The Congressional Quarterly's Jeff Stein on why stories about the horrific failures of the Bush administration on Iraq deserve to be told, but why the public might be tuning out.

From the Boston Globe via truthout: GOP Rivals Embrace Unproven Iraq-9/11 Tie

In defending the Iraq war, leading Republican presidential contenders are increasingly echoing words and phrases used by President Bush in the run-up to the war that reinforce the misleading impression that Iraq was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Today is Memorial Day in the United States, a day to honour U.S. military personnel who died in service.

The NYT's David Carr attacks one particularly Catch-22-esque policy for embedded reporters, the number of whom has fallen from 126 to 92 in the past month, and how it constrains coverage of soldiers in Iraq.

The NYT reports that many Muslim militants are taking the skills learned in fighting the Iraq insurgency and using them to conduct terror operations in neighbouring countries and beyond.

From AP via CTV.ca:

A British Broadcasting Corp. journalist kidnapped in Gaza is alive and well and could soon be released, a Palestinian government spokesman said.

Speaking at a literary festival in Wales Saturday, Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said he knew the "small group" holding Alan Johnston and was personally involved in negotiations to free him.

"I know that he is well and healthy, and in a good situation. No one has tried to harm him or hurt him," Hamad said.

Hamad said he hoped efforts to release Johnston would bear fruit "very, very soon."

The BBC story had this cautionary note:

... There has been virtually no official news about Mr Johnston since his disappearance, despite Palestinian officials speaking frequently of prospects for his release.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez took some payback at midnight on Sunday when he allowed the liked of Radio Caracas TV to expire, putting the opposition TV station off the air and replacing it with a public service station.

RCTV supported the coup that temporarily overthrew him in 2002.

I saw the documentary Revolucion!?, by Montreal director Charles Gervais, on Friday.

The Globe gave it 3.5 stars. Eye Weekly gave it three stars. The spoilsports at Now gave it two stars, and called it a mighty dull film.

I concur with Now.