From Stephen Taylor comes some sad news: Don Knotts, TV’s Lovable Nerd, Dies at 81 (AP) Don Knotts, who kept generations of TV audiences laughing as bumbling Deputy Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show” and would-be swinger landlord Ralph Furley on “Three’s Company,” has died. He was 81. Knotts died Friday night of pulmonary [...]

South Dakota passes abortion ban (Reuters) SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (Reuters) — South Dakota became the first U.S. state to pass a law banning abortion in virtually all cases, with the intention of forcing the Supreme Court to reconsider its 1973 decision legalizing the procedure. The law, which would punish doctors who perform the operation [...]

I just finished listening to an 11/8/05 “interview” with counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke [bio], and he seems more interested in pleasing the audience with one-liners and Bush-bashing (thereby selling books) than he is with giving an honest analysis of what we know and don’t know about terrorism. That he completely subscribes to Robert Pape’s simplistic, [...]

The Washington Examiner Names Bill Sammon Senior White House Correspondent (DC Examiner) The Washington Examiner today announced the creation of a national news position — senior White House correspondent — and filled it with award-winning journalist Bill Sammon. Sammon has been the senior White House correspondent for the Washington Times since 1998, and in that [...]

Intellectual Terrorism (Milli Gazette) By Dr. Aslam Abdullah The detestable cartoon portrayals of Muhammad, Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) by Danish and later by Norwegian, French, German and many other European newspapers is nothing less than emotional torture and intellectual terrorism. Uh, no. To equate the publication of mostly innocuous cartoons to torture [...]

Rusty Shackleford over at The Jawa Report has a facetiously-titled post claiming that moderate Muslims are speaking out against the cartoon jihad, but posts pictures of the tens of thousands of Muslims who are threatening violence over a series of cartoons. His post made me harken back to a column written by Dennis Prager in [...]

Ex-CIA Official Faults Use of Data on Iraq (Washington Post) The former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the Bush administration of “cherry-picking” intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war, and of ignoring warnings that the country could [...]

Ok, I know this is two days after the funeral political rally commemorating exploiting the death of Martin Luther King’s wife for partisan gain, but I wonder if any of our readers can think of an individual who is less qualified to comment on how the American government should deal with Islamic extremism than former [...]

If this connection has been made, I haven’t seen it: there are many people in America and elsewhere in the West are making statements about how the media should self-censor and not publish the Danish cartoons that have sparked several days of Muslim rioting. That’s fine, and their argument isn’t completely without merit. However, it [...]

Study Finds Low-Fat Diet Won’t Stop Cancer or Heart Disease (NY Times) The largest study ever to ask whether a low-fat diet keeps women from getting cancer or heart disease has found that the diet had no effect. The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women aged 50 to 79 who were followed for [...]

Scarlett Johansson, Keira Knightley pose naked for Vanity Fair (AFP) NEW YORK (AFP) — Two of Tinseltown’s brightest young stars, Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson, bare all in the latest Vanity Fair, posing nude for the cover of the glossy magazine’s annual Hollywood issue. The two actresses were talked into the photo shoot by fashion [...]

Record Sales of Sleeping Pills Are Causing Worries (NY Times) Isn’t the exact opposite true as well?

A good friend of mine recently found out that he didn’t get the tenure-track job he was up for, and was told in confidence that the university’s president personally intervened to force the department to hire a woman over my obviously more qualified friend (she’s a grad student who hasn’t finished her dissertation; he has [...]

Here’s another shining example of what some of us face each day: Western State College of Colorado invites applicants for a full-time temporary teaching position in sociology and political science beginning in August of 2006. Teaching responsibilities include courses in sociological theory, criminal justice, and introductory courses in American, comparative and/or international relations. Responsibilities are [...]

Budget Cuts Pass By a Slim Margin (WaPo; front page, above the fold) The sub-head is a punch line come to life: “Poor, Elderly and Students to Feel Pinch” The House yesterday narrowly approved a contentious budget-cutting package that would save nearly $40 billion over five years by imposing substantial changes on programs including Medicaid, [...]

Tonight’s State of the Union address was a bit strange on the domestic side, with President Bush somewhat declaring a series of ill-defined “Hopeful Society” programs that protect life, encourage education and innovation, and in general further the greatness of America and American culture. All pretty empty if you ask me, yet fortunately not the [...]

