Thursday afternoon roundup

There is just so much good stuff out there today, I'm going to drop it all here:

- Last week, U. of Virginia poli sci prof Larry Sabato looked at the contenders for the GOP nomination in '08. He does the same with the Dems, here. To me, it's obviously Hillary's to lose.

- More on the Maryland Wal-Mart decision, which I blogged about earlier this week, here and here. To me, this issue is more about the state trying to find new revenue streams than it is about fairness for Wal-Mart employees.

- In an article titled "Radical Islam's Engine", Tom Bevan looks at the the role of technology, tolerance and money. I'd say that in many respects, terrorism makes the West a victim of its own success.

- Finally, Jack Kelly, in "The People's (Conditional) Right to Know", looks at how Italian authorities recently disrupted an Algerian terror cell who intended to attack US transportation and sporting facilities by listening in on their phone conversations.