Newtie Afraid of Barbara Pelosi

WW III veteran, Newt Gingrich, gave a speech in South Carolina yesterday. He said the whole idea of Nancy Pelosi being third in line to the presidency is "frightening." Now he knows how I felt when he was Speaker of the House.

He's worried about nuclear bombs destroying American cities, as if no one else is. He cited North Korea, Pakistan after an al-Qaeda takeover, and Iran. He said he wanted to replace the North Korean and Iranian regimes, and Syria too. Without using force, of course.

Right, we want to leave it to Newt to conduct our foreign policy. He has such a great record as a diplomat.

As a matter of fact in his one attempt at diplomacy, with Bill Clinton over the federal budget, he produced the closing down of the federal government for weeks. Then he caved. Just the kind of guy we need to deal diplomtically with other countries.

He'll end up creating a real WW III if he's ever given the diplomatic reins of US foreign policy. Incompetence is a lot more frightening than ideology.

SAT Scores Down in 2006

The SAT results recorded the sharpest drop in scores in 31 years. Not coincidentally, it was also the first year students had to write as part of the test.

It's obvious to anyone from the older generations that the language, as written, has been deteriorating for a long period of time over the last two generations. Read your inbox emails at work and you'll find plenty of evidence of that.

With all the emphasis on communication by picture and image it was bound to happen. Younger people will not learn good grammar from MTV or other youth-oriented network. Bad english has actually been used as a symbol of youthful rebellion. That would be OK if those who used it for that purpose actually knew good grammar. There is no evidence that they do.

Nor will they learn it from listening to cable TV news. The young people writing that stuff and reading it are the same people whose emails you have to decipher.

The lack of reading is also a contributor to poor writing and poor speaking. If you don't believe that, watch George Bush talk without a script. Dr. Samuel Johnson once told his biographer, James Boswell, that it is impossible to write well if one doesn't read extensively. How can you understand how to write if you haven't read people who do it well?

The next time you're on an airplane, notice how many people are using cellphones rather than reading. Once the cellphones must be turned off, these people generally don't know what to do with themselves for the rest of the trip.

They certainly don't pull out a book or even read a magazine. Once the airplane hits the tarmac at its destination, out come all the cellphones. How can you expect someone who lives by text messaging, our modern form of hieroglyphics, to possibly write an intelligent in-depth communication?

Writing scores are poor? Of course, because reading skills and interest in reading is poor. It's more fun to play with a gadget than have to actually read words. Someday the SAT will be revised to be a timed test to see how well a student can manipulate images, photo-shop, and pick an appropriate ringtone.

You can't stop progress.

Iran and UN Sanctions "Sing-Along"

(The following may be sung to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town")

They're making a list,
checking it twice,
gonna see if Iran's been naughty or nice,
UN sanctions are coming to Tehran.

They don't know if Iran's cheating,
they do know that they have lied,
they don't know if its nukes are real or fake,
but they'll impose sanctions for their own sake.

Oh, you better watch out,
you better talk tough,
if the UN imposes sanctions
they won't be enough.
UN sanctions are coming to Tehran.

Russia says no,
China says no,
All John Bolton can do is hope,
that UN sanctions will come to Tehran.

Iran knows we've been threatening,
they know the SC won't act,
they know that without Russia and China,
that sanctions will fall flat.

Oh, you better watch out,
Bolton better not cry,
He's part of the reason,
We have no ally,
Will sanctions really come to Tehran?

Tom Cruise-The Actor

Tom Cruise's personal life, as many celebrity lives, will pop up on my LNEICCLA as it did earlier today. As an actor, however, I really do like him. Not for his action movies like "Mission Impossible," or "War of the Worlds".

If you have ever seen Cruise in the movie "Collateral," you'll see a rare, real, superstar performance on the screen. I can't think of any other actor who could play the "Vincent" character any better. Jamie Foxx was terrific as his foil.

The thing about all great actors is their willingness to take chances. Cruise didn't have to in Collateral because it was a natural fit. He did in "Eyes Wide Shut" and did a great job. A lot of actors wouldn't take that type of chance.

So he and other artists can jump on Oprah's couch, and subscribe to Reader's Digest or Scientology. It is meaningless and qualifies for the LNEICCLA. Artists throughout history have been eccentric.

The only thing that really counts is an actor's performance on the screen. Cruise has a screen presence that only Jack Nicholson can match these days.

I wouldn't write his career off too quickly.

One Year after Katrina

Bush takes "full reponsibility." That's what Nixon used to do during Watergate. Bush took no fault or blame. That's what Nixon used to do too.

Beware Historical Analogies

It has started again. About this time in every war our "Wise Men (People, if you prefer)" begin to roll out the superficial historical analogies by which they deem themselves, and would have others deem them, "Wise."

Gary Hart started it last week in a post on the Huffington Post entitled "Twenty-first Century Rome." He superficially compared the Bush Administration's policies to the policies that led to the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of Julius Caesar in 49 b.c.e.

Not only was the analogy superficial, Mr. Hart left out one major detail. Bush is out of office in 2008 and regardless of what you think of him, I doubt he'll try to become a dictator thereafter; nor will our democracy disappear.

Mr. Hart should also be ashamed of himself for using the Roman analogy since he should remember that "The Fall of Rome" was used by right-wingers to justify our continued presence in Vietnam, a war he opposed.

Not to be outdone, Rummy and Cheney have pulled out the other easy, thoughtless historical analogy often used when you have screwed up a war policy and are losing popular support. That is the Munich "appeasement" analogy. It is even worse and more absurd than Hart's Roman one.

Both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon used it during the Vietnam War. Like Rumsfeld and Cheney they always used it in front of the American Legion or another veteran's group that fought WWII.

The argument is that if you "appease" your enemy by stopping the prosecution of even an ill-conceived war you will encourage them to continue their conquest of the world or at least Western civilization. The last I checked, we have not been overrun by Vietnam since we left there, and communism has been consigned to the dustbin of history. Vietnam is now a trading partner as well.

I'm not exactly sure who we will be "appeasing" if we leave Iraq soon. The Iraqi people to whom the country belongs? Fundamental Islam, which will spread from San Francisco to Lynchburg, Virginia?

Has anyone ever heard of a "strategic retreat?" Certainly no one in the Bush administration has. They should ask the Israelis about that. They just did it in Lebanon.

The latest usage of the two favorite and inapplicable analogies (Rome and Munich) do prove one thing. They prove not that history repeats itself. They prove that people who ponder present day historical problems superficially, without much thought, eventually try to substitute the historical analogy for original, creative thought.

The historical analogy has its roots going all the way back to Thucydides writing of "The Peloponnesian War." and a fragment written by Euripides, the ancient Greek playwright. They believed that history repeated itself. I think they were wrong. It is human nature that repeats itself, not history.

George Santyana did the world the greatest disservice to independent thinking by uttering every superficial analogist's favorite cliche. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." That is true only in the most superficial way, though to the lazy analogist it is dogma (and easy to remember).

It is especially ironic since Santyana's quote comes from "The Life of Reason, vol. I, Reason in Common Sense."

History never comes at us in the same way. There are always variations that make any historical analogy anything but perfect or ironclad and should only be used cautiously and in its broadest sense.

Whenever you hear the Santayana quote, beware. It means that the speaker or writer has decided to engage in cant, without resorting to independent reason.

Latest News Events I Couldn't Care Less About #2

Here are the latest news events that I couldn't care less about since my last post on 8/21, or as Stephen Colbert on the "Repor(t)" might say, the LNEICCLA, second edition.

-How many copies of her new album Paris Hilton has sold.
-Katie Couric's waistline size.
-Tropical storms forming off the coast of Africa that I am supposed to watch for 5 or 6 days to see if they turn into hurricanes headed for the U.S. Let me know when they get here.
-Whether Beyonce is guilty of abuse of alligators.
-Whether Bruce Springsteen is getting divorced.
-The next dumb statement that Katherine Harris, Republican candidate for Senate in Florida makes. She is 50 points behind Bill Nelson, but the pundits at Huffington Post can't stop obsessing about her.
-With whom Tom Cruise has a new movie deal or its terms.
-How many home runs "Steroid Barry Bonds" hits. He's a fraud whose records are meaningless.
-Whether Katie Holmes had Cruise's baby.
-What Kofi Annan did today.
-Whether Tom Cruise has a baby or not.
-Whether tall people are smarter than small people. I only hope taxpayer money didn't fund the study. As I understand, Napoleon was pretty small when he conquered most of Europe.

UN Sanctions for Iran

The only people who seem to believe that the UN can agree to impose sanctions on Iran are the people who have belittled the UN the most. That would be the Bush Administration and, in particular, Ambassador John Bolton.

If they think they can talk either Russia or China into agreeing to any form of sanctions against Iran they are self-deluded. Why should either of those powers, both who do business with Iran, agree to sanctions?

The Iranians pose no threat to either country. There are no demonstrations in Tehran about "Death to Russia" or "Death to China." Just as Americans gloated as the Soviet Union became bogged down in Afghanistan, both Russia and China are doing the same with the U.S. bogged down in the Middle East.

Without their cooperation, any attempt to impose sanctions against Iran by the U.S. and a few European countries will be a miserable failure. We have absolutely no leverage with either country to make them agree to a sanctions regime.

It's a little late to talk about concerted action against Iran with the UN Security Council when we totally ignored its members wishes that we not invade Iraq.

Bush-Ahmadinejad Debate?

The Iranian President, dressed as usual like an American homeless person, but without a shopping cart, has challenged President Bush to a debate the right of Iran to have nuclear power.

The President will certainly refuse because: 1.) the President has just learned how to say the word "nuclear" rather than "nuculer;" 2.) he is too inarticulate to debate anyone about anything; and 3.) Ahmadinejad would win even if the American people heard the whole debate in Farsi, without translation.

Send Kerry or Hillary, or even Jesse Jackson. They would win without any problem. No one wants to see 10th cenury Muslim clerics with a nuclear weapon. That would be like having Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson running our nuclear program.

Fox News Ratings Way Down

28% down in primetime. They might want to replace Sean Hannity with a college graduate, and Alan Colmes with someone who doesn't look like a little man from Mars.

