Today's must read: analysis of the Texas Republican party platform and the state of the party in charge of this country. (Courtesy Aztec.)

Good gracious. The new voting machines aren't as reliable as they want you to believe. At *all*. (Courtesy Sekhmet.)

OTHER NEWS:
* Is Halliburton gouging the government on Iraqi fuel prices?
* Why Guantanamo should be treated as a prison camp.
* Bush's fundraising makes campaign finance reform a joke.
* More on Scalia removing himself from hearing the Pledge case.
* Thomas Friedman: "But I wish we had said to the V.P.: If you're going to give a major speech on Iraq to an audience limited to your own supporters and not allow any questions, that's not news - that's an advertisement, and you should buy an ad on the Op-Ed page."
* Maureen Dowd, on how the president's pre-war spin isn't having the same effect during the occupation, and the real filter between the president and the people.
* Howard Kurtz on different standards for Clinton and Schwarzenegger.
* China's plans in space. (Note: contains alien vegetables.)
* The future of text mining.
* TheStranger.com reviews Paul Krugman's new book. (Courtesy Operative X.)