Write Your Own Caption

Bush enlists some unsuspecting residents of the United Arab Emirates to join him in his impersonation of The Temptations hit song 'The Way You Do the Things You Do."

 

Bush Declares a Global War on Sunroofs

Pakistan's Interior minister is now claiming that Benazir Bhutto did not die from gunshot wounds. Instead, he says her death was the result of banging her head on the car's sunroof when she tried to duck back into the car after shots were fired. The fact that no autopsy was done seemed to bolster his revelation.

International reaction to this news so far can be summed up as 'Yeah. Right.'

Bush, always on the ball when it comes to rooting out terrorist elements and tactics, (bin Laden who?), immediately declared a Global War on Sunroofs (GWOS). And, with that, he went back to the never-ending job of clearing brush at his Crawford ranch - confident knowing that he had saved America and the world from evil sunroofs everywhere.

Do you know what your sunroof is really planning for you?

Related:

How did Pakistan's Bhutto die? (There have been 3 different explanations thus far.)
 

Bush's Summer Vacation

From WH spokespuppet Dana Perino's press gaggle:

MS. PERINO: First of all, the question was what the President is doing at his ranch this week. Again, I don't expect to have detailed readouts on this every day. But what the President loves to do when he's at his ranch is to spend time outdoors. And I know today that they were maybe going to do some trail building, some bike trail building that they do out there, so that they can then mountain bike. And I wouldn't be surprised if the President got in some fishing, as well as some time with his wife, Laura, Mrs. Bush, and maybe other family and friends. If other family and friends do arrive, and I'm able to provide that information, I certainly will.

But I think that we should just all expect that this week, with the President not having any public events, that when he's out on his ranch what he loves to do is spend time in the outdoors; he loves to get his exercise. And I would expect that there would be some brush cutting to do, although it is 107 degrees, so I don't know how many people are going to be able to stand it. The President, obviously, likes the heat, so maybe everyone else is just going to have to suffer through it.

Torturin' begins at home.
 

Quote du Jour: Bush and Democracy

 

"Vladimir Putin will tell me that Russia is a democracy and that he's advancing democracy," Bush said. "We have got some questions about that, of course."
link

He has questions about what, exactly? How to be even more regressive just like Putin?

Or maybe Bush just wants to know what a "democracy" is. You never know...

I'm sure his soul mate can fill him in either way.

"I was able to get a sense of his soul, a man deeply committed to his country and the best interests of his country."
- George W Bush, after meeting with Putin in 2001

Made for each other...


 

Bush Restarts the Cold War

Because there just isn't enough tension in the world already:

Exclusive: Putin threatens to target Europe with missiles

In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to target Europe with missiles, including potentially nuclear weapons, in a dramatic escalation of his Cold War-style showdown with the United States.

Mr. Putin, in an interview at his country residence outside Moscow, said he considers U.S. plans to build an eastern European anti-missile site to shoot down Iranian missiles a provocation aimed at Russia.

Asked what he might do to retaliate, he said he would return Russia to the Cold War status where missiles were aimed at European targets.

"It is obvious that if part of the strategic nuclear potential of the United States is located in Europe, and according to our military experts will be threatening us, we will have to respond," he said.

"What kind of steps are we going to take in response? Of course, we are going to get new targets in Europe."

Read the full interview with the Russian President in Monday's Globe and Mail

Afghanistan war: check
Iraq war: check
Cold War: check
Iran war: pending

Looks like the upcoming G8 summit will be a lively one, not to mention what will now likely be a very uncomfortable little visit between Bush and Putin on July 1 in Kennebunkport, Maine since Bush has put Putin "on notice".
 

Video: Bush Crapped on by Terrorist Bird

The Secret Service, FBI and CIA have all vowed to track down the bold perpetrator of this craptacular spectacle whom they've dubbed "Mini bin (Laden)" (and the chase for him will probably take just as long as the one for his namesake...).
 

Quote du Jour: Bush - bin Laden 'not leading many parades'

"He's not out there traipsing around. He's not leading many parades," Bush told a news conference after being asked why bin Laden had not been caught.
link

True. But he did lead at least one in May that we know of:

NATO Chief Meets With Bush

It was a nice photo op anyway and it's the thought that counts, I suppose.

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Monday pledged to try to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan but blamed the Taliban for using human shields.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has protested the rising civilian death toll from U.S. and NATO operations trying to defeat a spring offensive by the Taliban.