They also might not want to alienate every non-Christian viewer they used to have with another book about wars on holidays. John Gibson did a great job of telling everyone who didn't celebrate Christmas that they were not real Americans.

Finally, I expect their ratings plunge is a leading indicator of how much credibility not only the network, but the Republicans have lost over the last two years. It probably indicates that the Republican propaganda machine has run out of gas.

Santorum on Islamic Fascism

Sen. Rick Santorum compared what he called fighting "Islamic Fascism" to WWII, a particularly inapt and inept analogy.

It's really more like fighting the ideological fascism that Santorum has practiced during his Senate career. Intolerant, fundamentalist, theocracy.

News Headlines for "Godless Sodomites"

The Archbishop of Canterbury, reversing his previous position, says gays must "change their sexual ethics."

The Vatican's chief exorcist ("caster out of demons") believes that Hitler and Stalin were "almost certainly possessed." Also, Pope Pius XII tried a "long distance" exorcism of Hitler. Unsuccessful, obviously.

Rumor is that Pope Benedict XVI is considering endorsing some form of "intelligent design." Will heretical Catholic science teachers be denied communion? Will ID brother in arms, Jerry Falwell, be asked to head a new Inquisition?

Return with us now, ladies and gentlemen, to the glorious Dark Ages. When science and astrology were one. When men were men and heretics were burned at the stake.

Boy, them Muslims is backward, ain't they?

John Mark Karr-What to Do Now

No DNA match so the little perv won't be charged in the Ramsey case. He was evidently trying to get out of Thailand, and get a free ticket home, before the Thai police got him for molesting children there.

What to do now? Put him in the back of a cargo plan and send him back to Thailand. Let him experience the tender mercies of the Thai prison system.

Joe Biden's "Slave State" Background

It's only a matter of time before Joe Biden talks himself right out of the 2008 presidential race. If you've ever heard him give a speech on the Senate floor on C-Span you will notice that the man loves the sound of his own voice. He loves it so much he can't shut himself up once he get's going.

We got an early peek at his fatal rhetorical flaw when he was asked by a reporter whether he could ever get southerners to vote for him. Wouldn't he be viewed as another northeastern liberal?

He basically said he wouldn't have any problem. He almost boasted that he himself was from a "slave state," though I don't remember Delaware being part of the Confederacy. So I guess he thinks that he shares a common bond with southerners. Does that mean a racist heritage?

My God. What a dumb statement. That is the kind of verbosity I see as his fatal tendency to rhetorical hari-kiri.

Mayor Nagin Sorry for WTC Remark

So Nagin said NY can't fill "a hole in the ground" at the WTC. Now he says he's sorry. I'll agree with one part of his apology. He is one sorry individual.

The British Go Guerilla in Iraq

One of the big stories last week was how the British abandoned a base in southern Iraq that has been frequently bombarded by insurgents. The press went crazy about how the locals pillaged the base as Iraqi troops stood by. That was where the best pictures were. The only problem was that the story missed the main point.

The British have realized that their force is too small to be an effective occupier sitting in static forts. So instead of sitting and taking casualties, they have made a smart strategic move. Since they now have a force smaller than the insurgency they have decided to become a guerilla force themselves.

They are going to spread out their forces on the Iranian border and condiuct guerilla warfare operations against arms smuggling between insurgents and Iranians. A much better use of their soldiers until they withdraw them.

Is the Volunteer Army Large Enough?

Sec. Rumsfeld met with the family members of the soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade based in Alaska. That is the brigade whose stay in Iraq was involuntarily extended four months.

Rummy went through the usual "Sorry, but..." public relations stunt with them. The real question, not addressed, is whether the volunteer army is really large enough.

If they have to extend the brigade's stay, and backdoor draft other soldiers, is the volunteer army large enough? Or are the politicians afraid to tell us that we are shorthanded?

Tony Blair Condemned by St. Jimmy

St. Jimmy of the Plains (GA) has condemned Tony Blair for being "compliant and subservient" to George Bush in going to war in Iraq. America's most sanctimonius, self-beatified saint was not aware of the irony and hypocrisy of damning someone else's foreign policy mistakes.

It has been a long time since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. St. Jimmy seems, in condemning Blair, to have forgotten that he was quite "compliant and subservient" to the Ayatollah Khomeini. So compliant and subservient that someday history will judge St. Jimmy to be the true founder of the first Islamic Republic.

I expect he will be invited as a guest of honor when the mullahs press the button for the test of Iran's first nuclear bomb. Tony Blair has made mistakes. St. Jimmy's foreign policy has endangered millions of people. Let the saint without sin cast the first stone.

The Number of "Cut and Run" Connecticut Pols Growing

Congressman Chris Shays of Connecticut, one of the more ineffective moderates in the Republican Party, has had an electoral epiphany. He has decided that cutting and running isn't such a bad idea after all. There's nothing like electoral results to help a politician see the light on the road to Damascus.

If it's good enough for a Republican pol, of course, it's good enough for a politician who has no principles except to get re-elected. So Joe "Me First" Lieberman has decided to have his own epiphany by proxy from Shays.

The "cut and run" crowd continues to grow. Let's just hope these opportunists don't get away with their late conversion to their new political faith.

Continuing "General" Discontent with Rummy and Iraq

Gen. John Batiste (ret., as usual) had some choice words about Rummy on MSNBC. He basically said Rummy fed the military chicken shit going into Iraq and expected them to turn it into chicken salad.

I understand that all of these fellows would have had their careers ended if they had spoken out while in the service. Even so, I've never seen so many major commanders dissent from a war policy even after they were out of the military. You never heard it during the Vietnam
War.

It's only fair to conclude that they are representative of the majority of senior still-active military commanders on the Iraq war. I wonder what would happen if someone went back and researched what all of these generals, retired or active, testified to congressional committees under oath.

Slow News Day on Cable News

It's becoming an iron-clad axiom. The use of the terms "Breaking News", "Developing Story", "News Alert", "New Devlopments", etc. is almost directly proportional to the lack of real news.

The less news the more screaming graphics.

Good News-Tom DeLay Disappointed in Justice System

There's still hope. Christ's political messenger is "disappointed in our justice system" because the court wouldn't allow DeLay's name taken off the ballot in his old congressional district.

Tommy boy must be miffed since he can't redistrict or fundraise his way out of a problem. Welcome back to the real world "pest control man." If you're not in jail, you may be back under house crawl spaces soon.

Plan B Pill Approval-Major Setback for Pro-Punishers

You can understand why James Dobson's Focus on the Family and The Family Research Council would be upset about FDA approval of the Plan B pill. With fewer unplanned pregnancies there will be fewer abortions.

With fewer abortions there will be fewer unwed mothers. With fewer unwed mothers there will fewer welfare recipients. With fewer welfare recipients there will be less government spending on welfare. With less government spending on welfare there will...wait a minute! What's wrong with all this?

Oh, that's right. There will be suposedly be more sex. You are supposed to be punished for that. That's one of the principles this country was founded upon. If young, unattached women enjoy sex too much (or even if they're raped and didn't enjoy it) they're supposed to not only go to hell, but they're supposed to live in hell on earth too. So is their innocent, unplanned child.

Now I get it.

9/11 and JFK

As one of many who still remembers exactly where he was on the day JFK was assassinated, I still am senstive to, and somewhat offended by jokes about it. Last night it was Stephen Colbert, a favorite of mine, that joked about it.

Seinfeld, another favorite, did a whole episode (the Keith Hernandez two-parter) with one of the running "jokes" prominently featuring a supposedky humorous take-off on the murder.

If the younger comedians who didn't experience that horrible national trauma now think it's OK to joke about it, I disagree. Regardless of all true revelations, rumors, and lies about Jack Kennedy after his murder, he was the most inspirational political figure for the baby-boom generation during the twentieth century.

If the young comics would like to know how tasteless it seems to a lot of us to have something so tragic as the butt of a joke, they only have to contemplete the horror of 9/11. Believe me, it won't be any funnier for them, or the young people who lived through that trauma, 40 plus years from now than will be on its upcoming 5th anniversary.

McCain's Cagey "Anti-War" Dissent

My post warning last Sunday about John McCain was reinforced by McCain yesterday. McCain was on a campaign trip to ostensibly help Sen. Mike DeWine in his desperate attempt to get re-elected in Ohio.

McCain used the opportunity to show that he was both against the Iraq War and for it. In a supposedly stinging rebuke of the Bush Administration, McCain rightly accused it of misleading the American people that it would be a "day at the beach." Sounds anti-war doesn't it?

However, he continues to be a staunch defender of the war. His argument is that he can wage the war better. McCain's not "anti-war", he's "more and better war."

Bush Thanked for Katrina Trailer Park

Speaking of the surreal. Today, out of nowhere, supposedly, a fellow drove all the way to the White House to thank the president for his Katrina trailer in New Orleans.

It just so happened that there was a reporter from one of the cable networks in his trailer with the guy's family at the very time he and the president were talking to the press outside the White House.

Neither man indicated whether there were plans to add on once he found work again.

Bin Laden's "Mistress"

I have just witnessed the most ridiculous interview in the history of MSNBC, and maybe any news coverage ever seen. The "Contessa" on MSNBC was showing excerpts of her interview with Bin Laden's "mistress" to Chris Jansing of MSNBC. She was using them as a teaser to her time slot on that "news" station today.

The most surreal and funniest part of the interview was that "the mistress" told the Contessa that Bin Laden "loved McGyver," as well as other aspects of western civ.

Then it came to me. Lure Bin Laden out of hiding by setting up a surreptitious meeting between him and McGyver's other biggest fans, Selma and Patty, Marge Simpson's sisters, on the pretense of discussing their favorite episodes. Then nab him, just like McGyver!

I'll leave the rest to the Daily Show or Stephen Colbert.

JonBenet Ramsey-"Broken News"

Under a "Breaking News" graphic Rita Cosby has just announced that nothing is going to happen with whatshisname. He won't be going to Boulder today.

Rita found it to be quite compelling that he wasn't going. She thought it very suspicious that the Boulder authorities wouldn't come and get him right away. She did not report what he had for lunch.

Rita was dubbed "dumb" by Keith Olbermann in an in-house email. Wonder why?

