Why am I not surpised?

The Administration is now on an information offensive in Iraq and secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish propaganda written by U.S. Army personnel. This kind of pollution of the principles of democracy --- and democracy is what this Administration touts that it is teaching in Iraq --- has far-reaching effects beyond the borders of Iraq. While U.S. law prohibits planting propaganda in U.S. media outlets, the global nature of the media business can cause some of this garbage to seep into the mainstream U.S. media. After all, that is a long-time practice of the neoconservatives. I don't expect the Administration to be ashamed, but members of the U.S. Army should be. When one wears the cloth of their country, one's conduct should be of the highest integrity. Kudos to the LA Times.

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Randy Cunningham's tearful confession is the latest example of at least seven legislators whoi have either pleaded guilty, have been indicted, or are under investigation for improper conduct. And I'm sure the list will continue because, say what you will, we have the best Congress that money can buy!!!

Credit where due

Any progress in Iraq is due not to the administration but rather the great efforts of the courageous men and women in the cloth of their country.... from the grunt on the ground to the military leaders in their command centers. This is where the comparison to Vietnam breaks down. The bureaucrats now realize that they only **** things up.

Only when their lips are moving

Listen carefully! Administration officials and their surrogates in Congress in speaking about the controversy as to who knew what intelligence when keep glossing over that the Executive gets a more detailed briefing than do members of Congress, that it does appear that the Administration's goal was war with Iraq no matter what, and that the Administration seems to have exaggerated the data on Saddam. Now they're singing "Let's move forward and not dwell on the past." It's the same tired tactic. Of course, they're obfuscating.......

What price vigilence?

The Patriot Act: Orwell was 20 years too early!

Fourth Estate in Fifth Dimension

The revered --- dare we say "worshipped?" --- Bob Woodward of the Washington Post has revealed that he heard about Valerie Plame about a month before Scooter Libby allegedly provided her name to Judith Miller -- the Joan d'Arc of the New York Times. And Bobby has apologized to his editors at the Post for not informing them sooner. Kinda slipped his mind. Friends and neighbors, if you are trusting in the "news" media you must know that Bobby and his ilk (the Washington royalty of the media set) hobnob quite frequently and freely with the very folk they write stories about --- the government royalty. What's a little cocktails, dinner, and chit-chat amongst friends? In my mind it calls into question the idea of impartiality, of being the watchdogs of government for "the people." And it ain't the news business, folks. As they said in "The Godfather," it's just business.