Enough!

This morning's heart-numbing news..... "Iraq Blast Kills 9 GIs, Injures 20 At Outpost." A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-rigged truck into a U.S. military outpost near Baqubah in one of the deadliest single ground attacks on U.S. forces since the start of the war in Iraq.

Where's the national day of mourning for these brave troops? Where's the Griever-in-Chief who showed up for a photo op after the Virginia Tech killings?

Is Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) going to commemorate the fallen by singing his "joke" about "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran"..... while supporting The Decider's "surge" and "stay the course" in Iraq's killing fields?

Enough. Enough heroes dying trying to rescue The Decider's sorry place in history. Enough power-driven politicians using the sacrifice of the fallen on the campaign trail.

Tell the Iraq government that we've done our part, now they must do theirs. By a date certain.

Bush's Dirty Tricks

The Bush administration's corporate-favoring policies have thrown us, and our planet, into the hazardous waste bin.

One example, "Philip Cooney, a former American Petroleum Institute lobbyist who became chief of staff for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, acknowledged in congressional testimony earlier this year that he changed three government reports to eliminate or downplay links between greenhouse gases and global warming. He left in 2005 to work for Exxon Mobil Corp."

And now, WaPo reports on more Bush administration "dirty tricks".... via the Food and Drug Administration that oversees the safety of our food supply.

We learn that we have knowingly being fed disease and bacteria as the FDA "has known about contamination problems" for years.

For example, the FDA knew about ConAgra Food's salmonella-laced peanut butter from their plant in Georgia, and the E. coli bacteria-infected leafy vegetables from California's Salinas Valley.

As Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) reminds us, "This administration does not like regulation," and an underfunded and ineffective FDA is the poisonous result.

We know that Bush can increase department size and budgets, just look at his Keystone-Kops Homeland Security behemoth.

But, as Robert E. Brackett the director of the FDA's food-safety arm admits, because of manpower and budget restraints they visit problem food plants about once a year and the rest less frequently.

And, that doesn't address at all the contamination in imported foods.

ICK!

At heart, the people who died or have been sickened by these deadly-dirty foods are more casualties of the Iraq war. Funds that could, and should, have been used to oversee the safety of our foods were diverted to Bush's budget-gutting pursuit of his fatal obsession.

I think the answer is.... we should bring back the medieval custom of royal tasters.

Only in reverse.

The electorate doesn't eat anything until King George has tried it.

Mothball the Electoral College

The current year-long and obscenely costly slog leading to the election of our president has become, well, ridiculous.

And that's just the primaries!

The subsequent bruising focused-saturation-advertising race between the nominated party candidates has become a statistician's joyride.... crunching the numbers to come up with the dozen or so "battleground" states, slotting states as red or blue.... with the end game being to secure the most Electoral College votes regardless of the national will of the majority of the voters.

This could change. And we have Maryland to thank for leading the way.

On April 10, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley signed into law a measure that would circumvent the Electoral College by awarding the state's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes nationwide.

It's called the National Popular Vote plan. The idea is that once enough states have signed on to put together a majority of electoral votes (270) those states agree that their electors will always vote for the winner of the popular vote in all fifty states plus D.C. This would make presidential elections truly national, every citizen's vote would count.

No need for the Supremes to swoop down to award the presidency.... neither nine citizens nor a select few states would have such power over the outcome of a presidential election.

Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000. Imagine if the National Popular Vote plan had been in effect...an intelligent response after 9/11.... the ability to stem the runaway spending of the GOP-led Congress.... an action plan to reduce man's contribution to global warming.

An experienced leader with management skills and a proven interest in the advancement of us all, not just corporations, would have been at the helm.

Contact your state representatives, your governor. Find out if they are considering the National Popular Vote plan. Encourage and educate.

It's our best hope for reining in this presidential race lunacy, and for electing a leader who can unite because he represents the will of the majority.

Hippity Hop to the Money Shop

After the Don Imus career-halting rapper-lingo jabs at the talented Rutgers women's basketball team, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) denounced his remarks as "small-minded bigotry and coarse sexism" that "showed a disregard for basic decency and were disrespectful and denigrating to African Americans and women everywhere."

Her opportunistic indignation came just days after she and hubba-Bill were thrown a fundraiser by none other than the well-heeled hip-hop producer Timbaland. The shindig at Timbaland's Pinecrest, Florida home raised a reported $800,000 for Hillary's presidential campaign.

Timbaland's rapping takes the form of, well.... violent, obscenity-laced lyrics about small-minded bigotry, coarse sexism and remarks denigrating to African Americans and women.... you can find a sample of them here.

As we have already learned, Hillary tilts at whatever windmill will gain her the presidency.

Hillary's disconnect between her public scolding and private actions remind me of the saying... "In some, the superficial runs very deep."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The Supremes, not satisfied with handing the 2000 election to the corporate bought-and-paid-for George W. Bush.... thus tarnishing their image as impartial, Constitution-protecting justices.... recently upheld a federal ban on what is misleadingly called "partial-birth" abortion.

Their decision tipped the balance-of-power over a woman's right to choose in consultation with her physician toward religiously-inspired government interference.

It's the first step in the drip, drip, drip erosion of women's protection under Roe vs Wade.

Bush: Step Back From the Abyss

Monday.... April 16, 2007.... is a date now burned into the collective memory of the country. The tragic mass murder of 32 innocents at Virginia Tech by a pathologically alienated student.

