But are we taking into account the role of the media, here? Is it an illusion that every time the Fear Machine spits out another boogeyman, another dire prediction of mayhem to come, it gets front page coverage? That the voices who seek to reveal the mendacity, the smoke and mirrors, the ill-gotten political gains seem to be trying to be heard from a great distance? Bush says this, Bush says that. Cheney Warns Against Islamofascism. Rumsfeld Warns We Have to Stay the Course Or We're All Dead Meat. All of this is to be found above the fold, in the breathless "News at Eleven!" promos. Those who cry "Bullshit!" and offer a different view of the dangers and challenges we really face (as opposed to the Big Lies) do so in the blogs, in the low-circulation magazines, on NPR and PBS.

This is not an accident. And it is not because those pitifully weak voices are wrong. Only that they are not Connected to Where the Big Money Is.

Gee, that does sound a little paranoid, doesn't it.

It will be with the full and not-too-hard-to-spot complicity of the Main Stream Media. How else?

Are you sure there wasn't some sniggering going on? Are you sure your treatment in Buenos Aires wasn't a leetle jok being pulled on you courtesy of Mr. Chavez? A phone call to the airport security people: "Listen, the Americans want to rule the world, impose their weird paranoias on the rest of us. Give 'em a taste of their own shit." That's all it would take. And I'm betting that's exactly what happened.

You call spending half a trillion dollars on the illusion of "doing something to protect the country," spending ourselves into insolvency...business as usual? Where you from?

Doesn't cut it.

Why is this minimally-important story still headlining when there's so much more going on, like GWB's PARTIAL release of the NIE?

We find it incomprehensible, too!

What happened to his very own Whitewater scandal that started back in June and then died on the vine, never to be heard about or from again? The Speaker benefited mightily in some choice real estate transactions in NE Illinois after voting to grant highway funds for a nearby (sorry, Dennis, five miles is nearby when you're talking about putting a highway close to your real estate). Mild protestations from DH, that he was just buying and selling real estate, like everyone else, and it just...went away. Like everyone else? Gee, I've got some land in the Mojave Desert I would LOVE to put a highway that close to!

Can we go so far as to wonder whether the White House Brain Trust felt it wouldn't be such a bad thing if Bin Laden DID strike in the U.S.? They had a Prez who was heading rapidly for one term in lackluster office. They were dying for an excuse to start a war. Things weren't looking so good. So, while they didn't plan 9/11 it's quite feasible that they chose to let it happen -- if it was going to happen -- as a tonic for a sinking presidency and the lack of a battle cry. When you think how quickly the administration moved into high gear on its War on Terror and invasion of Iraq, it's almost like...don't want to be paranoid, here...it's almost as if their prayers were answered.

What happened to Hastert's very own Whitewater scandal that started back in June and then died on the vine, never to be heard about or from again? The Speaker benefited mightily in some choice real estate transactions in NE Illinois after voting to grant highway funds for a nearby (sorry, Dennis, five miles is nearby when you're talking about putting a highway close to your real estate). Mild protestations from DH, that he was just buying and selling real estate, like everyone else, and it just...went away. Like everyone else? Gee, I've got some land in the Mojave Desert I would LOVE to put a highway that close to!

Let's hope Obama or Hillary or someone with a voice gets ahold of this phrase. It's a good one, pithy, understandable and motivational. SMART ON TERROR -- TOUGH ON INTELLIGENCE!

Love it.

Simply enter "hastert highway real estate" and you'll get plenty of hits from Google. The Sunlight Foundation seems to be the group that's brought it up most vocally. There's definitely smoke there, as Hastert doesn't deny he made millions. But for some reason, it hasn't caught fire. If you learn why, by all means let us know.

This term is always used when Rice, Cheney, Bush show up in Iraq. It makes it sound as if someone had pulled a rabbit out of his/her hat, done something creative and proactive. In fact, any of these three are set up to go there any time they wish, but do we expect them to ANNOUNCE that they're going to land their plane in Baghdad? The only surprise is that any of them has the nerve to go there and face the children they've put in harm's way for no good reason.

It's been said a hundred thousand times: you want to lessen crowding at California prisons, start turning non-violent drug offenders loose into treatment programs. There's no elaborating on that idea, it's just too dog dang simple, doesn't require another word. The prison guards' union will put up a fuss because they like it crowded. Crowded, to the prison guards, means everyone's terrified they'll strike and there's LOTS of overtime to go around. Maybe a Schwarzenegger who no longer needs the guards' union to get elected governor will face down their blackmail and let some of the druggies out. Wouldn't that be something.

Study: War blamed for 655,000 Iraqi deaths

Do the math: how long would it have taken Saddam to kill that many Iraqis?