Oooh, nuance!

THE SCENE: The Oval Office. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH is absent from the seat behind the desk. VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY squats there instead, toad-like, hands folded on his stomach, chin down, snoring gently. A large box on the desk reads: "DC TRANSLATOR - PUSH RED BUTTON TO ACTIVATE." There is a comfy-looking sofa on one side of the desk, and a couple of wing chairs rest on the other side.

The clock on the wall reads 8:59. It's morning, and the windows are full of light.

The clock hits 9:00. BUSH enters through a side door, wiping a little extra powder from under his nose.

BUSH [walking over to CHENEY, amped]: Woo-hoo! [shakes CHENEY awake] That was some good shit, Dick. Paraguay again?

CHENEY: [grouchy] Grrrmmm-mmrrrm-prrrrmmmm! [CHENEY only speaks in sneers and mumbles.]

BUSH: God bless it, I forgot again. [presses red button on DC translator] Say what, Dick?

CHENEY: I said, no, that's prime shit from Colombia. They're upping their production lately.

BUSH: [crossing to sofa next to desk and lying on it, hands crossed behind his head] Well, shit, freedom isn't free.

CHENEY: [rolling eyes] Sure, George, whatever you say. [brief, awkward pause]

BUSH: [fidgeting nervously] Heh-heh. Say, where's Bolty with my daily briefing? You know how I hate it when people are late.

[JOSH BOLTEN, Bush's Chief of Staff, enters through another door.]

BOLTEN [nervous]: H-h-hello, Mr. President. Mr. Vice President. I apologize for my inexcusable lateness, but there was a gas leak on my street, some houses exploded, and well, my wife and kids are dead. I had to make a few arrangements. [The clock on the wall still reads 9 am.]

BUSH: Gosh, that's terrible, Bolty. I hope you know that your wife and kids died as heroes. We're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here! [Bush smiles expectantly. Awkward pause again.]

BOLTEN: Uh, thanks, Mr. President. That was, um, very inspirational.

BUSH: Of course it was! Now, just give me my briefing, and you can have the rest of the day off for the memorial service and golfing.

BOLTEN: G-g-golfing, sir?

BUSH: Sure! That's what my parents did when my little sister died. Isn't that what everyone does? Help me out here, Dick?

CHENEY [rolling his eyes]: Mrrrmmmm-hmphmmm-grmmmm!

BOLTEN: Darned thing! Here, let me, Mr. President. [crosses to desk, hits Cheney translator a couple of times, presses the red button again]

BUSH: Heh-heh. Never mind, we'll catch you on the other side, Dick-o. So anyway, Bolty, how's Operation Loose End going?

BOLTEN: [cheering up a bit] Excellente, sir! [His Spanish accent is impeccable.]

BUSH [threatened]: Say what now?

BOLTEN [contritely]: Oh, I apologize for my poor pronunciation, sir. I mean [butchering the word] excellente! [sits in one of the wing chairs next to the desk]

BUSH [relieved]: Oh. Okay then! So, we finally got that asshole Maliki to open the gates? [CHENEY smirks widely.]

BOLTEN: Yessir, that mission is accomplished. Iraq's oil leases are ready for the taking.

CHENEY: Heckuva job, Georgie! Thank Halliburton that no one was able to get access to my secret energy meeting minutes before we invaded Iraq.

BUSH: Heh-heh. Yeah, Dick-o, wouldn't have been too good if the American people knew how you guys were already divvying up the pot back in Oh-One, now, would it? [All three snicker knowingly.]

BUSH: All right, Bolty, what other good news ya got for me?

BOLTEN: Well, sir, now that the North Koreans are no longer on the Axis of Evil - good job there, Mr. President - we've only got two countries left to invade. Which one should we bomb?

[BUSH looks helplessly at CHENEY.]

CHENEY: Do you need to go to the bathroom again, George?

BUSH: [getting up and pacing] No, no, waitaminute, I know this one - the other countries are, Iraq and Lebanon, right?

BOLTEN: Very close, sir! Mr. Vice President, can you show the President the chart again? I updated it myself after the good news from Kim-Jung Il.

[CHENEY sighs dramatically, then stands up laboriously, pulling down a chart from above the President's desk. The chart looks like this.]

BUSH [squinting dubiously]: Oh, yeah! I remember those guys. Thanks, Bolty! [sits down in a wing chair next to BOLTEN, who gazes at BUSH adoringly] So, who do you think we should bomb, Dick-o?

CHENEY: Well, George, you know, I think we shouldn't bomb either of them now. We've got the oil leases. Let's just kick back and celebrate your glorious successes until they inaugurate McCain in 2009.

