A bunch of randomness for your Sunday afternoon....
+ An interesting tidbit from the Senate's Phase II Report on Pre-War Intelligence: Michael Ledeen, a neocon uber-hawk if ever there was one, apparently "unwittingly" aided in Iranian counterintelligence efforts. Given that Ledeen has spent the past 20 years claiming that we have been at war with Iran since 1979, that's really, really amusing.
+ The state of South Carolina has decided to start issuing "I Believe" personalized license plates to Christians who request them. Normally, I wouldn't actually think to much of this; most states have dozens and dozens of possible plates, providing an additional source of revenue that's collected voluntarily from citizens. But in this case, the state has decided to favor these plates over all of the others it offers: Rather than charge the usual $70, these will go for just $4. C'mon SC... set the price the same as the rest and you'll find most people won't care. Unless, of course, the point here really was to favor one religion over another. Nawh... couldn't be that, could it?
+ Ezra writes about the "political economy of infrastructure," pushing back against the idea that infrastructure gets underfunded because politicians are short-sighted. And he's right, there are some short term benefits that do indeed push politicians towards construction. But that just begs what I think is the real question: why are voters so short-sighted? If you could get citizens to see beyond this year or next, you might be able to convince them that mass transit programs require a large investment that produces an even bigger return. The problem isn't the members of congress; it's their constituents.
+ How bad are things looking for the GOP this fall? Go read this and you will begin to understand.
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