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My sister and I are both tired of repeatedly hearing from students who tell us that they did not attend the event, but think that Ann went over the line—that she’s mean, she’s a hater, she’s full of it, that she said things that were inappropriate, etc. None of these people can point to anything specific that she said...it’s all hearsay. Example: Amie’s other roommate—who hadn’t gone—came into her room saying: "Do you know this girl (Ann)? She is so racist...someone went to her speech and said all she did was diss black people...and who would want to listen to that?"

The truth is that Ms. Coulter was politically correct and professional. Students are spreading outright lies about Ann’s performance, and so, everyone has an opinion on the event--even students who did not attend!

[snip]

Ms. Coulter was very respectful and would respond with facts to those audience members who asked her questions. Sometimes she would respond with her quick wit, or would move on to the next person, if the questioner became extremely obnoxious.

Coach Lawrence Frank was quick to point out that the Nets lost the first two games of their series last season against the Pistons, with both games on the road. The Nets then won the next three at home before collapsing in Games 6 and 7 at Detroit.

I'm telling you, folks, there's a movement going on out in Hollywood that stunned me. I mean, there were hundred people there, in and out, a big party, and they did it in my honor. It was just so much fun. The thing started at four o'clock, it was a smoking room party and they had all kinds of people from the show, from outside the show, that came in.

[snip]

But these guys are all conservatives. You know, in fact Vince Flynn, the great novelist Vince Flynn has been hired just for the past two weeks, he's trying to help them come up with story lines for next season, but Vince is such a groupie of mine, he didn't help them yesterday with any story lines; he was too busy talking me and asking me questions about myself and the radio -- I'm kidding about him being a groupie. He's a big fan. They all were.

For instance, Matt brings up the fact that the Bush administration has hired convicted congressional liars from the iran Contra era. But, one must also remember that those same convicted liars were all pardoned by George Bush Sr at a time when he was personally under investigation by a special prosecutor, thus effectively ending the probe. Immediately after Senior left office, however, there began a relentless series of demands by Republicans for special prosecutors investigating a list of shockingly trivial charges that eventually led to the impeachment of the president. The Republicans didn't worry that someone would make comparisons that would embarrass them. They are unembarrassable because they have found that they can ignore the prinicples of relevant difference, the universality principle, the golden rule or whatever you want to call it, and there will be no repercussions.

It may be that this is caused by a media that refuses to take a stance on even factual matters, which leaves people with the impression that there are no standards except those which are imposed by the loudest, the most powerful, the most entertaining or whatever. It's a big problem for us in the reality based community, however, because we remain stuck in this rational mode of argumentation while they careen off into a relativist fallacy whenever they choose.

LEHRER: Now, Frist is widely seen as taking part in this event to court the religious right for an expected Presidential run in 2008, and it will be largely up to him in the next few weeks whether to employ what Democrats call "the Nuclear Option" --voting to change the Senate rules to forbid filibusters against judicial nominees.

Q. What PBS shows do you like?

A. I'm not much of a TV consumer. I like "Masterpiece Theater" and some of the "Frontline" shows. I like "Antiques Roadshow" and "Nova." I don't know. What's your favorite show?

Q. It would probably be "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer."

A. Yes, Lehrer is good, but I don't watch a lot of broadcast news. The problem for me is that I do the Internet news stuff all day long, so by the time I get to the Lehrer thing...it's slow. I don't always want to sit down and read Shakespeare, and Lehrer is akin to Shakespeare. Sometimes I really just want a People magazine, and often that is in the evening, after a hard day.

Q. For the head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, you don't sound like much of a PBS viewer. Perhaps you prefer NPR, which your organization also finances?

A. No. I do not get a lot of public radio for one simple reason. I commute to work on my motorcycle, and there is no radio access.

Q. Can't you install a radio on a motorcycle and listen with headphones?

A. One probably can. But my bikes are real cruisers. They're stripped down deliberately to look cool, and I don't want all that electronic gear.

Most condoms in India used to make saris

NEW DELHI (AP) -- Only a quarter of condoms made in India are used for sex,
most of the others are used to make saris, toys and bathroom slippers, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The condoms are valuable to manufacturers because of the lubricant on them. Sari weavers place the condoms on their thread spools and the lubricant on the prophylactics is rubbed off on the thread, making it move faster through their sewing machines, The Economic Times newspaper quoted an Indian industry official as saying.

