News from Around the World

Is Newt Gingrich's WWIII declaration real or just good old politics?

Newt Gingrich's declaration on Meet the Press that World War III has already started, brought a quick demurral from Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), who was also a guest on the show. According to Jay Bryant, though, Newt is Right: It's World War III, Yahoo News.

From a long post refuting Alvin Plantiga's refutation of the Dover School Board decision on Intelligent Design.

But there is something even more insidious implied here. Plantinga suggests that the judge legislated that “the scientific community has successfully refuted the criticism of unguided evolution brought by the IDers” and this is utterly false. The judge did not ‘legislate’ this conclusion at all. What he did was summarize the general consensus within the scientific community. Intelligent Design has very very little support within science, so, in fact, if it is a question for science then ID has lost and lost catastrophically. This much is obvious to anyone who bothers to actually take a look. What is insidious in Plantinga’s argument is the suggestion that the judge did not have the right to do this, that the judge was not qualified, somehow, to take the advice of experts.

You don't believe our story, officer:

Tony Juniper began by putting the demonstration in context, noting Blair's recent change of heart, away from international emissions targets and towards voluntary technology uptake, revealed in comments to Condoleeza Rice at the Clinton Global Initiative two months ago (this contradicts my post of Tuesday, but I think Juniper is right on this). You can get more of Tony Juniper's view in his piece in the Guardian yesterday.

Here's something you don't see every day.

According to Braverman, who held a number of positions at the World Bank, Israel needs to adopt the social democratic outlook of Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, the American concepts of the Constitution and free enterprise, and the socio-economic policies of Sweden and Finland.

Right or wrong, but never in doubt:

Quick post while Dave’s in the shower: I survived the flight. I got a job. (More details on that later.) We’ve managed to eat some pretty awesome food - some cooked by my sister, some cooked by chefs in a fancy-shmancy restaurant. I got a great early birthday gift from my sister - a pair of jeans that make my ass look fantastic. (How rare a find is THAT?) We’ve been to the Museum of Modern Art and Central Park. We (meaning Dave and I - and probably my siblings, but definitely NOT my parents) got way too tipsy last night at dinner. I’ve managed to only get into one fight with my dad so far. (I’m doing well. Trust me.) And today we’re going to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty before we head back to T’s apartment and eat way too much food for Thanksgiving. I’m wearing my fat jeans in anticipation. Hope everyone has a good holiday.

Isn't there a word for this:

While Vietnam is remembered as the television war, Iraq has been the television-crawl war: a scrolling feed of bad-news bits, pushed to the margins by Brad and Jen, Robert Blake, Jacko and two and a half years of other anesthetizing fare. Americans could go days on end without engaging with the war, on TV or in print.

Whether we like it or not:

Congresswoman Pelosi’s “traps and smears” stemmed not from the legitimate vote, but from the MSM’s peevish misrepresentation of Congressman Murtha’s stunt. And while I don’t think he’s a coward, I’m offended by Democrats playing politics with troops that include my son.