if you’re interested in following the testimony of the 9/11 Panel, thanks to the NY Times you can watch it live, or, if you’d prefer, read the transcript, which is being updated throughout the day.

on the hoo-haw that former terrorism czar Richard Clarke has caused with the publication of his book and the interview with him that was broadcast on 60 Minutes on Sunday. I saw the interview, and the lame responses from the White House, and I must say that I’m pretty surprised – and encouraged – that Clarke’s point of view is seeing the light of day. And he’s obviously hitting a target – the attacks on him from the White House since Sunday have been coming fast and furious, though they have been equally ineffectual, petty, and contradictory.

Anyhow – today in Salon there is an interview with Clarke in which he responds to the attacks.

thanks to the wonders of syndication, and the work of someone named vivek at Cool/Lame, you can read entries from two blogs on a single page. It’s called Bush and Kerry Side By Side.

with Joe Trippi, by David Pogue: The Internet and Political Campaigns. “This isnft going anywhere but up. More people are going to join. More people are going to get involved. The American people really do want to do something in the common good. I think the biggest problem this country has right now is getting over the individualsf disbelief that they can make a difference. The system has beaten it out of people. ‘You canft make a difference.’ Well, you can. And the Dean campaign proved that.”

New York Times columnist, is simply amazing. In his column today, he argues (with a straight face, I presume) that poor people didn’t get that way due to a lack of access to resources, and furthermore that the main problem is cultural, not economic. In other words, they deserve it. I guess it’s not that amazing, really – it’s really just another repetition of the common conservative theme that people are evil and must be forced, by their betters, to become virtuous. At least he doesn’t bring god into the whole thing like 90% of his American colleagues.