Sari makers also turn the condom's inside out, place them on their fingers and use
the high-quality lubricant to polish gold and silver threads used in the traditional Indian women's outfits.

Some journalists are all in favor of General Boykin's right to say and believe what he chooses--so long as Secretary Rumsfeld fires him. They are working under the theory that it is unacceptable for a DoD official to say that Christianity is true and that other religions are, therefore, false...And Boykin has been accused of casting aspersions on Islam--Heaven forbid! (What prigs we should all feel, after Islam has been so sweet to us.)

Dear Professor,

Just read your piece on Gen. Boykin in the Weekly Standard.

How to put this? I respect your candor, but you are a fool on matters of public policy and international diplomacy.

Let's put it this way -- Boykin is a representative of this government and administration. Thus, his words speak for the administration. Would you feel comfortable if the words of Gen. Boykin were actually the words of President Bush? This is the problem. He can feel free to say what he wants about Islamic degenerates when he is not representing this country.

I must tell you people: I don't read the New York Times anymore, and I say this proudly. I don't read the op-ed. I don't read the ed. I don't read the front page; I don't read the International Section. I don't read the Style Section, whatever they call it. I don't read any of it because I know what's going to be in it -- and my reaction, when I read the New York Times? Last time I read the New York Times I picked the paper up, I opened it up, I read a story, when I realized I was having the same reaction to the New York Times that I had in the National Enquirer, I said, "It's over."

Cardinal Ratzinger's note underlined the principles involved for the Catholic voter.

"A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate's permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia," Cardinal Ratzinger wrote.

"When a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons," he said.

In other words, if a Catholic thinks a candidate's positions on other issues outweigh the difference on abortion, a vote for that candidate would not be considered sinful.

After discussing the issue in Colorado, U.S. bishops overwhelmingly passed a statement that sharply criticized Catholic politicians who support legal abortion. The bishops also said denying Communion to those politicians is a complex question involving "prudential judgment" in each case.

The report in L'Espresso and some other media have characterized that as a rejection of Cardinal Ratzinger's advice. But Vatican sources said the Vatican was generally pleased with the U.S. bishops' statement, and that Cardinal Ratzinger was not trying to dictate a policy to the bishops.

"It is right to leave a margin for prudential judgment in these cases," said one Vatican source. "Cardinal Ratzinger's point was not that bishops have to use (denial of Communion) in every circumstance, but that there are principles that would allow for this to happen," the source said.

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a New York Democrat and a scholar with a long history of studying social policy issues, said the Social Security scare was a phantom. He said raising more from Social Security taxes simply masked the drop in tax revenues caused by the Reagan tax cuts. Moynihan called the Social Security tax hike "thievery." The beneficiaries of the stolen goods, he said, were the rich who would get to keep their Reagan income tax cuts while everyone below them paid more in taxes.

4. Why do you run out of ideas in the first talk, sooner than later?

6. Why do you always hear more of " kalakkitta da" and " naanga irukkom da kavalai padaathe" and less of "thambi ithellaam nallathuku illai..."

Joseph Ratzinger, an ex-member of Hitler YouthTimes of India - 34 minutes ago VATICAN CITY: German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected Tuesday to succeed Pope John Paul II, was a close confidant of the late pontiff and fellow conservative. The newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, who ...

Ann Coulter and I were well into a bottle of white Bordeaux--and I believe she was chewing her fourth piece of Nicorette--when it happened. From what little I knew of her--mainly her propensity for declamations such as "liberals love America like O.J. loved Nicole"- -I thought it impossible for Coulter to blush.

Miami Shores, Fla.: Howie, thanks for taking the time to conduct these chats. The Time cover story on Ann Coulter was revolting. Though I concede some of her more outrageously offensive statements are tongue-in-cheek, the "steak" behind that sizzle is just as hostile, mean-spirited, offensive, and just plain loopy. She should be vilified by the elite media, not celebrated, and this has everything to do with her linguistic style and irresponsible commentary, and nothing to do with her politics (which appear to be a put-on and strike me as totally insincere anyway). What say you?

