Three Yards and a Cloud of Trust

If politics were John Madden Football, Bush just asked Madden, and Madden called executive privilege. There is no way he called that play on his own.

To continue the football metaphors, it now appears that the offensive line is off the field and Bush is running the Iraq policy unprotected. That doesn't differ greatly from the support Bush is giving the troops in Iraq who yesterday were profiled traveling four precarious miles to get to a memorial for a fallen soldier who they had served alongside. With this kind of support, it won't be long before somebody sacks the Quarterback-in-Chief.

A Congressional report released today states that the White House failure to fill posts at the Department of Homeland Security leaves the nation vulnerable to terrorist threats and disaster. Homeland Security and FEMA did so well in New Orleans, it's hard to imagine their performance in a less prepared situation.

Mother Jones is calling the Impeach Cheney-mania a little overblown. The high crimes and misdemeanors might be a high bar to clear. The public doesn't care whether he'll be impeached. They just want to see somebody twist in the wind.

Tunnels are being dug near a nuclear facility in Iran, and people are getting a little nervous. Their president swears the developments are for peaceful energy. It is hard to believe Mahmoud Ahmadinejad about peaceful energy after his call to have Israel wiped off the map.

The Red Mosque siege is expected to see negotiations start Monday. Pervez Musharraf can impress the militants by showing them the promising first half of a report on foreign investment in Pakistan by the Christian Science Monitor. Just don't show them the catastrophic effects the investments are having on the poor in the second part of the article.

Iowa has caught up with the rest of the country and they are ready for the election to move the election up to tomorrow. I am currently listening to the sounds of the world's smallest violin playing just for the residents of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Anybody who criticizes the pile of projects that make up the Google corporation obviously has never discovered a new class of Chinese nuclear sub with expanded ballistic missile capabilities on Google Earth. I also lost the cap off my flash drive at Alden Library last weekend. If somebody sees it on Google Earth, give me a call.

Media news involves Congress possibly creating a fairness doctrine for the conservative talk-heavy radio waves. It might be a good business move. I'd listen to Rush Limbaugh if it was a Hannity and Colmes setup with Rush and Al Franken. Since radio has no interest in what I want, I listen to satellite.

In reaction to the billion dollar Xbox 360 recall, Playstation has dropped the price of its systems $100 each in order to hit Microsoft while they're down. The only thing working against them is that you still will need to take out a home equity loan to afford the games and the newly-discounted system.

Finally, the 11-year old girl charged with drunk driving qualifies her as somebody whose parents should have bought her a discounted Playstation to kill time.I put my vote in for the Not the Parent of the Year Award.

It's So Hard to Look Away

Sometimes it's difficult for a guy to make an honest living, even if that guy is in a lion costume. It gets more challenging when the guy is wanted for rape of an underage girl, both in relation to the guy making a living and in relation to his living being honest. I hope they left you in your lion costume for your cell mates to get their first look at you.

Mayhem in Israeli/Palestinian relations continues to whip itself into a frenzy. Mother Jones harps on the damned-if-they-do/damned-if-they-don't puzzle that Abbas is locked in. You know the situation is a debacle when somebody actually recommends that outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair should head a reconciliation effort.

Much like the rest of Iraq, the government is in such disarray that top officials are stepping down. Current Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki is so unpopular that he is approaching Bush popularity levels. (The Onion parodied a new approach to one of Bush's favorite topics...climate change.)

As expected, Bush vetoed newly-proposed embryonic stem cell legislation. Democrats are expected to battle the resistance of President Bush. It will be nice to see the party stand up to something that Bush supports at least once before he is out of office.

Media news shows the bidding options for the Wall Street Journal dwindling, with G.E. and Pearson pulling their hats out of the ring. That leaves neo-con tycoon Rupert Murdoch as one of the last men standing in the bidding war for the influential and respected conservative daily. Unless Mark Cuban is willing to step in and trade Dirk Nowitzki for the newspaper, look for Dr. Evil Murdoch to make the Journal part of the No-Spin Zone.

The effort to save internet radio got their chance to voice their opinion through a concert in the capital city. Crushing royalties rates would leave those sitting in their office cubicle little choice but the vanilla options offered by your friendly Web-casting Clear Channel conglomerate. I'm keeping my support behind a choice of better flavors.

Sports and scandal continue with a newly-minted book leveling the same old charges of cheating at Lance Armstrong. Lance's credibility in situations involving accusations of cheating is equal to Lindsay Lohan's dedication to rehab. At least Lindsay admits to doing coke. Barry, Sammy, Lance and Floyd are still claiming innocence or ignorance.

Finally, Bengals fans sick of being singled out as the only team in the NFL being arrested can thank Sports Illustrated for putting together a photo gallery of arrests from the yet-to-be-played 2007 season. At least the newest remake of "The Longest Yard" won't consist of only players from Cincinnati.