Bush to Cheney: "I See Muslims"

Conservatives live an a world of extremes. Everything's great or everything's going to hell in a handbasket. Israel's setback against Hezbollah has cast Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld into a conservative nightmare of the three in a handbasket to hell scenario, due to their failure in Iraq.

Insight.com, a conservative online e-zine, reports that, "Mr. Bush's biggest concern is said to be Iran, which his advisers assert intends to dominate the Middle East through a takeover of Iraq, Lebanon and Syria." That's completely wrong, but if it gets the troops out of there, let Boy George believe it.

George also seems to have some "cut and runners" in his own administration: "At the same time, Mr. Bush has been urged by some of his advisers to prepare for a disengagement from the Middle East while focusing on homeland security."

That sounds a lot like not fighting the terrorists over there, so we can fight them here. Another flip-flop on one more of his shallow excuses for an unnecessary war.

Now it also looks like George may not be able to stall out US involvement in Iraq until he leaves office. Then he won't be able to blame his successor for losing Iraq. Quite a legacy.

British Preparing to "Cut and Run" in Half

Reports are coming out that the British are preparing to pull out half of their 7,000 troops in Iraq.

Yo, Bush. Keep treating Tony Blair as your valet and maybe he'll pull them all out. The British are smart enough to know how to declare a mission accomplished and get out of a bad situation.

I guess they will join the more numerous "coalition of the unwilling."

Affirmative Action for Rich White Kids

Do you think George Bush got into Harvard based on his grades, his SAT score, or a combination of them? Do you think he got into Yale and obtained an MBA because his grades at Harvard were so outstanding. The answer is probably no to all of the above.

It's not a great big secret, like Pat Buchanan's immigration conspiracy of the "North American Union." However, rich white kids like George have benefited from their own private affirmative action program for years.

The program just goes by another name. It is not formalized and you will never see anything in writing about it. George was a "legacy." To be a legacy means that your rich family over time has given, or will tacitly agree to give, the Ivy League school they want you to attend, millions of dollars for endowments, scholarships, etc.

That answers the riddle that many people often ponder. How could anyone so intellectually lacking and inarticulate as George make it into an Ivy League school? I imagine he is not the only conservative who got into an Ivy League school on a "legacy" basis and who opposes affirmative action for blacks.

Whenever a conservative voices opposition to affirmative action because it deprives a deserving white an opportunity to attend Harvard, Yale or another Ivy League school, think of George and others like him. For years, their fathers and grandfathers made sure rich white boys like George got a spot at an Ivy League school instead of a more deserving, but not rich, black man or woman.

George is the perfect example of how the government has done a much better job at running an affirmative action program for blacks than rich elites did for their own children.

Immigration "Conspiracy" Discovered by Pat Buchanan

Man (or Person, if you prefer) the barricades! Pat Buchanan has discovered a conspiracy at the highest levels of the Mexican and American governments. Higher than even the governments--the "elites." How he discovered is as yet unknown. I haven't had a chance to read the book yet.

The conspiracy by the Mexican and American elites is to dump as many illegal immigrants into this country as possible. Not just to relieve the social problems caused by Mexico's governmental incompetence (which truly is a big part of the illegal problem). It also has the covert objective of reclaiming all of the southwest for Mexico. Why the American elites would want that is a mystery.

The elites in both countries have undertaken a conspiracy to create a "North American Union" (I guess the poor Canadians get left out again). I'm not sure who the American elites are that Pat fingers in his book. Gays, Jews, Blacks, WASPS, the Irish or some other minority?

Now, I have posted about the need to do something about illegal immigration on 8/11. However, the intent of that post was to try to solve a specific political problem so that Americans and legal aliens are not deprived of jobs, or are the subject of street crime, from the illegals who are in this country.

Leave it to Pat, though, to take it over the top. Not of the barricades, but of reason. His vison is that western civilization will be extinct within the lifetime of children born in 2006. America will be in the hands of the North American Union and Europe will be a Muslim theocracy.

The problem with Pat's theory is that if America and Europe are subsumed by (though more probably cross-assimilated into) other cultures, it will have nothing to do with today's illegal immigration problem. It will be a simple question of demographics.

Demographics is destiny. If America and European countries have negative fertility rates, and the Latin and Arabic countries have high fertility rates, as was the case with Rome and its conquerors, then the cultural character of those countries will undoubtedly change.

However, I would point out to him that it doesn't follow that the extinction of western civilization will take place, or that the change will not necessarily be violent. In the larger historical context, mutual attraction between the sexes will have much more to do about demographic change than illegal immigration.

The problem with Pat's theory is that he is trying to project a short-term political issue into a very long-term historical context. Only history will tell who's right. From the history I've read though, people from different cultures having babies together is an immutable force that no wall has ever been able to stop.

Today's "News"-Things I couldn't care less about

• John Mark Karr's menu on his flight to California.
• CNN's "Breaking News" about a house fire in Baltimore.
• NY Post story that Bin Laden is "obsessed" with Whitney Houston-doo wop.
• How many French troops show up in Lebanon. They haven't won a war since Napoleon, and he was a Corsican.
• Kevin Federline's rap debut.
• Any other car or train wrecks on cable news usually barely worth mention on your local news.
• Where Madonna is hanging out today in concert.
• Who Paris Hilton is being celibate with.
• What "Gamblin' Bill" Bennett has to say about morality or politics.
• Saddam's second trial-hang him and get it over with.

Psychopath Picture of the Week.

Some psychopaths are so nuts they revel in it. Check out the picture of the guy on the right hand side of the Drudge Report today. They've closed down the whole Virginia Tech campus because he is on the loose. He killed a local police officer.

Update: He's obviously never been an honor student. They picked him up within hours. Good profile mug shot of him. He looks like Dr. Jekyll turning into Mr. Hyde.

Flash: Male Enhancement Formula Fails

Breaking News: A new random and anonymous study on the male enhancement effects of the Iraq War were disclosed this morning by the Enzyte Enhancement Study Group (EESG).

A random sampling of the politicians, neocons, and chickenhawks involved in misleading the American people into the Iraq War shows that the war has failed to enhance the testosterone level or the male performance capability of any of the participants.

One side effect was noted. When initially undertaken the Iraq War did artificially inflate the chests of those surveyed to bantam rooster-like proportions. However, this artificial chest-inflation was not long-lasting. It disappeared within approximately one year after the insurgency in Iraq took hold.

The war was even less successful in enhancing male performance than the Enzyte male enhancement tablets advertised at strange times on cable TV stations with low audience ratings. Enzyte features a man smiling like a jackass throughout its commercial.

The study of the Iraqi War group found no smiles, and decided to leave it to the public as to how many jackasses were involved in the venture.

Developing Story, too.

McCain Will be the Same as Bush on Iraq

John McCain is more articulate and charming than Boy George can ever hope to be. He even has Jon Stewart enamored. He has successfully painted himself as a maverick. Don't let the charisma overwhelm his record. He is a hard-right conservative.

On "Meet the Press" today he blew his cover a little. On the war in Iraq, he said "we can't just leave." Same as Boy George.

McCain's complaint is that we have never had enough troops on the ground in Iraq. That was a correct critique; three years ago, not now. It's too late to change that deficiency.

I'm concerned that with a President McCain, we will get an escalation of the war, as Nixon did in Vietnam, rather than a de-escalation and exit.

Be careful. Senator Hagel is the only really anti-war Republican I've seen so far.

Senator/Congressman: You Do Not Support the Troops:

If you leave the troops in Iraq with an open-ended commitment to war, with no prospect of coming home, i.e., "staying the course."

If you backdoor draft them and extend their service in Iraq beyond what you promised them;

If you have no exit strategy over three years after the war started;

If you accuse your opposition of wanting to cut and run when you can't come up with a strategy to win or an exit strategy to get the troops out.

If you attend their funerals when they are brought home to your state or district in a coffin, when you left them in Iraq to die.

If you use the death of one U.S. soldier to justify the added tragedy of more deaths of U.S. soldiers.

If you argue that we can't quit now or "he/she died in vain" as an argument to allow more troops to die in Iraq when you have no winning strategy or exit strategy.

You do not support the troops unless you bring them home.

Support the Troops

You do not support the troops if you continue to have them play policeman between Sunnis and Shias.

You do not support the troops by leaving them in outposts like al-Anbar province taking casualties.

You do not support the troops by not adequately funding anti-terror programs in the U.S., while throwing money down the drain in Iraq. You make the troops' families' more vulnerable.

You do not support the troops by leaving them in the desert, subject to being killed by an IED, a sniper or an ambush in an unconventional war.

Support the troops. Bring them home.

It's all Kathy Griffin's Fault

Kathy Griffin's "My Life on the D-List" is one of the best shows on TV. However, based on an article about an IRS crackdown on "Goody Bags," the only list she may be on next year is a Hollywood blacklist.

In her first season she highlighted her delight in getting "free" Goody Bags almost as much as getting a comedy gig. It was hilarious to watch her work the Goody Bag room. The only problem was that the IRS must have been watching as well.

Now the Goody Bags are gone, and Kathy will be blamed by gay and straight Hollywood alike. The IRS is calling you out, Kathy. What are you going to do?

The Ceasefire War in the Middle East

The NYT has an excellent piece today by Steven Erlanger that presents a picture of the real Middle East, not the one the Bush Administration tries to invent as a War on Terror. A senior Israeli official has admitted that Israel's operation in Lebanon was less successful than it might have been if they hadn't tried to win with just an air war. He still maintains, however, that Hezbollah's fighting capability has been dramatically degraded.

The ceasefire is in place in order to put off another showdown for a later day. The next time, and there will be a next time, the Israelis will have had time to assess this operation and see what changes need to be made.

"But in the long run, if we see Hezbollah rearming itself and running southern Lebanon, I believe the next round is coming.” After all, “this is the Middle East,” the officer said. “One war ends, and the next one is already at the door.”" (The Times also has an article today on the Israeli commando raid aiming to stop rearmament of Hezbollah.)

This is a concept (endless war without a definitive result) that Bush and his Armageddon Administration group doesn't get. They keep naively waiting for an apocalyptic clash between good and evil to resolve everything.

