Haves

Looks like a good year for the American economy - but a very bad year for Americans.

Economic growth is up to about 5%, the highest since 2003. Still, many economists would tell you that it's a weaker recovery than it should have been.

Be that as it may, it is still growth. So where's my pay raise?

Gas prices are rising, as are mortgage rates. House prices in many once-hot markets have started slipping. The American automobile industry shows no sign of recovery. And the paychecks of most workers have not even kept up with inflation over the last four years.

And that's it. Economic expansion is being paid for by workers. The system, already rigged against them, has been completely re-wired to deliver any economic gains to the rich and their corporations - who are doing just fine, thank you very much.

Where before they were happy to gulp the soup with big spoons, they now just tip the whole bowl down their gullets. They don't pay anything close to their share of taxes, so it's up to the beleaguered middle class and put-upon working class to foot all the bills.

'Trickle down' economics is the massive lie that conservatives tell others - and tell themselves - for using their political and economic power to fix the game in their favour.

Gone are the days when leaders like FDR and "Give Em Hell" Harry Truman existed to help every American participate in the wealth that they themselves create. The money that our economic elites are happy to rake in and burn is the money that is created by working people who are making less now than the did five years ago.

It makes you think, again, of the Golden Years of Bubba, when the gap between rich and poor actually narrowed, taxation was (more) progressive, and the national bounty of economic blessings was a shared joy.

It's all gone horribly wrong, and it's almost too much to write about. Maybe that's why I keep typing most mornings. It's hard to believe that my American Brethren could be this savagely stupid - enough to put up with the Junta. Stupid enough to 'go along.'

Arlen Spectre is that stupid. He recognizes that the NSA wiretapping is illegal. He won't have Gonzo back because he knows - get this - that the Attorney General of the United States won't tell him anything.

"Institutionally, the presidency is walking all over Congress at the moment," Specter said. "If we are to maintain our institutional prerogative, that may be the only way we can do it."

Okay, the first step is to want to maintain your institutional prerogative, but how are you going to do that? He's threatened to withhold funding from the NSA for their illegal activities. Imagine that - deciding not to pay for institutional crime.

But even that toothless and wussified step (they'd just take the money from some 'Help the Babies" fund) was too manly a move for the overtly whipped Senator.

"I'm not prepared to call for the withholding of funds," he told reporters later.

Oh, so it's serious. You mean it. You just won't do anything about it.

Spectre was the Senator who had to crawl to the Junta leadership to beg for his Committee chairmanship after the 2004 election because he wasn't serious enough about destroying the constitution of the United States. And while he holds enough resentment over that to make little barky noises, there's just no bite in the man.

Just wait until an American takes over the committee - however long that may be.

FEMA

This is a good one: let's dismantle FEMA. Not that it's a particularly bad idea. The Senate panel, led by Maine's "moderate" Susan Collins, produced an 800-page report that shows that, shockingly, the Katrina response was one huge blunder. You have to marvel at what passes as dissent in Congress these days - a 'moderate' Republican and a Democrat (Joe Lieberman) who acts like one.

Of course, there is no such thing as a moderate Republican. They all drank the Kool Aid. They passed the treasonous tax cuts. They've hidden the Iraq War lies for years now. They approved of Roberts and ScAlito for the Supreme Court. No matter what they may think they stand for, they've proven that they stand for the Junta.

But back to FEMA. What's sadly funny about that is that under Bubba, FEMA was a lean mean machine that took on all comers. James Lee Witt - a real life disaster management guru - was put in charge and was widely praised for making FEMA into a model of preparedness and efficiency.

So what's happened since the "government of experts" took over? FEMA is now in such complete shambles that "flaws in the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security that are "too substantial to mend," and FEMA should be dismantled and rebuilt inside the troubled department."

Political hacks like Heckuvajob Brownie have burrowed in like termites. DHS Scarecrow Chertoff has marginalized and further dismantled and demoralized the organization. They can't even staff it up at this point, because no serious disaster planner wants FEMA on their resume.

Put another checkmark under 'incompetence.' It's one thing to be stupid and reckless about the stuff you're not supposed to know about. I don't think anyone wants to put a Republican in charge of Day Care or Health Care. But weren't they supposed to know about managing stuff? Weren't they supposed to have some savvy about running large organizations?

Are there any strengths left for them to run on in 2006 and 2008?

Well, they have Fox's and Reverend Moon's Tony Snow aboard now. On the job as Press Secretary, Snow will turn everything around. Sure.

Perhaps he'll travel to New Orleans and Iraq. He could dig up a few thousand bodies and tell the dead what a great job Georgie's doing.

More Gas

Georgie stopped the purchase of fuel for the strategic reserve. He did that so there'd be more supplies to sell to consumers, and the price of gas will go down. All those years in the Oil Bidness, and he still thinks supply and demand matter to oil companies?

But the gas prices are way up and conservative voters love their SUV's. They are either economic conservatives who are making tons on money by blighting the earth, or they are social/religious conservatives who believe that the earth is here to be blighted by them - it's their right as (slightly) high beings to ruin the environment.

Both groups - and the rest of us - are suffering at the pumps. If only we had somebody in government who understands this stuff.

I know I've been over this before, and not too long ago, but bear with me on this. The most intractable part of the problem is that it takes (according to an expert quoted in the WaPo) more than five years for an energy policy to have any effect on prices - and more likely more than ten years.

Which the Junta takes to mean "it's not Georgie's fault - he can't do anything over night (or before the Mid-Terms) so why are you all Blamegaming him?"

Here's the thing for adults to understand: Georgie's been sweeping in his executive power for over five years now. Energy policy was the first thing he and Chicanery did. Remember the Oil Bidness suits who came to the White House to tell Oily Dick and Georgie how to write law and maximize their profits? The same group who Dick went to the Supreme Court to get his buddies to protect?

It's not your right to know who wrote the energy policy. It's just your duty to suffer from it.

Where is that policy now? If, five years ago, they made anything like a real energy policy that was intended to help Americans in any way, where are the results? Right.

And once again, where's Congress to ask them about it? The government and media are acting like they woke up this morning and - oops! High gas prices. Waddayagonnado?

The reality is that Georgie and his neocon masters messed up the Middle East, and they continue to glare menacingly at Iran. That raises prices. By allowing the Gulf Coast to get destroyed, they not only killed a lot of poor black people (not a big deal to them), they also allowed the energy infrastructure to be destroyed (which they do care about).