For those of you who disbelieve the evidence that the mainstream media slants leftward, please explain to me what exactly is being “reported” here: “It’s turning into our Vietnam” (USAT) Aaron McGonigal knows all about patriotism and fighting terrorism. He was in the Illinois National Guard on Sept. 11, 2001. Soon after the attacks, he [...]

A-Rod tells Yankees he won’t play in World Baseball Classic (AP) NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Rodriguez told the New York Yankees he won’t play in the inaugural World Baseball Classic, just two days after saying he was leaning toward being on the Dominican Republic’s team. [...] Baseball officials said at last week’s winter meetings [...]

Media Bias Is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist While the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal is conservative, the newspaper’s news pages are liberal, even more liberal than The New York Times. The Drudge Report may have a right-wing reputation, but it leans left. Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to [...]

Senator Accuses Times of Endangering U.S. (AP) A Republican senator on Saturday accused The New York Times of endangering American security to sell a book by waiting until the day of the terror-fighting Patriot Act reauthorization to report that the government has eavesdropped on people without court-approved warrants. “At least two senators that I heard [...]

Ok, I’m a bit prone to hyperbole, so check me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think traitor is too strong a word. Congressman Admits Taking Bribes (AP) SAN DIEGO — Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, an eight-term congressman and hotshot Vietnam War fighter jock, pleaded guilty to graft and tearfully resigned Monday, admitting he took [...]

Excuse me? Can you please repeat that address? (Reuters) LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Michael Fisk is a street fighting man. And the street he’s fighting is named Dicks. Fisk, who lives on Dicks Street in the Los Angeles suburb of West Hollywood, has gone to city hall to get the road’s name changed — saying [...]

I just saw a commercial on TV advertising the fact that one of the big box stores will be open all day tomorrow, Thanksgiving. You can get a jump on your holiday shopping, beat the crowds, and find all kinds of deals. All you need to do is head on over, on the day that [...]

Join Alpha Kappa Qaeda! Ok, Rusty didn’t make the video, but if there was ever a fraternity rush more geared toward his readers, I can’t imagine what it is — this thing is brilliant.

Pacino Peaked 30 Years Ago Hollywood legend Al Pacino admits he hasn’t made a good movie in 30 years. The actor believes he peaked in 1975 movie Dog Day Afternoon and hasn’t had a decent role since, despite the four Academy Award nominations and one win – for 1992s Scent of Woman – he has [...]

Baggy Pants Trip Up Suspected Thief (AP) FERNDALE, Mich. – A man suspected of stealing discs from a video store was tripped up by his baggy pants, falling twice before police captured him, authorities said.

Police: Burrito Sparks 7-Eleven Fight (NBC-DC) WASHINGTON — The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating an early-morning fight that supposedly started over a burrito. Police said a man inside the store didn’t have enough money to pay for his burrito and left the store to get more. While he was outside, another of the store’s patrons [...]

Below the fold is the transcript of an interview I did recently about my take on the investigation that led to the indictment of Lewis Libby.

It has been rightfully suggested in the comments of my previous post on this issue that the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was not the only statute that could have been used to charge Lewis Libby for leaking the identity of Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak. Because my posts on this issue have been long-winded, [...]

I̢۪m going to once again try to clarify what I believe actually happened in the course of Patrick Fitzgerald̢۪s investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame, which ultimately led to the indictment of Lewis Libby. If you̢۪re uninterested in this topic, simply move along.

Lewis Libby has been accused of obstructing justice and lying to a grand jury, which are serious charges regardless of how anyone tries to spin it. But special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald needs to be held to account for the way in which he undertook this investigation. The whole “Plamegate” fiasco is analogous to a murder [...]

In an earlier post, James clipped from a humorous take on the Lewis Libby indictment written by Michael Kinsley. In the article, Kinsley reiterated a piece of conventional wisdom: Two and a half years ago, Robert D. Novak published the name of an undercover CIA agent in his column. But is there any evidence that [...]

Duo Considered the Olsen Twins of the White Nationalist Movement (ABC News) Thirteen-year-old twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede have one album out, another on the way, a music video, and lots of fans. They may remind you another famous pair of singers, the Olsen Twins, and the girls say they like that. But unlike the [...]

As President Bush continues to embarrass himself and betray his base via his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, Democrat poster child and intellectual retard Cindy Sheehan desperately seeks to remind us that Republicans are not the only morons in town: Sheehan thrashing ‘war hawk’ Hillary (WND) “I think she is a political [...]