BUSH: You, uh, seem pretty confident that McCain is gonna win this thing. What about this guy Obambo?

BOLTEN: That's Obama, sir. Barack Obama.

BUSH: Barack a-What-a? Jeezus Christmas, what a crazy name. Anywho, Fristy and Boney tell me the Democrats are gonna cream 'em in Congress in November. They're so depressed, they're thinking of spending time with their families, if ya know what I mean.

BOLTEN: They must be depressed, sir - have you seen their families? [All three chortle manfully.]

BUSH: Seriously, guys - I'm a little nervous that after the new President comes in, they might do that impeachment thing to me and Dick. I mean, if that idiot Kerry had been elected in 2004, we would have started impeachin' him in February of Oh-Five!

CHENEY: The Democrats won't win this one, George. Obama has, shall we say, religious problems. You know, that "God Damn America" guy? And he launched his Senate career from a terrorist's doorstep.

BUSH: Terrorists? Where? Freedom is on the march!!! [awkward silence]

BOLTEN [jumping in]: Yes, sir, it sure is! Anyway, what the Vice President is saying, is that the Democrats nominated the one guy who couldn't win this year. The Democratic base doesn't like him, and he's managed to piss off a lot of people so much that they started their own movement.

BUSH: Oh yeah - that PUMA stuff. Can you believe that some morons think those PUMA idiots are Republicans? We wouldn't stand for that shit in our house, would we Turd Blossom?

[KKKARL ROVE steps out from behind a curtain.]

ROVE: No, we sure wouldn't. The idiots in our party wanted Huckabee. We put a stop to that crap right away.

I agree with Dick. The Democratic Party won't win the White House in November. We've got our ads all ready to go - we're just waiting in case the Democrats come to their senses and nominate Hillary.

BUSH [flinching]: Jeezus, TB, don't bring up that bitch's name to me. I have nightmares about her sitting in this office and destroying everything we've done! My legacy could be in ruins! No more signing statements. No more torture. No more warrantless wiretapping. No more tax breaks for our friends and family. She could make the middle class strong again, and then who'd vote for us? And you know she is just DYING to impeach our butts. [pause]

Gimme a drink, Dick. [CHENEY reaches into a desk drawer and pulls out a bottle of Jack Daniels. BUSH takes a long swig out of the bottle and puts it down on the desk.] Whoooo-ee, that's the stuff. Sorry for the freak-out, boys, but that woman scares the shit out of me.

[All three others in unison]: Me too!

BUSH: All right, Karl, you can go back behind the curtains again. You're not supposed to be here, ya know.

ROVE: Right you are, George. [obeys]

BOLTEN: [clearing throat] Okay, so, to summarize, everything's great, no threats on the horizon, and you're set for a clear landing in January.

CHENEY: I'll drink to that! [swigs from the same bottle as BUSH] You can go now, Josh. [BOLTEN salutes, then leaves the office.]

BUSH: [going back to the couch] Hey, Dick - you got any more of that stuff you gave me before? I gotta go clear Condi's brush. Heh-heh.

[LIGHTS OUT]

Yesterday, I fumed over the fact that the BushCheney Fascist Regime has had zero accountability for its treason, war crimes, and attempted destruction of Truth, Justice and the American Way.

If Barack Obama is elected President, will we have four more years of an unaccountable Chief Executive?

Think about it. We've already had so much finger-pointing from this man and his campaign that it is simply nauseating. Everything is someone else's fault. His staff messed up. His pastor suddenly "changed." He barely knows Tony Rezko or William Ayers. But-but-but CLINTON! (aka IACF!). The ABC debate questions are mean. The voters are ignorant Bible-toting, gun-slinging racists. Come on, now, can't a man just eat his waffle?

The same construct that Obama is not accountable for his actions is making me fret about Florida and Michigan. As we know, this weekend the DNC will meet and try to see if they can fix the complete disaster they created in those two states. Over at my new fave hangout, TalkLeft, the debate rages unabated as to what the best thing to do with the "Uncommitted" votes from Michigan would be. A brief history of the Michigan situation is as follows:

1) The DNC, led by Obama supporter Donna Brazile, but representing itself only, decided to strip MI and FL of all their delegates and votes. This unusual measure essentially penalized the states for moving up their primaries in response to the early date moves of IA, NH, SC and NV - which received no penalties at all for their insurrection. For a comprehensive discussion of what would really happen if we followed "the DNC rules" strictly - a detailed response to the screams of "teh ROOLz! teh ROOlz!" from Obamans - read this excellent summation by Obama supporter Big Tent Democrat. Let's just say, the Obamans should be careful what they wish for. ;-)

2) After this decision, Hillary was leading Obama and Edwards quite decisively in Florida and Michigan polling. There was an option in MI to remove one's name from the ballot - in FL it was not as easy to do (it seems that it was against the law, although like so much of this mess, people disagree). Obama and Edwards decided to take the MI option to kill the momentum of HRC's campaign. They were extremely successful. Although HRC won 55% of the vote, 40% went to "Uncommitted" and 4% went to Dennis Kucinich.

