Two More Interesting Items on Surveillance

James S. Robbins in NRO:

So how do the revelations in the Times help the terrorists? Think it through — if you were a terrorist and you believed (as most people seem to) that the NSA would ignore your communications if they crossed U.S. borders, your best move would be to set up communications relay stations inside the U.S. Terrorists are well known for their ability to find and exploit loopholes in our laws, and this would be a natural. For all we know our intelligence agencies have been exploiting these types of communications for years without the terrorists knowing it. Now they will fall silent, because now the bad guys know better. So New York Times writer James Risen will sell his book, the Times will increase circulation, politicians will beat their breasts and send out fundraising letters, and who will pay in the end?

You can answer that one.

Kevin Drum, in The Washington Monthly:

It seems clear that there's something involved here that goes far beyond ordinary wiretaps, regardless of the technology used. Perhaps some kind of massive data mining, which makes it impossible to get individual warrants? Stay tuned.

In the end, these two points illustrate perfectly why the NYT's disclosure is so devastating. First and foremost, our ability to exploit Al Qaeda communications has been dealt a severe blow. I'd give you a dollar to a donut Robbins is right on the money. The bad news is our abilities have been compromised. The good news is it will take AQ a lot of time and effort to reconstitute communications and develop alternate networks and/or means of coordinating activities.

I also believe Drum is on to something, as well. The NSA is, above all else, a technical organization. The NSA employs the best and brightest minds in the spook world to develop systems and methodologies to exploit and decipher communications, with an emphasis on decipher. Thank God the NSA is usually very closed-mouth and tight-lipped. If the the NYT's source (leaker) came out of NSA, that person is facing some serious jail time, as well he or she should. One just knows all Hell is breaking out in Fort Meade, as we speak.

Who Left the 'Gate Open?

"Snoopgate." If I weren't part and parcel of the generation in question I'd fervently pray that all journalists of whatever medium, assorted pundits, and real-world people who feel compelled to append "gate" to the scandal-du-jour die a horrible and prolonged death. Painfully. Horribly so. Maybe we could burn them at the stake. Nothing I can come up with, in terms of horrible death, seems appropriate. I'm just SO damned sick of GATE!

There. I don't feel any better, but at least I've said it.

As to the article referenced above: Ho Hum. Just another hit piece from a guy who writes shite like this. The only interesting thing in the Newsweek column is the revelation that the President "summoned" the publisher and the editor of the NYT to the White House and asked them not to publish the article. But not on national security grounds, mind you. Bushitler just wanted to ward off his impeachment, which will happen as soon as the opposition gains control of the House, doncha know.

And so it begins. Resurrecting Viet Nam ain't enough. We need a replay of Watergate, too. My God, but I am sick to death of this krep.

Robert Bork on "Original Understanding"

Nope, I'm not misquoting the man. As Steve Green sez, "(Bork) just scored some major points."

Me? I'm having a seasonal toddy: Glenlivet and egg nog. My second of the evening.

Don't smirk; it's not becoming.

Wiretapping and FISA, Explained

Why did the President authorize the NSA to conduct surveillance on U.S.-based communications?

People familiar with the process say the problem is not so much with the court itself as with the process required to bring a case before the court. "It takes days, sometimes weeks, to get the application for FISA together," says one source. "It's not so much that the court doesn't grant them quickly, it's that it takes a long time to get to the court. Even after the Patriot Act, it's still a very cumbersome process. It is not built for speed, it is not built to be efficient. It is built with an eye to keeping [investigators] in check." And even though the attorney general has the authority in some cases to undertake surveillance immediately, and then seek an emergency warrant, that process is just as cumbersome as the normal way of doing things.

Lawmakers of both parties recognized the problem in the months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. They pointed to the case of Coleen Rowley, the FBI agent who ran up against a number roadblocks in her effort to secure a FISA warrant in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui, the al Qaeda operative who had taken flight training in preparation for the hijackings. Investigators wanted to study the contents of Moussaoui's laptop computer, but the FBI bureaucracy involved in applying for a FISA warrant was stifling, and there were real questions about whether investigators could meet the FISA court's probable-cause standard for granting a warrant. FBI agents became so frustrated that they considered flying Moussaoui to France, where his computer could be examined. But then the attacks came, and it was too late.

It's all about speed.

Byron York, in National Review. Via RealClearPolitics.

