Joseph Palermo reminds us that most Republican complaints about Iraq ignore their crucial role in destroying Iraq -- that Mr. Bush, not Mr. Obama, first negotiated troop withdrawals, that even one-third of Congress "got it right" by voting against going to war there, that the Downing Street Memo confirmed for us that "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy," and so many other things. It's good to be reminded of these things, since so many folks don't want to remind you of the wrong they did.
Somewhat underreported during former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's announcement of his run for the Democratic nomination for President was the presence of activists protesting Mr. O'Malley's "zero tolerance," "broken windows," data-controlled anti-crime policies while Mayor of Baltimore. The Wire creator David Simon discussed this matter during the Baltimore riots (and one might wonder whether his Thomas Carcetti was Martin O'Malley with better crime policy grafted on). The timing may just not be on Mr. O'Malley's side, given that so many politicians in both parties are tired of "broken windows" policing.
The Washington Spectator's Jud Lounsbury describes "Scott Walker's Long Crusade," and it's an indispensable document of the trail of slime he's left through state and national politics -- including some not-well-known bits, like the "Good Government Package" he somehow failed to get passed as state legislator and his leaving his father's church in 2006 for one further to the right. And about telling Nancy Reagan that his recall victory was on the same day Ronald Reagan died: why would anyone say something like that to her?
Ho hum, Brit Hume says on Fox News Sunday that it's "hard" for President Obama "to put on his big boy pants and deal with national security." That was just the punch line, of course: before that, Chris Wallace asked a leading question to an AP scribe about Mr. Obama not really having his heart in PATRIOT Act renewal and the AP reporter agreeing, without providing any evidence. But remind me again: Barack Obama was the President who got Osama bin Laden, right?
Finally, IFLscience.com presents a chart of 52 of the "world's most contagious falsehoods." Coffee lovers will take heart that caffeine's status as a diuretic is not all that important (basically, you won't urinate eight ounces more just by drinking eight ounces of coffee than you would have it you drank eight ounces of water), and I suppose some right-wingers will be pleased to hear someone else saying George Washington didn't smoke weed. Also, Hollywood creates a lot of myths, like the Salieri-Mozart "rivalry" and Viking horned helmets.
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