Hump Day Miscellany

• An astute NPR commentator today pointed out that Joe Lieberman’s defeat in Connecticut’s Democratic primary yesterday reflects the fact that while we live within a two-party system, three schools of thought actually reign large in America’s current political landscape: the radical-leftist Dems, the radical-rightist Reps, and that of the rest of us, the Forgotten Middle. He suggested it might be time for a new party: the McCain-Lieberman party. I couldn't agree more.

• TIME Magazine’s cover story this week is a frighteningly vivid - albeit sobering - first-person account of life in Baghdad, as told by Indian journalist Aparism Ghosh.

• Following up on one of the posted pieces from yesterday, there is this priceless quote from CNN’s Anderson Cooper re: Hizballah’s manipulation of news coverage in Lebanon:

  They had six ambulances lined up in a row and said, OK, you know, they brought reporters there, they said you can talk to the ambulance drivers. And then one by one, they told the ambulances to turn on their sirens and to zoom off, and people taking that picture would be reporting, I guess, the idea that these ambulances were zooming off to treat civilian casualties, when in fact, these ambulances were literally going back and forth down the street just for people to take pictures of them.