W.Va mill town suffers slow death
Mary Tice drove along Main Street, barely seeing the worn storefronts, the seedy strip clubs, the flashy video poker bars promising better luck....more

What to Read While the Cradle of Civilization Burns
The Middle East is both the birthplace of civilization and, as the globe's largest repository of fossil fuels, the mother's milk of the modern industrialized world....more

Afghanistan close to anarchy
The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan yesterday described the situation in the country as "close to anarchy" with feuding foreign agencies and unethical private security companies compounding problems caused by local corruption....more

Weekend notes: It's not World War 3
This blog is a collection of things that I wrote in the past 48 hours....more

Republicans Reject Ralph Reed's Hypocrisy
For those who still claim that the Jack Abramoff scandal will not "play" politically, the Republican voters of Georgia beg to differ.....more

No, this is not 'our war'
We are not "all Israelis." Some of us still think of ourselves as Americans, first, last and always.
And, no, this is not "our war." It's your war.....more

Republican politics as sideshow
Six weeks ago the Senate rejected a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Last week the House did the same by a vote of 236 to 187. Now that this little partisan sideshow is behind them, maybe Republican congressional leaders will decide to get down to serious business....more

Wouldn't it be ironic...
...if on this coming Monday, former President Bill Clinton pulls a "Joe Biden" and somehow "misses his train to Connecticut"?.....more

The Hippies Behind the Youth Movement
During the 2004 election, the Dean campaign was credited with using the Internet in new ways, reaching out to voters many assumed were college youth, otherwise disconnected from politics....more

Chaos in Cyprus
Lebanese and foreigners have had a difficult time leaving Lebanon since the beginning of Israel's military offensive against Hezbollah. Many of the ships being used for the evacuation effort are badly equipped and horribly overcrowded. But those able to escape face further problems once they reach nearby Cyprus....more

Lebanon Conflict Watched for War Crimes

1982 versus 2006
Many people see no difference between Israel's 1982 Lebanon War and the present war. For example, some Arabs are astounded that the Israeli public is supporting its government and its military moves. Thus the major differences between the two wars must be pointed out: namely, differences in background, objective and modus operandi.....more

'Lebanon crisis an international conspiracy'
The Israeli-Hezbollah conflict threatens to drag Syria, Iran and the US into a regional war....more

Dot-com ambitions live on in (Tampa) Bay area
Millions of people view videos at YouTube every day. Frank Principe believes he can build on the thousands who visit PitBullTV to make a mark as an Internet TV network.....more

U.S. President avoids media after G8 summit
U.S. President George W. Bush was the only G8 leader who refused to talk to the press after the St. Petersburg summit.....more

Bush and African Americans
Given the disaster he ignored in New Orleans? He could rush to DC on a midnight flight to sign the "let's meddle in the Schiavo family's affairs" bill, but couldn't be bothered to cut his six-week vacation short when Katrina hit....more

PULL UP A CHAIR
Pinellas Democrats look for a leader.

When I last checked in with the local Democratic Party organizations (an oxymoron, I know), it was the Hillsborough executive committee that was torn with strife. Today, that divisiveness could be headed to a new home, at the Pinellas Democratic Party....more

Lebanon In Crisis; Bush, Most Democrats In Denial
A little more than a week of Israeli bombing and American neglect has created a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon. In a country that just months ago was being written up in travel magazines as one of the world's next great tourist destinations....more

The Spirit of War
At the start of the Iraq war, the British columnist George Monbiot wrote, "They (the American and British governments) have unlocked the spirit of war, and it could be unwilling to return to its casket until it has traversed the world."....more

Bush "Will Be Given More Power to Eavesdrop" in Bill
The dispute over the Bush administration's secret eavesdropping of US citizens has reignited after it emerged the White House had brokered a deal with Congress that critics say gives it even greater flexibility to monitor phone calls electronically.....more

Strip club king goes to church
Hillsborough commission candidate and nonbeliever Joe Redner takes the pulpit....more

IN THE PARTY OF GOD
Are terrorists in Lebanon preparing for a larger war?....more

Adolf Hitler
ORIGINAL Watercolor Artworks, For Sale....more

Family Guy Osama Bin Laden

Smart Girls Need Smart Porn
Sometimes I wonder how I would feel about pornography if I hadn't seen so much of it.....more

Study Finds Worst Performance in Conservative Christian Schools
The Federal Education Department reported Friday that, in reading and math, children attending public schools generally do as well as or better than comparable children in private schools. The exception was in eighth-grade reading, where the private-school children did better.....more

A U.S view: The summer vacation solution
I had a Canadian moment and an American moment within 24 hours of each other while on holiday this week....more

Senator Ted Stevens "Flintstonian" understanding of the Internet.
Murdoch taking MySpace down the tubes

When Alaska Senator Ted Stevens rambled nonsensically about the tubes our information goes through on the Internets we knew there was cause for concern....more

The Last of the "Sewer Socialists"

(Frank) Zeidler, an old-school American socialist who served three terms as the mayor of Milwaukee from 1948 to 1960, and who died last Friday at age 93, never got very far as a presidential candidate.....more