The Four Iran Scenarios and “Basiji Hunting”  —  One of my colleagues at the New America Foundation's Global Strategic Finance Initiative, Douglas Rediker, received this note from a friend abroad.  It's illuminating as to how a well-connected Iranian internationalist who has been in Tehran during …

Statement of Congressman Ron Paul United States House of Representatives  —  Statement Opposing Resolution on Iran  —  I rise in reluctant opposition to H Res 560, which condemns the Iranian government for its recent actions during the unrest in that country.

Conservative Justices' Strange Enthusiasm for the Punishment of the Innocent  —  Here's a beaut of a decision from the increasingly brutal and inhumane conservative-dominated Supreme Court.  Not content with gutting anti-discrimination legislation, a 5-4 majority has decided that if people …

Text of Doug Hampton's letter to Fox News  —  Editor's note: Doug Hampton, the husband of Cynthia Hampton, who had an affair with Sen. John Ensign, explains in a letter to a Fox News Channel anchorwoman, Megyn Kelly, how the senator's affair with his wife has"completely ruined" the couple's lives.

DOJ: We Can't Release Cheney Records Because Of Late Night Comedy  —  But this pull from the original AP story, which captures the reasoning of Justice Department for attempting to deny the request, is simply mind-blowing: … I hardly think that citing the need to shield public figures …

Sullivan, Froomkin, Hiatt, Iran and AIPAC  —  The incipient Iranian revolution has upset certain political categories at home, two to be exact: Scowcroftian realism and liberal interventionism (a/k/a neoconservatism).  Both, IMHO, are inadequate to the current crisis.

Dissecting the Kennedy Health Bill  —  No, you won't be able to keep your insurance if you like it.  —  Printer  —  Friendly  —  Last September Sen. Barack Obama promised that under his health-care proposal “you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.”

NeoCon Derangement Syndrome On Steroids  —  To read Andrew Sullivan's posts on the suppression of the opposition in Iran, you would think American “NeoCons” (whoever they may be) were in the streets swinging batons from the backs of motorcycles, trashing the library at Tehran University …

U.S. Military Set to Intercept North Korean Ship Suspected of Proliferating Missiles, Nukes  —  The USS John McCain, a navy destroyer, will intercept the ship Kang Nam as soon as it leaves the vicinity off the coast of China, according to a senior U.S. defense official.  —  FOXNews.com

The Coming Crackdown  —  [T]he green light has now been given to the basij to kick ass and take names.  “The way of the law is open,” [Khamenei] says.  “If people continue to take the other way, I will come back and speak more directly.”  Qanun, qanun, qanun.  Law, law, law.

Obama Administration Set To Hold Powwow With Big Gay Groups  —  The Obama Justice Department has reached out to major gay rights organizations and scheduled a private meeting for next week with the groups, in an apparent effort to smooth over tensions in the wake of the controversy …

NIH Funds $423,500 Study of Why Men Don't Like to Use Condoms  —  In what government watchdogs are calling a waste of taxpayer money, the National Institutes of Health is spending nearly half a million dollars to determine why men don't like to wear condoms during sex.  —  FOXNews.com

Early Word on the House Bill: So Far, So Good  —  In a week of discouarging developments on health care reform, the House of Representatives has stepped up and offered reform advocates reason for optimism.  —  Today, three House committees are unveiling a draft of reform legislation they've constructed together.

Sotomayor 1986: I Found Men Unconsciously Discriminate Against Women  —  Obviously, this woman has an unchanging worldview.

Islamism … What's wrong with this sentence?  Of course, we know what Ignatius meant to say.  He meant to say Islamist, but isn't it odd that the word he did use was Muslim?  Who exactly does he think is marching in Tehran at the moment?  Zoroastrians?  —  Even if he meant to say Islamist, who won the last Iraqi elections?