Author is upset that she was unable to express her personal opinions with the Election Assistance Commission's stamp of approval. Apparently the commission didn't agree with the author's opinions and either modified them or suppressed them. That's life. You do a job for Uncle Sam, and Uncle has the right to change things to suit himself.

Michael Yon is one hell of a good war correspondent. He is actually on the ground with the troops, seeing what is really happening. His stories are based on first hand observation which makes them better than the stuff local stringers pass on the MSM reporters holed up in the green zone.

Important story, miserable coverage from NYT. Author relies upon unnamed sources for the bill's contents rather than reading it himself. (Probably can't read that well) He tells us who is for it and who is against it, but he fails to tell us poor citizens and voters what the bill actually contains. What are the rules for intercept of foreign to foreign, foreign to domestic and domestic to domestic calls. Does it treat email like a cell phone call? What about domestic to domestic ... More »

A collection and summary of a dozen scientific reports saying that Greenland is NOT melting. Coming from a US Senate committee, it must have passed political muster with the senators. The bibliography is detailed and impressive. It shows that there is no scientific consensus about Greenland melt down, and presumably global warming as well, although the article is restricted to Greenland melt-out. Interesting.

Gives a decent summary of how News Trust works and what we hard working volunteers do.

Important story that tells how US policy is perceived in Pakistan. Discusses balance between pressuring Musharraf toward more democracy and less Taliban tolerance and driving him from power. I've been to Pakistan and this article sounds like it accurately reflects the views of the ruling secular establishment.

Incredible, an NYT story suggesting hope for the Iraq war. Something must have happened to impress these guys. They compare things today with the way they were in 2005, and conclude that things are a lot better now. Other on the scene reporters like Michael Yon, Bill Roggio and Michael Totten support this positive view of the progress of the war.

Book review of a book about CIA. Neither the author nor the reviewer like CIA much. Unfortunately much time is spent rehashing ancient history and too little time is spent on CIA's recent mistakes (they missed the fall of the USSR and 9/11 for two). I'd be more interested in details of the recent failures, I'm less interested in what happened in Guatamala 50 years ago.

This story is a little old, but new to me. It actually goes back to April 2005. The key point is that identification of a specific mutation of a specific gene conferring AIDS immunity implies that a clever anti AIDS drug or vaccine could confer the same immunity. In short an "silver bullet" against AIDS is possible.

Author describes US soldiers in Iraq as wanton killers. Brutal and horrifying anecdotes that lack a date, a time, a location, a unit designation, or any names. Such atrocity charges in American media are picked up by enemy media. Since they come from US sources they have great credibility and are used for recruitment and morale building purposes by the enemy.

Story headline is not really backed up by the text of the story. Yeah there are some folk complaining about paying $400 mil ransom, but the bulk of the story is routine stuff about who negotiated with who and when the victims are allowed to board an aircraft. Libya did release the nurses and a doctor that they had been holding for the last eight years. No discussion of the truth or falsity of the horrible charges leveled against the eight medics.

Author claims that reduced NIH funding will kill off US scientific efforts. Author fails to understand that real R&D, that produces real products, is done by private industry, not by government institutions. NIH is a bureaucracy to dole out taxpayer money to academic projects, welfare for post docs.

Heartbreaking story confirming the unchecked spread of AIDS in the third world. The information isn't new, the problem has been known for quite a while, but it's still heartbreaking to hear of the death or coming death of so many.

On the scene journalist reports that Iraqis are more and more turning toward the Americans for security and order. The recent captures of heavy duty Al-Qaeda people is due to the increasing number of tips received by US forces.

A good summary of the public declared positions of many (most) of the 08 presidential hopefuls. Hyperlinks provided to candidates statements/interviews. Being professional politicians, most of the platform planks presented are a little wishy washy, but that is US politics for you. Pew does a fair job of pulling together the candidates stated positions.

Michael Yon attends a meeting in Baqubah where the Americans negotiate common ground with the Iraqi army and some local militias. Fascinating description of consensus being brought into existence thru negotiation, compromise and deft turns of phrase. Yon is the best war correspondent we have out there.

Typical clueless reporter attempts to cover a technical topic about which he knows nothing. He doesn't know what the energy gain of ethanol production is, he doesn't know how much ethanol is currently mandated as a gasoline additive, he doesn't know about the tariff on imported ethanol, he doesn't know what the tax subsidies are for ethanol. Another journal who never took high school chemistry.

Important story. The democrats want a revived Fairness Doctrine to silence Rush Limbaugh & company. Apparently owning the MSM, and the educational establishment doesn't present the democratic party's viewpoint to enough people, so now they want to shut down republican talk radio. If station owners are required to carry as much Al Franken (who no one wants to hear) as they do Rush Limbaugh (who attracts listeners) most of 'em are gonna go to sports talk shows.

Vivid first person account of the hardships encountered traveling into Baghdad. It's hot, it's slow, it's tiresome, you can smell the dust. and the paperwork will eat you alive. A couple of chance met American contractors extend a helping hand to Michael, getting his paperwork straightened out and giving him a lift from the airport. War is hell, combat's worse, and Michael hasn't gotten into combat yet. Better narrative than anyone working for the MSM.

