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Archive Edition for   Monday, May 23, 2005Go to Current Page
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Quoted in this edition:

Ace of Spades HQ
  Ace
Althouse
  Ann Althouse
Amygdala
  Gary Farber
The Anchoress
  TheAnchoress
ARMAVIRUMQUE
  Roger Kimball
Associated Press
  David Espo
  Ron Fournier
  Nedra Pickler
  Hope Yen
  Dennis Cook
  Michael Virtanen
  Doug Gross
  Paul Garwood
  Ali Akbar Dareini
Balloon Juice
  John Cole
Barcepundit
  FrancoAlemán
BBC
  Paul Rincon
Begging to Differ
  Tom @BeggingToDiffer
THE BELGRAVIA DISPATCH
  Gregory Djerejian
The Blogging of the President
  Stirling Newberry
  RJ Eskow
Boston Globe
  Jenna Russell
Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal
  Brad DeLong
BrothersJudd Blog
  Orrin Judd
Burnt Orange Report
  Byron LaMasters
BuzzMachine
  Jeff Jarvis
Captain's Quarters
  Captain Ed
CBS News
Chicago Sun Times
  Mark Steyn
Christian Science Monitor
  Amanda Paulson
The Claremont Institute
  R. J. Pestritto
CNN
The Corner
  Ramesh Ponnuru
  K. J. Lopez
  Kathryn Jean Lopez
  John Podhoretz
  Stanley Kurtz
  Andrew Stuttaford
  John Derbyshire
corrente
  Lambert @Corrente
  The Farmer
Cox & Forkum Editorial Cartoons
  Forkum
Daily Kos
  Kos @DailyKos
  Armando @DailyKos
Daly Thoughts
  Gerry @DalyThoughts
Demagogue
  Arnold P. California
democracyarsenal.org
  Suzanne Nossel
Democratic Veteran
  Jo Fish
Economist
Ed Driscoll.com
  Ed Driscoll
Editor and Publisher
  Joe Strupp
Electablog
  David Allan Pell
Eschaton
  Atrios
Ezra Klein
  Ezra Klein
Financial Times
  Bertrand Benoit
The Fourth Rail
  Marvin
Fox News
Fraters Libertas
  Chad The Elder
Guardian
Gut Rumbles
  Acidman
Happy Furry Puppy Story Time with Norbizness
  Norbizness
Harry's Place
  Gene @HarrysPlace
  Marcus @HarrysPlace
Hit and Run
  Charles Paul Freund
  Nick Gillespie
The Huffington Post
  Arianna Huffington
  Richard Bradley
  Jim Lampley
  Walter Shapiro
HughHewitt.com
  Hugh Hewitt
INDC Journal
  Bill @INDCJournal
Instapundit.com
  Glenn Reynolds
Ipse Dixit
  C. D. Harris
James Wolcott
  James Wolcott
JustOneMinute
  Tom Maguire
L.A. Observed
  Kevin Roderick
The Left Coaster
  Yuval Rubinstein
  Steve Soto
The Liquid List
  Aaron @LiquidList
  Shawn @LiquidList
Little Green Footballs
  Charles Johnson
Los Angeles Times
  Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
  Ronald Brownstein
  John Hendren
  Michael Connelly
  Mark Mazzetti
The Mahablog
  Barbara O'Brien
Marginal Revolution
  Alex Tabarrok
Mark A. R. Kleiman
  Mark Kleiman
Matthew Yglesias
  Matthew Yglesias
MaxSpeak, You Listen!
  Max B. Sawicky
mediabistro
  Garrett M. Graff
  Brian Stelter
Michelle Malkin
  Michelle Malkin
Minneapolis Star Tribune
The Moderate Voice
  Joe Gandelman
  Greg Piper
MSNBC
  Tom Curry
  Josh White
New York Times
  Marc Lacey
  Paul Krugman
  Bob Herbert
  Tom Zeller Jr.
  Nicholas D. Kristof
  David Brooks
  Michael Sokolove
  Robin Cook
  Jonathan Miles
Newsweek
  Jonathan Alter
No More Mister Nice Blog
  Steve M.
Obsidian Wings
  Edward _
Opinion Journal
  Arthur Chrenkoff
  Fouad Ajami
OxBlog
  Josh Chafetz
Pacific Views
  Magpie @PacificViews
pandagon.net
  Amanda Marcotte
  Jesse Taylor
Patterico's Pontifications
  Patterico
Pejmanesque
  Pejman Yousefzadeh
The People's Republic of Seabrook
  Jack Cluth
PoliPundit.com
  Alexander K. McClure
  Jayson @PoliPundit
Politics from Left to Right
  Chris Nolan
praktike's blog
  Praktike
PressThink
  Jay Rosen
ProfessorBainbridge.com
  Steve Bainbridge
protein wisdom
  Jeff Goldstein
Publius Pundit
  Robert Mayer
  Daniel Holt
The QandO Blog
  Dale Franks
  Jon Henke
Rantingprofs
  Cori Dauber
Reuters
  Adam Entous
rexblog.com
  Rex Hammock
Right Wing News
  John Hawkins
Rising Hegemon
  Attaturk
The Road To Surfdom
  Tim Dunlop
Romenesko
  Jim Romenesko
San Francisco Chronicle
  Keith Thompson
Scared Monkeys
  Tom @ScaredMonkeys
  Red @ScaredMonkeys
Seattle Times
Secular Blasphemy
  Jan Haugland
Shot In The Dark
  Mitch Berg
The Sideshow
  Avedon Carol
Signifying Nothing
  Chris Lawrence
Sirotablog
  David Sirota
skippy the bush kangaroo
  RJ Eskow
  Skippy
  Hello but men put an end to her freedom
Slant Point
  Scott Sala
Slate
  Daniel Gross
Southern Appeal
  Patrick Carver
  Steve Dillard
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire
  Taegan Goddard
The Talent Show
  Greg @TheTalentShow
TalkLeft
  Jeralyn Merritt
TAPPED
  Jeffrey Dubner
  Matthew Yglesias
»«TBogg»«
  Tbogg
Think Progress
  Judd @ThinkProgress
  Faiz @ThinkProgress
This Modern World
  Greg Saunders
Time
  Alice Park
Times of London
  Andrew Porter
  Catherine Philp
Townhall.com
  Michael Barone
U.S. Newswire
US News
  John Leo
USA Today
  Kathy Kiely
USS Neverdock
  Marc @USSNeverdock
Vodkapundit
  Will Collier
The Volokh Conspiracy
  Eugene Volokh
  Orin Kerr
Wall Street Journal
Wampum
  Dwight Meredith
War and Piece
  Laura Rozen
The Washington Monthly
  Kevin Drum
Washington Post
  Howard Kurtz
  Terry M. Neal
  Josh White
  Jonathan Weisman
  Michael Getler
Washington Times
  Donald Lambro
White House
Will Wilkinson / The Fly Bottle
  Will Wilkinson
Winds of Change.NET
  Arthur Chrenkoff
  Andrew Olmsted
  Dan Darling



Deal Reached to Avert Judicial Showdown
  AP   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — Averting a showdown, centrists from both parties reached agreement Monday night on a compromise that clears the way for confirmation votes on many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, leaves others in limbo and preserves venerable Senate filibuster rules.
Barbara O'Brien: But now that there may be a deal to compromise on the filibuster, does this mean poor Bill will be have to watch all those rented zombie videos by himself?
Michelle Malkin: First news reports: FOXNews, ABC News, MSNBC *** First blogger reax: Captain Ed... "So far, no one really has the...
Jeff Goldstein: Not. **** update 2: Fox has the story. **** update 3: Ace has a nice roundup of reaction here. **** update 4: From the text of the agreement: [snipped quote] There you go.
Joe Gandelman: Senate Moderates Avert Polarizing Filibuster Showdown — Senate moderates from both parties have pulled a political...
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: No commitment. Michelle Malkin is liveblogging also. Fox News has the story up. Red is reporting this is a White House Victory.
Lambert @Corrente: "(AP via FUX" I don't get it. The Republicans have taken away everything but the filibuster (blue slips, etc.)
Also: Cernig, Steve Bainbridge, Dr. Steven Taylor, PoliPundit