And for an very detailed, if not exhaustive, analysis of the applicable laws surrounding this issue, no one does it better than the guys at Volokh. Be prepared to read for an hour or more.

An Animated Storybook

Via blogdex: It's a Wonderful Internet!

Very Cool.

Last Night's Speech, Today's Press Conference

I watched both, paying much more attention to last evening's speech than today's presser. My opinion? The President did a pretty good job. I'm one of many who wishes the President had the eloquence of a Tony Blair or a Winston Churchill. Still, even if the man stumbles all-too-frequently on his words, I admire the force of his will and his tenacity. Those qualities go a long way towards making up for his speaking deficiencies.

Some good discussion on last night's speech and today's press conference:

Lori Byrd, over at PoliPundit. Don't miss her comments on today's press conference, either. Good links to follow, too.

Betsy Newmark has great comments-on-a-comment, here. She takes exception to the hyperbolic "police state" rhetoric flowing out of the pages of the press these days. Sample:

If a reporter, even a TV reporter, can't see the difference between the Patriot Act and how the Ba'athists or Zarqawi supporters would crush dissent, then the guy should take a break from writing while he goes out and finds a clue. I would point out to Mr. Shales that the so-called "draconian" Patriot Act has been in effect for over four years and I haven't noticed that dissent against Bush has been crushed. Could Mr. Shales please point out all those who, opposing Bush and the war in Iraq, have been arrested, thrown in a dungeon, tortured, had their tongues ripped out, their families attacked, and daughters raped?

Those dissenters are in one of The Chimp's secret European prisons, no doubt. Wise up, Betsy!

Michelle Malkin live-blogged the presser. Once again, a collection of good links to follow, incuding a transcript of the press conference.

That should keep ya busy for a while!

I'm Better This Time...

But not much. The Zark-Man has a new (12/15) "Special Iraq Election Coverage" post up over at IowaHawk, complete with a separate link to a live-feed to the Exploding Donkey Martyrdom Operation (NOT safe for work!).

Aside from an f-bomb or six and other colorful language, the IowaHawk link is safe. And funny. Hilarious!

A VERY Late Night for the House

Of Representatives, that is. I'm on my way to bed around 0115 this morning and click the channel one up from the Weather Channel to C-SPAN. I was very surprised to see the House in session at 0315 EST, and a little "live" logo in the upper right corner of the screen, so I know it's not taped.

And guess who I saw?

My favorite congresswoman...Nancy Pelosi! What a rare treat! Ms. Pelosi read me a nursery rhyme before I turned in, from Mother Goose ...

Christmas is a comin' and the geese are getting fat
Please put a penny in a poor man's hat
If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God Bless You!

Wow! Thanks, Nancy! I immediately turned the TV off just as she began her anti-Rethuglican rant and went to sleep. I did catch her saying something about "Shame! Shame!" before the remote went {click}...

But the House stayed up...all the way past 0600, according to the NYT. There were some positive results.

Working through the night, the House early today voted to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling as part of a military measure and narrowly approved a $40 billion budget-cutting plan as bleary-eyed lawmakers concluded a marathon weekend session.

The Pentagon spending bill, adopted on a 308-106 vote shortly after 5 a.m., also included a $29 billion hurricane recovery package for the Gulf Coast, a $3.8 billion proposal to prepare for a potential flu pandemic and a 1 percent across-the-board cut that shaved a total of about $8 billion from current federal spending.
...

The budget cuts were approved 212-206 just after 6 a.m. After assembling the budget plan Sunday, congressional Republicans had pegged the savings over five years at nearly $42 billion but last-minute changes on health and agricultural policy made to attract more votes lowered the figure to $39.7 billion - about $10 billion below the initial House target. The Senate could take the measure up as early as today.

It's nice to see our Congresspeople hard at work to get things wrapped up before the holidays. Things that should have been done, oh, say, TWO MONTHS AGO. But, what the Hay. Everyone needs to pull an all-nighter every once in a while. Impresses the Hell out of the constituents, I suppose.

Uh Oh, Part Deux

As is the case a lot (most?) of the time, last night's weather report was pessimistic. I raised my blinds about ten minutes ago and looked out upon a very gray day, but no ice, no fog. It's 36 degrees, chilly but not that bad.

Uh Oh

I was gonna put up a post this past week about ice storms and the fact we don't have them here on the High Plains of New Mexico. I'm glad I didn't put that post up. Tomorrow's forecast:

"Cloudy with light freezing rain in the morning. Areas of fog early. High 48F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precip 40%."

