National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley didn’t mince words in his Nov. 8 memo on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s failings, criticizing him for his political weaknesses. As many bloggers and pundits have noticed, some of the criticisms have a familiar ring.

Hadley on Maliki: “He impressed me as a leader who wanted to be strong but was having difficulty figuring out how to do so.”

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum on Bush: “[He was] a very unfamiliar type of heavyweight. Words often failed him, his memory sometimes betrayed him....”

Hadley on Maliki: “The information he receives is undoubtedly skewed by his small circle of Dawa advisers, coloring his actions and interpretation of reality.”

Former CIA analyst Paul Pillar: “The Bush administration deviated from the professional standard not only in using policy to drive intelligence, but also in aggressively using intelligence to win public support for its decision to go to war. This meant selectively adducing data--'cherry-picking'--rather than using the intelligence community’s own analytic judgments.”

Hadley on Maliki: “[Maliki should] Shake up his cabinet by appointing nonsectarian, capable technocrats in key service (and security) ministries.”

Veteran White House journalist Helen Thomas: “It’s time for President Bush to shake up his Cabinet, starting with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and some of his cohorts at the Pentagon who have made so many costly mistakes.”

Hadley on Maliki: “He may simply not have the political or security capabilities to take such steps.”

Former Clinton chief of staff Leon Panetta: “He has really burned up whatever mandate he had from that last election.”

The major record companies and the music publishers have begun an internecine battle over royalties that could determine whether the industry can take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the Internet and new technology. Read more about it on the Bit Player blog.

A few years ago, I counted the billboards I passed going to work in the morning. I counted them facing either direction, on either side of Sunset Boulevard. There were 36. My commute is four miles long.

The L.A. City Council and City Attorney seem exhausted by their fight with the billboard companies, which sue and appeal, sue and appeal, to keep reasonable laws at bay as long as possible. Meanwhile, those companies rake in about $2 billion a year. And they are desparate to hold on to this income. This from an AP business story on Oct. 31, for instance (italics mine):

Clear Channel Communications Inc., which is examining whether to sell all or parts of itself, said Monday that third-quarter earnings fell 9.5%, but the largest operator of radio stations in the country eked out higher-than-expected profit and revenue....

Revenue from Clear Channel Outdoor, which sells advertising on billboards and at bus stops, rose 8% from a year earlier. Outdoor revenue grew 12% in the company's Americas segment.

So of course Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor sue. They have nothing to lose, and money to gain each year they put off regulation. While the Regency settlement, already given final approval, seems like small potatoes it's particularly distateful. That company's shady practices were the subject of a 5,000-word investigative story in Oct. 2005 by Times' staffer Ted Rohrlich. They were also suspected poisoning trees that blocked views of their billboards near LAX.

But as we all learned this week in the drama-laced Tennie Pierce case, the mayor can in fact veto such settlements. So I took some hope from a small detail deep in Rohrlich's piece. Back in 2001, when Regency was doling out free billboard space to political candidates, it gave $260,000-worth to James Hahn -- who was running against now-mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Mr. Mayor: payback time?

Over in the news pages, Capitol Journal columnist George Skelton today pours cold Sierra runoff on the environmentalist dream of tearing down the Toulumne River's O'Shaughnessy Dam so that Hetch Hetchy Valley near Yosemite can be restored to its original meadow splendor, memorably described by naturalist hero John Muir as "one of nature's rarest and most precious mountain temples." (Here's a useful before-and-after comparison; also, see this Travel section piece from a half-year ago, and another from the short-lived Outdoors section.)

Skelton's takes mirrors that of our Editorial Board, which stated this July (sorry, no link):

[I]t's not at all clear that dismantling the dam and restoring the valley is the right thing to do now. [...]

[R]estoring the valley would be hellishly expensive -- $3 billion to $10 billion. [...]

Restoring Hetch Hetchy is a beautiful environmental dream. But it does not belong on anyone's short list of priority projects.

Any dams closer to home on the demolition list? Why, yes -- the silt-packed Matilija Dam, keeping the Ventura River at bay. According to a recent VC Reporter article,

A $130 million project to topple the massive Matilija Dam would be well underway if Ventura County, state agencies and local organizations could provide the local $52 million portion of the project's whopping price tag.

And there's the Malibu Creek's Rindge Dam. All of which is an elaborate excuse to link to still more river-related Christmas books:

Dam Politics: Restoring America's Rivers, by William R. Lowry (April 2003).

Watershed: The Undamming of America, by Elizabeth Grossman (June 2002).

Silenced Rivers: The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams, by Patrick McCully (December 2001).

The Great Thirst: Californians and Water-A History, by Norris Hundley, Jr. (March 2001).

And, of course, the classic: Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, by Marc Reisner (August 1986).

Jesse Jackson wants people to hold their tongues. John Ridley gives him an earful.

Kevin E. Fry says the settlement in the Regency Outdoor Advertising suit is a sham that will leave the city with more billboards than ever.

"Dehumanized inmates and dehumanized jailers are a threat to everyone when they walk the streets."

"Shake up the silly behavior in the Fire Department and fire some pranksters."

"Now I'm through in one swallow."

"If the so-called Islamo-fascists want to cannibalize themselves in endless civil strife, well then, God is great, isn't he?"

"The fewer quitters we have around, the better."

"Nowhere is there precedent for requiring a copyright owner to forbid unauthorized use of a work in order to prevent such exploitation."

"Otherwise, this will be a case of fool me twice, shame on me."

What does it all mean? What else are people saying? Find out in Letters.

Get out of Harman's way: Pelosi avoided the wrong decision but has yet to make the right one on a crucial committee appointment.

LAFD goes to the dogs: If the Tennie Pierce case goes to court, it could be good for the city -- but not because it will be cheap.

Amen to fighting AIDS: Bush and the evangelical movement have done more than they get credit for in efforts to stem the disease.

Some of us just attended a meeting about what newspapers can do with websites, at which we were made aware of a nifty page worth bookmarking -- the Washington Post's Faces of the Fallen: Iraq and Afghanistan Casualties (they actually mean "fatalities"), where you can read mini-bios on all 3,203 Americans killed, break down the fallen by state, see a city-by-city breakdown among the 329 from California or the seven from Long Beach; or just focus on Pfc. George Torres.

What does this newspaper do? There's a useful collection of stories and special packages over at latimes.com/iraq, and a much cruder (though constantly updated) PDF file of fatalaties.

Jonah Goldberg says World War II/Iraq comparisons are stupid.