Now we know that Hillary has been wanting to fully count all the votes and delegates since at least January of 2008. (This campaign statement was made on the day of the MI primary, prior to any results coming in, and two weeks before the FL primary.) Barack Obama, by contrast, has been fighting every effort to seat the delegates and count the votes, despite efforts by Senator Clinton's campaign to find any reasonable compromise, including gathering the money to pay for re-votes.

What does Obama want?

He wants all the "Uncommitted" votes - and delegates - to go to him.

Talk about unaccountable!

Here's how it works in the real world, Senator. When your name is on the ballot, you get votes. When your name is NOT on the ballot BY YOUR OWN CHOICE, you get none. Or perhaps you'd like to award Al Gore some of those votes? Or Bugs Bunny? How ridiculous is this argument? Hey, Hillary knew that she wouldn't do that well in Oregon. What if she removed her name from that state's ballot in order to invalidate that election? See how far this line of thinking could be taken?

But this is the crux of the matter to me. Some people argue that in order to be "fair" to Obama's supporters, you must award him some percentage of the "Uncommitted" vote.

I call total and utter bullshit on this.

Why can we not simply say to Obama's supporters, "Look, we WANTED to count your votes, but your candidate didn't want us to." That is, in fact, the truth. Shouldn't Obama be accountable to his own supporters? Why should HRC and the DNC be expected to clean up his mess? And why shouldn't Obama's supporters know EXACTLY whose fault it is that they were unable to cast their votes for him in Michigan?

For Christ's sake, WHY DOES HE NEED SO MUCH FUCKING HELP IN THIS ELECTION?!!! Can't he do one DAMN THING by himself?

HRC has the help of her husband, of course, and we know that is a big asset. But think about it - she has been winning millions of voters despite every other force being arrayed against her. Former strong allies, like Bill Richardson and John Lewis, have switched their loyalty to Obama. The media started declaring her campaign dead in 2007 and has been screeching for her to quit ever since. The Party "Leaders" have lined up squarely behind Obama and have delighted in attempting to assassinate her character and judgment. The candidate himself has tried everything possible to make his nomination seem inevitable despite the fact that the closeness of this election means nothing will be decided until the Convention.

In terms of electability, Hillary cremates McCain - and guess what, it doesn't even matter who her VP candidate would be. She can do it all by herself.

And should she somehow lose, guess who she will blame? Herself - as well she should. But who will be to blame if Obama is nominated and loses to McCain?

IACF, baby. WAAAAAAAHHHHHH! Clinton told the Republicans what to do!!! She planned it all along!!!! We hates, her, precioussssssss!!111!!!!

Can we please, please nominate the person who is accountable and responsible for her own actions? Who admits her errors and apologizes for them?

Wouldn't that be a lovely change from eight horrible years of the Least Accountable President Evah?

I refuse to honor the hysteria regarding Senator Clinton's statement about extended primaries (which included a reference to RFK's tragic assassination). If RFK Jr. isn't offended, I don't know why anyone else would be.

However, I would like to take a look at the incredible behavior of the press corps during this brouhaha.

It's been, oh, at least 400 days now that MSNBC has been obsessing on what Hillary was thinking when she made this statement. I have marvelled many times at the amazing mind-reading abilities that the media appears to have when it comes to the Clintons (and most Democrats in general). Apparently Hillary was wishin' and hopin' that Senator Obama would be assassinated when she was...talking about a historical event that occurred in June during an extended primary season. And when she never even mentioned Obama's name.

Wow, I never knew that a presidential hopeful should be excoriated and convicted as Teh Evil because of thoughts she thunk!

Especially since our national press corps has COMPLETELY IGNORED THE ACTUAL MURDERERS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

I mean, we've got Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice, haven't we? (Rumsfeld can't even go into certain countries for fear of being arrested for war crimes.) Through malevolence, incompetence or sheer unadulterated greed, these Asses of Evil are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

Somehow, I don't see them being excoriated. Somehow I don't see their characters being constantly called into question and organizations like C.U.N.T. being formed to stop them. Somehow I don't see calls for impeachment or any accountability whatsoever for these monsters.

No, once again, IACF rules the day.