There's also this cute little graphic of a black cloud spitting rain with the word "Ice" overlayed on the cloud. The legend says "AM Ice."

Oh, Joy. Glad I'm not going anywhere.

Snarky, but Somewhat Interesting

Home is Where You Park It (Click for Larger)

The German Ambassador and his wife tour the Northeast US in an RV.

I was drawn to this article for obvious reasons: I'm what's known in the RVing community as a "full-timer," that is, I live in my RV full-time. The Ambassador's wife was not impressed with her short stint in an RV or her experiences with RV parks. My experience has been just the opposite.

I've traveled from coast-to-coast and border-to-border in my RV, most often alone, but accompanied by my middle son, his wife, and my two granddaughters (at the time, I now have four granddaughters!) on one memorable 30-day trip from Seattle to Upstate NY. I can say without reservation: There's no better way to see America. You CAN take it with you!

Against All Enemies, Foreign or Domestic

The WaPo, in an article today ("Pushing the Limits Of Wartime Powers"), discusses Friday's revelation that the NSA has been engaged in monitoring domestic communications:

The president's emphatic defense yesterday of warrantless eavesdropping on U.S. citizens and residents marked the third time in as many months that the White House has been obliged to defend a departure from previous restraints on domestic surveillance. In each case, the Bush administration concealed the program's dimensions or existence from the public and from most members of Congress.

...

Since October, news accounts have disclosed a burgeoning Pentagon campaign for "detecting, identifying and engaging" internal enemies that included a database with information on peace protesters. A debate has roiled over the FBI's use of national security letters to obtain secret access to the personal records of tens of thousands of Americans. And now come revelations of the National Security Agency's interception of telephone calls and e-mails from the United States -- without notice to the federal court that has held jurisdiction over domestic spying since 1978. (emphases mine)

Just what did the President say? This, in part:

The activities I authorized are reviewed approximately every 45 days. Each review is based on a fresh intelligence assessment of terrorist threats to the continuity of our government and the threat of catastrophic damage to our homeland. During each assessment, previous activities under the authorization are reviewed. The review includes approval by our nation's top legal officials, including the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al Qaeda and related groups.

The NSA's activities under this authorization are thoroughly reviewed by the Justice Department and NSA's top legal officials, including NSA's general counsel and inspector general. Leaders in Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it. Intelligence officials involved in this activity also receive extensive training to ensure they perform their duties consistent with the letter and intent of the authorization.
(again, emphases mine)

It appears to me the administration covered its bases as far as (a) informing the Congress of ongoing surveillance activities and (b) reviewing and certifying surveillance actions are being conducted in accordance with the law. It also appears to me the administration was proactively trying to correct one of the principal findings of the 9/11 Commission, that being the "stove-piping" of intelligence information and the lack of coordination between Federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies, long before the findings of said commission were finalized and made public. Additionally, it's been noted in testimony before Congress that the FBI, the federal agency authorized to investigate and monitor domestic threats, has been sorely lacking the technical means and capabilities to effectively conduct domestic surveillance.

While the FBI has always been among the world's best collectors of information, for a variety of historical reasons, the Bureau never established a formal infrastructure to exploit that information fully for its intelligence value. Individual FBI agents have always capably analyzed the evidence in their particular cases, and then used that analysis to guide their investigations. But the FBI as an institution never elevated that analytical process above the individual case or investigation to an overall effort to analyze intelligence and strategically direct intelligence collection.

Today, an enterprise-wide intelligence program is absolutely essential. The threats to the homeland are not contained by geographic boundaries and often do not fall neatly into investigative program categories. Consequently, threat information has relationships and applicability that crosses both internal and external organizational boundaries. Counter-terrorism efforts must incorporate elements from -- and contribute toward -- counter-intelligence, cyber, and criminal programs. In order to respond to this changing threat environment, we are building our capabilities to fuse, analyze and disseminate our related intelligence, and to create collection requirements based on our analysis of the intelligence gaps about our adversaries. (Robert S. Mueller, III, Director, FBI. Before the Select Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate, February 24, 2004)

Doesn't it seem prudent and necessary for the President to leverage existing technical means to conduct surveillance designed to identify and eliminate domestic threats to national security? Especially if the agency charged with conducting said surveillance (the FBI) lacked the necessary means to do so? If we had suffered another attack, post-9/11, and it became apparent the government had existing means to identify threats through surveillance and monitoring but did not do so, would the President have been held responsible? You know the answer to that question.