Howard Kurtz: Well, I'm going to wait until I read the story. While splashing her on the cover is obviously an editorial statement (and marketing decision), cover stories can also be tough on their subjects. And since Coulter is very popular with what might be called her "base" and reviled by people on the other side, she carries the requisite degree of controversy. (She's also gotten into fights with conservatives, as I recall, such as when National Review dropped her as a contributing editor and she called Editor Rich Lowry and his deputies "girly boys."

Washington, D.C.: Howard - I've been hearing of late an awful lot of wailing from journalists who feel they no longer are respected or trusted. Here's one example why that may be. When I was in school back in the 1960s, my history teacher had a huge bulletin board on which every week he'd tack up the cover of each new TIME Magazine. In that era, TIME's covers always were a single portrait of a national or world leader who had been in the news. My class would actually devote a lesson to that leader and his country. Fast forward to the 21st century and this week's TIME cover story - of all people, the ring-wing gadfly and propagandist Ann Coulter who has become famous not for a serious achievement or contribution to society but for invective and slander. Of all the world's pressing problems, Ann Coulter is the most important story that TIME could find? Howard, do you and you colleagues understand that news judgment like this is what is eroding journalism's credibility?

Howard Kurtz: I haven't read the piece yet--it seems to me she was hotter about two years ago than she is now--but the media world has changed vastly since your school days. The newsmags are as likely to put health or trend stories or a new movie on their cover as anything having to do with world leaders. This week, for example, Newsweek's cover is "Your Family & Your Health" and U.S. News goes with "The CSI Effect." Coulter may or may not be a smart cover subject, but the media as a whole are far more into soft news, celebrities and sensationalism.

Ms. Ruzicka had also obtained new numbers on civilian casualties from the American military, which does not normally release them, and was eager to talk.

Ruzicka had been in Iraq conducting door-to-door surveys trying to determine the number of civilian casualties in the country. She is among several foreign aid workers to have been killed there.

The records they compiled on more than 2,000 dead provided an early accounting of the war's toll. The currently accepted figure, based largely on news accounts, is between 17,000 and 20,000, said Newsweek reporter Owen Matthews, a friend of Ruzicka, who said her compilation stood out because of its detail.

Let's review a couple of examples. First, here's DeLay suggesting opponents of the war in Iraq don't want to protect the American people, CNN's "Inside Politics" (transcript), Sept. 25, 2002:

He [former Republican Congressmen Dick Armey, who questioned the war in Iraq] is not doing what others are doing that are questioning the
president's leadership, that are constantly throwing up hurdles to keep us from doing what we have to do to protect the American people: using the
false arguments, these constantly -- throwing up, Well, I have to have answers to this question, and when they get the answer, they come up with a new question. These are people that don't want to protect the American people. They don't see -- they will do anything, spend all the time and resources they can, to avoid confronting evil.

It may be easy to disregard the widespread existence of an Asian fetish as an "annoying" but essentially benign phenomenon that does not need to be taken seriously. But, as the Princeton episode demonstrates, we need to be aware of the violent and perverse forms it can take and its serious ramifications.

The kidnapping appeared to be a retaliation for another kidnapping a few days earlier of 20 Sunnis from a neighboring town. Those hostages are still being held, the officials said. That kidnapping was in turn provoked by an incident earlier in the week, in which Sunnis abducted a group of traveling Shiites from the southern city of Amara. The kidnappers are accused of raping a woman hostage and then sending her back to her tribe in Amara to tell them what had happened, Interior Ministry officials said.

Remember realism? Do we recall James Baker’s quip that the first Gulf War was about “jobs, jobs, jobs,” in line with his later realist fillip about the Balkan genocide: “We don’t have a dog in that fight”? Perhaps that was a sober assessment of the natural limitations on American strength; but had Bill Clinton followed the natural logic of such cynicism, Milosevic would still be in power. Imagine the reaction had the non-teflon Bush said that removing Saddam was about “jobs” or staying out of Dafur was about not having a dog in that fight. Imagine the reaction had the non teflon Bush said that removing Saddam was about “jobs” or staying out of Dafur was about not having a dog in that fight.

