You’ll notice some minor changes to the side-bar; I’ve separated out the blog interviews, for example, into their own heading. You’ll also notice a few less blog links overall, and some of the links that remain have actually been updated to reflect their current URLs! Given the hundreds of links involved, it is really not possible to timely keep up with URL changes, or for that matter, the abandonment of many blogs. So periodically… I do this kind of culling and updating. If your URL has changed, but I haven’t kept up, or if I have deleted your blog because...

The hackneyed way of dealing with this holiday, declared to be the fourth Thursday in November in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln, is for everyone concerned (especially school children) to recite what they are thankful for. In my case, it is even more hopelessly hackneyed, as, despite the (macro) political ruminations you see played out here, I have no cognizable (micro) real complaints: I am certainly thankful for my wonderful family, my lovely home, and my most pleasant overall circumstances (including certainly good physical and mental (!) health, as rewarding and fulfilling employment as I have ever had, freedom from...

Weighing in on matters “war on terror detention and purported adjudication policy” is none other than former Clinton Administration Attorney General Janet Reno, who joined a number of former Justice Department officials in filing an amicus curae (or friend of the court) brief before the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond opposing the government’s asserted authority to detain and try (as enemy combatants outside the regular court system) resident aliens, such as the subject at hand, Saleh Al-Marri of Qatar. Regular readers are, of course, quite familiar with him, having been first introduced to him in our interview with...

Or vice versa… Race issues are a huge part of the current thread of the Grey Lady’s new blog, The Lede, mostly from the rarefied (or whatever the opposite of that is) world of popular entertainment. In particular, we offer you this discussion of Michael “Kramer” Richards non-apology apology for his recent paleo-racist tirade on a stage in Los Angeles, and this discussion of Rupert Murdoch’s abrupt decision to yank the O.J. “hypothetical” murder reenactment (both the book and the t.v. show) given the (all-bad) controversy it has generated. Richards’ tirade, while hurtful, was, in the end, a tirade that...

Mahablog’s Barbara sends us this discussion of legislation about to be introduced by Connecticut’s Democratic Senator (Chris Dodd… the Democrat who isn’t being cagey about his party affiliation)… to amend the Military Commissions Act to make it more in conformance with the legal and moral traditions of this nation… and civilization in general. Good luck to Senator Dodd, as certainly, regular readers know what an abomination I personally consider our detention and purported adjudication policies. I would like this to be one of the four or five pillar pieces of legislation that the new Democratic led Congress immediately introduce, the...

Let’s all wish a happy birthday to Mrs. TD.

After a lengthy illness, Mrs. TD’s step-mother has passed away. Condolences to TD Father-in-law, and to all near and dear.

It seems you are, probably, addicted to the internet, according to this from WaPo. Well, you might be, anyway, if you spend hours and hours a day online, and thereby spend less time and effort at work, with your family, your friends, on self-maintenance or paying the bills, etc., and if you believe that this presents a problem (or your loved ones do…) Certainly, in my case, internet use diverts valuable time that might otherwise be spent watching television.

Someone other than Wisconsin’s Russell Feingold, who, joining Virginia’s Mark Warner, just announced that he would not be seeking the Democratic nomination in 2008. In my exceedingly rare “who in public life has sufficient principles and character to satisfy my insanely exacting standards to justify supporting them for President”, Feingold, a man who voted against the latest Iraq war, a man who nearly lost his own senate seat by adhering to his own McCain-Feingold Act principles and refusing to accept money from Political Action Committees, a man who voted for the confirmation of John Ashcroft on the grounds that, procedurally,...

I know, I know… enough with the celebrity deaths. Still, Jack Palance, who won an Oscar for City Slickers, and an Emmy for Requiem for a Heavyweight, who passed away at either 85 or 87, depending on who you believe…. Palance happened to be the only celebrity who I saw in person on both the East and West Coasts… And, of course, he was a funny man, who was always cast as the heavy… (kind of a reverse Jerry Lewis in that way.)