If it's not Iraq, it must be Iran and Syria. That absurd apocalyptic vision of the Middle East conflict is only subscribed to by the religious and monetarily gullible followers of Jerry Falwell and the neocon-artists. It will not happen in their lifetimes, as it has not in the lifetimes of billions of other people who came before us.

Back to reality: "Furthermore, he (the senior Israeli officer) made it clear that Sheik Nasrallah remained a target as the leader of a group that Israel and the United States have labeled terrorist. “There’s only one solution for him,” he said. At another point, he said simply, “This man must die.”" So the Middle East war continues at a slower pace for now.

Even despite the success claimed by the officer in the Times article there will plenty of criticism in the Israeli Knesset of the war. Don't be surprised if Bibi Netanyahu and Likud return to rule. That will bring the next confrontation that much sooner.

Bush's August Surprise

The opposition party always worries about an "October surprise" in the run-up to every national election. This year it seems that Boy George is getting a surprise every month, regardless of what the Republicans do in October.

The more I read the article in the Washington Post about the Bush luncheon the other day, the more I laugh myself into tears. He actually expressed surprise and frustration at the Iraqi Shiite demonstration in Baghdad in support of Hezbollah's Shiites during the conflict with Israel.

At the luncheon that I referred to in my sarcastic post yesterday about not cutting and running, he listened to some half-baked professor from Rutgers expound about a domino effect if Iraq fell (to whom?). A totally senseless theory, since what would follow would be a stateless religious war between the Shiites and the Sunnis throughout the Middle East.

That war would be even more vicious because of racial differences. The Iranians are not Arabs (I don't know if Bush knows that). They are not a semitic people. They are known to persecute the Arabs who live in Iran, regardless of the fact that those Arabs are also Shiites.

The Iranians are also not the original Persians, who had a much more sophisticated society. They are an Indo-European people who migrated from the north centuries ago. The only unifying force these racial and religious antagonists have to keep them from killing each other right now is the U.S. presence in Iraq and the state of Israel.

And here's Boy George at lunch (hopefully not talking with his mouth full), "very engaged," in listening to some goofball professor talk about a domino theory. He's also "frustrated" that the Iraqis don't appreciate what we've done for them (has he seen pictures of their neighborhoods lately?), that the Iraqis are "not on board," and that some of the demonstrators even yelled "Death to America."

The man who didn't know that there was a Shia and a Sunni sect in Islam until two months before the invasion continues to flout his cultural ignorance. He can eat lunch with the experts from now until the day he leaves office. This man is incapable of understanding what a quagmire he has created for our country. He's just too dumb. Ask conservative talk show host, Joe Scarborough.

People Who Refer to "Osama" and Other Miscellany

1. It irritates me no end when some American "expert" on TV, in order to show how well he is acquainted with the subject of the Middle East or of terrorism, refers to Osama Bin Laden as "Osama." Are they trying to give the impression that they've met him at a cocktail party or that they're alumni of the same madrassa?

It grates on the ear to hear the cold-blooded murderer of over 3,ooo Americans referred to familiarly by his first name. "Well I expect Osama will do this," or "When Osama has wanted to terrorize people," etc. I think most people reserve first names for those they know and/or admire, like a "Tiger" or a "Phil."

2. I think the best correspondents, day in and day out, during the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict were Janet Griffin, the head Fox News Middle East bureau, based in Beirut, and Ben Wedeman, the CNN correspondent in Lebanon. Both showed great knowledge of the people and their cultures. Both knew where to go to find the best stories. Not coincidentally they both live there everyday. No one from MSNBC stands out in memory, just like their ratings.

Each of the cable news anchors, Cooper, Blitzer, and Shephard Smith did their mandatory week of service there and then came back to the studio. Brian Williams went but I can't think of anyone from MSNBC itself.

3. I see Raul Castro has called up the reserves in Cuba in anticipation of the latest imminent U.S. invasion. This is probably the 40th time in 50 years the Castros have wasted eveyone in the country's time. It just shows that in Cuba you gotta keep 'em scared and distracted, or they might think their country's a little behind the times and needs a change.

See you on the beach, Raul. Which way is the Bay of Pigs?

The Lieberman Conundrum

Now that the party celebrating the defeat of Joe "Me First" Lieberman is over, Democrats and fellow bloggers are realizing the danger of his independent candidacy. Joe's decision to be the Bush Administration's quisling is not surprising.

Bush's kisses, and heavy political petting by Karl Rove, were bound to get Joe to go all the way.

Joe will still have all the advantages of incumbency in November, except now he will be bankrolled by establishment Republicans rather than establishment Democrats.

Lamont should still run primarily as an anti-war Democrat. It's the way he beat Joe the last time and the way he can beat him again. Remember a lot of Republicans also want out of the fruitless undertaking that is Iraq. Getting out of Iraq is their number one issue too.

Lamont should show all the pictures of Joe with Bush that he can. Bush's approval rating is about 36%. The Republicans may think Joe is being helped by being the only nominal Democrat invited to bill signings, but Bush is still the kiss of death for most Republicans and Independents.

Certainly Lamont should show the public that Joe is an opportunistic power-monger, more interested in staying in the Senate than doing the right thing. He also needs to show that Joe's positions are closer to Bush than to the Democratic Party.

Put Joe on the defensive about his plans to get us out of Iraq. Let him explain how he can still morally support a war started under false pretenses. Ask him if he remembers the Vietnam war and what his position was.

When he asks you for a date for withdrawal, ask him whether an open-ended commitment of our troops is good for them. How many more years does Joe think it will take to get us out, and does he think the American people willing to "stay Joe's course?"

Remember, no matter what Joe talks about, whether radical liberals, gays and marriage, soft on terrorism, the issue is Iraq. Despite what Al Sharpton calls "inclusiveness," it will be a great mistake not to limit his presence in the campaign if you want Republican votes. The Democrats don't need "Me First" Sharpton in the party anymore than they need "Me First" Joe Lieberman.

Make Bush Joe's albatross, not Sharpton or gay marriage yours. There is no puzzle that can't be solved. Finally, establish that "supporting the troops" at this point means bringing them home, not leaving them as sitting ducks in the desert.

JonBenet Ramsey Killer

The biggest irony present in the JonBenet case today is that people are now exonerating John Mark Karr of her murder as quickly as they convicted him when he was arrested.

This speedy "not guilty" verdict is all based on "contradictory statements" that he supposedly made to Thai police when he confessed. The problem with that proposition is that the Thai police are now backing off what they first reported Karr told them.

Two very important points that the Thai police now have told AP that Karr did not confess to: 1.) drugging the girl; or, 2.) that he picked her up from school on what would have been Christmas vacation. The Thai detective now remembers he had seen the Christmas story "fact" in a documentary.

Those two points are the main ones being used by the usual suspect "experts" on cable news, and by pundits throughout media land to exonerate this guy.

Once again rampant speculation is loose among the media, this time exonerating someone who has yet to undergo a professional examination of his confession. Let the DA do her job. She is already being ridiculed and she hasn't even had a chance to question the suspect.

One additional note. Assume Karr is only a stalker of JonBenet and not her killer. If he is proved to be a pedophile, though, do you want the creep out on the street again? I raised that issue in my post on 8/17.

Should we, as a society, really be letting untreatable pedophiles back into neighborhoods to prey again? I think not.

Andrew Young's Wal-Mart Quandry

Poor Andrew Young. A man who dedicated his life to equality of treatment for blacks has been hoist upon the petard of a new era of acceptable free speech.

His reference to ethnic and racial "groups" as opposed to individuals is no longer acceptable in America's rapidly diversifying society.

I sympathize with him, though, because during the era in which he grew up ethnic stereotyping was acceptable, and accepted, as part of the whole idea of the "melting pot." If you grew up during that time there were neighborhoods that were identified by their ethnicity or race: Polish, Czech, Serb, etc.

This is not to justify what he said about Jews, Koreans, and Arabs as groups. But merely to put into context why he would make a remark like that without realizing he would give offense in today's society.

Why We can't "Cut and Run" from Iraq

All of the reasons being given for not "cutting and running" from Iraq are the same ones the Democrats and Republicans gave at the end of the Vietnam War. It would embolden our enemies. It would cause a "domino effect" of Asian countries falling to communism.

The biggest reason given is that it would ruin our reputation abroad. John Prescott, Deputy PM in Tony Blair's government, on Wednesday called the Bush administration's policy in Iraq "crap". China's ambassador to the U.N. dismissively told the U.S. yesterday it would be better for the U.S. to "shut up" about China's growing military capability.

I'd say from those comments that our reputation abroad is already damaged badly. It can only be repaired over time by getting out of Iraq, as we did Vietnam, and restoring our image as a world peacemaker rather than warmonger.

It's hard to believe that anyone in their right mind could use the phrase "domino effect" after it was totally discredited by our retreat from Vietnam. Vietnam is now a trading partner and Thailand never fell to communists. The countries that did go were going to go communist anyway due to the inherent weaknesses of their governments.

People who are making domino effect arguments, as Eric Davis a Rutgers political science professor did at a meeting with President Bush, should be required to repeatedly watch film clips of the helicopters landing on the roof of the American embassy in Vietnam to evacuate our embassy employees as the North Vietnamese entered the embassy grounds.

To give him the benefit of the doubt, I assume Professor Davis wasn't born during the Vietnam War, and hasn't read a lot about it. I also find it questionable why he released a self-promotional copy of his remarks at the luncheon to the press. Anthing to get on TV, I guess.

Believe me, Professor, helicopters airlifting Americans out of the "Green Zone" will look much worse than what comes afterward. There is no such thing as a "domino effect" which assumes an orderly fall of governments. We will reap what we sowed in the Middle East: chaos and destabilization.

The Courts Catch Bush Again

I know the ruling is subject to appeal. Once again, though, Bush has been caught claiming that he can decide on his own what's constitutional in his self-proclaimed War on Terror.

Today, once again, just as in the Gitmo case, a lower court reminded him that no one branch of government can run the country as it arbitrarily wishes just because it calls whatever it is doing a 'war'. (See my post of 6/29.)

The warrantless wiretapping scheme should be seen in the same light as Bush's Gitmo trial scheme. The wiretapping program without a warrant was another attempt by the radical right to arrogate power to the executive branch without regard to law or the separation of powers.

