The Wall Street Journal prints a piece today by Peter Wehner, deputy assistant to the president and director of the White House's Office of Strategic Initiatives. It's a must read for anyone who is repeatedly drawn back into debate over the rationale for the Iraq war. OpinionJournal - Featured Article

All sorts of grandiose tributes expressed in architecture to a truly failed system. Unrealised Moscow

H/T Digg

Damninteresing.com covers exciting developments that portend advances in stem cell research without the ethical dilemmas involved in the use of embryos: extraction of stem cells from menstrual blood and human spermatogonial cells (from testicular tissue) in the post, New Sources for Stem Cells

Speaking for myself, I favor the former.

Ann Althouse points to a fun story about the power that unionized California janitors have to prevent graduates from being further indoctrinated by Democratic party apparachniks My Way News - Dean Cancels Berkeley Graduation Speech

If this doesn't make one skeptical of government-run "free" health care, nothing will. In a Dentist Shortage, British (Ouch) Do It Themselves - New York Times

The reviews for "United 93" keep coming in. Instapundit.com - excerpts a few reviewers whose impressions I share. I wholeheartedly recommend the film to every adult American of any political stripe. I was profoundly affected by the experience of watching the movie, and reminded of my feelings on that day of infamy.

The Angry Left attacks one of the blogosphere's best, causing many, many supporters to rally to her side.

Click the picture of this intelligent, articulate woman to read more about it.

My old friend Tom Evslin has a great blog. His post on global warming is just like him: thoughtful, practical and based on facts, not fancy. Fractals of Change: Global Warming ? Too Important for Junk Science

Another story not covered by the main stream media Kyoto: An Open Letter to the European Governments and the European Commission The Brussels Journal

A great quote from the article, “If, back in the mid-1990s, we knew what we know today about climate, Kyoto would almost certainly not exist, because we would have concluded it was not necessary.”

The Captain's Quarters blog calls it "case closed" on the question of Saddam's links to terrorism and attacks against the US prior to 9/11.

ABC News: Did Russian Ambassador Give Saddam the U.S. War Plan?

Despite ABC's disclaimers, these documents certainly make the President's case for war far stronger. ABC News: Did Russian Ambassador Give Saddam the U.S. War Plan?

John D Barrow, a professor of mathematics at Cambridge University, writes in the UK's telegraph:

"In all the science we pursue we are used to seeing progress. Our first attempts to grasp the laws of nature are often incomplete. So, in our religious conceptions of the Universe, we also use approximations and analogies to have some grasp of ultimate things. They are not the whole truth but this does not stop them being a part of the truth: a shadow that is cast in a limiting situation of some simplicity."

"Our scientific picture of the Universe has revealed how blinkered and conservative our outlook has often been, how self-serving our interim picture, how mundane our expectations, and how parochial our attempts to find or deny the links between scientific and religious approaches to the nature of the Universe."

As the man says, read the whole thing. Telegraph Opinion Astronomy illuminates the glory of God

Many say that this is the greatest blog post ever: Tom McMahon: What I Have Learned In 15 Years

I think that it is one of the greatest pieces of real advice ever published. Anywhere.

The Media Mob: Oprah on Frey: "I Was Wrong" - NYO

"I apologize, I was wrong," Ms. Winfrey said, about her support of author James Frey. She also said, "I regret my phone call to Larry King," referring to her live phone call to the talk show host, in which she blamed the publishing industry for not disclaiming the memoir. "The truth matters," Ms. Winfrey said, and: "My judgement was clouded."

The Media Mob: Oprah on Frey: "I Was Wrong" - NYO

Wow--what a turnabout. The order of the universe has been thrown into chaos. Next we'll read widespread reports that cats are going for walks on leash--even in the rain--and dogs are ignoring thrown balls and their food.

Eastern Europe freezes in killer cold - Yahoo! News UK

The Left continues to pose like a Turkey in the rain, part 1,138:

Eastern Europe freezes in killer cold - Yahoo! News UK: "'You'd have to go back at least 10 years, sometimes 20 years, to find such sharp colds,' said Patrick Galois, a meteorologist with Meteo-France."

Al Gored's new book on Global Warming, accompanied by a documentary that will be screened at Sundance, comes out soon. He gave a speech on global warming during a severe cold snap in NY last year. To quote Bugs, "What a bunch of Maroons."

Evidently, I'm an Audi TT! Not what I'd hoped for, but it'll do while I'm saving for that M6...

You're not the fastest, nor the most nimble, but you're cute and you have style. You're not intensely competitive, but when you pass by, everyone turns to look.

Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

Returning Abramoff cash 'taints' tribes, Murray says

Instapundit said it best, "You can't make this stuff up." Returning Abramoff cash 'taints' tribes, Murray says

Reason online covers a forthcoming (1/20/06) special on ABC TV's 20/20 that reports on the shocking state of education in the USA, compared to, not Japan, but...BelgiumStupid in America: Why your kids are probably dumber than Belgians

Like most of what he writes, Fred has some intelligent thougts regarding intelligent design.

There he goes again. Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard actually bothers to do some reporting on what Saddam was actually doing before the war. Only about 2.5% of Saddam's trove (millions) of documents that were captured during the war have been translated, and probably an even lower percentage have been read and reported on by the press. What sobering truths remain to be found? If only the government actually cared about getting the truth about Saddam out "in Saddam's own words". Saddam's Terror Training Camps