GLOBAL WARMING

Some minority scientists disagree with the majority view.

FRED THOMPSON CAMPAIGN AD

I have never seen an ad like this!

HILLARY'S PAST

Hillary's camp is supposedly throwing out some negative items about Barack Obama, but I am not sure this is a wise thing to do. It raises issues of her and Bill's own past ethical problems. See "Hillary's Glass House" for a succinct summary of Hillary's questionable activites. I believe Stuart Taylor is a Democrat as far as I can tell.

BILL VS. OPRAH

Kathleen Parker has an interesting column on who has stronger voter appeal, Bill Clinton or Oprah Winfrey. It looks like Bill adds value to Hillary's campaign whereas Oprah's added value may be minimal for Obama.

DECLINE OF THE WEST

This blogger captures a paradox in American presidential campaigns -- there is a general "dumbing" down on how issues are dealt with (and I blame the media for some of this) and also we have this celebrity focus (and Obama is not the only one to blame for this).

HUCKABEE

Posted on the Drudge Report under the title "Take This Nation Back for Christ." I think Huckabee handles himself very well in most debates I have seen, but I am wondering if he would be a strong candidate outside of the South or some of the Midwest states. Secularists might be more comfortable with Romney, a Mormon, than a fundamentalist.

DEMOCRATIC RESPONSES TO WAR ON TERROR

Many Democrats have changed their views. Dems knew about waterboarding in 2002.

MILITARY RETIREES SURVEY

This is an interesting survey of the opinions of retired military officers. A significant percentage feel waterboarding is torture.

NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE ESTIMATES

I have not been impressed with US intelligence services for a number of years (probably decades). The 2007 national intelligence estimate has come out and the media is saying it corrects the misinformation in the 2005 estimate regarding Iran. It has been some time since I read the 2005 estimate and I have only had time to read the media reports on the 2007 estimates. Ambassador Bolton has come out with his criticism of the 2007 estimate. He obviously has a stake in this debate as do those critical of the 2005 report. I wonder, however, if either of the reports has got it right?

MAX BOOT ANALYSIS OF MIDDLE EAST

Author Max Boot comments on Saudis, the NIE estimates, and war in Iraq.

CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS

I haven't heard this kind of talk from a Muslim, especially on al-Jazeera.

SUBPRIME MORTGAGE CRISIS

Everything you need to know about the submprime crisis.