Evening Open Thread: Daily Reads

[SeminalBlog]

Alex Thurston and I had a discussion last night about, among other things, our daily must-read bloggers. Here are a few of mine, with short snips of things they've written in the past few days. Obviously, The Seminal is a must read, so I'll exclude regular posters here.
Matt Yglesias:

Bush's worst moments have come when he's embraced an approach to foreign policy that McCain's been pushing for over ten years now.

Glenn Greenwald:

Michael Mukasey has conclusively proven himself to be an exact replica of Alberto Gonzales — slavishly loyal to every presidential whim and unbound by even the most minimal constraints of truth while serving those whims.

Chris Bowers:

In many ways, the Internet as a medium actually is well on its way to achieving some of the more idealistic promises that were prophesized, it just tends to do them for free. Wikipedia has become the largest encyclopedia in the world, and it's free. YouTube is probably the greatest video collection ever assembled, and it's free. Music has become virtually free. Political engagement is way up now that there are far easier ways for people to learn about, and become engaged in, the process.

Ezra Klein:

Spending a (*)(*)(*)(*)-ton of money locking people up is one way to reduce crime. It also makes those who were locked up more violent, destroys families, reduces economic productivity, helps criminals network with each other, and so forth (none of which are costs that Wilson mentions). We could also, however, spend that hefty sum of money on interventions known to reduce criminality, which include everything from universal pre-kindergarten to jobs programs to drug rehab. But that wouldn't be nearly so satisfying, and wouldn't let politicians seem nearly so tough.

Megan McCardle:

After all, isn’t the internet the 21st century’s New World? We no longer have a physical frontier to conquer, at least not in the traditional sense, but we have an infinite supply of undeveloped, undiscovered digital territory. “Land is the basis of an aristocracy,” he wrote, and he argued that the evolution of property ownership from large land holders to a widespread ownership of smaller parcels facilitated the death of the aristocracy. In the same way, the abundance of digital land has radically altered the media (and business) landscape.

Matt Stoller:

We are all connected by a fundamental
sense of humanity. We can hide this through walls and media manipulation, but it will not stay hidden forever. And while Markos thinks that nagging is the right term to use when discussing fundraising for the end of the quarter, and maybe it is, I think there's something more meaningful about putting yourself on the line, even just a little bit, to make a political change in the world. That's how most politicians I know think about the problem as well. Every single day, Congressmen and women hear of funerals in their district of soldiers, every day they make decisions having to do with life and death in thousands of ways. And every day, many of them try to help as many people as possible, even as their day is sliced into ten minute segments, votes, and meetings with lobbyists, constituents, and advocates. So when you give $10 or $25 or $50 through Blue Majority or any other manner, recognize that what you are doing is taking a chance that change is possible.

Andrew Sullivan:

One day this president and vice-president will be prosecuted for war crimes.

Martis Bosworth:

I said a year ago that liberal movements, by adopting the term “progressive,” weren’t just shucking off a label that has been tainted by years of insult and invective from the conservative movement, but were defining themselves as truly forward-looking and forward-thinking.

Spencer Ackerman:

Buddy, I'm just going to throw this out there. Maybe — just maybe? — Al Qaeda wants us in Iraq so we can be bled to bankruptcy like the Soviet Union and radicalize the "believers" into a global insurgency. And also? Maybe Al Qaeda also knows how to exploit your ignorance, bellicosity and vanity. I know, it's crazy! It's not like bin Laden's people also say that or anything.

Josh Marshall:

So, from my view, saying she's in it till August isn't about August. It's not even about June. It's about stamping out doubts about her viability and determination to stay in so she can still be in the game in April and May.

If you don't read these folks, hopefully the tidbits above will inspire you to start now.
How about you? What are your must reads?
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