was more telling about the commenters, than the commentees, and illustrative of your point .

"Goddamn America... when it kills innocents!.."

Didn't hear one mention of that second part in the ~3 week orgy of outrage.Nor did I ever hear or see any explanation/justification of the pro innocent-killing position, or why Wright was wrong to go the other way. Then again, I actually listened to the whole thing . Much of it was similar to Ron Paul's positions, albeit expressed in a more flamboyant manner . So....., the 7-yr old sermons of a candidate's former minister, is more noteworthy than the statements of an actual candidate .

The second Wright episode was even more revealing . The talking heads everywhere were blatting and scribbling about Wright's appearances on Bill Moyers' show and at The National Press Club . The commentary and criticism seemed a bit vague . I couldn't tell wtf exactly they were tut-tutting about. I watched the Moyers interview, and the TNP video. Still didn't see it exactly. Read the transcripts, in case I missed something . Nope. Expected some degree of mischaracterization, but the fire under the smoke just wasn't there . Then I discovered the NAACP speech.( It was a discovery, to me, because I heard no mention of it.)He did get into crazy uncle territory there , but even that wasn't spot on with what was being "reported". My conclusion : almost all of the inane, vacuous idiots yakking about it hadn't actually lisdtened to what he said. "WTF!!!?" (me, to myself) . They get (over)paid to do that , and they couldn't be bothered . They just went on what others said, and their own pre-concieved stories.

The NYT military analyst story at #7? It's at least #2, & probably #1. Given that it actually should matter , I'm surprised it made the list.

Another story that should be on there is the Affia Siddiqqi/CIA/FBI/Musharraf resignation story. When exposure of our government's alledged perfidity (including the Postal Service?) leads to massive protests , and the resignation of a foreign head of state,and a close ally at that , you'd think it'd merit some mention. Nope! Given that the scoop was by BBC Urdu , it's probably too much to ask a member of the narcissistic American media to notice.

Titonwan, I took Reality Kid's comment as snark, upon 1st reading . The "mouth breather"s that would have seriously meant it just don't show up here. Even the *pistoliere* ;) is better than that.

The fact the war — even though it was very costly — may actually end with quite good results [emphasis mine] might change the attitude toward those who were involved in the analysis process,” Feith said. “The premise of a lot of the criticism will be exposed to be wrong.”

sysprog, my response to that is as follows: (& has actually turned the light bulb on for a couple True Believers, at least as far as understanding Iraqi "ungratefulness")

Pre-war Populations: Iraq : ~25M ; US : ~300M (i.e., 12x Iraq)

So ,... if an enterprise in this country produced 6-14 million dead, several times that wounded, and 50-60 million refugees , plus all the attendant inanimate destruction, would it ever be considered a success, however less violently it ended, compared to the beginning?

Enough of the fucking whining. I come here to find out just how bad I'm getting screwed on a daily damned basis. You fellers want to hold hands and sing hymns, fine, but I don't take kindly to insulting rhetoric. Fuck that, how do YOU know I didn't just pull the ultimate snark? You don't, if I didn't let you in on it. I go to some blogs with brass knuckles on because that's the only thing they understand. I come here for a little common sense and then I'm supposed to know when some yahoo is joshing or not. Gimme a break.

- Titonwan

You didn't seem convinced by bystander . Just wanted to (gently) let you know that I also took it a sarcasm , in the same spirit as Glenn's post. Didn't know how the Kid would respond, so trying to help calm troubled waters , before anything got started.* Just chuckle , and realize that one got by you. If you were doing likewise, I'll admit , it was too subtle for me .

* My snark was aimed at the three-digit scattergunner, the one who must not be named, lest he show up . ( It almost seems as though he has some sort of detection program, that alerts him when he's mentioned by name ;)

I saw the Kramer one as it happened , and was lol-ing while imagining what later happened . (with no foreknowledge, other than a passing familiarity with the general perversity of the universe. :)

Appropriately, FP also has an article The Top Ten Stories You Missed in 2008(at sig). Check #s 9 & 10. Or this glorious example of unfettered markets : http://www.foreignpolicy.com/top10-2008/index7.html

rocky, "good" and "bad" ideas , according to whom? Maybe to the lefty "kooks", the assessment was vice versa? Also, one newspaper sending four of you to the same event? Strange, especially when so many things are uncovered.