Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 1:46:30 pm
ABC News calls this a "victory for the Obama administration," but in truth it's a major victory for US science in the struggle against the powerful forces of religious fundamentalism, as a federal appeals court strikes down a lower court's ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. In ...

Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 11:58:35 am
Of all the partisan Republican pundits on the scene, David Frum is probably the most sensible. But occasionally he issues one of these pieces, in which his partisanship completely clouds his judgment: A Great Week for the GOP. 1) The Republican caucus accepted a deal to avert a government shutdown. ...

Mon, Apr 4, 2011 at 3:24:29 pm
In a new column for Slate, Christopher Hitchens focuses on Hamid Karzai's incitement of violence against foreigners. As someone who advances the quaint belief that the removal of two of the worst regimes in the region—the Taliban and the Iraqi Baath Party—did not have nothing to do with the subsequent ...

Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 10:37:39 am
Here's the transcript of President Obama's speech on Libya, announcing that NATO will be taking over operations, and carefully making the case for humanitarian intervention: Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on Libya.

Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 1:11:36 pm
Think Progress's George Zornick catches Newt Gingrich executing a stunning reverse double backflip maneuver: Gingrich Criticized Obama For Not Intervening In Libya, But Now Criticizes Him For Intervening In Libya. Gingrich on March 7: Exercise a no-fly zone this evening. ... We don’t need to have the United Nations. All we ...

Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 1:28:55 pm
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said yesterday in a speech at West Point that getting into any more wars like Iraq or Afghanistan would be crazy. WEST POINT, N.Y. — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates bluntly told an audience of West Point cadets on Friday that it would be unwise for ...

Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 3:55:22 pm
The doctor who was supposed to be a replacement for the murdered Dr. George Tiller has backed out of providing abortion services in Wichita, Kansas, following a campaign of legal harassment, intimidation, and implied threats by the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue: Faced with lawsuit, Dr. Mila Means won't offer abortions ...

Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 11:31:44 am
The Iraqi defector who convinced American and British intelligence services that Iraq had a secret biological weapons program with mobile laboratories now admits he made it all up. Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the Guardian that ...

Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 9:22:12 am
The results of a new phone survey commissioned by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy show that Egypt is not going to become an Islamic theocracy ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the relentless fear-mongering of the American right wing. Key Findings: This is not an Islamic uprising. The Muslim ...

Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 9:49:52 am
One of the weirdest stories from Haiti last week was the return of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. The corrupt and brutal despot, who fled to France following a popular revolt 25 years ago, waltzed back into Haiti expecting a hero's welcome. But his crimes haven't been forgotten, and today, in a ...

Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 10:17:03 am
Disgraced former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who played a huge role in promoting fictions about Iraq's WMD capabilities, has landed at one of the looniest right wing magazines in America: Newsmax. Miller will be sharing the pages of Newsmax with such luminaries of the right wing as Pamela "Shrieking ...

Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 9:37:14 am
In one of the most predictable reactions of the year, Tea Party wacko Christine O'Donnell responds to the news that she's under investigation for personal use of campaign funds by concocting a conspiracy theory. In a statement issued Wednesday, O'Donnell also suggested the investigation was the work of Vice President ...

Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 9:46:19 am
One of the diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks described a meeting between US representatives and Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, considered one of Zimbabwe's brightest hopes for democratic reforms. Well, he was considered one of Zimbabwe's hopes for democracy, until Wikileaks destroyed that hope. Chris Albon reports at the Atlantic: How ...

Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 2:05:20 pm
A few days ago we noted that Tea Party loon Sharron Angle had launched a new organization called "The Patr Jot Cauc SPAC" ... ... oh, wait ... that's "The Patriot Caucus PAC." Anyway, LGF reader Sergey Romanov browsed around the site and dug up this gem of an anti-evolution rant ...

Sun, Dec 12, 2010 at 12:39:54 pm
That announcement from NASA-funded scientists of the discovery of a bacterium that could incorporate arsenic into its DNA came in for quite a bit of criticism this week; in fact, it looks like the initial publicity about the discovery ("an arsenic-based life form!") was mostly hype. Carl Zimmer has a great ...

Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 1:48:09 pm
As always, Hitchens says it well: Attempts to prosecute Assange will, I predict, be either too little or too late, or both, or worse. There is a good reason the Espionage Act of 1917 has such a rusty and unused sound to it. It was a panic measure passed during ...

Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 10:55:03 am
In a pretty obvious attempt to appear even-handed after suspending Keith Olbermann for the same offense, MSNBC president Phil Griffin has now suspended Joe Scarborough for campaign donations. MSNBC said Friday that it is suspending “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough for two days after he acknowledged giving eight previously unknown ...

Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 3:16:56 pm
Since Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal signed the anti-evolution "Louisiana Science Education Act," the sponsors of this law have been oddly silent; but now the other shoes are starting to drop, as a group of citizens backed by the Christian Louisiana Family Forum (there's that "family" word again) are attacking the ...

Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 10:52:45 am
British intelligence officials said yesterday that there was no evidence to support George Bush's claim that the use of waterboarding had helped to foil terrorist plots. David Davis, the Conservative former shadow home secretary, said: "For [Bush] to demonstrate the use of torture saved British lives he has to demonstrate ...

Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 1:07:11 pm
I posted this as a comment in our earlier thread about George W. Bush's acknowledgment that he approved waterboarding for terror suspects after 9/11, but refused to consider it "torture." I thought it might be of interest to our general audience, as a look at why my opinions have changed ...

Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 7:49:19 pm
Another thread for discussion of the 2010 midterm elections; it's beginning to look like the Republicans may win a House majority, but they're not going to get that overwhelming Congressional victory they were looking forward to.

Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 1:09:26 pm
NPR's Terry Gross interviews historian Sean Wilentz about the resurgence of paranoid John Birch Society ideology on the right wing, led by the main promoter of JBS craziness: Glenn Beck: Drawing On 1950s Extremism? They don't allow embedding of the audio for this interview, but it's worth a listen. We've been ...

Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 10:17:21 am
Before the Tea Party loons had their big Delaware primary victory with Christine O'Donnell, Republican incumbent Mike Castle was favored for an easy win. Then came the teabaggers; Castle was declared a despicable RINO. The anti-masturbation, anti-evolution religious fanatic candidate was in! The Tea Party's march to greatness was under way! They ...

Sun, Oct 3, 2010 at 10:02:17 am
The State Department has isssued a travel alert for Europe, because of intelligence that Al Qaeda is planning a major attack. The State Department alerts U.S. citizens to the potential for terrorist attacks in Europe.  Current information suggests that al-Qa’ida and affiliated organizations continue to plan terrorist attacks.  European governments ...

Fri, Oct 1, 2010 at 2:56:22 pm
Pamela "Shrieking Harpy" Geller has uncovered a truly diabolical hidden message in the newly released images of the Islamic terror victory supremacist Ground Zero Mega-Mosque, known to sane people as the Cordoba House community center: Ground Zero Mega Mosque Audaciously Diabolical Design: Pentagons, Crosses, Jewish Stars. Yes, that's right. Geller shows ...