But, ponder this. That same day in Iraq, the U.S. military reported the deaths of seven more American service members. These brave souls are added to the 3,311 already lost. Are their lives any less precious, their sacrifice to be taken for granted?

While we as a nation were witnessing with helpless sorrow the heartbreaking loss of lives on the Virginia Tech campus, Iraq plunged even deeper into the abyss of instability, and our troops into deadlier danger.

"Cabinet ministers loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr quit the government Monday, severing the powerful Shiite religious leader from the U.S.-backed prime minister and raising fears al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia might again confront American troops."

And, a "major new threat is emerging in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq." The Iraqi Kurds want independence, neighboring Turks want to crush any movement in that direction.... an unstable powder keg. "As with so many aspects of Iraq, the Bush administration has wandered into a conflict that is encrusted with centuries of ethnic hatred."

Our brave occupying troops are bogged down in the midst of these ancient and deeply embedded tribal hatreds.... trying to referee a game bereft of rules or even humanity.

Bush and the Democratically-led Congress are fencing over a war-funding bill that calls for a timetable for withdrawal of our troops from this unwinnable conflict. Bush wants no such timetable. He says withdrawal would bring the terror to our shores, shores that have already been breached in so many ways by his careless, agenda-driven administration.

Bush, who attended the memorial service yesterday for the slain at Virginia Tech.... publicly abhorring the senseless loss of life there... is yet blind to the senseless loss of life in Iraq. He stubbornly opposes any measure that would start to pull our troops out of harms way, saying ironically about the legislative debate, "our troops should not be caught in the middle."

As a nation, we must do all we can to avoid the senseless loss of life.... whether at our schools and universities or in rashly-engaged wars.

Start bringing our troops home.

Mirroring Imus

Frank Rich, the brilliant New York Times columnist, hit the ball out of the park today with his editorial "Everybody Hates Don Imus." He catalogues the "astounding display of hypocrisy, sanctimony and self-congratulations from nearly every side of the debate, starting with Al Sharpton...."

For those of you who didn't hear the full context of the Imus remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team, just the selectively edited sound bites that the media focuses on, here they are.

The reaction to this "humor," ... really a dialog with Imus's evil twin and show producer Bernie.... was a resounding enough-is-enough.

While Imus defenders like to point out the many good works of Imus, that argument is like saying the penalty for the mass murder of 33 young men by John Wayne Gacy should be lessened because Gacy spent his spare time entertaining children by dressing up as a clown.

Imus was a mass slurmeister and is now paying the consequences. As Imus said of himself.... "I dished it out for a long time, and now it's my time to take it."

One of the most troubling aspects of the whole incident is the way it buried other news of import, like the devastating bombing in the Baghdad Green Zone.... glossed over in the media's rush to make ratings and the big $$$ on the Imus controversy.

Which brings us to the bottom line.... Why the Imus-type of entertainment?... Why the media capitalizing?... Why the downward-spiraling coarsening of America? Because, the public likes, tolerates or even demands it.

Until that image in my and your mirror says "Enough" nothing will change.

Bush Power Failures

The Decider derided Bill Clinton for his personal behavior, and promised to bring a new moral tone to the White House.

What a joke.

The latest chapter of the Bush administration's ongoing trashing of our country and government are the "lost" Karl Rove emails sought by Congress in various abuse of power investigations. We're talking about at least four years' worth of missing emails diverted to the Republican National Committee account that the White House has admitted was an improper use of a political email account to conduct official business.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, in an angry speech on the Senate floor accused the White House of lying about the matter..... "You can't erase emails, not today.... They've gone through too many servers. Those emails are there-- they just don't want to produce them. It's like the infamous 18-minute gap in the Nixon White House tapes."

Then there is the sorry spectacle of our Attorney General Alberto Gonzales rehearsing for weeks about his "story" before appearing before a congressional committee next Tuesday regarding firing of U.S. attorneys and other abuses of his office.

Even though going through mock testimony sessions lasting up to five hours a day, an insider admits that Gonzales still can't get his story straight. The White House is stonewalling demands by Congress for testimony and records related to the prosecutor firings. The Bushies are insisting that Rove and other aides be interviewed privately, without a transcript and not under oath. An aide to Gonzales has refused to testify, taking 5th amendment protection to avoid self-incrimination.

The latest revelation of a Bush insider's high moral tone comes by way former under secretary of defense, Paul Wolfowitz.... a manipulator of intelligence before the invasion of Iraq.

In 2005 he was awarded the presidency of the World Bank where Wolfowitz now admits he made a "mistake" by personally orchestrating a high-paying job and guaranteed promotions for a bank employee with whom he is romantically involved. His 200 staffers are so taken with him that they began hissing, booing and chanting "Resign.... Resign" when he attempted to address them after they angrily demanded his resignation.

This is our morally bankrupt Bush administration, hiding behind a smokescreen of religion and patriotism, mouthing a moralism totally disconnected from their scurrilous actions.

"What Doesn't Belong and Why?" Imus

The media-shaking potty-mouth comment about the Rutgers University's women basketball players by MSNBC morning talk show host, Don Imus, has brought "posturing" to a new high, or low. First and foremost is poser Imus himself.

Did he immediately recognize his repugnant remarks and apologize? No.

Although he did apologize a day or so later, he didn't go into full grovel until after the weekend following when the call to fire him had picked up volume and mass. What followed on his part was embarrassingly over-the-top self-flagellation in a last ditch effort to save his job... and his reputation.

