Romney Refutes His Magic Underpants

The Mittster gave his JFK speech on religion yesterday to allay the fears of conservative evangelical voters that he wasn't Christian enough. Not once during the speech did he mention his magic underpants or temple garment as they are also known. The mere acknowledgment of their existence may have negated any potential gains in trust Romney was trying to win from potential fundamentalist voters that doubt his Christian bona fides.

There's been so much analysis and punditry on the speech that I'm not going to waste much space on it. I do believe Mitt was specifically targeting the zealot base of the GOP that places religiosity over everything else when it comes to elections. Don't believe for a second that it was an assurance that religion and the evangelical power brokers couldn't play a role in a Romney presidency. He was just trying to assuage their fears that his off brand of Christianity wouldn't prohibit him from pursuing the narrowly crafted social agenda that they so crave. As David Brooks rightly points out in today's NYT column a success for Romney would be to gain solidarity in the culture wars that his party has exploited for so long.

The Two Best Things About the Latest NIE

The first best thing about the new NIE on Iran is the gnashing of teeth from apoplectic neo-kooks everywhere. I include in this bunch John Bolton, Freedom's Watch gang and of course the folks at the Weekly Standard and the Wall Street Journal editorial page. This group also includes hardliners in the Israeli government (Ehud Barak for example) who are basically suggesting that the report is wrong.

The second best thing is the news from several sources including Salon and ThinkProgress that the Decider knew about the NIE's conclusions back in August but still continued to insert World War III references in his speeches. Maybe that explains the giggles from the Prez whenever he talks about Armageddon. No seriously, this serves as a check for all of us skeptics out here that know these guys are just using fear of a nuclear Iran for political means. It also weakens any chance of the end of days crowd getting an invasion of Iran as a Christmas gift.

For a great laugh on the “other NIE” read today's Tom Friedman column in the NYT.

METRO Spinning Its Wheels?

This past Sunday the Beacon editorial page framed the METRO sales tax proposal as a social service levy.

Summit County voters, facing a difficult economy, repeatedly have shown a generous spirit, recently supporting levies for children services and mental health, alcohol and drug addiction treatment. As Metro moves forward with its campaign for a sales tax increase, voters must consider carefully their responsibility to help the vulnerable move ahead, too.

The region is never going to get 21^st century transit that provides an alternative for all commuters unless we get past this notion that the buses are there only to help out poor folks. On top of that we are going to increase a regressive tax to help the “vulnerable”out? The odds of a sales tax increase getting approved by voters have to be low. METRO is going to waste too much time spinning its wheels (ha ha wheels) on the sales tax when they should be thinking about a different approach. I go back to my previous posting on this one. The State and this region need to consider a gasoline tax to fund a truly comprehensive approach to public transit. I'm sure the transit systems in New York and Washington D.C. are considered to be more than just a social program.

Akron METRO Doubles Down

Akron METRO the local transit authority is planning to stem it's fiscal woes by placing a sales tax increase on the ballot. According to the report in Tuesday's ABJ and the METRO rider email I subscribe to, the Board of Trustees agreed to place a .25% (that means ¼ percent) increase on the March ballot. The article in the Beacon spares much of the detail on what METRO will have to cut in the event the tax increase measure fails. The information from METRO's email goes into how cuts in State funding and triple digit increases in fuel mean tough times. It continues:

METRO has been fiscally responsible, raising bus fares by 60 percent, cutting more than 30 percent of service, eliminating 52 employees, and freezing wages for more than three years. METRO is facing a $1.8 million deficit in 2008 and $1 million in 2009. Without additional income, METRO and METRO SCAT will be facing some of the most critical service cuts of its history, including eliminating up to 50 additional positions in 2008...

The old ”METRO has had no new sales tax revenue since 1990” narrative is also thrown in for good measure. Never mind that sales taxes by design are indexed with inflation so while the rate has not increased the revenue collected has.

