Andrew Hofer has an interesting take on Dubya’s latest State of the Union Address, examining the President’s hardline rhetoric through the critical lens of Game Theory: Many pundits have been reacting to the State of the Union, particularly Bush’s singling out North Korea, Iran and Iraq for harsh criticism and referring to them using World War II terminology. Pundits debate whether this amounts to a “unilateral” declaration of war, and

“Drunks, liars and dropouts have been banned by Nasa from its space station,” Annanova reports. “The agency released its criteria for visitors to the International Space Station in a nine-page report.” The new rules were prompted by the growth in ‘space tourists’ wanting to go into orbit. Any visitors deemed undesirables will not be let in. The ruling from Nasa’s Cape Canaveral base states a candidate’s past and present conduct

Jonah Goldberg rehashes an old column (on “Black History Month”) and continues to deny NRO’s “The Corner” is a weblog. Why? Jonah strains to explain: There are no editors, no rules, and no master plan. Yes, as many, many, many readers have pointed out, it’s very much like a blog along the lines of AndrewSullivan.com or Instapundit.com. The difference, however, is significant. Those guys run one-man operations. If you can’t

From a story in The Christian Science Monitor, here’s the take of lexicographer Anne Soukhanov on the term “minority” — currently a hotly debated signifier in Boston, where this summer Boston City Council president Charles Yancey introduced an ordinance to strike the word from the official city lexicon: Where the term lingers despite all demographic evidence to the contrary, says lexicographer Anne Soukhanov, it’s not just out of laziness, but

Reason’s Jacob Sullum writes of a battle going on between the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and Change the Climate, a drug policy reform group whose aim is to criticize current marijuana policies as excessively punitive and wasteful. Change the Climate wants to advertise on trains and buses in Boston. MBTA says no way. “As a government agency, forbidden by the First Amendment to pick and choose among viewpoints,” Sullum

Greg Easterbrook, writing for The New Republic,” examines the two options being considered by the Bush administration to address problems with the “new source” standard of the Clean Air Act. “The rule essentially exempts from regulation some refineries and a large group of antiquated, high-pollution power plants in the Midwest, as long as they don’t undertake any significant improvements,” Easterbrook notes. “If they do, they must immediately abide by stricter

“Secretary of State Colin Powell told King Abdullah II of Jordan on Thursday that the Bush administration intends to corner Yasser Arafat to make sure he curbs terror attacks on Israel,” AP Diplomatic Correspondent Barry Schweid reports. “A senior U.S. official said that was Powell’s overriding message to the king in their 45-minute session in Powell’s State Department office and that Abdullah accepted the tactic as a good idea. “In

“Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in an interview on Thursday Israel should have killed Yasser Arafat in 1982 when it had the Palestinian leader under siege in Beirut,” Reuters reports. “His remarks were condemned by Palestinian officials.” ‘I think this reflects what has been always said — that Sharon is trying to finish what he began in 1982,’ cabinet member Saeb Erekat said. ‘And for prime ministers to announce openly

“Five women were charged with trespassing and reckless endangerment in lower Manhattan for climbing to a building rooftop and unfurling a banner that read, ‘Bush and big biz agree that people with AIDS drop dead,’” the AP reports. “Police also reported vandalism at several chain businesses around Manhattan. A California man was arrested for defacing the front door of a Starbucks coffee shop, police said.” Well, that’ll teach those evil

“D.C. librarians are furious with a decision not to recognize Martin Luther King and other black historical figures in the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library’s public art galleries during February, which is National Black History Month,” The Washington Times reports. “Staffers said exhibit coordinator Elena Tscherny, who scheduled no exhibits of black history or culture, told them the library’s policy is not to give special consideration to race in