Afghan officials say dozens of civilians have been killed in recent weeks. The growing death toll has triggered protests by Afghans demanding Karzai's resignation and the expulsion of American troops from Afghanistan.

"The Taliban likes to surround themselves with innocent civilians," Bush said. "They don't mind using human shields because they devalue human life."

Karzai has said Afghanistan could no longer accept civilian casualties, and a U.S. military commander apologized for the killing of 19 civilians by U.S. soldiers during an attack in March.

But, the US military has a history of justifying civilian casualties and then thinking that a weak apology and a few bucks handed out to survivors' relatives makes up for their incompetence.

Over the past month, Afghan officials reported 50 civilians killed in US air strikes in fighting in the western province in Herat, and another 21 in south central Helmand province. They followed a string of similar incidents last year as fighting intensified between NATO and Taliban forces, many of them involving air strikes called in by troops in the heat of battle. “Every time that happens someone walks away .. with a bad feeling either to NATO or the United States or its coalition members. That’s what we don’t want to happen,” General Bantz Craddock, NATO’s supreme allied commander, told reporters Friday.

The deaths have sparked public outrage at a time when NATO is facing a major challenge from the Taliban, creating a dilemma for commanders over whether the gains offered by air strikes are worth the loss in public support. Some analysts say too few troops on the ground, coupled with allied sensitivities about using ground forces and taking casualties, have made air power an irresistible option. “The problem is when you don’t have enough forces on the ground, and when those forces - especially with the variety of NATO countries - are restricted and there are deep concerns about casualties, air power is all you have left,” said Seth Jones, an analyst at the Rand Corporation, a think tank with ties to the US Air Force.

This is what happens when you fight a war on the cheap after you've decided that Iraq is where you're really supposed to be:

US special forces called in unusually heavy aerial support in fighting April 27 through April 30 in the remote Zerkoh Valley of Afghanistan’s western Herat province.

Air force B-1B bombers and F-15E fighters dropped 2,000 pound and 500 pound satellite-guided bombs on Taliban positions and on at least one compound that had been used as a firing position, according to air force summaries. A US military press release said an AC-130 gunship also was used to kill a large number of fighters. It put the total Taliban dead in two days of fighting at 136. Later, though, Afghan and UN officials said the bodies of 50 civilians were recovered, and differing accounts have emerged over whether US forces engaged Taliban fighters or armed villagers fighting off foreign intruders.

The US military has provided no explanation of what happened, or acknowledged any civilians were killed in the fighting. Officials said the commander on the scene used “appropriate level of force” to protect his unit. The rules under which a commander is required to operate are classified, so it is not known what restrictions are placed on them. Military officials say they go to great lengths, using surveillance aircraft and “eyes on the ground” to positively identify their targets, and hold back if they cannot.

Obviously, that's not working.
 

Terrorism Threat in Germany (just kidding)

CNN is busy today covering a supposedly new threat to Americans in Germany by an "al Qaeda franchise" - calling up the usual suspects (their various security experts) to contribute filler and fear.

But wait a minute...

U.S. officials say no new security threat in Germany

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and German officials said on Friday there was no new security threat in Germany after ABC News reported that officials believed that terrorists were planning an attack on U.S. military personnel or tourists in Germany.

Gonzales embarasses Bush again. Bush is rebuked by 12 GOP members over the Iraq war.

Quick! Someone come up with a handy terrorist threat as a distraction.

Mission accomplished.
 

Clogged Tubes Open Thread

My internets tubes seem to be clogged off and on today. If only Ted Stevens (Reallynuts - Alaska) would help me out...

Quote du Jour: Another Bush Moment

In a welcoming speech, Bush, wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, committed a small gaffe when he started to give the wrong century for the queen's visit to the United States to commemorate the U.S. bicentennial.

"The American people are proud to welcome Your Majesty back to the United States, a nation you've come to know very well," Bush said. "After all, you've dined with 10 U.S. presidents. You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 -- in 1976."

As the audience laughed, Bush paused and glanced at the queen, then ad-libbed, "She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child."

WaPo link

Just another day in the life of the boy king...
 

Tenet Justifies Torture

Via an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer:

BLITZER: I have to ask you a question on allegations the CIA, your agency, engaged in torture. You've said there was no torture. You won't describe what the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used against al Qaeda suspects involved.

