Jeff’s progressive friend #1: “I don’t know how you can even begin to defend this outrageous affront to our civil liberties, Jeff.  It shocks me—really shocks me!—that you, of all people, have no problem with Bushco eavesdropping on American citizens –” Jeff’s progressive friend #2: “—Citizens who, let’s add, are protected by the very Constitution your President claims he’s fighting to uphold.” Jeff’s progressive friend #1: “Exactly. Clearly, you can

From Michael Ledeen: I’ve just received a call from a usually reliable person saying that there was an assassination attempt in Iran against President Ahmadi Nezhad, who was in a car. His driver and guards were killed, and he is in the hospital, apparently likely to survive. I couldn’t get any details about the intensity of the blue energy waves flowing from his cranium…but if this story is true it

The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) Directed by Judd Apatow.  Stars Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Elizabeth Banks, Seth Rogen, Romany Malco, Jane Lynch, Loudon Wainwright III, and Paul Rudd. Five words or less review: Me?  16. Godbless California Coolers!

—Well, I’m afraid we’ve run into a bit of a snag.  Seems the little guy scored tickets to a special critics’ screening of Munich— Spielberg’s lengthy meditation on Mossad response to the 1972 Olympic Park murders of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team—then came home, strapped himself with “explosives,” and tried to “take back” the last three slices of my sausage and green pepper pizza.  Luckily, what he thought

Question:  will the giant tsunami we’re being told could any day now wipe out the entire west coast have the salutory effect of flooding out the most statistically-likely point of dispersal for an avian flu epidemic we’re told could kill 50 million of us (give or take)? Because if so—and granted, this has much to do with my not living on the west coast—I’m all for it. Sorry.  But to

From Bloomberg: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today defended President George W. Bush against reports he authorized spying on American citizens and foreign nationals in the U.S. following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The New York Times reported that Bush in 2002 secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without the court-approved warrants that are required for domestic spying. The international phone calls and e-mail messages of hundreds,

A blow to the White House and the Justice Department.  Roving wiretaps secured by judges’ order?  Why, that’s an affront to freedom!  IT MUST NOT STAND! Whatever.  Let 47 preening Senators (well, 46, actually; Frist deployed a nice procedural maneuver to keep open the possibility of a follow-on vote) play at being heroic guardians of civil liberties.  But keep a running count on how many of them change their votes