Author: Mark of New Jersey

What’s this?  A thoughtful, non-demagogued, and thought-provoking piece on Park51?  Heaven forfend!

Over at Balloon Juice, E.D. does some ‘splainin’ about his worldview.  I must say that it’s one of my favorite pieces ever from our humble webmaster.  A brief taste:

“Calling this a mosque is like calling a casino in Las Vegas a cathedral because it has a wedding chapel.” – A Balloon Juice commenter.

Count me 100% with Big Tent Democrat on the proper role of politicians (Mayor Bloomberg obviously notwithstanding) with regard to the Cordoba Center, and on whether it’s actually important that politicians go on record...

Other than raw vindictiveness, there is no reason to view this as anything other than an unqualified good, no matter what your attitude towards the Castro regime.  It’s a small step, only easing the tight...

Low-hanging fruit, I know, but given the role of Jihad Watch in pushing the Cordoba Community Center story to the front-pages, it’s worth pointing out nonetheless.  ESPN does a little human-interest piece about a...

This be an open thread y’all. Rather than give some sort of sentimental, pretentious review, I’m just going to post the awesomeness that is Jimmy Cliff without any further explanation.  You got a problem...

As one would expect, the GOP’s new official budget proposal to “stop the reckless spending binge” doesn’t even attempt to do anything of the sort, offering instead little more than time-honored vacuous platitudes about...

In tonight’s groundbreaking, must-see episode, the Housewives Politicians cause a media firestorm when Danielle Staub Alaskan activist Kathleen Gustafson calls Teresa Giudice Sarah Palin a lying bitch bad governor and Giudice Palin rolls her...

I’m a bit late to it, but this post on the history of the Great Mosque of Cordoba and Newt Gingrich’s deeply inaccurate interpretation of the same validates the existence of the blogosphere.  Perhaps...

…The fact that movement conservatives in good standing are advising the President of the United States to use the power of the federal government to prevent the construction of a religious institution in Lower...

This bit of Sarah Palin worship in a dead-tree outlet (and also this one) leaves me speechless.  Yeah, I know, it’s the New York Sun.  But still.  What I find absolutely staggering is this little...

An Andrew Sullivan reader, writing in response to coverage of the most recent well-publicized case of puppycide by the police, writes: As a resident of Baltimore, I am disappointed that when you turn your...

No, really.  Just because public safety officers and teachers are public employees whose job it is to serve the public does not mean that their lobbying or government relations wings are any less “special...

While watching the intro to Top Chef: Washington, DC last night: “The Washington Monument looks like a politician.  Giant dick, no balls.” – The Enduring Wife

If you haven’t read or heard it yet, this really is a special, stirring bit of speechmaking from Mayor Bloomberg defending the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” that exemplifies the best of the American tradition. ...

In what can only be described as a marriage straight outta Hell, our own E.D. Kain has accepted an offer to contribute to John Cole’s Balloon Juice under the official title of “sane conservative.” ...