Today the city of New York released many of the 911 tapes from September 11th. Personally, I’ve never fully recovered from that day and had not planned on listening to the calls, even though the victims voices have been bleeped out and only the operators can be heard. But they played several minutes on NPR [...]

This turned up in a comments thread and probably got drowned out there by yak about Iraq, but it seems worth saving, since a lot of people talk about ideas like “moderate” and “centrist” without agreeing on what they are.
Tom Strong laid down an important distinction:

Moderate: Gentle in tone, open to compromises (particularly “third way� [...]

The latest Carnival of Etymologies is up, if that’s your thing. Very moderate. Apologies for the link-whoring, but it was suggested that it might be appreciated here.

From Haaretz Daily:
Four Israelis were killed when a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car after nightfall Thursday at the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, located west of Nablus.
The vehicle blew up around 9:45 P.M. next to the Kedumim gas station. Security forces sealed roads in the area immediately in the [...]

You know, German comedy! All those great knee-slapper films and stitch-in-your-side skits. Like … uh, … well …

(h/t: Lessig)

Global Guerillas offers what I think is a likely scenario…
Here’s a likely scenario for how this will play out: deeper entrenchment within US bases (to limit casualties) and pledges of neutrality (Rumsfeld) will prove hollow. Ongoing ethnic slaughter will force US intervention to curtail the militias. Inevitably, this will increase tensions with the militias and [...]

Within the next two years, the US National Debt Clock located near Times Square will run out of digits. That’s right, we’re approaching the 10 trillion dollar debt mark.
$10,000,000,000,000.
At some point this will be an issue again. Hopefully some point very soon.

Yep, there are more in the middle, but now they’re leaning more towards the Democrats.
From E&P:
Republicans had gained the upper hand in recent years, but 33% of Americans, in the latest Gallup poll, now call themselves Democrats, with those favoring the GOP one point behind. But Gallup says this widens a bit more “once [...]

Breaking News …
American journalist Jill Carroll freed …
American journalist Jill Carroll, abducted in early January by gunmen in Baghdad, was released to a Sunni Arab political party in the capital Thursday morning after 82 days in captivity.
“I was never hurt, ever hit,” she told a Washington Post reporter. “I was kept in a safe [...]

There is not a single damn thing you can do to stop illegal Mexican immigration. Nothing . . . Except. Except complete the conquest of Mexico.

I don’t, and if you watch this clip, you’ll understand why. Zealots don’t build consensus. They only push people further apart.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Daily Kos and blogs like it do NOT represent mainstream liberal/progressive ideology. And if you’ve watched the clip I linked to, I think it’s [...]

Candidates helping Candidates

… in his hotel room. We saw that. SmokingGun also tells us what John Kerry wants. Or maybe it’s what Teresa wants. Sort of hard to tell the diff sometimes, know’m sayin?
Let’s see … “hates celery,” I’m down with that.Stringy water. Shit consumes more calories in chewing it than you get from digesting it. [...]

Think again. Abdul Rahman isn’t the first…and unless Islamic law changes…he certainly won’t be the last.
From Daveed Gartenstein-Ross:
Middle Easterners who leave the Islamic faith have faced serious persecution for decades. Many have been killed, either by the state or by their former co-religionists. But the Abdul Rahman case marked the first time in recent memory [...]

Amba gathers some available information on gay marriage in Native American societies.

Well, Scalia didn’t recuse himself from this case, and I think he’s right given the fine reporting of Daveed Gartenstein-Ross on Scalia’s previous views on similar cases.
Still, it doesn’t seem like many on the highest bench agree with Antonin.
From SCOTUSblog:
With Justice Antonin Scalia taking part — and, in fact, providing the only clearcut signs [...]

Say some things!

No, more than “kinda.”
I’ve seen this on several sites, but I still hope it’s not true. Not that I like Sean Penn particularly. But some things are just so odious that the damage can’t be contained and they taint the human race.

Hollywood activist SEAN PENN has a plastic doll of conservative US columnist ANN COULTER [...]

From the Associated Press:

A small Easter display was removed from the City Hall lobby on Wednesday out of concern that it would offend non-Christians.
The display – a cloth Easter bunny, pastel-colored eggs and a sign with the words “Happy Easter’’ – was put up by a City Council secretary. They were not purchased with city [...]