Straight forward account of quashing of an anti Fairness Doctrine amendment. Revival of the long dead Fairness Doctrine would require broadcasters to carry political commentary that someone (govt? FCC?) thinks is good for listeners, rather than the current system where the broadcasters carry programming that the audience likes to hear.

Live video interview, from the field, with an Iraqi Army company grade officer. Talks about the al Hamira massacre, and has some comments on Zarqawi's killing earlier this year. Michael Yon is the best reporter we have in Iraq, a man who gets out into the real world and talks to real people.

Good story. I saw the same story on Glenn Reynold's blog a few minutes ago, so no question about truth. Numerous Republicans denounciations. No Democratic justifications of the action, despite the potential for a countrywide bipartisan negative reaction.

Interview with a top Army general currently holding the most important command in the Army. His opinions and viewpoints should command attention simply because of the job he holds. He is on the ground in Iraq, speaks the language and has enormous experience.

WSJ summarizes the recent National Intelligence Estimate on the state of Al Queda, and the state of US anti terrorism defenses. Certainly US airline passengers are still on high alert for anyone or anything that might take their flight on a suicide dive into a building. I doubt the 9/11 trick is ever gonna work again.

Debunks a political smear video put out on UTube by the New York fire fighters union against Rudi Giuliani. Author includes a bibliography of 13 articles backing up his points. It doesn't get much better than that.

Important story, which I have seen somewhere else as well, so it's most likely true. The King amendment protects citizens who made good faith reports of suspicious activity from lawsuits. The famous (or infamous) flying imams were behaving suspiciously, abet legally. They or CAIR has sued the passengers that sounded the alarm.

Yet another demonstration that Windows security is like Swiss cheese. If your computer is on the Internet, Windows will allow badguys to read, write and modify your entire hard drive. Any personal or private information is shared with the entire world. This particular problem comes from the Windows policy of allowing browsers to download and execute code off the web. Browsers should only display web pages, they should never allow foreign code to execute on your machine.

Power Line is fact checking an appalling story in the New Republic of misbehavior by US soldiers. Power Line expresses skepticism and calls for readers to email in evidence that might discredit this really horrible story. As veteran I surely hope the New Republic's story can be shown to be false.

Strong condemnation of earmarks from Rep Jeff Flake, one of the few congressmen who are trying to stop the earmarking scandal.

Short, VERY short announcement that we captured Abu Shahid, top Al Queda man in Iraq. Quotes Brig Gen Bergner at Army press breifing. Few to no details. Story doesn't say who did the pinch, time of day, the location, any resistance, was it a tip or good luck in a traffic stop, was surprise attained, was suspect wounded during the arrest, nothing. Important story, poorly reported by AP.

Brief, very brief mention of a $10K grant to News Trust from the Sunlight foundation. As a News Trust fan, this is the absolute top news of the day, a must read. Trust me on this... :-)

Congress wants to cut the budget of a Labor Dept union watchdog office. Could have something to do with Democrats giving some payback to their union supporters.

Typical NYT global warming piece. Interviews one Indian glacier man who says the Himalaya's are melting out. Does not bother to find satellite images to back up the one man's claim. Segues right into a plea for greenhouse gas control. Reporters as a class know zip about science, so this comes across as more political pleading than science reporting. For real information about glacier and icecap melting I'd look somewhere besides the NYT.

Teen age Sri Lankan guest worker in Saudi facing the death penalty over the death of an infant. No defense lawyer at the trial. Could be the Saudi's are framing an innocent girl, could be they caught a child molester, can't tell from the story. Commonwealth of Massachusetts did something similar to a teen age British au pair a couple of years ago, although the defendant didn't face the death penalty.

Reporter quotes by name from just three men, an American colonel, a Sunni militia leader and an Iraqi General. The Americans are making common cause with the local Sunni militia and that is causing some heartburn to the Iraqi army. This is better reporting than the average for the NYT, named sources and everything. They even say things are getting a little bit better, in between comments about tension over dealing with a militia. Benjamin Lowy, the photog gets some good shots.

Long sympathetic piece about John Edwards on the campaign trail. Lots of local color, and some good quotes from Edwards.

Important poll results showing that re imposition of the Fairness Doctrine is possible, the issue is back burner and the public is divided, which gives Congressmen a free hand.

Authentic Iraq story written by a Marine on the spot.

Reports upon poll results from Rasmussen. Essentially poll data says that Americans believe the MSM has a liberal slant but, that they are evenly split about the FCC Fairness Doctrine. The even split on the Fairness Doctrine means that Congress could re impose it. To oversimplify, Fairness Doctrine would require every station carrying Rush Limbaugh to also carry Al Franken no matter how bad Al's ratings are.

An opinion piece by a former BBC man explaining the sources of the BBC's institutional group think. The group think has gotten groupy enough to lead to inventing news stories that support it's world view.