Times are tough for local governments and authorities like METRO and are probably not going to pick up in the near future. Unfortunately for them they don't have many options other than cutting staff or service. They already raised fares in the last go around so that is off the table (except for the North Coast Express). I had an informal conversation with the finance director this summer and he said that the last fare increases actually reduced ridership enough to cancel out the additional revenue that was generated. So here they are having to mess with the grand-daddy of all local taxes. I know property tax is a big fish but the sales tax is a broader and more pervasive tax, some (actually most) would even say regressive in nature. Let's face it the chances of that passing in March can't be that good. Throw in tougher economic conditions on the horizon for the average person and it seems almost impossible.

Long term all of the transit authorities will have to pool resources and think big picture. I am of course referring to a tapping into a new gasoline tax to fund operations and development of local transit systems. When and how this will happen is beyond the scope of what i can do here. I'll pick up this again in a month or so.

GOP and the YouTubes

Here's to hoping tomorrow's Republican Presidential debate is a entertaining as expected. I'll be honest I haven't cared to watch most of the debates for either party so far. For some reason I feel compelled to watch this one. Maybe seeing how Rotten Rudy will react to the snowman's question or the Mittster's propensity for bullshit colliding with the in your face forum provided by YouTube is drawing me.

I would love a monkey to ask the Huck about his views on evolution and whether he realizes that humans are actually primates. Oh, and someone could even ask McCain a question too.

Chum Bucket Gets His Revenge

Scottie "chum bucket" McClellan has decided to come clean and reveal that he was indeed pressured by persons including Bush, Rove, Cheney et al to pass bad information to the press on White House involvement in the Valerie Plame leak case. I'm not sure there is anyone left who is surprised by what the former Medicare & Medicaid Services Director's little brother has to say on this subject. Oh wait the Wall Street Journal Editorial page is surprised.

Whether he spills his guts on the Plame affair to vindicate himself or to sell some books it makes no difference to me. I just wish he would have spoken up sooner but, of course he can't comment on an ongoing investigation. I plan to get the book just to read the chapters on why he hates David Gregory and how Jeff Gannon Guckert landed a press pass.

Also curious how the story was not picked up by the American press with the same furor as foreign media outlets. BBC news had it as their lead story for much of the day.

FCC Creatively Destroying Local Media

The motive behind the proposed FCC rule changes for media ownership is no longer a secret. In an op-ed article in today's New York Times, FCC commissioner Kevin Martin makes a case for media consolidation as a means to bail out America's failing newspapers. He is suggesting that relaxing just one area of the cross- ownership rules, in which newspapers could buy local television or radio, would provide much needed breathing room for lagging print media.

It's hard to believe that this is where the proposals for rule changes would end. The ideology at the FCC since the Michael Powell days (or since the 1996 Telecomm. Act) is one that espouses letting a free market philosophy termed creative destruction work it's magic. It's kind of a social Darwinism of markets approach that relies on peeling back the regulatory limitations and seeing what happens when the winners take all of the resources. The winners are of course big media conglomerates and the losers in the end are the general public. The only thing more insidious than allowing the ownership rules to be relaxed is a tiered internet. Both of which screw the consumer in the race for the bottom line. It's no wonder that the FCC is fast tracking the rule change in hope of getting it approved by December.

Last week's Bill Moyers Journal featured a story on the push to further relax ownership rules and the effect on minority owned radio. The potential damage that could be done to an already bleak media landscape is alarming. No wonder I can't trust anyone in politics named Kevin.

It Always Rains on Election Day

My wife reminded me tonight that it wouldn't be election day with out crappy wet weather. Some scenes from the polls:

I voted tonight at around 6PM. The same crew was manning table 8Q. They were kind of quiet tonight. Looked like the Ensure and Centrum Silver was wearing off.

I knew Issue 1 was on the ballot but there were no signs or verbal heads up from the polling pals reminding us not to bother voting on it. Our General Assembly is looking to change the deadlines to avoid these hold out issues from sticking on the ballot.

