This is a short diary... I apologize but hey, it’s late!

It’s possible that NPR host Diane Rehm scored a direct, debilitating hit on the Bush administration modus operandi in rushing the deployment of the 21, 500 troops to Baghdad and al-Anbar province in western Iraq.

While talking on air with Republican strategist Vin Weber and former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton John Podesta, the longtime NPR host made a startling claim:

Think Progress:

It’s my understanding that the National Intelligence Estimate...is going to suggest that adding troops is the wrong way to go, that it’s not going to improve the situation.

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I downloaded a copy of HR-1 or "Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act" last night, and as I read it, I wondered why this bill as it stands even made it to the House floor. I also found myself wondering if Speaker Pelosi even read the bill before it was voted on. Or, for that matter, did any Democrat in Congress read it?

I’m serious, and I look at this from strictly a progressive perspective; as someone who is thankful for the Democratic Majority, and one who applauded Speaker Pelosi’s accomplishments of the last couple of weeks. She said what she was going to do and she did it, and I admire her for the leadership she showed and continues to show. But, I am absolutely stymied about why a Democrat would not only willingly vote for a set of recommendations that could essentially plunge America into a virtual police state, but would also make the bill’s passage this congressional session’s highest priority.

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In the real world, pulling the plug on a popular TV station in a country (Iraq) embroiled in a civil war, and teetering between a democratic or theocratic government, probably isn’t a good idea. It definitely sends the wrong message especially when that station is owned and operated by the tribal minority. But when you dwell in a bizarro world, a delusional world where up is down and right is wrong, I suppose it’s a perfectly logical choice to make.

I really don’t know what the administration was trying to accomplish. Common sense would make most people realize that in a newly "freed" country run by a corrupt, occupying force and a weak, complicit government, a good number of factions can more or less operate unhindered by oversight or scrutiny on the part of the government.

The Christian Fundamentalists have gone too far this time. In fact, I don’t believe a great many of them are even Christians anymore. They use the Bible, twisting and changing the meaning of its words to suit an unspeakable if not unholy agenda that in my estimation is more interested in following the religion of power, greed and world domination than it is in following Christ’s Path to redemption.

Now, before you think me a heathen or an atheist, I must say unabashedly that I am neither. I am a Christian and have been one for all my life. I don’t profess to be "born again" simply because I feel that Christ has been in my heart since I can remember. My faith is personal. I don’t push my beliefs on other people, and my motto has always been to "live and let live."

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Headline from the BBC Online:

Spain has issued an international arrest warrant for three US soldiers accused of causing the death of a TV cameraman during the Iraq war.

During the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the Palestine Hotel housed the majority of foreign journalists on assignment in Baghdad. In Iraq working for Spain’s Telecinco television station, Jose Couso, 37, was one of those journalists. He died in early April 2003 when a US tank crew fired at the Palestine in retaliation for small-to-mid arms fire, tank crewmen said originated at the hotel.

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Just a short diary here about some breaking news out of Denver.

This from the Associated Press via the Greeley Tribune:

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Ok, folks, ya got your tinfoil hats ready? Not that you’re going to need ‘em, of course... well, that’s to say, if this story’s compelling enough hopefully many of you won’t even bother reaching for them. The trouble is, there are many potential conspiracy theories involved with this story, and if you allow your imagination to run amuck, the enormity of it all just may drive ya CrAzY.

Before we start just let me say that nothing (and I do mean nothing) this administration does shocks me anymore. So, when I read about rumors of the CIA delving into the counterfeiting business, I bit.

Folks, the possibilities are endless.

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After forcing myself to watch Bush’s speech, my mind began to wander as it usually does when dear leader gives another one of those "most important speeches of his life." I got to thinking about who’s been advising him lately; who’s been influencing him the most in this "new way forward" of his. It’s been no secret that a mass exodus of personnel has kept the Whitehouse press corp. in a virtual frenzy trying to count heads.

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Last year I became aware of U.S. Representative Ron Paul from Texas during the Senate Democratic Policy Committee Hearings on Iraq. He and U.S. Representative Walter Jones from North Carolina were the only Republicans to attend the series of hearings even though everybody from both sides of the political divide were invited to attend.

