Friday night links and comments

Peggy Noonan has a column looking at the non-campaign Fred Thompson is running.

He is running a great campaign. It's just not a declared campaign. It's a guerrilla campaign whose informality is meant to obscure his intent. It has been going on for months and is aimed at the major pleasure zones of the Republican brain. In a series of pointed columns, commentaries and podcasts, Mr. Thompson has been talking about things conservatives actually talk about. Shouldn't homeowners have the right to own a gun? Isn't it bad that colleges don't teach military history? How about that Sarkozy--good news, isn't it?

Speaking of Thompson, he has a column today in National Review Online of the sort Noonan described. Using language that is clear enough even a liberal should be able to understand, he stomps on the ridiculous notion of the Fairness Doctrine being applied to talk radio.

I had planned on talking a bit today about Venezuela. The president there doesn’t like the way his media is covering him, so he’s doing away with the free press. He’s established rules on what he thinks is fair, and he’s denying licenses to television and radio stations that don’t play by government rules.

I can’t criticize him now, though. After all, how would it seem for me to complain about another country, when our own congressional leadership is trying to put the same sort of rules in place here? To do so, they’re pulling the Fairness Doctrine out of the dustbin of history.

"3 guys and a video show life isn't all about bombs" is an interesting article about three guys in Iraq using videos posted to You-Tube to show that some parts of their country is returning to normal.

Here is a sad story (sad that the punishment was so light). If I remember correctly, when you get a security clearance you are warned of a much stiffer penalty than 6 months in prison for revealing classified information.

Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz was sentenced today to six months in prison and dismissal from the Navy for releasing information about foreign terror suspects in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay.