On Tuesday’s Radio Show…

• Fox News White House Correspondent Mike Emanuel joins Alan to weigh in on the pros and cons of President Obama’s first trip overseas, including his surprise visit to the troops in Iraq.

• Christopher Hitchens, bestselling author of God Is Not Great, defends his controversial views about religion.

• In Virginia, a young high school student receives a 2-week suspension with the chance of expulsion after taking her birth control during lunch. Does the punishment fit the crime? Alan sorts through the issues.…

How We Torture

Mark Danner at the New York Review of Books sums up the report from the International Committee of the Red Cross.  Andrew Sullivan shows how we became the Soviet Union.

This is from the Soviet State Political Directorate:

They consisted usually of tying the victim in a strait-jacket to an iron bunk. The strait-jacket was his only clothing; he had no blanket, no food and was unable to go to the lavatory. With a gag in his mouth and a stopper in his rectum he would be given periodic beatings with rubber poles.

And what the ICRC reports:

he …

Vermont Legislature Approves Gay Marriage

Speaker of the House Shap Smith signs the gay marriage bill as Sen. John Campbell, D-Windsor, looks on in Montpelier, Vt., Monday, April 6, 2009. Douglas vetoed the gay marriage bill, which would send it back to the Legislature for override votes in the House and Senate on whether to override. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

No thanks to Governor Jim Douglas, who vetoed the bill, gay marriage is legal in Vermont because the legislature overrode his veto.

The Legislature voted Tuesday to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto of a bill allowing gays and lesbians to marry. The vote was 23-5 to …

Obama Bashers Can’t Take A Little Criticism Themselves

My latest post at The Fox Nation has some readers’ apoplectic.  Apparently, it’s okay to bash Obama for trivial matters, but pointing that out brings bashing to the pointer-outer.  The point of what I wrote is that there’s lots of nit-picking going on, rather than the fair game of challenging the president on substantial issues, of that is the real beef.  The range of comments on this one is an enjoyable read.

Reality Check says:
April 7, 2009 at 10:38 am

Also, with the speed at which our country is going into debt, facism is creeping into the …

Focus On Family Narrator Arrested, To Be Charged With Luring Teen For Sex

Juan Alberto Ovalle, who recorded Spanish CD’s for Focus on Family warning against unlawful fornication, is has been arrested on  two felony counts of using the Internet to lure a 15-year-old girl for sex.

Juan Alberto Ovalle, 42, was arrested Friday when he drove to Lakewood to meet the girl – who turned out to be an undercover officer – after discussing various sexual acts he wanted to perform with her, the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office said.

Ovalle narrates a Spanish audio Bible as part of Focus on Family’s outreach to the Hispanic community.

Ovalle “came to know …

On Monday’s Radio Show…

• National Review editor Rich Lowry, whose latest book is Banquo’s Ghosts, sits down with Alan to debate President Obama’s efforts to boost America’s image abroad.

• Comedian Carol Leifer, author of When You Lie About Your Age, The Terrorists Win, shares her hilarious take on the unpredictability of life.

• Alan responds to right-wing rage over President Obama’s declaration that “the United States is not at war with Islam.”…

Michele Bachmann Still Cuckoo For Cocoa Puffs

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann says Ted Kennedy’s Serve America Act will actually function as re-education camps for young people.  Bachmann, whose most recent media foray had her alarmed that President Obama is taking away our rights, continues the fear-mongering.

I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they …

187 F-22′s Is Enough

Defense Secretary Gates announced the end of production of the F-22 fighter plane, a vehicle not used for many years in combat, and which was really a Cold War creation. Gates today explained the need to reprioritize.  Of course, many in congress oppose this because they see the F-22 as a jobs program for Lockheed Martin.

…

It’s Good To Hear The President Say It

We’re not at war with Islam.  That’s an important statement, given the tone in this country during the last 8 years.

“I know that the trust that binds us has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced. Let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not at war with Islam,” Obama said during an address to Turkish lawmakers.

Obama added:

“America’s relationship with the Muslim world cannot and will not be based on opposition to al-Qaida. … We seek broad engagement …

Cuts In Defense Spending: It’s About Time

In spite of fears that it might put a crimp in the welfare system for Lockheed and Boeing, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is proposing cuts in defense spending that has gone up 72% since 2000.

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-22 fighter jet (pictured) and Boeing Co.’s Future Combat Systems are among programs at risk as the administration begins to close what Gates calls the “spigot of defense spending,” which may reach $654.1 billion in the budget year ending in September.

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Lockheed and Boeing have campaigned to save major programs by tying them to jobs. Curtailing F-22 production …

Father Kills His Five Children

How many more of these are we going to see?

A father is suspected of having shot dead his five children at a trailer park in Washington state, then himself, after hearing his wife was leaving him.

Police were called to the mobile home on Saturday after a visiting relative found nobody answered the door and saw a child’s body through a window.

Reports say the mother walked out during a row with her husband hours before the shooting.

The youngest of the three girls and two boys was aged seven, and the eldest 16.

Four …