Links and Minifeatures 12 27 Thursday

Fact Sheet: The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007

Not good, no matter how you slice it: Benazir Bhutto assassinated.

Now I strongly suspect rival opposition party leader Nawaz Sharif of demagoguing her death. There are, as of yet, no indications that Musharraf, the current leader of Pakistan, had anything to do with her death. Indeed, I see indications against it, as it would have been trivial for him to bar her from returning, equally trivial to order her death. In fact, Musharraf is the one (still living) person I see as losing the most by the creation of an opposition martyr, as well as the death of another powerful figure who doesn't want the country controlled by Islamic fundamentalists. But the fact remains that Pakistan is a dangerous place, not least due to fundamentalist Moslems threatened by the idea of women (or friends of the West) in power. It doesn't exactly help the US, either, as she wasn't any fonder of the extremists than we are, nor were they any fonder of her. Under the "Who Benefits?" question, I'd have to say those Islamic fundamentalists will benefit more than anyone else. Furthermore, the modus operandi is certainly consistent (shot at close range by an assailant who then blew up himself plus about 20 others).

Michelle Malkin has a link to Al Qaeda claiming credit. I was thinking just the other day that if I was Osama, I'd want to be quiet until after the election in the hopes that the Short Attention Span Theater that is US politics will give him a president who has political capital invested in this whole war thing going away. It appears he's gone one better; killing off allies and potential allies who fly under the American Political Radar. Strategic thinking. This whole war thing isn't over yet, folks. Not even close to over. More decades of kicking the can down the road aren't going to help.

The US is investigating the claim.

Jokster Who Died in October at 88 'Sends' 34 Friends Holiday Greetings From Afterlife

I do have a couple of new articles set up and ready to go for the next couple of days, so you might actually want to check back. I won't be in the office tomorrow, though. I'm taking off for my wife's birthday.