From the NY Post

Dick Morris on "the Bush offensive" campaign strategy


According to Morris:

By showing Kerry to flip-flop, Bush sets him up for the real charges - that he is too weak and too liberal to be president.

Conventional wisdom says that this election is going to be close, a replay of 2000. It need not be so. If Bush runs aggressive national advertisements, hammering at these themes, he can put this race away by the end of the spring...

From: Guardian/UK

Juan Cole: "Conquering the divide"

Can Iraq's Sunni and Shia Muslims get on? Juan Cole examines a fraught relationship that is crucial to the future of the country

"As big a threat as the bombs posed to communal harmony in Iraq, any inability to make the necessary political compromises would be far more fatal."

In order to comprehend the true scope of the problems in Iraq, you need to understand the region's history. Professor Cole consistently provides the best information to help us understand what has led to the troubles the region faces today. It is only through education that can we have an informed opinion on the role of the United States in the affairs of the nation of Iraq. This will lead to doing our part as citizens to guide our governmental representatives to what we believe are the right decisions for our own country. Please read Professor Cole's article.

From Axis of Logic
Leave no man behind-unless he speaks out

How the 176th Maintenance Battalion's "Soldier of the Year" in 2001 has turned to "Outcast of the Year" in 2004.

Haiti- the coup d'état

The military coup in Haiti by the United States and France, aided and supported by Canada did not come as a last minute decision to prevent a bloodbath. Rather, it was carefully planned more than a year in advance at a meeting held in Ottawa at the initiative of the Canadian government and at the insistence of the United States.

Around the Blogs

A blog conversation reveals just how many female political bloggers are out there!

A sampling:

Anne Zook, Mahablog-Barbara O'Brien, Bittershack-Brooke Biggs, Nitpicker-CJ Finis, The Duchess (Charlene), Cyndy Roy, Different Strings-Kryselda Jarnsaxa, Laura Poyneer aka al-muhajabah, Madelein Begun Kane, Marla Caldwell, Echidne, Iddybud-Jude Nagurney Camwell, Lis Riba, Laura Gjovaag, Maru Soze, Natalie Davis, Shari, PG, Alasablog, Crescat Sententia, Eve Tushnet , Suburban Guerrilla, Collective Sigh, Elayne Riggs, Blog or Not, Amy Sullivan, World O'Crap, Just a Bump in the Beltway (Melanie), Wampum (Mary Beth Williams), Assymetrical Information(Jane Galt), Respectful of Otters (Rivka), Ruminate This (Lisa English), Julia, Avedon Carol, Making Light (Teresa Nielsen Hayden), Rebecca's Pocket, Breaching the Web, Ladida, Xeney, Fusion Reaction, Parenthetically Speaking, Divinest Sense, Girlhacker, Backup Brain (Dori's half) , Megnut, Netwoman, 12 Frogs, Burningbird, ValueJudgment (J's half) , Yourish...

Blog on, sweet sisters..blog on.

*Kevin Hayden provides an additional tribute to women of blogging: "Wimminz Get their Day, but that ain't enough.."
This blogstress was gifted with the highlighted word "many" sandwiched in between my gurlfellow blogkind. It reminds me of the saying "From one-- many and from many--one." All these female blogstress spirits represent separate parts linked to the entirety of "blogstress-consciousness".
MANY thanks to Kevin!

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From The American Street/Jay Bullock

We Are All Spalding Gray

"....we too, at heart, are minimalists, we bloggers. Like Gray, we don't need much--nothing more than some blogging software and perhaps a blogonym. Many of us even have that calculated sip of water (anyone for "Heh!" or "Indeed!"?) Gray was famous for, that notebook open on the table. No, we generally don't have the kind of immediate audience Gray had, though occasionally we are blessed with comments. And no one would even think about calling most of us avante garde.

Some of the most powerful and touching and thought-provoking posts I have read of late have not been of the political diatribe type, nor of the news analysis type, but of the personal..."

-- Jay Bullock

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From The Invisible Library
Battlefields of the Mind: Looking at the Culture War from Afar
Part One: A Reasonable Madness

Keith provides a look at the Culture War, but from a Big Picture perspective, employing Robert Anton Wilson's characterisation of two sides of the attitudinal coin - Infophobes and Infofiles.

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Echidne of the Snakes:
The International Women's Day

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RELIGION AND POLITICS

Amy Sullivan:

Religion on the Run

"Democrats don't have to beat their Bibles and out-Jesus the president. They just have to point out the enormous gap between his rhetoric and his actions. This is a good start...."

Pen Elayne

Slime and Pretend

The Whole Megillah

Elayne's colorful thoughts on the Book of Esther at the start of Purim...including an idea for a comic book I hope she creates!


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Political Dish--The Mad Kane Crossword Challenge

It's great fun---try it!

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The Latest at Orcinus

-- Allen Brill has an op-ed in today's Charlotte Observer that he reproduced at The Right Christians that everyone should read: Sexual Mores and the Bible

-- I see that Republicans are rushing to defend the Bush campaign's use of footage from Sept. 11 in television ads by arguing that it's only natural to display dead bodies from a national tragedy in a campaign ad. The latest is Rudy Giuliani, who seems to have gotten this week's talking points down pat.....

-- The press: Still missing on AWOL---It seems apparent that, to the press corps at least, the questions about George W. Bush's military record have been at least mollified if not answered. Problem is, nothing has been answered.