Maliki says SOFA deadlines cannot be extended. Odierno says otherwise.

Marcy, who is a kind of West Coast Donna Edwards, founded the Los Angeles chapter of Progressive Democrats of America and built a good solid base from which to start her race against Harman.

Republicans don’t want to admit the real reason they all voted no on cramdown. They want to help banks screw the rest of us.

Yesterday was the 125th birthday of Harry Truman, and thoughts of him echo in my head today. He confronted many of the same issues we face now, and we could learn a lot from his approach to the world. Perfect? No. But he was generally headed in the right direction.

Here is a by-no-means complete list of stories active this week that were either broken by non-Trad-Media entities or whose best coverage has been by non-Trad-Media entities. Feel free to mention other big stories of this week that were owned by the dirty hippies of the online world.

— Via Dubhaltach at Oxdown, we hear about the stellar work of Evan Bright, a high school journalism student who has spent the past few weeks covering the trial of Steven Dale Green, the man who committed the atrocity in Haditha.

I can’t tell whether this WaPo piece is a thinly sourced Jane Harman hit on Pelosi. Or an incredibly crappy article asserting facts for which it has no proof.

Because sometimes? We all need a few smiles and giggles along the way. Here’s a little good news and a few giggles: The White House swingset isn’t just for the Obama girls. Great use of public space for public benefit. Bravo. And a lesson to all of us that we are all in this together.

Featuring music of The Asteroids Galaxy Tour and Donovan Frankenreiter.

Why are we still debating this? Why are we still having a “dialogue” over whether the methods used on at least three detainees was anything other than torture? Why are we still arguing about whether torture worked? Why are we more obsessed with “what Nancy knew and when did she know it” when we know without a doubt that Pelosi (briefed in or not) did not order the torture of supposedly high value detainees; torture was ordered by the very highest officials of the Bush-Cheney Administration.

Michael Steele’s hilarious descent into incomprehensible mad gibberish continues, as he attacks Obama for using the word “empathy” in reference to judicial nominees. This may be his finest work yet: