...why Putin would want to damage the reputation of his country and of himself by so obviously assassinating dissidents in this manner. OTOH, the US just recently invaded a country, killed at least hundred thousand people, and buried itself in a hopeless quagmire, basically just to tell off a few guys in a cave. And we didn't even try to hide it.

...leads right to Georgie's butt, I believe.

The ISG report really amounts to no more than the tentative conclusion that asses are likely different from holes in the ground. Bush, however, has based his Iraq policy entirely on the premise that asses and holes in the ground are one and the same. Bush cannot admit that any part of the ISG report is correct without admitting that everything he has done in Iraq was wrong from the start.

The ISG is wrong, btw. There can be no bipartisan solution to the war in Iraq. The only way out of Iraq will be by getting rid of George Bush. However, I'm beginning to think the ISG might know that.

Once Bush rejects the ISG report, and he has to, his day is over. Iraq isn't going to get better and can only get worse. Bush's approval ratings can only shrink from now on. A president with approval ratings in the 20s simply cannot govern. I'm betting that Bush will be gone within a Friedman (six months).

...there is a word for George Bush right now. Loser.

What the hell is that? A nice new shiny corporate right whereby famous people get to dictate what anyone else says about them?

I love Dylan but his lawyers need to go to hell.

I would love to hear the real story of Dylan and Sedgwick, if there is one.

...."Everybody Loves Raymond" was a great, dark, funny show which was never insipid at all. And Peter Boyle was great as the Dad, in a very real and slightly scary way.

...I wish there was an SOB in the wings. Isn't there ANYBODY out there that makes the Washington establishment shake in their boots?

All we want is somebody who will who cut CEO salaries down to non embezzlement levels, raise the minimum wage to liveable levels, bring back progressive taxation, break up the media monopolies, offer universal health care to every American, disallow unsafe gas guzzlers on the road, and restore a modicum of sanity to American foriegn policy. Is that to much to ask for?

...it is very important for the coming election that the Democrats learn how to handle the media. I suggest that all the Democratic candidates get together to set some ground rules for the media.

All of the candidates should protest vociferously as a group if and when the media commits any of the following actions:

1: Attacks any of the candidates on silly personal grounds such as Obama's middle name or lack of tie.

2: Declares one candidate to be the 'front runner' and designates other candidates as sure losers.

3: Applies dismissive phrases to the candidates such as "the seven dwarves."

4: Smirks, snarks, or snorts when any of the candidates mentions the names of actual bills or makes references to governmental functions.

I'm sure there are other media violations that I haven't thought of but that will need to be dealt with.

I think action should be taken such as withdrawal of press passes for violations. The media needs to learn to respect the presidental nominating process and to stop treating it as an open joke. And it needs to learn to respect Democrats in particular.

In general, the media needs to learn to be serious again and to leave the joking and the comedy to the Jay Lenos and the Jon Stewarts. The media are supposed to be reporters and not judges of the candidates.

...in an entirely absurd decade.

This country hasn't been quite right in the head since the election of 2000.

...but they didn't convict him. And his popularity actually went up, based on the fact that he was a smart and competent president.

Now we have a president with popularity at the bottom of the barrel, who every day reveals himself to be ignorant, arrogant and quite stupid, a president who's lost both a war and an American city, and yet none of it seems to matter, somehow. You'd think the cries for his impeachment or resignation would come from every corner, but not so. We're just waiting for him to figure out what to do next, and he'll tell us about it when he feels like it. Now that's absurd.

...according to the last panel.

Good for the dog! He didn't ask to go in a barrel over Niagara Falls.

...as Iraqis stand up, American soldiers will stand down.

New strategery: as new American soldiers stand up, old American soldiers will stand down.

It's kind of hard to claim we're winning when what we really need is a whole new army. And where will that new army come from?

...and a much better new year, billie.

Me, I've got the big Ratzinger show on. He's got a terrific set, if nothing else.

...and now we're stuck in a glue trap.

Osama bin Laden is happy tonight, and N. Korea and Iran are working even harder to get their nukes.