I sincerely hope that this will be the most deranged thing I read today. Cos I mean... damn... If you're running for office on a party line that's already drawing questions about your ability to understand the reality of the situation in Iraq, should you really be comparing it to a fantasy novel. And, as a reader comment to boing boing noted, it's perhaps not the best strategy to suggest that US soldiers in Iraq are there on a suicide mission, to draw fire and die. (I found this story on boing boing, who picked it up from Salon -- I assume it's all over the blogosphere at this point and it's only a matter of time till it hits CNN)

In other political-type news, when we were at the state fair on Monday, the first sticker I saw said "Had Enough? Vote Democratic". While I don't want to draw too many conclusions from one afternoon at the NC state fair, I should note that in every previous year we've been to the fair the overwhelming majority of stickers (both parties have booths handing out stickers for people to wear on their shirts as they walk around the fair) have been for Republicans. Fluke or encouraging omen? I guess we'll find out in November.