Paul Newell, a member of our community and an ActBlue candidate, was today endorsed by the New York Times over New York State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver.

I'm as huge a fan of this site as the next reader but there are some things about DKos that need to be updated and/or improved. I'll go down them, in no particular order:

This is fantastic news for everyone who supports the teaching of evolution and science-based education in our schools.

In what is called "bringing him in-line with a hardening international stance" on Russia's attack on Georgia Obama today called for deeper ties between NATO and Georgia.

I've recently been touring several PUMA (Party United My Ass) sites run by disaffected supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Talk about Pay for Play! WaPo is reporting that after John McCain reversed his opposition to off-shore drilling executives and employees of oil and gas corporations poured money into his campaign.

No surprise here - a new poll from CNN shows that Obama is the overwhelming choice amongst America's fastest growing demographic group - Hispanic Americans.

The operation today which resulted in the freedom of imprisoned presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages (including 3 Americans) without a single shot fired was a masterpiece of counter-intelligence operations on the part of the armed forces of Colombia. Regardless of your views on the conflict in Colombia or the government of that nation the freedom of these 15 hostages is something to be celebrated.

From Betancourt's son:

It is an immense joy, an indescribable joy, I still cannot believe it. I am waiting to talk to my mother by phone. I want to tell her that I love her and that she has been missed.

I'm getting a little worried and concerned by Obama's "rejection" of self-evident truths which he finds politically uncomfortable. The most recent example is his "rejection" of General Clark's statements on McCain's military service.

This is incredibly disheartening news for those of us who have been following events in Zimbabwe.

While McCain raised $21.5 million for the month of May Obama outraised him by $500,000 for a total of $22 million for the month. This is Obama's weakest month of 2008.

Don't shoot the messenger - All I'm doing is posting totals to compare to McCain's haul for last month.

A personal interest of mine and area in which I've carried out field research is the status of the Greek Orthodox communities in Turkey, in particular in Istanbul and Imvros and Tenedos as well as the ethnic-Turkish population living in Greek Thrace. What follows is a paper I wrote on the topic.

Many of us here at Daily Kos who consider ourselves friends of Israel have long taken issue with the stranglehold AIPAC holds on those who consider themselves to be "pro-Israel." We're pro-Israel as well but AIPAC tends to skew towards a right-wing Likud-like view of Israeli security while many American Jews tend to view Israel's security as being increasingly tied into a stable and democratic Middle East - one with a peaceful Palestinian state on Israel's borders committed to co-existence and democracy.

Last week Eritrea attacked the armed forces of Djibouti on Ras Doumeira, which is a strategic promontory overlooking the Red Sea. Djiboutin soldiers and civilians were killed in the Eritrean attack, which was recently condemned by the UN Security Council.

Politico released a list of former Clinton supporters who are now backing McCain - and what a list it is. If I felt sure about Obama's chances before reading this list I must say I am deeply worried about them now.

Glenn Greenwald pointed out something strange today: the Conservative party in the UK recently almost brought down the UK government by making a principled stand against a Labor party proposal to allow a 42-day detention period for those accused of terrorist offenses.

Before anyone gets themselves in a lather over the issue of former senator Sam Nunn as a potential VP let me say that I realize we're in the early stages of this search and that he's prolly not a serious candidate. But his name is being bandied about enough that I thought we should make clear his record and exactly why Nunn is an unacceptable choice as Obama's VP.

As Robert Mugabe's campaign of terror and violence escalates in Zimbabwe the world watches, seemingly helplessly as innocent Zimbabweans suffer. What can be done?