About a month ago, far-right activists pressed hard for Republican candidates for President to take a position on the Law of the Sea. Most of them did. Senator John McCain was asked about it on a bloggers’ conference call.

This week, I attended two fascinating briefings on how the American public is thinking about the world. The first was a press conference to unveil research sponsored by the UN Foundation and the second was a small working group organized by the Stanley Foundation.

While Frank Gaffney wrote his first column without any reference to the Law of the Sea in nearly half a year, he probably helped pen the lead editorial on the page opposite his column in the Washington Times. The Times makes two main claims against the treaty, neither of which has any legs.

Joshua Micah Marshall and I teamed up together a couple years ago and had a co-branded “Bolton Watch” website during much of the battle over John Bolton’s failed confirmation bid to serve as Ambassador of the United States to the United Nations. We were among those who helped beat Bolton then.

Russell and Warren sent this from Carson City, Nevada. They are big-time Hillary Clinton supporters and donors (she should do one of her lunches with them) — and they snapped this picture of a bobcat in their front yard.

This article is a must-read according to my friend Nir Rosen on what illusory American success in Iraq is based on. I find these quotes from the piece illuminating: “The Americans lost hope with an Iraqi government that is both sectarian and dominated by militias, so they are paying for locals to fight al-Qaida.

This was a cool bunch of bloggers and political commentators I was hanging out with for a too quick day earlier this year at YearlyKos. In the pic are Pam Spaulding, Joe Sudbay, Chris Johnson, Michael Rogers (yes, the Mike Rogers of Larry “Wide Stance” Craig fame) Michelangelo Signorile, and Steve Clemons.

This was a nice surprise to wake up to. Eli Lake and I squared off a bit over Pakistan and US foreign policy in general on Robert Wright‘s fascinating medium, BloggingHeadsTV. The New York Times front-paged part of our exchange on its opinion page. Our full discussion is here.

In the last few days, I have posted a lot about Senator Chuck Hagel and his effort to galvanize opinion against reckless, shoot-from-the-hip comments made by President Bush and others about Iran and other foreign policy problems. Tonight, Hagel will appear on Bloomberg’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt.

I have no interest in paying $27 for John Bolton’s Surrender is Not an Option, even if he were willing to sign it from me. But I have been enjoying recent reviews of the book. Mark Goldberg’s take, written for the American Prospect, is especially sharp.