They can't talk about Bush and his cronies any more, after all. Remember that KKKarl works for Newsweek now.

The corruption of the corporate media is complete.

As I returned from my mini-vacation and fired up my computer today, the first headline I saw was this:

Bush Calls on Americans to Remember War Dead

Once again, I am reminded how our Deciderer has stomped on irony like a gorilla trying to destroy a Samsonite.

Oh George, TRUST ME, we remember the war dead DESPITE the fact that your partner in war crimes, Donald Rumsfeld, decreed that we wouldn't see their coffins; that we wouldn't get an accurate count of the dead and wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq; that war coverage has mysteriously disappeared from the TeeVee just in time for the next election; and that due to a paucity of spine-infused Democrats in the Senate and House, our two new quagmires drag on and on, draining our Treasury, breaking our military, destroying our reputation overseas, and killing and wounding not only our young men and women, but also the luckless inhabitants of Iraq and Afghanistan. We must include the Iraqi and Afghani dead in our count as well, mustn't we, George W.? Or would that trouble your beautiful mind too much?

We Americans are sick in our souls with remembering the war dead. We need to do something other than remember them.

We need to bring our troops home and stop murdering people for oil, power and money.

Until then, every day will be Memorial Day.

is a brilliant, timely and practical answer to the financial crisis we find ourselves in today. Ready for swift action, the Treasury Secretary has promised immediate relief to homeowners and accountability for predatory lenders and other bad actors.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

April Fool's, darlings. No, Bush's plan, even if it were structured to be effective, would not be put into place until...

well, take a wild guess.

Paulson proposed the broadest restructuring of federal regulatory institutions in 75 years with a call to merge agencies and redraw lines of authority that in some cases go back to the Great Depression. But the plan would put off for years any attempt to create new regulations for the streamlined system to enforce. [emphasis added]

As a result, even if the new structure were eventually adopted, it would do little to prevent a repeat of the current crisis or something similar, the Treasury secretary acknowledged.

Well, then, what would be the point of this legislation? C'mon, I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count.

First, the core of the plan was devised more than a year ago to reflect Paulson's -- and the president's -- conviction that the U.S. must lighten regulations on its financial industry or risk losing business to foreign financial centers such as London and Hong Kong.

But the proposal is being unveiled after the sub-prime mess, the housing meltdown and sliding financial markets left tens of millions of people poorer and more pessimistic.

It is also subject to the judgment of a Democratic-controlled Congress in no mood to give financial firms more leeway.

"We must restore the trust and confidence of investors and consumers," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said in a statement. "That trust has been shattered -- not because regulators did too much, but because they did too little."

Here's my favorite thing about the Bushies and their ilk: They're so freaking predictable. Just put everything they propose through a Bush-to-English dictionary, and it will come out thusly:

"It'll make mah corporate cronies a hell of a lot richer and, just cause we can, make working-class Americans poorer. Ah love bein' Preznit! Heh heh."

Enjoy the first day of April, everyone, and don't get Fooled by the Bushian doubletalk on the economy.

McCain and Rove Form a Tentative Alliance

On Friday, a day after Karl Rove donated $2300 to John McCain's campaign, McCain (R-AZ) put aside a longstanding grudge over Rove's famously bold tactics in securing George Bush the 2000 GOP nomination, and said that Rove’s advice would be welcome in his campaign.

"Nobody denies he's one of the smartest political minds in America," McCain said. "I'd be glad to get his advice. I get advice from a lot of people. I'd be happy to have his advice."

Now, let me get this straight.

The American populace is screaming for a change. Bush's policies are proven disasters in every area. His approval ratings are Nixonian. The "wrong direction" numbers are 80%/20%. So, as the Republic nominee, the smartest thing to do would be to try to distance yourself from Bush, right? And since McCain is the recognized "maverickstraightshooterindependent" of the Republic Party, that shouldn't be so difficult. Right?

Let's look at this strategery from the so-called "strongest" Republic candidate.

War, My Friends

McCain is on record stating that he wants to be in Iraq for 100 years. He has also been caught on YouTube singing "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran." He's gathered some of the most hated - and famously wrong - neoconservative warmongers to advise him on "more wars, my friends."

EXACTLY LIKE BUSH.

The Economy - Stupid?

McClueless recently stated that he didn't understand the economy very well and said in his defense, "I have Greenspan's book." Hmmmm, Alan Greenspan - wasn't that Bush's boy, whose advice led us directly into the Bush Depression?

EXACTLY LIKE BUSH.

Running a Negative Campaign - Good, or Really Really Great?