I was just watching the 1987 film Wall Street with a young Chuck Sheen as Bud Fox, and of course Michael Douglas and the evil Gordon Gekko, who told us that “greed is good.” In one scene, after Bud has made it on Wall Street as Gekko’s lackey, he buys a Manhattan penthouse apartment — [...]

Join me in congratulating James for crossing the 5 million visitor mark. It̢۪s quite a landmark, and completely deserved for what I have long considered one of the top blogs. In each post James blends components of news aggregation with insightful commentary, and it̢۪s the only blog out there that I rely on as a [...]

Family of Faggot Fans Fly the Flag (BBC) The Doody family from Wolverhampton has been crowned The Faggot Family in a national competition, and to kick off their reign they will launch National Faggot Week. [...] “The great British faggot is full of flavour and a great belly warmer at this time of year.” I [...]

Musical Breast Implants Computer chips that store music could soon be built into a woman’s breast implants. One boob could hold an MP3 player and the other the person’s whole music collection. BT futurology, who have developed the idea, say it could be available within 15 years. BT Laboratories’ analyst Ian Pearson said flexible plastic [...]

Gerry Daly has posted an entry at RedState titled Advice For Conservative Republicans, which essentially advocates that conservatives keep their mouths shut over the Miers nomination in order to protect the Republican party: This leads to my advice to those conservative Republican pundits and bloggers who are grousing about the nomination of Harriet Miers. The [...]

The nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court solidifies in me the idea that an interesting (yet counterproductive) Bizarro Conservativism™ has arisen since the 2000 election. First, the Republican Congress, elected on the promise of fiscal reform, has been a complete disgrace (see my earlier Tom DeLay: Liar or Fool?). What essentially happened is [...]

Just to go on record (this is Stotch writing, not James), the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court of the United States represents the following: * An insult to the American people * An affront to any Constitutional scholar * A dishonoring of the Supreme Court as an institution * A repudiation of [...]

From Poliblogger Stephen Taylor comes the bad news that another blogger, Daniel Drezner, was denied tenure at the University of Chicago. Just to be clear, I’ve never met Daniel Drezner, I don’t recall ever reading his blog, and his CV is undoubtedly impressive. I’m even using a book in one of my courses based on [...]

Either Tom DeLay is a complete moron or he thinks that the American voter is a total idiot. I suppose it could be both. Republicans Will Defend Taxpayers (Washington Times Op-Ed) Having compiled a long record as a conscientious fiscal conservative in the House of Representatives, it is clear that the recent political discussion focusing [...]

Sarah Michelle Gellar to Play Porn Star (UK Sun) Sexy Buffy The Vampire Slayer actress Sarah Michelle Gellar is to play a porn star. She is hoping to ditch her good girl image in a new movie that looks at the seedy world of X-rated movies. Sarah will play busty blonde Krysta Now in the [...]

Jimmy Carter: Gore beat Bush in 2000 (WND) “Well I would say that in the year 2000, the country failed abysmally in the presidential election process,” Carter told a panel Monday at American University in Washington, D.C. “There’s no doubt in my mind that Al Gore was elected president.” What’s worse, he goes on to [...]

Drudge is running the following: This Is It Hurricane Rita seems to be as bad as feared. Let’s hope that my last post on dueling ideologies is meaningful in the morning — ie, that the damage here in human terms is minimal and that a discussion about day-to-day political shenanigans isn’t trivial by comparison to [...]

Below is a rant about the recent precipitous decline of the ethos of the Republican party, based upon a conversation I had while attending a somewhat elitist Washington DC party. If you̢۪re not interested in an anecdotal impression, don̢۪t bother with what̢۪s below the fold.

Bestseller in Mideast: Barbie With a Prayer Mat (NYT) DAMASCUS, Syria, Sept. 21 – In the last year or so, Barbie dolls have all but disappeared from the shelves of many toy stores in the Middle East. In their place, there is Fulla, a dark-eyed doll with, as her creator puts it, “Muslim values.” Fulla [...]

Crippled Jet Lands Safely at L.A. Airport (AP) As someone who absolutely hates to fly, tonight’s emergency landing of JetBlue’s flight 292 put visions in my head of a best-case scenario in which the front landing gear buckles and the plane skids uncontrollably in some life-threatening scenario. Instead, the pilot of this flight utilized 95 [...]

There’s really no way to make this a judgeable contest, but I thought it would be interesting to post on the phenomenon of good bad-movies — that is, movies that are bad, but that you liked and have seen multiple times. My two examples that come to mind: The Replacements: yeah, Keanu Reeves couldn’t act [...]