Federal Workers Owe Massive Back-Taxes

That includes some IRS employees, I imagine...

Before You Bite Into That Horse-Burger, Consider This

Just another good reason to rejoice that Conrad Burns is finally out to pasture.

Lions and Tigers and Greek Anarchists, Oh My!

Vive Les Annees Soixante!

Guantanamo Prison Memoir Released in Germany

Nugent Weighs In On Virginia Tech Gun Debate

Is it just me, or does The Nuge have an almost preternatural ability to recast our national discourse as the lyrics to an 80s metal song?

Franco Still Dead, Tony Blair Still Alive

Haven't we been hearing the "dead man walking" stuff about Tony Blair for a while now? And haven't reports of his political passing been, so to speak, greatly exaggerated? I mean, yes, the guy is going to stand down/step down sometime soon, but he's going out on his own terms and (more or less) at the time of his choosing. That may not sound like much but it's more than you can say for Richard Nixon, Paul Wolfowitz, Al Gonzales (hopefully), and Lyndon Johnson, whom Blair will come to resemble more and more as his premiereship recedes into the gloaming of retrospect.

Fighting "Neutrality" On Darfur

Hunger Strike at Stanford

Very concerted action for an organization that calls itself 'SLAC'...

Dan Fleshler: A Vision For Israel

New Opponent For Chris Shays in '08

Well, he's not a superstar like Ned Lamont or Mike Richter, but all he has to be is about 5% better than the extremely lackluster Diane Farrell.

Renewed Momentum for Mideast Peace Process?

Momentum is in the eye of the beholder (Ha'aretz, like Shimon Peres, always promises peace)...

The Parallel Careers of Barack Obama and Deval Patrick

TNR Bloggingheads

Does Jonah Goldberg confuse 'Dan Savage' with 'Michael Savage' here, or am I missing something?

Also: Beinart argues that Sharpton should be asked about Tawana Brawley scandal (which he has still never apologized for) EVERY TIME he appears on TV. I agree.

Anti-Bush Bumper Sticker = Security Threat

Bush's (Other) British Poodle

I found this little tiff enormously amusing... it seems odd that we don't see more of this in American publications, i.e. the attack dogs of the British press operating outside the restraint of British libel laws!

Lieberman: "Time To Move On"

It takes chutzpah to say that after the likes of today's Supreme Court abortion decision.

A Tale Of Two Demonstrations

The Jean-Claude Van Damme Trade Theory

Could this be the hook for Thomas Friedman's next book?

Does This Apply To President Bush?

Zizek! (The Sequel to the Sequel)

When will Zizek fatigue set in, or is that, like, the whole point?

If you're asking yourself, "Zizek Who?," his oeuvre is best illustrated by a choice quote (of which there are many), e.g.:

Is not Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' the ultimate proof of this paradox [that paganism is the ultimate Christian dream]? Only a devout Christian could have imagined such a magnificent pagan universe, thereby confirming that paganism is the ultimate Christian dream. This is why the conservative Christian critics who recently expressed their concern at how books and movies like Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter series undermine Christianity through their message of pagan magic miss the point, that is, the perverse conclusion that is unavoidable here: you want to enjoy the pagan dream of pleasurable life without paying the price of melancholic sadness for it? Choose Christianity!

From "The Puppet and the Dwarf", MIT Press, 2003, p. 48

178 Dead in Baghdad Bombings

Deadliest day in Baghdad since surge began... "the flurry of attacks came as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki declared that the Iraqi government would take full control of security from the American-led forces before the end of the year."

UPDATE: New York Times reporting 146 dead.

Campus Shooter's Parents Rumored to Have Committed Suicide

China Joins Bullet-Train Club

Hmmm... does Acela have free wi-fi?

Bogus Campus Shooting Reports Cause Chinese Media Lockdown

Fox/Drudge Axis of Disinformation strikes again!

More With Doctored Photos

Did blogs have any role in uncovering the problem?

Advice For Candidates Trying to Woo the Jewish Vote

April Is The Cruellest Month

Do something about it!

UPDATE: Bush takes my advice.

Hitchens Defends DC Cocktail-Party Buddies, Lord Byron

JetBlue Outdone By British Airways' 13-Hour Delay

The airline industry is truly a race to the bottom.

Straight-Talk Express 'Pulls A Corzine'

Taxi to the Dark Side

I saw a sneak preview of documentarian Alex Gibney's new film "Taxi to the Dark Side" -- about a 22-year old Afghan taxi driver's brush with US-sanctioned torture -- last night. It's excellent, and premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month. See it.

Human Sacrifice OK, Nudity Not

Time For More Sanctions On Khartoum

Corzine Vehicle Travelling 91 MPH at Time of Crash

California Foreclosures Soar 802%

Infighting Between Pulitzer Jury and Board - Again

What Should Happen to Holocaust Loot In Israeli Museums?

A Private Army For California?

Door Opening Slightly on Elgin Marbles Repatriation?

'BM' for British Museum? Sure they're a bit stuffy over there, but there's really no justification for sinking to constipation jibes.

