be paid [...]

Many newspapers are in trouble. But that’s not news. Once popular and highly profitable papers have been merging, failing and disappearing for the past 60 years (examples of those gone long ago in New York alone: the Herald Tribune, the Daily Mirror, the Journal-American, the World-Telegram and Sun, all of which except the Mirror were [...]