They've scorched the earth allowing companies to drill - to no effect on prices. And Dick the Dark Petro Prince himself said that energy conservation is no more than a question of "personal virtue."

If that virtue had been embraced in a real life energy policy five years ago, Georgie would be l;laughing all the way to a renewed Republican majority in 2006. Okay, no way, but still he wouldn't have these angry gas voters to contend with.

As always, ignorance is its own reward.

Leaks

Are all leaks the same? What about secrets - is it ever okay to leak secrets to the media? CIA Director Porter "The Jobber" Goss is in the process of dropping the official hammer on leaks from that agency.

Already, staff have been subjected to polygraph exams and one senior staffer has been fired for leaking.But according to Georgie, Chicanery, and the WaPo editorial staff, there is such a thing as a "Good Leak." Georgie claims, after being outed, that he permitted the Plame leak to 'set the record straight' and prove to citizens that he was telling the truth about the Niger uranium claims.

Trouble is, he was lying then (about the uranium) and he's lying now (about not lying then). At the time he authorized the leaks through Chicanery and Scooter Libby, he and the rest of the Junta knew that the story was false.

So by brutally attacking Joe Wilson for being a truth-teller, Georgie was using inside lies to punish a political critic.Grotesque.But what did purported CIA leakier Mary McCarty leak to get herself fired? The truth.

She allegedly leaked info about the CIA's secret detention system which has held prisoners indefinitely with no recourse to any legal system - and tortured them. What real American - inside or outside the CIA - would condone that? What real American would keep that hideous secret?

As it turns out, lots of them. And now there will be lots more, as The Jobber's hit squads go after intel staff who may be inclined to let Americans know what's being done in their name.

There is a real, definable difference between Georgie's leaks and Mary's. It's called morality. He-said-she-said journalism creates a false equality between Truth and Lies, and most reporting on Israel equates Palestinian Terrorists with Israeli Peace Keepers. There is a fundamental moral difference between firemen and arsonists, between cops and criminals.

And so there's a difference between the suppression of important truth and the dissemination of ugly lies.Perhaps it's just as well that Mary was fired. When you make an ethical stand for freedom, there is often a personal cost. That does nothing to diminish the patriotism of her actions.

Georgie's leak, on the other hand, is pure cowardice with criminal intent. As president, if he had a case to make he has the forum to make it. He tried that, but nobody believes anything he says.

So instead, he pushed his lies through gullible reporters using back channels, so that the disinformation would look like an insider scoop.Just add that pathetic assault on freedom to the rest of the High Crimes and Misdemeanours he's committed.

And raise a toast to the only patriot in this whole mess - Mary McCarthy.

N.B. I'm having trouble publishing the link to the article - check out any mainstream news outlet for details.

Refining

The WaPo, in its all-too-finite wisdom, has a front page bit on gasoline prices today. Sure, oil prices are at about $1.70 a gallon right now. But why are prices over $3.00 (US) a gallon at the pump? The answer (according to this piece): refineries.

Okay, refining has in the past been a low-margin business and there have been just enough refineries and now there aren't enough blah blah blah. But weren't the energy moguls in the Junta supposed to know this stuff?

I mean, one of their biggest selling points has always been that they know the oil bidness. Georgie himself was a failed Texas oil man before his daddy's friends bailed him out. Veep Chicanery was a Dark Prince of Halliburton oil before he started shredding the constitution full time.

The whole notion that these guys know anything or can do anything right has long since gone far away. But back when anyone claimed that they had any expertise at all, it was in this area.

But what have they done? They've mashed environmental restraints to increase domestic drilling - which has increased petro profits and wildlife mortality. They made a complete bloody hash of the middle east, which has increased prices dramatically.

What about the refining question? That didn't come out of nowhere. The lack of refining capacity has to have been a known issue to people in the business for a number of years. Even before Katrina and Rita, demand has been increasing steadily - where were the new refineries to keep up?

This bunch believes that tax breaks are the magic bullet to fix all domestic ills from poverty to education to manufacturing - where were the tax breaks for refineries? They didn't build - and apparently markets didn't invest - because the profit margin was so low.

Shockingly, in this case tax breaks might actually have helped. Which, when you think about it, makes sense. These guys simply can do nio right. They pass around the tax break aspirin to every patient with broken bones and massive trauma - but they withhold it from the guy with the headache.

Sadly typical.

Speaking of bad medicine, the now-totally-political FDA has come out strongly against medical marijuana. Not that, you know, the medical community has.

The FDA "said Thursday that "no sound scientific studies" supported the medical use of marijuana." Except for, you know, the only definitive study done by the best researchers in the world. Except for them.

So cancer patients and AIDS patients can got suck on hard candy - nevermind that it really helps them. The FDA is not in the business of helping people. The FDA is (now) in the business of appealing to the neocon religious base. No morning-after contraception, and no Mary Jane.

There was a time, not too long ago, that the FDA had a reputation for good science and good decisions. How sad it must be - there and in the other government departments - that Dumb and Dumber is now in charge.

All the smart guys are out - the Day of the Idiot is at hand. The morons are running every part of the executive branch. Baseless foundationless ideology is king. No amount of contrary evidence can ever be enough to change any minds.

This is America?

Survival

"Survival Mode." That's what they're calling it - putting a fresh coat of paint on the old barge and hoping to fool enough people into voting for their incumbent in the November mid-terms. To avoid what? "Lame duck status." But it's more than that.

The only reason any of this garbage has worked for five years is that it's been kept secret. And the only time it's failed from start to finish has been in the case of Katrina, where the deadly failures have been plain for all to see. The rest of it's been clouded in the chummed-up water of 9-11.

But democracy only works when a free press operates on an open transparent government. Our democracy depends on a balance of power between three equal branches of government. None of that has happened since the golden age of Clinton, and the results have been catastrophic. The press has been a propaganda arm of the government. The Congress might as well have been wearing Junta uniforms with twenty pounds of medals. It's all gone horribly wrong, as even the most cement-headed rightists now see what their votes have brought.

Keeping the opposition out of Congress is more than avoiding lame duck status for this bunch. It's avoiding jail. The worst and ugliest parts of American greed and selfishness have run unfettered, and there will be a price to pay if someone with subpoena power and a spine starts asking inconvenient questions.

The Iraq war has enough lies and no-bid contracts to put a lot of people away for a long time. It's damaging enough to make rightists wonder if advocating the death penalty has been such a smart idea. What about Katrina? We have tape of the president being told 'the levees are going to collapse' and then saying that 'nobody anticipated the collapse of the levees.' Is that not actionable?

