We aren't fighting rebels, nationalists, or patriots in Iraq. We are fighting criminals and bandits in Iraq. "Bandit" is a very interesting term. It implies that we aren't actually fighting a war against a legitimate military foe, but are instead just hunting a group of outlaws.

Henry Midgley has a couple of kind words to say about the latest Keanu Reeves vehicle "Street Kings" - at least it's better than "Rambo"...

Campaigns run on money. Staff has to be paid, venues rented, ads bought, transportation gassed and ticketed. Most candidates for their party’s nomination don’t drop out as a direct consequence of losing one too many contests, they drop out because after they start losing, their campaign contributions drop off and they run out of money.

The only fun that will be had is when gold, silver and oil go to the freaking moon that you get so rich that can you Super-Size those fries at every meal! Whee!

Before the debate was halfway complete, the blogosphere was erupting in outrage at the lack of questions about substantive issues.

It is the morning of April 16, 2007, and I am in my final year of college. I live in Blacksburg, Va., but I attend Radford University. Today a lone student gunman will shoot and kill 27 students and five teachers before he takes his life.

Why do poor and lower middle class people keep voting for the party of the rich? Why don't they vote in their own best economic interests? It turns out that these questions have already been debated by some of the greatest minds in history. The French revolution of 1848 provided some answers.

The impact of the credit crunch is going to get personal.

Read between the lines of Hillary Clinton and her surrogates criticizing Barack Obama and his ‘bitter’ statement and that is one of the places her logic takes you. Hillary seems to be saying that Americans aren’t bitter because they have no reason to be.

Four charts, one metal, and the whole world wrapped up in trying to price risk and reward in a fast-shrinking currency...

This Sunday's edition of the LA Times featured a piece written by Times TV critic Mary McNamara in which she brought up the question that Dare Not Speak Its Name - What the hell is wrong with so many female actresses in Hollywood today?

The U.S. media, military, and politicians refer to the people we are fighting as "Criminal gangs", "Thugs", "Bandits", and "Outlaws". But never "rebels", "nationalists", or "patriots". This is an old story that played out in much the same way 80 years ago, when America invaded Nicaragua because its government owed American bankers money.

The fifth chapter of the History of Persia - Persia and the Great Game – where the lesson is learned, not for the last time, that failing to accurately assess an enemy's capabilities frequently plays a major role in victories and defeats in Southwest Asia. Marcus Licinius Crassus didn't appreciate that fact, nor did Hulagu Khan centuries later.

On Dec. 13, 1979, and June 21, 1983, a married, middle-aged, very physically active black Virginia man has heart surgery. In the June operation, he receives a tainted blood transfusion...

My Brother is an only Child was released in the UK on 4 April. Our reviewer saw it and these are his thoughts.

Like most people I was told to plow as much money into my 401k pension plan as possible. So like millions of other workers out there, I did as I was told. Since then I came to realize that the 401k model is hopelessly flawed and will lead an entire generation to despair.

More evidence that the economy is heading into a tailspin, several suggestions for how individuals and famlies as well as businesses and the Government and Banking and Lending industry should react to the current crisis.

360 years ago today a fleet of Spanish warships sailed into the harbor in Naples, Italy, and ended the first real experiment in popular democracy in the western world since dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla marched his armies into Rome seventeen centuries earlier.

Soaring supermarket bills have prompted Red Hot Penny Shares editor Tom Bulford to consider trying to grow his own...

Markets appear to be bottoming out but George Soros has his doubts...

Martin Luther King Jr.: January 19, 1929 – April 4, 1968

When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quoted the Declaration of Independence 45 ½ years ago, he did so in a way few people understand.

Tight food supplies threaten political rulers but governmental responses around the world have not helped says Fleet Street Letter editor, Brian Durrant...

John McCain will celebrate his 72nd birthday on August 29th, 2008, but several actuarial and medical data points suggest that he may be biologically in his eighties. At what point should McCain's frequent mental gaffes be considered symptoms of a physical and cognitive decline rendering him unfit for the pressures and responsibilities of the U.S. Presidency?

President George W. Bush did not get his will during the NATO summit in Bucurest. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has confirmed it will not yet offer membership to Georgia or Ukraine after the 26-member alliance was split amid strong objections from Russia.

Attention is currently focused on the forthcoming Olympic games in China this year; but in London we are facing the inevitability of having to host our own games in four years' time. Already, they're over budget, unpopular and unlikely to have any lasting benefits for the city. So what's the point?

Jesus Camp is a documentary about a controversial youth training camp in America, we review it here.

The economy is going to be at least bad enough so that we need a new name to call it. A recess is a small indentation while a depression is a larger hole, so I think this new worse economic crisis should by called an Abyssal, and since it comes with inflation, it will be a Stagflationary Abyssal.

Let's see. There are 35 ounces in a kilo. Gold is about US$920 per ounce. If you wanted to move about US$30k out of a country with capital controls-you'd have to wear kilo of gold jewelry. That's a lot of jewelry. But would you have to declare it at customs?

Last week Treasury Secretary Paulson had a meeting with representatives from Abu Dhabi and Singapore. The meeting involved setting up "rules" for future investments in America from their Sovereign Wealth Funds. Capitalism has truly entered a new age when China's SWF has access to enough assets to buy every publicly-traded company in America.

A popsci.com writer reports on a swimsuit whose wearers have already broken 11 world records in two months. Will the technology pave the way for a new era in swimming, or will FINA crack down?