Oh, by the way

Six US marines killed in Iraq attacks

1,951 Killed per the DoD - Of course, this doesn't include those who die in transit to and from Iraq, those who die later from wounds sustained in combat. And let's not forget those coming home with no sight, arms, or legs.

That certainly explains the horrendous 37% approval ratings.

What I don't get is how 37% of the people can still feel this guy is doing a good job?

Senator Allard Supports Torture

Billmon said it so I wouldn't have to. Allard is one of only 9 senators supporting the President's threat to veto a spending bill for our troops. Did the President "support" our troops before he threatened not to support them?

Wow, great leadership, guys. With that kind of "support" for our troops, who needs insurgents? This is why we need to put quotes around "support" anytime a Republican is within spitting distance of our military - because they will undoubtedly spit on those who they claim to support.

I hope Allard's not trying to follow too closely to Frist's footsteps, though anything goes in service to the Republican Party of 2005.

The Greatest Living American

Al Gore is the greatest living American patriot. He may be the greatest American since Abraham Lincoln.

But he is in the wilderness now, biding his time, yet doing more than any mere citizen could be expected to do in service to his country.

For all his failures, the mocking of the right, and for such a valiant trust in the Constitution that he forfeited the Presidency in January, 2001, he is the one person who has articulated the greatness of this country time and again and who continues to demand that we reach for the highest ideals embodied by our nation's birth.

Despite the last five years of failures, ineptness and weakness under our current Incompetent in Chief™, Al Gore has kept the spirit of Democracy in his mind and has tried to force our citizens to be responsible for its safekeeping. What a world we would live in if he were our president today instead of the current occupant of the White House (and I use that term most disparagingly - I can barely assign him that.)

Would we be so dependent on Arabian oil? Would we be facing the bulldozing of one of our great historic cities? Would the religious right be dictating our laws, our science, our culture? No, no. No, no and no.

Yet the media ignores Al Gore. These pampered millionaires party behind their gates in privacy and seclusion. The traitors and hucksters on the radio make fun of him. The citizenry is oblivious. Gore's calls to the spirits of our past whistle through the ether, the words dissipate before sticking. It is a profound disgrace: the man who "lost" the presidency by one vote on the Supreme Court has been marginalized by the country; all his great work has been cleansed from the picture like the photo retouching specialized in by the Soviets.

It is at our great peril as a nation that we don't beat down the doors of the White House with his current words on our pitchfoks. If our nation survives this horrible leadership of cronies and flunkies, it will be through the sheer will of these words and against the willful ignorance of a President who can't be bothered with the truth, who can't see the facts in front of his face.

Harriet Miers

I can't wait until Salazar shows his great independence and votes yes - once again - with George W. Bush.

You think he would see the pattern, highlight the incompetence, scream with outrage over someone who has zero judicial experience and who is nothing more than another GWB crony.

And you'd think he would demand someone more than a Texas lottery commissioner or Dallas City council member as the next justice of the Supreme Court.

I keep coming back to the thought that we should have demanded much more than Ken Salazar last November. I apoligize, Mike.

Bush the Coward

Don't take my word for it, the Washington Post makes the simple case:

"Unlike senators and House members, the president represents the whole nation; he is supposed to defend the general interest against particularist claims. Moreover, he has the power to do so. If Congress serves up wasteful bills, the president can veto them. Mr. Bush has been too cowardly to do that. He is the first president since John Quincy Adams to have served a full term without once exercising his veto, and his second term has so far been no different."