With Happy Endings, Where Nobody Fights

• A very interesting post by George Packer of The New Yorker on what he describes as "The Kaleidoscopic War" in Iraq. Packer's The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq remains the best book that I have read so far on our involvement in the Middle East.
• I have yet to take Professional Responsibility from this man, but I'm pretty sure that trying to slip a judge $40,000 for a favorable ruling might fall outside the bounds of ethical behavior.