When Is A Handover Not A Handover?
The proposed Bush plan is to hand over control of Iraq to an interim government by the end of June but keep U.S. forces in the country indefinitely with unlimited powers. Bush is trying to get it both ways: a "handover" so that he can crow about it for his election but not a hand over so that we still control the area (and profits). If Troops weren't dying daily this would be laughable. Chalabi would be laughable. The hunt for WMDs would be laughable.

If the whole damn thing weren't so sickening, it'd be laughable. When you think that the Bush/Cheney cabal can't be any more irresponsible or arrogant, they sink to lower depths. That Chalabi stank was obvious to those not wearing blinders. That the Iraqi prison abuse wasn't a few renegade guards was apparent to those not wearing blinders. That the invasion of Iraq was a fraud was obvious to those not wearing blinders. That our Government has been corrupted, disrupted, and near bankrupted by the Bush Cabal is painfully obvious to those not wearing blinders.

Bush has repeatedly stressed that he's for Personal Responsibility, that his group is for Personal Responsibility, that America is about Personal Responsibility. Yet he has demonstrated - repeatedly - the fine art of avoiding Personal Responsibility. Of making promises (June handoff) and kinda, sorta filling them (your country but we control it). Of taking illegal, immoral, or ill-advised actions (invading Iraq) under false pretenses (WMDs) but justifying them by later changing his meanings and motivations (WMD-like, and Hussein was bad - that's why we went in).

The continual lying, hypocrisy, manipulations, half-truths, denials, and appeals for blind belief are beyond analysis. It's tiresome to every week, every day, point out the faults and the lies that our Government foists upon us. For many of us it's obvious. For others they refuse to see because of ignorance or fear or "patriotism" (fanatical loyalty) and so we bang our heads on our desks in frustration.

The result is obvious. America, once proud, is a laughingstock with a leadership not be trusted but instead - backed by a hellacious nuclear arsenal - to be feared. And I fear that if we don't get out of Iraq entirely then America will face more terrorism, more universal hatred than can be imagined.

New Cabinet
It's been mentioned that if Bush wins the election he'd likely change his Cabinet. I suggest he replace Rumsfeld with The Father, replace Powell with The Son, and replace Rice with The Holy Spirit. Then Bush could play god all proper-like. Ooops, almost forgot, Cheney would be replaced by Mary. Which one I leave up to you.

Moore, Moore, Moore - How'd You Like It?
He wins the Palm D'Or in Cannes. Gosh, maybe "Fahrenheit 9/11" has a kernel of truth in it somewhere. Meanwhile we're still looking for bin Laden, singing:


(to the tune of Bill Bailey)

"Won't you give up bin Laden?"

"Won't you give up?"

"Bush moans the whole night long"

"I'll shift the troops, bin Laden. I'll bomb Iraq"

"I'll fly your family home."

"I need to get elected, get my career resurrected,"

"Bin Laden, won't you please give up."

Prison Escapades
In his latest Iraq speech Bush mentioned that the Abu Ghraib prison would be torn down after we build a new maximum security prison. What a nice symbolic gesture. We'll modernize Iraq, foot the bill, and you can be damn sure that no old-fashioned torture devices will be in the new prison. No sirree. We'll give them the most modern of torture devices, the finest in interrogation drugs.

Because Iraq will become modern even if we have to stay there to make sure.