It seems that back in 1998 when Osama bin Laden was outlining his objectives one of them was that oil should cost $144 a barrel just like it does now. Of course one assumes OBL had real rather than nominal prices in mind, so we still do have a bit of a ways to go.

Here’s a bit more on Jesse Helms’ tireless advocacy on behalf of freedom as he tried to undermine Violeta Chamorro’s democratically elected government in Nicaragua in the interests of prompting a new round of civil war.

Shawn Brimley on Iraq in the campaign: “Obama wants to leave Iraq and McCain wants to stay. That’s all that matters in this debate.”

Exactly so. There are of course an important array of tactical option any of which could constitute “staying” or “leaving” but there’s a fundamental strategic divide between McCain and Obama and there consistently has been.