been offblog, due to computer probs and travel (to the resort town of deptford, nj), so let me make a couple of notes.

i'd like to hear any kind of reasonable account of whether or not the iranian election was, in fact, fraudulent. the ayatollahs must be regretting their approach: having an election and also trying to control the response. probably even the patina of democracy is appearing to them excessive now. it'd be interesting to see a rebellion, but i also think it's unlikely to amount to a real threat to the regime.

one problem with blaming rush and o'reilly for the tiller and the holocaust museum murders is that it provides, obviously, an immediate and plausible argument for repressing speech. and if you think the american left wouldn't be enthusiastic about that, you don't know the american left. it is exactly as anti-enthusiastic about freedom as is the american right.

i autonomically defend sarah palin. but i can't help thinking that if letterman had said what he said about her daughter about my daughter, i'd be kind of pissed off.

if the republican party was really trying to find a leader, connect with "a younger demographic," "reinvent itself," and so on, it would be coming to ron paul, hat in hand. but let's just say that they can't do that and still represent enthusiasm for the security state and the imposition of religious values by police power. in fact, because they also need the libertarian moment right now as an answer to obama, they can't actually develop any consistent principles at all.