Marty Kaplan posted the following at the HuffPo today:

This week, the Iraqi parliament “passed a binding resolution that will guarantee lawmakers an opportunity to block the extension of the U.N. mandate under which coalition troops now remain in Iraq when it comes up for renewal in December.” But if you didn’t read that in an exclusive alternet.org story by Raed Jarrar and Joshua Holland, or if you didn’t get an email from a friend (as I did) saying, Didja see this?, you might not know that a majority of Iraqi lawmakers has now fashioned a two-by-four to thump President Bush on the head and end our occupation. But no doubt you would know about the girl locked in a tiny room in Connecticut.

This week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s top political adviser said “he doubts the prime minister will be able to win passage of key legislation ardently sought by U.S. officials, including a law governing the oil industry and one that would allow more Sunni Arabs to gain government jobs.” But if you didn’t read that in Ned Parker’s exclusive story in the Los Angeles Times, you might not now know that even the Iraqi government has given up on meeting crucial political benchmarks by September. But surely you’d be thoroughly familiar with the anorexia plague stalking starlets.

And as for military benchmarks, a few days ago al-Maliki said, “I have to watch the army, because those still loyal to the previous regime may start planning coups. Those people don’t believe in democracy, and for that reason we are monitoring the status of the army very closely.” A military coup - by the army we’re training! But if you didn’t see Lara Logan’s exclusive interview with al-Maliki on the cellar-rated CBS Evening News, or watch the clip online, you wouldn’t know how close our “freedom agenda” is to becoming a Musharaf-style “democracy.” But you’d definitely know that the TB guy’s bride is a hottie.