Senators Avert Showdown Over Filibusters
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON - In a dramatic reach across party lines, Senate centrists sealed a compromise Monday night that cleared the way for confirmation of many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, left others in limbo and preserved venerable filibuster rules.
Patrick Carver: Scattered Thoughts on the Filibuster "Deal" Made by 14 Dems and Republicans: That's right, a group of "centrists"...
Jayson @PoliPundit: The Fallout — So, now that the *raw deal* has been struck, I'm thinking the immediate effects are and will be as...
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: From The AP: "Democratic officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that two other appeals court nominees...
Tom Maguire: Stem Cells And France — A deal on filibusters? Then two other stories should move to center stage.
C. D. Harris: McCain And Frist Kiss 2008 Presidential Race Bye-Bye 14 "moderate" Senators have arranged a "compromise" whereby a...
RJ Eskow: the deal sucks so now we learn that the democrats have achieved a "compromise" that is, in fact, a surrender.
Also: Spoons, Avedon, Tully @Centerfield

Senators Said to Reach Filibuster Deal
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON - Centrists Republicans and Democrats reached a compromise Monday night to avoid a showdown on President Bush's stalled judicial nominees and the Senate's own filibuster rules, officials from both parties said.
Joe Gandelman: Both sides had arranged for screenings of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington to spin to their side (anyone who grew up on it...
Steve Soto: Moderates Hammer Out Deal To Avert Nuclear Option - As Bush's Gallup Numbers Fall Again — Details are just now...
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: HARRY REID commercial blasting the Republicans after the press conference on Fox News. ABC News AP Report Yahoos take.
Kos @DailyKos: The Deal — Still no details beyond the AP's brief description: "Under the agreement, Democrats would pledge not to...

Senators compromise on filibusters
  CNN   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON (CNN) — A bipartisan group of senators reached an agreement after days of talks to avert a showdown Tuesday over President Bush's judicial nominees, Sen. John McCain announced Monday evening.
Max B. Sawicky: THE NEUTRON BOMB OPTION — It's late for me and not all the cylinders are firing, but from what I can see this Senate deal looks like a giant steaming pile of monkey crap.
Kevin Drum: A bipartisan group of 14 senators has agreed to a last-minute compromise that will avert Bill Frist's attempt to end...
Jack Cluth: That's great, but what the hell is up with that tie??
Captain Ed: Deconstructing The Deal — Based on reaction around the Internet, it appears that everyone except for the Senate and the...
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: More from CNN. "McCain is up saying absolutely nothing, they essentially are saying that they have an agreement, but they are giving out no information.

Deal averts filibuster showdown
  MSNBC   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON - Averting a showdown, 14 centrists from both parties in the Senate reached agreement Monday night on a compromise that clears the way for confirmation votes on many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, leaves others in limbo and preserves venerable Senate filibuster rules.
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: MSNBC reports , but is holding back to check with Newsweek to see how to spin this so it hurts the white house the most.
Taegan Goddard: Deal Averts Filibuster Showdown — "Senators from both parties reached a compromise Monday night to avoid a showdown on...
Lambert @Corrente: More from Ben "Dover" Nelson: [quote] "I think it's a positive step to be able to set aside the nuclear option and also get as...[end quote]

Frist schedules Senate 'all-nighter' on judges
  By / MSNBC   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON - Cots were brought into the Capitol Monday as Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist scheduled an all-night session stretching into Tuesday to dramatize the debate over President Bush's judicial nominees and the filibusters that Democrats have used to block votes on 10 of them.
Barbara O'Brien: I see that Bill Frist planned a pajama party for all his Senate buddies.
Joe Gandelman: Countdown Beginning On The Nuclear Option — Unless there's a surprise, Senate moderates appear not to have succeeded...
Captain Ed: UPDATE II: Second Wobbly sighting — Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, from last Thursday: "When the talks broke up on...
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: Charlie and lucy Is the Senate Going all night Cots were brought into the Capitol Monday as Senate Majority Leader Bill...
David Sirota: New Evaluations Raise Questions About Owen — With the Senate going into high gear on President Bush's right-wing...
Jeralyn Merritt: Sen. Frist has scheduled an all-nighter in the Senate. Cots have been brought in.
Also: Orrin Judd

Senators Reach Deal on Filibuster
  WaPo   —   Permalink 
Fourteen Republican and Democratic senators announced this evening they had reached a compromise designed to prevent a showdown over President Bush's judicial nominations.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), speaking for the group of seven Republicans and seven Democrats, announced the agreement at a news conference at 7:40 p.m.
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: ABC News AP Report Yahoos take. Washington Post Buzz Blog screams SELL OUTS, I do not disagree.
Taegan Goddard: The AP notes that under the agreement, Democrats "would pledge not to filibuster any of Bush's future appeals court or...
Chris Lawrence: Great taste, less filibuster — Well, that was fun while it lasted: Fourteen Republican and Democratic senators...

Bush Again Urges Votes on Judges
  Fox News   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — While a dozen Senate lawmakers looked for compromise in a race against the clock, President Bush on Monday repeated his demand that his judicial nominees get an up or down vote by the full Senate.
Joe Gandelman: Fox News reports: "While a dozen Senate lawmakers looked for compromise in a race against the clock, President Bush on...
Michelle Malkin: More on the non-slumber party preparations here. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has arranged to deliver a 90-second nationally televised pitch sometime this evening.
Forkum: From FoxNews: Bush Again Urges Votes on Judges: "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told Democrats that unless they...
Dale Franks: "To the Mattresses" — It looks like it's gonna be a long day in the Senate today.

Stakes Still High After Senate Makes Deal
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
(05-23) 18:52 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) —
An eleventh-hour deal did little to diminish the political implications of the Senate's up-to-the-brink confrontation over President Bush's judicial nominations.
Joe Gandelman: But Ron Forrnier, AP Political Writer, notes that the stakes are still high: "An eleventh-hour deal did little to...
Michelle Malkin: Mitch Berg's open letter to Sen. Bill Frist: "You suck" *** Let the MSM drooling over the "maverick" moderates...

U.N. Forces Using Tougher Tactics to Secure Peace
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 22 - The United Nations, burdened by its inability to stave off the mass killings in Rwanda in 1994 and by failed missions in Bosnia and Somalia, is allowing its peacekeepers to mount some of the most aggressive operations in its history.
Gregory Djerejian: Details here: "The United Nations, burdened by its inability to stave off the mass killings in Rwanda in 1994 and by...
Charles Johnson: A War the New York Times Likes — Here's a very striking contrast, as the New York Times covers the activities of United...
Suzanne Nossel: Fighting for Peace — Interesting article today about how UN peacekeepers have gotten much more aggressive and willing to use force as they police hotspots like Congo.
Gary Farber: UN PEACEKEEPERS are both keeping more and less peace lately by kicking more ass. [snipped quote] It's easy to applaud this as good, and, in fact, I do.
Tom Maguire: No Anti-Military Bias Here — The NY Times fawns over the new "get tough" UN peacekeeping tactics, with special emphasis...

America Wants Security
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
It was a carefully staged Norman Rockwell scene. The street was lined with American flags; a high school band played "God Bless America."
Then, under the watchful gaze of Wal-Mart's chief operating officer, Maryland's governor vetoed a bill that would have obliged large businesses to spend more on employee health care.
Barbara O'Brien: Other items of note from tday: Paul Krugman, "America Wants Security": "Since the election, high-profile right-wing...
Avedon Carol: In this morning's NYT, he returns to the subject of Americans overwhelmingly telling pollsters that they are more...
Stirling Newberry: Daniel Gross and Paul Krugman weigh in.
Tom Maguire: Security And Opportunity — Paul Krugman tells us that, on the economic front, "America Wants Security".
Will Wilkinson: Questions for Krugman — Krugman says: "There's a very good reason voters, when given a chance to make a clear choice,...
Magpie @PacificViews: Here's the end of his current column in the NY Times: [snipped quote] Now go read the rest of the column to see how Krugman got there.

