It's not clear at all that the figures provided by the military can be believed. Numbers provided by the Iraqi government, indicate that the slaughter of Iraqi civilians has actually grown since the surge began. An Associated Press count determined that the civilian death toll continues to rise, but this goes unreported by the US corporate media.

Given all the talk about subsiding violence, you'd expect Iraqis to notice. Butpolls conducted by ABC News, the BBC and the Japanese broadcaster NHK found that only 11 percent of Iraqis think overall security is better today than it was before the surge. Even in Anbar province, commonly hailed as our greatest success, 62 percent of locals say the situation is bad.

If confident predictions by generals could be taken as gospel, this war would have been over long ago. But the totality of evidence gives no more reason to think we will do any better in the future than in the past. As we have learned repeatedly in Iraq, optimism is just another word for self-delusion.

Jordan, the only thing as pathetic as Sharter's imbecile comments is the fact that you actually engage and acknowledge him. You may just as well engage a Flatearther and try to reason with him using satellite photos of our round planet only to receive in return a mind-numbing explanation as to why the earth is actually really, really flat. Sharter is the type of authority craving dunce who will keep buying used cars from the same sleazy salesman who keeps cheating him time and time again, only because the sleazbag wears an American flag pin on his lapel.

Since a radical right-wing segment of the population began taking control of the government about 13 years ago, our fears about the future of the Republic are well founded. As many have pointed out, the Republic is once again passing through perilous times. The concept of a constitutional democracy has been under attack--and by the American government no less! The mid-term elections of 2006 gave hope that the best values and traditions of the country will ultimately prevail. But it could prove a huge mistake to think that the enemies of freedom and equality have lost the war just because they were recently rebuffed at the polls. I'll be very much surprised if their leaders don't frame the setback as a test of the followers' faith, causing them to redouble their efforts.

They came so close to getting what they want, they're not likely to pack up and go away without an all-out drive. But even if their leaders cannot find an acceptable presidential candidate for 2008, even if authoritarians play a much diminished role in the next election, even if they temporarily fade from view, they will still be there, aching for a dictatorship that will force their views on everyone. And they will surely be energized again, as they were in 1994, if a new administration infuriates them while carrying out its mandate. The country is not out of danger yet and possibly it's in greater danger than ever before.

If Mukasey had one independent bone in his body, he wouldn't have been appointed to the AG post by Bush/Cheney. The characterization of Muksey by Sen.Schumer as fiercely independent"is more than bizarre- it tells everybody that the Democrats are chronically and permanently a party of spineless quislings. In the aftermath of another shameful peformance in which the Democrats have enabled Bush during his march toward total fascism, it seems like the odds of a Democrat becoming president next year are zero.

because the Democrats would've had less time to approve everything Bush wants.

Since Feinsten ran virtually unopposed in the Democratic primaries, California Democrats didn't have much of a choice but vote for her. As terrible as she has been, the Republicans she had defeated were to the right of Mussolini. She isn't running for reelection, I'm not sure if California can recall a US senator, so we are stuck with this Republican from San Francisco for 5 more years, tragically, unless she is nailed through her husband shenanigans. As a matter of priniple, Feinstein has utter and complete disregard for her constituents and could really care less about their opinions of her. By the time she retires to spends all her time at her twenty million dollar San Francisco Pacific Heights mansion, she will have helped turn this country into a full pledged fascist empire, and she won't lose one moment of sleep over it.

She has a pretty unusual temper and demeanor for a major politicians which may explain why she hasn't triggered more outrage and opposition. Like many people from northern California, she is very calm, understated and low key. She never loses her temper in public and is always polite and well mannered. She keeps a very low profile, is very reluctant to advertise her positions on controversial issues until absolutely necessary and keeps her interaction with her constituency to a bare minimum. Her staff responds to angry comments about her outrageous positions with very polite, disarming carefully worded bullshit. Since her constituency, like most people, doesn't follow blogs, they are mostly unaware of her positions and would be surprised to learn that she is a de-facto Republican. She's a very tough nut to crack and will probably with us for the next 5 years.