But Khalid al-Masri[sic], a German citizen born in Lebanon, he wrote a piece in the "L.A. Times" saying this: "I was handed over to the American Central Intelligence Agency and was stripped, severely beaten, shackled, dressed in a diaper, injected with drugs, chained to the floor of a plane and flown to Afghanistan..."

Is that true?

TENET: I don't believe what he says is true. But let me say this. Let me say this about this whole torture question. In the after math[sic] of 9/11, we lived with a palpable fear of how much we did not know about what was going on in our country.

Senator McCain started a great debate here. Here's what I would ask people. I know that the program we engaged in saved lives, thousands of lives. I know it helped us against al Qaeda.

Policymakers, the president, the Congress determine where you want to be in the moral continuum. We are a country of laws and a country of values. Tell us where you want to be. Make it very, very clear to us. Have consensus on it.

Don't let the pendulum swing back and forth. Give you intelligence community clear instructions, and we'll follow them.

BLITZER: In a war, if American POWs were exposed to the same "enhanced interrogation techniques" that these expects were exposed to, would that be appropriate?

TENET: Well, you never -- look, Wolf, I would never -- I don't know what they'd be exposed to. And I don't want to talk about techniques. Here's the only thing I would say to you again.

Make a determination of where you want us to be. Tell us what the right thing to do is. We'll do it.

I know that in that time period after 9/11, we understood the risks. We understood we were on new territory. The president authorized. The attorney general said it was legal.

We briefed the chairman and ranking member of our oversight committees. Nobody was hiding anything. We were in a -- we were in a tough environment.

If you don't want to do it, that's fine with us.

BLITZER: One example. Could you give us one example? Because you say it saved thousands of lives. These techniques? Can you give us an example?

TENET: Well, we found out about additional airline plots against the East and West Coast of the United States.

BLITZER: Thanks to these techniques?

TENET: Thanks to these techniques. We found out about that surveillance of financial institutions in New York thanks to these techniques. We found out about plots in Karachi thanks to these techniques. We identified people we never knew about who were planning further terrorist attacks against the United States thanks to these techniques.

BLITZER: So if you had to do the techniques over again, you'd do them?

TENET: Well, it's not that you would do them. If you're authorized and it's legal and it's briefed -- and we play in a system of laws and governance. It's not just us.

You know, in the time period that I lived in, and the threats that we faced, and the issues we were dealing with, and -- Wolf, where are you going to be if you're holding someone who you know is coming to kill you and your family tomorrow afternoon, and you didn't do what you thought you needed to do to get the data? What would you be saying to me today?

You would be saying me, you didn't do your job and you didn't save lives. Well, that's extreme, isn't it? Well, that's what we were living with at the time.

So, all Tenet needed was clearance from Bush, which he got thanks to Gonzales and Yoo - all of them in panic mode after 9/11 - although the CIA's history of using so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" goes back decades.

Tenet chooses, conveniently, not to believe El-Masri whose lawsuit has been thrown out of court on "state secrets" grounds and even though the CIA admitted that it had mistaken him for an al Qaeda member named al-Masri when it kidnapped him.

In April 2004, CIA Director George Tenet learned that El-Masri was being wrongfully detained. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice learned of his detention shortly thereafter in early May and ordered his release.[3] El-Masri was released on May 28 following a second order from Rice.[3] American authorities met with him and agreed to release him if he agreed never to tell the story of his ordeal to anyone.

In other words, this administration doesn't want those real "techniques" exposed because they know the damage that'll cause. It doesn't matter what Tenet does or doesn't choose to believe. If Bushco had any credibility and faith in its policies that it claims saved so many lives, it wouldn't be so afraid to have to defend them in court.

Tenet - just another man named George who doesn't want to take responsibility for anything and who believes that torture is justified without providing any proof that it actually works.
 

Bush: The 9/11 Hijackers Were 'Kids'

Yes, that's what he called them on Wednesday morning not once, but twice:

I worry about a situation where if radicals took control of a country like Iraq, they would have oil resources to use at their disposal to try to achieve their objectives. You can attack a nation several ways. One, you can get 19 kids to fly airplanes into buildings, or you can gain control of something a country needs and deny that country access to that, in this case, oil, and run the price of oil up, all attempting to inflict serious economic damage.
[...]
Finally, it's necessary for free societies to emerge -- free societies in the image of a country's own history and tradition. And why is it in our interest that that happen? There is a root cause, there is a reason why 19 kids got on an airplane to come and kill us, and that is because societies in that part of the world have bred resentment and lack of hope.

