Bloggers yawn at the news that the Shiite mosque in Samarra was bombed a second time. They also interpret Justice Samuel Alito's remark that free-speech restrictions are "dangerous" and are darkly amused by Iran's war on porn stars.

Mosque casualties: Askariya, a partially destroyed Shiite mosque in the Iraqi city of Samarra, * was bombed yesterday by Iraqi insurgents, causing the destruction of two of the building's minarets. Bloggers don't find the news particularly surprising.

Rick Moran at Right Wing Nut House shrugs: "It's happened before. The same appeals for calm are coming from the same people. And the same kind of retaliation can be expected in the coming days that occurred in February of 2006."

Bill Roggio at the Weekly Standard's World Standard is wary of the news: "Early reports of sectarian violence and of the destruction of mosques should be treated with caution. … Al Qaeda, Muqtada al Sadr, and other elements looking to incite further violence will manufacture incidents as part of their sophisticated Information Operations."

Liberal Stephen Leigh wonders if the United States is taking the right approach with Shiite insurgent Moqtada al-Sadr, who blamed America for the bombing: "[Are] we engaging in talks and negotiations with this man, who has ties to Iran, who has immense influence among the minority Shia population, and who might be able to help us curb the violence in this country if we can convince him that we're not Sunni-sympathetic lackeys ourselves. But I doubt we're doing that— we're too busy calling him the 'radical anti-American Muslim cleric.' He may be all of those things, but aren't we allowing him to remain so? Aren't we making him a self-fulfilling prophecy?"

Left-wing street journalist David Goodner at the Des Moines Register'sStraight Out of the Cornfield rebuffs attempts to blame Iran for the rising tide of violence, then pleads for peace: "The cycle of bloodshed will only stop when we put down our weapons, and offer our open hands instead."

In response to the news that U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces were behind the attack, Hubert Xapiens at Bad Thinking quips: "It's nice to know you can always trust people to do a good job."

Read more about the destruction of Samarra.

Speech, speech!: Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito may have hinted at the outcome of several impending Supreme Court cases, saying that he believes restrictions on free speech are "dangerous."

The liberal Dot Common Sense is conflicted about the possible implications of Alito's comment on two cases in particular: the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" student-speech suit and a challenge to the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance-reform legislation: "On the one hand his vote could pass the U.S. political system over to the highest bidders in a gutting of the intent of the McCain Feingold campaign finance reform law.  (I've never figured out why paid political advertisements which cost millions to produce and distribute qualify as 'free speech'.) One the other it might protect the free speech of the young man who displayed the sign 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus.'"