From Richard Miniter, Washington editor for Pajamas Media: The U.S. is in serious discussions with commanders of the Mahdi Army to lay down their arms, an intelligence officer directly involved in Iraq operations told Pajamas Media Tuesday. The American intelligence official spoke under the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue. The Mahdi Army, a predominantly Shia Muslim force led by Moqter al-Sadr, has terrorized Sunnis into fleeing

From the RMN wire reports: Supected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, “Parents and children have nothing to fear.” Asked about the alert notice, the FBI’s Rich Kolko said, “There are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for

…to John Dodds for “The Outer Limits” Season 2 DVD.  Awesome show.  The original, I mean.  The remake?  Not so much.  Thanks, too, to Todd Day for the Casino Royale DVD.  My wife and I watched it last night and are split on Daniel Craig as Bond.  I liked him.  She—at least initially—misses the flaccid smoothness of Pierce Brosnan.  But I suspect that will pass. Also, thanks to those of

Who has accepted a position as Political Director for Blog Talk Radio.  He’s an excellent choice, and he’s going to continue to post at Captain’s Quarters.  Godspeed. Now, do you suppose there might be a chance for Jeff to do a program On Language there? Thanks for asking.  Well, here in Vermont, the snow’s coming down pretty heavily.  We’ll have over a foot, by all indications, by the time I

E&P Headline: Steiger: Pearl Murder ‘Confession’ Is Stark Reminder of Tragedy Managing Editor of the WSJ.  If you read the article, Steiger does speak of Daniel Pearl’s loss and of the dangers to reporters of assignment in Iraq and Afghanistan.  But he doesn’t anywhere allude to tragedy per se. Still, Stegier stressed that it was a reminder of the terrible tragedy that was Pearl’s death. “What a great loss he

Senator John S. McCain offered an apology in Cedar Falls today after he used the word “tar-baby” in response to a rather arcane question from an Iowa voter about federal intervention in divorce and custody cases. The phrase is considered by some to be a racial epithet. In response to the question, Mr. McCain said that he was not going to take a position that it was proper “to declare

Sure, I waited a couple of years before I fired my gardener, Pepe.  But—his protestations to the contrary—I didn’t shitcan him because he suspected me of diddling a handful of the neighborhood housewives while my wife was off supporting us.  Instead, I canned the lazy bastard because he never did manage to stop the steady creep of bindweed and broadleaf, which was crossing under my fence from the prairie land

Fred Thompson, on the anti-war movement’s adoption of Mahatma Gandhi as one of its more pointed symbols: At what point is it okay to fight dictators like Saddam or the al Qaeda terrorists who want to take his place? It turns out that the answer, according to Gandhi, is NEVER. During World War II, Gandhi penned an open letter to the British people, urging them to surrender to the Nazis.

Fonda: “Hey, it could be worse, right?  I mean, at least she didn’t defend his eminence while straddling an anti-aircraft gun in the Pakistan kush. Now, whether or not that was because she figured al Qaeda fighters weren’t likely to have Dasani water and Oreo Double Stuffs, or because she feared they’d gut her like a randy Markhor if they ever found out she likes to eat the peach fish,

Kos clueless about Law and Order, gets strange new respect from Kaus.