Insurance Option Has Workers Pay More
  By / LAT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — For years, they were the kinds of health insurance plans one found at small businesses or among the self-employed, plans that had huge deductibles and required workers to pay a lot of medical bills themselves — such as allergy shots, chest X-rays and the cost of a new baby.
Barbara O'Brien: Stirling Newberry also points to this article by Daniel Gross: [quote] In corporate finance, a "cram-down deal" is defined as...[end quote]
Ezra Klein: HSA's on the March — This LA Times article on the rise of Health Savings Accounts in employer-offered health plans is the most important piece you'll read this week.
Orrin Judd: THE HSA REVOLUTION: A Costly Insurance Shift for Workers (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/23/05, LA Times)
Matthew Yglesias: HSA Thought — It seems to me that do to the intersection of corporate profit-seeking and conservative ideology, this...
Kevin Drum: In the LA Times today, we learn about the latest wrinkle in employer healthcare plans: extremely high deductibles paired with health savings accounts.

Media vs. the Military
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
The bashing of Newsweek over its horribly handled item on Koran desecration has mushroomed into a sweeping indictment of the media, which some conservatives now accuse of deliberately slandering the military.
Bill @INDCJournal: Tsk, Tsk (The Washington Post's Dishonest Presentation) Howard Kurtz wonders about the fallout from Newsweek's false...
Charles Johnson: Newsweek's Anti-Americanism — In his Washington Post column this morning, Howard Kurtz seems to take the position that...
Jeff Goldstein: Which is not to say that commentators like Hewitt shouldn't be more circumspect in their rhetoric; they should, or else...

Drowning Out the Real Issues
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
A certain and clear pattern has emerged when a damaging accusation or claim against the Bush administration or the Republican-led Congress is publicized: Bush supporters laser in on a weakness, fallacy or inaccuracy in the story's sourcing while diverting all attention from the issue at hand to the source or the accuser in the story.
Barbara O'Brien: Shouldn't take long. Also, I see that Terry Neal is pissed about the Noise Machine. 'Bout time. | bar.jpg
Will Collier: More "Journalism" From The Washington Post Company — Yet another post-Newsweekgate tendentious defense of the MSM today, this time from Terry M. Neal in the Washington Post.
Steve Soto: Well, at least Terry Neal of the Washington Post's Talking Points gets the picture correctly this morning: "A certain...
Kevin Drum: The real goal of the right wing media destruction machine, he says, is self-evident: [snipped quote] Good for him.

Dobson Blasts Filibuster 'Betrayal'
  U.S. Newswire   —   Permalink 
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 23 /U.S. Newswire/ — Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson today issued the following statement, upon the announcement by members of the U.S. Senate that a "compromise" had been reached on the filibuster issue:
Ezra Klein: Plus, anything that makes James Dobson this angry is bound to leave me pleased: "This Senate agreement represents a...
Byron LaMasters: He's already an anathema to Democrats of all stripes, and now the far-right James Dobson / theocrat wing of the...

Ben Bradlee Criticizes 'Newsweek' on Sourcing Debacle
  By / Editor and Publisher   —   Permalink 
NEW YORK Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of The Washington Post and a onetime Newsweek D.C. bureau chief, criticized the news magazine for taking too long to retract its recent, inadequately sourced Koran-abuse item.
Charles Johnson: Bradlee: "If You Don't Know, You Shouldn't Have Printed It" — Former Washington Post executive editor Ben Bradlee has...
Ed Driscoll: Meanwhile, Ben Bradlee, the former editor of the Washington Post, which owns Newsweek, also isn't very happy about their...

Wormhole 'no use' for time travel
  By / BBC   —   Permalink 
For budding time travellers, the future (or should that be the past?) is starting to look bleak.
Hypothetical tunnels called wormholes once looked like the best bet for constructing a real time machine.
Jan Haugland: Wormholes have long been a favourite of sf writers, but they seem to be a no-go.
Steve Bainbridge: DS9 Won't Be Needed — The physics of Star Trek just took another hit: [snipped quote] Apparently, however, we don't need...

SJC chief decries 'attacks' on judges
  By / Boston Globe   —   Permalink 
WALTHAM — The chief justice of the state Supreme Judicial Court said yesterday that rhetoric about judges destroying the country and the suggestion that court decisions should conform to public opinion are threatening public trust in the judicial system, a cornerstone of democracy.
Eugene Volokh: Public Trust in the Judicial System: Orin points to a Boston Globe article that starts with: "The chief justice of the...
Shawn @LiquidList: Politics: No Apologies — Margaret H. Marshall, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Chief Justice, delivered a...
Orin Kerr: Judges on Judging Judges: If I'm not mistaken, this is an example of a judge criticizing people for being...
K. J. Lopez: "JUDICIAL ACTIVISM" SHOULD BE OFF-LIMITS — Not as a practice, as a criticism.

President Welcomes Afghan President Karzai to the White House
  White House   —   Permalink 
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you. Welcome. Mr. President, welcome back to the White House. I am honored to stand by the first democratically-elected leader in the five-thousand year history of Afghanistan. Congratulations.
PRESIDENT KARZAI: Thank you, sir.
Faiz @ThinkProgress: "[Bush, 5/23/05]" Over the past couple of years, Bush and his advisors have consistently argued that increases in violence is evidence that the insurgency is losing.
Kos @DailyKos: Dumbass — President Bush: [snipped quote] So if the insurgents stopped fighting, would that mean we were losing?

The Dhia Muhsin Example
  By / Opinion Journal   —   Permalink 
You may remember Dhia Muhsin, a carpenter from the working-class Baghdad neighborhood of al-Dora, who became a celebrity of sorts back in March, when he stood up to insurgents who terrorized his area. In a firefight lasting half an hour Mushin and his nephews killed three of them and forced the rest to retreat.
Arthur Chrenkoff: Good News from Iraq: 23 May 2005 — Note: As always, available from "The Opinion Journal" and Chrenkoff.
FrancoAlemán: IT'S the 28th installment of Arthur Chrenkoff's good news from Iraq.
Cori Dauber: Another Good News Roundup From Iraq — Note particularly, even in the face of all the bombings, developments in talk...
Jan Haugland: Counterweight — Chrenkoff has published Good news from Iraq part 28, an important reminder that Iraq is far more than mayhem and car bombs.
Daniel Holt: Middle East — Iraq — IRAQ ROUND-UP NO. 28 Chrenkoff has more good news from Iraq.

How Old Media Can Survive In a New World
  WSJ   —   Permalink 
There's no question: Traditional media businesses are struggling.
Newspaper publishers, book publishers, movie studios, music companies, ad agencies, television networks — they're all trying to figure out how they fit into a new-media world.
Jeff Jarvis: So, for example, look at RSS feeds as a way to get your content out there and not only drive traffic back to your site...
Jim Romenesko: Experts: What newspapers and TV news should do to survive — Wall Street Journal "The newspaper of the future is going to be a coalition of niche products," says consultant S.W.

Khamenei urges rethink of Iran poll bans
  Guardian   —   Permalink 
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has ordered the country's hardline constitutional watchdog to reconsider its decision to bar reformist candidates in next month's presidential elections, state-run television reported today.
Pejman Yousefzadeh: I SEE A PATTERN — It seems that every time there are elections in Iran, the hardline Guardian Council decides to...
Gerry @DalyThoughts: Khamenei urges rethink of Iran poll bans — The Guardian Unlimited: "Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has...

Concept of Compromise Is Pushed Off Senate's Center Stage
  By / LAT   —   Permalink 
Lyndon Johnson must be spinning in his grave.
Bob Dole, Howard Baker and George Mitchell must be spinning in the comfy leather chairs of the big-name law firms they call home these days.
Chris Nolan: And that's before reading the LATimes Ron Brownstein who today bemoans the fact that compromise, once the hallmark of the Senate, is being pushed off-stage.
Patterico: More Pro-Democrat Spin from Ron Brownstein Ronald Brownstein continues the L.A. Times theme: nuclear option bad, "compromise" good.
Taegan Goddard: Ron Brownstein says it's now left to "an assortment of mavericks, malcontents, back-benchers, gray eminences and...

Iranian Leader Wants Candidates Reinstated
  AP   —   Permalink 
TEHRAN, Iran May 23, 2005 — Iran's supreme leader ordered the hard-line constitutional watchdog council to reconsider its decision to bar senior reformist candidates from running in next month's presidential elections, state-run television reported Monday.
Robert Mayer: Middle East — Iran — KHAMEINI RECONSIDERS REEFORM CANDIDATES Now that I've lured you in with a misleading, typical MSM headline, read on.
Praktike: It's hard for me to judge whether this is some kind of Iranian version of kabuki theater or not: TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's...

