Newt Gingrich blames "Liberalism" for VA Tech massacre  —  Leave it to Newt to spread some love to the left this morning.  It's all the evil—liberals that caused this horrific tragedy.  I guess I could say that Newt influenced Timothy McVeigh...  Download (3008) |  Play (3910) Download (1343) |

Laurie David and Sheryl Crow: Karl Rove Gets Thrown Under the Stop Global Warming Bus  —  Last night Thelma and Louise drove the bus off the cliff or at least into the White House Correspondents Dinner.  The "highlight" of the evening had to be when we were introduced to Karl Rove.

Haircuts Redux  —  EKlein and GFR think John Edwards is to blame for the Modo Hair Story Fiasco.  I join with Scott Lemieux in placing the onus purely on Dowd and her peers in the media: … One should note that there's a trap here designed to make it impossible, in practice …

82-Year-Old Ex-Beauty Queen Stops Intruder by Shooting Out Tires  —  WAYNESBURG, Ky. — Miss America 1944 has a talent that likely has never appeared on a beauty pageant stage: She fired a handgun to shoot out a vehicle's tires and stop an intruder.  —  Venus Ramey, 82, confronted a man …

Harry Reid and a 'lost' cause  —  Senator forced to backpedal on remarks  —  The Democratic strategy to use the ongoing violence in Iraq to their political advantage in the run-up to the 2008 elections requires some skill and nuance.  But it's growing harder to believe Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid …

It's Sarko vs Sego  —  Nicolas Sarkozy will line up against Ségolène Royal in the French presidential run-off in two weeks' time, according to early exit polls.  —  The unofficial polls were circulated in Paris but cannot be published in France until polling stations close at 8pm.

WHO NEEDS A PLAN?:  —  This month's National Journal has a piece looking at the nuts and bolts of withdrawal from Iraq—what it would entail, who would stay behind, etc.  Most of the piece just recaps the battles in Washington over funding and the like, but these two paragraphs are unnerving:

Spitzer Plans to Introduce Gay Marriage Bill  —  Gov. Eliot Spitzer will introduce a bill in the coming weeks to legalize same-sex marriage in New York, his spokeswoman said Friday, a move that would propel New York to the forefront of one of the most contentious issues in politics.

American psycho  —  When Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, the horrific slaughter revealed not only the poisons lurking in popular culture but the crisis of young males in a feminised society, says Sarah Baxter  —  Just before 5am on Monday, April 16, Cho Seung-hui got out of bed and walked to his computer.

"The cost of doing business"  —  A 2005 video still shows covered bodies in the town of Haditha, western Anbar province, Iraq.  A U.S. Army general concluded the Marine Corps chain of command in Iraq ignored 'obvious' signs of 'serious misconduct' in the slayings of two dozen civilians in Haditha …

Teflon Pete  —  Representative Pete Sessions was very adamant about passing the bankruptcy reform bill and he told everyone in the house the reasons why: … Stirring words, I'm sure you'll agree.  But apparently these calls to protect business from fraud are meant for losers and Democrats, not good Republican friends of Pete's:

Some People Love Guns.  Why Should the Rest of Us Be Targets?  —  Knives also cut bread and carve wood and aid surgery, but guns only shoot bullets.  That's what they are designed to do, and that's what they do.  When we talk about protecting our right to have guns, we are talking about protecting our right to shoot bullets.

Virginia Tech Student Government Asks The Media To Please Leave  —  Anyone can overstay their welcome — particularly a swarming news media during a major, history-making, terrible event.  And so it goes at Virginia Tech too: … And, indeed, there is a point in any news story where it ebbs and flows.

Good Cop, Really Bad Cop  —  The New York Times reports on the interrogation methods of the new Iraqi Army in an article that will likely renew the debate on torture.  Iraqi Army forces whipped a suspected terrorist with an electrical cord to get a confession — but that confession led …