Many didn't buy it, starting with MSNBC and NBC who dropped his show after initially slapping him on the wrist with a two-week suspension.... something he surely viewed as a welcome vacation and a chance to dodge the misogynist-racist spotlight.

MSNBC said the reason they were severing their relationship with Imus was because of the outcry from their employees and the requirement to uphold NBC's reputation.... more first-class posturing. Their "reputation" wasn't bothered after previous countless outrageous comments by Imus.

The tipping point for MSNBC surely was when Imus advertisers started deserting his showboat....Proctor & Gamble, Staples, General Motors, American Express, Ameritrade, GlaxoSmithKline, Sprint Nextel, Ditech.com, Bigelow Tea.... along with the outcry from fed-up folks everywhere.

Last, but almost worse, is the pose of outrage from black "leaders" who themselves have made nasty, racially charged comments like Jesse Jackson's referring to New York as "Hymietown," or really shameless, the profit-motive excusing of abhorrent rap lyrics as "art" by the black entertainment community.

I admit that I watched Imus in the morning, looking forward to his political interviews. But, with increasing regularity I had started switching away from his program as his brand of humor.... mainly sophomoric ridicule.... or his obsessive talking about himself, made his show increasingly crass or just plain boring.

I had cringed when he berated his wife during her live appearances with him, or when he continually referred to his sportscaster (and countless others) as "fat," dissing him ad nauseam because his new wife kept her name after their recent marriage, or, pulling his guests through knotholes when he felt moody. This isn't entertainment. This is a power-bloated bully.

So, now it's up to CBS, where Imus still has his morning radio show, to decide whether or not to continue enabling him to continue on the public airways after a two-week cooling-off period.

Imus prided himself on being powerful.... through his puzzling hold on his pet powerful whom he kept on a short leash.... and untouchable as he held court and passed judgments.

Now it's up to CBS to stop the "monitoring the situation closely" posturing. "What doesn't belong and why?" Imus!

Iowa Rocks

Iowa.... the place to know.... especially if you are a business or are career-minded.

In the newly issued Forbes special report "Best Places for Business and Careers," Des Moines ranked 4th for large metros, and Iowa City ranked 5th for smaller metros based on such factors as strong economic growth while keeping costs down, quality-of-life issues such as crime rates and cultural opportunities and the education of the workforce.

So, whether you're looking for one of the best arts festivals in the country, or a good corn dog at the Iowa State Fair, a high-tech job or a small business opportunity, a superior education or a place to apply it.... think Iowa.

Cheney's Big Lie

The definition of propaganda is: Information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

Today's headline reads: "Hussein's Prewar Ties To Al-Qaeda Discounted." That's right. Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence "all confirmed" that Saddam's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq according to a declassified Pentagon report released Thursday.

The report exposes our own intelligence community's prewar consensus that the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda had only limited contacts. It also discounts the persistent statements of the Bush administration that there was an Iraqi connection to 9/11.

It is mind-numbing then to learn that the same day that the report was released, shadow-King Cheney, "appearing on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, repeated his allegation that al-Qaeda was operating inside Iraq 'before we ever launched' the war, under the direction of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist killed last June."

Actually, Zarqawi did not align himself with al-Qaeda until early 2004, after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Cheney is still spewing propadanga.... distorting the facts, beating the war drums.... still controlling The Decider's Iraq war agenda.

Follow the Money

I'm feeling sucker-punched, and disappointed in presidential hopeful John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth. After their heart-touching press conference where they announced the return of Elizabeth's cancer, they had my admiration for their grit and devotion to a cause greater than themselves.

But since, they have solicited sympathy emails on John's campaign site, and then used the email addresses of the tens of thousands who responded for their hit-up-for-money list. Some say it's just a good fund-raising strategy.

I say it doesn't pass the smell test. Just makes them another of the shameless money-grubbing pack.... knocks them off of their new-found high ground.

And, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) finally released the numbers for his campaign's haul in the first quarter of the year..... $25 million. Obama is treading on the heels of Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) supposedly unmatchable money-raising machine that spewed-out a lower-than-expectations $26 million.

And, there is more bad news for Hillary behind the numbers. "Obama appears to have surpassed Clinton in several ways: He raised $6.9 million through donations over the Internet, more than the $4.2 million that Clinton raised online. He reported donations from 100,000 people, double the 50,000 people who gave to Clinton." (WaPo)

Suddenly, Hillary isn't looking like a shoo-in. This makes the Drudgies of the world most unhappy. They love giving her good headlines, almost fawning coverage trumpeting her "inevitability" as the Democratic presidential nominee. Because, she is the GOP's choice to run against.

There is no one who could rev up the base and bring out the GOP vote better than Hillary Rodham Clinton.

McCain Isn't Fooling Anyone

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) (in the baseball cap) ditched his Straight Talk Express for an armored Humvee with full military escort to take him to his "stroll" in Baghdad's central marketplace, called Shorja.

McCain, The Decider's biggest Iraq-war justifier and presidential wanna-be, later made the claim that, "The American people are not getting the full picture of what's happening here"..... there are "signs of progress."

McCain even went so far as to assert, "There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through - today."

Now anyone who has watched CNN's veteran Iraq war correspondent Michael Ware knows that Ware is the actual hands-down holder of the Straight Talk label. Upon hearing McCain's comment about his April Fool's Day visit to Baghdad, Ware snorted through his boxer's nose, "I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad"

Who to believe?