Bush Country
  By / Opinion Journal   —   Permalink 
"George W. Bush has unleashed a tsunami on this region," a shrewd Kuwaiti merchant who knows the way of his world said to me. The man had no patience with the standard refrain that Arab reform had to come from within, that a foreign power cannot alter the age-old ways of the Arabs.
Marvin: Fouad Ajami, writing in the Opinion Journal, describes his meeting with Arab men and women filled with hope, a press...
Marc @USSNeverdock: Middle East - Bush Country — As FOUAD AJAMI puts it "The Middle East embraces democracy—and the American president."
Stanley Kurtz: According to Fouad Ajami, very well indeed, thanks to George W. Bush. Ajami just spent four weeks in Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq.
Captain Ed: For those who doubt whether George Bush's policy of democratization as a weapon against Islamist terror in the Middle...
Pejman Yousefzadeh: BANDWAGONING WATCH — Fouad Ajami—one of the more perceptive observers of the Middle East—bandwagons
Josh Chafetz: I VERY MUCH HOPE THAT FOUAD AJAMI TURNS OUT TO BE RIGHT. But I think it's still too early for this kind of optimism.
Also: Smash, Michael DeBow, Glenn Reynolds, Roger L. Simon, Orrin Judd, FrancoAlemán

Tillman's Parents Are Critical Of Army
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army, saying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan last year were a sham and that Army efforts to cover up the truth have made it harder for them to deal with their loss.
Jim Lampley: Tillman's parents deserve bravery citations for telling the truth about their feelings. Surely the Bush administration was expecting otherwise.
David Allan Pell: The Soldier's Mom — Pat Tillman's mom on the way the military handled her son's death: "Pat had high ideals about the...
Aaron @LiquidList: Politics/War: Bad For Recruiting — More truth comes out about Pat Tillman's death and the subsequent Army cover-up about the 'friendly fire' killing.
John Podhoretz: PAT TILLMAN'S PARENTS — But it's not until rather late in the article that you realize Tillman's parents think it's...
Tbogg: The Tillmans hate America — After reading this, Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the...
Gary Farber: Find out why here if you don't know, and for an update if you do. Read The Rest Scale: 3 out of 5.
Also: Cookie Jill, Jeralyn Merritt, Arthur Silber

Opposing free trade
  By / Townhall.com   —   Permalink 
The Democratic Party, narrowly defeated in the elections of 2000, 2002 and 2004, is lashing out in fury at George W. Bush's Republicans. You can see the evidence in the Senate debate, where they are claiming as a time-honored tradition their recent practice of filibustering appellate court nominees.
Hugh Hewitt: Michael Barone, in a column on free trade, finds space to note the Dems, er, flexibility when it comes to their...
Orrin Judd: W SHOULD OPPOSE IT, THEN THE LEFT WOULD SUPPORT IT: Opposing free trade (Michael Barone, May 23, 2005, Townhall)...
Pejman Yousefzadeh: DISSING FREE TRADE — Michael Barone shows anew that when it comes to the issue of free trade, the political class is all hat and no cattle.

Activists on right and left agree: No deals
  By / USA Today   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — Tim Wildmon is president of the American Family Association in Tupelo, Miss., a politically active religious group that's trying to eliminate pornography, discourage homosexuality and restore religious symbols to American public life.
Atrios: Cat Fight! IHeartDixiecrats vs. SpongeDobStickypants. Meow! "James Dobson: Who does he think he is, questioning my conservative credentials?"
Kos @DailyKos: Lott vs Dobson — If Frist fails, expect more of this. [snipped quote] Dobson is seriously overreaching, and he'll be scapegoat number one if Frist fails.

The Rumsfeld Stain
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
How does Donald Rumsfeld survive as defense secretary?
Much of what has happened to the military on his watch has been catastrophic. In Iraq, more than 1,600 American troops have died and many thousands have been maimed in a war that Mr. Rumsfeld mishandled from the beginning and still has no idea how to win.
Jo Fish: Herbert: [snipped quote] McNamara, while never believing that Vietnam would be a cakewalk, nevertheless allowed...
Jon Henke: Bob Herbert — I don't use the word often, but in his latest column Bob Herbert is just dishonest.

Clock Ticks on Effort to Defuse Senate Battle
  By / LAT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — Senate leaders hardened their stances Sunday in a bitter partisan showdown over judicial nominations, while moderates warned that a meeting today offered one final chance for compromise.
Captain Ed: Various reports have moderates in both parties working towards compromises that might be acceptable to enough Senators...
Hugh Hewitt: And that would be the end of Senator Graham's national ambitions: "Graham predicted that of the judges in dispute, 'at least one would be rejected' by a bipartisan majority.

Inside the Korean Cloning Lab
  By / Time   —   Permalink 
The room is warm and still and nearly dark, bathed only in the light that leaks through its glass door. Refrigerator-size incubators, set to body temperature, line one wall. Along another wall, a young woman in a blue jumpsuit, mask and bonnet is peering through a microscope at half a dozen freshly harvested human eggs.
Kathryn Jean Lopez: But there is real stuff happening.
K. J. Lopez: OF COURSE this is where the momentum is: leaning toward Woo Suk Hwang's cloning lab.

Tillman's parents lash out at Army
  By / MSNBC   —   Permalink 
Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army, saying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan last year were a sham and that Army efforts to cover up the truth have made it harder for them to deal with their loss.
Steve Bainbridge: Tillman — MSNBC reports: [snipped quote] There is plenty of precedent in the Army both for manufacturing heros in wartime and for covering up friendly fire incidents.
Arnold P. California: Coming Soon to a Conservative Blog Near You — But don't hold your breath. Would a triumphalist rant from Ted Rall be satisfactory?
Attaturk: Faux Patriotism — We can look for the war floggers to completely ignore this story.

Link to Lobbyist Brings Scrutiny to G.O.P. Figure
  NYT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON, May 18 - In Republican Washington, Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist worked all the angles.
One was a $750-an-hour lobbyist, the other an antitax activist, and they helped drive the Republican takeover of the capital and cement the party's power.
Arianna Huffington: Arianna Huffington: The Leave Us Alone, Grover, Coalition — So now we finally know why Grover Norquist founded the "Leave Us Alone Coalition".
David Sirota: With lobbyist scandals still swirling around people like House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and Sen. Conrad Burns...
Steve Soto: Get The Popcorn: McCain Is Going After Grover Norquist — Sit back and enjoy the fact that Jack Abramoff's troubles as a...
Matthew Yglesias: It turns out that Grover Norquist isn't a squeaky-clean good guy and that Jack Abramoff isn't some random minor figure in the contemporary conservative movement.
Tom @BeggingToDiffer: HARD TO KILL — Via Yglesias, a good start. But let's face it: Grover Norquist doesn't hold an elected office.
Armando @DailyKos: Has a big fish been caught in the Abramoff net? From tomorrow's NYTimes: [snipped quote] Oh boy. This is getting verrrry interesting.

A price worth paying?
  Economist   —   Permalink 
America's response to Enron and other scandals was the Sarbanes-Oxley law. It is costing plenty—but is it working?
THE Sarbanes-Oxley statute, which the United States enacted in an atmosphere of extraordinary agitation in 2002, is one of the most influential—and controversial—pieces of corporate legislation ever to have hit a statute book.
Judd @ThinkProgress: The Fight Against Corporate Accountability — In this week's Economist there is a lengthy article criticizing...
Ramesh Ponnuru: SARBANES-OXLEY — Maybe not such a great law. (Via Liberty Lover.)

Taking The Pledge
  CBS News   —   Permalink 
(CBS) For about two decades, the top public health agencies in America urged young people to use condoms to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
But the U.S. government has dramatically reversed course.
John Cole: I am sure that in some quarters, people are already decrying last night's 60 Minutes piece on government funding of...
Jack Cluth: Taking The Pledge Helping teenagers come to grips with their sexuality is a problem that has been around as long as there have been teenagers.
RJ Eskow: The abstinence education modules and guidelines discussed on 60 Minutes (summary here) include the federally-funded...

