Baltimore Mayor Sheila A. Dixon was charged today by the state prosecutor in a 12-count indictment, becoming the city’s first sitting mayor indicted on criminal offenses. Dixon was charged with four counts of perjury and two counts of theft over $500, as well as theft under $500, fraudulent misappropriation by a fiduciary and misconduct in office. The charges stem in part from gifts she received from former boyfriend and developer

What’s the best seafood? Kittens of the Sea. Also at Constant Conservative

One reason racism persists is that many people imagine they would respond strongly to a racist act but actually respond with indifference, a new study led by York University shows. The research examines why acts of blatant racism against blacks still occur with alarming regularity, even though being labeled as a racist in modern society has become a powerful stigma. “People do not think of themselves as prejudiced, and they

An update to Darleen’s earlier post, featuring Melanie Phillips: As Gould says, there’s now a positively medieval character to this frenzied hatred, which I have watched building up now for years in Britain as a direct result of two linked phenomena – the appeasement of militant Islamism and the toleration of its intimidatory and thuggish public displays; and the wicked lies, distortions and blood libels about Israel disseminated by broadcast

Roger Simon at something called Pajamas Media: By now many of you have heard that Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher is leaving for Israel tomorrow to be a war correspondent for Pajamas TV.  This has created quite a brouhaha in the media – cable television, newspapers, wire services, etc.  Everyone from CNN to gawker.com has something to say about Joe heading for the Middle East.  He will appear on Fox and

Palestinian leaders from Gaza were noncommittal on all issues, claiming that rockets were the only way to respond to their imprisonment and to dramatize their humanitarian plight. The top Hamas leaders in Damascus, however, agreed to consider a cease-fire in Gaza only, provided Israel would not attack Gaza and would permit normal humanitarian supplies to be delivered to Palestinian citizens. After extended discussions with those from Gaza, these Hamas leaders

A short outline of the Bush Administrations attempts to rein in the GSEs, beginning in 2001, contains this: When Republican Richard Shelby of Alabama, then chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, pushed for comprehensive GSE reform in 2005, Democrat Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut successfully threatened a filibuster. Later, after Fannie and Freddie collapsed, Mr. Dodd asked, “Why weren’t we doing more?” He then voted for the Bush reforms that

to poker.

Maybe Lorena wasn’t so bad: Prosecutor Lucy Boord said Narayan told neighbors she was a “jealous wife” but she hadn’t meant to kill him when she doused the sleeping man‘s genitals with an alcohol-based solvent and then set him on fire. Boord quoted Narayan allegedly saying: “I just wanted to burn his penis so it belongs to me and no one else. … I didn’t mean this to happen.” I

Something I did not know:  The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) which will disburse $350 billion, half of a planned $750 billion, мебелиwill itself cost $26.55 million smackeroonies to process.  That’s rather pause-giving, even in these days of millions tossed around like taxicab tips, and the federal debt being measured in how many times the stack of dollars would reach to the moon and back.  There are people and firms