I like to feed my ballot into the reader. I was number 182. One additional step this year, you have to push a button to acknowledge your vote once it's in the reader. Thanks for the sticker.

Now we sit back and wait for the results.

Islamofascistan?

The upheaval in Pakistan is now in its third day and the country doesn't look like a beacon of nascent democracy in the middle east. What to do if you are on the Bush foreign policy team and have spent so much time propping up the Musharraf regime as a bulwark against terrorism in the region. There hasn't been much tough talk coming from Dr. Rice or The Decider in the past few days. What can you say when that ally is emulating the very catch phrase we are supposedly trying to defeat in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq(n)? There hasn't even been a strong commitment to cut the billions of dollars of aid we provide.

Yes I mean Islamofascism. That phony-ass term created by neocon's to conflate Iraq with the terrorism of 9/11. The same evil following that is brewing trouble in Iran and leading us to the precipice of WWIII (The Decider would have me insert a LOL here but, I digress). If this ideology does exist then it looks like the makings of it are available in the current mix in Islamabad. Let's see there's an Islamic republic,let's not forget they have a nuclear capability, led by a General that took power by military coup. Now that general has suspended the constitution , jailed dissidents of all political stripes, closed down independent media outlets and declared martial law. All this in order to cling to power and claim it's necessary to fight Islamic extremism in the country.

Isn't the system blinking red? Where is Joe Lieberman and the Freedom's Watch gang? Is Pakistan today an eerie parallel of what could happen in the name of fighting terrorism here? Unfortunately most American's are probably watching the news to see when the screen writers strike will be over.

Diplomatic Mutiny at Foggy Bottom

Some news outlets including the NBC nightly news reported on a mutiny of U.S. diplomats over forced assignments in Iraq. Trawling the major news sites didn't provide too much in the way of detail although I was able to find this brief story on the BBC site (of course). Even though NBC news with Brian " My nose was once broken and it really shows up in HD" Williams did a segment with Andrea Mitchell, there is no video or text posted at NBC. Probably because right off the bat Mrs. Greenspan referred to one hundred diplomats refusing to accept assignments in "Vietnam". Oops, wrong country same inescapable foreign policy nightmare. She quickly corrected herself but it was a great Freudian slip.

Back to the protests by those in the diplomatic corp faced with being sent to Surgeland. State has forty-eight postings to fill and almost nobody willing to take them. One staffer describes assignment to Iraq as a potential death sentence. Another observation was that in any other country the embassy would have been closed by now. What is telling is how this is a reliable marker on the status of the surge. The reports on the decreased troop casualties and pockets of security have gained steam over the past month. In the end short term gains in force protection and limited security where we have a large presence are not materializing into the strategic goals set out by war backers. The force required to maintain this status quo is not going to be sustainable in the long run (try spring). The diplomats being sent away to the Emerald City know this and realize that as they start arriving the surge will be starting to wane in numbers and effectiveness out of necessity. There is a good chance the country could continue to decline into a Hobbesian state in the coming year. Will they have to grab the last helicopter ride out of Saigon, err Baghdad?

Update 11/1/2007: The Washington Post has a story on the revolt in today's edition. It goes into more detail than the BBC story. The surge success is looking like more of an illusion in the eyes of the diplomatic corp.

Kevy wants to Be Governor When He Grows Up

State Senator and Cuyahoga Falls resident Kevin Coughlin got a swell write up in today's ABJ. Dennis Willard fashioned the piece as story on a rising star in the Ohio GOP. The profile focuses in on Coughlin's prolific legislative tenure and his aspirations of running for State wide-office. Kevin like many of his colleagues is term limited in 2010 and will be in need of new career path, preferably in the public sector. So the guy who has proposed orange license plates for sex offenders (yellow is already taken), special education school vouchers and a potential ballot amendment on eminent domain is hinting that he may one day run for Governor.

