I must admit to having been vaguely irritated at seeing our various Presidents returning salutes since they weren't in uniform, although unlike the NYT I didn't demean the men holding the office by calling them "puerile"; I just didn't like it. Now, thanks to Bill Quick, I find out the history of the returned salute, and find that it doesn't offend me quite as much anymore. Yes, that's probably because I thought Reagan was a spectacular President.

It's all about the ooooooiiiiillll, innit? Don't bother denying it, you sorry sonsabitches.

Kanan Makiya is an Iraqi expatriate, a respected author of several books on Iraq, and is reporting for The New Republic. In general, not really a good candidate for inclusion in the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy(tm). So how come he's pointing out that Baathist officials had the most reason to loot the National Museum and none of The Big Media is picking up on it?

I won't call her a buffoon either. I will, however, call her a liar unless she upholds her end of the bet.

Oh my oh my oh my. That's quite an error you've got there. I'm not a lawyer (duh), but doesn't most software come with a license that says that the company doesn't warrant anything at all? This might be a most interesting test of how well a software company can claim they're not responsible for how their software product performs.