Video: Chavez flips out at the UN; Update: Did Chavez say "insh'allah" at his presser?  —  Not to be outdone by his pal Ahmadinejad last night, el presidente's having a full-blown meltdown at the podium before the General Assembly as I write this, shrieking about Bush being "the devil" and hollering "Yankee imperialists go home."

First Lady Is Playing a Major Role on the World Stage  —  New York Events on Literacy, Burma Reflect Laura Bush's More Public Persona  —  NEW YORK — On Monday, Laura Bush convened an international conference on literacy.  Tuesday, she hosted a roundtable aimed at prodding the United Nations …

The Pope's Act of Contrition  —  Now that Pope Benedict XVI has expressed regret for offending Muslims in remarks he made last week, we hope Catholics and Muslims alike will put aside the pontiff's ill-considered comments and move forward in a conciliatory spirit.

Georgia Law Requiring Voters to Show Photo ID Is Thrown Out  —  Judge Says Some Would Be Disenfranchised; State Plans Appeal  —  A state judge yesterday rejected a Georgia law requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification, writing in his decision, "This cannot be."

AP vs. the "so-called blogosphere"  —  It's spin time.  The Associated (With Terrorists) Press is now waging a p.r. campaign against what it calls the "so-called blogosphere" over detained photographer Bilal Hussein.  After five months of stonewalling, the "so-called reporters" …

Roger Waters: The Pink in Floyd  —  For the second time in my life, I'm writing a column about Pink Floyd.  More specifically, the man I have always considered to be the brains of the band: Roger Waters.  The first time I wrote about him was 26-years ago when I was a high school senior at C.B. West …

Confirmed: Kean Jr Campaign Behind Astroturfing  —  It's official now.  What was very strong evidence that the Tom Kean Jr campaign was behind all the troll postings is now irrefutable proof.  Below is the header information from an email sent out by Tom Kean Jr campaign spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker.

Editing Horizontally: Thanks to Reuters, NewAssignment.Net Can Hire Someone  —  They're giving us $100,000.  That will underwrite the costs of hiring our first editor, which is going to be a fun job.  —  Today I am announcing at Comment is Free and PressThink that Reuters is giving $100,000 to NewAssignment.Net.

Conservative Congressman Blocking Crackdown on Predatory Lenders Targeting U.S. Troops  —  Predatory lenders are seriously harming the U.S. military, and one member of Congress is fighting to keep it that way.  —  A Pentagon report last month found that as many one in five U.S. service members …

This man's sign says it all.  —  Tens of thousands of freedom loving people showed up from all over the country.  —  It was gorgeous.  They came in droves to protest holocaust denier, nuked up Ahmadinejad's outrageous appearance at the UN.  —  Here in this video I ask the Headmaster …

AIR KISS  —  American Airlines Flight 45—departing Charles de Gaulle at 10:40 A.M., arriving J.F.K. at one each afternoon—is a tourist's delight: timed just right to avoid late checkout, leaving time for one last Kir Royale at Les Deux Magots.  On August 22nd, the coach cabin was packed with vacationing New Yorkers.

Allen tells of his Jewish heritage  —  He acknowledges he knew of his lineage when faulting a reporter for her question  —  U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., yesterday acknowledged his Jewish ancestry, a day after angrily ducking a question about possible Jewish forebears in a debate with his Democratic challenger.

Goldwater  —  If you haven't had a chance to see the HBO documentary on Barry Goldwater by his grand-daughter, you might want to take the time.  It didn't have enough politics for this junkie, but it certainly brought to life the spirit of a conservatism now almost entirely eclipsed in the Republican party.

Royal Society tells Exxon: stop funding climate change denial  —  Britain's leading scientists have challenged the US oil company ExxonMobil to stop funding groups that attempt to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.  —  In an unprecedented step, the Royal Society …

Life Is Better; It Isn't Better.  Which Is It?  —  When the first snow falls on the North Shore of Chicago this winter, Robert Gordon will take his Toro snow blower out of the garage and think about how lucky he is not to be using a shovel.  Mr. Gordon is 66 years old and evidently quite healthy …

The U.S. vs. Iran  —  One side is playing for real, the other only for time.  —  The Iranian government continues to enrich uranium despite Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's generous package of incentives—and in defiance of the U.N.'s Aug. 31 deadline.  Still, European officials hold out hope for the success of diplomacy.

Opposing view: Intelligence comes first  —  U.S. cannot make security policy based on individual anecdotes.  —  The case of Maher Arar, a Canadian Muslim allegedly tortured in Syria after being taken there by the CIA, warrants scrutiny.  So, indeed, does the whole practice of rendition …

Washington Blade Parts Ways With Jeff Gannon  —  Following Executive Editor Chris Crain's departure from The Washington Blade, the paper chose Kevin Naff as his replacement this week.  One of Naff's first decisions was to sever ties with columnist Jeff Gannon.  —  We spoke with Naff:

Attractive Models  —  Via Jeremy Freese, a paper by Alan Gerber and Neil Malhotra called "Can political science literatures be believed?  A study of publication bias in the APSR and the AJPS."  Here's the main finding.  —  When you run a bog-standard regression, you typically …

Everybody Has One: Bloggers and the Death of Opinion Journalism  —  Not that long ago, many people thought the Internet would break down partisan boundaries and improve the quality of political debate in this country — a prediction that sounds as silly today as previous hype about the educational potential of television and radio.

Buyer's remorse: The Bush story the press won't tell  —  Despite the obvious signs it exists — and has for nearly 20 months — the pervasive buyer's remorse that hovers around President Bush's second term, as measured by public opinion polls, remains off limits for the press.

Mark Warner: About Those Tax Cuts...  Ex-VA Gov. Mark Warner (D) wants you to know: he thinks the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans, enacted during an expensive war and with rising federal budget deficits, were "morally wrong and economically wrong" and that he would indeed support their repeal.

Six Questions for Dr. Emile A. Nakhleh on the CIA and the Iraq War  —  Recently retired head of key CIA unit calls for Iraq "exit strategy"; says there was "no evidence" of Saddam-bin Laden links … 1. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, administration officials claimed that Saddam Hussein's regime …