Perhaps not. But there is enough evidence of enough malfeasance to proceed, and I'd love to see what an empowered Nancy Pelosi could do with a majority in Congress.

If the Democrats are able to take a majority back, the next two years could be one long Congressional investigation. I just hope they don't get so bogged down with the high crimes that they let the little stuff slide. The crooks should be brought to justice for everything.

Which is why Karl Rove won't be doing policy anymore. Policy is a tricky thing, and an informed amateur like Rove can’t help but screw it up. In an American administration, that would matter. In this one, being an informed amateur puts him ahead of the other amateurs.

They need Rove on the front lines of lies. They need him to operate the machinery that makes people vote against their interests. And now he's back to doing just that.

This Congressional election is about keeping the traitors off the scaffold and the crooks out of jail. They will stop at nothing - so get ready for smear, fear, and maybe some bombers over Tehran.

Policy

I thought I was having some sort of post-traumatic flashback this morning. I was reading the WaPo, and there was this article. It said - I can hardly write it even now - that the US was going to question China about a human rights case. That can't be right, can it? This Junta has never cared about anyone with less than seven digits on their bank statements.

These are the cross-eyed marksmen who danced a jig while people drowned and starved in New Orleans. These are the guys putting the black hoods over peoples head like the government in V for Vendetta (the movie). They torture. The kill prisoners in their custody. They sit with popcorn and watch the genocide in Sudan. They deny health care to the poor and never seem to notice that lots of poor people die premature deaths because of it.

These guys care about a human rights case?

And yet, there it is.

"She showed up at a school in a coastal city in China nearly five months
ago and begged for help. Instead, she was deported to her native North Korea and
never seen again.

Now the case of Kim Chun Hee has made its way to
the desk of President Bush, threatening to complicate the first White House
visit of China's leader tomorrow and further irritate an irritable
relationship."

Reading the article was chilling, because I remember when the US used to stand for the human rights of the downtrodden and oppressed around the world. Before John Bolton became the spitting asp of an American foreign policy that said: "we are all the counts in the world and the interests of our elites will be preserved and protected before and instead of any other consideration."

But there it is: the plight of the North Korean escapees to China who are often scooped up by that government and returned to face death and horrible imprisonment in North Korea. Yes - it's a real plight of people who have no tangible assets to provide the US. Just to see that in print. Gee.

But wait, no. Of course, they had to ruin it. Three things popped up and ruined the image.
First, it's the evangelicals who decided that the North Korean woman matters, and they pulled their magic string to the White House. Clearly, pleasing the base is a top priority - the only priority - and in this case, it's so easy to do. Ask the Chinks about the NK chick. See - good guys after all.

Second, Georgie really hates Kim Jung Il, the NK leader who was captured in the brilliant biopic "Team America - World Police." I suspect it's because Il gets to have harems and total domination and millions of slaves and that sort of thing - it will be another couple of generations of the Bush Junta before President for Life Prescott Bush VI gets to have slaves and harems. Georgie was just born too soon so he resents his totalitarian brethren Il for his perks.

So naturally, that spells "find out what happened to the NK woman." Also because - who knows? - maybe it'll catch fire with CNN and Fox News like all those missing white women have.
Third - and most importantly - nothing has been or needs be done about it other than the press release - a perfect Junta policy.

"But Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) and others complain that personal commitment is not translated into enough action. In 2004, Congress passed the North Korean Human Rights Act, which created Lefkowitz's position. But the administration has not designated money to implement the law or offered asylum to any North Korean, according to a Feb. 21 letter to Rice signed by Wolf and eight other lawmakers.

Some administration officials said the State Department is more focused on North Korea's nuclear arms and has not made human rights a priority. "He is completely right," one official said of Wolf's criticism. Another official said "it's been a struggle" to get the administration to pay attention. During a White House briefing on Monday discussing issues at tomorrow's Bush-Hu summit, no official mentioned North Korean refugees."

So there you have it: smoke without fire, personal jealousy and hate from Georgie, and a cookie for the religious nuts.

Perfect.

Progressive Pro-Israel

I don't normally answer other columnists/bloggers. Oh, sure, I've tilted with the twisted genius of George Will ("illegal domestic spying is against everything the constitution stands for - so Congress should make it legal real quick" Huh?) and the mind-numbingly self-congratulatory and idiotic Peter F. King ("so this poor kid soiled himself at the NFL Combine - here's his name. I shouldn't have listed the poor kid's name in the story? Well, here's his name again. And again. Done criticizing me? And again. And I stole a baseball from a kid at a ballpark").

And then there's Norm Solomon. Norm thinks this:

"Israel's treatment of Palestine has amounted to methodical human rights violations. Yet criticism of those policies results in accusations of anti-Jewish bigotry."

That's two memes that need to get un-memed in a hurry. Now, I'm normally a fan of old Norm. I get his columns through Alter.net on my Palm through AvantGo, so I haven't missed many in the past couple of years. When the Junta lines up its enemies to be shot, I hope to stand right next to him. No, scratch that. Maybe I can deplore it from this side of the Canadian border. Better.

But notwithstanding his picture on the website that looks like he just caught his grandma stepping out of the shower, he's usually quite good. Except in Israel.

Which brings me back to me original complaint with many progressives: why do you have to throw Israel under the bus with the Junta? Okay, most of the original neocons were Jewish and rabidly pro-Israel, and the current Bush-Rove-Cheney cabal is the same.

But is it really true that the friend of my enemy is my enemy?

Must progressives like Solomon bleed their heart dry for Palestinians? Since when did they deserve the compassion - especially when there are other, far worse things going on in the world. No, I don't say that to excuse anything that has been done wrongby Israel, but merely to ask about the priorities of those who expend so much energy condemning Israel. Why? Ever heard of Darfur? No? The Congo? Burma (yes, Myanmar)? Somalia? Ethiopia? No?

That, in part, answers the 'why do Israel critics get accused of anti-Semitism.' Because they choose to make Israel a bigger issue than real genocidal bad guys. The other reason is that real anti-Semites often criticize Israel. So criticizing Israel put you in company with anti-Semites. Sorry, that's just true. And yes, it does put the onus on the critic to differentiate themselves from the anti-Semitic critic, if they choose to do so.

So if I write that I agree with the immigration policies of Aryan Nation neo-Nazis, I can't boo-hoo if I'm asked whether I agree with the rest of their program. But I also have to ask myself: "why am I choosing to agree with them?"