Both Hackabee and McCain have flamed Willard Romney for running a negative campaign. Yet, McCain has now shown himself to be willing to embrace the King/Queen of All Dirty Tricks, KKKarl Rove - otherwise known as "Bush's Brain."

EXACTLY. LIKE. BUSH.

Oh, McMaverick, you're just so dumb it's priceless. You're going down in flames just like your pathetic Chimp-In-Chief. You could have used the Lurve of the Matthews pundits, and your baseless reputation as a "straight talker," to promote just how different you are from Bush. Hell, it might even have worked. But instead, you're running to embrace him once again.

It's too good to be true, but I think it is. And despite the assurances of the traditional media, it's great news for Democrats.

As a New York-Maryland girl, I know that I don't really understand what it feels like to be afraid of the weather. Oh, sure, we might get snowed in every once in a while, but that's about it.

Until a year and a half ago, Westchester County was not known for its extreme weather. Then, we got hit with a very small tornado less than 20 miles from where I live. Although no one was hurt, you can still see the damage to trees and property.

I shudder and weep to think of what lies ahead for Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Alabama.

Tornadoes and storms in the mid-South have killed 55 people since Tuesday evening in the deadliest tornado outbreak in the United States in more than 20 years.

The storms ripped apart homes and trapped residents of university dorms and a retirement home in debris.

The trail of death stretched across four states, with four people killed in Alabama, 13 in Arkansas, seven in Kentucky and 31 in Tennessee.

In some cases, there was almost no warning before the severe weather hit.

I am so sorry for the people of the South, whose suffering seems to grow and grow while the brain-damaged Chimp in the Oval Office shrugs and pretends that "prayer" will fix everything. I am so sorry for Americans, whose expectations of getting emergency services in return for their tax dollars seem to shrink and shrink, while the Vice President sneers and stacks more millions inside his man-sized safe. And I am so, so sorry that Congress is still saddled with heartless Republics, who block and water down every Congressional effort to make government work, while they pocket lobbyist money and insist on drowning government in the bathtub.

This Administration has managed to create seven years of dangerous weather. We are quickly turning into a third-world country, with poverty and joblessness on the rise, millions losing their homes, a dysfunctional educational system, and an economy that is consistently being bailed out by countries like Saudi Arabia and China.

The Bush Administration's tornadoes have been bad enough already. It's adding suffering to suffering when Nature's hurricanes and tornadoes come with them.

It's amazing. Even though Bush was supposedly set to veto any extension of the Protect America Act, which was put in place temporarily in August to prevent the telecom/Bushie immunity from passing the Senate, he suddenly, miraculously agreed to let the PAA be extended for 15 days. What does that tell you?

It tells me that Bush really, really wants immunity from warrantlessly wiretapping Americans. Why? Two reasons: 1) Because the fact that he did so is one of the strongest reasons for impeachment; and 2) The FISA court doesn't grant warrants to spy on Congressional Democrats, and that's what they've been doing. Whoooooooops!

If Bush and his minions allow the old FISA law to be reinstated - which it will be, if the Senate cannot agree on a more permanent "fix" than the Protect America Act - then he will not get immunity. Today, it looks like immunity may be off the table. And you know, impeachment proceedings can be begun after a President leaves office. Not gonna look too good in the history books, eh, Worst President Evah?

In my never-humble opinion, Senate Democrats should be doing everything they can to allow the Protect America Act to expire. After all, Bush was warrantlessly wiretapping us BEFORE the attacks of 9/11, and 3,000 people still died. And what about the anthrax killer? Despite all the spying, we somehow haven't caught THAT terrorist either. So no Osama bin Laden and no anthrax killer. Gee, I feel so much safer since Bush started his destruction of the Bill of Rights!

I'll take the old law and my civil liberties back, thank you. And can I have a side order of impeachment with that?

Mmmmmmmm, that looks delicious!

I guarantee that if we knew Bush was going to say this, the SOTU address would have the highest ratings in the history of television.

Mah fellow Americans,

Ah hereby tender mah resignation as Preznit of these You-Naghted States. Ah am fully aware that there idn't enough Jack and Coke in the world tuh keep me standin' no more. Ah'm goin' back tuh Crawford so Ah kin clear Condi's brush.

As for Unca Dick, well, he's on his tenth baboon hart and we don't think he can make it much longer, so Nancy? It's up tuh you. Good luck! Heh-heh-heh.

[BUSH STUMBLES AWAY FROM THE PODIUM]

[STANDING OVATION FROM CONGRESS EXCEPT BOEHNER, WHO BEGINS SOBBING UNCONTROLLABLY]

Wow. $600 per person - in MAY at the earliest - from Our Great Deciderer-in-Chief! That will surely:

• Bring down the price of oil, and the price of everything else that is affected by the price of oil;
• Stop the U.S. from spending $2 billion a week on the never-ending occupation of Iraq;
• Help people pay off their ARM's whose interest rates have suddenly ballooned to 25%;
• Create jobs for the unemployed or under-employed; and
• Prevent illness-related bankruptcies.