I think we would be safer if guys like Coughlin were not term limited and could spend the better part of their working lives in the legislative bubble of the Statehouse. There they are free to dream up a panoply of laws that address the seemingly endless stream of issues that need remedied. I know that I sleep better at night knowing he is on the job thinking about the proper color of license plate for the cars of sex offenders . No instead they are forced out of office and look for other ways to infect our eyes with their presence. In this case Kevin says, “I have a lot of ideas about what Ohio should be doing...” in regards to a future run for State-wide office. This ambition to rule a la the style of Ken Blackwell using conservative polemics didn't move voters in 2006 (remember that trouncing). Why does stupid think that it will work for him considering that our current Governor, a moderate liberal, has had success governing from the center? The tide is not turning for conservative blow hards like him. Ohioans are getting used to the sensible and bipartisan approach to public policy that seems to be gaining a foothold in Columbus.

ABJ Endorses Cole, Highlights Falls Clerk Race

Akron Ward 8 Council - The World is Holding It's Breath
The Beacon Journal endorsed Randy Cole for Akron Ward 8 City Council citing his "valuable experience" and something about being capable of addressing complex matters or some crap like that . I'm pretty sure they just reprinted Cole's campaign flyer. The ABJ editorial mentions Bob Keith's accomplishments but indicates it's the end of the line for the five term councilman. It seems that ol' Bob has hit that barrier to reelection known as passive leadership. Don't all incumbent office holders have this quality? Any way the Beacon practically phoned this one in. They even appeared to borrow the passive rap on Keith from the interview of Randy that appeared in the West Side Leader. The Leader endorsed Bob Keith. I'm still not sure for whom I will cast my vote. Maybe the one who can guarantee me the jackass next door won't paint anymore cars in his garage will win me over in the end.

Term Limited State Rep. Needs a Job
The ABJ also reported Sunday that the Falls Clerk race is causing a stir. Haven't we seen this before? A well connected State Rep. is looking for a safe place to land once his term runs out. Why not help him out and get him into a career track in public management? In this case John Widowfield is bringing his history of legislating license plate colors and a myriad of other really important public policy to the table. His opponent Lisa Zeno Carano currently holds the office and has 12 prior years experience working in a court system. Widowfield meanwhile points to his his strong suit

"What's so important is to have somebody that understands money - understands dollars"

You see all things revolve around the understanding of money (or dollars in layman's terms) and the ability to master that is the secret to sound public management. What he means is that he has raised a lot of campaign money from a few large donors and is hoping to grab the office for his overlord Alex.

Oops She Did It Again

In case you haven't heard our favorite conservative shemale has been at it again. This time Ann Coulter has decided to go after the jewish faith. Donny Deutsch was on the Today show to talk about Ann's brazen attempt at explaining how Jews can be "perfected" and her subsequent attempt to rephrase her idiotic remarks. Donny made a great analogy to Ann and Brittany Spears. His point was that Brittany doesn't exist until she gets in another car accident (his example not mine, he probably confused her with Lindsay Lohan) just as Ann only pops back into existence by issuing one of her classic wing bat statements. The boy's quite astute if you ask me. I've always said that Coulter has perfected political shtick and nothing more. The real question is whether legitimate conservative pols and pundits will finally distance themselves from her, not whether she should be banned from television.

Speaking of television. If you have a chance to watch the clip of the exchange in HD you will notice Ann has flop sweat around her mouth and chin. I think even she was surprised by her crassness.

Swarm! Swarm!

The flies were just buying Hafner some time. The Tribe pulls off another upset tonight against the Yanks. Go ahead and give Carmona the Cy Young now.

Voinovich the Phony Deficit Hawk

Since it is fashionable to call out phony people these days I direct your attention to the senior senator from Ohio. As PD openers notes Voinovich was the lone deficit hawk in the senate to vote against a paltry $3 billion border security provision added to the overall funding measure. He stated his reasoning in the Congressional Record,

"If we decide we absolutely need to spend $3 billion on something - and I support adequately funding border security - then we need to either raise more revenue or cut other spending to pay for it."