Well, how about the merchants in Baghdad's Shorja marketplace.

When they heard that McCain had said that the new security plan for the city was working, they were incredulous. "What are they talking about?" Ali Jassim Faiyad, the owner of an electrical appliances shop in the market said Monday, "The security procedures were abnormal!"

The delegation arrived at the market with more than 100 soldiers in armored Humvees.... the equivalent of an entire company.... and attack helicopters circled overhead while soldiers redirected traffic from the area and restricted access to the Americans.... sharpshooters were posted on the roofs.

"They paralyzed the market when they came," Faiyad said, "This was only for the media."

He added, "This will not change anything."

Maybe McCain's crooked talk about the actual deadly dangerous situation in Iraq is one reason why McCain posted a lackluster third-place finish in the GOP presidential campaign money-raising sweepstakes for the first three months of the year.... behind Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

So, what's a caught-in-Neverland-talking candidate to do?

Maybe McCain can pop out of his Straight Talk Express and yell "April Fool!"

But, it's probably too late for that now. Regardless of how he tries to sugarcoat the continued occupation of Iraq, McCain isn't fooling many into climbing aboard his backfiring campaign bus.

Bush: Get Out of the Way!

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and six other representatives visit Syria.... a trip the White House describes as a bad idea.... but Israel's Acting President Dalia Itzik, who is a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima party, said to her about her visit to Damascus "I believe in your worthy intentions."

A handful of Republican and Democratic lawmakers have already visited Syria and met President Bashar al-Assad in December after the bipartisan Iraq Study Group recommended a stepped-up diplomatic effort involving Syria and Iran to help calm the violence in Iraq. And, three Republican congressmen, Frank Wolf (VA), Joe Pitts (PA) and Robert Aderholt (AL), were in Syria on Sunday where they met with Assad.

Pelosi promised Israel she would raise with Assad the issue of three captive Israeli soldiers, two held by Lebanon's Hezbollah group and one by Palestinian militants. She is also conveying that "Israel is willing to talk if they [Syria] would openly take steps to stop supporting terrorism," Olmer's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin said.

In an hour-long meeting, Olmert and Pelosi's delegation talked "extensively" about a Saudi peace plan, dormant since 2002 and relaunched last week at the Arab League summit by Saudi's King Abdullah. Olmert has welcomed the plan, which calls for the recognition by all Arab states of Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from territories captured in 1967.

Accompanying Pelosi on her second trip to the Middle East since assuming the speakership in January are Democratic Representatives Keith Ellison (MN), Henry Waxman (CA), Tom Lantos (CA), Louise Slaughter (NY), Nick Rahall (WV) and Republican David Hobson (OH). This trip also includes stops in the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

Olmert has invited Arab leaders to a regional peace conference for an exchange of views about solving the Mideast conflict.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and said the European Union will try to help resolve the conflicts with Israel, stating she believes, "time is of the essence."

Unsubstantiated reports, fueled by Russian intelligence, predict an attack on Iran in early April by U.S. forces.... Operation Bite. These reports are believable mainly because The Decider has proven that he knows only one way to proceed in international affairs, by the use of force.

It's heartening that our lawmakers are aggressively pursuing the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group. As for The Decider.... get out of the way!

Ill Winds....

When a country "legalizes" and codifies the use of torture, the rule-of-law flies out the window along with a country's moral bearings.

We have Attorney General Gonzales to thank for this abomination, he wrote the torture guidelines memo for The Decider.

Because of these expanded-use of torture guidelines, confessions can reasonably be denied, as in the case of an al-Qaeda "Detainee Alleges Abuse in CIA Prison."

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who was in CIA custody for more than four years, alleged before a military tribunal on March 14 that his American captors tortured him into making false confessions about terrorist attacks in the Middle East.

The torture of detainees, aside from being despicable morally, not only makes such confessions suspect, it opens the door for similar harsh treatment of our, and our allies, captured soldiers.

The "confessions" of the 15 British sailors currently being held by Iran is a sad case in point. The confessions are not believable, but the worry is, how were they obtained. And, will they be used against them in a show trial.

In the continuing standoff, Iran is turning up the heat after initially promising to release the lone female captive and then reneging on that promise.... "Iranian Official: Sailors May Be Tried."

It is the agenda of President Bush that has brought us to this tit-for-tat pass .... by using the law as a political tool. Attorney General Gonzales is the instrument this administration uses to pervert the law and moral conduct to fit their agenda..... and, it's more than just the torture memo.

Just ask the 8 U.S. Attorneys who were fired for political reasons, many during investigations of which the White House disapproved.

Just ask the two border patrol agents who are facing long prison terms for going after a drug smuggler while that drug smuggler not only received the protection of our law, but goes free.

Bush's Attorney General excuses lawbreaking, drug-pushing and violent Latino illegal immigrant gangs as "individuals who have run into a spell of tough luck." (CNN)

Actually, is our country's legal system and moral code that have run into a spell of tough luck.... a fetid gale of corruption that blew in with the Bush administration and lay waste to our moral authority. The world will reap the whirlwind.

Abdullah Takes Aim

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has loosed an arrow at The Decider and his administration's adventures in the Middle East.... "Saudis Publicly Get Tough With U.S."

