Recommended Reading: July 1

Everyday I email myself a list of links to articles that I read that day or that I want to read or blog about when I get home. Most items don't get the attention they deserve (due to the demands of my stupid actual life - curse my blissful happiness!) Anyway, from now on I'm gonna try to throw down some basics about each article if I thin they merit reading. Whether they do or not, you can judge for yourself. Here's today's batch: "New Iraq Report: 15 of 18 Benchmarks Satisfactory" - I know this is somewhat sacrilegious to say on a left-leaning blog but things actually do seem to be getting better in Iraq. ("Better" of course being relative to the disastrous cluster#%@$ orgy of violence it has been.) I say, "Great!" That'll make it easier to pull as many of our troops out as possible and bring them home or send them to Afghanistan where the Taliban an al-Qaeda are doing just fine, thank you. Look, everyone knows Bush and company are idiots - nothing is going to change that at this point. "Corporate Tax Cut Windfall" - Generally speaking, I think the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal are a bunch of #%@%ing liars (even before Rupert Murdoch). However, this piece on repatriating earnings from foreign subsidies of U.S. firms at a lower tax rate was intriguing. I'm all for bringing American investment back to America. I assume their conclusions are self-serving for their corporate masters, but there may be a middle path that could be beneficial to the U.S. economy. I assume it couldn't be worse than borrowing more money from China for stimulus checks. "Officials Praise New Test for Drug-Resistant TB" - "A new test that can detect multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis in two days instead of the standard two to three months promises to help significantly improve treatment and prevent the spread of the airborne infection, the World Health Organization said on Monday." Huge. Simply huge. That's all I can say. "Dutch Smoking Ban Goes Into Effect" - I think this excerpt pretty much says it all: "Patrons of cannabis cafes will still be allowed to smoke marijuana as long as it is not mixed with tobacco." Only a bloody Dutchman.