Random Round-up

by  D. Cupples |  With Christmas just two days away, many of us are understandably focusing on last-minute shopping, meal planning, and traveling.  This seems a good time to survey what's been on some bloggers' minds lately.

Satirist John Swift -- whose hilariously incisive blog just turned two (happy birthday) -- is reminiscing about his last two years on the blogosphere. 

Fact-esque discusses the widening income-gap in America and includes a table from a recent Congressional Budget Office report.  She advises, "But don't call it a class war because that's just rude."

 Bill Kavanagh is troubled by the CIA's recent explanation as to why it was ok to destroy torture tapes in 2005.  The latest rationale: the 9/11 Commission and a court broadly requested that the CIA preserve (and disclose) all evidence regarding detainees, BUT they didn't ask specifically for video tapes.  Never mind that the CIA hadn't told the Commission or court that the tapes existed.

Kavanagh also shares a video clip of Sen. Ted Kennedy's well-reasoned response to news of the torture-tape destruction.

Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice (via Memeorandum) discusses the apparent splintering of the GOP, which some pundits believe is "a PROFOUND identity crisis which goes right down the Republican ranks– not just a creation of  journalists (or bloggers)."

The PoliGazette is also focusing on the GOP split, commenting: "there are in my opinion three people who should be able to unite the GOP to one degree or another, but each and every one of them has serious issues." Check out the post to who those people and what their "issues" are.

Legal Schnauzer gives cause for hope, pointing out that an Alabama reporter actually reported on a case indicating that Governor Bob Riley may have been behind the launching of a "flimsy" criminal investigation into a political foe.  This is particularly interesting in light of the reportedly flimsy case against now-imprisoned former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who ran against Riley and narrowly lost.

For scads of speculations (and some polling data) about the 2008 presidential election, see Memeorandum's front page.

Other BN-Politics Posts:

* "Awakening Groups" in Iraq: a Strategy Doomed to Fail?

* Iran: Is the Administration Telling the Truth or Trying to Save Face?

* Under the Rug: Whatever happened to the 190,000 Missing Weapons?

* More Confusing Statements about Iraq

* J. Edgar Hoover Wanted to Suspend Habeas & Jail 12,000

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Comments

[Bill]

Hey D.

Thanks for the shout-out. I just noticed this post today in the midst of checking up at Technorati. I appreciate the holiday plug—and hope someone in Washington still cares enough after the New Year to find out why the Administration decided to hide and then destroy material relevant to requests by the 9/11 Commission.

[D. Cupples]

Thanks for making good points!