I guess I'm reading the Hunt Oil deal with the Kurds as confirmation that all faith in the emergence of a strong central government is lost. If the private sector moves with complete disregard to the progress made by the Iraq central government on the distribution and sharing of oil revenues, what else are we to conclude?

The announcement of the deal was buried under Petraeus' appearance before congress, and came within hours of Bush's address to the nation where he touted the above mentioned progress the central government was making regarding oil revenues.

Given the close relationship between Ray Hunt and junior, the deal is truly breathtaking in audacity - but, nothing new there.

I also considered the Peshmurga and thought that their protection of any deals the central government considers illegal would make civil war obvious, would it not?

Black bag operation...please put Josh Bolton in it and throw it off a cliff...Thanks...

P.S. If you know anyone who is still listening to this clown after the revisionist "history" on Lincoln he spewed on the Daily Show, they are beyond help.

A pox on all their houses, including MoveOn.org. With something this serious, don't employ a juvenile play on Petraeus' last name to make your point. Stick with substance and avoid tabloid urges.

No wonder we're not doing any better than we are in Iraq if the General is going to fold over a MoveOn.org ad. Walk it off, General.

Of course Bush is going to do everything he can to hide behind Petraeus and the military. He's simply pathetic.

It's over. There isn't going to be a central government. Even Bush's cronies know it and are banking on it.

What the hell are we doing there?

This is the guy the Republicans couldn't wait to champion for the nomination? Pretty anti-climactic, eh? The guy is a snooze fest and he woke up long enough to share these pearls of wisdom? I'm already sick of the hickory-smoked, down-home horseshit from this clown.

Chris Matthews knows so little about economics he probably thought he did answer the question on hedge funds.

Just think about where the philosophy that an unfettered market is a good thing comes from - you know, slavery being cost effective and all.

Why isn't Jim Cramer asking the questions?

Hey, stupid, what do you not understand about not enough boots on the ground? This thing was mismanaged from the beginning because the people running the war don't know what war is about. You're astounded by what Sanchez said? I'm astounded that you fail to make the connection that things got out of hand because they were never well in hand.

They still aren't.

Congratulations, Heather - you're spot on.

I didn't realize how traumatic the Margaret Thatcher years were to Rush. Maybe that explains the drug use...

The news of Jamie Lynn Spears teenage pregnancy comes on the heels of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that teen pregancy rose in 2005 - 2006 for the first time in 15 years.

While I agree that framing the situation in terms of "bad and impure" does nothing to further the argument, I will hasten to add that it doesn't represent a cause for public celebration, either.

Whatever is going on with this family is none of my business. But the media will make it the business of all of us whether we like it or not. So when our daughters, sisters, neices, etc. ask us for an opinion, what DO we say?

Point out Jamie Lynn Spears has resources the vast majority of teenage mothers don't? Was rape a part of the senario? (Probably depends on the state.) Is keeping a baby perceived as more noble than putting it up for adoption? Who matters more, the mother or the baby?

I'm mulling this before the upcoming holiday family gatherings and seriously thinking about how I'm going to answer the girls - and boys. I'm not going to treat it like a joke and I'll discourage anyone else from treating it that way, too.

I've just finished a video project designed to raise funds to provide shelter for non-profit organizations that assist homeless women with children. There are a lot of teenage mothers who are turned out of their homes by disapproving parents and abandoned by their boyfriends. The future is daunting, at best.

She isn't a role model I would choose for a young girl. No way.

Somebody sent me an email on Ron Paul about a year ago and I failed to understand the enthusiasm. He seemed to be little more than an old school isolationist with a lot of museum-piece notions.

I just finished reading the article on Mr. Paul's newsletters in the New Republic. Lordy, lordy, lordy. That man has some explaining to do.

Has anyone asked him about the newsletters in the debates? If not, will someone please lance this boil at the next one?

I'm encouraged by the other posts here...

I'm sorry, but you would have to be craven or stupid to infer from Barak Obama's remarks that he was making a positive comment about Reagan rather than a political oberservation about Reagan and the Republicans. Also, if you don't think that there isn't an underlying issue there, you are gravely mistaken.

I don't blame Obama for defending himself in the debate. That moment convinced me to vote for him on February 5th.