Again, George was adhering to his fiscal conservative beliefs when he voted against the bipartisan crafted expansion to the SCHIP program earlier this week. He sited the unreliable revenue source and increase the cause for voting nay. He wouldn't dream of allowing unbridled expansion of federal spending on his watch, this according to the 9/28 Gongwer news report,

"I came to Washington to reduce the national debt, not to pass the buck and add to it for future generations to deal with,"

When it comes to the nearly$190 billion request to continue the war in Iraq and Afghanistan where will George stand? What about the fiscal mess the war is projected to leave behind for "future generations" to deal with? I'm sure he will stand up as the lone deficit hawk that he is and suggest the funding at least be pared back. He may even demand the Bush tax cuts be rescinded to pay for the wars. He may not utter a peep and vote for the whole request and then find some other token proposal to take a stand against. Sorry kids your health insurance money is being spent in Iraq.

It's 9/30/07 and Rex Humbard is Still Dead

Someone needs to send the message to the ABJ who have not relented in their Rex related coverage. Okay, after five or six front page stories we get it. Rev. Rex was a pioneer at using television to flimflam followers into handing over their hard earned money. The good news is that all of that cash was poured (literally) into that landmark turned eyesore in Cuyahoga Falls that still unofficially bears his namesake (rhymes with detection).

While we never did get that groovy revolving restaurant at the top, the current owner was able festoon the thing with dozens of cell phone arrays. Ouch! my fillings are heating up.

Quid Pro Quo Doctor

Recently retired Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr. Elizabeth Balraj is taking a position as a forensic pathologist within the same County outfit she ran a mere two months ago. The newly created position comes with a modest salary of $157,000 plus posh fringe benefits. Yes, I said newly created position. It seems someone at the Board of Commissioners felt it was appropriate to give the good doctor the nod for all of her years as a dependable electable democrat. Of course Dr. Balraj can take the position for a short tenure to get her pension income level up a tad before she retires again. Yet one more nod from the County leadership.

What is really interesting is that the funding request was championed by Balraj while she still held the title of Coroner and had every intention of taking one of the newly created jobs. It gets better. The analyst at the County budget office that was responsible for working with the Coroner's on getting approval by the Commission was conveniently offered a better paying position that was also part of said funding request. All of this under the nose of the Budget Director and County Administrator. Is it ethical? According to the section of the Ohio Ethics Law dealing with seeking employment it doesn't even appear to be legal. Not bad for a County that's losing revenue, it's residents and looking to cut budgets across the board in 2008.

Mayor Don

The election for Akron Mayor is over and it's no surprise that mayor Don is in again. It was somewhat of a surprise to me that challenger Joe Finley managed to get 47% of the vote. That seems to be a testament to growing Plusquellic fatigue because I can't believe Finley energized a large portion of the electorate.

Everyone here is cool with another four years of Don. He is of course rude and abrasive all the time. He is also a tenacious and steadfast advocate for Akron and the NEO region. A little continuity of leadership is a good thing. Just ask the folks in the Falls about their Don.

Bush Completes Iraq Victory Tour

As I am writing this post the Prez is speaking to a throng of enthusiastic marines and soldiers at a U.S. military base in Al Anbar province of Iraq. A general introduced W to great applause, plenty of believers in that room. It almost looked like he was accepting a Grammy. He promptly thanked everyone in the room, his wife and the creator. Apparently going to Baghdad and making a speech wasn't in the cards not much good news to report there.

What we have witnessed today is the final stage of prepping the battlefield for the looming face off in congress in a week's time. The most important tenant of the this strategy is of course the PR offensive. The top secret insertion of the presidential contingent into the Sunni stronghold and subsequent seizure of the news cycle is a means to this end. So here you have it the latest mission accomplished moment. We already know what Gen." I have a PhD and you don't" Petraeus will report to Congress: the surge must be working we've pacified a Al Anbar. That's great but I doubt handing out piles of cash weapons to tribal sheiks required a surge. There's a Power Point presentation out there that backs me up on this. The creator Captain Travis Patriquin was killed by an IED in December of 2006 but, the seed of his idea started taking hold before the surge and has been a success in the otherwise dim situation across the country.

