Al-Zarqawi escapes?
OK guys, joke's over. You're not THIS bad at capturing terrorists, are you?

Should we change our primary system?
Glenn Hutchins, noting how the NH primary favors Massachusetts liberals, and the Iowa caucuses are essentially a joke, suggests the following:

Instead, the party ought to consider mounting coordinated, open, and perhaps regional primary elections anchored in the battleground states which unfold deliberately over several months. The candidates who emerge from that gauntlet are more likely to be conversant with issues that matter to voters in these regions and able to communicate effectively to citizens across a broad range of socioeconomic, educational, and religious backgrounds.

I concur.

Leave it to the French...
Who knew terrorists deserved such good treatment?

Carter on Arafat
Jimmy speaks his mind on Arafat's death.

Former US President Jimmy Carter called Yasser Arafat "a powerful human symbol and forceful advocate" who united Palestinians in their pursuit of a homeland. "Yasser Arafat's death marks the end of an era and will no doubt be painfully felt by Palestinians throughout the Middle East and elsewhere in the world," Carter said.

Someone tell Carter... you don't have to say nice things about everyone that dies, especially known terrorists. I can see it now... President Bush, 2012: "Yeah, Osama bin Laden. He was really a nice guy, you know? Really a powerful human being. Sure, we may have had our differences, but before all that, I remember a time when we would sit down together, not as leaders but as family friends."

Arafat dead
Yep. Should be interesting, and potentially gruesome, to watch both sides react.

Falluja dispatches off the mark?
Despite what seems to be U.S. progress, are the insurgents winning in Falluja?

Evening out the map
After a week of staring at maps of vast, unpopulated states colored red, these cartograms might please you.

Ashcroft resigns
With Ashcroft out and Cheney's pacemaker running on very little fuel, perhaps the next 4 years won't be that bad after all.

Lack of Updates
Perhaps The Onion best explains why Peter and I have scantly updated since last week.

Political Blogger Mass Suicide To Be Discovered In Several Weeks
BOSTON—By examining web-traffic data for left-leaning DailyKos.com, researchers have predicted that the mass suicide of 14 political bloggers will likely be discovered sometime in mid-December. "After months of doing nothing but sit alone in our rooms at our computers, trying to get our message to the people, we lost the election anyway," read the still-unread suicide pact posted Nov. 3. "We'd rather be dead than live in a country as fucked up as this one." The bodies will most likely be found by property managers, long-estranged parents, or neighbors returning copies of Joe Trippi's The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.