I’m one of the blogger of the year nominees at Scripting News. I’m both surprised and flattered. Looking at the list, I’m in good company as well.

Last night I was flipping channels and as I paused for a few minutes on the Food TV Network, I tried to decide who is more articulate, Emeril Lagasse or President Bush. I still haven’t made up my mind.

Bush Administration Documents on Secrecy Policy

Last week FAS issued a statement on our withdrawal from the ABM treaty.

Sunday’s Washington Post had a long article by Ted Gup on CIA scientist Sidney Gottlieb, whose LSD experiments and work on poisons and other biological weapons seem almost too bizarre to have been true. Gottlieb’s work demonstrates the worst outcomes of the ends justify the means sort of thinking that dominated the Cold War. It should also serve as a cautionary tale to those who would throw out basic human ethics in service to the war on terrorism. (Link via Red Rock Eater.)

Mickey Kaus asks an interesting question: does welfare cause terrorism? His argument is worth reading, even if you don’t agree with it.

Tamim Ansary has a great article in Salon about the aspirations of Afghan women and the reality of rural Afghan culture. He makes the important point that forcing Western values onto rural Afghans is a non-starter, and then goes on to make some very reasonable suggestions about roles women might play in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. I think it’s important not to allow one group of people (say, men) to force a lifestyle on another group of people (say, women) that they don’t want. However, that’s equally valid if you substitute “Westerners” and “Afghans” into the equation. In other words, forcing women to wear burqas is obviously wrong, but so is looking down on Afghan women if they choose to wear them.

One question that’s been on people’s minds is when Ramadan ends exactly. Of course, one reason people are wondering is that there were lots of rumors of terrorist attacks at the end of Ramadan, but let’s brush that aside for now. Anyway, National Geographic has an article that explains how Ramadan ends and Eid-al-Fitr begins. (Ramadan ended Saturday night. My neighbors had a lot of cars in front of their house yesterday, their Eid-al-Fitr celebration must be in full swing.)

Going back to environmental provocateur Bjorn Lomborg, I saw today that TomPaine.com ran an op-ad chastising the media for uncritically buying Lomborg’s analysis. They also have a story about the book.

How does somebody as lazy and maliciously ignorant as Ted Rall get a column, anyhow? There are about 1,000 people who spend their spare time writing weblogs that would make better columnists than Rall … somebody hire them, please. (I’m intentionally not linking Rall’s latest column here because you’re better off if you don’t read it. Really. It’s not a dissenting world view, it’s just stupid.)