Peggy noonan: scary photo of the day

* jeralyn has some australian humour for you.

* rbc:

"The students, including elementary school kids, in Burleson, Texas are getting fight-back training in case of armed classroom invasion. This follows an apparently serious suggestion from a Wisconsin solon that teachers all pack heat. Really, and really, respectively."

* via xymphora:

"A future war - perhaps a US military campaign against Iran's nuclear sites - might not unseat the government in Tehran, but it could well unseat the governments of Egypt, Jordan and perhaps Saudi Arabia.
[]
Tenth, and perhaps most important, it now is clear that a US attack on Iranian nuclear installations would be met with little support in the Muslim world. It would also be met by a military response that would collapse the last vestiges of America's political power in the region. What was thought to be a "given" just a few short weeks ago has been shown to be unlikely. Iran will not be cowed. If the United States launches a military campaign against the Tehran government, it is likely that America's friends will fall by the wayside, the Gulf Arab states will tremble in fear, the 138,000 US soldiers in Iraq will be held hostage by an angered Shi'ite population, and Iran will respond by an attack on Israel. We would now dare say the obvious - if and when such an attack comes, the United States will be defeated."

* maha:

"As far as President Bush is concerned, I extrapolate from this that when he retires from the White House — and however he retires from the White House — he is unlikely to be the conservative icon that Ronald Reagan was and still is. The Washington Republican establishment may, or may not, continue to make excuses for Bush in the years to come, but the young folks intend to bury him alive so they can forget he ever lived. He’s not going to be invited to their parties. They aren’t going to buy his ghost-written books or cheer him at his public appearances. Bubble Boy is in for a hard fall.

Instead of remaining actively engaged in public issues as many former presidents do, I predict G.W. Bush (assuming he escapes prosecution for war crimes) will disappear into a ghost world for the rest of his sorry life, much as Lyndon Johnson did in his retirement."

* Laura:

"You open the Washington Post this morning, and on one two-page spread: Ney pleads guilty, Weldon being investigated, a Foley story, and Kolbe Grand Canyon trip probed. Sigh. Our Congress. Then you turned to the Iraq page: US deemed responsible for killing British reporter, Iraqi police behind death squads, etc."

* scary photo of the day