Map of the day.

Via Juan Cole, who notes the relationship to the strength of Obamacare opposition...




Dylan got it way back when...

...He's taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
'Bout the shape that he's in
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.

Map of the day.

Hat tip to Juan Cole, who adds...

Just to be clear, the 1% are about 3 million, the 9% are about 27 million, and everyone else crowded into that little torrid strip is about 278 million.

Why, oh why, oh why, oh why...

...because, because, because, because.

Juan Cole. Go read.

Map of the day.

Via Juan Cole...


We've got a lot of work to do on the change front, but that's what hope looks like.

And I've got a hunch our the kids are blue here in the upper left, too. Anybody got numbers?

From the "Top things you should read today" file.

Top Things you Think You Know about Iran that are not True

According to Dr. Cole, who knows about these things.

From the "Me too" file.

Juan Cole has yet another reason that the right way in Afghanistan is out...

I doubt the US & NATO have the sheer resources to put down the guerrillas in Afghanistan.

Me too.

Hammer. Nail. Bang!

Rambo and the Mean Girl.

"You can put a shoe in the oven…

...but that doesn't make it a biscuit."

Malcolm X

"I have some news. Al-Qaida is in Iraq. It’s called ‘al-Qaida in Iraq.’”

John McCain

As Professor Cole explains (my emphasis)...

The technical definition of al-Qaeda is operatives who have sworn fealty to Usama bin Laden. There were only a few hundred of them. I doubt whether more than a handful of such individuals are in Iraq.

So there isn't any "al-Qaeda" in Iraq in the technical sense. There are "Excommunicating Holy Warriors" (Takfiri Jihadis), i.e. devotees of political Islam who are violent and willing to deploy terror for political purposes. They declare other Muslims who disagree with them "not Muslims,"-- thus the "excommunicating" bit. But there are only a few hundred foreign fighters. A small minority of Iraqis has associated with them. They don't call themselves 'al-Qaeda in Iraq.' The major such group is "The Islamic State of Iraq." And to say that they have "bases" in Iraq is pretty grandiose. They have some safe houses and try to take and hold neighborhoods, so far with indifferent success.

Me too.

Professor Cole…

Despite what the pundits will say, I fear the testimony of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the Hill Monday and Tuesday is not a turning point, does not give Bush breathing room, and is largely irrelevant.

Yep.

Me too.