It's one thing for the Bushies to hate lawyers (although I'll bet Cheney's happy to have a good one). It's another thing to hate the constraints of the Constitution and the law itself.

Rising Rate of Attacks by Iraqis on U.S. Troops

The NYT has a front page article on how attacks on American troops have increased again after having been down for a while. Of course they've increased! Boy George has brought more troops back into Baghdad.

Are they carrying out military missions? No. They are acting like policeman trying to keep two warring gangs apart. They weren't trained for that role, and their presence will only make the insurgency more anti-American than sectarian if it continues.

The only way to stop the sectarian civil war would be to crack down hard on the centers of the death squads. We would have to "Fallujah" the Mahdi Army and Sadr City to have any chance of stopping Shiite death squads. Just like invading North Vietnam, that is no longer politically possible.

Why? Because the Bush Administration has staked its strategy for a "free Iraq" on a coalition, unity government that is supposed to work everything out amicably. That would be quite a feat since the unity government has representatives of the death squads as members of the government.

So now the Bushies are guilty of the same strtategy as they (as Young Republicans) criticized the Democrats and the peace movement for during the Vietnam war. The military is not being allowed to win the war anymore. There are too many political constraints on what it is allowed to do in order to win.

A military that is forced to be a police force is a sitting duck. Expect American casualties rates to start rising rapidly again. If you can't win, get out: now.

Senator George Allen's Racism

It's disturbing, but not unexpected. Have you ever listened to him on Fox News?

There's a larger issue than racism for this presidential wannabe.
The man can barely put a sentence together in any form of logical order.

He's as inarticulate and dumb as Dubya.

JonBenet Ramsey-Habitual Sex Offenders

John Mark Karr. A plain vanilla name. Unremarkable throughout his life except that now he is known as the habitual pedophile who killed a little girl in a sensational case. If you think he's not a serial pedophile you do not know the breed.

I had a neighbor who not only sexually assaulted his own son but his son's friends over a period of years. Thank God I only had a little daughter and his pedophilia was concentrated on little boys. They can't control their compulsion. That's what makes them habitual, serial offenders.

Society has found no way to cure nor rehabilitate them. Yet the criminal justice system continues to let them back out on the street. You have a better chance of rehabilitating a first degree murderer than you do a habitual sex offender.

Our society cannot seem to admit that this is a serious problem that cannot be solved. Americans have a hard time doing that whenever faced with a problem.

If we admit that the sex offender problem is unsolvable, then we have to admit that the only way to protect society from habitual sex offenders is to keep them locked up until they can truly be treated successfully. That means possibly depriving a person of their liberty for the rest of their life.

Jailing anyone for life for a non-homicidal act is difficult to countenance. But if we allow habitual sex offenders back on the street, we will have to continue to face the consequence that there will be more JonBenet Ramseys.

White House Says No Civil War in Iraq

It's just a bunch of "sectarian operations" going on, said Press Secretary Tony Snow. That's right, where people of the same country are killing each other.

Wait I thought that was the definition of civil war?

We're going back to the days of Vietnam "doublspeak", like good old "protective reaction strikes". Remember those? In real English it meant bombing runs.

Hezbollah to New Orleans

I see where Hezbollah is rapidly cleaning up Beirut and providing rent and furniture for a year for bombed-out residents. Iran is said to be doing the financing.

Do you think we can get Hezbollah to take FEMA's place in New Orleans? This will get them out of south Lebanon and provide the residents of New Orleans a much more efficient restoration of the city.

In turn, Hezbollah will lose its religious fanaticism after a few visits by its clerics to the French Quarter.

It solves Israel's problems with the ceasefire, and Bush's problems with a shameful lack of timely restoration of New Orleans. Maybe Iran will even finance New Orleans reconstruction.

Cable News on a Slow News Day

A 60 year old woman had a panic attack on an airliner from UK to DC. Plane diverted to Logan in Boston.

All three cable news networks are beating the story to death. It's been "Breaking News" for the last three hours. Constant televised pictures of people calmly getting off the plane. Constant announcements that it is not terror-related. Detailed "analysis" of how passengers might have reacted on the airplane.

Psychologists called upon to describe how a person feels during a panic attack as the networks try to spread panic attacks with fake news.

I wonder why the Daily Show is so popular? The cable networks fake news is almost as funny. It must be the time slot.

Today was the Day

Thanks again to Pakistan and the UK for saving us from another day of infamy.

Free Speech, Gore Vidal and TV Censorship

I recently read an essay by Gore Vidal, dated 1956, about censorship of material written for TV back in the 1950's when he was doing television playwrighting.

The tone of the essay is a somewhat surprised and bemused admiration by Vidal for the unintended benefit of TV censorship. He discovered that it actually required a playwright/screenwriter to be more creative than a lack of censorship would. I agree.

He wrote: "More often than not, the tension between what one is not allowed to say and what one must say creates ingenious effects which, given total freedom, might never have been forced from the imagination." He went on, "With patience and ingenuity there is nothing that the imaginative writer cannot say..."

My first thought after I read the essay was of "Seinfeld" and how many of their ingenious references could have gotten by a censor in much cruder form, to the viewer's detriment, if they hadn't self-imposed censorship on their writers.

What Seinfeld devotee can forget the reference to "south of the equator" a hilariously clever reference to a sex act that could, and has been, crudely referred to in other TV sitcoms or movies?

The possibility that censorship of free speech, at least in the entertainment field, might actually create better writing seems counter-intuitive. That is why I think Vidal was so surprised by its effect on TV writing, since he would be the last person to endorse limits on free speech in other areas of society.

The indirect reference or clever double entendre has almost disappeared from TV and film. Their disappearance has led to a youth culture being brought up on a definition of "comedy" as a collection of ham-handed bathroom scenes, bad language and crude references to bodily functions that anyone could write, and that Vidal would find offensive. Too bad.

From Tricky Dick to Tricky Rick

The Republican party has a long history of dirty tricks, culminating in the Nixon re-election campaign of 1972.

In the tricky Dick tradition, "Tricky Rick" Santorum's Senate campaign in Pennsylvania has seemingly been caught with its donors financing petition drives to put the Green Party on the ballot.

Objective: siphon votes from the Casey campaign.

Santorum staffers have also been pretty convincingly accused of forging voter signatures on the Green Party petitions.

I don't know, Ricky. I get the feeling we're not going to have you around to kick anymore after November.

CNN Anchor Apology to the al-Qaeda Candidate.

CNN anchor newsreader, Chuck Roberts, apologized to Ned Lamont for calling him the al-Qaeda candidate. His excuse was that he was "stupidly ad-libbing" according to the Crooks and Liars blog.

Read the post below about Bush and his "folks", Chuck. Stick to the script, please. You're paid to read a teleprompter, not ad-lib. It's obvious why you shouldn't.

Uh-Oh, Them "Folks" are Back

Yes. He really did say it again. He referred to an extremist group of "Folks" again. Just like he did on the day of the 9/11 tragedy. He referred to the barbarians, the terrorists, the species of lower-life known as al-Qaeda that day as just "folks".

"Folks" sounds like some friendly people you're going to invite over for a barbeque, Mr. President.

Stick to your script, please. I've never heard anybody say that this man has "grown in office." I doubt I ever will.

Syria's Assad Gloats after Shooting Self in Foot

Bashar al-Assad, hereditary ruler of Syria, demonstrated what a rookie he is to Middle East politics. This is the problem with hereditary rule like Assad's. The next generation is never as smart or able as the preceding one. In a speech yesterday, he acted as though the latest conflict was an unconditional win for Hezbollah, Iran, and Syria.

Let's take inventory of Syria's gains. Syria, like Iraq under Hussein, is a secular country, strictly committed to keeping religious influence out of politics. It has now aligned itself with two radical Shia groups who probably view Assad as an infidel.

Syria had no skin in the game, since it didn't dare put a plane in the air or a soldier on the ground in Lebanon, so it gained nothing but closer ties with its two new "friends."

Assad's home was buzzed by Israeli jets even before the conflict began without any challenge from his air force. The Syrian air force may not even have known Israel was in its airspace.

Thanks to his covert backing of Hezbollah, Assad has also again managed to lose the return of the Golan Heights to Syria for another generation. Celebration of any Middle East "victory" is always short-lived. Ask the Israelis.

He has also managed to further antagonize the United States. The one thing the three stooges just won't seem to admit is that, whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge, bottom line, the United States will never let Israel be destroyed.

Until they accept that premise, it is only a matter of time before their cities are turned to rubble again.

What Now? Oh, No! Iraq

The Israeli-Hezbollah story has only a few more days of play left in it if the ceasefire holds. How many more stories can the media run on whether liquid gel will be allowed on airplanes? Maybe that's why Boy George is visiting the National Anti-Terror Center today.

The lack of other wars or acts of terror is going to resurrect the mess in Iraq back onto the front pages and TV screens of American voters. And there American kids being killed over there.

Iraq is the only story left that will have legs going into the November elections. Not good for Republicans or Bush.

Busy First Day Back from Vacation for Boy George

Back from vacation, Boy George plunged right into his official duties. He held a meeting at the Pentagon with Rummy to tell him what a great job he's doing in watching Iraq and the Republican Congress go down the drain.

Then he was off to New York to sweep city streets as part of his community service sentence for illegal use of drugs. People out there really need to know that there are those who "really want to hurt" us.

Then he was scheduled to give an address at the State Department on the Israeli-Hezbollah ceasefire.

CNN's Terror Campaign

MSNBC and Fox are playing it pretty straight on news coverage of the terror plot in London. CNN has entitled today "Target:USA" with everything in the crosshairs.

They are spending all their broadcast time telling everyone what to fear, what's not secure on an airplane, and why you should be afraid to travel yet. You'd think they were a Rupert Murdoch station. Pretty disgraceful.

CBS News Poll-No Help for Bush from Terror Plot

Bush, who never reads polls (Rove does it for him), will be disappointed by the latest CBS Poll.

The London terror plot hasn't moved his approval rating one jot. He's still at a 36% approval rating overall. On handling terrorism he's at the same 51%.

And this is even though Ned Lamont, "the al-Qaeda candidate" won in Connecticut. Thought for sure that Dicko nailed the Dems on that one.