Are Bloggers Setting the Agenda? It Depends on the Scandal
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
IN the spring of 1712, the British essayist Joseph Addison rambled from pub to parlor seeking the pulse of his countrymen regarding rumors (false, it turned out) that the king of France, Louis XIV, had died. The St. James coffeehouse, Addison reported in The Spectator, was "in a Buzz of Politics."
Tom Maguire: Longbowmen Of The Blogosphere — Buried in the business section, the Times writes on bloggers and buzz.
Ann Althouse: Tom Zeller (in the NYT) thinks bloggers only have much influence to decide what's news when they get their hands on a smoking gun.

First Lady: Protests Were 'Very Expected'
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
ABU GHOSH, Israel - Laura Bush said Monday she was not surprised to be met by protesters during her tour of Mideast holy sites and pledged the United States will do all it can to help resolve age-old conflicts.
Edward _: In that context, I'd like to note that this is a silly statement about the protests that met her in Jerusalem: [quote] "As we...[end quote]
Tim Dunlop: Sunday godblogging...on Monday In the wake of the bit of heckling she got during her recent trip to Jerusalem, Laura...

Court Taking Up Abortion Notification
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court, re-entering the abortion debate amid burgeoning speculation about Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's retirement, agreed Monday to hear an appeal of a decision striking down a state parental notification law.
Ann Althouse: The Supreme Court has just taken up a new abortion case: "Justices will review a lower court ruling that struck down such a law in New Hampshire.
Steve Dillard: Supremes agree to hear "abortion notification" case: Very interesting.

Senate Leaders Prepare for Crucial Filibuster Vote
  WaPo   —   Permalink 
A dozen Senate negotiators hope to avert a showdown today over judicial filibusters, but the chamber's Democratic and Republican leaders signaled yesterday that they are ready for a long-awaited vote that could deeply affect the federal judiciary and the operations of Congress.
Nick Gillespie: Full of It on Filibusters — As the World's Greatest Deliberative Body®, a.k.a the U.S. Senate and the least...
Patterico: It sounds like Bill Frist has done that: Frist, for his part, talks to his GOP colleagues in every forum possible —...
Armando @DailyKos: Frist's Nukes: How It Looks — From WaPo: [snipped quote] It's close, that's for sure.
Taegan Goddard: Though a compromise is still possible, the Washington Post highlights how the filibuster debate "presents special challenges" for the Senate leadership.
Orrin Judd: BIONIC JUDGES: Senate Leaders Prepare for Crucial Filibuster Vote (Shailagh Murray and Charles Babington, May 23, 2005,...

Painted With Horns That Won't Retract
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
The bashing of Newsweek over its horribly handled item on Koran desecration has mushroomed into a sweeping indictment of the media, which some conservatives now accuse of deliberately slandering the military.
Garrett M. Graff: The Post's media machine also examines how the story has basically become one about the left and the right—not the truth or the media.
Jim Romenesko: One sin: [snipped quote] > Hertzberg: Mag's stumble isn't as bad as NYT/CBS scandals (New Yorker) > Newsweek says no...

At 87, Byrd faces re-election battle of his career
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
"He's always trying to help us out," said Shawn Stines, a 26-year-old mechanic, as he stuffed a dryer at the Sophia Laundromat. "I like him. He's a good guy."
Outside Priddy's Hardware Store, 64-year-old Frances Meredith is even more emphatic.
Jayson @PoliPundit: Heck, that's the toughest political trick of all. Even when said incumbent is a senile former KKK member.
Taegan Goddard: Quote of the Day — [snipped quote] — Sen. Robert Bryd (D-WV), quoted by the AP, on his potential re-election bid next year at age 87.

Democrats flip-flop on filibusters
  By / Washington Times   —   Permalink 
Senate Democrats who oppose Republican attempts to forbid the use of the filibuster to kill judicial nominations were calling for its elimination not that many years ago.
Nick Gillespie: That's good reporting, though one wonders: Where were the Senate Republicans on the matter?
R. J. Pestritto: Nonetheless, this piece in the Washington Times does a particularly good job at unearthing some real whoppers.

Toss out felon vote, Gregoire still wins
  Seattle Times   —   Permalink 
For months, state Republicans have insisted that hundreds of votes cast illegally by felons put Democrat Christine Gregoire in the governor's mansion.
But a Seattle Times analysis finds that even if those votes were disqualified, Gregoire would still prevail over GOP challenger Dino Rossi.
Avedon Carol: Republican cry-baby stories — Sometimes it's hard to believe, but it's still going on in the Washington governor's...
Taegan Goddard: Felons Didn't Decide Governor's Race — Though Washington state Republicans insist that hundreds of votes cast illegally...

Editorial: Pawlenty bends/Stay tuned, and hope for more
  Minneapolis Star Tribune   —   Permalink 
Let not the best display of gubernatorial leadership Minnesota has yet seen from Gov. Tim Pawlenty be sullied by a fuss over semantics. If he's willing to collect an additional 75 cents on each pack of cigarettes sold in this state, and spend that money on health care and schools, he can call it "squatski" for all we care.
Chad The Elder: Look no further than this editorial in today's Star Tribune: Let not the best display of gubernatorial leadership...
Mitch Berg: Your chorus of critics are like a pack of feral chihuahuas; they seek weakness, and swarm it. Like here.

N.Y. Audit: Sex Offenders Getting Viagra
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Scores of convicted rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in New York have been getting Viagra paid by Medicaid for the last five years, the state's comptroller said Sunday.
Red @ScaredMonkeys: Now we learn that convicted rapists and other high-risk sex offenders in New York have been getting Viagra paid by Medicaid for the last five years.
Joe Gandelman: Sex Offenders Getting Viagra In New York State — File this one in the Amazing But True Story department: it turns out...
Greg Saunders: Greg Saunders: A Real Moral Crisis Nothing makes me more depressed than to see how some prescription drugs are...
Scott Sala: Technorati Tags: America+bashing Mark+Malloch+Brown UN+New+York Pace+University+Speech — NY Dems Scramble to Cover...
Acidman: i don't know about you... ... but I find something terribly wrong with this picture.
Greg @TheTalentShow: A Real Moral Crisis — Nothing makes me more depressed than to see how some prescription drugs are practically given...
Also: Jeralyn Merritt, Julian Sanchez

Mayor Picked by a Shrinking Electorate
  LAT   —   Permalink 
A meager turnout reflects a steady decline in civic participation over several decades.
Antonio Villaraigosa made history in a big way Tuesday, sweeping into office in a landslide that put an emphatic punctuation mark on the hard-fought Los Angeles mayor's race.
Ezra Klein: Folks didn't like Hahn. Turnout was terrible. Of the 10 or 12 people who did turn out, most voted for Antonio.
Kevin Roderick: ...There are rumors around that Noelia Rodridguez, former communications deputy to Richard Riordan and First Lady Laura...

Old, but Never Totally Cold
  By / LAT   —   Permalink 
A city that lets its unsolved murders fade into forgetfulness is lost.
Last month I sat in the back of a courtroom in San Fernando Superior Court and watched an admitted murderer named Edmond Jay Marr be sentenced to prison.
Kevin Roderick: Ross Johnson also contributed a story on the film program at Loyola Marymount...Add former LAT Magazine staff writer...
Patterico: Michael Connelly in the L.A. Times Mystery novelist Michael Connelly has a nice piece in today's L.A. Times about cold-case murders titled Old, but Never Totally Cold.

A Look at the 'Newsweek' Controversy
  CNN   —   Permalink 
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST (voice-over): Deadly consequences. Has "Newsweek's" credibility gone into the toilet over its retracted story about an American prison guard defiling the Koran?
Garrett M. Graff: Lastly, on Kurtz's Reliable Sources yesterday, David "Talking Head" Gergen called for Newsweek to announce who its...
Richard Bradley: So David Gergen thinks that Newsweek should burn its source for the Koran item. What a boneheaded idea.
Jim Romenesko: Gergen: Newsweek should unmask its anonymous source — "Reliable Sources" U.S. News & World Reporter editor-at-large...
Brian Stelter: Here's the transcript...

