Given the steady drumbeat of defeatism that has defined the Iraq narrative over the past several years, this is, as Jules Crittenden argues, nothing short of miraculous. Of course, CNN is not so much interested in what Americans believe about the kind of progress being made in Iraq as it is with gauging just how effective the anti-war media campaign has been at poisoning the epistemic well in advance of

From the AP/Breitbart: Jose Padilla was convicted of federal terrorism support charges Thursday after being held for 3 1/2 years as an enemy combatant in a case that came to symbolize the Bush administration’s zeal to stop homegrown terror. Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi face possible sentences of life in prison if convicted of all three charges in the case. The three are accused of being part

And if that doesn’t work, forced conversion is always an option. After all, nothing says “tolerance” quite like a good old-fashioned unconditional religious surrender. From MSNBC: A Roman Catholic Bishop in the Netherlands has proposed people of all faiths refer to God as Allah to foster understanding, stoking an already heated debate on religious tolerance in a country with one million Muslims. Bishop Tiny Muskens, from the southern diocese of

And you thought Afros, headbands, and knee high tube socks were old school. From the BBC: An intensive course of leech therapy has helped save the leg of a lorry driver injured in a freak accident. David Isitt needed more than 30 leeches over a week to suck blood out of a large skin flap on his leg where the skin was struggling to survive. Mr Isitt, from the Isle

Uh-oh. Now they gone and did it. Clint Eastwood is going to be, like, so pissed! From the Telegraph (UK): The Orang-utans of Borneo are facing an unprecedented threat as their habitat is destroyed to satisfy increasing global demands for bio-fuel. As jungles are rapidly replaced by palm oil plantations, the great apes starve and are hunted, mutilated, burnt and snared by workers protecting their crops.At a rehabilitation centre run

And likely a whole boatload of potato vodka. To, you know — set the mood. — Or dull the pain, if your wife happens to look like a female Yakov Smirnoff.

From the Washington Times: A criminal investigations report says several U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees are accused of aiding Islamic extremists with identification fraud and of exploiting the visa system for personal gain. The confidential 2006 USCIS report said that despite the severity of the potential security breaches, most are not investigated “due to lack of resources” in the agency’s internal affairs department. “Two District Adjudications Officers are allegedly