And the statement: "Israel's treatment of Palestine has amounted to methodical human rights violations" is pure hyperbole. Methodical human rights violations? If that were so - and it certainly is not - where is the crying towel for the innocent dead Israelis? Okay, Israel BAD. Palestine GOOD? Really?

Because by making that statement, Solomon and his fellow travellers stake out their ground. Israeli children - Jewish children - are less important than Palestinian children. It's called taking sides.

But are there moral dimensions to that side-taking? Is it just heads and tails, equal choices? No. It's not. It's cops and robbers. It's firemen and arsonists.

Palestinians believe that Israel - Jews - should be eliminated. Their legitimate democratic representation is Hamas - a group that believe in the genocide of Israeli Jews and the theft of their land and possessions. Israel clearly believes in their own right to exist, and is just as clearly struggling to live in peace with its hostile neighbours.

Can that be doubted? I mean, whatever you think of bulldozing homes and controlling borders and firing rockets, the Israeli aim is to live in peace and the Palestinian aim is to kill them.
So when you accept that essential truth, the questions that remain are of degrees. What is Israel permitted to do to defend itself? What is out of bounds? Can Israel build a wall? Is it permitted to strike at terrorists?

But walls interfere with Palestinian trade and transportation. And strikes at terrorists sometimes (often?) harm innocents. Terrorists don't make their bases in desert camps, they make them among their sympathetic public. So do you give them their safe haven to preserve their supporters? Do you send in troops to arrest them - and see those troops killed - and kill bystanders?

Yesterday, a group of cowardly bloodthirsty murderers blew up a falafel stand in Tel Aviv. Nine dead, 60 wounded. Young people, old people - whoever. The legitimate elected government of the Palestinians says that was legitimate.

"Asked about the bombing, a Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, said, "The resistance is a legal and natural reaction to the Israeli crimes, and the Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves."

Legal and natural. The right to defend themselves. From 17-year olds eating falafels.
It's time to stop groping for 'moderates' that don't exist, and to stop condemning Israel for not having the good manners to lay down and die. These are the people that Israel must contend with in order to exist. What would you have them do?

I was a big supporter of the Oslo process that created the Palestinian Authority that Hamas now controls. In that long negotiation, Israel offered more than what was reasonable to achieve peace. But the Palestinians never wanted peace. Oslo was just another battle in their war. They turned back to bloodshed and atrocity on the eve of peace. Clearly, this is what they want. But it's not what Israel wants.

Is there any doubt that if Palestinians chose peace they could have it? Is there any doubt that if Israel laid down arms they'd be murdered immediately?

So for those progressives out there who listen to your anti-Bush heroes and rightly condemn the worst and most destructive administration in American history, don't compound the damage by opposing Israel only because Bush doesn't. Don't listen to the Solomon's who would have you weep for every drop of Palestinian blood and ask why Israelis don't just send them puppies and move away to Madagascar.

Look at what's really going on and ask yourself: who is for peace and who is for war? Once you answer that - and answer honestly - the rest will finally make sense.

Answer

Shockingly, the Washington Post seems to have noticed that the current president is not just unpopular, but is actively reviled by half the voting public. Okay, 47% "strongly disapprove" of him, but that's within the margin of error for half.

According to these erstwhile Republican propagandists, "Intense and widespread opposition to President Bush is likely to be a sharp spur driving voters to the polls in this fall's midterm elections."

Really?

Could it be that doing a catastrophically bad job and telling massive deadly lies could have consequences with the voting public? Seems rather odd, and certainly not something to bet on for students of current events.

The Rove Junta has proven time and again that they can use the disasters they create to produce the kind of lie-driven fear that pushes them over the top at election time.

They've figured out that they don't have to use overt ballot-box-stuffing and shotgun-powered Jim Crow policies to effect the vote. All they have to do is use their glib and menacing lies to unhinge enough of the gullables to make it close. Once they have a close vote they can move the result 3-5% in their favour.

Back in 2003 I started saying that the Democrat Party can't allow a close vote. They need to nail this sucker by at least 10 points. Anything close can be stolen by a Junta that believes that anything they do is legal. They Gerrymandering and racial profiling and Diebold machines and all the other anti-democratic devices they use are, in their warped view, their right to control the vote.

I don't believe that the Democrats are as weak and messageless as they're made out to be in the rightist press, but they must take their message to the people. Repubs are saying that the national unrest won't necessarily translate into local victories in Congressional elections. But it may be at the local level that the message can get through.

The false symmetry of he-said-she-said journalism where lies and truth are given equal weight (okay - lies get ten times the weight) is a national media phenomenon. If the Democrats can work it right, they can tell the truth at the local level and leverage the voter rage against the worst government in American History.

As always, stay tuned.

War

So Marine General Peter Pace, current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, says that all the criticism from retired generals is just a bunch of bunk. Rummy didn't interfere with the war planning or overrule the military guys, not one bit.

Now, putting aside for a moment that this is just another bold-faced lie from a guy who should show more guts (Dude - you're a Marine!), if he's right in what he says, what's the military excuse?

After all, the 150,000 troops who invaded were woefully inadequate to defend the country once they predictably beat Saddam's dilapidated forces. I mean, armored divisions who hadn't bought a new tank in a decade were not exactly a huge threat to the world's best trained, best motivated (at the time), and best equipped fighting force.

Not to take anything away from the brave soldiers, sailors, and Marines - they were expected to win easily because of their own merits.

But how could real military people have planned everything so badly? Real military people would have known they needed to secure Saddam's ammunition depots and nuclear facilities - and they didn't. Real military planners would have known they had to secure the peace and prevent looting - and they didn't.

And perhaps most importantly, there are no military planners on the earth - working for any army - who would not have secured the country's borders. While the Insurgency is most certainly a domestic force, they've been supplied with money and arms through Iran and Syria from Day One.

These things are no-brainers. Or, at least, little brainers. But whoever planned post-war Iraq simply failed in every possible way. Is American military leadership that stupid? Okay, don't answer that.

What is clear, though, is that the ideological extremists that the Junta has put in complete charge of our military used their only tool in "planning" the Iraqi debacle - ideology.

Rummy's ideology said "small force." The Great Ideology said: "shock and awe." Ideology declared: "you will be greeted as liberators."

And any thought or preparation that would have, you know, prepared our military for anything but the rosiest scenario was shot down. We don't need Rummy to admit to that - and we don't need Peter Pace to come clean.

