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 (2792) |  Play (3589) Download (1231) |

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 …

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.

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 …

The Politics of Prose  —  BARACK OBAMA wrote "very bad poetry" in college.  John McCain once contemplated joining the French Foreign Legion.  John Edwards wanted to become a lawyer so he could defend the likes of the wrongfully accused Dr. Richard Kimble on "The Fugitive."

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.

DRAWL DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE  —  In "A bridge too far" I took a look at Hillary Clinton serving up some plastic Dixie chicken for her audience in Selma last month as she recited the words of a James Cleveland gospel song (video above).  This week Senator Clinton and other Democatic candidates paid homage …

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.

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:

Alec Baldwin's Daughter Is a Disgrace  —  I don't care if Alec Baldwin's daughter is 11 years old or 12 years old or however old she is, she is a disgrace and her treatment of her father is beyond the pale.  It's hard not to feel sympathy for Baldwin as he outlines his grievances …

Pressure increases on Wolfowitz to go: report  —  LONDON (Reuters) - A group of top former World Bank executives has urged Paul Wolfowitz to resign, as the bank's watchdog warned his actions were undermining the ability of the institution to carry out development work.

Pittsburgh Islamic Leader: Ayaan Hirsi Ali Should Be Killed  —  When ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali appeared at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, Muslim groups tried to have her speech shut down.  And they made it clear that if they had the power, and US law were written according to shari'a …

Short Takes: Sign a petition to keep our chocolate real  —  The federal Food and Drug Administration is proposing to redefine the very essence of chocolate and to allow big manufacturers such as Hershey to sell a bar devoid of a key ingredient — cocoa butter.

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 …