In a speech Wednesday before a summit of the Arab League, Abdullah targeted the "illegitimate foreign occupation" of Iraq by the U.S. and called for a lifting of the "unjust embargo imposed on the people of Palestine" that has been led by the Bush administration.

And, Saudi officials have labeled Secretary of State Rice's proposed coalition of "moderate" Arab states to counter "extremists" as silly.

Abdullah with this break with the White House is saying out loud, The Decider and Rice the Unready don't know what they are doing.... smashing their way through the international china shop in their pursuit of some power-grabbing agenda.

The American occupation of Iraq has fostered the rise of Iran and upset the traditional Sunni-Shiite balance in the region. The Saudis are worried about Iran.

Abdullah and the Arab League want an end to our occupation of Iraq. The majority Democratic Congress and citizens of the United States want an end to the occupation.

An arrogant Bush will have none of it. To our continuing great cost.

The shaft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.
Aesop (620BC - 560BC)

Are You My Friend?

As Yogi would say, it feels like "deja vu all over again"..... "Britain Takes Case Against Iran to U.N."

Yes, following the crooked script for disaster in Iraq, the Brits have asked the U.N. Security Council for action. They want them to "deplore" Tehran's seizure and "detention" of 15 Royal Navy sailors and marines, demanding their immediate release.

This declaration of condemnation is being resisted. The dispute is over whether the Brits were operating in Iraqi or Iranian waters.... Russia and others aren't taking the Brits "proof" that they weren't operating in Iranian waters. Iran offers "proof" that they were.

Iran says the whole thing can be resolved if Britain admits it made a "mistake" and crossed into their waters. They also suggest that without such an admission, they might have to take legal action, suggesting they might put the Brit captives on trial.

Meanwhile, the buzz in Russia and much of Europe is that Bush and Blair are primed for confrontation with Iran. Perhaps coincidentally, today our head of national counterintelligence, Joe Brenner, warns that Moscow is intent on gaining insights into "the upper echelon of U. S. decision-making.... back to Cold War levels in their efforts against the United States."

Makes you wonder if Russia isn't on target about the our military buildup on the Iran border since our own counterintelligence is saying Moscow's intelligence is pretty good, a Cold-War level threat.

All of this saber rattling comes at a time when The Decider can count his international supporters on..... well, I was going to say one finger, but Blair is leaving office this July, and his successor may not be so enamored of Bush's enemy-making colonialism. They've been there, done that.

"Wait," you may say. We have other allies, especially the Saudis in the Middle East.

Think again. The Decider wanted to honor his Saudi friends, so he scheduled a mid-April White House gala for King Abdullah. But, Abdullah suddenly cancelled offering an Emily Post "prior commitment" reason.

Just another warning that the politically-weakened Bush's "friends" are distancing themselves. Jim Hoagland's "Bush's Royal Trouble" reports that "Bush and his senior advisers were not convinced" by the vague scheduling excuse, "especially since it followed Saudi decisions to seek common ground with Iran and the radicals of Hezbollah and Hamas instead of confronting them as part of Rice's proposed 'realignment' of the Middle East into moderates and extremes."

Adding insult to injury, Abdullah gave a warm welcome to Iran's President Ahmadinejad in early March. It was just a few months ago that the Saudis were championing the realignment approach.... now the Saudi's national security adviser regularly visits Tehran and Moscow.

Let's face it, Bush and much of his administration are in way over their heads.... dragging the country into incredibly dangerous waters.

Hostage Fuse Burning

The Stage

In November of 1979, following the overthrow of the Shah, the followers of Iran's new leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, overran the U.S. embassy and took 66 hostages, most of whom were held for 444 days, until January 20, 1981.

In June of 2004 British servicemen were held for two days after apparently straying into the Iranian side of Shatt-al Arab, the river that constitutes the border between Iraq and Iran down to the mouth as it discharges into the Persian Gulf.

So, how serious is the current seizure of 15 Royal Navy crew members? Where on the retaliation meter does and should it fall?

The British sailors and marines were taken after being confronted by six small Iranian vessels in the Shatt-al Arab waterway, accused of entering Iranian waters.

England's prime minister Tony Blair lost much of his luster over Iraq and is retiring from office soon. Now his Navy, once the mightiest in the world, appears impotent on the world stage. He must have an eye on his legacy. What to do?

The Military Might

There are reports that the lone female in the fifteen troops being held will be released soon. In the meantime, Britain is freezing all talks with Iran and the U.S. Navy is staging its largest show of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion, war games on steroids.

President Bush is facing his biggest challenge ever from Congress over his conduct of the war in Iraq... he needs a convincing argument that in this dangerous region he needs unfettered war powers.

Last Thursday Iran also started exercises in the Gulf which their state television said "showed their defensive power for protecting the Persian Gulf." A show of force in the strategic waterway through which two-fifths of the world's traded oil is shipped.

But Iran is treading in dangerous waters.

The EU, Egypt and the Saudis have expressed their condemnation of Iran's actions. Washington has long been challenging Tehran's resolve to build atomic bombs, and has not ruled out the use of force if there isn't a diplomatic resolution.

A Russian news outlet reported yesterday that their intelligence sees a U.S. military buildup on the Iran border. "The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," although the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched. They also observed that the U.S. Naval presence in the Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the Iraq pre-invasion level.

This current military hostage situation impacting our closest ally and potentially much of the world's oil supply is primed to explode the festering tensions with Iran.

