Rice Testimony: Preliminary reactions can be found multiple places, including over at Slate, here, here, and here. The last link takes you to my own thoughts. I use Daily Kos' comments as a preface, which puts a negative spin on her remarks. On the whole, I have a bit more of a mixed reaction, though my main theme would be that I was glad such testimony as well as the whole commission itself was available for the public to benefit from their efforts.

Bob Kerrey might get a lot of criticism for prefacing his remarks today by saying that the war in Iraq looks to turn into a tragic quagmire, but so be it. It also sadly looks more true than not. When some snidely say that Sen. Kerry's path might result in Saddam Hussein still being in power (no gimmee), a proper reply might be that we also have a lot less dead and injury, especially if we considered the dead Iraqis (400 casualties in one recent battle alone). No matter what happens, such people aren't any less dead. I continue to see the "well, we need to finish this thing or we will look bad" line troubling too. True or not, at some point it must become a self-defeating enterprise.

Legal News: Legal Fiction has noted that the most important way to obtain true equality for homosexuals is to tell stories of what happens when we do not have such a regime. The brief challenging NY for withholding their right to marry is mostly that -- stories of the defendants and the injuries they face because they are not allowed to marry. The tragic story of a local army wife shows that sometimes even those against abortion must act to protect themselves or their future children. Also, Justice Scalia apparently is still hesitant about the freedom of the press. [See also here.]