It won't? Oh. Then I guess I'll just put it in the bank for the next time I have to fill up my tank or put food on my family.

I have to say, I think most people knew this crash was coming. I knew back in August, and I'm just a dumb opera singer. But in a weird way, I'm glad this happened now. I'm glad that people see that when Republics are in charge, this is what happens to the economy - and these are the types of solutions you get - because I think the Rovian plan was to try to stave off disaster until 1/20/09, and then blame the Democrats for the Bush Recession/Depression. Na. Ga. Hopin.

I don't think the American people are going to forget those pathetic little checks at the voting booth in November.

It's the economy, stupid.

WARNING: Stormy Waters Ahead. Proceed with Caution.

Remember when the three Democratic frontrunners all refused to commit to withdrawing all troops from Iraq by the end of their first term? A lot of folks in the blogosphere were outraged by that, saying that the Democrats really didn't want to end the war, that they were as bad as Bush, blah blah freaking blah.

My reaction was: Of COURSE they can't commit to it, because they don't know what horrible surprises will await them once they finally get the evil monkey out of his feces-stained squat in the Oval Office.

And lo, last Sunday it was revealed unto the nation by Newsweek's Michael Hirsh that the Chimp-in-Chief has a very, very nasty surprise planned indeed. Not content to smear his shit all over Iraq for the past five years, he wants to make sure the stench can't be removed for a long, long time - not even by President [fill in the Democrat] in 2009.

In remarks to the traveling press, delivered from the Third Army operation command center here, Bush said that negotiations were about to begin on a long-term strategic partnership with the Iraqi government modeled on the accords the United States has with Kuwait and many other countries.

[snip]

Most significant of all, the new partnership deal with Iraq, including a status of forces agreement that would then replace the existing Security Council mandate authorizing the presence of the U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq, will become a sworn obligation for the next president. It will become just another piece of the complex global security framework involving a hundred or so countries with which Washington now has bilateral defense or security cooperation agreements. Last month, Sen. Hillary Clinton urged Bush not to commit to any such agreement without congressional approval. The president said nothing about that on Saturday, but Lute said last fall that the Iraqi agreement would not likely rise to the level of a formal treaty requiring Senate ratification. Even so, it would be difficult if not impossible for future presidents to unilaterally breach such a pact. [emphasis added]

Mr. Hirsh goes on to say that under the proposed accords, troop levels will be drawn down to around 60,000 by the end of 2008. Well, at least that would be an improvement, right? Of course, that number does not include Blackwater and other mercenary groups; and of course, we would be required to have (say it with me now) PERMANENT MILITARY BASES IN IRAQ. Wheeee!!! Can't you just see Cheney gloating in his bunker, his fat slug body rolling naked in $1,000 bills? Ohhhhh, the humanity!

No wonder KKKarl was claiming that Iraq will not be an issue in the 2008 election. This horrifying scheme has his drool all over it. If permanent military bases are in these accords, and the next President is obligated to continue the occupation forevah, then what can be done to get us out of Iraq?

FUCK! What in the name of the Giant Green Lizard is it going to take to make Nancy Pelosi realize that the only way to bring our troops home is to impeach Cheney and Bush NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW?!?!?!?!?! What the hell does she think we've been screaming about for the past year? Not just stopping the invasion of Iran, but also finally extricating ourselves from the bloody morass in Iraq, depends on it. GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD, MADAME SPEAKER, AND DO SOMETHING NOW!!!!

Calmer Waters Ahead Now. Safe for Delicate Stomachs.

All right, now that I've blown off some steam...it's time for a little optimism. Unlike Mr. Hirsh, who seems absolutely delighted by these revoltin' developments, I'm not convinced that an agreement based on an illegal occupation truly can be considered binding. And tell me, which "Iraqi government" will approve the accords? Surely even the Deciderer knows that the existing coalition of the unwilling is far from unified. By 2009, an entirely new structure or majority could be in place; one that, like most Iraqis, wants us the hell out of there.

Despite the eventual outcome of this scheme, it remains a truly Machiavellian and disgusting way of using our troops to shield the Deciderer from the consequences of his actions.

Tragically for our nation, our soldiers, and the Iraqis suffering under the brutal yoke of a hostile occupying force, that's just the way Bush and Cheney do business.

Worst. Co-Presidents. EVER.