Kids?

Thinkquest lists their ages as being between 20 and 38. Why is Bush calling them "kids"?
 

Bush: 'I'm the commander guy'

Not satisfied with just being The Decider, Bush gives himself a promotion:

By the way, in the report it said, it is -- the government may have to put in more troops to be able to get to that position. And that's what we do. We put in more troops to get to a position where we can be in some other place. The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear -- I'm the commander guy.

(predictably boring speech link)

Watch for Commander Guy dolls coming soon to toy store shelves near you.
 

Bush's Veto

Bush vetoes the Iraq spending bill and then spouts hypocrisy like only he can (although there are several runners up in that category):

The veto was only the second of Mr. Bush’s presidency. In a six-minute televised speech from the White House, the president called the measure a “prescription for chaos and confusion,” and said, as he has for weeks, that he could not sign it because it contained timetables for troop withdrawal.

“Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure, and that would be irresponsible,” Mr. Bush said. He said the measure would “impose impossible conditions on our commanders in combat” by forcing them to “take fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.”

Oh let's get real here. Look up "chaos" and "confusion" in the dictionary and you'll find this:


And isn't he one of those Washington politicians who's giving the troops their "fighting directions" (what kind of phrase is that?) from the comfort of his cushy oval office while pretending to actually give a crap about the troops?

Seriously...

On Thursday, Oliver Stone and Moveon.org will release an ad attacking Bush for his veto.

The Stone directed ad, which airs nationwide on CNN Thursday, features an impassioned interview with Bruhns as he attacks the administration's treatment of soldiers. [Ron] Kovic [of "Born on the Fourth of July" fame] provides voiceover for the ad.

"I feel that my patriotism has been used and exploited," says former US Army Infantry Sergeant Bruhns. "I am very proud of my military service, but I'm very disappointed in the civilian leadership and administration for sending us needlessly into combat."

Bruhn's interview was selected by the public as part of VideoVets: Bring Our Troops Home. The project features 20 video interviews of soldiers and family members critical of the American occupation in Iraq. Over half a million MoveOn members and others watched the videos. The public voted to select one video to be directed by Oliver Stone. The project is sponsored by MoveOn.org and VoteVets.org. VoteVets is the only political action committee headed by veterans of the war in Iraq, dedicated to electing other veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to public office.

Here's Bruhn's interview:


So, the Democrats made their symbolic move - which took far too long. Bush vetoed it, as expected. What's next?

Democrats concede they do not have enough votes to override the veto. But, speaking in the Capitol shortly after Mr. Bush’s remarks, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi of California, and the Senate Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said they would not be deterred from pushing the president as hard as they could to bring the troops home.

“If the president thinks by vetoing this bill he will stop us from working to change the direction of the war in Iraq, he is mistaken,” Mr. Reid said. He added, “Now he has an obligation to explain his plan to responsibly end this war.”

Riiight...and pigs will fly. Stay tuned.

The next chapter begins Wednesday, when Congressional leaders are expected to meet Mr. Bush at the White House to open negotiations on a new bill. They are expected to look for ways to preserve the benchmarks for Iraqi progress that were included in the initial bill while eliminating the timetables for troop withdrawal that Mr. Bush has emphatically rejected.

Several Republican leaders said Tuesday that they were likely to support such benchmarks, and White House aides said Tuesday that Mr. Bush, who has supported goals and benchmarks for the Iraqi government, might back such a measure — but only if the benchmarks are nonbinding.

[Insert swear words here.]
 

Mission Accomplished: 4 Years Later

May 1, 2003

The Battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11th, 2001, and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men — the shock troops of a hateful ideology — gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the "beginning of the end of America." By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed.

In the Battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban, many terrorists, and the camps where they trained. We continue to help the Afghan people lay roads, restore hospitals, and educate all of their children. Yet we also have dangerous work to complete. As I speak, a special operations task force, led by the 82nd Airborne, is on the trail of the terrorists, and those who seek to undermine the free government of Afghanistan. America and our coalition will finish what we have begun.

From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down al-Qaida killers. Nineteen months ago, I pledged that the terrorists would not escape the patient justice of the United States. And as of tonight, nearly one-half of al-Qaida's senior operatives have been captured or killed.