Officers Plot Exit Strategy
  By / LAT   —   Permalink 
KILLEEN, Texas — Army Capts. Dave Fulton and Geoff Heiple spent 12 months dodging roadside bombs and rounding up insurgents along Baghdad's "highway of death" — the six miles of pavement linking downtown Baghdad to the capital city's airport.
Kos @DailyKos: We know that at least 5,000 soldiers have deserted. And the bad news keeps on coming.
Attaturk: Another Warning — The Bush Administration perpetual war machine cannot survive, though it likely will survive the end of their term.

Psychiatrists May Push for Gay Marriage OK
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
ATLANTA - Representatives of the nation's top psychiatric group approved a statement Sunday urging legal recognition of gay marriage. If approved by the association's directors in July, the measure would make the American Psychiatric Association the first major medical group to take such a stance.
Jayson @PoliPundit: Well, if you're either a conservative or a libertarian psychiatrist (a real libertarian, Chomsky, not one of those...
Jesse Taylor: Welcome to the Reign of the Stupid, here's your T-shirt — Other than having to brace ourselves for another anti-science...

Drama on the Hill: Americans shrug
  By / Christian Science Monitor   —   Permalink 
CHICAGO - In Washington, the showdown is looming. Republicans and Democrats are filling their PR arsenals and spinning the news before it occurs, trying to liven up arcane subjects like cloture and calling their opponents names that range from Hitler to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the latest Star Wars villain.
Taegan Goddard: The rest of America, however, seems to be giving the face-off a collective yawn," the Christian Science Monitor reports.
Orrin Judd: DELAY, OBSCURANTISM & OBSTRUCTIONISM: Drama on the Hill: Americans shrug: As the Senate nears a showdown over...
K. J. Lopez: SPEAKING OF ZZZZ — Is anyone paying attention?

U.S., Iraq Troops Launch Baghdad Offensive
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Seven Iraqi battalions backed by U.S. forces launched an offensive in the capital on Sunday in an effort to stanch the violence that has killed more than 550 people in less than a month, targeting insurgents who have attacked the dangerous road to Baghdad's airport and Abu Ghraib prison.
Andrew Olmsted: TOP TOPICS U.S. troops are taking the fight to Baghdad. Operation Squeeze Play is supposed to reduce insurgent strongholds in western Baghdad.
Armando @DailyKos: A Baghdad Offensive? The title of this AP story is startling - "US, Iraq Troops Launch Baghdad Offensive." A Baghdad offensive?

Automatic Signup In 401(k)s Backed
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) will include a provision in his Social Security legislation to help employers make enrollment in 401(k) plans automatic unless workers choose to opt out, according to congressional staff and knowledgeable lobbyists.
Matthew Yglesias: It's heartening to read that Rep. Bill Thomas, who's supposed to be heading up the House side of the phase-out...
Orrin Judd: SOMEONE HAS TO HERD THE SHEEP: Automatic Signup In 401(k)s Backed (Jonathan Weisman, May 22, 2005, Washington Post)...

China, the World's Capital
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
As this millennium dawns, New York City is the most important city in the world, the unofficial capital of planet Earth. But before we New Yorkers become too full of ourselves, it might be worthwhile to glance at dilapidated Kaifeng in central China.
Matthew Yglesias: Nicholas Kristof. Unless American kids learn calculus, our civilization is doomed. Matt Miller. Conservatives should do more to help poor people.
John Derbyshire: CAPITAL OF THE WORLD — Nicholas Kristof has a gush piece about China in today's NYT.

Leaving the left
  By / San Francisco Chronicle   —   Permalink 
Nightfall, Jan. 30. Eight-million Iraqi voters have finished risking their lives to endorse freedom and defy fascism. Three things happen in rapid succession. The right cheers. The left demurs. I walk away from a long-term intimate relationship.
Skippy: what's your hurry here's your hat - a skippy rant the hardly-ever-right wing of blogtopia (and yes, we coined that...
Jesse Taylor: We lost this guy! You know him...he was the one who always had the crullers at the meetings and smiled a lot.
Tbogg: Meet Keith Thompson: Eight-million Iraqi voters have finished risking their lives to endorse freedom and defy fascism.
TheAnchoress: "Leaving the Left" maybe someday I'll write my own story Meanwhile, Keith Thompson gives us this articulate expression...
Norbizness: Of course, most people linking to this warmed-over mishmash of unsourced assertions and predetermined conclusions are...
Ace: Another One Bites The Truth — Another "Goodbye To All That" defection from the left: [snipped quote] Devastating, and...
Also: Cernig, Jan Haugland, Gerry @DalyThoughts, Smash, Roger L. Simon, Steve Antler, Glenn Reynolds, FrancoAlemán, Marc @USSNeverdock, Michael J. Totten, Orrin Judd, Michelle Malkin, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Ed Driscoll, H.D. Miller, Scott @PowerLine

Transcript for May 22
  MSNBC   —   Permalink 
PLEASE CREDIT ANY QUOTES OR EXCERPTS FROM THIS NBC TELEVISION PROGRAM TO "NBC NEWS' MEET THE PRESS."
This is a rush transcript provided for the information and convenience of the press. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Sirota: Populism Gets a Boost from the Chairman — In one of the little-noticed exchanges on Meet the Press this past Sunday,...
John Hawkins: Here's Dean and Russert going back and forth about self-admitted socialist Bernie Sanders: [snipped quote] So, we have...
Ann Althouse: UPDATE: I note that part of what Kos is saying here is nearly the same thing Howard Dean said on "Meet the Press"...
Tom Maguire: "I'm Proudly Willing To Say Anything" — Howard Dean appears with Tim Russert and emphasizes energy over credibility.
Joe Gandelman: Howard Dean Meets Meet The Press — Howard Dean as Democratic National Committee chairman went through that modern...
Red @ScaredMonkeys: One would think that Dr Dean could get his facts straight in an unchallenged interview like he had with Tim Russert this weekend on Meet The Press.
Also: Michelle Malkin, Trey Jackson, Captain Ed, Avedon Carol, Jeralyn Merritt, Kevin Aylward, Gerry @DalyThoughts, Taegan Goddard, Orrin Judd

A Letter to Our Readers
  Newsweek   —   Permalink 
May 30 issue - In the week since our Periscope item about alleged abuse of the Qur'an at Guantanamo Bay became a heated topic of national conversation, it will come as no surprise to you that we have been engaged in a great deal of soul-searching and reflection.
Jan Haugland: PS: On the Quran-flushing story, Newsweek has written a letter to our readers with more apologies, but most importantly,...
Garrett M. Graff: He reports on a statement in the new issue of Newsweek explaining how the paper will cut down on its use of anonymous...
Suzanne Nossel: Newsweek's recantation, its new policy limiting the use of unsubstantiated sources, and its finding that the reporters...
Jim Romenesko: Newsweek says it's restricting use of anonymous sources — Newsweek Editor-in-chief Richard Smith says: "The cryptic...
Michelle Malkin: First Lady Laura Bush feels the heat. - Bloggers take down Newsweek's newest, freshest, non-apology apology.
Kevin Drum: MEA MAXIMA MAXIMA MAXIMA CULPA...Newsweek's editor-in-chief, Richard Smith, engages today in yet another public mea...
Also: Jay Rosen, Tom @ScaredMonkeys, Rex Hammock, Captain Ed

Nelson sunk by PC raiding party
  By / Times of London   —   Permalink 
ADMIRAL NELSON saw off the mighty Franco-Spanish fleet at the battle of Trafalgar but 200 years on, he has been sunk by a wave of political correctness.
Organisers of a re-enactment to mark the bicentenary of the battle next month have decided it should be between "a Red Fleet and a Blue Fleet" not British and French/Spanish forces.
Roger Kimball: No, apparently we can't. Here's the Times: [snipped quote] And here's the conclusion: "Also present will be the...
Jan Haugland: But political correctness and fear of offending the French has the mighty fleet sunk in parody.
Alex Tabarrok: PC History — Admiral Nelson defeated the French blue team at the battle of Trafalgar. More here.
Pejman Yousefzadeh: IT IS TO LAUGH — I just don't know what to say in response to this: [snipped quote] Feel free to wax sarcastic in the comments section.
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: The Heck with French Sensibilities — They Lost. Like they have lost every major Battle in the last 400 years.
Andrew Stuttaford: ENGLAND EXPECTS...AND WILL BE DISAPPOINTED — From the London Sunday Times "ADMIRAL NELSON saw off the mighty...
Also: Orrin Judd

