Daily reads

Here's the early reading list for your lunch, coffee break, siesta, etc.

First, Peggy Noonan discusses the fall of the network news empire through the prism of Dan Rather's self-immolation last September. Meanwhile Cathy Seipp wonders why the h--l Bill O'Reilly is defending droopy Dan.

Next, read Michael Ledeen's piece on the death of the Left. I don't quite buy it because the nuttiest theories of the Left have gained entirely too much of a foothold in everyday discussion. See this column from Anne Applebaum on that issue.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine one study noted that Viktor Yanukovych, the "winner" of the presidential election, spent almost as much money on his presidential campaign as President Bush ($600M vs. $670M). Ukraine's per capita GDP is about 1/3 the US level and it has 48,000,000 people compared to 275,000,000+. Thus the oil oligarchs in the Ukraine threw their financial weight behind their puppet. (I'll wait for the dopey parallels in the comments from any left-wing readers). And from the "why hide who's really in charge" file, outgoing Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma flew to Moscow to meet with Putin -- kind of like the ringwraiths returning to Mordor for orders.

And here is an interesting Ukraine blog: Orange Ukraine. This is an important situation, stay informed.