Judging from Rummy's performance today, I'd say he's in his last throes.

I asked a friend of mine, a professional psychotherapist, what she thought of Rummy's behavior. "Passive Aggressive iterations," she said without a moment's hesitation.

I went and looked it up.

SULKING - Feeling put upon when he is unable to live up to his promises or obligations, the p/a man retreats from pressures around him and sulks, pouts and withdraws.

CHRONIC LATENESS & FORGETFULNESS - One of the most infuriating & inconsiderate of all p/a traits is his inability to arrive on time. By keeping you waiting, he sets the ground rules of the relationship. And his selective forgetting - used only when he wants to avoid an obligation.

*AMBIGUITY - He is master of mixed messages and sitting on fences. When he tells you something, you may still walk away wondering if he actually said yes or no.

*FEAR OF COMPETITION - Feeling inadequate, he is unable to compete with other men in work and love. He may operate either as a self-sabotaging wimp with a pattern of failure, or he'll be the tyrant, setting himself up as unassailable and perfect, needing to eliminate any threat to his power.

*OBSTRUCTIONISM - Just tell a p/a man what you want, no matter how small, and he may promise to get it for you. But he won't say when, and he"ll do it deliberately slowly just to frustrate you. Maybe he won't comply at all. He blocks any real progress he sees to your getting your way.

*FOSTERING CHAOS - The p/a man prefers to leave the puzzle incomplete, the job undone.

*FEELING VICTIMIZED - The p/a man protests that others unfairly accuse him rather than owning up to his own misdeeds. To remain above reporach, he sets himself up as the apparently hapless, innocent victim of your excessive demands and tirades.

*MAKING EXCUSES & LYING - The p/a man reaches as far as he can to fabricate excuses for not fulfilling promises. As a way of withholding information, affirmation or love - to have power over you - the p/a man may choose to make up a story rather than give you a straight answer.

*PROCRASTINATION - The p/a man has an odd sense of time - he believes that deadlines don't exist for him.

I'm an independent voter. I'd rather drink ipecac syrup than watch Fox. No wait, they both have the same effect on me.

It stands to reason that if peace were actually to succeed in the world, one day there would be no leaders or followers who have any combat experience.

Until then, I would prefer that my political leaders to have the same life-changing personal experiences of combat as those who he/she sends off to die or be maimed.

I don't give a crap about Bush flying jets over Texas, or Rummy's limp-ass career as a flight instructor. It's insulting to combat veterans to hear some REMF try to equate his service with theirs.

It's vile beyond comprehension that anyone who has fought and bled for this country could be called a coward and a traitor for using his Constitutional right to speak, a right that he helped uphold with his blood and courage.

But since you insist that everyone play by your "rules" here's my play list. It sort of incorporates the present circumstances of our men and women dying in the Middle East, with your devo barbecue escape from reality.

1. "There's a Body Floatin' in the Tigris Tonight" By Abdul and the Scimitars.

2. "That's not Catsup on your shirt" By The Medics.

3. "I Can't Get No Close Air Support" By The Forward Observers.

4. "My Daughter Got Run Over By a Humvee" By Coalition of the Willing.

5. "Haji Girl: White Man Want You So Bad" By The Renegade Screamin' Eagles.

6. "Try To Save My Legs" By The R.P.G.s.

7. "I'll Find You When I Get Home" By The Nervous Loners

8. "I Shot The Family! The Roadblock Song" By Billy Bob and the M.P.s.

9. "Coughin' up Blood" By The Goners

10. "Me So Horny" By The Third I.D. Choir

I see Sybil was out of bed early this morning, grinding his hateful axe. I've always enjoyed TMW and TT and now my joy is increased because Iknow that somewhere out there in looney-land is a guy who got his widdle feelings hurt and now he spends his time trying vainly to get revenge by writing nearly the same complaint again and again, always under a different screen name. What an exciting life he must lead.

"Can you hear the soft tread of the Messiah's footstep? Can you feel the soft beating of your heart in anticipation of His soon return?"

Son of Sam

Aw Joe, don't go away mad. Just go away!

Go where your heart takes you: The Republican Party.

Oh, wait, you're not welcome there. They don't need a whiney, preachy limp noodle whose always nagging everybody and being a general pain in the ass to the people he supposedly represents.

The tefillin? Good place to hide your stash.

No he's just bad ju ju.