Some first thoughts on Obama's acceptance speech. For instance, this passage:

"Evil does exist in the world. A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism --...

Bob Herbert, writing in today's NY Times:

"I spoke recently with a student at Columbia who was enthusiastic about the escalation of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He argued that a full-blown counterinsurgency effort, which would likely take many years and cost many lives, was the only way to...

Quick first thought about World Cup draw today. Group G looks toughest group by far, with three marquee teams battling for two qualifying spaces: Brazil (best or second best in world), Ivory Coast (best in Africa) and Portugal (Christiano Ronaldo's side).

For soccer fans, consequences of Group G draw...

So is this what Obama has in mind for adding jobs? 34,000 of em, to Afghanistan?

This isn't what I had in mind when I voted for him last year.

Can someone get through to Obama and his braintrust of political "pros" in the White House that he is...

What a tragedy....

I didn't really know Natasha Richardson. But twenty years ago I was in a movie with her, Roland Joffe's Fat Man and Little Boy, about Los Alamos and the A-bomb.

I'll always remember her at the opening script read-through, in a room off the bar in...

Mendoza under the towering wall of the Andes is the high-altitude heart of Argentina's booming wine country. Just now the city and its province hosted--with an opening act in Buenos Aires--the third international Masters of Food & Wine South America festival.

I went down, my first visit to...

Horror, anguish, rage, despair at the catastrophe in Gaza.

Today Israeli shells massacre women and children taking refuge at a U.N.
school. Ah, how unfortunate. Last night a Scandinavian doctor at a Gaza hospital talks of hell. "They are bombing one and a half million people in a...

McCain today released a shockingly inflammatory Obama-is-a-pal-of-terrorist-Bill-Ayers ad. Here's the link via Andrew Sullivan.

Sullivan, who has been a mensch on McCain-Palin, calls the ad "dishonorable."

His Atlantic colleague Ross Douhat calls it "Gloves, Off."

In both their cases, the hell it is.

McCain has crossed over into territory...

Whatever goes down in tomorrow 's VP debate, I say Biden needs to pound one message over and over:

McCain-Palin=Bush.

Bush has the highest disapproval ratings in history. He is political toxin. He must be continually sprayed in the debate air.

Forget the impact of any Biden gaffes, smirks,...

So the House Republican leaders say they didn't support the bailout because Nancy Pelosi's speech hurt their feelings.

Shades of Newt Gingrich shutting down the government back back in the 90's because he felt snubbed by Bill Clinton:

From, if you please, Tom Delay, in his tome, No Retreat,...

I would suggest putting John McCain's soul up on eBay. But it's no longer worth two cents.

The despicable Obama Sex Education ad by the McCain campaign shows that McCain is willing to scrape down to the bottom of the filthiest latrine. His fingernails stink so much, he must need...

Hey Obama,

When George Stephanopolous asks you, as he just did on his show, What do you think of Sarah Palin's dig against community organizing in her convention speech?--for the love of everything precious, please do not just smile and say it's "curious..." and recount in a reasonable voice what...

Gee, so the hockey mom turns out to be the hatchet mom. I guess Sarah Palin is the woman Rudy Giuliani aspires to be.

And if Rudy is, in Jimmy Breslin's lovely phrase, a small man in search a balcony, then last night Sarah Palin showed why Rudy or...

Republican ops on TV are all blond and a-grin to pronounce that Gov. Palin has in fact "more executive experience" than both legislators Obama and Biden!

Touche (grin grin?)

Actually, by that logic, Palin has more executive experience than...

ole legislatin' John McCain.

Ahhh, that's what Palin brings...

I confess I wasn't going to watch the Democratic convention.

I've just been a month in London (the prices! the boozing! the magical Thames-side walks!), from where the snippets of info about the campaign were too depressing. Inconceivable that Obama wouldn't be 20 points ahead. Sickening that he would have...

It's called loyalty to a higher principal than "your leader." A higher principle than "following orders."

From today's Washington Post:

The two-star general who led an Army investigation into the horrific detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib has accused the Bush administration of war crimes and is calling for...

Tomorrow the world's second greatest soccer tournament kicks off. I mean Euro2008 of course.

As as appetite whetter, fabulous CULTURE + TRAVEL (sort of New York Times Magazine, but with edgier design, art & culture) just put up online GOL!, my new piece about soccer passions in...

So Mike Huckabee makes a wisecrack at the NRA convention about Obama frantically trying to get away from a gun being pointed at him.

This is what passes for a Christian man of peace today in this charming country we find ourselves in. Spy magazine ran a marvelous caption...

Second Life now has is own film auteur.

He is Douglas Gayeton; and his movie, debuting tonight May 15 as a half hour on Cinemax Reel Life, is Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator" --a unique and ground-breaking kind of documentary about Second Life, from

In some of the responses to a post I wrote about John Yoo and his torture-enabling opinions, some readers raised the issue of "free speech" and "academic opinions" or the like -- comparing holding Yoo criminally liable for these opinions to suppressing and punishing, say, the opinions of a...