What I would like to see in the Congressional testimony from the good General and Ambassador Crocker is an honest assessment of the total strategy, not one tactical success. By the looks of today's orchestrated event and clear concentration on Anbar we are not going to get much of that. My guess is that we'll hear a lot about how Al Queda is on the run and that troop casualties are on the decrease. There are observers who would say the later point is not quite true. The last time I checked the center of governance in Iraq was Baghdad and the overall strategy that the surge was supposed to make room for was to create security for all Iraqis and progress on the political and reconciliation fronts. According to the just released report by the GOA we aren't seeing much of that these days. So tell us wise General and noble Statesman how much more blood and treasure do you need to continue this misadventure in the desert just to see if it may work? How many more "success is around the corner" speeches must we endure before the president and Bill Kristol admit that a surge of any size can't turn back the clock and erase the bad decisions and incompetence that have damned us to a seemingly unending occupation? We have to wait a week but my guess is we won't hear anything new.

Fredo Has Gone Fishing

It's no wonder that the Prez assigned the moniker of "Fredo" to the deposed AG. The guy didn't appear to have a handle on basic legal matters like the Constitution, Habeas or his memory for that matter. Al Berto did the honorable thing by taking his ball and going home. In the end he was not the right point man for the president's executive power grab orchestrated in the name of national security. Just like the weak minded Fredo Corleone he couldn't keep it together when pressured under oath about his involvement in the Rovian politicization scheme at the DOJ.

The only photo missing from the weekend meeting between the Prez and Alberto was one of W. laying one of those wet new years eve kisses on his Fredo. I new it was you all along.

He's Gone, Let It Go...

Karl "turd blossom" Rove has left the White House presumably to start his career as caretaker of the eighth circle of hell.

I am asking all of the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate (especially Leahy, Waxman and Conyers) to give it a rest and move on to bigger and badder things. Yes we all wanted to see Rove's head on a pike in front of the capital building but alas it's not going to happen. The guy has always proved to slippery to nabbed cold handed. Honestly gents, it was starting to look a bit quixotic in the way every investigation or line of inquiry would some how lead to getting the goods on Bush's brain.

I suggest we focus our efforts on more important and even attainable goals. Mr. Leahy get the Phase II intelligence report back on track. Mr. Conyers how about more attention to assuring fair elctions, there's a big one coming up next year. Henry keep doing that oversight and contracting abuse thing that you do so darn well. Karl would have been a nice prize but it's time to move on.

Photo- AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta

Cygnetec Opens Shop

Vince Rubino has resurfaced as an independent consultant under the moniker Cygnetec. We were surprised when we heard then news of his departure from Hope Homes, Inc. in March. It didn't take long for this impresario of health care services to dive back into the work he has been involved in for over three decades. Check out the website for a look at what's new.

And the Winner Is...Clinton Did It.

So much for the Scooter serving any time. Oh well we new that was coming. The right wing apologists including the Wall Street editorial page wasted no time getting out the real story behind the president's commutation of Mr. Libby. The old favorite "Clinton did it" is back. Every Libby supporter on all the cable news and NPR produced old reliable right within seconds of any discussion.

Yes Clinton pardoned the convicted white collar fugitive Marc Rich at the end of his term and many people right and left criticized that pardon. Of course the lies that got Scooter in trouble have contributed to thousands of American war dead.

TDF One Week Away

The greatest sporting event in the world gets underway in one week.

No Landis, Basso, or Jan. No wonder the betting websites favor Alexander Vinokourov to win the maillot jaune. Not bad for the Astana squad's top rider. More posts to follow.

"Al Queda" - The new Kleenex

Everything we're shootin' at in Iraq has been deemed to be Al Queda. I thought i had noticed this trend recently in the various news crawls and Wolf Blitzer blatherings. My suspicions were confirmed after reading Glenn Greenwald's column in Salon.

