Question of the Day

THE NEW REPUBLIC | Blogs

. . . you just have to wonder, how is it possible that a ten-thousand-dollar Spitzer transfer to a prostitution ring tripped up authorities while the NRCC's treasurer stole one million dollars and nobody noticed anything?

The Perils of Friends with Imaginary Friends

Now that lots of buzz has been generated by Rev. Jeremiah Wright's positions ("Hillary is not a black man!") maybe it's a good time to recall my favorite debate, the Values Voter confab held last fall in Florida. A series of high profile Republicans stood up in public and claimed to have an invisible friend, one that qualified each candidate to run the most powerful country in the world.



From my point of view, once a person admits to imaginary friends, we shouldn't be surprised at any nonsense that follows. Fortunately, most people are middling faithful to their theology, if any, and therefore what happens in church stays in church. Religion is, I think, largely irrelevant, especially in public life.

A Matter of Perspective

Dan Phiffer

There's something of an assumption among the climate-change-scoffists that mankind is far too insignificant to effect climate change. I've long thought this position both underestimates our innate troublesomeness and overestimates the climate's robustness. See, our carbon contributions don't have to effect the entire planet, just the air and water. Considering how tiny a percentage each contributes to the mass of the entire globe might make the vulnerability of the climate system a little easier to visualize.



Left: All the water in the world (1.4087 billion cubic kilometres of it) including sea water, ice, lakes, rivers, ground water, clouds, etc. Right: All the air in the atmosphere (5140 trillion tonnes of it) gathered into a ball at sea-level density. Shown on the same scale as the Earth.

Tax Returns & Resumes

The Page - by Mark Halperin - TIME

As reported by Time, Sen. Clinton is being called to produce by the Obama campaign. She hasn't yet released her tax returns, and now a "put-up-or-shut-up" challenge on her claims of experience adds another arrow in the Obama quiver. From the Obama memo:

She did not sit in on National Security Council meetings. She did not have a security clearance. She did not attend meetings in the Situation Room. She did not manage any part of the national security bureaucracy, nor did she have her own national security staff. She did not do any heavy-lifting with foreign governments, whether they were friendly or not. She never managed a foreign policy crisis, and there is no evidence to suggest that she participated in the decision-making that occurred in connection with any such crisis. As far as the record shows, Senator Clinton never answered the phone either to make a decision on any pressing national security issue – not at 3 AM or at any other time of day.

It's probably time to retire the experience argument anyway. Assuming it helps Sen. Clinton win the nomination, it places her at a disadvantage during a general election contest with Sen. McCain, who is surely taking notes on the Dem tactics.

Evidence of Things Unseen

50 people looking for solar image of Mary lose sight

At least 50 people in Kottayam district have reportedly lost their vision after gazing at the sun looking for an image of Virgin Mary.

If St. Paul's definition of faith applies, these people sure have a whole lot more faith now.

A Completely Engrossing Waste of Time

How long does an Etch a Sketch last, anyway?

The Increasing Irrelevance of the Radical Right, Part 4

Townhall.com::Ann Coulter's Conservative Sell-Out::By Mike S. Adams

When the rad right begins to eat its own:

I never thought I would say this but I’m afraid my Ann Coulter Action Figure is going out with today’s garbage. She’s said a lot of stupid things in the last few years. But her recent statements about Hillary Clinton have shown that she isn’t a true conservative. In my opinion, she’s sold out.