Look at what happened: complete disaster. Do you think the American military dug in and refused to plan for different circumstances? No. The Ideology demanded it, and the Ideology gave orders through Rummy and Wolfie.

Pace does a treasonous disservice to the real professional military personnel who would never have let this happen.

If he wants to join the Junta, he should take off his stars first.

Buckets

It brings to mind the expert testimony about the aluminum tubes that the Junta tried - and at times still tries - to pass off as parts to make centrifuges: 'if they want to use these tubes for centrifuges, we should give them back.' Useless, pointless, and threadbare lies, the tubes case was one of two major points to the career-shattering case that Colin Powell made to the UN Security Council.

The other part was, of course, the 'mobile biological weapons labs' that were shown from satellite photos before the war and then touted as 'found WMD' for a long time after the initial phase of the invasion. We know now, of course, that the trucks had nothing to do with WMD's - but when did the Junta know it?

My guess would be before they presented them to the UN, but we must go by the evidence - and that evidence now says that a team of specialists determined in May 2003 - before Georgie proclaimed them as 'found WMD' - that the trucks had nothing to do with any WMD. The report was filed and promptly classified as Georgie's speeches went on to cite them over and over again.

No surprise there, I guess. Again I wonder what Newt's Congress would have made of a similar revelation from Bubba's administration. I mean, they fought so hard to get him on his Lewinsky indiscretion, what would they have made out of a giant lie and cover-up like this? But for Georgie, it's just another in what will be a near-endless stream of stomach-churning revelations to be seen over the next few years.

What struck me as funny - like the 'if that's what they want them for we should give them back' tube comment, was the response of the truck team to the notion that the trucks could be converted to bio-weapons use if Saddam had wanted to use them for that:

"It would be easier to start all over with just a bucket," said Rod Barton, an Australian biological weapons expert and former member of the survey group.

That about covers it.

Any takes for impeachment? No? Nothing yet?

War

Is the US going to war against Iran? Seymour Hersh says the planning is well under way. I'm sure it comes as a surprise to no one. Sure, it's insanely bloodthirsty and after the mess they've made of Iraq there is no sane constituency for it. But since when did the Junta listen to sane people?

As they've proven countless times in their foreign policy, domestic politics trumps all. Whatever makes crazy rightists happy is what the Junta will do. Whatever makes corporations and wealthy individuals richer, that's what gets done, no matter the cost in lives or reputation or government treasure.

And there is a mid-term election coming up this year. If the Junta loses its icy grip on Congress, who knows what sort of investigations will start. The Halliburton investigation alone will make Jack Abramoff look like Patrick Henry.

So, for the mid-terms, we need a threat. After all, it's only the fear created by 9-11 that's kept this crowd in power over the past five years. As people become jaded to the unfathomable jadedness of Georgie & Rove, they lose their grip. The only solution: new crisis.

But the most scary part of all this is what the Junta has always stood for: the power of the powerful aggrandized endlessly. In the polls over the past few months, they've seen the end of their power. They are persistently under 40% approval in even the friendliest polls.

They pulled off massive vote fraud in 2004 to tip a close election their way. But a clear majority against them, as exists today, can't be moved by anything short of complete theft. Not that they're above staling what they need to steal - it's their life's work. But that sort of 'scramble every Diebold machine' stuff couldn't go under the radar in the scale they'd need.

So either the fear will be brought back, or they will lose the mid-terms and the 2008 presidential race. They will be investigated, possibly by actual patriotic Americans who will be sickened by them.

And their experiment in neocon dictatorship will be over. It will be proven a failure for all time. They had every means of government they would ever want, and all they did was loot and pillage, leaving a poorer, meaner, and far less secure country in their wake.

But before they go, they still have the nuclear button. Until January 2009, Little George, the family failure, can launch nukes and send the American Military on more adventures. Does he believe that Iran is a big threat to 'his' Middle East? Sure.

What's his solution? Well - what's his solution ever been? He may become more dangerous as he becomes disattached from the American electorate. When he no longer cares about telling lies and building 'political capital' he may revert to the semi-formed thoughts that have driven his small and mean ambitions to the big stage.

George W. has always been a failure, never more so than as president. He has the nuclear button for only two and a half more years. What is the chance he won't use it?

War

Is the US going to war against Iran? Seymour Hersh says the planning is well under way. I'm sure it comes as a surprise to no one. Sure, it's insanely bloodthirsty and after the mess they've made of Iraq there is no sane constituency for it. But since when did the Junta listen to sane people?

As they've proven countless times in their foreign policy, domestic politics trumps all. Whatever makes crazy rightists happy is what the Junta will do. Whatever makes corporations and wealthy individuals richer, that's what gets done, no matter the cost in lives or reputation or government treasure.

And there is a mid-term election coming up this year. If the Junta loses its icy grip on Congress, who knows what sort of investigations will start. The Halliburton investigation alone will make Jack Abramoff look like Patrick Henry.

So, for the mid-terms, we need a threat. After all, it's only the fear created by 9-11 that's kept this crowd in power over the past five years. As people become jaded to the unfathomable jadedness of Georgie & Rove, they lose their grip. The only solution: new crisis.

But the most scary part of all this is what the Junta has always stood for: the power of the powerful aggrandized endlessly. In the polls over the past few months, they've seen the end of their power. They are persistently under 40% approval in even the friendliest polls.

They pulled off massive vote fraud in 2004 to tip a close election their way. But a clear majority against them, as exists today, can't be moved by anything short of complete theft. Not that they're above staling what they need to steal - it's their life's work. But that sort of 'scramble every Diebold machine' stuff couldn't go under the radar in the scale they'd need.

So either the fear will be brought back, or they will lose the mid-terms and the 2008 presidential race. They will be investigated, possibly by actual patriotic Americans who will be sickened by them.

And their experement in neocon dictatorship will be over. It will be proven a failure for all time. They had every means of government they would ever want, and all they did was loot and pillage, leaving a poorer, meaner, and far less secure country in their wake.

But before they go, they still have the nuclear button. Until January 2009, Little George, the family failure, can launch nukes and send the American Military on more adventures. Does he believe that Iran is a big threat to 'his' Middle East? Sure.

What's his solution? Well - what's his solution ever been? He may become more dangerous as he becomes disattached from the American electorate. When he no longer cares about telling lies and building 'political capital' he may revert to the semi-formed thoughts that have driven his small and mean ambitions to the big stage.