All officers of the Federal government, including the President, swear an oath "...that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic..." It's a sad fact of life that some American citizens are "domestic enemies." It would be irresponsibility of the highest order to give these enemies a free hand to conduct operations against the United States, from within the United States. Let's keep our perspective, here.

Random Thoughts...

The ol' RV is gonna smell good in about an hour, it's already on the way. That pot of navy beans I was talking about here is simmering away right now; they'll be ready to eat around 6:00 or so. I finally got off the dime yesterday, drove over to Clovis, ran the Green Hornet through the car wash to wash off two weeks worth of accumulated dust, and went to Albertson's. Sho nuff, they had enough smoked ham hocks to feed a brigade. And a beautiful Chocolate Decadence layer cake in the bakery that kept whispering "Buck...over here...take me home...take me home." So I did. Mmmm, mmmm, mmm...

...

One of the better things about having a desktop (as opposed to a laptop) as my main box is I can listen to internet radio again. Not that I couldn't listen on the laptop, but those tiny lil speakers, coupled with a very anemic audio amp, made listening to anything very frustrating. It's all better now.

Now playing: KPFT, Pacifica Radio's Houston affiliate.

Upside: great blues, "deep" album tracks, Texas music, and no commercials. Examples this morning: Dylan's "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat," Neil Young's "Pocahontas" Joni Mitchell's "River," and new tunes I hadn't heard from Omar and the Howlers and Joe Ely.

Downside: Serious moonbat political rants. And boy-howdy, I DO mean serious! Gotta hit mute a lot, but the music's worth it. Example: So many snarky comments about being spied on by the CIA/NSA this morning. Yeah, right. I'm sure the NSA is listening right now; black helicopters to follow...

It's a fact of life: Liberals do music a whole better than conservatives, the classical genre excepted. And it's not an age thing, either. There's a lot of old hippies on KPFT, not so many young uns. If you want to argue that, I'm all ears.

...

More Fun with Site Meter, Great Disappointments Dept: I'm Number 10 on a search for " 'hillary andrews' AND 'naked' "; Number One on a search for " 'women porn nm' near Portales, New Mexico" And they clicked through!

...

I heard on KPFT that Dubya admitted to authorizing the NSA to monitor US-originating communications during his weekly Saturday radio broadcast. I watched The Prez on The News Hour last night and he resisted Jim Lehrer's questioning on the subject, and Mr. Lehrer was persistent! I may or may not check this out. One tires of politics, or at least I do, all the time. We all need a break from time to time.

...

Is your Christmas shopping done? Mine is; made my final purchase Thursday. For the seventh straight year I did all my shopping on-line. I hate malls. I hate to shop. I don't shop, I buy. I know what I want, I know where it is (usually), I'm the ultimate "get in, get out" kind of guy.

...

And that's it...for a while!

Weird Scenes Inside the Gold Mine, III

The Wasp (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)

Houston, Texas. April, 2000.

It’s somewhere just after 9:00 p.m., the weather is warm and humid, and he’s almost, but not quite, lost. He’s on the bike, riding slowly up and down dark streets in Houston’s warehouse district, looking for a small club. Even though he has the bar’s address and called ahead for directions, he’s still disoriented. Building numbers seem non-existent in this neighborhood, and there’s no one on the street he can ask for directions. He looks down the block ahead and sees three people get out of a car and go into a doorway. Aha! This may be it!

Sure enough. There’s a very small sign over the door, and a window that looks in to what is clearly a small bar. He parks the bike, pulls off his helmet, straightens up a bit, goes inside and orders a beer.

The first part of the mission is a success. He’s found it, and he was warned it wouldn’t be easy! The Mission? Find this bar in the warehouse district. Listen to a band fronted by a woman guitarist, described to him as "a young Bonnie Raitt." He was talking to a guy at an outdoor Warren Zevon concert last week and asked the guy where he went and who he liked, once they decided they had similar tastes. The guy suggested this place, this band. The Bonnie Raitt comparison was a bit off base. Our band’s leader ain’t the guitar player Bonnie is, but the woman DOES have a great band with a very eclectic repertoire. She plays lead on a Stratocaster, does a little bottle-neck work, and has a damned fine blues voice. The band also has two other guitarists that trade off playing rhythm and lead with each other, plus a bass player, a conga player, and a drummer. The drummer is in his 50s, the rest of the crew are between 20 and 30-somethings.