That darn Iraq. People just won't forget about it.

Michigan Cellphone Buyers Update

The three Arab-Americans who were caught buying a thousand cellphones in Michigan had also done the same thing in Mesquite, Texas near Dallas.

They evidently had bought in other midwestern states as well.

Iranian President Publishes New Website

Hackers for freedom unite! It's time to bring little Mr. Ahmadinejad's little metaphorical website plane down.

The Brits "War for Hearts and Minds"

That saying is one of the most self-deceptive expressions in modern times. The Brits will not win hearts and minds when they allow hate speech and rallies among Muslims or any other group.

The most effective way to win the war on terror in England is to not to attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim hate-mongers who are corrupting Muslim youth. Deport their hearts, minds and anatomies on an airplane to their country of origin.

Even if they were born in England, let them enjoy the Islamic "democracy" of the country from whence their descendants fled.

Also, let us know when someone does win the hearts and minds of a determined, fanatical enemy. It will be the first time in history.

Israel and Hezbollah Jockey for Position

CNN can run that cheesy clock about when the ceasfire begins, but after it hits zero there won't be an end to the fighting.

The inherent contradictions in the ceasefire resolution guarantee that. Israel won't stop until the international force is in, and Hezbollah is north of the Litani River. Hezbollah won't stop until the international force is in, and Israel is out of Lebanon.

No clock is going to solve that problem. I wouldn't expect the international force to be trying to meet that deadline. Only when UN boots are on the ground will both sides have saved face enough to back off what has been a stalemate for both, a victory for neither.

However, the media cannot exist without a black and white winner and loser. Whoever "wins" will be whomever manipulates the media the best. I think Hezbollah will win this round because expectations were so low going into the fight. Not unlike American politics. Perception is reality.

Bush's Stateless Terrorism

One of the things the Bush Administration emphasizes over and over again is that terrorism is extremely difficult to fight because it is not a nation state. It has no boundaries since it is an ideology.

They never seem to conclude from those premises that their invasion of Iraq destroyed a nation state and made it one of the largest stateless places for breeding terrorism in the world.

New Terrorist Legal Defense

Police in Michigan arrested three men of Arab descent in Michigan and have charged them with a terrorist plot to blow up the Mackinac bridge there. The police believe they had purchased over a 1,000 untraceable cellphones to facilitate the plot. They also might have been involved in shipping them overseas.

The men have come up with a novel legal defense. It could be called the "I'm just an ordinary crook" defense. They say they were buying the cellphones to resell them in Texas, where they live, for a profit.

Slick operators. Either they were engaged in terrorism or they're as smart as Newman and Kramer in the "Seinfeld" episode when they were taking empty glass bottles from New York to Michigan to get refunds for returnables.

In either case, crook or terrorist, they are awfully dumb. If I was an Arab-American I wouldn't do anything out of the ordinary these days.

The Unusual Suspects

How many times have we seen it over the last ten years? Not only about the young UK men who tried to bomb 10 transatlantic flights but a whole spectrum of criminals in the US and throughout the world.

"He was such a nice young man." "He was very polite, very quiet." "I can't believe he would take part something like that." "Come to think of it his behavior had changed lately." "He was more withdrawn." The problem is that we always hear about the change in behavior after the violence occurs.

I think someone should have a talk with the Israelis. They have dealt with suicide bombers for years. They probably have a profile of one.

One thing I have noticed is that most are young, known as timid, and are followers by nature. Given an authoritarian, older person they seem easily persuaded to do radical things.

"If someone told you to jump off a bridge would you do it just because they told you to?" How many of us have heard that from our parents, as succinct advice to think for yourself? It seems like the answer for most of these suicidal jihadis is "Yes."

Then the question is "Why?"

British Arrest 24 Terrorists, Pakistan Arrests 9

Bush takes credit. Go figure.

Israel Takes Boy George to School

Thank heaven Israel knows what it is doing in the Middle East. By entering into a ceasefire at this point they are acting in their own best interests, instead of the interest of Bush and his neocon-artists.

The Israeli government knows it lives in a tough neighborhood. Despite repeated attempts by Boy George to enlist them in his "War on Terror," and expand the war in the Middle East, the Israelis refused.

Recognizing that their initial strategy of waging an air war and limited strikes into southern Lebanon was a failure, they used the threat of full-scale invasion to force an end to hostilities.

Unlike what Bush is doing in Iraq they adapted deftly to the surpise of Hezbollah's strength, and have put off a final showdown for a later day. The next time, and there will be a next time, they will have had time to assess this operation and see what changes need to be made.

While Bush flounders by "staying the course" in Iraq, the more experienced Israelis knew when to stop. Withdrawal from southern Lebanon will not be considered "cutting and running" in Israel. It is a tactical manuever.

Certainly, implementation of the ceasefire can go haywire, but Israel has conducted its foreign policy in a much more sophisticated way than Bush has conducted ours.

Republicans Affirm that Ousting Lieberman was Correct

When Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Ken Mehlman are the only ones concerned with Lieberman's loss you know the Democrats did the right thing.

A Disturbing Luncheon on Immigration

I live in one of our states on the Mexican border in a very heavily populated metropolitan area. As you can imagine there are many Hispanic residents in the area.

I went to what I felt would be a rather mundane luncheon where a local law enforcement officer was the speaker.

However, when he began to talk about his experience with illegal immigrants it was disturbing. Let me start by saying I don't believe in trying to soften a person's illegal actions using mild, vague terms, like "undocumented." If you are undocumented you're illegal.

The speaker began by saying that 30% of the inhabitants of the county jail were illegal immigrants (remember a very large county and population) . They weren't arrested for being illegal immigrants. Only Homeland Security can actually arrest and deport them for being illegal.

That 30% of the county prison population has been arrested for allegedly committing some form of street crime, from theft to murder.

Since the law bars the jail from working the prisoners they watch TV and teach each other how to be better criminals when they've done their time. Then they're back out on the street until their deportation hearing, at which they may or may not show up.

If you think that illegal immigrants are all Hispanic you are wrong. There is also a large influx of Arabs, many from Yemen according to the speaker. They pay their guides as much as $15,000 to get across the border.

The cost to taxpayers is enormous to house and feed the jail population and provide other illegals social services, like schooling and medical care. Immigration advocates always argue that the "undocumented" pay sales tax so that they are not a burden on state resources.

Well, they don't pay any income taxes, and the cost of the social services they receive are much more than any revenue they produce in sales tax.

If you think illegals are only doing jobs others won't do, you're talking out of the top of your hat. That proposition has never been tested. If it's proven true then a guest worker program can be devised to fill any labor shortages.

My conclusion: build a wall first, fix the rest of the problem later. So much tax money is being wasted due to illegal immigration. We won't even know the full extent until we get control of the border.

MSNBC Finally Finds a Role for Tucker Carlson

MSNBC has finally found a role for Tucker Carlson, the high school graduate who delivers antediluvian opinions for conservatives on that network.

He's being shipped over to ABC for a role in "Dancing with the Stars."

I wonder what star he'll dance with on the show?

If that gig doesn't work out he could easily win "Who Wants to be a Clown?"

Unsolicited Advice for Democrats

The Huffington Post is headlining a Agence France Presse article in which the White House sees yesterday's airline terror attempt to "play big" for Republicans in the fall elections. they hope to talk about it instead of the war in Iraq. Knowing Cheney, he'll try to tie it into the Iraq war, like Lieberman's loss in the primary.

Some simple advice for Democrats. When Republicans talk about the War on Terror, say Iraq. Never debate them on grounds where you agree with them. Acknowledge that there are true terrorists that must be killed. But Iraq is not part of that. Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. That's all any Democrat should be talking about this fall. Don't get off that topic.

One final thing. Keep Al Sharpton off your podium. He is one of the most polarizing, antagonizing characters in American politics. If you really want independents to vote for you keep the old publicity hound off camera. His face on Lamont's podium is not a good way to start that campaign.

Gay rights is also what this campaign is not about. It is about Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Keep it simple. Get off topic and kiss your chances to win back either House of Congress.

Another Reluctant Ally on Bush's War on Terror

Bush may not know what is in America's best interest in the Middle East, but the Israelis are showing that they know what is in their's. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have been holding off ceasefire attempts so that Israel could strike deeper into Lebanon.

Despite what an article in Insight.com today said about a Bush neocon calling and yelling at a senior Israel to attack deeper inside Lebanon, the Israeli government has held off pushing to the Litani River on the ground.

Unlike Bush, the Israelis know full well that their conflict is not part of a War on Terror, anymore than Iraq is for the United States. Unlike Bush, they are acting in their own best interest, not in Bush's.

The Israelis have to live in the Middle East after our troops and Bush are gone and they know that they cannot afford to fight wars of attrition. To them this is just another chapter in a long-running conflict, not part of Bush's War on Terror.

This is something Bush needs to learn the next time the Israelis and the American neocons try to convince him that acting in Israel's best interests is the same as acting in America's best interests.

The Historical Questions about Today's Terrorist Plot

There are details and then there are the larger historical questions when certain events occur. The great historical questions that arise from today's attempted terrorist plot to bring down trans-Atlantic flights will be debated for years.

The questions:

1. Did the U.S. invasion of Iraq allow Muslim extremists to radicalize the younger generation of Muslims in western societies?

2. Did the invasion of Iraq create fewer or more terrorists?

3. Did the invasion of Iraq bring us closer to winning the war on terror, or prolong it and create a larger battlefield for the war?

4. Will Iraq be seen as a watershed event in the history of the American Empire, or just another worthless Vietnam adventure?

Islamo-What?

I was wondering, who was the lexicogicographical genius that came up with the term "Islamo-fascism?" What an awkward mouthful. Aren't Bin Laden and his buddies just Islamic terrorists, or extremists, or fundamental...

That's the problem. Bush and Fox News don't want to refer to them as Islamic "fundamentalists." It would invite comparisons with US Christian fundamentalist preachers and Boy George supporters like Jerry Falwell, John Hagee and Pat Robertson.

Some of the comparisons about intolerance, incorrect and self-serving interpretations of Scripture, demonization of foes, and trying to impose a theocracy on nation states might become a little too close for comfort for Boy George. Of course for Americans you'd also have to add the extra term "greed" since the TV evangelists are as rich as Croesus.