The stage is set, the military might is in place, the fuse is burning.....

Roll the FOG Out

It's about time for Attorney General Gonzales to roll-out the Bush swan-song.... he "needs to spend more time with his family." After all, the last thing his boss needs is another hot potato in his lid-popping political stew.

Gonzales is one of the Bushies whose qualifications for office are FOG.... Friends of George. If ever there was an apt acronym, it is FOG. The behavioral concept of fogging is to deflect criticism and scrutiny by letting someone vent, and then giving a seemingly agreeable, but evasive, response.

FOG fogging example: Congress: "Gonzales, you know that you lied to us about your involvement in the firing of the eight U.S. Attorneys, we now know there was a meeting in your office about the firings and you signed off on them." Gonzales: "You're right, there was a meeting but the deliberations were over. I never participated in the deliberations"

The statement is then followed by obliging media hacks blaring.... "Gonzales played no role in U.S. Attorney firings." Yep, that's how it works. Now you know.

Underlings who aren't FOG appointments have to take a different tack. The Fifth.

Monica Goodling, Gonzales's senior counselor, is refusing to testify before the Senate about the firings, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Remember, we're talking about the Department of Justice here. This means a senior aide to the nation's top law enforcement official is refusing to testify because she might implicate herself in a crime!

We can only hope that Gonzales decides soon that his family needs him. But too many other incompetent FOG appointees.... like Rice the Unready.... are out there, doing the ask-me-a-question-and-I'll-tell-you-a-half-truth Bush shuffle.

It's time for more FOG to roll out.

Lead Us From Terrorization

No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. Edmund Burke (1729-1797).

As Zbigniew Brzezinski points out in "Terrorized by 'War on Terror' - How a Three-Word Mantra Has Undermined America," (WaPo) the Bush administration's "war on terror" drumbeat has created monster-under-the-bed paranoia that has left the country tilting at all the wrong threats, in all the wrong places.

Combined with The Decider's strutting "Bring it on" rhetoric, his administration's echo-chamber fear-mongering has intensified unreasoning fearful emotions and stampeded the country to a much deadlier place than before 9/11.... going it alone through the minefields of the Middle East while neglecting what Bush 'a la Nazi Germany refers to as our "homeland." A fascist-resonating label I hope will be retired with the Bushistas in 2009.

Where is the leader, of either party, who will restore our national dignity.... stop our cowering and blind lashing-out at every mouse squeak. In a truly dangerous world, who will restore our courage and reason? That is the leader we must seek in this campaign season.

An Inconvenient Fever

The Hill is alive, with the sound of musing.

A passionate former Vice President Al Gore warned two congressional panels Tuesday that environmentally "we are facing a planetary emergency" because of climate change fueled by emissions of greenhouse gasses. He urged that we take drastic action because we're facing a feverish planet and dwindling time.

But an unmoved Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) mused that Gore was wrong, and rejected Gore's call to action with a flat, "we're not going to do it."

The in-your-face Inhofe rejected Gore's educated testimony, preferring to nurse his narrow ideological biases. As a bible-quoting ultra-conservative, Inhofe rejects global warming as the "second-largest hoax ever played on the American people, after the separation of church and state."

This big-oil-loving, gay bashing, torture condoning, flat-earth Inhofe is what is wrong with religion, and government. Malicious ignorance.

Inhofe is but one more example of a for-sale dim-bulb lawmaker who has crawled into bed with lobbyists. And make no mistake, Inhofe and his ilk worship at the money trough.... contributions Inhofe has received from the energy and natural resource sector since taking office have exceeded $1,300,000 dollars. That's his real religion.

So, Gore was left to try to intellectually persuade a rude and uncomprehending Inhofe and his like-minded cronies on both committees. For although Gore has the scientific community and facts on his side, the greedy unhinged can obstruct government action.

Gore posited that stemming global warming was "a challenge to our moral imagination."

But "moral" is a foreign concept to the mulishly-musing "Inhofes" on the Hill.

Subpoena Showdown

Today The Decider threatened a legal showdown with congressional Democrats.

He doesn't want his "brain" Karl Rove, and his less-than-Supreme former counsel Harriet Miers to testify under oath about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year... and no transcripts.

But Committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) wasn't having any of it.... "Testimony should be on the record, and under oath," he said. (WaPo)

To show they mean business, the Senate handed the blustering Decider his Stetson today.... by an overwhelming 94 to 2 vote they revised the Patriot Act so that Attorney General Gonzales can no longer appoint interim U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation.

The two dissenting votes.... Senators Christopher Bond (R-MO) and non-announcing-press-conference presidential candidate Chuck Hagel (R-NE).

The Decider said of the embattled and politically damaged Gonzales, "Yes, he's got support with me. I support the attorney general."

That can only mean one thing. Gonzales will soon be gone. Just ask Rumsfeld.

Step Up Congress

Four years after the invasion of Iraq, our nation is much more at risk than before 9/11.... our military reduced to the debris left from Bush's war of choice .

"Military is Ill-Prepared For Other Conflicts," is the chilling headline. Military officials say that "it will take years for the Army and Marine Corps to recover" from the over-rotation that has consumed 40 percent of the total gear, "wearied troops and left no time to train to fight anything other than the insurgencies now at hand."

In other words, our military has been gutted. Our treasury has been gutted. Our troops have been used like fodder for the ambitions of our careless and arrogant Demander-In-Chief.

