Here's what I thought you'd like to hear about today:

1. Welcome now Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times, columnist there


2. What the NSA Doesn't Do, Explained


3. Let me make it clear, I'm a crazy person

Welcome now Joel Stein of the Los Angeles Times, columnist there

Many of you will know Joel Stein, from his work as resident idiot at the New Yorker and the Los Angeles Times. As Sister Toldjah noted:

Joel Stein writes in today's LATimes that he does not support the troops, and urges those who are against this war to follow his lead. Oftentimes you wonder how hardcore anti-war leftists (like Code Pink types) can say they "support the troops" yet at the same time say they "hate the war." Stein, with refreshing - even if repugnant - candor, explains that they can't - and shouldn't:

I DON'T SUPPORT our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on.

I'm sure I'd like the troops. They seem gutsy, young and up for anything. If you're wandering into a recruiter's office and signing up for eight years of unknown danger, I want to hang with you in Vegas.

And I've got no problem with other people - the ones who were for the Iraq war - supporting the troops. If you think invading Iraq was a good idea, then by all means, support away. Load up on those patriotic magnets and bracelets and other trinkets the Chinese are making money off of.

But I'm not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken - and they're wussy by definition. It's as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward.

Blindly lending support to our soldiers, I fear, will keep them overseas longer by giving soft acquiescence to the hawks who sent them there - and who might one day want to send them somewhere else. Trust me, a guy who thought 50.7% was a mandate isn't going to pick up on the subtleties of a parade for just service in an unjust war. He's going to be looking for funnel cake.

Play clip.

That has to be the most squirmy interview I have ever heard. Magnificent radio.

What the NSA Doesn't Do, Explained

At the National Press club Monday, General Michael V. Hayden, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, talked about what the intelligence community and the NSA are doing to protect the country. Thanks to C-SPAN for the audio. Here is a clip from his introduction, explaining some of what they do.

Play clip.

Later on he describes what the program is not, which is important given all the depictions of the NSA surveillance as "domestic spying".

Play clip.

Powerline Blog noticed the speech, and had this to say:

In General Hayden's outstanding presentation at the National Press Club yesterday, I was most struck by his response to one of the questions regarding the putative harm wrought by the New York Times's disclosure of the NSA surveillance program applicable to al Qaeda-related communications. CNN reporter Justine Redman asked General Hayden how national security was harmed by the Times story revealing the program.

Play clip.

I for one am grateful that the program is in place, and can only hope that when more people get the details of the operation, it is allowed to continue, and we remain safer than we were before it began.

Let me make it clear, I'm a crazy person

I want to end on a lighter note, with a clip from last weekend's Saturday Night Live. Thanks to The Political Teen for capturing the video. It was a spoof of several Democrats, for a change, including Hillary, Ray Nagin, and Jesse Jackson.

Play clip.

That's it for now, podcatchers.