The best of Nordlinger’s dispatches thus far: A British journalist asks a question: “America’s power is waning, and no one is in charge in America. So where does that leave you?” Karzai is somewhat nonplussed by this question (as you might imagine). He says that, without America, Afghanistan would still be occupied by al-Qaeda and other extremists. The Americans are “helping us,” says Karzai, with billions of dollars, and with

MoveOn is hosting a virtual vote today on whether to endorse Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton for president.  But the rules have been rigged in favor of “None of the above”: Last cycle, it required a 50 percent threshold for its presidential endorsement, and Howard Dean fell 6 points short. But now MoveOn has raised the bar to 66 percent– a supermajority that will be hard for either candidate to

Though two stories about the Clintons getting buzz today seemed a bit odd grouped together, they really share a common thread. The first is that Bill Clinton flew with Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra to Kazakhstan on Giustra’s private jet, accompanied him to a meeting with that nation’s repressive president, received a $31 million donation from Giustra for his charitable foundation and a $100 million to pledge to the William J. Clinton Foundation, yet claims he

to focus world’s women’s attention on African crises. In his new role as U.N. messenger of peace, George Clooney was playing himself. The 46-year-old actor’s arrival Thursday was greeted with “oohs” and “ahs” from dozens of people, mostly women, who crowded the lobby entrance for a glimpse and cell phone picture of him. “Hi guys!” he said, stopping only briefly to pose for a picture with his parents and shake

Early Thursday morning, following news that Mitt Romney’s campaign was not attempting to purchase television advertising time in any of the states on the Super Tuesday calendar and that Sen. John McCain won Wednesday night’s GOP debate by default, Britney Spears was taken by ambulance to UCLA Medical Center and was placed on a 5150 hold — meaning that she poses a danger to herself and others — after her psychiatrist became alarmed

We’re heading to SFO in about 30 minutes to catch the redeye to Jamaica, mon.  Gonna lie on the Beach in Negril, hang with Da Feats, swap war stories, and eat like a pig.  And have the best band in the land play at our little party.  Pics and semi-professional reportage to follow.  It’s a tough job, blah, blah, blah…. Oh, and Jesus, McCain was insufferable tonight at the debate.  Argh.

That was really nice of McCain and Feingold to try and fix things for us, even if they managed to screw things up even more.  Too bad McCain seems not to care very much about violations of the regulations regarding voting in the primaries. Because, you know, some things are just out of candidates’ hands.  Bank error in my favor?  Lucky me.

Check this out. This is the story as you can access it from npr.org. Soviet spy and defector, now US citizen Tretyakov doesn’t show in a search from their site elsewhere. But this is the long version of the interview. What’s really fascinating is what’s missing from the short version. Tretyakov mentions that his principal mission was to stir up anti-American sentiment, within the US and abroad. He outlines how

Roger L. Simon, whose blog I usually enjoy, makes some serious errors today: January 29, 2008: McCain Derangement Syndrome – It’s Here! What’s amusing in one way and horrifying in another, but all-too-human in the final analysis, is how the moment a politician becomes popular and powerful – Bush, Clinton – a sizable percentage of the population starts to hate him. We’ve seen Clinton reviled. We’ve had years of Bush

I have on a couple of occasions linked to Matt Welch’s Reason piece on John McCain, which I consider well worth reading, particularly for those Republicans still (and beyond all rational explanation) enamored with the Arizona senator’s “Maverick” image — something I believe is but cynical media spin for what is essentially a progressive mindset that lurches toward conservatism whenever the mood strikes. I bring this up again for two