General Update

Howdy all. Sorry for the lack of updates in the last few days; I'm leaving for vacation next week and have just been trying to finish up alot of stuff at work before I go (plus a pool/BBQ invite on Sunday that could not be turned down), so haven't had the time. I do have a bunch of stories- more revelations of lies surrounding Bush's Big Brother programs, the supposed 'retiring' of Bush's cowboy diplomacy, etc- I plan to blog about later. A few odds and ends first....

I read this headline this morning: "Rumsfeld says Taliban will be defeated"

It's like deja vu all over again!!!!

Of course I could go on a rant about how these idiots have failed in our mission in Afghanistan and how we should be ashamed that coming up on the 5th anniversary of 9/11 that the Taliban still control much of that country and that Osama is still releasing his podcasts secure in the knowledge that we stopped trying to capture him years ago.... or a general rant about what a deplorable state Afghanistan is in and how little real progress we've made there... or another rant about how if Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld had stay focused on the real war that had 90%+ of the country's support and not given up on it so they could have their pet project of an unjustified war in Iraq that maybe we wouldn't be in this unwinnable mess right now nor would the administration be in such dire straits politically.

But I will refrain.

In other news, the latest comic-book-level terror plot (and in an election year- *gasp*) adds a new twist... "The Lebanese man accused of plotting to destroy and flood Hudson River train tunnels also discussed the possibility of setting wildfires in California to inflict harm on the U.S., a federal official said Monday." Smokey The Bear = pissed.

A new poll finds that "roughly 2 in 3 Americans urge a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, with 31% wanting this to start immediately." And yet, most politicians are still too scared to take this position. The American people are ahead of Washington yet again. Snarky quote from the article #1- "Suggestions that the United States engage in some type of gradual withdrawal increase significantly as educational level increases." Natch. Snarky quote #2- "only 54% understand the Democrats' view--whatever that is." Oop.

Finally, President Bush may use his first veto to stop stem-cell research. The Democrats could only be so lucky.