Cricket star knows how to fire up fanatics
  By / Chicago Sun Times   —   Permalink 
By my reckoning, just five American newspapers mentioned the name of Imran Khan last week. Who? Well, he's a world-famous — wait for it — cricketer. No, hang on: Don't all stampede for the exits, this isn't a column about cricket.
Roger Kimball: I mean, every one now knows that no one was flushing Korans (or Qurans, or even Q'rans) down any toilets at Gitmo—nor...
Acidman: But this is is one guy who ALWAYS makes me hang my head and say, "I am not worthy" every time I read him.
Glenn Reynolds: UPDATE: And it's especially worth reading this Mark Steyn column. Also, don't miss Ernest Miller's take.
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: Mark Steyn is Amazing — Oh, to turn a phrase such as this. Once. "As for the wackiness of Muslim fanatics, well, up to a point.
FrancoAlemán: MARK STEYN on the Koran-gate. As usual, it would be a sin not to read what he has to say. Click here to send me an email
Ed Driscoll: Mark Steyn introduces us to Imran Khan, the other half of the equation, the man who lit the spark on Pakistani TV: [snipped quote] Read the whole thing.
Also: Jayson @PoliPundit, Marc @USSNeverdock, Orrin Judd

The Qur'an Question
  Newsweek   —   Permalink 
May 30 issue - What really happened at Guantanamo? Last week, amid the heat of the controversy over NEWSWEEK's retracted story, new details about the issue of alleged mistreatment of the Qur'an emerged.
Charles Johnson: Newsweek's Latest Account — Newsweek's latest statement on the Koran-in-a-commode controversy, by Evan Thomas and...
John Cole: On May 20th, the NY Times releases a report on torture that was just written because the MILITARY FINALLY RELEASED THE DETAILS AFTER CLOSE TO THREE YEARS.
Orrin Judd: The Qur'an Question (Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff, 5/30/05, Newsweek) [snipped quote] After all, if you can't trust our enemies and their advocates who can you trust...
Michelle Malkin: And a follow-up from Evan Thomas and Michael Isikoff, "The Qu'ran Question," includes some striking details about...
Jeralyn Merritt: Newsweek's New One-Sided Reporting — In the upcoming issue of Newsweek, Michael Isikoff and Evan Thomas have a new...

The Senate's Quavering Middle
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
Here's an example of why moderates never accomplish anything in Washington.
Twelve independent and moderate senators - six Democrats and six Republicans - spent much of last week trying to work out a deal to head off a nuclear showdown over judges.
Chris Nolan: The NYTimes David Brooks makes fun of the moderate Democrats and Republicans who were working to forge a deal in the Senate to put off a show-down over filibuster rules.
Taegan Goddard: Though they have an outline for a deal, David Brooks notes "these are moderates.
Matthew Yglesias: David Brooks. Republicans want to go too far, so Democrats have a duty to meet them halfway in order to save them from themselves.
Jeffrey Dubner: On that note, I hope that David Brooks is simply channeling Republican hard-liners, rather than the actual state of...
Walter Shapiro: But why am I identifying with this bipartisan band of spineless centrists (a point David Brooks makes) when as a...
Yuval Rubinstein: The Patented Brooks Confidence Scheme, Part Deux — Bobo Brooks, in today's NY Times, writes one of his typical...
Also: Tom Maguire, Jeff Jarvis, Orrin Judd, PoliPundit

The Media in Trouble
  By / US News   —   Permalink 
It's official. conservatives are losing their monopoly on complaints about media bias. In the wake of Newsweek 's bungled report that U.S. military interrogators "flushed a Qur'an down a toilet," here is Terry Moran, ABC's White House reporter, in an interview...
Hugh Hewitt: Barone's colleague at U.S. News and World Report, John Leo, kicks off this week's focus on media bias: "[T]he focus...
Jay Rosen: Trust-Me Journalism and the Newsweek Retraction — Including why I disagree with almost everyone about it.
Orrin Judd: FOURTH ESTATE AND LONG: The Media in Trouble (John Leo, 5/30/05, US News) [snipped quote] How can an institution that...
Mitch Berg: Hugh Hewitt draws our attention to John Leo's excellent piece on the Newsweek flap as well as the fallout - much of it...
Ed Driscoll: "Conservatives Are Losing Their Monopoly On Complaints About Media Bias" — When US News & World Report's John Leo...

The Believer
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
Rick Santorum, the boyish-looking 47-year-old senator from Pennsylvania, could not, in more decorous political times, have risen to a position of much power in Congress.
David Sirota: NY Times Creates St. Rick Santorum (R-Pious) Per my last post about the NY Times profile of Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA),...
Tbogg: I read Michael Sokolove's wet sloppy kiss to Rick Santorum (R-Beagle) this morning at about 1AM, but I was too tired to go into it.
Tom Maguire: Rick Santorum is profiled in the Times magazine; at the InstaPundit we see that Times coverage of Nascar Nation is being panned.
Steve M.: IT'S CALLED "A FOLLOW-UP QUESTION," MICHAEL — Excerpts from Michael Sokolove's godawful profile/wet kiss of Rick...
Judd @ThinkProgress: From this weekend's New York Times Magazine: "When I asked him [Rick Santorum] if he viewed gay marriage as a threat to his own marriage, he answered quickly.
Alexander K. McClure: 2006 Pennsylvania Senate Race — Read this wonderful article on Rick "Torquemada" Santorum (Inquisition-PA)

China outlaws 'naked sushi' meals
  BBC   —   Permalink 
The Chinese government has banned restaurants from serving food on the bodies of naked women.
The practice was condemned as a violation of common decency by the commerce department.
The ban also aims to stop businesses from using nude models to promote their goods, Xinhua news agency reports.
C. D. Harris: What's The World Coming To?!? The Chicoms have now banned restaurants from serving food on the bodies of n4k3d women.
The Farmer: Tuna in the raw — Chef P-Niss Genitalia's Guide to International Fine Dining: From the department of "hey pal, that ain't smoked salmon you're pokin' at down there!"
Red @ScaredMonkeys: The Chinese government has banned restaurants from serving food on the bodies of naked women. [snipped quote] [snipped quote] No kidding, really?
Ann Althouse: Really! [snipped quote] It's interesting to think of all the things that haven't been outlawed because no one even wants to do them.

Decoding Health Insurance
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
NEARLY five years ago, President Bill Clinton had an all-star gathering at the White House to announce the completion of the first draft of the human genome's approximately 3.2 billion base pairs.
Kevin Drum: In Sunday's New York Times we get the other half of this story.
Ezra Klein: The End of Aetna — Really good op-ed today by Dr. Robin Cook restating the argument that genetic profiling will mandate single-payer health insurance.
Matthew Yglesias: The Op-Ed You Actually Need To Read Robin Cook on the end of health insurance.
Dwight Meredith: Universal Health Insurance Is Inevitable — Here is why.

A Big Source of Frustration
  By / Newsweek   —   Permalink 
May 30 issue - After the riots in Afghanistan and Pakistan; after NEWSWEEK's retraction last week of a May 9 Periscope item that said a U.S. military report would include an account of Guantanamo Bay interrogators' trying to flush a Qur'an down the toilet;...
Jim Romenesko: > Newsweek's Jonathan Alter notes: "Confidential sources have been instrumental in breaking almost all of the landmark...
Rex Hammock: Also, compare these headlines from the print issues of Time & Newsweeks that hit the stands today: Time: When a Story...
John Cole: And as far as I can tell, the source for this story has not denied that the Koran was flushed, but admitted only that he can not find the report in which it was detailed.

Karl Rove's Secret To Success: Eggies
  US News   —   Permalink 
Karl Rove and the U.S. military have something in common: They both agree with that old Napoleon Bonaparte saw that "an army marches on its stomach." That's right: Rove, the president's political and policy guru and White House deputy chief of staff, believes that he'll have a happy camp of senior workers if he keeps them well fed during meetings.
Tom @ScaredMonkeys: Karl Rove's Secret To Success: Eggies "Karl Rove and the U.S. military have something in common: They both agree with...
Taegan Goddard: Rice Wants to be Drafted for White House Bid — Washington Whispers says "political associates" of Secretary of State...
Ann Althouse: Draft Condi. USNews reports (via Wonkette): [snipped quote] Great idea!
Gerry @DalyThoughts: Rice Wants It-But in Draft Form — USNews.com's Washington Whispers: [snipped quote] She's unlikely to truly be drafted;...