I feel like Keith Olbermann as I ponder which BushCheney war crime will be counted by history as the Worst! War Crime! In the Worrrrrrrrlllllld!

Is it the torturing and rendering of suspected terrorists, which is against U.S. and International Law?

Is it the propagandizing of the citizenry and elected representatives thereof in support of dragging us into wars for empire and diminishing natural resources? (Note: This one is a three-fer: Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran all fall into this category.)

Is it the treasonous outing of a CIA agent who was working to protect America from nuclear proliferation in Iran and elsewhere?

We have smoking gun evidence of all these crimes, some of them even being admitted by their various perpetrators. Yet although investigations are taking place, and many quite effectively, so far the masterminds behind them - Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush - have remained free to continue to torture, maim and kill as many as they wish in the name of "national security." Thank goodness 25% of cowardly, worthless, un-American Americans feel safer - that's certainly worth allowing war criminals to go unpunished!

Impeach. Indict. Incarcerate.

Ah feel yer pain, Madame Speaker. I know that you're worried that you can't stop the war while impeaching Bush. I know you think that the Democrats won't win in 2008 if you impeach him. I know you may have made a deal of some sort, or perhaps you know the effort will fail in the Senate and you don't want to lose.

But George Bush has been caught out, right there on the TeeVee. He has been lying, fearmongering and warmongering for 4 months about Iran and its "nucular" weapons program, which we now know they had discontinued FOUR YEARS AGO. Come on, Nancy, I'll give Bush a blow job myself if that'll get things going! (Of course, it may take me a while to locate the Presidential pee-pee. I have always maintained that he is anatomically incorrect, like a Ken doll. But I would consider it a small sacrifice for my country.)

And think about it: Weren't we all stunned at the Deciderer's rudeness when he refused to spend more than an hour at the recent Middle East peace conference in Annapolis? He must have been afraid that his secret knowledge about the lack of threat coming from Iran would slip out and *gasp* make peace more likely. We all know that the Rapture can't come that way, dammit!

So come on, Speaker Pelosi. Set the table. America is starving for it.

30 Senators (all Democrats and one Independent, of course) make it clear that the Lieberman-Kyl Amendment did not give Bush authority to make war on Iran.

Thirty US senators wrote to President George W. Bush Thursday, warning he had no authority to launch military action against Iran, and expressing concern about the administration's "provocative" rhetoric.

The senators, 29 Democrats and one independent, urged the resolution of disputes with the Islamic Republic through diplomacy.

"We wish to emphasize that no congressional authority exists for unilateral military action against Iran," the letter signed by senators including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Joseph Biden said.

The letter warned that a resolution passed by the Senate in September, calling for the designation of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group, should not be used as a pretext for war.

It hit out at "provocative statements and actions" by the administration on Iran, after Bush last month warned Tehran must be barred from nuclear weapons to avoid the prospect of "World War III."

"These comments are counterproductive and undermine efforts to resolve tensions with Iran through diplomacy," the letter, coordinated by Virginia Senator Jim Webb, said.

My feelings on this are mixed. I'm very happy that these Senators are now on record opposing Bush and his insane warmongering. But why did they give Bush the slightest encouragement in the first place? And what will they do if he bombs Iran anyway?

I was a big Hillary Clinton supporter until she voted for that amendment. Unfortunately, this letter doesn't make me feel that much better about her judgment. She's doing the right thing, but is it too late?

I am afraid that the Top Three Democrats - Clinton, Obama and Edwards - have all bought into the neo-con frames on foreign policy matters. Truthfully, all the Democrats are pretty good on domestic issues - certainly worlds better than Bush - so I'm not worried about that. What I'm worried about is that the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war for resources will continue after the new President is sworn in.

The horror!

Well, well, well. It looks like for George Bush, Halloween was a day to take off his mask.

Our little Napoleon is very, very upset that the Democrats in Congress have not granted his blank check request for the war. He's terribly vexed that they keep showing, again and again, how heartless and uncaring he is by passing that pesky SCHIP legislation despite his vetos. But the final straw was when they showed that they expect the top law enforcement official in the United States, the Attorney General, to actually enforce the law. Now THAT is going too far, Congress! Who do you think you are - a co-equal branch or something?

So the Deciderer finally showed himself to America. And boy, was it ugly.

The White House plans to try implementing as much new policy as it can by administrative order while stepping up its confrontational rhetoric with Congress after concluding that President Bush cannot do much business with the Democratic leadership, administration officials said.

[snip]

White House aides say the only way Bush seems to be able to influence the process is by vetoing legislation or by issuing administrative orders, as he has in recent weeks on veterans' health care, air-traffic congestion, protecting endangered fish and immigration. They say they expect Bush to issue more of such orders in the next several months, even as he speaks out on the need to limit spending and resist any tax increases.

