TNR.commentary.

PHYSICISTS; DARK energy; FORCE & energy; UNITED States presidential elections; SAME-sex marriage laws; CONSTITUTIONAL amendments; BUSH, George W. (George Walker), 1946-; IRAQI politics & government, 1991-2003; REPRESENTATIVE government; SISTANI, Ali al-Husayni, 1930-

IRAQReport Available; UNITED StatesReport Available

This section presents excerpts from Web logs posted on the TNR.com Web site. Gregg Easterbrook: Last week, "The New York Times" declared that the universe could be torn out of existence in an ultimate cataclysm in as little as "a few billion years." What's at work here? It's "dark energy," the number-one mystery for astrophysicists and, increasingly, the story that has science writers running in circles. Ryan Lizza: Is President Bush's gay marriage amendment a wedge issue? Democrats seem to think so. John Kerry says Bush can't talk about jobs, health care, or foreign policy, "so he is looking for a wedge issue to divide the American people." A wedge issue is one that divides the opposition and unites one's own supporters. But the largest and most recent poll on gay marriage, from the Annenberg Public Policy Center, finds that, far from being a brilliant wedge issue, Americans oppose the Bush amendment 48 to 41 percent. Once the debate is changed from legalizing gay marriage to fiddling with the Constitution to ban gay marriage, there is no obvious Republican advantage. Spencer Ackerman: This week, the Iraqi Governing Council decided not to negotiate the precursor to a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the deal the United States makes with sovereign governments allowing us to station our troops on their soil. The agreement can't be allowed to fall by the wayside. A SOFA secures freedom of action for American soldiers--particularly in cases where locals want to see them punished according to local law: if, say, they accidentally kill Iraqi civilians.