Mercury rising. Sorry, couldn't resist. But here's the cool thing. Mercury, unlike other pollutants spewing out of aging coal-fired midwestern powerplants, doesn't travel far. So Bush has leveled the playing field. The midwesterners living near those plants will be just as sick as those of us in the northeast because of them.

The New Yorker has archived the astonishing "Letter From Baghdad" written by George Packer, and mentioned in a Nov. 24 post. It's well worth a read.

One of the few success stories that emerged from Iraq was the remarkable initiative shown by commanders on the ground to use the loot that Hussein had squirreled away to pay for repairing infrastructure, pay Iraqi salaries, etc. Those funds are about tapped out, and Bremer doesn't like losing control (he'd rather spend it on rapacious third parties, like Haliburton). Fred Kaplan, on Slate, has an idea.

Also on Slate...we were hoping for "Wingnuts on Parade." And we got it. But, as the best writer covering the Court writes, it was the Supremes, not the guy who's been chasing Vince Foster's "murder" for, what, 10 years.