At the polling place I had admired the voters and their strangely complicated response to what it was they were doing. But I realized that "the IO" was not there but here before me now, on the television set, with the lines of voters and their smiles and purple fingers and the heavy breathing about "more than 80 percent" turnout. This was the IO. There was indeed violence, as Captain Kalloch had said-- that day would see in fact nine suicide bombings and perhaps fifty dead and its 260 insurgent attacks were the highest number of any single day of the occupation.[10] But that violence would not interfere with the IO, for that was established by the images early that day, and the violence, however pervasive, would not get on television. And it would not get on television in part because Iraq was effectively locked down -- the absence of vehicles meant explosions were limited to the size of a bomb that could be carried by a man on foot -- and the mobility of journalists was severely restricted (we could only see as many polling places as we could reach on foot, in my case two) and in part because of well-thought-out "IO rules" -- the most effective one being, in retrospect, that cameras, still and video, were admitted only into five predetermined and highly protected polling places.

What is the breakdown of left-wing moonbats versus right-wing nuts who obscenely project their fantasies of homosexual conduct on bloggers they wish to abuse?

Mr. Reich, officials said, was among several foreign policy officials who complained to the White House about government intelligence assessments on Cuba, in particular the work of the analyst, Fulton T. Armstrong, the national intelligence officer for Latin America.

According to several officials, Mr. Armstrong has written skeptically about Cuba's importance as a military threat, its intention to develop offensive biological weapons and its continued inclusion on the State Department's annual list of countries that sponsor terrorism. Mr. Armstrong, a career Central Intelligence Agency analyst who now serves on the National Intelligence Council, an advisory body for the director of central intelligence, also worked on the National Security Council in the Clinton administration.

But Mr. Armstrong's supporters respond that he has been targeted by ideologues who would distort the intelligence process to get the kind of analysis they want. These officials said that while Mr. Armstrong had sometimes ruffled feathers with his outspoken style, he was widely respected as an analyst and trusted by George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence.

Dennis Kyne put up such a fight at a political protest last summer, the arresting officer recalled, it took four police officers to haul him down the steps of the New York Public Library and across Fifth Avenue.

"We picked him up and we carried him while he squirmed and screamed," the officer, Matthew Wohl, testified in December. "I had one of his legs because he was kicking and refusing to walk on his own."

Accused of inciting a riot and resisting arrest, Mr. Kyne was the first of the 1,806 people arrested in New York last summer during the Republican National Convention to take his case to a jury. But one day after Officer Wohl testified, and before the defense called a single witness, the prosecutor abruptly dropped all charges.

During a recess, the defense had brought new information to the prosecutor. A videotape shot by a documentary filmmaker showed Mr. Kyne agitated but plainly walking under his own power down the library steps, contradicting the vivid account of Officer Wohl, who was nowhere to be seen in the pictures. Nor was the officer seen taking part in the arrests of four other people at the library against whom he signed complaints.

I asked a vendor about sales tax and he said is what that? Then I explained the concept of paying taxes and he said only in America.

To watch "Fever Pitch," the new, thoroughly winning if not especially good film by Peter and Bobby Farrelly, is to appreciate, yet again, that the great loves of our lives are rarely perfect.

Powerline blogger John Hinderaker says he "made a mistake" in concluding it was "an inauthentic document..."

"Is Martinez off the hook now that [aide Kevin] Darling has resigned?"

The legal counsel to Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) admitted yesterday that he was the author of a memo citing the political advantage to Republicans of intervening in the case of Terri Schiavo, the senator said in an interview last night.

Brian Darling, a former lobbyist for the Alexander Strategy Group on gun rights and other issues, offered his resignation and it was immediately accepted, Martinez said.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened - rogue staff...sometimes I wonder is some of them aren't plants

Will ABC News officials continue to stonewall, as Dan Rather et al. so famously did just a few months ago? Or will they come clean and promptly issue a correction? What about the Washington Post, which strongly implied in this article that Republicans were responsible for the memo? And what about all the other pundits, from Chris Matthews to Cynthia Tucker, who stated explicitly that Republicans distributed the memo--a statement that an anonymous ABC News official now says ABC News never reported?

