Posts from ‘May, 2006’

Fledgling Iraqi police and soldiers aren’t reliable. We can train them and equip them until we’re blue in the face; it won’t make a bit of difference. They’re not reliable because they’re not motivated by loyalty to their government and its leaders. They know little and could scarcely care less about democracy. In truth, most Iraqi recruits are just young men desperate for a steady paycheck in a country with 60 percent unemployment.

Quote: “If you have a renegade band of right-wing extremists who get hold of power, the whole thing goes to the right. . . .”

In a year when Democrats need to score gains by pointing out widespread, entrenched Republican corruption, it behooves Democrats to be and do the right thing. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid didn’t help the cause by accepting free tickets to boxing matches.

Something had to be done to restore order and yank protesting congressional Republicans in line. It would also be helpful if whatever was done would also make it appear the White House was seeking moderation, a pulling back from gonzo tactics against its supposedly independent, coequal branch of government.

Alas, staying a course that’s not working in defiance of plain facts, common sense and the best judgment of most other people is standard operating procedure for Team Bush. It’s also a point of pride for our president.

You have to hand it to Republicans where consistency is concerned. They’re unfailingly crooked, lowdown and dirty, and proud of it. What’s more, they want to spread the word about how to be those things. It’s all part of their anything-to-win, anything-goes approach to politics.

It’s good to see that someone is watching out for U.S. national security, because the Bush administration seems to be permanently out to lunch. The latest evidence concerns laptops made in communist China.

The former Enron executives whose conniving, lies and greed cost hundreds of thousands of innocent individuals to suffer horrendous losses, and thousands of others to lose their jobs and pensions, can expect to be sent so far up the river they may never come back alive.

Fittingly, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today released a recap of convicted former Enron CEO Ken Lay’s close ties to President George W. Bush and the Republican Party. “Kenny Boy,” as Bush affectionately referred to his biggest bankroller in front of a campaign crowd, was high on the president’s A-list for a long time. It’s not hard to see why.

There’s a special breed of mentally ill people who insist on taking in far more small animals than they can properly house, feed and otherwise care for.