Yes. Stay away from the word "fundamentalism" George, it might reflect back upon you.

Cheney Resurfaces-To Say Something Stupid

According to Think Progress the Veep held a conference call yesterday (from NORAD HQ?). He immediately exhibited the kind of stupidity that would make anyone want him to stay hidden.

He said that the primary defeat of Joe Lieberman would send a "disturbing" message to the terrorists that they could break America's will in the War on Terror.

Yep. I'll bet on election night Bin Laden, Zawahiri, and their cohorts were watching the results of the Connecticut primary (rather than planning the mass destruction of airplanes flying to the U.S. from the U.K.).

I can see the terrorists with blue state/red state maps waiting for the results to come in from Hartford.

I also noted that there were 33 innocent Iraqis killed, 108 injured, in a suicide bomb attack near the sacred Imam Ali Shiite shrine in An Najaf today.

I guess the suicide bomber was also encouraged by Lieberman's defeat. How else to explain such a senseless, cruel and bloody act?

Homegrown Terrorists

The worst part of the news is that, once again, the terrorists are U.K. homegrown young men of Pakistani descent. They are now saying 50 were involved, 21 arrested. The U.K., and, therefore, the U.S. has got a big problem on their hands when a large segment of their population are potential suspects.

What do you do with a situation where the terrorists are your own citizens? Can any country wait until a terrorist plot has gotten as far along as this one seems to have and be 100% successful each time?

Huge Terrorist Plot-Cheney was in the Bunker

I've been having some fun with Cheney's disappearance for the last two or three days, but it did seem very suspicious that he wasn't being seen in public.

Looks like a huge terrorist plot.

Don't Miss Al Roker on the Today Show

He's out there on the streets of NY chirping away about a rock act to be shown later on "Today" as though nothing was happening while the other networks have gone to wall-to-wall terror coverage. Once a clown always a clown.

At least 21 arrested already in London.

The End of Carry-On Baggage

The explosives that were to be used were simple carry-on items. Say goodbye to your cell phones and computers on airplanes as well. They'll be considered potential detonating devices.

British Airways has even banned purses on planes today.

ABC's Report on the Terrorist Plot

Brian Ross reported on ABC that the plot was to take three planes down every hour for three hours, a total of nine planes flying from England to the U.S.

See You at the Litani River

Two days ago John Bolton was describing a joint Franco-American U.N. ceasefire resolution as a fantastic victory. Two things went wrong. One, Lebanon and the other Arabs hadn't been consulted. Two, Bolton evidently doesn't know that "draft" doesn't mean "final."

What to do? Send Fox naif Brent Baier out to report that the French caved on everything the Arabs wanted. Bolton, who seems to be an eager UN particpant now that he's ambassador, once again seems unable to grasp how to negotiate a deal.

The Israelis, who relied too much on airpower at the start of the conflict, are now invading southern Lebanon on the ground like they mean it. Bolton may get his ceasefire, but not until the Israelis obtain their strategic objective. Nasrallah better start looking for a bus out of town.

Breaking Nudes!!!

Janet Jackson has lost sixty pounds and is posing topless on the cover of some magazine. Don't get too excited. She has them covered by a necklace and arm.

She could be in perfectly great shape for her age. I still can't imagine waking up in the morning next to someone who looks like Michael three operations ago.

Thoughts While Waiting for Godot, WW III & Cheney

I know Godot won't show since I've read the play. I've been asking Newt to tell me what happened to WW III since he "connected the dots" and declared it on July 31. No answer.

And Cheney? Hospital, bunker, or what? Where is he? War in Iraq. Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. Where is the acting president? No, not Boy George, even though he is only acting like one.

Did those Egyptian "students" who didn't report to school at Montana State kidnap him? Or did they just find out that global warming hasn't made it to Montana in the winter time and headed for Florida?

Is Dick following the Madonna tour taking notes on how many times she wears her crown of thorns and otherwise commits acts of terror and bad taste like the vulgarian she is?

Dick needs to show himself in order to spare us all this useless speculation. Don't you miss that smiling sneer?

Lieberman as as Independent? What's the Point?

No matter how often you drain the swampland on which Washington D.C. is built, people like Joe Lieberman still get "Potomac Fever."

They can't give up the power and prestige of being a U.S. Senator until there are no ballots left to be cast.

I'm sure the Liebermans will not be heading back home to Connecticut even if he loses as an independent. The "fever" will lead Joe to a job at a lobbying firm.

"Baby Boom" Anti-War Effect on the Iraq War

The sentiment against an extended war in Iraq has grown much more quickly than in the past. Part of the reason was that in the Gulf War we were able to get in and out quickly. The bombing of Serbia into submission was even quicker. We were promised more of the same by the Bush Administration in our WMD war in Iraq.

It was the Gulf War, though, that got us over the supposed "Vietnam Syndrome," misinterpreted by most conservatives as Americans not wanting to fight any war. Post-Vietnam society never really suffered from a "syndrome," which sounds like a serious mental malady.

Instead, U.S society had learned an important lesson; that the U.S. could not always impose its will on other countries. Americans of the "baby boom" lived, and many fought, through that senseless, bloody war.

Back in the 1960's and '70's the anti-war movement started on campuses and moved slowly into the social mainstream. Although not a movement today, Republicans should not forget that the boomers are still here, and do remember the real lessons of Vietnam. One is that there should be no open-ended commitments to war.

The people who started the Iraq war were the Young Republicans of the 1960's. They were the guys like Cheney with the short hair, rather than the long hair, who were avoiding the draft. There were no Young Democrats because the anti-war movement was a spontaneous movement, not a political one. The anti-war movement party didn't trust either political party.

Those Young (now old) Republicans who got us into Iraq, are the conservatives who totally misinterpreted Vietnam as a "sydrome" rather than a lesson to be learned about the limits of American power. Since they refused to learn that lesson, we are all paying the price in terms of dead soldiers, huge deficits, and no "light at the end of the tunnel."

Now the "boomers" are in their 50's and 60's, and once again see their country stuck in what seems an open-ended commitment to war, another one of the real lessons of Vietnam. That's why anti-war sentiment in the country has arisen so much more quickly over the Iraq war than it did in Vietnam.

The boomers are also now in the age range that produces the highest voter turnout. So beware pro-war politicians. Don't let the Vietnam Syndrome get you down, and out of elective office.

Joe's Still Got It Wrong

Joe Lieberman said he lost yesterday because of the excessive partisanship that has become part of politics. He's wrong. He lost to an opponent in his own party who ran an issue-oriented, anti-war campaign.

Lieberman's backing of a foolish president with a foolish foreign policy was not bipartisanship. It was foolishishness itself.

The Republicans should take note of what happened to Fox News' favorite Democrat. They know that anti-war sentiment isn't limited to Democratic voters.

Tip O'Neill used to say,"All politics is local." Well, when a young soldier is buried in your state or district as a casualty of this foolish war, that makes Iraq a very local issue.

Lieberman's Hacked Off

Joe Lieberman claims his website has been hacked by the oppostion. How he knows Lamont did it is not explained.

Does it really matter at this late date? Would it have made up the 5-6% he's down in the polls? Will it change one vote?

No, to all of the above.

Bush Takes Feminism Down Another Peg

If you didn't see the President's whole press conference on Lebanon yesterday, you missed him unconsciously (as usual) deal feminism another blow.

Throughout the press conference Bush repeatedly referred to his Secretary of State as "Condi" to answer a question about the proposed U.N. ceasefire resolution whenever he couldn't answer a question. You can imagine how many times he did it since it appeared he hadn't read it.

Many people will think, 'Well, they're close friends, so what?' True, but have you ever heard him address any of his other male cabinet members in public as "Dick", "Don", or "Al"? They are all referred to by their title and last name. And he's good friends with Dick, Don, and Al too.

Small point, but so revealing.

Misguided Views on Precision Guided Missles

The world's view of "precision weapons" has become so unrealistic that it has created a stunningly perverse consensus of how combat may be carried out during a war. This is especially true among the media, to whom the U.S. sold the idea of "precision" during the first Gulf War. The Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is a perfect example of this perversity.

The Israelis have precision guided weapons. Therefore, if they kill civilians the media immediately questions how they could do such a thing. Since the weapons are "precision" the media now believes that precison weapons should never miss a military target and hit civilians.

Conversely, and perversely, Hezbollah has unguided Katyusha rockets that they shoot off into Israel without any regard to where they fall or how many innocent civilians are killed. The media does not hold Hezbollah to any standard at all for killing innocent civilians, since Hezbollah doesn't have "precision" weapons.

This leads to the stunning and appalling conclusion that, in the age of televised war, you may be better off without precision guided weapons. Then, like Hezbollah, you can launch unguided missles all over an adversary's territory and never have to answer for the wanton and purposeful killing of innocent civilians.

It is logic turned upside down.

Where's Cheney?

Has anyone seen him or is Cheney in the "last throes" of his heart problem?

Whenever he disappears I never know whether his electric defibrillator is giving his heart shocks or if he's in a bunker because of a terrorist threat.

Homeland Security needs to come up the a "Cheney Threat Level " color coded system. Purple-heart problems. Black-terrorist threat.

Are You Ready for $4 per Gallon

BP has shut down its Prudhoe Bay oil and gas pipeline in Alaska. $4 per gallon is on its way. Will it reach $5.15 before Congress raises the minimum wage above that.

Just think, how would you like to work an hour on minimum wage and know that you can buy one gallon of gas with your labor?

I guess conservatives will call that a "work incentive".

Tour de Farce (Cont.)

Floyd Landis, the synthetic testosterone "winner" of the Tour de France appeared on CNN today. This is like a re-run of the Rafael Palmeiro steroids case.

First he proclaimed total innocence, then he said wait until the second test, which he also flunked. Now he says he cannot explain the results. The only difference is that he didn't point his finger at a congressional committee.

Next, he'll go into hiding like Palmeiro and issue a statement that one day he will clear himself. Then you'll never see him again. The worst thing about being a cheater like Landis is the glory and the shining moment the second place winner lost. I don't even know his name and the news stations don't seem to be interested enough to name him.

