Since the President and vice President appear to live in Bizzaro World, it is always best to assume that whatever they say, the opposite is the truth.  As that particular truth penetrates further and further into the psyche of the voters we can be absolutely sure of one thing - George Bush will not ever again be elected President.  George Allen?  Sure, maybe in 2008, but not George Bush.

Isn't it a pity that we are spending so much time and energy kicking George (Bush, not Allen) now that he is down for the count, but much less of the same kicking the GOP Congress?  Far better that we find some strong chains and link those suckers to George (Bush, not Allen) forever. 

Hoppy in Sacramento

The Taleban--the militant Islamists who controlled Iraq and protected Al Qaeda--have recaptured southern Afghanistan and are intensifying operations in the Northern portions of Afghanistan.

********************************************

The Taliban were militant Islamists who controlled Iraq - what planet are you living on????? So now Saddam Hussein was a member of the Taliban? You're killng me Larry!

"In the east and south - that is, about half the country - the Taliban never stopped fighting. Now, augmented by imported al-Qaeda fighters ("Arab-Afghans") and new tactics learned from the insurgency in Iraq (roadside bombs, suicide bombing), Taliban forces are stronger than at any time since the United States "conquered" them in 2001. According to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, most Afghans have long favored a process of amnesty and reconciliation; and President Hamid Karzai recently called on the Bush administration to change course and stop killing Afghans. But US administration policy, recently reaffirmed in Kabul by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, calls for a fight to the last Talib"

Journalist and photographer Ann Jones

From ATOnline

Peter Lance, the author of "Triple Cross," has a post at Huffington Post about the National Geographic film about Ali Mohamed. It's worth a read to get some idea of how little of the real story was actually told or allowed to be told by National Geographic. "Triple Cross," Peter Lance and the truth were once again double crossed.

Reading the post reminded me of how little credit Patrick Fitzgerald deserves for the little he has done in prosecuting the Plame treason case (treason in the view of George H.W. Bush). I'm always amazed at how much praise Fitzgerald gets at Firedoglake whenever he does little more than fart into the wind.

Could the Bush group have imagined a more docile and lethargic prosecution of their traitorous actions? The case against Libby will likely begin just about when Bush can pardon him without any political consequences.

TRIPLE CROSS: Nat Geo Channel's Whitewash of the Ali Mohamed Story

That is a truly awe inspiring resume for someone not up to doing the job.  I can see why he takes so many vacations.  Yep...freedom is on the march alright, freedom from Executive Branch competence that is.

Larry, no mention of the bombings this week in Turkey?

What with these bombing being terrorist actions and all, doesn't King George have something to say about it... What's with the radio silence? (including, quite notably, the pathetically self-described "Truman Democrats")

You know the answer as well as I do. It was Kurdish separatists that carried out the bombings. That's right, the Kurds. Our most reliable allies in Iraq - indeed, President Talibani is Kurdish - are closely allied to the Kurds in Turkey, whose political organizations are designated as terrorist groups. And they carried out the bombings this week in Marmaris and other tourist resorts.

Just taking a quick trip back in time to the eve of the Iraq War, and let's remember that Turkey not only opted out of the Coalition of the Willing, but also refused to allow us to use Turkey as a thoroughfare to Baghdad. This was not some kind of principled disagreement with us, but an entirely pragmatic decision by Turkey's elected representatives who belived that the removal of Saddam would more than likely lead to a stronger movement to establish an independent Kurdistan... which would include a chunk of south-eastern Turkey.

Back to 2006. Tony Blair delivered a speech recently where he tried another rhetorical flourish, and one which immediately appealed to the Beltway intelligensia. Blair's "arc of extremism" was meant to explain the source of all our terrorist threats, though frankly it was a lazy conflation of diverse (and oftentimes unrelated), localized disputes. It was also a load of bunk - evidenced by the fact Blair's own Foreign Office doesn't buy into the narrative.

If any proof was needed that Blair's "arc of extremism" was the f*ckhead's guide to the Middle East, the Kurdish separatists have provided it. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the targeting of (largely British) tourists in Turkey was not exactly part of Tony's "arc", though geographically, it definitely could be regarded as such. Of course, we could have asked how it is that the Taliban - who have referred to the Iranian mullahs as "the Shia dogs" - are part of the same arc; or how the Kashmiri separatists, whose Pakistani and Saudi sponsors (the same sponsors of the Taliban) are allegedly our allies, get a pass.

If someone really wanted to ruin King George's holiday, they'd ask him his views on terrorist attacks in Turkey. How do we plan to help a NATO ally deal with a terrorist threat in its midst? Would Turkey be justified in making a pre-emptive strike on Northern Iraq? Are we with the Kurds or against them?

Unfortunately, this country is sold on the "arc of extremism", the macaca's depiction of dangerous towelheads. Until we recognize that King George and Reverend St. Tony represent the Ark of Extremism, oblivious to history and reality, and addicted to bullsh*tting, the only reflection on this summer is that we are still held hostage by f*ckheads.

