Conservatives at the American Spectator’s annual dinner applauded soon to be former SecDef Don Rumsfeld, but gave a disappointed thumbs down to presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Pajamas Washington editor Richard Miniter was in attendance.

Evan Coyne Maloney goes looking for a way to remove his Lieberman earworm. “I need some help. I need some mental help is what I need.”

Depressed Republicans and drunken Democrats gather at Pajamas Media DC Editor Richard Miniter’s house to groan and gloat. Commentary on the debacle by Christopher Hitchens.

Pajamas Media military affairs expert Austin Bay previews tonight’s speech by President Bush on Iraq. The speech calls for an additional 21,500 troops for the war. Bay just participated in a blogger conference call with White House press secretary Tony Snow on the troop “surge”and the new strategy.

By Catherine Seipp

I was happy to learn that Blue Cross, California’s largest private health insurer, has to pay a $200,000 fine for improperly voiding sick subscribers’ policies - in many cases years after the subscribers had applied for coverage. But my pleasure in this was mitigated by the knowledge that to Blue Cross and its parent company WellPoint, $200,000 is basically just chump change.

How the United States has covertly aided Ethiopia’s fight against the Islamic Courts Union.
by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross for Pajamas Media

The al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic Courts Union’s (ICU) rapid retreat in the face of Ethiopia’s military campaign in Somalia has puzzled many observers. How could the Ethiopians roll up the jihadists so quickly? Pajamas Media has learned that one significant factor is that U.S. air and ground forces covertly aided the Ethiopian military since its intervention began on Christmas day.

by Nidra Poller, PJM’s Paris Editor

One hundred days from the presidential elections, what is on the mind of an aspiring world power like France? The nuclear threat from Iran? The Hizballah putsch fomenting in Lebanon? War between Fatah and Hamas? The defeat of Islamists in Somalia?

A continuing series of “out of school” Oscar reviews by Motion Picture Academy Member Roger L. Simon

Two of this year’s notable films – Babel and The Pursuit of Happyness – share a theme of concern for children. I don’t know whether that constitutes a trend. But it’s certainly in the air. And who could deny this theme’s importance or its drama?

By Catherine Seipp

The Michael Richards n-word incident continues to take its toll, especially in media circles. I just noticed, for instance, that former Los Angeles Timesman Bob Baker’s attempt at “satirizing” Richards’ recent comedy club implosion used the n-word 23 times and therefore got him in trouble with a “reporter/friend,” (presumably nonwhite, otherwise I suspect Baker would have tried to come up with some sort of argument.) But the sometime L.A. Times writing coach quickly backed off from his Lenny Bruce-inspired parody regretfully and fully.

Yes, polls are closed and results tabulated on Pajamas Medias’ great search to find a name for the more than 40% of Americans not comfortable with being labeled “liberal,” “conservative” or even “moderate.”

- a new organization promoting a unity ticket in the next presidential election.

Brian Anderson is the author of South Park Conservatives, and now he’s got a new book out with Adam Thierer entitled A Manifesto for Media Freedom. We talk to Anderson about efforts to restore the Fairness Doctrine, the prospect of media regulation via subterfuge, and the likelihood of efforts to squash the alternative media in the next Congress — as well as what to do about it.

Can you still make it from scratch in America? That’s the question that Adam Shepard asked himself in college. On graduation, he took a train to Charleston, South Carolina and started out with nothing but $25 and a backpack. A year later, he had a car, and apartment, and $2500 in the bank. How he did it — and what he learned along the way — is the story of his new book, Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream.

We talk to Shepard about what it takes to get ahead, how better-off Americans have lost touch with the world of work, and what politicians and pundits ought to be talking about.

Music is by Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere.

T. Boone Pickens is an oilman, a takeover expert, and a longtime observer of the American scene. He’s got a new book out — The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America’s Energy Future — and a new wind energy plan for reducing America’s dependence on imported oil.

We talk to Pickens about oil dependence, wind power, NIMBYism, and the future of America — plus, how to get rich and the future of entrepreneurialism among American youth.

It’s finally happened: there’s a two-state solution in Palestine. The only problem is that the two states are both Palestinian, run by terrorist Hamas in Gaza and corrupt Fatah in the West Bank. Actually, that’s not the only problem; both groups are violent, welfare-dependent, and dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Find out who’s to blame and what the future holds in this week’s podcast.

Science is objective—-or is it? Not when the popular press, the schools, and scientists with an agenda get through with it. Join this week’s podcast as the Sanity Squad explores the wonders of scientific research and its discontents; including the unforeseen consequences of Rachel Carson’s vendetta against DDT, the vagaries of estimating AIDS cases in Africa, the vaccination vigilantes, and other victims and victimizers.

Click “More…” to listen or download.

The violent clashes between the Lebanese government and al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists in Palestinian refugee camps have left many civilians dead in Lebanon. But the mainstream media has been relatively silent about this fierce Arab/Arab violence compared to the fuss made whenever Israel or the West is involved. The Squad discusses why this is so, what’s behind the battles, and whether Vladimir Putin means what he says when he threatens to point his nuclear weapons at Europe.