George W. has always been a failure, never more so than as president. He has the nuclear button for only two and a half more years. What is the chance he won't use it?

Sports

Let's take a look at the Patriots, as they prepare for the draft, and the Celtics, as they position themselves for the lottery.

As the esteemed Elvis Brothers pointed out, the Patriots are busily remaking their defense and special teams. They've signed K Martin (pronounced Mar-teen) Gramatica, who was out of football last year rehabbing a knee. Speculation is that they'll bring in another young leg or two to compete with him for the kicking duties. This is good news, as young kickers rarely produce at the NFL level. It took Adam Vinatieri years to become the clutch guy who hit those huge ones for us.

They also brought back S Tebucky Jones. Jones was a Pats first round pick who got a ring with us in Super Bowl 36. He was a key member of a very physical secondary that shut down the previously unstoppable Rams offense. Jones wanted a big payday after that, and got it - from the Saints.

Tebucky was a Pete Carroll-Bobby Grier pick who, they said, had the natural gifts to be a shut-down CB even though he'd played Safety his whole career (since switching from RB). Ummm, nope. Jones remains now what he was then - a physical specimen who, at 220 lbs, might still be the fastest guy on the team - but has no ball skills. He's more athlete than football player.

But that's okay because on special teams he's amazing. He makes our coverage and return games much better just by suiting up. And he's good enough in the defensive backfield to be an effective sub and nickle-dime player. With the other guys who've come in or re-signed (like Eric Warfild and Guss Scott), the backfield looks good, short of a shut-down CB.

Which still leaves questions at LB. If you look at the depth chart on the Pats website, Mike Vrable is starting at both inside and outside linebacker. Not good. Bruschi, Colvin, and Vrable are solid and reliable. Izzo and Davis are for special teams (though Davis has played safety and LB for them). Banta-Cain is an OLB and special teams - but is better on special teams. Monty Beisel is a solid back-up, but no more than that. Ryan Claridge is a young guy with potential, and Eric Alexander is another pure special-teamer.

Since the free agent money has gone to DB's, you have to think that Belichick is going to target LB's in the draft. He'll probably go for a Ted Johnson type of ILB plugger and a fast light DE to play OLB.

Overall, they're shaping up. And don't buy into that bunk about having a 'soft' schedule. Sure, they get to play an NFC division that's not what it once was - either Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, or Minnesota will go to the playoffs at 8-8 - and we get to play Houston and Tennessee, but that's football. In recent years there has been dramatic improvement from year-to-year among also-rans. You can't start counting 'W's' and 'L's' this early.

The Pats play Houston December 17. What if RB Reggie Bush is all he's cracked up to be? They might be the most improved team in the NFL and a real handful.

On the Celtics side, things are not so rosy. We haven't had a sniff at a championship since #33 was on the floor and not hanging the rafters. From my close-up look at the kids, I'm please with a few of them. Al Jefferson has to get his butt on the court and stay there.

Delonte West has raised his game to a B- in his second year, which is great, but he's not showing any signs of becoming Steve Nash yet. Orien Greene just looked lost.

But young Gerald Green was impressive. He has a slender build, but was effective in traffic and showed no fear of the big bodies. He's an effective scorer and an improving defender. He does look like a kid who could become an all-star in time. Gomes was also intriguing. He looked like a younger smaller "Cornbread" Maxwell.

My question really is this: given that the young guys can play, how good will they be? Are they a group that can take the team all he way, or will they mature into a perennial 41-41 team? Do they have more playing value or trade value?

Because Paul Pierce is absolutely dominant right now. And with Szczerbiak and LaFrenz, they have a decent core. Can we use some of that young talent to turn into a 2007 contender? And if we do have a decent lottery pick this year, do we want another young guy fighting for minutes?

And is Doc Rivers the guy to coach them?

Stay tuned...

Sports

Let's take a look at the Patriots, as they prepare for the draft, and the Celtics, as they position themselves for the lottery.

As the esteemed Elvis Brothers pointed out, the Patriots are busily remaking their defense and special teams. They've signed K Martin (pronounced Mar-teen) Gramatica, who was out of football last year rehabbing a knee. Speculation is that they'll bring in another young leg or two to compete with him for the kicking duties. This is good news, as young kickers rarely produce at the NFL level. It took Adam Vinatieri years to become the clutch guy who hit those huge ones for us.

They also brought back S Tebucky Jones. Jones was a Pats first round pick who got a ring with us in Super Bowl 36. He was a key member of a very physical secondary that shut down the previously unstoppable Rams offense. Jones wanted a big payday after that, and got it - from the Saints.

Tebucky was a Pete Carroll-Bobby Grier pick who, they said, had the natural gifts to be a shut-down CB even though he'd played Safety his whole career (since switching from RB). Ummm, nope. Jones remains now what he was then - a physical specimen who, at 220 lbs, might still be the fastest guy on the team - but has no ball skills. He's more athlete than football player.

But that's okay because on special teams he's amazing. He makes our coverage and return games much better just by suiting up. And he's good enough in the defensive backfield to be an effective sub and nickle-dime player. With the other guys who've come in or re-signed (like Eric Warfild and Guss Scott), the backfield looks good, short of a shut-down CB.

Which still leaves questions at LB. If you look at the depth chart on the Pats website, Mike Vrable is starting at both inside and outside linebacker. Not good. Bruschi, Colvin, and Vrable are solid and reliable. Izzo and Davis are for special teams (though Davis has played safety and LB for them). Banta-Cain is an OLB and special teams - but is better on special teams. Monty Beisel is a solid back-up, but no more than that. Ryan Claridge is a young guy with potential, and Eric Alexander is another pure special-teamer.

Since the free agent money has gone to DB's, you have to think that Belichick is going to target LB's in the draft. He'll probably go for a Ted Johnson type of ILB plugger and a fast light DE to play OLB.

Overall, they're shaping up. And don't buy into that bunk about having a 'soft' schedule. Sure, they get to play an NFC division that's not what it once was - either Green Bay, Detroit, Chicago, or Minnesota will go to the playoffs at 8-8 - and we get to play Houston and Tennessee, but that's football. In recent years there has been dramatic improvement from year-to-year among also-rans. You can't start counting 'W's' and 'L's' this early.

The Pats play Houston December 17. What if RB Reggie Bush is all he's cracked up to be? They might be the most improved team in the NFL and a real handful.