The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of al-Qaida, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more.

In these 19 months that changed the world, our actions have been focused, and deliberate, and proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the victims of September the 11th — the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got.

Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis - dead.
Over 3,600 coalition troops - dead.
Tens of thousands of people - wounded.
Over 2 million Iraqis - displaced.
An unknown number of Iraqis - disappeared, abused, tortured.
Almost $500 billion - spent.
Justice - none.
Held accountable - no one.

War is what they got.
 

Oh, how George and Laura suffer...

Yes, that's right. No one suffers more than George and Laura...

Watch them suffer:

George and Laura with the Kankouran West African Dance Company, April 25 2007

But no one suffers more than they do...

Gonzales Under Fire

Having sat through and liveblogged Alberto Gonzales' confirmation hearings, watching a man at that time who made it a point to appear soft-spoken and congenial in order to impress those who would ultimately be responsible for giving him the job of US attorney general, I have to note that the Gonzales' persona I'm witnessing today in front of the senate judiciary committee is one of a desperate but still egotistical man - crossed arms, raised voice, quick talking, combative, defensive, sticking to his belief that all of the US attorneys who have been fired should have been regardless of what anyone else thinks.

He has only one thing going for him: the fact that Bush will most likely keep him on until the end of his term, no matter what. He's The Decider™, after all. It seems that unless Gonzales can be nailed for perjury, he has a get out of the hearings free card, despite the fact that numerous Republicans as well have already expressed the desire to throw him overboard - where he obviously belongs.

What's come out of the hearing thus far is the very strong opinion that even if there isn't any evidence of political motives for the attorneys' firings on Gonzales' part (and few believe there isn't), Gonzales' performance - the very thing he claims the attorneys were fired for - has been so incompetent and has so damaged the image of the justice department that he should resign for those reasons alone. Americans of every stripe have a very staunch belief in tradition and honour and both Democrats and Republicans on the committee have stated that Gonzales' behaviour has tarnished the office.

Gonzales' very questionable ethics and practices have been on view internationally since it was revealed that, as Bush's White House counsel, he found legal loopholes to justify torture. He should never have been confirmed as US Attorney General in the first place, but the Republicans and the president got their way. Those who voted for his confirmation share responsibility for what is happening today. As with so many decisions made when the Republicans controlled congress, necessitating major damage control and new investigations by the Democrats who now hold power, Gonzales' situation is endemic of the corruption inherent in narrow-minded partisan politics.

He's no scapegoat - he's a symbol of blind fealty to skewed political principles and is a reflection of the hubris and arrogance so in evidence since Bush became president: the trashing of the constitution, the refusal to comply with international treaties and courts, the sanctioning of secret kidnappings, prisons and torture practices, the belief that this administration is above the law - any law which doesn't suit its political purposes.

Bush knew exactly what he was doing when he nominated Gonzales - a man whose legal mind he has known since the days of his tenure as governor in Texas. Bush knew Gonzales would be his yes man - a person who would find ways to skirt laws to further Bush's agenda. He's not going to let go of him now. Unfortunately, today's hearings will serve as nothing but political theatre in the end. That's symbolic of the entire Bush presidency: the theatre of the absurd where the court jesters are the stars.

Related:

CSPAN has video archives and live coverage of the hearings.
Specter vs. Gonzales -- Round 1 (Video at Crooks and Liars.)
Gonzales Defends Actions on U.S. Attorney Firings
Gonzales: Criticism Damages DoJ Employees (Video of Dick Durbin's questioning of Gonzales.)
Video of Patrick Leahy's opening statement.
Gonzales' opening statement. (.pdf file)

More updates as they come in... by the way, I heard a reporter on CSPAN after the morning's testimony say that Gonzales said "I don't recall" 55 times. By the end of the day, I'm sure he'll have set a new world record.
 

Will Bush Attend These Memorial Services?

Baghdad Bombings Kill at Least 131

BAGHDAD, April 18 -- Four car bombs killed 131 people and wounded 164 others across Baghdad Wednesday, the U.S. military said, as bloodshed spiked two months into a U.S.-led crackdown meant to placate the Iraqi capital.

Some news accounts suggested the death toll may be higher. The Reuters news agency, quoting local officials, said as many as 170 people had been killed, and the Associated Press said at least 183 had been killed.

