While it's hard for me to imagine the incredible moral courage it must take for a senior Senator to sit in an air-conditioned office and draft a piece of legislation, it's worth pointing out that VAWA was (partially) maligned by such right-wing institutions as the ACLU (for its creepy police-state-ish clauses such as mandating AIDS testing for accused but not convicted abusers) and was partially struck down by the (Clinton-era!) Supreme Court for its ludicrously broad interpretation of the commerce clause.

On a more general note, I'm not sure what exactly this "article" is supposed to be. Clearly, it's not journalism. It's not even punditry, as there is no critical analysis involved here. An article discussing Biden's moral fiber, which mentions as his only shortcoming a tendency towards long-windedness *and doesn't even hint at his repeated mendacity or acts of plagiarism* is not a serious analysis of Biden. When you publish a hagiographic "article" *written by the former public spokesperson of the article's subject*, Salon, you are serving as the vehicle for the propaganda of a political party. Even if it is the party I belong to, I don't like to see party propaganda masquerading as commentary in what purports to be an independent media organ.

First Sergeants are in charge of companies, not platoons. Platoon sergeants are almost always E-7s, Sergeants First Class.

The 82nd Airborne *is* a division, and therefore it cannot have a "Headquarters Division," which is a meaningless term to anyone with a working knowledge of the U.S. Army.

Overall this was a good article, but every time I read mistakes like that it makes me cringe. It reinforces the idea that Salon writers and their ilk are out-of-touch eggheads who don't really know much about the soldiers they're writing about and the organization they're in. (Admittedly, the mainstream media and right-wing-biased news organizations are no better, if not worse, in this regard).

Consider this scenario:

Four to five days before leaving office, Bush issues a pre-emptive pardon to Dick Cheney. He then resigns the office of the presidency. President Cheney, during the few days he has in the office, issues a pre-emptive pardon to private citizen Bush.

Ludicrioius, but I really think it will happen. I really think these characters are that brazen.

Barack Obama needs to compete with McCain on experience, particularly foreign policy experience. Particulary military experience. Picking the female governor of a landlocked state who has never been anything but a domestic civil servant is not a good idea.

Additionally, Governor Sebelius may be able to keep and hold a governorship in a deeply Republican state, but how much appeal would she have to the voters in what is Obama's biggest problem area, Appalachia? Jim Webb is the man (but he will indeed have to address head-on the sexism issues, as I believe he did when he was running for the Senate seat he currently holds).

*This week* should be "All about Hillary Clinton and her historic campaign?" Are you kidding me? This week, and all the rest until November, should be about putting a Democrat in the White House. Said Democrat happens to be Barack Obama, not Hillary Clinton, who lost the race *20 fucking days ago.* The adulation of Hillary Clinton is getting downright bizarre, at this point.

Yes, a Jewish multimillionaire media magnate (look at that alliteration!) from New York City is *just* what Obama needs to enhance his support in the rural, conservative South.

Yes, this pathetic cluelessness by a non-news organization is so much more worthy of comment than articles of impeachment against the President being read in the House of Representatives.