Check out John Hinderaker's post on Religion and the Democrats over at Power Line. He looks at the new Pew Research Center survey.

What passes for reporting from Iraq in most of our media has been nothing but a listing of our dead and wounded with no context about what our soldiers are doing and why. There is an old saying that the slickest way to lie is to tell just enough of the truth then shut up.

I you would like to read an example of real reporting from someone who is embeded with a group of our soldiers in a real hot-spot in Iraq, read Michael Yon's " Gates of Fire" report on his blog "Michael Yon : On Line Magazine". What makes his work all the more amazing is that it is totally self funded via donations from folk who read his blog. Read his report, and if it moves you consider making a donation.

Hugh Hewitt has a list of bloggers who have written about this report and a link to follow-up from BlackFive about the wounded men who are central to Michael's report.

Hugh Hewitt linked to a lengthy article in Foreign Affairs about avian influenza. The bad news is that this variety of the Flu has at least in theory the possibility of killing a huge percentage of the world's population. So far only 109 are known to have contracted this Bird Flu, but of those 59 have died. The good news is that at this time there is no evidence that it can be transmitted from one human to another although there are unexplained cases.

In 1918 - 1919 the "Spanish" Flu killed 50 million people. Scientists say this Flu known as "H5N1 influenza" has the potential to be much worse than the "Spanish" Flu. "In short, doom may loom. But note the "may." If the relentlessly evolving virus becomes capable of human-to-human transmission, develops a power of contagion typical of human influenzas, and maintains its extraordinary virulence, humanity could well face a pandemic unlike any ever witnessed. Or nothing at all could happen. Scientists cannot predict with certainty what this H5N1 influenza will do."

This has doctors concerned and uncertain what to recommend. Rushing out to "Do Something" such as the USA did in 1976 over fears of a possible flu epidemic that never happened would be a mistake. This lengthy article offers no real advice as to what the USA could do (other than give the doctors more money). It does make clear that if such an epidemic should happen you are better off living in the USA or another wealthy country as opposed to living in the third world where medical resources are far more limited.

So what should we as individuals do? First pray that the world will be spared this flu. Then do your best to stay healthy. Those with weakened systems will be more succeptible. Like for many other dangers in modern society, if you can move out of a major city and into a smaller town, that may tilt the odds in your favor. Of course stay informed. Information is one of the most powerful things we have going for us. If this does turn into a real danger there will be lots of information available as to how to minimize the risks of catching this. Look for sources like Flu News Blog as well as more conventional sources like the Washington Post.

I have not commented about Cindy Sheehan, and in truth this is not about her but about how she has been exploited by those on the left fringe of the Democrat party. Start with the invaluable Mark Steyn's piece, and then follow up with this letter from a soldier in Iraq with his reaction after he read Mark's piece. Thanks to Power Line.

Katherine Kersten has written a moving story "In Iraq, Grace takes amazing hold" for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. HT to Scott Johnson of Power Line.

I am not a movie goer. Typically my wife manages to drag me to one or two movies a year. However, after reading Scott Johnson's "To Bataan and Back" I think I will have to drag her to a movie! Scott is one of the three lawyers who run the Power Line blog, but this review was published by The Weekly Standard.

Michael J. Totten over at Tech Central Station has one of the best analysis I have seen of Islamic terror motivations. Seems to me most folk commenting on this issue start from the "why do they hate us?" point of view and develop their theories from that starting point. Totten has a more balanced view based on what I know about Islam (admittedly not a lot). Give him a read.