That's a Halloween horror story for you. How long before he follows Hitler's example and dissolves Congress altogether?

HR 333, Dennis Kucinich's impeachment measure, is coming up for a vote before Congress leaves for Thanksgiving. I will be pressing my House Rep to support it, and I hope we will all do so. Bush and Cheney must be impeached IMMEDIATELY, before our country completes its horrifying slide into fascism.

From the Are You Fucking Kidding Me File:

FEMA stages fake news conference with P.R. people playing the role of journalists

Those weren't reporters questioning the deputy chief of FEMA earlier this week, they were federal employees playing the role of journalists during a televised briefing on the wildfires in southern California.

An agency spokesman tells The Washington Post that they didn't have time to wait for real reporters to come to their office near the U.S. Capitol. "We had been getting mobbed with phone calls from reporters, and this was thrown together at the last minute," Mike Widomski, FEMA's deputy director of public affairs, tells the paper.

This has been a horrible, horrible week for the victims of the wildfires in San Diego and the surrounding areas. How must they feel, knowing that their government is so disingenous, so terrified of its own constituents, that it feels it can't even face the milquetoast, cowed traditional media at a press conference? That its incompetence would blaze so bright that even Fox News Channel might be forced to point it out?

Perhaps they had a clue when Bush showed up for his 4-hour photo-op yesterday and said this:

"We've got a big problem out here," the president said near the end of his quick, four-hour visit. "We want the people to know there's a better day ahead - that today your life may look dismal, but tomorrow life's going to be better," Mr. Bush said. "And to the extent that the federal government can help you, we want to do so."

To the extent that the federal government can help you? We WANT to do so? Talk about parsing. Talk about the "meaning of 'is'." Gee, is it me, or does it seem that Bush actually promised NO HELP WHATSOEVER?

Yes, this is what you get when you buy into the neo-conservative idea that government shouldn't do anything to help people - a guy who thinks that the government shouldn't do anything to help people. Do we understand yet how bankrupt, how immoral, how completely and utterly WRONG this philosophy is? Or do the victims of Katrina and Rita have to be drowned all over again? Do more bridges have to collapse? Do we have to bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran, as John McCain would quip?

What is it going to take for the press to stop giving these neo-con, fascist freaks valuable time and money, to realize that their point of view is not valid and is, indeed, harmful to the United States - and for them to state these truths on the front page and on the Teevee?

The original story in the Washington Post was on page A-19, and I'll be shocked if any news program other than Countdown with Keith Olbermann picks it up. You'd think that fake news would be a huge story, reminding people of Pravda and all, but apparently, it's more important that Britney Spears did something or other today. Or was it Lindsay Lohan?

If I were a California resident who had lost my home, I would be both hopeful and pessimistic today. I'd be hopeful because the state has a Republican governor; but I'd be pessimistic because FEMA will not be coming to my aid. Not now, not ever - unless I want to live in a formaldehyde-ridden trailer. And that is a tragedy of American proportions.

I'm under the weather and too busy to breathe, but...this news made me cry.

A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that his government would support a division of Jerusalem, which is reportedly a key component of an Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be made at a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference next month.

As part of recent negotiations between the sides, Deputy Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon has proposed turning over many of the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem to the Palestinians. Ramon said the Palestinians could establish the capital of a future state in the sector of the city, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.

In return, Israel would receive the recognition of the international community, including Arab states, of its sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods and the existence of its capital there, Ramon said.

On Monday Ramon said even hawkish elements of Olmert's coalition, like Cabinet Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu Party, would back such an Israeli concession. The centrist Labor Party would also support the proposal, Ramon said.

One of the most shameful legacies of the Bush Administration has been its refusal to do anything to resolve the problems in Israel. There were some half-hearted efforts at the beginning - remember the "road map?" - but essentially, all has been quiet on the Chimp front for the entirety of his presidency. But as the article suggests, the Deciderer has changed his strategy. The United States has finally become involved, and all of a sudden, progress appears to be happening.

If you really want to fight a "global war on terrorism," get to the root cause. With the exception of Al-Qaeda, most of the groups we designate as terrorists - Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. - are active because of the existence and actions of the Israeli government. Whatever side you are on in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, resolving it takes the impetus for these groups away. A sane administration would realize that.

But we all know that an administration that prides itself in not talking to "evildoers," that is seriously considering using nuclear weapons on a country that has not attacked us, that invades and occupies countries for their natural resources, that exists mostly to move wealth from the poorest to the richest in America...well, how long is it till 2009 again?