Cue the talking points:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, on a tour of the Mideast, called the bombings "horrifying" and accused al-Qaeda of being behind the attacks, the AP reported. He said the attackers were trying to demonstrate that the U.S. security plan for Baghdad was failing.

I think they've successfully demonstrated that fact.

The deadliest attack Wednesday occurred when a car bomb ripped through the Sadriyah market in a predominantly Shiite area of central Baghdad, killing 115 Iraqis and wounding 137 others, the U.S. military said in a statement. The blast also damaged 40 vehicles. The same market was the site of a Feb. 3 bombing that killed more than 125 people, the gravest single bombing since the war in Iraq began.

And what was it Rep Pence said about Baghdad markets? Oh yes:

And so it went, up and down the street, in between tents and tables, squeezing past pedestrians to inspect the offerings in one booth after another, we milled around this marketplace in downtown Baghdad for more than an hour. I told reporters afterward that it was just like any open-air market in Indiana in the summertime. I didn’t mean that Baghdad was as safe as the Bargersville Flea Market; I just meant that that was what it looked and felt like…lots of people, lots of booths and a friendly relaxed atmosphere.

And bombs and dead people, unlike Indiana's.

Reuters has photos of the aftermath of today's carnage and is now reporting that "nearly 200" people were killed.

"The street was transformed into a swimming pool of blood," said Ahmed Hameed, a shopkeeper near the carnage in Sadriya.

As for whether Bush will attend those memorial services, the answer if obviously "NO". Just as well because if he did and quoted from the Bible as he did on Tuesday at the Va Tech convocation, his absolute hypocrisy would be met with the scorn it so obviously deserves.

Bush: As the Scriptures tell us, "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

I'd sure like to know what his definition of "good" is when it comes to waging a pre-emptive war against a country that was not a direct threat to the United States.

Just how "good" is it to end up being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of millions more while children - and every Iraqi - will suffer from this endless trauma for their entire lifetimes due to the ignorant arrogance of a small group of PNAC neocons whose only concern was oil profiteering?

P.S.: You will not see wall-to-wall coverage of these bombings on any of the cable news networks. This is just another day in Baghdad, after all.
 

Random News & Views Roundup

- Wanker of the Day: John Derbyshire. Runner-up (in a close race): Nathaniel Blake.

- What is going on with N Korea's nuclear reactor?

- Obvious headline of the day: Stressed army makes U.S. vulnerable: retired general

- General Peter Pace (sockpuppet brigade) spouts talking points:

But Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the military has the ability to take on a major new conflict, despite the strain of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I try to speak very precisely publicly about this because the worst thing you can do is you have some country sitting out there miscalculating the enormous residual capacity of the United States military and think that they can do something because we are currently tied up," Pace told reporters in Washington.

"We are focused on Iraq. We are focused on Afghanistan. We do have a lot of our assets there. But we do have enormous residual capacity that's available to the nation," he said.

Shorter Pace: Iran, here we come.

- Bush at the Va Tech convocation on Tuesday:

As the Scriptures tell us, "Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

"Good". Like war, for example.

- "No kidding!" headline of the day: 'Rampage may not influence '08 presidential race'. It's all lip-flapping anyway. Does anyone really think their gun laws will change?

- The tories are feeling the heat over their attempts to screw with Canada's gun registry in the meantime.

- A Canadian veteran comes to terms with his past. (All the best to you Dave and thank you for that courageous post.)

- Juan Cole: Iraq Has Two Virginia Techs Every Day

- Also, "about 70% of primary school students in a Baghdad neighborhood suffer symptoms of trauma-related stress such as bed-wetting or stuttering, according to a survey by the Iraqi Ministry of Health." And with the constant barrage of violence they continue to witness, there will no doubt be many more long-lasting symptoms to come.

- Meanwhile, the UNHCR is calling on the west to help Iraq's 4 million refugees. As I wrote elsewhere yesterday, the refugee situation in Iraq is akin to the horrendous coverage we saw of stranded hurricane Katrina victims in NOLA - except that these refugees have been stuck in their virtual convention center begging for help for years. The BBC has 4 Iraq refugee stories.

- Dennis Kucinich intends to file articles of impeachment against Cheney. Go Dennis!

- It's the 25th anniversary of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Chretien shared his thoughts with CTV's Mike Duffy on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in a totally unsurprising move: "The current Conservative government has no plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Charter." Yes, that's Canada's "new" government for you. Rights? Freedoms? Eh?