Paul Johnson, Novak on Armitage, and today's articles from Maria

Paul Johnson makes a case for Tony Blair: Indispensable Friendship

Amid all the horrors and fears of this terrible time the one comforting certainty is the political friendship of President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. It is the axis on which the security of the West and ultimately the peace of the world turns. It's comparable to the links between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill or Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Read it all.

Today's articles from Maria
Robert Novak: The Real Story Behind Armitage's Role

An accurate depiction of what Armitage actually said deepens the irony of him being my source. He was a foremost internal skeptic of the administration's war policy, and I long had opposed military intervention in Iraq. Zealous foes of George W. Bush transformed me improbably into the president's lapdog. But they cannot fit Armitage into the left-wing fantasy of a well-crafted White House conspiracy to destroy Joe and Valerie Wilson. The news that he and not Karl Rove was the leaker was devastating news for the Left.

Kill-Bush mania, Bush 'assassination' director admits deception: Got White House credentials without revealing purpose of his filming, A new low in Bush-hatred

Devaluing life while promoting a culture of death: 'Bioethicist': OK to kill babies after they're born: 'Animal-rights' promoter asserts actual birth makes no difference

"from the point of view of ethics rather than the law, there is no sharp distinction between the foetus and the newborn baby."

A Vote For Sweden

The case for limiting Muslim immigration

Report: Air America to declare bankruptcy. Left-leaning talk network could stay alive under deal

A vote for Sweden

Jury duty scam

5 Ways to Keep the Airport from Losing Your Luggage

To Fight Stuttering, Doctors Look at the Brain. I don't know about the drug, but many cases of stuttering can be overcome without drugs.

Six Million Casting Directors I.S.O. Maria, as in Sound of Music Maria, not my friend and blog contributor Maria.

Fashion week
Emily Zanotti's covering the latest. The Seattle Post Intelligencer has a great photo gallery, too.

In Spanish
Via Fernando, La esencia del neoliberalismo

La globalización de los mercados financieros, cuando se unen con el progreso de la tecnología de la información, asegura una movilidad sin precedentes del capital. Da a los inversores preocupados por la rentabilidad a corto plazo de sus inversiones la posibilidad de comparar permanentemente la rentabilidad de las más grandes corporaciones y, en consecuencia, penalizar las relativas derrotas de estas firmas. Sujetas a este desafío permanente, las corporaciones mismas tienen que ajustarse cada vez más rápidamente a las exigencias de los mercados, so pena de «perder la confianza del mercado», como dicen, así como respaldar a sus accionistas. Estos últimos, ansiosos de obtener ganancias a corto plazo, son cada vez más capaces de imponer su voluntad a los gerentes, usando comités financieros para establecer las reglas bajo las cuales los gerentes operan y para conformar sus políticas de reclutamiento, empleo y salarios.

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