The band does three sets, beginning at 10:30 p.m. and ending around 3:00 a.m.. This bar is a small club, holding about 60 people comfortably. There are about 80 people in the audience for the first set (SRO, obviously) and the audience dwindles slowly throughout the evening, until only about 25 folks are left by the end of the last set. It really isn’t that small of an audience, considering it’s a weeknight. The first set is OK, but our man isn’t that impressed. The band plays a lot of original stuff, which is good in one respect (new music!), but bad if you want to sing along and boogie.

The first break comes around 11:45. Since it’s late and the first set was just OK, he thinks about going home, but doesn’t. Something about this place feels right, so he stays.

The club is laid out much differently than most bars he’s been in. The bandstand is quite small, as is the dance floor; “cozy” is the word that comes to mind, crowded is another. Behind the bandstand is a garage door (really!) that opens up into a patio area that is at least three times as large as the club itself. The patio is spacious, a courtyard, actually, with large arching trees and large terra cotta planters with lush flower arrangements in them. There are two picnic tables and perhaps six round wrought iron tables with wrought iron chairs at each table. Much different than the interior of the bar and not at all what you’d expect by looking at this place from the street.

When the band goes on break, they put their instruments down, raise the garage door and walk off the back of the stage out on to the patio. The audience just walks across the stage and follows the band outside. Our friend goes to the men's room. When he comes out, the club is empty…everyone is on the patio. He follows. Once outside, he lights a cigar and chats with a couple of girls. He notices several small groups are passing cigarettes around between themselves, and the butts don't have filters. He walks over to the group with one of the guitar players in it and begins making small talk with him. The joint comes to the guitar player, he hits it, passes it to our friend and they just keep right on talking. No big deal, just your average "go on break, have a smoke" kind of thing. The break lasts at least a half hour and the joints just keep appearing and circulating. Lots of laughter, lots of good conversation. And then the band drifts back inside and it’s time for the second set.

The second set is a real ass-kicker…our front-woman leads off with Neil Young's "Let's Go Downtown." The song is a real rocker and is a two or three minute cut on the Young album, but the band turns it into a boogie jam that lasts quite a while (10 minutes? Who knows?). The audience knows all the words; there’s lots of singing along, lots of dancing. And then a smooth, seamless segue into Chuck Berry's "Memphis" without a hint of a stop… the band plays on. After about six or seven added choruses, she slows the pace down a bit with Jerry Garcia's "Deal." By this time, our friend is really knocked out…hooked…on-board for the whole tour! The second set goes until about 1:30, and then everyone (only about 35 or 40 people, at this point) adjourns to the patio area again. Same drill, more conversation, more laughter, more joints.

The final set begins around 2:00 or so, just before last call. The band plays until 3:00, which is probably just this side of the law. It’s an understatement to say our friend feels pretty good as he walks out of the bar into the warm night. Not sloppy drunk, mind you, just feeling very good!

He sits down on the curb beside the bike and smokes a cigar for about 15 minutes, debating whether to ride home or call a cab. After the cigar is done he looks around, surveying the territory once again. The warehouse district is a "not-so-nice" part of town, motorcycles are easily stolen and he wonders if he could even get a taxi to answer a call this late, in this place.

His head is relatively clear by this point, so he reluctantly decides to ride home…slowly and carefully... staying on city streets all the way back to the park. It’s an uneventful ride, almost zero traffic and no cops.

He gets home around 3:45, goes to bed around 4:15, and sleeps very late the next morning, lulled in and out of sleep by the sound of heavy rain that moves through Houston from around daybreak until 10:00 a.m.. He wakes up with a clear head and makes the coffee. No hangover. Zip. Nada. It turned out to be a great day.

WSIGM I
WSIGM II

NYT 1, Administration 0

I thought the timing was fishy. The AP reports:

The Senate on Friday refused to reauthorize major portions of the USA Patriot Act after critics complained they infringed too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.

...

But the Patriot Act's critics got a boost from a New York Times report saying Bush authorized the National Security Agency to monitor the international phone calls and international e-mails of hundreds — perhaps thousands — of people inside the United States. Previously, the NSA typically limited its domestic surveillance to foreign embassies and missions and obtained court orders for such investigations.

"I don't want to hear again from the attorney general or anyone on this floor that this government has shown it can be trusted to use the power we give it with restraint and care," said Feingold, the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act in 2001.

