I'm Not Gone

I'm sitting in the corner of the dark tavern now, nearly invisible in my earthen green cloak, my long legs crossed in front of me, a thin stream of smoke rising to the ceiling from the pipe I smoke pensively.... I've been gone, and now I'm back, from where no one knows and no one cares to ask. "Longshanks," some call me. "Strider," say others, and my friends are few.

Yeah, okay. Anyway, seems to me there are two major stories right now: actually, one major and one super major.

The pretty big one is the resurgence of stories regarding "The Connection:" the connection, that is, between Hussein and international Islamic terrorism. Stephen Hayes and others at The Weekly Standard have been dogged on it, and they seem to be on to something. Here's the first volley, from late last week; and here's an update today.

For anyone with a subscription to The New Republic, here's Jason Zengerle's skeptical response, followed by a discussion string invaded enthusiastically by a fellow evidently called Paul.

The super big story is Iran. Here's a discussion that'll have you shaking.