Live from the Nuke Free Zone

I want to start on a positive note by talking about what there wasn’t in Bush’s speech tonight.
There was a near-total lack of religious imagery. From a man who typically peppers his self-justifications with the conviction of divine mission, this suggests to me that the President’s speechwriters were aiming […]

One quickie before the speech:
Filed at 6:40 p.m. ET
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) — President Bush on Tuesday appealed for the nation’s patience for ”difficult and dangerous” work ahead in Iraq, hoping a backdrop of U.S. troops and a reminder of Iraq’s revived sovereignty would help him reclaim control of an issue that has eroded his […]

The President is scheduled to make a speech tonight at 8pm ET. U.S. citizens should be able to catch it on ABC, though, interestingly, the other major networks are reportedly debating whether to pre-empt regular programming. This suggests to me that the speech is expected to be so overtly political that the networks […]

“I have written 95 theses on the abuses of the Church, but I’m too frickin’ lazy to post them at the church where people can see them so here’s a .doc file you can download if you want.” Paraphrased, of course. Via Pharyngula.

The good news: funding restored fully in committee. (Possibly due to phone calls and letters in support of public television — to all the people that spoke up on behalf of the venture, good work! If you like public television the way it is, don’t slack off now…)
The bad news: new chief executive […]

It is very uncomfortable to find myself on the same side as Clarence Thomas and William Rehnquist… wait, didn’t I just say that? This time, on a 5-4 line, the Court issued an opinion in Kelo vs. New London allowing a city to declare eminent domain on people’s homes and hand the land over to […]

Okay, so apparently the huge breaking story of the day today in the US is a lost Cub Scout managing to survive in the wilderness for four days being rescued at last.
So let me get this straight: a member of a group which trains to be prepared for stuff like this ran into circumstances […]

[Today’s guest entry comes from C. Nelson, a friend of several of the Zoners, who graciously gave us permission to republish this rant here on the NFZ. (Said entry is here.) I share said outrage, but I wouldn’t have been able to express it a quarter as well as the outrage is expressed here. […]

The headline was: Studies Rebut Earlier Report on Pledges of Virginity.
The thrust of the article was: Despite earlier data to the contrary, it looks like taking an abstinence pledge really does keep a teen safer from sexually transmitted diseases.
Too bad it’s a lie.
That’s a strong word to use and a serious accusation to make, but […]

Last night, reading an online newspaper article on the House Judiciary Committee meeting abruptly adjourned by Representative Sensenbrenner, R-Wis, I sensed the storyline which is now making the rounds of Democratic blogs and which is the tone of the AP story: that debate was being held on the Patriot Act, that Representative Sensenbrenner stifled that […]