When we last discussed the topic of Iraq's alleged relationship with al-Qaeda, my main goal was to have a little fun at Stephen Hayes' expense. The recent release of the 9-11 Commission's report on the subject, however, has returned the topic to the front burner of the public discourse. The result has been to lead the media into a semantic quagmire: Are "connections" the same as "collaboration?" What about "control?" It's reminiscent of similar debates as to whether the administration ever called the Iraqi threat "imminent" or merely "immediate."

Move to Washington, D.C., and you'll meet a lot of people who work for the government. Consequently, many of my recently made friends lucked into a day off on Friday, as the Republican Party proclaimed that federal employees throughout the land would have a shorter week in order to facilitate the celebration of the life and legacy of Ronald Reagan. Given that Reagan is almost surely more popular among the public at large than among the overwhelmingly Democratic career public servants whose work he never missed an opportunity to denigrate, it's a somewhat odd choice -- a reflection, perhaps, of a deep-seated conservative belief that it doesn't really matter whether or not the work of the government gets done.