Most Iran Reform Candidates Disqualified
  By / AP   —   Permalink 
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's hard-line Guardian Council on Sunday rejected all reformists who registered to run in presidential elections, approving only six out of the 1,010 hopefuls. Leaders of the reform movement threatened to boycott the vote.
Dan Darling: As reported by AP via ABC News, Iran's Council of Guardians in their infinite and self-apparent wisdom, have authorized...
Praktike: I imagine this is not going to be met with universal enthusiasm in Iran. Here's the AP story.
Gary Farber: IRAN, STILL AN EXEMPLAR OF DEMOCRACY. Not.
Marcus @HarrysPlace: My money is on another victory for the status quo.

The woman killed for pop music
  By / Times of London   —   Permalink 
Bright and modern, she hosted a music show in Afghanistan. It drove extremists to murder her
SHAIMA REZAYEE was the face of a new generation of young Afghan women: she discarded her shalwar kameez and burkha for Western clothes and a glamorous job as a television presenter on Kabul's answer to MTV.
Jan Haugland: Afghan woman killed over pop music — The Taliban may be ousted from power in Afghanistan, but extremism is far from...
Andrew Stuttaford: SHAIMA REZAYEE, R.I.P. Here via the London Times is a horrific story that highlights, once again, the nature of the...
Greg Piper: And you thought censorship on American television was resurgent: [snipped quote] Full, sad story here.
Charles Paul Freund: Shaima Rezayee is Dead — An Afghan female veejay famous for presenting racy music videos from Turkey to her young Kabul...
Hello but men put an end to her freedom: "- the times" but apparently laura bush didn't check in with either reality or with rove and "the boys" when she spoke...

Yet Another Wake-Up Call
  By / WaPo   —   Permalink 
For all of us who rely on, and want to trust, our newspapers, television networks and news magazines, this has been a tough couple of years. Some of our best (the New York Times and CBS News), some of our biggest (USA Today) and dozens of others have been caught up in various scandals and serious errors of journalistic procedure and judgment.
Jim Romenesko: Newsweek item revealed a catalogue of journalistic sins — Washington Post That's what Post ombud Michael Getler writes.
Lambert @Corrente: However, WaPo apparently has an extremely powerful Department of No!
Cori Dauber: But he does zero in on the part of the story that still troubles me the most: Newsweek did the right thing in taking the...
John Cole: Go read Newsweek apologizing to the point of absurdity. Go read the Washington Post's coverage of the affairs.

'Sunday Money' and 'Full Throttle': Nascar Nation
  By / NYT   —   Permalink 
For a certain segment of the population, Nascar's raid on American culture — its logo festoons everything from cellphones to honey jars to post office walls to panties; race coverage, it can seem, has bumped everything else off television; and, most...
Amanda Marcotte: Glenn didn't like the stereotyping of NASCAR fans he perceived in a an article on the sport from the NY Times, and so he...
Glenn Reynolds: REVEALING COMMENTS AT THE NEW YORK TIMES: "For a certain segment of the population, Nascar's raid on American culture —...
Steve M.: After that I dropped the A section and went for the Book Review, where I read about stock-car racing and a NASCAR hero...

Saudis to Support
  WaPo   —   Permalink 
PRESIDENT BUSH has publicly cited Saudi Arabia's local and limited council elections as evidence that the kingdom is joining a regional shift toward greater political freedom.
Andrew Stuttaford: THE SILENCE OF GEORGE W. BUSH — No apologies for reproducing this Washington Post editorial in full: "PRESIDENT BUSH...
Gary Farber: WHO WE'RE HOLDING HANDS WITH. Our Saudi friends: [snipped quote] Absolutely. This is... not a disgrace!
Gene @HarrysPlace: According to a Washington Post editorial: [Ali] Dumaini, who received the stiffest sentence of nine years, further...

Once upon a time in America
  Guardian   —   Permalink 
In her introduction to Graham Greene's The Quiet American, Zadie Smith says of Alden Pyle, the American of the title: "His worldly innocence is a kind of fundamentalism." She goes on: "Reading the novel again reinforced my fear of all the Pyles around the world.
James Wolcott: The Quiet American Who Won't Shut Up — Reviewer Richard Adams makes the irresistable point in the Guardian that if...
Atrios: Worth a read, but I was most stunned by this sentence quoted from Friedman's new book in the linked Guardian review: [snipped quote] writes Friedman.

Israelis arrest teenage suicide bomber: army
  Reuters   —   Permalink 
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers arrested a Palestinian teenager with a bomb belt tied around his waist at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, the army said.
Marc @USSNeverdock: And much of it promoted by the Biased Broadcasting Corporation. UPDATE And these are the people they support.
Charles Johnson: Israelis arrest teenage suicide bomber.

The Poisonous Gift
  By / Slate   —   Permalink 
The stocks of GM and Ford may be slumping. But investors can take solace in the healthy dividends they pay: $2.00 per share annually for GM, representing a 6.33 percent yield; and 40 cents per share annually for Ford, representing a 4 percent yield.
Brad DeLong: Here's Dan Bill Gross's column: The Poisonous Gift - Ford and GM are in big trouble. So, why do they keep paying fat dividends?
Mark Kleiman: None of that changes the basic validity of Dan Gross's point that every dollar paid out in dividends by companies such...

Schrder seeks early election after state poll defeat
  By / Financial Times   —   Permalink 
Germany faced political turmoil on Sunday night after Gerhard Schrder, the chancellor, suffered a crushing electoral setback in a one-time regional stronghold and said he would seek an early general election.
Stirling Newberry: The Third Way Hits a Speed Bump — With Tony Blair having his majority shaved in Britain, Clinton's legacy buried by...
Glenn Reynolds: ANTI-AMERICANISM hasn't saved Gerhard Schroeder, as he just suffered another electoral defeat. More here.

Stakes High for Iran Talks
  LAT   —   Permalink 
VIENNA — Amid Iranian threats to break off negotiations and European warnings about "irreversible gestures" on Tehran's part, the stakes are high as the two sides prepare to meet over the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions.
Ezra Klein: The Islamic Republic — Now With Nukes — Looks like talks with Iran are rapidly approaching their breaking point and the EU is murmuring about a security council referral.
Orrin Judd: SEND W: Stakes High for Iran Talks: This week's summit in Geneva will focus on containing the nation's nuclear ambitions.
Laura Rozen: And the LAT's Alyssa Rubin and Sebastian Rotella preview the upcoming round of talks between Iran and the European troika, in Geneva this week.

Laura Bush heckled in Jerusalem shrine visit
  By / Reuters   —   Permalink 
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Protesters jostled and harangued U.S. first lady Laura Bush on Sunday when she visited a flashpoint Jerusalem shrine holy to both Muslims and Jews and at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Avedon Carol: Laura Bush unites Muslims and Jews: JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Protesters jostled and harangued U.S. first lady Laura Bush on...
Red @ScaredMonkeys: Funny, there does not appear to be as many protesters as the original reports made there out to be.

Germany 'set for early election'
  BBC   —   Permalink 
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says he wants a general election this autumn - a year early - after his party lost a key powerbase in local polls.
Mr Schroeder made the announcement after his Social Democrats (SPD) lost the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which they had held for 39 years.
Gerry @DalyThoughts: Germany 'set for early election' — The BBC: "German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says he wants a general election this...
Orrin Judd: OUTLASTING ANOTHER ONE: Germany 'set for early election' (BBC, 5/22/05) [snipped quote] Strange, Bush, Blair, and Howard all posted historic victories...

Dozens Have Alleged Koran's Mishandling
  LAT   —   Permalink 
WASHINGTON — Senior Bush administration officials reacted with outrage to a Newsweek report that U.S. interrogators had desecrated the Koran at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, and the magazine retracted the story last week.
Jeralyn Merritt: Kevin Drum gets it exactly right, calling Newsweek's blunder the equivalent of jaywalking, and concluding:...
Stirling Newberry: Newsweek should retract their retraction — LA Times corroborates Newsweek's Koran story. This is a clear case of political cleansing of a news report.