A friend of mine recently told me, "Leave it to James to die on Christmas." That pretty much sums up the career of James Joseph Brown Jr. He came in with a bang, and went out in flying colors.

Some 6,000 members of the armed forces, according to the Pentagon, have refused to remain at their posts since the Iraq war began in 2003.

In the December online issue of Political Affairs, Andrew Bard Schmookler ("Reason and Emotion in the Anti-Bushite Movement, Or, Hey Democrat-hating Lefties, Get Real") makes the argument that the left has no choice but to work with the Democratic Party in the effort to combat the ultra-right Bush administration.

the recapture of state power by BNP-Jamat led 4-party alliance in The January 22nd elections will not only reestablish the unlimited plunder and misrule in the country, but will also enhance the danger of a government led and dominated by Jamat-e-Islami, which they have already declared to be their aim to be achieved by 2012.

Now that we can see that the much ballyhooed ISGR prepared by James Baker and Lee Hamilton has fallen still born from the press, we must ask ourselves why. Two reasons come to mind.