Hello reader.  I know you're there because sitemeter.com tells me that this site has one visitor per day, week after week - for months, now.

I read today that there are 20,000 contract personnel in Iraq - an even larger force than the British army.  This carries the traditional Republican goal of privatization of government services to a ridiculous extreme, don't you think?

Here's a sentence that stopped me dead in my tracks:  "... the arrogance of virtuous certainty masks the egotism of power."  This is from the same Sidney Blumenthal article in Salon, in which the author writes briefly, but devastatingly, about the torture of Iraqi prisoners.  This seems to me to sum up the whole problem of the Bush administration, not just in Iraq but in all areas foreign and domestic.

And this brings me to my next subject:  the need to vote these diabolical dunderheads out of office.  Much has been written lately about the perception that the Kerry campaign is not doing well, has yet to take off.  I suppose it's to be expected that now there would be a spate of articles about the need to settle down, be patient, there's still plenty of time.  Here's one, also in Salon ( my main reading today) that I liked.

Stop back by here again.  Maybe this will be the beginning of a new burst of activity around here.

By the way, here are the blogs I try to read daily:  Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo; Altercation, by Eric Alterman;  Eschaton, by Atrios;  Liberal Oasis, by (I don't know the writer's name, but he/she sure is good!);  and Political Animal, by Kevin Drum, who formerly had his own blog as Calpundit.

10:55:32 PM