On the Celtics side, things are not so rosy. We haven't had a sniff at a championship since #33 was on the floor and not hanging the rafters. From my close-up look at the kids, I'm please with a few of them. Al Jefferson has to get his butt on the court and stay there.

Delonte West has raised his game to a B- in his second year, which is great, but he's not showing any signs of becoming Steve Nash yet. Orien Greene just looked lost.

But young Gerald Green was impressive. He has a slender build, but was effective in traffic and showed no fear of the big bodies. He's an effective scorer and an improving defender. He does look like a kid who could become an all-star in time. Gomes was also intriguing. He looked like a younger smaller "Cornbread" Maxwell.

My question really is this: given that the young guys can play, how good will they be? Are they a group that can take the team all he way, or will they mature into a perennial 41-41 team? Do they have more playing value or trade value?

Because Paul Pierce is absolutely dominant right now. And with Szczerbiak and LaFrenz, they have a decent core. Can we use some of that young talent to turn into a 2007 contender? And if we do have a decent lottery pick this year, do we want another young guy fighting for minutes?

And is Doc Rivers the guy to coach them?

Stay tuned...

Parallel

Interesting stories today. Two stories so parallel that you'd think that they had been planted together.

First, the announcement of the completed translation and authentication of the Gospel of Judas. Yes, the Gospel of Judas. For those of you Christianity followers who thought that there were only four Gospels, you got another thing coming. Actually, there are at least two others besides Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There is one from Thomas and one from Mary Magdalene.

No, I'm not referring to the Da Vinci Code. Actual authentic gospels from real apostles.

And this one now from Judas shows that Jesus asked Judas to turn him in to the (bloody) Romans so he could sacrifice himself. Rather than a sign that Judas was a traitor, his act of betrayal was a crucial event in the development of the religion that only Jesus' top guy could be trusted to do properly.

Some time in the dark ages (250-350 CE) the proto-Catholic church decided which Gospels they would accept and which they would reject. But why should they get that choice? And so what that these rejected Gospels are considered 'Gnostic?' Does that make them less Christian if they are contemporaneous with the other Gospels.

Okay, they were written a bit later, but not much later, than the other Gospels. In the dismissive terms of mainstream Christianity:

He [Ben Witherington III, professor of New Testament interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary] said that unlike the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which were written in Christianity's first century, Gnostic works were produced in the second century and afterward. To say that the Gospel of Judas reveals anything factual about Judas, Dr. Witherington said, "is like saying a document written 150 years after George Washington died tells us the inside truth about George Washington."

But what if all other Washington documents were between 50 and 150 years after his life? Wouldn't that put the 150 year old stuff in the same general category of correctness?

What seems odd to me about this whole thing is that it's being treated as 'no biggie' by the powers that be. The whole thing is a bit of archeological antiquarianism rather than a major upheaval in Christianity.

And on the same day the Gospel of Judas is presented to the world, our own Scooter Libby testifies under other that he was ordered to 'out' Valerie Plame by Georgie himself, through the voice of the master, Dick Cheney.

For years, since the 'smear Joe Wilson' operation started in earnest, Georgie has been talking about how leakers were bad and nobody knew who leaked what and all that. Which still may be true - Georgie can't remember what he did five minutes ago at any point in his life, so hew could have forgotten that he ordered the move.

Libby probably thinks that since Georgie, as president, can make documents un-classified just by saying so, he can't get Georgie into trouble by revealing the order. But did Georgie actually de-classify the documents? Wouldn't he actually have to do that before he orders the leaked?

And does this make Scooter the Judas, or is Georgie still the American Judas for betraying our sacred trust and turning America into a name-only democracy reviled globally? Or maybe Scooter is Judas and Georgie is Satan. That makes a bit more sense.

Either way, those two stories were meant to come out today and share the same front page. It's almost enough to make your religious.

Hitter

In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't have a post yesterday because I'm old. And that age factor prevented me from effectively recovering from a late night out watching the Raptors and engaging in other activities not normally associated with the 40+ crowd. The game was, indeed, a hoot and the Celtics won (and then lost to the Wiz, but oh well).

We were 10 rows from court side, and the players looked like players. It was the first time I've ever been to an NBA game where my view was better than the picture on a video game.

The result: like the kids. I like Gomes and Green and Greene (though I like Green better than Greene - he plays bigger and is a difference-maker). It was odd that an under-manned Raptors team only played All-Rookie Charlie Villanueva 25 minutes - was something up there? Or does coach Sam Mitchell think he hit the 'rookie wall' and doesn't want to push him too far? Because the game was within Toronto's grasp - a few less bench minutes for Charlie might have made the difference.

Have you noticed, by the way, that NBA players from the 1980's have taken over the league? Sam Mitchell faced Doc Rivers in this game. Danny Ainge is the GM of the Celtics, while Larry Bird runs the Pacers, and Kevin McHale does it all for the Timberwolves. Joe Dumars was just inducted into the Hall of Fame - and has a championship ring as an executive to add to his rings from his playing days.

And then there's Isiah Thomas, who has wrecked a track of devastation through several NBA stops (pausing only briefly to destroy the CBA) including Toronto, Indiana, and now sub-20 win New York. Funny how it's been the same between Thomas and Dumars for 20 years - Isiah hogging the glory while Dumars remains quietly effective, producing more than his loutish back-court-mate with less fanfare and far more class.

But I'm here to talk about what I saw in a baseball game last night. I watched a bit of the Braves-Dodgers game. Good game. Nice to see Edgar Renteria playing for the Dodgers - hopefully he can give them the season he couldn't produce for Boston last year.

What struck me, though, was a two-out rally by Atlanta in the third (this is all true in the gist - I didn't check the box score so bear with me if I'm not right on the details) with men on second and third. And who steps up to the plate? The pitcher. Rally over.

Are they still hitting pitchers in the NL? Is this still a debate? Of course, with Republicans running the country I shouldn't be surprised that a dinosaur like the hitting pitcher still roams the earth.

All I could hink was: "where's Big Papi?" The Red Sox DH, Davis Ortiz, is a great play, a major celebrity, and a huge part of what make the Red Sox fun to watch these days. And in the NL there's no job for him.

Who wants to see a dorky pudgy pitcher (not that lean fat that a guy like Papi carries, but the soft girly-man fat of a guy who's never worked out) kill your team's chances, when you could see a top hitter continue to challenge the defense? You've only got one first base to hide a guy who can't field (and remember what that did to Boston in the '86 World Series).

