From CNN.com:
Following an intense assessment of U.S. policies in the war in Iraq, the Iraq Study Group will recommend that a “gradual but meaningful” reduction of U.S. troops begin “relatively early in the New Year,” a source familiar with the group’s deliberations told CNN.
I’ve said that any plan is better than no plan, but I’d much prefer a plan that had something in store for Iraq itself than just a “let’s get out of here” pullout.
If Iraq is as big a mess as Democrats say it is, than a pullback …

James Lovelock, the controversial scientist who came up with “Gaia” theory, which says that the earth functions like an organism, said that because of global warming, the earth will one day only be able to sustain about 500,000,000 people.
“There are refuges, plenty of them. 55 million years ago … life moved up to the Arctic, stayed there during the course of it and then moved back again as things improved. I fear that this is what we may have to do,” he added.
He said that by the middle of the …

A new poll rates a lot of the presidential candidates on a Madden-like grade of 0-100:
Americans have the warmest feelings about former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, according to a poll released Monday that scores the popularity of national leaders.
The Quinnipiac University’s “thermometer reading,” taken the week after the Nov. 7 election, asked voters to rate their feelings for 20 leaders on a scale of 0 to 100.
Giuliani, a Republican weighing a presidential bid in 2008, scored the highest at …

Warning:  This post might or might not contain plugs.
Our own Aaron Robertson is like Kramer without the racism – always up to something.  The latest is that he’s written an eBook, called, of all things:  Beyond Majors and G.P.A. : A Real Philosophy for College and the World Ahead.
You can’t see the book unless you buy it for ten bucks, but if the title struck you (and you’re in/before/considering college) then you might want to give it a read.  It’s a Robert Kiyosaki-esque writeup about paradigms and ways to approach …

As crazy environmentalists and global warming soothsayers didn’t predict, the hurricane season this year was a complete bust. Don’t believe me? Believe TBO.
It was not the hurricane season we expected, thank you.
With cataclysmic predictions that hurricanes would swarm from the tropics like termites, no one thought 2006 would be the most tranquil season in a decade.
Barring a last-second surprise from the tropics, the season will end Thursday with nine named storms, and only five of those hurricanes. This year is the first season since 1997 that only one …

Courtesy CNN:
Powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is threatening to withdraw support from Iraq’s government if Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki meets President Bush next week, an al-Sadr representative said Friday.
Such a move could jeopardize the stability of the administration of al-Maliki who has relied on the support of both the United States and his fellow Shiites.
Basically, Iraq is either a civil war, or a civil war waiting to happen.  Things couldn’t be going much worse, although not everybody’s not dead yet.  For things to be worse, there’d have to be open …

Happy Thanksgiving, peeps.  There was nothing really interesting today in the news (my house is more interesting – my younger brother shot a goose this morning about a football field or so away from here) so I wanted to post a really good article by Tynan of BetterThanYourBoyfriend.com.  I’m not sure it will resonate with you guys the way it did with me, since “failure” as a concept is something I spend a lot of time thinking about.  I ended up forwarding this to my friend Aaron.  Now I’m forwarding it …

One of President Bush’s twin daughters had her purse stolen in Argentina, despite having bodyguards.
A pair of thieves removed the purse from under a table while Secret Service agents stood guard at a distance, La Nacion reported. La Nacion said its sources did not reveal which of the Bush daughters had her purse stolen.
We don’t have royalty anymore because King George III was such a tax-levying butthole, but this is the equivalent of an American princess (not living in L.A.) getting robbed.  Boo!
This isn’t the only altercation that White …

Because this is by far the most fun news story – probably this week – I’m going to stick with it.  Here’s the latest:
“Once the word comes out of your mouth and you don’t happen to be African-American, then you have a whole lot of explaining,” Rodriguez told CNN. “Freedom of speech has its limitations and I think Michael Richards found those limitations.”
Jerry Seinfeld issued a statement saying he was “sick over this.”
“I’m sure Michael is also sick over this horrible, horrible mistake. It is so extremely offensive. I feel …

Somewhere, deep down, you just knew that Kramer hated black people, didn’t you?
From TMZ.com: (http://www.tmz.com/2006/11/20/kramers-racist-tirade-caught-on-tape/)
Michael Richards, who played the wacky Cosmo Kramer on the hit TV show “Seinfeld,” appeared onstage at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood. Kyle Doss, an African-American, told TMZ he and some friends were in the cheap seats and he was playfully heckling Richards when suddenly, the comedian lost it.
Richards continued, “You can talk, you can talk, you’re brave now motherf**ker. Throw his ass out. He’s a [n-word]! He’s a [n-word]! He’s a [n-word]! A [n-word], …