Odds and Ends

The writers strike is underway; I found a good FAQ- here. Anyway, here's the news...

Two different takes on violence statistics in Iraq from the Washington Post and Daily Kos.

Meanwhile, more inconvenient truths for the Iran war saber-rattlers: "Despite President Bush's claims that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons that could trigger 'World War III,' experts in and out of government say there's no conclusive evidence that Tehran has an active nuclear-weapons program."

Speaking of the nuclear issue, some good news on the diplomatic front: "North Korea was expected Monday to start an unprecedented disabling of the nuclear programme it has pursued for half a century, under the supervision of a US team of experts."

There are elections this week, so that means it's time for anti-gay fearmongering.

New statistics show that "The number of foreign visitors to the United States has plummeted" in recent years, and people want to know why. Andrew Sullivan believes that the simple process of coming and going for international tourists has become a nightmare. Atrios, meanwhile, blames the failing dollar.

Sen. Clinton laid out a comprehensive climate/energy plan today. Reviews are positive, but to me while there's some good (raise CAFE standards to 55mpg by 2030... but why not sooner?), there's also some bad (too much emphasis on cap-and-trade system, corn ethanol, etc). Still, compared to the virtually non-existent proposals from the other side, it's gold.

Finally, meet PetroChina... now the world's first trillion-dollar company.