A Democratic senator walks into a Republican bar. A Republican senator pulls a knife and demands the Democrat’s money. The Democrat hands over his wallet, grabs the knife and stabs himself repeatedly, screaming “Don’t hurt me!” as he falls to the floor. The Republican removes the cash, returns the wallet to the Democrat, kicks him […]

This week, it’s two non-genre-specific used bookstore finds. Given what you find in used bookstores, this is pretty well represented in my library. I’ll try to get more up to date one of these days, but these are both good ones if you missed ‘em.
Kurt Vonnegut, Jailbird (A)
When I read Sirens of Titan […]

Yesterday’s excerpt from the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq documented president Bush’s success at spreading terror. So how much has it cost us to make the country less safe at the same time as a gang of criminal deviants in Congress and the White House work to bury for once and all whatever claim to […]

The Bush administration has released a declassified excerpt (Adobe Acrobat file) from a National Intelligence Estimate blaming Iraq for increased terrorism. Presumably, this is the upbeat portion of the report. One has to wonder what on earth the depressing part says.
Among the highlights are judgements that “the global jihadist movement—which includes al-Qa’ida, affiliated and independent […]

Iraq, with an impotent central government propped up by US troops and sectarian militias, is in practical terms a failed state. Afghanistan is in deep trouble. Pakistan’s dictator president is publishing a memoir aimed at burnishing his anti-US credentials. Hezbullah is sitting pretty in Lebanon. Gaza is in ruins. Iran is daily gaining clout in […]

Senate majority leader Bill Frist has an intriguing take on pending Senate legislation that would legitimate certain torture techniques: he says that if he talks about specific provisions in the bill, terrorists “[will] come and try to assassinate us and people listening to us right now.”
Frist was responding to questions about the “compromise” legislation […]

The New York Times reports today that an assessment produced jointly by all US intelligence agencies says US actions in Iraq exacerbated terrorism.
An opening section of the report, “Indicators of the Spread of the Global Jihadist Movement,” cites the Iraq war as a reason for the diffusion of jihad ideology. The report “says […]

“It is my responsibility … to help the Iraqi people to turn Iraq into a stable, safe, peaceful and prosperous country. I take it seriously.”
Thus spake Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer on April 15 of 2003. He has since griped that he wasn’t given the tools necessary to fulfill his responsibility, specifically that the […]

Should Democrats want to win the mid-term elections? Will the debate over torture and a scofflaw White House help Republicans?
According to the leading online opinion journal, maybe yes and maybe no, but definitely one or the other or another.
Slate’s Jacob Weisberg tackles the issue of whether or not Democrats should want to win control […]

Tony Snow laughed at me today in the White House briefing room after I asked him a question inspired by John Yoo’s vigorous defense, in an op-ed in last Sunday’s NY Times, of the Supreme Leader style of government that Mr. Yoo helped fashion when he worked in Bush’s Justice Department in the two years after the 9/11 attacks.