All of a sudden, every time one of the top military commanders describes our latest operations or quantifies how many we killed, the enemy is referred to, almost exclusively now, as "Al Qaeda."

What's even cuter is that the media are picking up the cue. He goes on to provide some recent examples from stellar publications such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

It appears the surge of mind speak was started to coincide with the military version. The same thing has been happening with Iran references. I have found from my observations that Iran is being accused of funding shia AND sunni militants in Iraq. My favorite was the claim made by the State Department earlier this month that Iran is funding and arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. So Iran is helping sunni groups whose idealogical bent is to destroy all shia (read Iranian) influence in the region? War truly is peace.

FERC Denies Hydroelectric Farce

Sunday's ABJ reports that Metro Hydroelectric had its request for a permit denied by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This is just another legal slap down that Metro Hydroelectric has experienced in its questionable pursuit of hydro power in the Gorge. I guess FirstEnergy thought that using a "green energy" project as a front would protect them from the future liability associated with removing the dam.

This is not just good news for the Gorge Metropark's monkshood colony but bad news for the ol' Edison dam. There's a legion of grassroots stakeholders (and paddlers) who are hoping to bring down the industrial age relic and uncover a forgotten paradise. The river will thank us for it when we are done.

We (not) the People II

As i had mentioned in a previous post war supporters are still refuting the November election results were a referendum demanding the President to change direction in Iraq. This time I caught Repub' strategist and former Minn. congressman Vin Weber on the Diane Rehm Show throwing out the "this a republic not a parliamentary government" excuse for the president's tone deafness on the war. This makes sense considering that the President has made it clear that he is the decider and ain't nobody outside his administration gonna tell him how to run this war. Except think-tankers, Bill Kristol and the Saudis.

This one talking point is still a refuge for war apologists regardless of the lack of progress the "surge" is showing or the stalemate exhibited by the Iraqi government. And just when you thought things really stink, Turkey is starting to complicate the one successful (until now) aspect of our national experiment in exporting democracy to the Middle East. I'll guess we'll just have to wait until September for something to change.

I will follow up on the Turkey situation in a later post.

It looks like DiLuca

There are still three days left but it looks like Danilo DiLuca will keep the maglia rosa and win the 90th Giro D'Italia. Gilberto Simoni took 30 seconds from the leader but the rider in pink was able to hold on and grab a respectable fourth at the top of Monte Zoncolan while fending off Simoni and the younger Schleck.

It's all pretty much flat until the end. Do I smell another Petacchi sprint victory?

Wolfie to media "Get bent!"

It was only a matter of time before the real culprit behind the Wolfowitz World Bank meltdown was made public. Of course it's the media stupid. In a BBC interview Wolfie explains that it wasn't the lack of support from bank employees that made him leave. The inaccuracies reported in the media were at fault, "I think it tells us more about the media than about the bank and I'll leave it at that" was the gem he offered in a BBC radio interview on Monday. Remember the bank's board had accepted that he had acted ethically in providing his girlfriend with a big-ass raise. Paul I think the bank was willing to agree to anything to get you out of there. It's too bad more people didn't follow the Wall Street Journals editorial remarks more carefully because the media wouldn't have had to take such a big piece of the blame.

I guess it's the media's fault that your ridiculous claims of Iraqi oil revenue funding the war never came to pass. Or how about the 12 million barrels a day that has yet to happen? Media's fault right?

We (not) the People

The Nov. 7th elections have been marginalized as a quaint relic of a bygone time. We are reminded by war sympathizers that this country is not a direct democracy but a representative democracy. So the voters sent a message loud and clear to their elected reps in Congress to change direction in Iraq - in a democratically representative fashion. Now we are told this country does not have a parliamentary system of government and the president makes war policy and will not cater to the wishes of Congressional constituents.
Tony Blankley summed it up nicely when addressing the is matter on the Diane Rheam show on Friday by saying "... following the wishes if the voters isn't a bad thing...".