The longer our troops are in Iraq, the more at risk they are. As Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker testified last week, sustaining the troop increase in Iraq beyond August would be "a challenge."

Equipment is also lacking among Army units in the United States, the vast majority of which are rated "not ready."

Our nation is at the crossroads. The White House and Congress have a choice.... put our nation first by starting to end our active military involvement in Iraq.... or, continue risking all on what has been termed our "death spiral" in Iraq.

As Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Adviser, told Tim Russert today on MSNBC, he's afraid nothing will change with the current administration because it is "too committed to its vast errors."

It's up to Congress.... the time for debate is over. Our national security is hanging by a thread.

CEO Cheney

Bottom-Line Patriotism

Welcome to the world Bush has created for you.

Corporations reign, the bottom line is the new patriotism, CEO's are the new lawmakers, legislators are their capo enforcers, citizens the extorted.

Our Constitution-gutting Attorney General Gonzales works for these corporations who want to cheaply employ illegal aliens... so border enforcement is ignored and our port operations are sold to the highest bidder.... he throws law enforcers who try to stem the drug-running border invaders in prison and fires judges who don't toe the Bush administration political line.

This highest law-enforcer-in-our-land receives his marching orders from an alcohol-stunted frat boy.... The Decider, who revels in his high-fives from his fat-cat corporate buddies

Now, enabled by the very laws passed by the last GOP-majority Congress, many of these same power-bloated corporations are moving their headquarters to other countries, thereby avoiding paying taxes to the country and the people they have trashed.... "Halliburton Chief's Move to Dubai Evokes Warning on Hill."

This war-profiteering, no-bid contract company once run by VP Cheney is thumbing its nose.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said of Halliburton's move, "This is an insult to the U.S. soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab.... they'll be avoiding U.S. taxes."

What will be done about it?.... Congress will hold too-little too-late hearings on Halliburton's over-charge contracts.

Welcome to the New World Order.

And So It Goes....

This may be the best news of the year so far.... "Senate Republicans Deliver Sharp Criticism of Gonzales"..... with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) even suggesting that Attorney General "Gonzales's status as the nation's leading law enforcement officer might not last through the remainder of President Bush's term."

But then maybe not. Specter's modus operandi is dragging out a GOP Trojan Horse, loudly proclaiming a popular position in the town square, and then quietly letting the GOP malefactors loose to continue their stealthy dismantling of our country
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And, don't you feel there is something supremely unsatisfying about the conviction of Scooter... lying and obstruction of justice in the Plame-Wilson-yellow-cake leak investigation .... what about Cheney and his neocons lying the country into war?

But, perhaps the best result emerging from Libby's perjury conviction is best summed up: "What Has Happened to Dick Cheney?" The fact that Libby was Cheney's closest adviser adds another cloud to the gathering storm of speculation.... "Is the vice president losing his influence, or perhaps his mind?"

The one on the assent as Cheney's political teeter-toter sinks seems to be Sec. of State Condi Rice.... the Bush administration is making a sharp jump toward diplomacy abroad, even (gasp) talking to other nations.

The Decider's part in this new diplomacy front.... "Bush Embarks on Longest Trip to Latin America." Perhaps trying to dispel the devilish label that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez pinned on him last year at the U.N., he and Laura are winging their way to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico this week "to bring a message of hope, a message that says we care about the human condition....".

Or, maybe he is just escaping the D.C. political turmoil and starting the customary presidential lame duck world tour. Whatever.

The Decider needs new horizons, he's already muddied the pond of hope and care for the human condition in this country.

"From Russia With Love...."

Last week, just four days after Paul Joyal, a 53-year-old expert on Russian intelligence, appeared on NBC's "Dateline" alleging that Putin was involved in the fatal polonium-210 poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. Joyal was shot in the groin by two men as he exited his car in his Prince George County, MD driveway.

The men immediately fled. Although the WaPo had reported that unnamed law enforcement said that Joyal's wallet and briefcase were taken, thus giving the shooting the appearance of a robbery, his wife and son have denied that his wallet was taken, showing the billfold to reporters, and his briefcase has been accounted for.

Another participant in the "Dateline" show recently died from a heart attack in London.

The FBI is "looking into the shooting." Joyal is still in critical condition although the doctors are now "cautiously optimistic" that he will recover.

Is this "random shooting" more Putin's KGB-sharpened tentacles reaching out to stifle dissent?.... IN OUR COUNTRY!

The silencing of Putin's critics is old news in Russia.

Last Friday Moscow journalist Ivan Safronov plunged to his death from his apartment building.... he was working on a story about Russian plans to sell weapons to Iran and Syria via Belarus. A subject which would greatly upset the U.S. and Israel.

Safronov had traveled to the United Arab Emirates arms fair last month where he called his editors from Abu Dhabi to confirm rumors that Russia planned to sell S-300 missiles to Iran and Su-30 fighter jets to Syria.

Upon his return, Safronov told colleagues he also had learned about Russia's plans to provide Syria with Iskander missiles, MiG-29 fighter jets and Pantsyr-S1 air defense systems. The Iskander has a range of 175 miles and would give Syria the capability to strike targets in Israel with very high precision.

Russian authorities are calling Safronov's death a suicide.

Independent analyst Pavel Felgenhauer, who knew Safronov and met with him shortly before his death, said "It's quite probable that such deals have been signed, and it's also probable that he [Safronov] was killed because of that."

