Sunday, November 21, 2004

Aren't conservatives in favor of less intrusive government? Josh Marshall: "But at the request of Rep. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma, chairman of the House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee, a special provision was inserted into the bill which allows the Chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees or their 'agents' to review any American's tax return with no restrictions whatsoever." 12:08:01 PM    comment []

Oliver Willis has a branding campaign for the Democrats underway at his blog. Here's a sample: Go, Oliver. 12:00:22 PM    comment []

NYT's Dexter Filkins: "The 150 marines with whom I traveled, Bravo Company of the First Battalion, Eighth Marines, had it as tough as any unit in the fight. They moved through the city almost entirely on foot, into the heart of the resistance, rarely protected by tanks or troop carriers, working their way through Falluja's narrow streets with 75-pound packs on their backs." More Filkins: So went eight days of combat for this Iraqi city, the most sustained period of street-to-street fighting that Americans have encountered since the Vietnam War. The proximity gave the fighting a hellish intensity, with soldiers often close enough to look their enemies in the eyes. For a correspondent who has covered a half dozen armed conflicts, including the war in Iraq since its start in March 2003, the fighting seen while traveling with a frontline unit in Falluja was a qualitatively different experience, a leap into a different kind of battle. From the first rockets vaulting out of the city as the marines moved in, the noise and feel of the battle seemed altogether extraordinary; at other times, hardly real at all. The intimacy of combat, this plunge into urban warfare, was new to this generation of American soldiers, but it is a kind of fighting they will probably see again: a grinding struggle to root out guerrillas entrenched in a city, on streets marked in a language few American soldiers could comprehend. 11:36:13 AM    comment []

They drew a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Gilded gold, fixed what wasn't broke, paved paradise and put up a parking lot. They went and changed the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball schedule. My newspaper column is about messing with the ACC basketball schedule. Read the whole thing. 8:34:48 AM    comment []