"House Republican leaders had little to say about the unemployment issue, keeping their public comments focused largely on the spending bill, which Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the majority leader, called 'a fitting end to the legislative session.'"

You can say that again. While doing nothing to extend unemployment benefits, this bloated piece of porcine political giveaways is uniquely shameless. "For instance, the group said, the bill includes $2 million for a Florida program to provide affordable access to golf for everyone; $1.8 million for an Appalachian fruit laboratory in West Virginia; $447,000 for halibut data collection in Alaska; $325,000 for Salinas, Calif., to build a swimming pool; and $270,000 for potato storage in Madison, Wis."

I really should stop linking to Josh Marshall's site. Fact is, to paraphrase something he wrote recently about Paul Krugman, our opinions are so similar that I expect that my dear readers have already visited his much better written, more professionally designed, and more reasonably argued blog long before they've come to mine.

But this post, explaining in very lucid terms, what's putting the wind in Dean's sails, seems to me entirely correct.

And, if we're to believe Bill Kristol, it may be enough to blow the miserable failure right out of the White House.

I can't help myself. The interagency coordination this administration has shown in dealing with Iraq is remarkable.

Brad DeLong has, as usual, a fascinating debate going on what effect religion has on the development of mercantile systems; specifically, why Islamic countries have, for the most part failed to create modern economic systems.