Barry Bonds has been indicted.

The SF Chronicle has the dope (sorry). So perjury and obstruction, but no tax evasion or actual taking of steroids. Odd mix. I thought that by now all the prosecutors had left was tax evasion - shows what I know. Does this mean that Greg Anderson has gone all stool pigeon on his boyhood friend?

ESPN is reporting that President Bush has issued a statement expressing disappointment in Bonds. Doesn't he have anything more important to worry about?

Strategic Drift, eh?

John Podesta et. al. certainly don't believe that we have won/are winning in Iraq. Let's take a look.

With apparent disregard for the opinion of the American people, the debate over whether the large U.S. military presence in Iraq threatens our national security has been put on hold. Both political parties seem resigned to allowing the Bush administration to run out the clock on its Iraq strategy and bequeath this quagmire to the next president. The result is best described as strategic drift, and stopping it won't be easy.

The debate is on hold is it? I suppose that this vote never happened. And check this out - 40 more imaginary votes!

Strategic drift is being aided by many in the legislative and executive branches (in both political parties), most of the foreign policy elite, and several policy research institutions. Conservatives continue to align themselves with Bush's Iraq strategy; some have offered muted criticisms of the implementation and handling of the war, but there has been no call to change direction.

So people in the Executive Branch are helping the President implement his policy? What perfidy! Mr. Podesta was Pres. Clinton's Chief of Staff for four years. One might think that he would realize that those in the Executive Branch actually work for the President. They are doing their jobs. And the Presidents political allies are with him too - whoulda thunk it?


Proponents of the current path claim that, after four years of failed strategies, the surge was needed to get Iraq on track. They point to recent declines in the overall level of violence and cooperation at the local level between some Sunni insurgents and U.S. forces. But the progress being made at the local level often undermines the stated goal of creating a unified, stable, democratic Iraq.

The last sentence here is actually a fair point. Gen. Petraeus is now going around the Federal Gov't. in Iraq to give aid directly to local gov'ts/sheiks/merchants/etc.. I'm not sure that I can prove it, but this seems like a tactic that could be very helpful in the short term while possibly damaging when one takes a longer view.

Similarly, the presence of a large U.S. combat force contributes to regional instability. Since the surge began, the number of internally displaced Iraqis has more than doubled. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has said that more than 2 million Iraqis have left the country, and tens of thousands flee every day, often to squalid camps in Syria and Jordan.

I guess the esteemed authors couldn't be bothered to notice that this trend has started to change.

These guys could do better.

Have we won in Iraq (2)?

UVA Prof. Lawrence Caesar is the latest on the bandwagon. Oh, and Tony Blankley has hopped on as well.

I'm shocked! Shocked I say!

Well, maybe not. The thing about this is the utter dumbness of it. Surely Sen. Clinton's campaign has list of verboten donor names. And for $5k? WTF? They can't be that desperate for cash.

Shut up, Senator Breck

This isn't even good posturing. Loser.

What will the Supremes do?

Robert Levy lays out the 2nd Amendment case that the Supreme Court may take up this term. This would be a great case for a sweeping pro-civil rights judgment.

Please do it.

Senate Democrats may force Republicans into a real filibuster over the latest Iraq funding bill. Good for them. I don't much care for the filibuster as a tool. At some point, legislative bodies need to vote on important questions.

This attempt would be dumb, even by the standards of Leader Reid. It's hard to imagine that even someone as dense as he is would believe what he said in the story.

Have we won in Iraq?

Greyhawk thinks so.

'08 Analysis

Stuart Rothenberg takes a look at what the '08 election may portend in the House of Representatives. He knows of what he speaks.

By the way, lots of good stuff at RCP today.

More No News Is Good News

This is starting to get routine. Ralph Peters is the latest to note a trend in the reporting on Iraq.

Memorials

Duncan Anderson of The American Thinker makes a great point in this column about our modern memorials. War memorials should feature soldiers with guns not just lists of names.

Sunday Blogging

So exciting. What lesson will Republicans take from last Tuesday's election losses? I'll be interested to find out.

No News Is Good News

Rich Galen notes some big news in the NY Times.

Way To Go, Joe

Sen. Lieberman lays into his own party. Well said.

Busy Day

I don't think that I'll be posting much of anything today - like it's a problem.

Stupid Government Tricks

Thanks in no small part to our own Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-6), internet gambling was largely banned last year. An effort is underway to reverse that asinine decision. The "we know better than you" crowd is revving up to stop a fairly commonsense bill sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). I don't think that the ban is going anywhere any time soon.

Crazy Man Endorses Giuliani

Pat Robertson is now in Rudy G's camp. I think that P-Rob's a loon, but his endorsement is gold in Republican nomination races: 1988-Bush; 1996-Dole; 2000-Bush. We'll see if the trend continues.

Shhhh...

More good news from Iraq. I wonder if this will make front page news like the most recent bad news did? Ahhh, who am I kidding?

Election Recap

Republicans did not hold on. If I may pat myself on the back, that 18.5 o/u for Repubs in the Senate looks pretty damn good with the GOP coming in at 19 out of 40.

So Dems have (as of now) picked up 4 seats in each house. It looked as though they would do better than that a few weeks ago. I think that the abusive driver fees didn't help them as much as they had hoped. Too bad Gov Kaine had to amend the trans. bill to exclude non-residents. Further, several Repub districts in each house trended more traditionally than seemed likely a few weeks ago.

It's still a significant win for Kaine and the Dems. Congrats. January in Richmond may be more interesting now.