...but misses the mark towards a consistent policy towards Afghanistan. Today's lead Times editorial ends with:

Longer term, the answer lies in a consistent, integrated and well-financed plan to establish security throughout Afghanistan, put kingpins in jail, develop a market economy and a functioning government in Kabul, and rapidly expand incentives for smaller farmers to stop growing poppies. It is all one more daunting Bush administration legacy that will be left for the next president to fix.

But they still don't see the fundamental disconnect between, "putting the kingpins in jail" and "develop a market economy." How can you have a market without capital?

The New York Times is running a story documenting an administration officials journey into the reality of the Afghan economy here. (Registration and login required).

The author takes a while to come around to the gist of the story:

"There was no coherent strategy to resolve these issues among the U.S. agencies and the Afghan government. When I asked career officers at the State Department for the interagency strategy for Afghan counternarcotics, they produced the same charts I used to brief the cabinet in Washington months before. "There is no written strategy," they confessed."

(Note: This is a followup to my post yesterday.

This article (cited by Raw Story)US-led soldier among scores killed, Afghan district falls caught my attention the other morning, and led me to ruminate on how the US can gracefully triumph in Afghanistan.

If there is a "right" conflict in which to be engage, this is it. Afghanistan is struggling to merge from medieval levels of poverty with it's national character intact. This is an effort the United States should support because it's success may change conflict dynamics both within Afghanistan, and within critical neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran. And unlike Vietnam, Afghanistan is a place where many if not most of its people would welcome a NATO-led victory against the warlords, Taliban and corrupt government officials.

Big bank gets in trouble because it's cash on hand can't cover it's (mounting) obligations. Senator writes bank and says it looks like it's in big trouble, what are they planning to do about it. Bank investors panic. Bank fails. Economic "expert" employed by CNBC blames "leftists" for bank's failure.

Sometimes there is no more damning evidence of one's foolishness than one's own words.

I'm stunned. Last night I almost missed a revolution. It wasn't there at 4 pm Mountain time. It was over by 2 am the next morning.

What's that sound? A lame duck and time slipping away. I have to say the Democrats did a great job of getting into position. I personally lament the losses of Tammy Duckworth, Harold Ford and Ned Lamont. But here's the theme of my urber-thought for today: time is slipping away quickly, and Democrats haven't yet figured out how to turn the attitudinal tide that is leading us into a new Dark Age.

Anyone looking for a conceptual link between the "War on Terror" and the incompetence that led to the drowning of New Orleans need look no further than an article printed in today's LA Times entitled, "A Silence in the Afghan Mountains."

As you read it, I urge you to overlook the details of the actions and personalities, and look closely at evidence of uncoordinated responses to specific threats on the part of unit leaders, battalion command, central command, the State Department, the Government of Afghanistan, and (not mentioned in this story, yet), other partners in the area which would include other foreign military agencies, and nongovernmental organizations providing aid services in the area.

Not paying to much attention to the latest attempt at increasing our national debt, I pretty much ignored articles on the Senate tax bill that passed last week.

However, in today's Montana Standard (Butte) there's a story entitled,
"College tuition tax deduction appears to be in jeopardy"by Jennifer McKee.

The story starts:

HELENA — More than 11,000 middle-income Montanans have used a special college tuition tax deduction that was eliminated from a recently passed $69 billion investment tax cut bill now on its way to becoming law.

The deduction allowed students or their families to deduct up to $4,000 annually of the price of college tuition and certain college fees from their taxable income.

The story is that ornamental ponds and mine waste pools tipped the balance. But I think we know better.

I was curious about why Dick Cheney wasn't charged with anything when he shot his hunting partner.

It appears to me that a basic reading of Texas law defines assault as:

 "ASSAULT.  (a)  A person commits an offense if the person: (1)  intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes  bodily injury to another, including the person's spouse;"

It may be useful to put a recognizable person in the place of those who couldn't, or wouldn't, leave New Orleans during the hurricane.

According to Reuters, Fats Domino hasn't been seen or heard from in days.

Alright...no bites on mandating Federal acceptance of comments on regulatory and legislative comments by email...how about this: Ban lip-synching. No more Brittany Spears [links] . No more Disney pop stars (Hillary Duff, Debbie Gibson, and so on). How many affronts to our sensibilities will be removed?

I got a little peeved by this news on Slashdot  stating that the Library of Congress Copyright Office was going to mandate MS Explorer form submissions for preregistration of copyrights.