What kind of command climate exists where people think this type of behavior is acceptable? Is this one result of a force at war for too many years? Have leaders failed to set and enforce standards? Is this a symptom or the disease?

Hubris maybe? Think about the bazillions of dollars and billions of man hours our nation has devoted to security, intelligence gathering and analysis since 2001. All the hand wringing over walls and lack of imagination . And yet, we decided to disregard basic security in Benghazi for unknown reasons. Or maybe undisclosed reasons. Our counter terror 911 forces were not on alert. We had, in hand specific, dare I say "actionable" intel about threats to our embassy in Cairo. For all our investments and restructurings, we still lack imagination and common sense.

This is a silly law. Like most legal advances of the last 40 years it serves to keep honest people honest.

I wouldn't get my hopes up. We have Republican pols predicting impeachment and scandal equal to Watergate. It may be a small number, but these guys will get the air time predicting the President is "doomed as doom can be". And it's not. Watergate took over 2 years to come to a climax. The forces arrayed against Nixon, were in may respects, far more formidable. Americans don't abandon their Presidents so easily, even when they are guilty of actual crimes. Precedent: Clinton, W. J.

How many reasonably enlightened people does it take to make a pencil?

I'm not getting my hopes up. I was victimized by Starship Troopers.

I wonder what extra security precautions were taken in anticipation of the anniversary of 9/11. Or have we reverted to the same complacency that characterized America on 9/10/01? Maybe the real "crime" that's being covered up is a failure of imagination.

It's funny to me that this is the method we expect Congress to use and yet, if you ever watch C-SPAN, the questions are invariably types 1 and 2.

Jerry Reed: Amos Moses

You wouldn't look very happy either if you were looking foward to a term in the federal pen as our model, Greg Marmalard is.

Wars aren't started by some sort of Marxist economic determinism. It is common for nation states to gin up external threats when times are bad. But no nation's leaders have ever thought, "we have lots of unemployment so let's put our boys in the army and spend our national treasure on a throw of the dice that our payoff will be greater than the expense." Not to say that some leaders don't think, "Hey our neighbor is weaker than we are, let's attack them and a) get revenge for some historical slight, b) steal some of their resources or c) both." Ultimately, it comes down to a rational calculation by the leaders that the benefits will outweigh the cost. Since humans are flawed there is no guarantee leaders and their calculations are truly rational.

I like Cruz and voted for him. But, like Rubio and others, he's not ready for prime time. If we want to take the Presidency we need two things, a man and a moment. Since 1988, we've focused more on the man and not on the moment. My thinking is informed by something said on the latest flagship podcast, Reagan's victory in 1980 was a reaction to the public's opinion of the state of the nation. That's a big reason why, and the same applies to 1994 and 2010, the pundits missed the results. I would also argue Nixon in 1968 was similar. Where are the ideas? The product? In my opinion, if the circumstances present themselves, there will be at least one politician wise enough and bold enough to emerge. Not to end on a sour note, Barrack Obama was such a politician.

I've got some good news and some bad news. The good news is, it's possible at some time in the future, the US could produce enough oil and gas to meet or exceed domestic demand. The bad news? It may not have much effect on prices. It may not have much effect on OPEC. Marginal increases in production might be sufficient to meet expected increases in demand, leaving us no worse off than we are today. Still, it's welcome news.

But

Tin Cup. "Take the drop, Roy." "Gimme the ball."

I never have understood why anyone on the right would use the C word. We support free markets. There is a difference.