Hello. It's Michael Stickings from The Reaction with my last round-up of the week. Thank you all for your comments, tips, and support. It's been a genuine pleasure to be here. Come on over and check us out, with many, many new posts every day -- bookmark us, blogroll us, and join in the conversation.

But now, the links:

The Left Coaster's Steve Soto notes that the Iraqis are cutting deals with the Iranians and the Chinese. (Heckuva job, Dubya!)

Batocchio (a.k.a., the Vagabond Scholar) recaps the sliming of Graeme Frost. Booman provides an invaluable post on the FISA debate. (See also SteveAudio and If I Ran the Zoo on the heroic Sen. Dodd.)

Robert Stein connects the dots and wonders if Huckabee is another Jimmy Carter. (Eh?)

Ed Brayton notes that Republicans are battling for the "anti-gay nut" vote. Romney may have been inconsistent throughout his career, but he sure likes the bigots now.

PZ Myers looks at how to teach science, and specifically evolution. Which is important, given the disturbingly influential anti-science bias of the reality haters on the right.

Reaction co-blogger Edward Copeland takes aim at Hillary and her mysterious donors. Fellow co-blogger Matthew Shugart, one of the world's leading experts on elections and electoral reform, examines the history and purpose of the presidential veto in the wake of Bush's S-CHIP injustice.

And head on over to State of the Day, the homeblog of my assistant editor, Creature.

Take care, everyone. See you around. And go Steelers! -- MJWS