You would think the MSM learned something from RatherGate. Apparently not.

We at Rathergate have damned the media repeatedly during Memogate and the Washington Post’s coverage of the bogus “talking points memo” for the same attitude being displayed in the blogosphere today. It is not up to the GOP to prove themselves innocent of MSM charges, it’s the MSM’s job to prove the GOP guilty with solid evidence.

The same principle applies here – it is not up to the photographer or the Associated Press to prove him ethical when presented with rumor. Without talking to the photographer or getting a tape of the phone call, we will never know what happened.

And we should all be disturbed by overheated rhetoric about the judiciary, from both sides of the aisle. I regret it that my remarks have been taken out of context to create a wrong impression about my position, and possibly be construed to contribute to the problem rather than to a solution.

• “The unfortunate part of this is that I believe there is a kernel of truth in what Cornyn is saying. And it seems to me, at least, that some of the judicial decisions lately seem to be a contest to see who can invoke the most outrage, decision being Constitutional or not.”
• “There is definitely something to this. I will forever believe that had Janet Reno and others been held accountable for Waco (i.e., fired at a minimum), Oklahoma City would not have happened…If you want political violence, the best way to achieve it is through tyranny. And our elitist judges are are pouring fuel on the fires, with their decisions.”
• “As long as judges are held unaccountable for their actions by the system, these things will happen.”
• “When some members of the judiciary can be relied upon to rule in either incomprehensible or unjust ways, the public loses confidence in all of the members, and may even begin to think of judges as something other than human.”

AUSTIN BAY writes that Saddam's remaining henchmen are desperate for headlines.

Sounds like some folks in the press were trying to help today.

Ukraine and Italy and other allies will withdraw their forces from Iraq. Why should the United States continue to pay most of thecost and suffer most of the casualties when our allies are leaving?

Meanwhile, Winds of Change has a roundup on Iraq that's more useful than anything you're likely to find in a newspaper anyway.

A New York Times story expanded upon by a blog
A straight ABC News report (twice)
A straight Reuters story
A straight Knight-Ridder story
The New Republic’s Iraq’d blog
A link to USAid’s website
A link to Iraq the Model commenting on some local newspaper accounts
an L.A. Times story examined by a blog
a Seattle Post-Intelligencer story examined by a blog
A straight AP report
a New Zealand newspaper story examined by a blog
A link to a round-up of Iraq blogs
A link to the WMD- Intelligence Commission report
A link to some sort of ID bracelet/donation site
A link on “ways to support the troops”
A link to an Iraq toy drive

YANKEES' HEIGHT OF REDEMPTION

New Ace and Some Old Favorites Snatch Momentum from Champion Red Sox in Opener

Authority and gravitas and stature like Rather's are missed, but such values are racing out of style anyway. The Greatest Generation and the baby boomers respected such things, but the iPodders now coming to adulthood apparently do not. One wonders how many of them even knew of the pope's passing, or how many were in a snit because they couldn't see the NASCAR races as scheduled.

SMITH: It's my understanding, Monsignor, that that 20 days was put into place in the 13th century when the College of Cardinals came together and after a full year and a half had still not...

FRANCO: That's right.

SMITH: ... had still not been able to elect a cardinal. And they made a decision here to begin cutting off food to the College of Cardinals to limit their intake so that they eventually had to come up with a decision.

FRANCO: Right. But that happened in Veturbo (ph). You know, Shep. That happened in Veturbo (ph), Shep.It was not in Rome at that time. You know, the inhabitants of the town, they were so tired of having the cardinals gathered together that they decided to cut off whatever provisions, you know, food-wise, were supposed to be given to the cardinals. And the cardinals, they realized that they were going to starve and they elected a new pope.

Al Qaeda statements reveal the belief that it is far easier to demoralize Americans than to defeat its armed forces. For this reason, beheading videos have become an important strategic tool in Al Qaeda's arsenal.

Perhaps that's why we're winning this war.

MORE OUTRAGEOUS IMAGES OF PRISONER ABUSE: No doubt this will lead the news tonight. (Via Stephen Green).

"DC's McCarrick: He shows us how to suffer and even how to die."