The Rundown 9/12/07

General Petraeus has a boss, CENTCOM Commander Admiral William Fallon, and he told his subordinate in March that, “[Petraeus, you’re] an ass-kissing little chickenshit. I hate people like that.” ~~ Two suicide bombings that killed (at least) 50 people in Algeria last weekend were carried out by the North Africa wing of al-Qaeda. ~~ Senator Obama (campaign speech): “I opposed this war from the beginning. I opposed the war in 2002. I opposed it in 2003. I opposed it in 2004. I opposed it in 2005. I opposed it in 2006. I introduced a plan in January to remove all of our combat brigades by next March. And I am here to say that we have to begin to end this war now.” ~~ Since 2001, health insurance premiums for US families are up 78%. ~~ In pill-popping news, a study based on data from a National Center for Health Statistics survey discovered that, “the number of American children and adolescents treated for bipolar disorder increased 4000% from 1994-2003.” ~~ “The Department of Justice’s Voting Section is pressuring 10 states to purge voter rolls before the 2008 election based on statistics that former Voting Section attorneys and other experts say are flawed and do not confirm that those states have more voter registrations than eligible voters, as the department alleges.” ~~ A study showed that in 38 states, “conservative columns reach more readers in total than progressive columns.” ~~ And finally, for all those folks who like to complain about ‘liberal academia’ – Erwin Chemerinsky (Legal Affairs magazine named him one of the ‘top 20 legal thinkers in America’ in 2005), hired as the dean of a new law school at the University of California at Irvine a week ago, and has now been fired by the chancellor because, “he had not been aware of how Chemerinsky’s political views would make him a target for criticism from conservatives”; Chemerinsky replies, “I’m angry because I don’t believe anyone liberal or conservative should be denied a position like this because of political views.”