I came across this article in the Naval War College Review today. It’s from 2002, but it’s still a good exploration of why the media and the military so often find themselves at odds.
The author, Douglas Porch, is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School.
My entire post is too long to [...]

They got your information back, and it looks like nothing was compromised…
WASHINGTON, June 29 � The government has recovered a stolen laptop computer and external hard drive that contains the birthdates and Social Security numbers for millions of veterans and military personnel, the Department of Veterans Affairs said Thursday.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in [...]

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of an adult crying over nothing. So yes, the following is exceedingly superficial, but that’s sort of the point.
Lee Seigel just penned one of the most asinine editorials I’ve read in quite some time. The topic? Baseball caps. And I don’t even wear baseball caps!
In particular, note [...]

Condoleeza Rice was caught on tape having a frank discussion about Iraq with a Russian diplomat. It’s a fascinating inside look at diplomacy in action — and the way such diplomacy is later presented to the outside world.

I’m a space geek. Always have been, always will. I think money put into space exploration is generally both well spent and extremely cool. I regret that I will probably not live long enough to witness the first human colony on another planet. I think life on other planets is a mathematical near-certainty. If I [...]

Well, now we have an idea of how this “whatever I do is right” attitude of the administration is coming from.
From the New Yorker:
On December 18th, Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State, joined other prominent Washington figures at FedEx Field, the Redskins’ stadium, in a skybox belonging to the team’s owner. During the game, [...]

SCOTUS blog has this:
Even more importantly for present purposes, the Court held that Common Article 3 of Geneva aplies as a matter of treaty obligation to the conflict against Al Qaeda. That is the HUGE part of today’s ruling. The commissions are the least of it. This basically resolves the debate about interrogation techniques, because [...]

… from Politics Without Purpose” is the new Web-based centrist juggernaut Unity08’s ringing challenge to polarizers of both parties. Read it. Sign it. And tell your friends and family.
It’s short and punchy, as befits an age short of both time and attention span.
It’s short and testy, as befits the frustration [...]

In a post regarding the NY Times editor, Bill Keller, this comment was made:
This is what we call high treason, Mr. Keller. And don’t complain to us about “continuing to give the story publicity� by calling you out on it. If you and your buddies hadn’t published it all over the country in the first [...]

Yesterday, NPR ran a segment that discussed how, in the lead up to this year’s elections, politicians will use language to influence popular opinion on the Iraq War. Interviewed was linguist and sometimes Democratic advisor George Lakoff, the patron saint of spin doctors whose ability to manipulate language is matched only by his inability to [...]

I’ve written a post over there about what our founders might think of our current political system.
Take a look.

Alarming stats. Maybe the politicians are right.
More from the Wash Post.
;-)

If you are interested in any way in the issue of gay marriage — or, if you are interested in the possibility of civil discourse between people who adamantly disagree — you’ll want to follow the intense discussion that begins here today and will continue over the next several days.

Jim Wallis. Photo courtesy Sojourners.
Even though I’ve been involved in mainline American Protestantism for about 15 years and now, and I’m an ordained pastor of one of those mainline Protestant denominations, my roots are grounded in the traditional Black Church and Evangelicalism. In many ways, I classify myself as a “Liberal Evangelical” a [...]

Is anyone surprised?
Amid cries that boiled down to “throw aid ($$) at it,” Congress did what the media and public response demanded and the result is catastrophic waste
Among the many superlatives associated with Hurricane Katrina can now be added this one: it produced one of the most extraordinary displays of scams, schemes and [...]

Palestinians, in threatening Israel with WMDs, are signing their own death warrant.

Could this happen here?
Government surveillance of all children, including information on whether they eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, will be condemned tomorrow as a Big Brother system. Changes being introduced since Victoria Climbié’s death from abuse include a £224 million database tracking all 12 million children in England [...]

A must read…
I don’t always have time to answer my mail as fully as etiquette demands, but our story about the government’s surveillance of international banking records has generated some questions and concerns that I take very seriously. As the editor responsible for the difficult decision to publish that story, I’d like to offer a [...]

So supposes Newsweek…
Me, I have my doubts, especially since we’re talking about the merging of talk radio and the blogosphere.
Honestly, big deal. Sure, Hugh Hewitt has a big audience, but can his side of the partisan milieu affect true change?
More…
Like Daily Kos, the revamped Townhall will focus on motivating and activating the grass roots. That’s [...]

Just read…
The Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced on Sunday that its members have succeeded in manufacturing chemical and biological weapons.
In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, the group, which belongs to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah Party, said the weapons were the result of a three-year effort.
According to the statement, the first of its [...]