Want one final confirmation of the state we are in - Iran's President pisses in the face of asks to debate King George. Can you imagine any tinpot dictator, ever, calling our bluff quite like this? Thought not.

Res ipsa loquitur.

Re: I understood him as saying the Mississippi was created 7000 years ago.

Hard core young earth creationists date the Earth to only about 6000 yaers old (and are very insistent on that figure which is Biblically derived), so this doesn't seem to be what he's saying. maybe he's rather poorly educated on teh subjhect and is offering a rather confused version of the 7000 year run-off event you note as well.

Classic Republican Dodge #9:
In the face of critisism, somehow, anyhow, anyway, smear Clinton.

Larry, I'll bet you a buck you're wrong.

I'm not sure Katrina will spin the way you think. First, it's old news - a year ago. What's happened since then is a lot more important. This morning on NPR, (NPR!), it was reported that the President had promised New Orleans $60 billion for rebuilding but that they first had come up with a rebuilding plan. According to the report, none of that money has flowed yet because the mayor's commission is still gridlocked. I haven't studied all the press accounts, but if that's representative I don't see a big negative bounce coming for W.

On the war stuff, the deaths aren't being featured in the press accounts I've seen - they're treated as more of the same. What I am seeing is a coordinated pushback from the WH. This, to me, is the big unknown. Will the public buy it, in which case Bush may bounce up (as he clearly did after the London news) or will more people conclude that they WH is delusional (in which case you get my buck)?

I hate to say it, but I think it helps him. The Dems just haven't got out the message that there's a better way to make the country safe and respected. They really need to, or else we'll see this tremendous lead we've built up slip away.

In my opinion, no Republican would be better.  Our energy needs to be directed towards making that point.  GWB is a Republican, a typical Republican.  Look what Republicans have given us over the past 6 years. 

Hoppy in Sacramento

Katrina was essentially a 'reverse Rapture' for the elite crackers of the Gulf coast states. The snail's pace of the rebuilding is part of the plan of not-so-benign neglect, as they outwait the poor, in confidence that they will eventually be building million dollar condos in the Ninth Ward, which will of course be renamed 'Bushwood.'

I'm an archaeologist in my day job and some years ago had a project in Northeast Arkansas that dealt with some early (10,000 BP) archaeological sites in that area. So I have some familiarity with the geological literature on the Mississippi.

In the late Pleistocene the river was very different that it is today. Today the confluence with the Ohio is near Cairo, IL, but until 16 -17,000 years ago the Mississippi flowed on the west side of Crowley's Ridge, past where the city of Jonesboro, AR is today and the confluence with the Ohio was near Helena, AR where the Arkansas River flows in today.

At that 16-17,000 BP period, the Mississippi broke through some low ridges near present Cairo and its flow diverted into what had been the Ohio channel, establishing the present confluence.

You can check this out in Roger T. Saucier's 1994 work on Lower Mississippi Valley Geomorphology available here:

http://lmvmapping.erdc.usace.army.mil/

So geologically it is correct to say that the river in its current general form was established about 17,000 years ago. I didn't hear the speaker you heard. Maybe he said 7,000 or 17,000 or maybe was reading from teleprompter/text that said 17 and he read as 7 or maybe the speechwriter made that mistake.

The old Archbishop Usher date for the creation of the earth was 4004 BC, about 6000 years ago. This speech doesn't play with that date anyway.

Bush clearly bounced up after London, from the mid-to-low thirties up to about 40. Those numbers are still dismal (thank God) but the public *still* doesn't seem to be fully innoculated against the President's fear-mongering. What Matt says about Iran is exactly right: they're trying to sell us a bill of goods and at least some people are, amazingly, still buying. (See, for example, Richard Cohen.) Now, Cohen's no sage, but it seems to me that when the "serious" people push the "be afraid" button, many people find it hard to resist. It's crazy, and they're wrong, but there it is.

I hope I will see Dems taking on this nonsense directly, though it's tricky. One line to take is that Bush has made us less safe, by uniting our enemies, breeding terrorists and alienating our allies. That argument has the virtue of being true.. But it also means playing the "be afraid" card. In Iran, meanwhile, as Matt points out, the right line is probably: "don't be so afraid." As a logical matter it's not hard to make those policies coexist, but as political rhetoric it's difficult.

Hopefully we'll be hearing it soon. For the moment, to my knowledge, no elected Dem is getting out there and saying we need talks with Iran.

I can only hope the Presidential vacation is truly miserable, but expect it is water off this duck's back.

"Obliviously on he sails..."

Larry, is your your belief Bush will bomb Iran, probably late in his term? He is The War President. Or would the likely collapse of the US and world economy, and the fact that it wouldn't 'work',vis a vis stopping their nuke program, stay the onslaught?

