Last week, the New York Times published an op-ed by Barack Obama, outlining Obama’s Plan For Iraq. It was bound to be followed by a rebuttal from John McCain. And it was– sort of.

McCain’s editorial response was submitted and quickly rejected by the New York Times Op-Ed editor, David Shipley. In his response to the McCain team, Shipley states that he’s “not going to be able to accept [the] piece as currently written,” but that he’d be “pleased” to look over a different draft.

What does that really mean? Is that editorial decision being made based on policy or content? McCain’s camp is quick to point out that Shipley served in the Clinton Administration and that the real problem is that he doesn’t agree with McCain’s policies toward Iraq and that reworking the draft would be useless unless it came with a change in policy.

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s got a full load on his hands between media rounds and bank deposits while promoting his new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception. The book is a scathing indictment of the Bush administration by one of the chief pitchmen for a massive, flag-draped bag of lies that enabled the hijacking of an entire nation during three of the most crucial years this generation has ever seen. If that strikes you as contradictory, hypocritical even, then buckle the fuck up, because there’s a lot more to be found under this rock.

Break out the propane and carcass, fill the pool, it’s Memorial Day. While the more traditional towns are holding parades and ceremonies to honor the million American servicemen and women who have given their lives for this country, President Bush thoughtfully asked Americans to pay tribute to veterans by pausing today for “a moment of remembrance.”

I’m not one of those fucking nutjobs who thinks Jon Stewart should be president of the universe. I don’t get my news from the Daily Show and I certainly don’t repeat what I see on there as usable rhetoric in real political discussions. But every once in awhile, Jon Stewart will do something awesome, like that time he totally pwned Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on Crossfire, or he’ll have a debate with a well-spoken guest that manages to be funny and satirical enough to work on the show, while simultaneously being level-headed and fair enough to both sides of a complicated issue. In these moments, the show is more than entertaining (but ultimately worthless) left-wing cheerleading, and actually something worth passing around to people on both sides.

Yesterday, a House committee found that the Pentagon has been effectively writing blank checks to insurance companies providing coverage for civilian employees in Iraq and Afghanistan. Apparently, the Pentagon allows its contractors to negotiate their own insurance contracts, unlike the State Department, the US Agency for International Development and the Army Corps of Engineers, who have all selected a single insurance carrier to provide the insurance at fixed rates. The Boston Globe reports that KBR Inc., one of the largest defense contractors in Iraq, paid the insurance giant AIG $284 million for medical and disability coverage under the Defense Base Act, a reference to the federal law mandating the insurance. Because of the way KBR’s contract is structured, this premium, along with an $8 million markup for KBR, gets billed to taxpayers. All told, the insurance companies have collected nearly $600 million in excessive profits over the past five years, according to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s report.