tuesday reads

Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005.


As the Bush administration deals with the fallout from the recent killings of civilians by private security firms in Iraq, some officials are asking whether the contractors could be considered unlawful combatants under international agreements.


12 former Army captains write to the Washington Post:

There is one way we might be able to succeed in Iraq. To continue an operation of this intensity and duration, we would have to abandon our volunteer military for compulsory service. Short of that, our best option is to leave Iraq immediately. A scaled withdrawal will not prevent a civil war, and it will spend more blood and treasure on a losing proposition.

The Cannonball Run


Despite the spiraling rise in the daily number of shootings in the US, gun culture has only become stronger.


The Rude Pundit: 42 Ways Not to Have Sex With Ann Coulter (Do I even need to say that The Rude One is "NSFW"?)