Commentary’s Abe Greenwald notes that the New York Times has a habit of referring to “Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, the homegrown Sunni insurgent group that American intelligence officials say has foreign leadership.”  Greenwald notes that al Qaeda in Iraq’s leaders have in fact been Jordanian, Egyptian and Saudi Arabian. Greenwald could have added that referring to AQI as “Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia” is one way to divert the casual reader from

Jennifer Loven of the Associated Press did a piece on Barack Obama’s attempted dash for the center that made poor Josh Marshall’s eyes bleed.  And a bunch of Marshall’s fellow travelers bleed with him. What really sets Marshall off is that Loven had the audacity to characterize Obama’s position that withdrawing combat troops could take as long as 16 months as “recent,” when in fact, he has been saying it for months.  What

with a robot, please. Frank went to see Wall-E and thinks that he would make a spiffy president, considered how let down he feels about Obama and McCain, but mostly McCain. As in the AP story, the Pixar animated film serves as a springboard to belly flop about how bad things are all over. Even little children of the digital age understand the fierce urgency of now. (I knew this

Remember a few days ago when that Canadian twit was characterizing as “hysterial” my response to a story about Muslims being offended by dogs on fliers put out by British police? Via Hot Air headlines comes this: Police sniffer dogs will have to wear bootees when searching the homes of Muslims so as not to cause offence. Guidelines being drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) urge

Courtesy of AP: Happy birthday, America? This year, we’re not so sure. The nation’s psyche is battered and bruised, the sense of pessimism palpable. Young or old, Republican or Democrat, economically stable or struggling, Americans are questioning where they are and where they are going. And they wonder who or what might ride to their rescue.* These are more than mere gripes, but rather an expression of fears—concerns reflected not

It’s who they are; it’s what they do. Maybe (see dorkafork’s comments, below). Further, see Sara’s reproduction of Larwyn’s analysis: It is certainly worthy of note that the “Haye I.B Ahphorgerie” image and comments were subsequently excised from the discussion thread, something that could only have been done by a site administrator or Kos himself. However, the management failed to clean up in the site archive from where these images

The captives emerged from a coca field looking confused, despondent even, as the rebels tied plastic handcuffs on their wrists before putting them on a helicopter in a video released here on Friday of the rescue this week of 15 hostages in the Colombian jungle. Cool. Also, historical revisionism. Cause for celebration: dead terrorist released for time served, good behavior. Marvel Comics: McCain Battles Nemesis, The Teleprompter

pimp misery language studies, with a guest appearance by Maha.

Richmond, VA-based Commonwealth Catholic Charities is under federal investigation after staffers provided a 16-year-old illegal immigrant with transportation and signed a consent form for an abortion — two months after helping her implant a contraceptive.  Federal law prohibits using federal funds to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or when the woman’s life is in danger.  Virginia law and federal guidelines require those younger than 18 to have parental consent for

The “Moderate” (but reliably Lefty) Voice has a new post up from “Damozel” noting that Iran has rejected the latest truckload of carrots offered to get the Islamic theocracy to suspend its nuclear program. Damozel’s reaction? So no encouraging news there, I’m afraid.  Are you as nervous as I am, with Israel and its military exercises and one of Bush’s favorite evildoers calling the tune?  Not to mention Seymour Hersh’s