Items of note from the AJC

Several stories of interest in this morning's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

1. Another mother speaks out against the war--another heartbreaking personal story about a courageous woman named Mary Ann MacCombie, who is speaking out in support of Cindy Sheehan. Of course, the president finally acknowledged Sheehan in Crawford but dismissed "his own military advisers' talk of a drawdown as rumors and speculation."
   
   
2. Meanwhile, the administration and the VA are trying to find ways to further cut back health benefits for veterans... they don't believe all those claims of post-traumatic stress disorder.
   
   
3. Jack Abramoff is indicted on fraud charges, but these are for allegations separate from Tom Delay and Ralph Reed.
   
   
4. On the editorial pages, Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer argues that the so-called "ripple effect" the Neo-Cons said would occur through the Middle East with Saddam's ouster has boomeranged, and the situation is getting even more critical with Iran going back to developing nuclear programs.
   
   
5. The lead editorial is a terrifying piece on an energy crisis simulation game gone horribly awry--a very real possibility the administration is ignoring even while signing its energy bill into law.
   
   
6. And yesterday we pointed, here and at DailyKos, to the execrable op-ed piece by rightwing hack nutjob Jimmy W. Hall, a piece that elicited 50 letters yesterday morning, all opposed to his views, according to an editor's note. Here are the four letters they printed in response.