It is hard to believe the boldness with which illegal activity is being justified by the Bush Administration. The craven response of the Congress to this justification is equally inexplicable. In these areas the United States is close to becoming a totalitarian presidential dictatorhip similar to some Latin American banana republic.

The great danger of the next period of American history is that the United States will retain the formal institutions of a constitutional republic while shifting to an authoritarian presidential system in which the Great Leader must be obeyed by a subservient Congress, judiciary and populace.

Such a shift in real power as opposed to formal power is not without precedent in Anglo Saxon law. The United Kingdom and some of the old dominions such as Canada and Australia remain constitutional monarchies but real power is vested in the elected Prime Minister and Cabinet. They are really republics with a monarchical form. A movement in the opposite direction is not impossible.

Thomas E. Ricks, in his 2006 book, FIASCO, writes about the stunning failure of American policy in Iraq. To continue the current policy is to compound the catastrophe.A fresh approach is needed.

When you discover that your house is on fire, it makes good sense to get out and call the fire department immediately. Sure, this is cut and run, but it makes the most sense in the situation.

George W. Bush has created a horrible mess by invading Iraq on the cheap. Many of his military advisers cautioned against this course of action and wanted the insertion of a larger American military force to conduct a successful occupation. The Bush administration chose a different course of action and now is whining when the chickens have come home to roost and the United States finds itself in a quagmire like Vietnam. So they use terms like cut and run and support for our troops to shirk responsibility for their ongoing policy errors.

This, of course, totally begs the question of whether the Iraq war was appropriate. Most people would now say that it was not, and I agree.

However the consequences of the mess made by the Bush administration in Iraq endure. It is prudent to get American troops out of harms way while retaining the capacity for a devastating and successful military strike by the United States against any terrorist organization imprudent enough to prepare an attack on the United States.

At this point in time, the years of Watergate seem far distant, a time of the rule of law and bipartisan constitutional consensus. It was a Golden Age. Political giants walked the corridors of power. I sing of Representative Peter Rodino and Senator Howard Baker, and, yes, I sing of President Richard M. Nixon too.

All of these men truly loved their country. All of them, albeit reluctantly in the case of Nixon, put the interests of the Republic above their own personal concerns.

Yes we had Haldeman and Ehrlichman, but we also had John Dean and Henry Kissinger. Today we have the lonely, mournful song of Karl Rove, turtledove or turdblossom echoing in the land.

Statements by President Bush make it obvious that the U.S. feels it has the right to interfere with and change the government in Iraq. The U.S. is still really an occupying power. But control? The Bush administration has mismanaged things so badly in Iraq that this is out of the question now.

The American adventure in Iraq currently resembles the I LOVE LUCY episode where Lucy and Ethel tried to do jobs at a candy factory and were unable to keep up with the pace of work, with hilarious results. Only in the case of America in Iraq, the results are anything but funny.

Zelikow, BGR and Allawi can be nothing but tragic sideshows in the overall debacle.

Whether or not Larry Craigs bathroom behaviour is as indicated, it raises real issues.

Would gay marriage take this sort of sex out of the public bathrooms of the nation and put it into the private bedrooms where it belongs.

Would a family values initiative allowing polygamous unions of spouses of both sexes be helpful.

Would polygamous mormon sects be supportive of such an initiative.

Would Mitt Romney support such an initiative as a compassionate

response to situations such as may have allegedly entangled Larry Craig.

Would Bi, Bi Miss American Pie be a suitably modified Rock song to use in support of the initiative.

And, finally, would the GOP support the legislation to implement the initiative and would George W. Bush sign it.

As we move towards the sixth anniversary of that fateful day in September 2001, the image of the burning, then collapsing, twin towers remains etched on our memories. The stark vision of the iron skeletal remains of the building smouldering for weeks as rescue and recovery efforts took place is simply unforgettable.

Those smouldering ruins contained not only the physical remains of murdered Americans, but also the innocence and optimism of an earlier era of American history being consumed in a massive shift in American political and social attitudes towards a defensive authoritarianism.

Six years after 911 the World Trade Center site has been cleared to bedrock and redevelopment planning is ongoing. But in other, non physical ways the site smoulders still. What is burning are the concepts of freedom and liberty and the rule of law upon which the Republic was founded.