The renewal of the Patriot Act failed because the Republicans could not obtain the 60 votes necessary to defeat Sen. Feingold's filibuster. The final vote was 52-47 in favor of closing debate.

The WaPo has more, including quotes from various Senators regarding this morning's articles in the NYT and the Post:

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the domestic spying "clearly and categorically wrong" and vowed to hold oversight hearings on the matter when the Senate reconvenes early next year after its holiday recess.

"This administration feels it is above the law, and the American people and the Constitution pay the price," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). "There is no accountability. There is no oversight. . . . This is Big Brother run amok."

"Mr. President, it is time to have checks and balances in this country," thundered Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), the Senate Judiciary Committee's top Democrat. "We are a democracy!"

A final bit of insult-to-injury gloating from the ACLU:

"Today, fair-minded senators stood firm in their commitment to the Constitution and rejected the White House's call to pass a faulty law," said Caroline Fredrickson, the director of the
American Civil Liberties Union' 's Washington legislative office. "This was a victory for the privacy and liberty of all Americans."

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

The administration has some room to manuever before the law expires at years end. The House passed a compromise extension to the Patriot Act this past Wednesday; it's possible an extension to the current law or a conference committee compromise on the House version may be enabled.

I Just Can't Keep Up...

Old news, I'm sure to those of you who are on my wavelength, but Iowahawk's favorite guest blogger put up a post on December 9th. Seems like it's all pretty much downhill for the Zark-Man, who blogs occasionally about the resistance from somewhere near Tikrit.

Life's just been hard for the boy lately.

Moonbats

via Protein Wisdom:

Top Ten Kos Kidz Reactions to Today’s Elections In Iraq

Un-flipping-believable. Make sure you read Jeff's summary of what the Lefty blogs had to say about the election. Hint: Not a lot.

He DOES Have a Point...

I enjoy reading E.J. Dionne from time to time, and my liberal friends never tire of sending me links to his columns. The man, rarely insightful but always ideological, makes at least one good point today whilst whistling past the graveyard. To wit:

Supply-siders asserted that cutting taxes on the wealthy -- and especially on savings and investment -- would help everyone, including the poor, by promoting economic growth. Tax cuts would produce so much growth that they would pay for themselves. Since government programs were flawed, private investment was always more productive than government spending. And deficits, if they did come, need not worry us very much.

and

As a result, the Republican Party is fracturing before our eyes. Moderate Republicans know these cuts in programs for the poor are unsustainable. Very conservative Republicans want to cut spending far more than the rest of the party (or its voters) will allow. Republican leaders tilt this way and that, juggling this tax cut with that spending cut. In the process, they alienate just about everybody. The old faith is dying.

Well, E.J., the tax cuts are working. The economy is incredibly healthy, booming even. And Republicans, at least some of us, are irritated at the rate government spending is growing under Mr. Bush.

Like Mark Twain, however, the reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. Keep whistling, Buddy.

Apocalypse, Soon

Read Charles Krauthammer's column. Sample:

To be sure, Holocaust denial and calls for Israel's destruction are commonplace in the Middle East. They can be seen every day on Hezbollah TV, in Syrian media, in Egyptian editorials appearing in semiofficial newspapers. But none of these aspiring mass murderers are on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons that could do in one afternoon what it took Hitler six years to do: destroy an entire Jewish civilization and extinguish 6 million souls.

Everyone knows where Iran's nuclear weapons will be aimed. Everyone knows they will be put on Shahab rockets, which have been modified so that they can reach Israel. And everyone knows that if the button is ever pushed, it will be the end of Israel.

Scary stuff. And no one is doing a damned thing about it. No one.

This is NEWS?

Nancy Pelosi (D-SFSSR*) quoted in the WaPo about a unified Democratic position on an "Iraq Exit Strategy":

"There is no one Democratic voice . . . and there is no one Democratic position," Pelosi said in an interview with Washington Post reporters and editors.

Exactly. We have the Dean contingent of the party telling us we can't win (heavy back-pedalling here), Murtha telling us the Marines should withdraw from Iraq to Okinawa, Kerry reverting to his Winter Soldier days, and Joe Lieberman saying the President's strategy is working. I say it's a case of multiple-personality disorder, Pelosi says it's a strength. You decide.

I'm voting for more dead terrorists.

*San Francisco Soviet Socialist Republic