Bits from the Blogosphere

The Gun Toting Liberal brought to our attention this tidbit about presidential candidate Mitt Romney: while he wants to send more soldiers into Iraq, his five military-aged sons are "supporting the nation" by helping their father campaign. Note to Mr. Romney: even a hint of self-serving hypocrisy is distasteful to most Americans -- once they find out about it.

Ed at Captain's Quarters found a website that falsely linked almost-presidential-candidate Fred Thompson to the KKK. Turns out, the man under whose name it was registered had a history of donating to "liberal" groups or candidates. In other words, Fred Thompson has been swift-boated. It was wrong when it happened to John Kerry in 2004, and it's wrong now.  Nice sleuthing, Captain!

Fire Dog Lake's Jane Hamsher reported that Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-California) -- who takes pride in having voted against the Iraq war -- indicated that she doesn't plan to vote against bills that give billions of dollars for contractors in her state.  Republican President Dwight Eisenhower did warn this nation about the military-industrial complex during his 1961 farewell speech.

Phoenix Woman at Mercury Rising noted that Ken Starr reportedly violated the rules of grand jury secrecy while investigating the dead-end Whitewater case.  More recently, an Article in The American Lawyer suggests that Starr may have violated those rules when more recently giving information to authors of a new (likely unauthorized) biography of Hillary Clinton. The real news is that some people still listen to Starr.

Fact-esque points out a possible solution to the newly passed though vastly unpopular warrantless-wiretapping law: Congress should de-fund the wiretapping program (citing David Sirota). What an intriguing prospect.

Justin at Donklephant reported that China is making threats that could have nasty effects on the value of the U.S. dollar, which is already at a historically low value. This is serious. I mean, what are we going to do -- threaten to attack a nation that has four times as many people as we do, while our troops are stretched thin due to the Iraq war?