He said a Russian military affairs officer was brutally beaten by Russian military intelligence agents several years ago over his report on arms sales. "I also feel scared since I'm writing about similar subjects," Felgenhauer said.

Safronov's death comes amid a rash of attacks on Russian journalists who write about official corruption, Chechnya and other abuses.... "13 journalists have been killed in contract-style murders since Putin took office in 2000."

A dazzled Bush looked into Putin's soul and proclaimed he was a man Bush could trust.... just what did he see to admire in this ruthless and dangerous authoritarian.

The Cold War arms race is on again, only this time our enemies are much more dangerous. And our government.... Condi the Clueless, Congress the Confused, Bush the Unready.... seem unable, or unwilling, to confront reality.

Smells Like Rank Political Pressure

So, not only did Sen.Do-do-Menici (R-NM) fess up to contacting U.S. Attorney David Iglesias during an active investigation, but a "Second Lawmaker Contacted Prosecutor," namely Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), who rang Iglesias up during the waning days of her tight election campaign last fall.

Both lawmakers said they didn't pressure Iglesias to speed up the political corruption investigation involving Democrats.... sure.

The now dumped Iglesias sees it differently. He will expose their rotten tactics to Congress today.

Show Gonzales the Door

At a recent press conference, the highest law enforcement official in our land said in response to why he hadn't answered congressional inquiries about the firing of U.S. Attorneys: “I think that the American people lose if I spend all my time worrying about congressional requests for information, if I spend all my time responding to subpoenas.”

This is Bush's idea of justice.... an Attorney General who puts himself above the law.

So.... the Democratic-led House Judiciary subcommittee has issued subpoenas to the fired prosecutors and will start hearings on Tuesday.... prompting Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) to fess up.... admitting he contacted fired U.S. Attorney Iglesias who said he was being pressured by Domenici about the pace of a corruption probe of Democrats.

"Administration officials acknowledged Friday that the White House approved the unusual firings, in which seven of the prosecutors were called Dec. 7 and asked to resign, even though most had positive job reviews. An eighth prosecutor, in Arkansas, was informed of his firing earlier, opening the job for a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove." (WaPo)

For his unwillingness to enforce immigration and other laws inconvenient to the Bush administration's agenda.... for going after and prosecuting law enforcement officers while protecting a drug smuggler.... for firing and replacing competent U.S. Attorneys for political reasons.... and, while as White House counsel, personally approving Bush's program for warrantless domestic wiretaps which circumvented the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and lying to Congress about it.... Attorney General Gonzales has to go.

Rid us of this blight upon our system of justice. Congress.... impeach Gonzales!

Dueling Pews at Ten Paces

The 42nd anniversary of the 1965 civil rights march in Selma, AL on Sunday has turned into a dueling pews media circus between presidential hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. Hillary Clinton. (D-NY).

Several weeks ago Obama, who is gaining momentum with black voters, announced that he would deliver the keynote speech at a service honoring the march from the Brown Chapel AME Church, where demonstrators organized for the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

So..... last Monday the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute (located at the foot of the historic bridge) announced that Hillary would attend the 42nd Annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee and represent her husband, former president Bill Clinton, at his induction into their Hall of Fame.

It was then arranged for Hillary to speak at the First Baptist Church just yards away, and at precisely the same time, that Obama is speaking.

But, evidently still worried that she might not upstage Obama, Hillary brought in the big guns.

Suddenly finding a opening in his schedule, Bill will now swoop into Selma for his induction, right after the walk over the bridge.... thus not upstaging Hillary at the church and walk, yet still spreading his "first black president" rock-star aura over her.

And, this is why Hillary's negatives are so high.

She is so obviously calculating. It isn't pretty watching her elbow her way into the Selma festivities, just as she is elbowing her way into the presidential nomination.

Her pushy behaviour simply highlights one of Obama's strengths, his upbeat but measured approach to things. His likability.

And, as long as Hillary's campaign is just obviously reacting to Obama's inroads with black voters, he'll outdraw Hillary and continue his rise in black voter polling.

McCain Bus Stalls

BREAKING NEWS!

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) to attend Anna Nicole Smith's funeral where he will set his hair on fire!

Well.... maybe a little far fetched, but not much.

Not after appearing on late night funnyman David Letterman's show last night where McCain said: "I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States," whereupon Letterman drum rolled ten reasons why McCain should be ahead of Rudy Giuliani in the polls.

Well, not really, the drum rolled 10 reasons that is.... but considering the deadly dire straits the country is in a little grown-up gravitas would be appreciated here when announcing for the highest office in our besieged at-war land.

McCain has been trying mightily to slow down Rudy's big "mo" and keep the heel-nipping Mitt Romney at bay.

Even though he has loudly supported (and quietly advised) Bush's war in Iraq, McCain recently pulled his "Straight Talk Express" to the curb and turned on the administration, calling their handling of the war a "train wreck" and Rummy "one of the worst secretaries of defense in history."

But nothing seems to be working for him. His timing is off, his finger in the wind appears fickle, he looks tired and regardless of jumping up and down to gain our attention, he continues to trail Rudy.

There is much to admire in McCain.... not the least of which was his noble service as a Navy pilot and brave suffering as a Vietnam POW, and his years of service in the Senate.

But, maybe his time has passed.

Maybe his next announcement should be that he recognizes that fact. That admission might restore some of the luster to his "Straight Talk Express."