I'm still trying to rekindle my affection for MLB. It's not easy. But I did get MLB 2k6 for Xbox yesterday, so hopefully I can re-learn the game before the Red Sox get here to play the Jays.

But for now, I'm going to see if I can put the DH rule into the NL on the video game.

Celtics

Hey - going to the Raptors-Celtics game tonight! Got great tickets for half of face value. I haven't been to an NBA game in a couple of years, and I've never had seats this good, so I'm very excited. On the Celtics side, I'm jazzed to see the increasingly great Paul Pierce. He's raised his game this season and seems to be sporting a new positive attitude. He plays hard and draws fouls. He's great in the clutch, and has turned into a role model for the young guys.

The young guys are, in fact, the other thing I want to see tonight. Rookies Orien Greene, Gerald, Green, and Ryan Gomes are playing more minutes and producing more than anyone thought possible. Orien, of course, was a very bad rook recently when he got busted for speeding, but I'm hoping he's far enough out of the doghouse to get a peek at him tonight.

The last time I saw Gerald Green, he threw down a memorable jam from a Tony Allen set-up in garbage time against the Raptors. Is was a memorable dunk, the kind that you'd think was only possible with the help of a trampoline. Apparently he's been getting 19 minutes a game in the stretch since then, so hopefully I'll get a first-person look at those big hops.

Gomes is a 6'7" power forward - normally too short to play the position in the NBA. Which is why he was there when the Celtics took him in the second round. But by all accounts he's a player - he makes things happen no matter what his dimensions. And at 250 lbs, why shouldn't he?

Aside from Peirce and the three G's, I want to have a look at the second year guys. The team had a terrific draft the year before as well, and there are thee solid players with a "huge upside" from that class as well: Al Jefferson, Delonte West, and Tony Allen.

Allen is averaging 17 minutes and 5.7 points, which is not going to get him into the Hall of Fame. He's been playing behind Ricky Davis and Wally Szczerbiak, so it's understandable. You have to wonder whether he'll be around Boston when (if) he breaks out as a scorer, as Wally has a few good years left and should recover from his knee soreness in the off-season. Still, a strong productive guy in that spot.

Jefferson is averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes, but has hobbled on sore ankles all season (and most of last season). There is some question about his conditioning and willingness to play through pain. He's been compared favourably to All-Star Amare Stoudmire in Phoenix - and if he can reach that potential, look out. But he's been shut down for the season due to the ankles and remains a tease.

West is the best of the second year crop so far. He's averaging 12 points and 4.6 assists in 34 minutes, starting at the point. He has a smooth stroke on his shot and plays well all over the court. It was his injury, though, that got Orien Greene off the bench to show what he could do in the spot. There was talk that West wouldn't get the job back, but Greene is still too, umm, green to take over.

Kendrick Perkins rounds out the youth movement, in his third year. Like Jefferson and Gerald Green, he's a high school guy who should be playing in the NCAA's right now (or just a couple of weeks ago). He's an improving banger, grabbing 6 boards and 5 points in his 18 minutes. How much better can he get? Raef LaFrentz is taking 25 minutes at center right now, but look for Perkins to be given every opportunity to start in that spot next year. It looks like GM Danny Ainge is angling for a Perkins-Jefferson front court, but whether the guys can handle it remains uncertain.

With seven good young players looking for minutes, you have to wonder what the team will do with its lottery pick this year (as the Saturday loss to Chicago put them out of the playoffs). How many good young guys can you have on a roster? Of course, that's a problem a lot of teams would like to have.

I'm also curious about Doc Rivers as a coach. Why did it take him all year to play Green and Greene and Gomes? If they were in the rotation from day one, would we be in the playoffs now?

Job

The NYT is reporting that the White House is having a difficult time recruiting a permanent replacement for Michael "Brownie" Brown, the former head of FEMA who took a big hit for the Katrina disaster response. In the days after the hurricane, it looked like Brownie was the incompetent who messed things up so badly and got all those people killed, but it turns out that in the Junta, Brownie was the closest thing to a model of efficiency.

Hired as the #2 at FEMA after being let go by the Arabian Horse Association, Brownie had three credentials: fundraising for Georgie, a former college roommate who could hire him into an important Junta job, and having worked for an organization with "Arab" in its name. All those things made him "qualified" to handle the important business of safety for the American people.

Unfortunately, it turns out that most residents of the city of New Orleans failed the means test when the hurricane hit. They were neither rich nor influential. So they had to be let go like the Arabian Horse people had let Brownie go.

But in the course of getting dinner in Baton Rouge, Brownie did find the time to call the White House and let them know the levees had failed. He did try to let Georgie know that "this is the big one" in their video conference. Georgie had down-graded FEMA from cabinet-level to a janitorial division of the Department of Homeland Security, much the same way he had downgraded anti-terrorism before 9-11.

When Katrina hit, Georgie tried to ignore it with the same vigour that he'd ignored terrorism before 9-11. It was a problem this time because he couldn't classify a lot of the information he'd gotten from the National Weather Service. So people had an idea just how utterly incompetent he and his Junta were. They tried to blame Brownie, but it didn't stick as well as they'd have liked.

So here we are, on the cusp of the next hurricane season. The levees remain a hazard, as the Junta fingers-and-toes estimate of the cost was 6$ short. And they can't find a replacement for Brownie.

I know what you're thinking: "hasn't the Arabian Horse Association fired any one else who could be brought in?" Apparently not.

And, it turns out, none of the real disaster management professionals want to join up. According to the article, it's too close to the hurricane season to make major changes, and Georgie is clearly a lame duck so it will be hard to overhaul the organization. But I think there's something more to it.

I think that the real professionals want nothing to do with this administration. That nobody who actually knows what they're doing wants to be strapped to this ticking bomb. Where "expertise" is a dirty word, the experts stay away. There are plenty of third-rate drop-outs around who are willing to take Junta jobs and the heat that comes with their inevitable failures. Why would someone who is smart, experienced, and able wan to be anywhere near these guys?

Especially in disaster management field, where mistakes lead to bodies and grieving relatives. When Richard Clarke testified before the 9-11 commission, he turned to the 9-11 families and apologized to them for not stopping the attack, even though he was the least guilty man in the government. A disaster professional who knows what he's doing would not want to carry that amount of water for the water-heads that would employ him.

So Georgie will nominate acting FEMA head R. David Paulison, who by all accounts may be capable. That's bad for him, because working with the likes of Georgie, Rummy, Rove, et al, he'll definitely wind up having to issue that apology.