Quick Hits

One of these and I'm off to Trader Joe's:

• Sandy Berger is a moron. While he was cleared of withholding material from the 9-11 Commission two years ago, he apparently did hide NSA papers under a construction trailer in the middle of Washington. That's pathological and stupid. He did plead guilty to removing documents last year.

Berger should never be allowed to hold any kind of public office in a Democratic executive branch again, nor should he be allowed to represent the Democratic Party in any public forum. That should be the standard of conduct to which our Party should hold its officials and mouthpieces. That would be the opposite of the Elliot Abrams/Otto Reich standard of the current Administration.

• It's "The Year of Perpetual Outrage" according to Michelle Malkin. Wait, isn't it "The Lifetime of Perpetual Outrage" at her site? The irony is so thick here it's impenetrable.

• Hey, they're setting records in Baghdad! Not the good kind, however. The "spiral of carnage that appears unrelenting and impossible to stop" kind.

• Great article at HuffPo by Dave Johnson and James Boyce on the differences between Democrats and Republicans: the "Product Party" versus the "Marketing Party." Democrats need to make this belief a reality by producing come January, and we need to hold their feet to the fire.

• About a week old, but Truthdig interviews Dennis Kucinich on why he's running for President. It's a shame we have a country where an intelligent, principled, serious person like this is unelectable. And he understands that Iraq comes first, before anything else.

• Speaking of Sandy Berger, this sounds suspiciously like the controversial Berger scene in The Path to 9/11, only with a twist:

French soldiers in Afghanistan had Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in their crosshairs -- twice -- but did not receive the order from their US commander to open fire, a French documentary reported.

The filmed report, by journalists Eric de Lavarene and Emmanuel Razavi, asserts that the French troops had bin Laden in their rifle scopes in 2003 and then again six months later in 2004.

Four French soldiers assigned to a 200-strong special forces unit in Afghanistan under US military control all confirmed -- "at different times and in different places" -- that they could have killed bin Laden but that the order to shoot was not forthcoming, the report claims.

The documentary, entitled "Bin Laden: Failings of a Manhunt" and set to be shown on French cable television channel Planete at an unspecified date, relies on the accounts given by the four soldiers.

This will never be seen in America because it has nothing to do with Bill Clinton.

• More from the Onward Christian Soldiers front, from Rep. Robin Hayes of North Carolina.

"Stability in Iraq ultimately depends on spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men. Everything depends on everyone learning about the birth of the Savior."

Good thing this doesn't make it look like a clash of civilizations or a Crusade or forced conversion or anything.

• Here's something Robin Hayes would like: Jesus for King of Poland! Our Savior humbly asks members of Parliament for their vote.

A group of Polish members of parliament have submitted a bill seeking to proclaim Jesus Christ king of their overwhelmingly Catholic country.

Forty-six deputies - 10% of the lower house - signed the bill, which was tabled earlier this week, reports say.

Some Polish clerics however have criticised the move as unnecessary.

If the bill becomes law, Jesus will follow the path of the Virgin Mary, who was declared honorary queen of Poland by King John Casimir 350 years ago.

I nominate John the Baptist for Minister of Health.