National Review - Israel & Evangelicals

Interesting article about why some American Christians support Israel in the conflict with Palestinians.

Spinsanity - One Moore stupid white man

Here's a detailed bashing of Michael Moore's book and speaking tour. Sounds like a lot of his facts are pretty shaky.

What's interesting to me is that I don't think his target audience particularly cares whether his facts are true or not. I'm just basing this on a couple of people I know who went to see Moore speak a couple of weeks ago. They're ready to believe what he says and the facts are beside the point.

The Weekly Standard - An Open Letter to the President

This article recommends stronger backing for Israel and removing Saddam from power in Iraq. Which is all well and good, if that's what you believe. My feelings have always tended towards Israel in the conflict with the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Hizbollah, etc. (Although it's impossible to take sides in the current mess.)

But catch this ridiculous statement these "foreign policy experts" make as a motivation for helping Israel against the Palestinians and Arab neighbors:

"Israel is targeted in part because it is our friend, and in part because it is an island of liberal, democratic principles--American principles--in a sea of tyranny, intolerance, and hatred."

This statement barely merits a response, but any serious observer would say that the hatred against Israel is based largely on racism and a generations-old cycle of killings and retributions. It's almost laughable to suggest that a teenage suicide bomber in a refugee camp kills Jews because their government is too democratic.

Washington Post - 'Team 555' Shaped a New Way of War

Detailed account of the role of Special Forces in the Afghan war. Strictly from the gov't perspective.

AlterNet -- 18 Tales of Media Censorship

Interesting book review about "Into the Buzzsaw". Sounds like an interesting companion to the yearly "top censored stories" list. I'll have to check that one out.

Intelligent Design Network

See the blog below for the KC Star article about this group. They propose a third alternative in the evolution vs. creation debate.

Kansas City Star - Ohio emerges as next battleground for schools' evolution debate

Kansas got a lot of pub over the evolution vs. creation debate in school curriculum the last couple of years. A KC group is presenting a third alternative called "intelligent design". Intelligent design suggests that the earth and all the life on it was designed by an intelligent force, instead of chance.

My take: this is a really interesting perspective on the issue of "where do we come from?" I personally believe that the Bible is 100% correct on the topic of creation, but I don't think that the Bible specifically says how old the Earth is. (God didn't include that information for us.) If we really want to find out the answer to these questions, we can't ignore evidence that points to design.

But the faith of evolution rules the scientific community, and its adherents do not leave room for doubters. They'll fight tooth and nail to keep any alternatives out of school textbooks.

Slate - Series-Skipper:

The first Series-Skipper, and an in-depth description of the tool itself.

Slate - Series Skipper: Ten Years in September

We blogged the Bob Woodward series a few weeks ago. This is a pretty inventive summary of the articles. There are more Series-Skippers available. Slate says they let "concerned citizens avoid actually reading award-winning newspaper series—without fear of missing anything good." Certainly an honorable goal.

CNN.com - No fooling: the 10 worst Internet hoaxes

I love a good internet hoax, and can hardly ever resist debunking them. I'm on a debunking diet right now, so if you want the Rest of the Story, you'll have to check out this link.

Hoax number 6 is really surprising to me. If you can believe the web sites referenced by this article, the "419 fraud" is one of the largest industries in Nigeria. Weird.

The Weekly Standard - Every Man a Media Critic

This column addresses a recent controversy where the San Francisco Chronicle misqoted Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz. The annoying thing about the Chronicle's response to their mistakes is that they grudgingly admit their mistakes then get a few more jabs in.

This response reveals an overt antagonism to the administration that obviously goes beyond the issue of that particular editorial. I wonder how the Chronicle's readers can trust a newspaper to cover national events accurately when the staff is just "out to get" the military?

The press is an essential watchdog on the Pentagon, but not if the editors assume that every military decision is automatically wrong, and only needs to be revealed as such.

TIMEasia.com: INDONESIA: The Preacher of Death

The Time article reverently honors this terrorist with words like "breathtaking campaign of international terror" and "how he accomplished so much". In other words, they're creating the next great terrorist celebrity. Responsible journalism? You make the call.