Maybe Landis and Palmeiro can join in the hunt with O.J. for the murderer of his wife. I heard there is a new documentary coming out showing Simpson looking for the killer in every night club he can find.

Newt Discovers Insurgency in Connecticut; Bush may "Cut and Run"

Everyone in Connecticut needs to start spying on their neighbor. Newt has uncovered an "insurgency" up there. Hezbollah? Al-Qaeda? No.

It's made up of people who want our troops out of Iraq and Joe Lieberman out of office. Has WW III come to our shores? Don't know. Once again Newt doesn't seem to want to connect the dots anymore.

Newt should investigate the Bush White House too. Newsweek reports that the Bush administration is contingency planning to "cut and run" if civil war starts. I don't know what they think is going on right now. A civil war started at least a year ago.

What an ironic legacy it will be. Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld bring the troops home not after bringing democracy to Iraq, but after creating the conditions for civil war in Iraq, and a regional war in the Middle East.

Newt, You Owe Us WW III

Newt, you said you connected all the dots and that WW III has started. Are you sure you connected properly? When I connect them I get a picture a of big windbag with your face on top with "Meet the Press" logos in the background.

Are you sure that you didn't mix those dots up with the dots on the War on Christmas?

WW III should be done and over by now, just like Iraq. And here you and your right-wing buddies can't even get it started.

St.Jimmy Criticizes St. George

I see where St. Jimmy of the Plains (GA) has criticized St. George, the Arab-slayer, for having an "erroneous" foreign policy in the Middle East. This is causing violence on both sides, Jimbo says.

Of course the Hezbollah side's violence has been funded and armed by St. Jimmy's own creation.
You may remember that St. Jimmy is the founder of the 1st Islamic Republic. The westernized Shah fell to the barbaric clerics of the Ayatollah Khomeini regime thanks to St. Jimmy's non-violent, pacifist policies.

In an odd convergence of ironic and similar historical results caused by divergent personalities, St. George is going to create the 2nd Islamic Republic because of his violent, jingoistic policies, the opposite reasons from St. Jimmy.

This foreign policy "stuff" is more subtle and complicated than either Saint understood when they were mistakenly given control of an office for which neither was qualified.

U.N. Ceasefire Resolution Passed

Great job. Only a few weeks of fighting left now that they've passed it.

Here's Hoping Castro Doesn't Die

If he dies it will be up to the Bush administration to deal with a post-Castro Cuba.

We'll end up having Katyusha rockets hitting Florida. WW III.1?

"Death to America" Rally in Iraq

Live over 30 years and life in the Middle East becomes a rerun of historical events. The Shiite rally in Baghdad had all the flavor of Iran in the 1970's. "Death to Israel" was also included, of course.

This is the result of Bush turning over Middle East policy to the Ariel Sharon when he first came into office. There is a substantial group of people in this country who believe that the U.S. interests are exactly the same as Israel's, President Bush included.

This is never the case in world affairs. It is not in our best interest to let Israel conclude its Lebanese military operation in any way it sees fit. This is serving only to ruin our reputation as an 'honest broker' in the Middle East. It is allowing our adversaries to argue that we always take Israel's side.

Who better to explain that to our ever-amateurish president than his own father and his secretary of state, James Baker. In an excellent article in the New York Times on August 2, Sheryl Gay Stolberg elucidates the differences in how they each handled the Middle East.

Needless to say, the experienced father handled the Israelis much more in our best interest. George the Elder was vilified for his even-handedness by those who want us to see Israel's strategic interests as the same as the U.S.

They are not, and the demonstrations in Baghdad prove it.

Pat Robertson Warms Up to Global Warming

Damn! Oops, sorry Pat. But just when I was sure global warming was real, you said you believed it was true.

You and I may be right but I'm still uncomfortable keeping company with you.

Just don't try to pray us out of it this time, please. And please don't ask me to send you money for some sham charity you set up to in order to pay or pray God off to stop it.

Maybe we can build a dyke together in New York City sometime. You can hold one up with your legs since you can lift two tons thanks to the carrot juice drink, or whatever it is, you make.

Shepherd me on this one, Pat. I am but a lamb and it's warm under this coat. Just don't shear me for my money.

St. Jimmy of the Plains (Georgia, that is)

Slate.com has an interesting article by Chris Suellentrop on how Jimmy Carter, our most sanctimonious president until George W. Bush, continues to cause trouble long after he was overwhelmingly thrown out of office in 1980 for incompetence.

Suellentrop focuses on Carter's free-lance actions undermining the policies of subsequent presidents, Bush the Elder and Bill Clinton. The only problem is that the writer doesn't go far enough in assessing the damage Carter's actions caused the U.S. in North Korea.

The agreement St. Jimmy came away with in 1994 was not only his own rather than Clinton's, it effectively let North Korea know that Clinton was ready to bomb its nuclear facilities out of existence.

This led to the hidden North Korean nuclear program, post-Jimbo agreement, discovered only in the past few years. The North Korean facilities are now dispersed and we don't know where they all are.

St. Jimmy's most historic accomplishment, however, was his founding of the first Islamic Republic in the world. It was his abandonment of the Shah of Iran that allowed the Shah to fall and Khomeini to return from exile in France.

Iran learned from St. Jimmy's subsequent trip to North Korea to disperse its nuclear facilities. The state department should lift his passport before he spreads peace and nuclear programs to other countries.

St. George is busily establishing the second Islamic Republic in Iraq. Stand by for further developments on that.

Manly-Man, Rob Schneider

Rob Schneider, faux comedian known mainly for toilet room jokes and gross-out movies took out a full page ad in Variety today.

In a preemptive strike against Mel Gibson's, next "Passion of the Christ, Part 2" (I don't think one's in the works), Schneider valiantly claims he would not work in the movie.

Why Gibson would want him since he can neither act nor be funny is beyond anyone's ability to understand.

Having upheld family values and stricken two blows against anti-semitism with his Deuce Bigelow, Male Gigolo Part 1 and Part 2, I guess he thought Mel might want him for the part of Mary Magdalene.

Good move, Rob. Now everyone in Hollywood knows where you stand, rather than what toilet seat you're occupying these days. You're a hero and all you had to do was run an ad. Good thinking.

It sure as hell beats serving in the Israeli army these days.

Madonna Does It Again

How the old girl is able to pull it off each time she does a concert tour is something. This time Madonna's reinvention of herself is just a re-re-invention, not even original. She did a similar gig in 1989 for the video "Like a Prayer", so this is not the very first time.

This time she wears a fashionable crown of thorns, together with an offsetting orange silk blouse, with black pants and matching knee-high boots. Undoubtedly the way Christ would have gone to the cross had there a decent fashion designer around A.D. 1.

There is no evidence of blood around the thorns, which would be declasse, nor anything else that could muss her makeup. She is tied to the first cross ever to have a microphone conveniently fitted near her mouth in case she wishes to sing "father forgive me for I know not what I do".

Of course, she does know what she's doing; her usual "outrageously" boring routine to get attention and raise ticket sales. This time she got all 3 faiths to denounce her so I'm sure the album will be double platinum.

Ironies of Life

Item 1: Two animal rights defenders were protesting the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn, Germany.

Suddenly, all two thousand pigs broke loose and escaped through a broken fence, stampeding madly. The two helpless protesters were trampled to death.

Item 2: The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez Oil spill in Alaska was $80,000.00.

At a special ceremony, two of the saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers.

A minute later, in full view of the attendees, a killer whale ate them both.

What happened to WW III ?

Boy, WW III sure ended quickly, didn't it? Only lasted one week. Not a word about it this week. I guess Newtie and his right-wing buddies couldn't sell that one.

Nothing like telling a war-weary country to prepare for a wider and longer war. Very deft political touch and timing, Newt. Looks like your 'big picture' isn't playing well on the small screen.

Please run for president in '08. The Democrats need you more than you will ever know.

Kurdish Leader Campaigns for Republicans

I saw that Mr. Talibani, President of Iraq, says that the Iraqi army should be able to take over all provinces in Iraq by December. It fits in great with the November elections in the U.S., doesn't it?

Of course it doesn't mean one extra American soldier could come home. We would still be "backing them up", like we're doing by sending 3,000 more troops to Baghdad, the capital city that they can't hold.

If I was a Republican candidate for Congress I wouldn't take that to the bank.

Lieberman Must Go

I don't know if you saw Ned Lamont of Connecticut on Colbert two nights ago. He is the kind of dynamic candidate the Democrats need to field if they are going to present a real alternative to Republicans in November.

People continue saying that the Democrats don't offer alternatives. Everyone across the political spectrum is worried about Iraq. Holding the Republicans responsible for the Iraq mess is as strong an alternative as there is.

The Democrats don't need a senator from Connecticut undercutting their best issue by appearing on Fox News and supporting Bush's policy. They need to speak with one voice, and its not Joe Lieberman's. This is not about likeability. This is about winning a crucial election.

Tour de Farce

If Floyd Landis' backup test confirms excessive testosterone, it will be a shame for American sportsmanship. The sport is so scandal-ridden it makes WWF look like a legitimate sport.

The only innocent party, who was accused the most of cheating, seems to be Lance Armstrong. Test after test proved him innocent. European allegation after allegation against him have proven false.

The Europeans, who seemed to have invented blood doping, have ruined one of their favorite sports. Not only by cheating but by trying for years to bring Armstrong down through spurious allegations.

"World Trade Center" Movie

I know its been almost 5 years. I didn't know anyone who died in the attack on the WTC. I still can't go to see a movie about it.

When I see the skyline of New York in any movie I think of those magnificent, missing towers. When I see an old movie with the towers it's still brings out a feeling of great sadness.

I'm not quarreling with the making of the movie. I just personally can't watch it. How do you feel about it?

Have You Seen a Picture of Raul Castro?

Raul looks like a real ball of fire. As a 75 year old "little brother" of Fidel, I'm sure he'll quickly reinvigorate Cuban communism, if he doesn't die from old age himself next week .

Castro's Illness

I'm not surprised it's an intestinal problem. He's been so full of it for so long it was bound to catch up with him.

I can see the headlines now: "Castro has intestinal surgery. Provisionally passes gas to brother, Raul."