Alexander Downer said today he was, shocked, shocked to discover there was corruption surrounding Australian wheat sales to Iraq before the war.
“They (the AWB) were deceiving us, they were deceiving the UN. I was shocked. It would have been a different thing if we had let them get away with it and refused to set up […]

Another lists post to ease you into the weekend. The NJ Star Ledger offers “The 25 Greatest Songs You’ve Never Heard.” Don’t quibble that you’ve heard them, go with the flow. I second, third and fourth one recommendation there of Gallo del Cielo, written by Tom Russell. Joe Ely’s version is great too but Tom’s original does the melancholy and anguish better.

Here are five off the top of my head. Of course, add yours to comments.

The domino theory in action, via Matt Yglesias, reprinted in full (but please, follow the links):
Nawaf Obaid, adviser to the Saudi government and managing director of the Saudi National Security Assessment Project in Riyadh and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, speaking strictly for himself says that unless […]

Atrios comments on putative libertarian Glenn Reynolds and his review of a new book that envisions a modern-day American civil war:
…I’ve found it to be a fairly consistent them among many gun nut libertarians (who I call “might makes right” libertarians) that they fantasize about the breakdown of civil order and the rise of Road Warrior style society. […]

The irony continues unabated. I noted at Blogocracy that Mr Bush, if you can believe it, is demanding that the Iraqi PM come up with a plan to save Iraq. Now comes a newly leaked memo written by Stephen Hadley, the deputy National Security Adviser. Without a hint of self-awareness he writes […]

As far back as mid-October (and again here and here), I waded into the reeds of Iraqi political intrigue with speculation regarding a potential subterranean accord between Maliki (and by extension Dawa), SCIRI and the US in an effort to rein in, or contain, the burgeoning power and influence of Moqtada al-Sadr - as buttressed by his […]

 
Again with the “Is Bomber Imploding” articles! Despite Dennis Shanahan’s and his underling, Little Matty Price’s best efforts, Bob still doesn’t get it.
How is it that an improvement for Labor in both primary and 2pp, leaving them ahead (again) of the government, work out to Despair and Disaster for the Party?
Labor has lost precisely 5 […]

It doesn’t happen very often, but this is one instance where I disagree with Spencer Ackerman (btw, see Matt Y’s post and send some DeLong-like love to Spencer).  In this post, Ackerman attempts to take apart Anne-Marie Slaughter’s recommendations with respect to forging a diplomatic consensus with Iraq’s neighbors and internal factions. 
Slaughter points out that a […]

I’ve long contended that the following quote is the quintessential exemplar of reality-defying support for President Bush:
It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, […]

 
When writing a post here, Tim’s editing engine asks the writer to check a category box. The one I’ve clicked is “AWB Scandal”, but I fear now that lies, deceit, trading with the enemy and total, shameless, arrogant incompetence are no longer a “scandal”. They are, according to our Prime Minister, World’s Best Practice. So […]