The New Republic

James Wood, writing about Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation, describes his own stumble toward a lucid concept of atheism; Rick Perlstein shows that the NRA's new cause célèbre is hurting cops and acquitting drug dealers; Zvika Krieger READ MORE >>

Not that there was much doubt at this point, but Barack Obama certainly sounded like someone who's running for president when he was in New Hampshire yesterday: "America is ready to turn the page," he said. "America is ready for a new set of challenges. This is our time. A new generation is prepared to lead." --Jason Zengerle READ MORE >>

Who does Louisiana Congressman "Dollar Bill" Jefferson have to thank for his improbable feat of winning reelection while after an FBI corruption investigation turned up $90,000 in his freezer? Oddly enough, the Bush administration. According to the Times-Picayune (via PoliticalWire): READ MORE >>

A few weeks ago, George Packer argued that if and when the United States finally pulls out of Iraq, the country should offer visas to those Iraqis who collaborated with us during the occupation, seeing as how they'll all be in grave danger when we leave. As an aside, he noted that last year the United States accepted fewer than 200 Iraqi refugees (and looking around, it seems that most of those had applied for admission before the current war). READ MORE >>

George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language": Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending Russian totalitarianism. He cannot say outright, 'I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so'. Probably, therefore, he will say something like this: READ MORE >>

Cliff May detects creeping liberal bias at Fox News. Seriously. --Jason Zengerle READ MORE >>

One could write a whole book on why California's prison system is so dysfunctional, even by the dismal standards of American prisons, but this, from the New York Times' piece on the subject, is something I've never really considered: READ MORE >>

In 2008 news, Dennis Kucinich has announced he will soon, well, announce:   Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2004, said Monday he is planning to run again because his party isn't pushing hard enough to end the war in Iraq. In a statement, Kucinich said he plans to formally announce his candidacy for 2008 on Tuesday at City Hall, where he served as mayor of his hometown in the 1970s.   READ MORE >>

This month's Vanity Fair has a great little parody of Dick Cheney's Google searches, including such gem search terms as: HDL freedom fries Google Maps: tora bora quail hunting "involuntary manslaughter" iraq exit strategy iraq exit stratagem iran exit strategy READ MORE >>

Here's a terrific piece describing how that the Bush administration's "global gag rule" has "contributed to shockingly high death and disability rates in developing countries." The rule, of course, mandates that no U.S. aid go to any foreign NGO that receives outside money to perform, recommend, or refer women to abortions. READ MORE >>