Read The Mudville Gazette

For the next 7 days, at least until the Iraqi elections, any American interested in freedom should read The Mudville Gazette and forward links to everyone you know. If you have your own blog, link to that superb and important blog.

After you've read Mudville, read Friends of Democracy, a new Iraqi blog reporting "ground level election news" from that country. The site reports on a recently-issued Zarqawi tape:

"We have declared a bitter war against the principle of democracy and all those who seek to enact it," the speaker says. Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for many bombings and beheadings in Iraq. The US has put a $25m (£13m) reward on his head. Correspondents say the voice on the latest recording sounded similar to that on other messages attributed to the fugitive, whose group is linked to al-Qaeda. It attacked democracy as a springboard for "un-Islamic" practices, claiming that its emphasis on majority rule violated the principle that all laws must come from a divine source. "Candidates in elections are seeking to become demi-gods, while those who vote for them are infidels," it said.

So Zarqawi has come out against democracy, huh? Not a big surprise but it's nice to hear him come clean about it. What a cockroach.