Sure he's a good Democrat. He voted against Clinton's impeachment + held Gonzales's feet to the fire over firing Democratic USAs. But what's he done for the general voter lately?

Blocked legislation that would've regulated Fannie May + Freddie Mac, shot off his mouth re: IndyMac, and facillated Mukasey's AG confirmation.

I was surprised to read that an AI system outperformed top poker players.

Whenever I've played the game it seems to involve more than mere probability calculations, but also reading the psychological patterns in other players.

Nonetheless,

The site has had a lot of traffic + comments lately and also a lot of bumping up against the posting rules ... not to mention crossing over them.

I'm glad there's active diaries and everything, but it's too much work for the mods to try and police this with soft reminders + humorous deflection.

To our liberal commenters of which there are many, I hope you are keeping an eye not just on the conservatives who post here but also your ideological kin.

Bring me your thoughts, your links, your outrageous BBQ anecdotes yearning to be shared.

I'm thrilled for her, the three released Americans, and the other 11 former hostages. The FARC are really against the wall these days and appear disorganized.

[UPDATE: EMBARRASSINGLY, THIS DIARY MAY HAVE NO PT.

DESPITE RECOLLECTIONS TO THE CONTRARY, I CAN ONLY FIND ARTICLES REFERRING TO THE LIBERATING COLOMBIANS AS 'POSING AS MEMBERS OF A FICTITIOUS *NGO*' AND NOT AS 'MEMBERS OF AN *INTERNATIONAL AID ORGANIZATION*'.

APOLOGIES IF I MISREAD EARLIER REPORTS.]

He received a lot of well-deserved flack in '02 for defending the distinction between "extreme interrogation" vs. "torture" and including waterboarding in the former camp.

I don't know exactly how much praise Hitch deserves for belatedly doing more research + reversing himself, but I'd like to offer whataver level is appropriate. For those of you too bitter to follow suit, perhaps you might instead enjoy the video of Hitchens being waterboarded by Special Forces vets -- the Guardian reports it will be posted on Vanity Fair's website tomorrow.

... Anyway, Hitch's new take:

May it Never Be Closed

With some cheering up, graphjam style:

Because you all have so much to offer.

The NYT does a hit piece on Obama ... by publishing his poetry from 1981 (check it out below the fold if you dare):