Monday digest

- The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, has died after getting attacked by a stingray.

My buddy Dave over at the Parking Lot will strenuously disagree with me on this point, but I have to ask: why the massive outpouring of grief when risk-taking celebs like Irwin, Dale Earnhardt and and others are killed while doing things that otherwise normal people would never think to even attempt?

- This commentator is drinking the Kool-Aid. While you can't argue with positive economic growth, he doesn't mention personal debt loads, nor does he mention the housing bubble, which is eventually going to burst, or the need to realistically deal with entitlements.

- Another look back at the lessons of Katrina, here.

- Fareed Zakaria compares Iran's Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to Huey Long and concludes that in the grand scheme of things, he's pretty small-time. However, that doesn't take away from the fact that international institutions like the UN, in a characteristically limp performance, are not providing the teeth which would rein Iran's burgeoning nuke program in. While so many liberals want to see checks put on American power, the case of Iran demonstrates that often times, the White House has no choice but to go it alone because of bureaucratic ineptness, indecision and an unwillingness to match rhetoric with consequences.

- Finally, a word from Kurt Angle on his recent release from the WWE, here.