Fans of NBC’s Richard Engel will probably be familiar with the story of how Engel arrived in Iraq before the 2003 invasion under the guise of a ‘human shield.’ Last night, as part of MSNBC’s coverage of the departing combat troops from Iraq, Engel told it again to Rachel Maddow. It’s worth a listen.

The Shenandoah Valley Tea Party Patriots are now selling a deck of playing cards modeled after the Iraq War Most Wanted deck that was issued to soldiers to help them identify and capture members of Saddam Hussein‘s government. The Tea Party deck, however, features members of the US Congress whom they identify as part of the “progressive cancer,” along with some creepy marching orders. However, to use another Iraq War metaphor, it’s beginning to look like the Tea Party is in its last throes.

Hmm. Notice something missing? A close look reveals most major media outlets have neglected to mention that today is the 7th anniversary of the Iraq War. Not a single major op-ed to be found. Nor a trending Twitter hashtag. It’s almost as though where the media is concerned the Iraq War didn’t happen.

President Obama has decided to rename the war in Iraq. A war by any other name is just as crappy? Also, it looks like the folks in charge of naming our new, old, war maybe forgot to use the Google. The memo announcing the change after the jump.

Who: Garry Trudeau, David Levinthal, David Stanford, and Owen Powell. Moderated by Roger Rosenblatt What: Politics and Current Events Lecture Series: War in Afghanistan and Iraq Where: The 92nd St. Y When: January 26, 2010 Thumbs: Up, but could have been Upper

Jesse Ventura‘s promotional blitz for his new truTV show Conspiracy Theory has been surprisingly political. On last night’s Joy Behar Show, he touched a nerve when he bluntly asked if President Obama “really run[s] the country” given his escalating commitments in Afghanistan. He also stormed out of The Opie and Anthony Show after being heckled by comedian (?) Jim Norton over his antiwar stance; both videos after the jump.

For anyone whose political identity was formed during the poison years bracketed by Walter Cronkite‘s tenure as CBS evening anchor, the avuncular newsman was like the kindly, reassuring narrator of a political horror story.

If, as CBS News president Sean McManus mourns, that Cronkite’s status “will never be duplicated again,” it’s not only due to the modern fragmentation of the news audience — it’s also because, ideally, the country will never again go through such an extended trainwreck.