Have we also forgotten this? "Saddam made a last-minute bid to avert war, admitting that Iraq had once possessed weapons of mass destruction to defend itself from Iran and Israel - but insisting that it no longer has them.

"We are not weapons collectors," the official Iraqi News Agency quoted him as saying. "When Saddam Hussein says he has no weapons of mass destruction, he means what he says."

SNIP (We certainly shouldn't trust these guys, eh?)

"President Bush's speech Monday set the countdown clock for war. "The tyrant will soon be gone," said Mr. Bush, either by Saddam's own choice to leave, or by force. Saddam and his sons must leave Iraq within 48 hours, said Mr. Bush.

After the speech, the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations dismissed the threat. "The Iraqi side refused to accept what has been said by Bush, and this will be really the very bad solution for the whole region, for Iraq, for the United States ... and for humanity," said Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri. "This will destabilize not only the region but other parts of the world. So I think this would be a mistake, a grave mistake from the part of the American administration to launch this war against my country." "

Boy, did Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri ever get that story wrong. I mean, these guy openly defied us.

BTW: "While invading Iraq was wrong, Saddam was, you know, an amoral and ruthless bastard. And in this case a miscalculating stupid one. He FED W just what W wanted." So, we were justified in throwing that particular dwarf at the wall. Because we could. It was the right thing to do. I guess this justies Russia's recent little run-in with the Georgians. President Mikheil Saakashvili's little adventure in South Ossetia was certainly the stuff to FEED Mr. Putin what he wanted, no?

"Which can only mean that forty percent of American voters are utter and irredeemable nitwits."

I don't think 'nitwit' is the correct noun. I'd say it's more like 'ignorant', and in this case, 'willfully ignorant'. Some may say, 'incurious'. Others may point out the fact that most people are just too lazy to think for themselves. Which comes to the moot point . . . are people lazy because they are stupid, or do lazy people do stupid things???

"In fact 40% of Americans have been frightened OUT OF their wits, by a Republican Party exploiting the September 11, 2001 attacks and a media that is too spineless to stand up to them."

Only 40%?? I'd say it's a lot higher. My Irish friend refers to Americans as 'pussies with pistols'. Here's a scary thought. Think about all those millions out there, angry, scared, ignorant (and as we see in GG's post, intolerant), all armed to the teeth and hoppin' mad. Mmm. Don't want to be around that particular neck of the woods come November 5th -- either way it goes.

Chris Sinnard writes: "oh uh. There is an email circulating:

http://img136.imageshack.us/my.php?image=copyofimage001ak7.jpg

Moral: Only socialists eat lobster."

James Wolcott has this covered at his post. Evidently THE NYP (motto: "All crap all the time) posted a totally phony storyu about the elitist Ms. Obama ordering all kinds of goodies during a stay in the big Apple. Of course, it was a total lie, and TheNYP, much to everyone's shock, printed a retraction. Of course, news oozed out into the cracks, and the wingnuts started running with the story. To read some really funny shit, go to Pammykin's "Atlas Heaved Her Heavy Bosom" site. Pammy, aka The Shrieking Harpie (somewhere in Eastern Europe, a fish monger has lost his wife . . . ) is still running the story. Sheesh, the hate-mongers just can't let go. I tell you, these folks will go out screaming, kicking, and clinging to the last vestiges of power . . .

BTW -- enough of the doggrel, already??

No, not the silly video game, but the real deal -- destroy everything, everything. It's like pissing in the punchbowl, a favorite for real nasty folks. Or, the poisoned well thing. Whatever. What we're seeing here is the total destruction of everyhting that the crooks can't haul away before they get turfed out. "A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method (possibly more often referred to as a tactic, but this is not entirely correct, as there is a difference between the terms) which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. Although initially referring to the practice of burning crops to deny the enemy food sources, in its modern usage the term is not limited to food stocks, and can include the destruction of shelter, transportation, communications and industrial resources. The practice may be carried out by an army in enemy territory, or its own home territory."

No, this is not the same thing as the totally false rumour about bad Clinton staff maliciously taking all the 'W' keys off computers in the White House the day before W and his locusts moved in . . .