General Jaruzelski Charged For Communist-Era Crimes

Marty Peretz Does Opium, Makes Joke About Sectarian Slaughter

"I Was Only Praising Nazi Aesthetics"

Dennis Prager Off The Deep End

Comment Needed From Camilla Paglia

UPDATE: Edwards still has a long way to go to compete with Cherie Blair.

Access to Essential Medicines National Day of Action

Leggo My Eggo, Rudy

He waffles like McCain on the stars and bars issue, only in the opposite (and wrong) direction.

Harry Reid: I'm From Nevada And My Constituents Like Guns

The perils of placing the toggles of power in the hands of a red-state Dem?

Look Out! Here Come the Sequels!

God help us.

A Proper Place For Stereotypes

Who Should Pay to Remove Cluster Bomb Fragments From Lebanon?

Holocaust Survivor Among Campus Shooting Dead

Campus Shooting Makes Front Page of Le Monde

Those trigger-happy Americans (er, South Korean legal residents of the US)!

Fred Thompson: Second-Rate Actor, Third-Rate Politician

Michelle Cottle dispels any doubts about his mediocrity.

Why Are Your Taxes So Complicated?

The Republicans greatly complexified the tax code, contributing to tax evasion and making the I.R.S.’s job more difficult.

--Chris Edwards, director of tax policy at the Cato Institute (needless to say, not a Democrat looking to score political points)

UPDATE: Also interesting: why are people in the LOWEST income tax bracket being audited more than the $25,000-100,000 folks?

Iranian Diplomat Tortured in Captivity?

Bill Maher Discussing Imus on 'The View' This Morning

He almost seemed jealous of Imus, didn't he?

Why Did You Not Escape? Why Did You Not Rebel?

Wingnut-in-Chief

From the news:

A White House spokesman said President Bush was horrified by the rampage and offered his prayers to the victims and the people of
Virginia.

"The president believes that there is a right for people to bear arms," spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

We Love Them (Sanjaya et al.) BECAUSE They Have No Talent

Cosmo Landesman:

It was Susan Sontag who said that being a dandy was a way of being an individual in an age of mass culture. The problem today is how to be an individual in an age of mass individualism, when the usual means of status - clothes, cars, consumer goods - are within the grasp of a majority of the population, at least in the west. The answer is: celebrity. You want celebrity culture to die? Kill capitalism first and then we'll talk.

Hmmm... could we kill Sanjaya in the meantime?

Vinyl Shows Resilience

Ethnic Cleansing Spreads Out Of Sudan

Where Nature Meets (Or Doesn't Meet) Socio-Economic Class

The range of zip codes and socio-economic strata for these unlucky people in the dark is pretty vast. Disaster-affectedness -- one of the last loci of common ground in LA?

Cheney, Betting Man!

Clinton, Obama and Imus

Obama avoids racial politics while Hillary sees one of her main antagonists dispatched.

An Alternative to Clubbing

Tip for political nerds: if you're ever free on a Friday night in New York City, consider checking out the New York Military Affairs Symposium at CUNY Graduate Center. They have excellent speakers, and it's free.

Welcome Aboard, Governator

After Corzine's contretemps, maybe all sorts of rich pols will start hopping the rails (safer than driving by a factor of ten)...

Vietnamese Are The New Irish

How do the Irish feel about this?

Broadcast HIM!

Does everyone already know about godtube? If you don't, you should -- it's hilarious.

Sensual Fruit

Produce-blogging, courtesy of Rick Lee (and instapundit for the link)...

UPDATE: "Vegetable erotica I'm used to, but corn bondage?" [see comments]

Airline Taxes Subsidize Super-Rich

Winking and Profiting

Obama's Two Worlds

Oh, what a wonderful world(s) it could be...

Genocide Olympics -- Mia Farrow Weighs In

"Kaffir Boy" Censored in California

America's obsessive-compulsive fascination/prudery with pedophilia motors on... it's beyond appalling that this wonderful book should be censored, and in California no less.

The New Middle East

Laura Rozen updates Sy Hersh's 2004 reporting on Israel's efforts to establish anti-Iran proxies in Iraqi Kurdistan...

Death and Taxes

Tax deadline is this Tuesday -- here are some relevant facts and figures for US taxpayers:

*Percentage of US discretionary budget spent on education and other social
services: 8%
*Percentage of US discretionary budget spent for military: 57% (NOT COUNTING supplementary budget expenditures such as those to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan)
*US Military Budget as a percent of World total military expenditures: 49%
*Number of Americans classified as “food insecure” in 2004: 38 million
*Number of Americans without health insurance: 45 million

Slightly modified from the 1040 ez tax form available at http://www.archive.org/details/1040WAR

Teresa Heinz Kerry Goes on a Blogtour...

(1st Annual) NYC Anarchist Bookfair 2007

What a great event. Kudos to all involved. I'll definitely be back next year!

One For Steve Lopez...

Body sushi? Only in LA...

What Can You Get For $2 million in Hollywood?

Apparently, a 46-second car-chase clip that gets dropped from the final cut...