The right thing for Ledeen and the neocons would be to airdrop them into Anbar province with some MRE's and about 50 rounds of ammo each, a PNAC for light humor when not under attack, and a trenching shovel.

Oh, grow up! I suppose you never got a BJ. FYI, they don't take that long, and nobody dies because of a person's inability to stop if there is an emergency. Bush couldn't tear himself away from a stupid book during the 911 attacks, or from the armpit of Texas or the fund-raisers that he was prostituting himself for during Katrina. I guess it's a good thing that he is sexless.

What do right-wingers have against sex, anyway? What Clinton did was wrong; PERSONALLY wrong. What Bush does every day is wrong, CRIMINALLY WRONG. PEOPLE ARE DYING BECAUSE OF HIM. Our children have a debt beyond our ability to imagine because Bush has squandered the budget improvements Clinton put through. The environment is at risk because of this clown.

GROW UP! Try thinking like an adult with a little perspective. And while I'm at it, get off this but-but-but-but.... Clinton had a BJ! Ronald Reagan empowered Saddam more than any other President. He armed Iran while killing Salvadorans and Guatemalans. But that's ok, because Clinton was horny!

If the consequenses of your thinking were not so grave I would feel sorry for you.

Jan Knaus

Any chance -- any chance at all that the military will refuse his order to start another war?

I am looking at Ken Mehlman's smiling lying face as he says the strategy is not "Stay the Course," but is now "Adapt to Win." Boy, are they deep! I feel nauseated.

Jan Knaus

How sinister can you get! I believe it though and concomitant with it is the Repub. drive to starve the government - no money=no government programs. Do you suppose that's a part of the Iraq equation?

I do - the war moves money from social programs into the pockets of the defense contractors and oil companies who put Bush/Cheney in office, and runs up the national debt. I don't know what benefit Repub supporters derive from the explosive debt increase, but it must be a powerful one - debt creation has clearly been a planned, focused, determined priority of this administration. I think their social-environmental- political- economic agenda has been implemented to move figures in a ledger book - to redistribute wealth upward and to cloak this process with false patriotism and religiosity to gain the support of those who will suffer the most from its effects.

The public has not realized the unique scope and import of the Enron and Abramoff scandals, or linked this administration's deep moral and fiscal corruption to the horrific long-term human consequences at home and abroad.

Don't forget he was on vacation for a month before 9/11 though there was a memo on his desk "Al Qaeda Determined to Strike US." And he did nothing to upgrade airport security, noting to watch ports of entry, noting to make anti-terrorism a priority in the FBI. Nothin'

 Beautiful sentiment, and it should be echoed to some extent by all Democrats running for Congress this year.

Hoppy in Sacramento

"Wasn't NECESSARY?" How does that relate to anything? Someone at another site here said (paraphrasing) --> At no time during the Bush years have the American people felt as positive and hopeful and secure as when Clinton was president. 9-11 cannot remain the excuse for the misery Bush has inflicted on our country and the world. At some point you really must acknowledge his many failures.

So what is this fixation with Clinton's sex-life? How about Rudy Guliani, who openly insulted his wife with his mistress? Yes, I agree that what you said was silly, and I wonder why you wanted to say it anyway. You had a substantive argument, but blew it with pettiness.

I still stand by everything I said, but I agree that Clinton should have acted sooner. He had to work with a Congress that wanted only to obstruct his every move, and accused him of "wagging the dog" when he wanted to respond to international events. That said, he was in charge, and it was a sin of OMISSION.

However, if Bush had been in charge, in response to that crisis we probably would have invaded Venezuela or Mexico.

Jan Knaus

While I could care less what he personally believes, I consider whether the leadership of a "rebuild New Orleans Commission" is open to technology and science rather important.

Personally I favor trying to rebuild that city, and above all, trying to do it so it will survive hundreds of years. (Like Amsterdam). To do that, the leadership needs to be on the same page with the hydrologists and the civil engineers. They need to become literate in a number of science disciplines, know how to integrate them into a multi-disciplinary approach, and also realize that the science must be sufficiently popularized so that most citizens can follow the flow. In no way am I suggesting an Engineer lead the process -- but doing it well, and for posterity means taking advantage of the most advanced ideas, and integrating them, and creating of them a culture shared with the city and regional residents. It is the little Dutch Boy myth -- the kid knows that a rivlet of water coming through a dyke is a threat to his civilization. He sticks in his fist and sends his friends for help. He is a great Patriot -- an Abe Lincoln and George Washington all in one. New Orleans folk need to master the technology of this age, and make certain that everyone is little Dutch Boys who express love of culture by sticking in the fist when you see a leak.

That's going to be a hard act for folk famous for "Letting the Good Times Roll" and tolerating a rather high level of corruption all around.

But it is even more difficult if you begin the process with Creationism, and what that is otherwise linked up with.