I must admit that it was somewhat encouraging to me to watch Republicans ask questions of the many candid witnesses that were every bit as probative as the Democrat’s were. Both men should be commended for their nonpartisan drive for answers about the real reasons we invaded Iraq. Of course, the hearings bear no legal consequences for the perpetrators of this failed policy.

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Now, I know quite a bit of the information contained in this diary has already been documented in some way, shape or form. However, to hear it firsthand from earnest, career-professionals like McGovern and Lang -- whose only axes to grind are exposing injustices and defending the constitution -- is truly refreshing.

There are some new disclosures as well that make reading this diary well worth the time.

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Remember that ol’ adage? I sure do and I mean to tell ya, whenever I’d hear that little ditty from my mom it was usually in response to me buggin’ her about an early withdrawal from my Christmas club or something. When it came from my dad, it was usually about him not sharing a beer with me "till I was older." Either way, it meant just one thing to me: I had to wait, every damn time, and waitin’ ain’t fun when you’re ten.

It’s not at all clear yet just how long BP, Exxon-Mobil and Shell will have to wait for their "good things." Whenever the violence ebbs in Iraq, I suppose. Well, that might not be how it goes though. Could be that the "surge" actually works to a certain extent, quickly, and U.S. troops that are housed in those four brand-spankin’ new military bases will be able to perform their duties ridin’ shotgun for the tanker trucks heading off to the Gulf, in just a few years. Make no mistake about it though: our troops, or at least a great deal of them, won’t be comin’ home until the Mesopotamian oil spigot is flowin’ free and easy, and all the terrorists are gone... or dead.

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"They kill, maim and kidnap with impunity under the official protection of the U.S. occupiers or their lackeys in the government..."

If true, those are indeed chilling words coming from the independent media in Baghdad. In my opinion, sending more American troops into the hellhole that has become the Capital, is nothing short of insanity. In fact, if one were to look at the entire situation in a different way, one could conclude a hidden agenda working inside the Green Zone between the Iraqi government and Washington.

According to Azzaman.com, the bloody havoc in Baghdad is the direct result of several powerful terrorist militias, and they’re operating right under the noses of U.S. and Iraqi forces, turning the home to nearly six-million people into a lawless city.

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The definition of "insanity" is performing the same task in the same way over and over again, expecting a different result. The president’s preemptive war policy has failed in Iraq; that’s a given. A good argument could be made that his Afghanistan policies have failed as well – a conclusion bolstered by a sound, non-partisan analysis of the facts on the ground.

After experiencing the cumulative, exacting effect of two major, failed efforts in 5-years, in which America’s sacrifice in both blood and treasure has proved far too costly, common sense would dictate a period of reflection; a time of calm and deep introspection of the underlying ideology that created the catastrophic results in the first place. At least that would be true in a sane, just world not threatened by the aggression of a puerile, vindictive despot wannabe whose belligerent answers to everything relating to foreign policy are "You're either with us or against us," and/or my personal favorite: "Bring it on."

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By now, most of you have heard murmurs of the Bush Estate’s mysterious land acquisition of nearly 100,000 acres of ground in the small town of Chaco, Paraguay -- incidently directly next door to an even larger parcel of land recently purchased by the always delusional, ever-certifiable Reverend Sun Myung Moon. If you haven’t heard or read about it yet, I think it’s safe to say that you probably soon will. The news has Paraguay’s regional neighbors pretty uneasy; and quite frankly, it concerns me as well.

Not that it would bother me in the least bit the prospect of the Bush clan pulling up their generations old, war-frofiteering stakes in Maine and Texas; lock, stock and barrel for greener pastures and more lemming'esque victims a couple-thousand miles south of the border. I say the farther away they go and the sooner they get there the happier I'll be. (relieved is more like it)

It’s just that I can’t help but wonder why they’re doing this, and what lingering effect besides the stench of sulphur such a move would have on the United States and my fellow citizens, of which the majority probably share my indelible sense of vexation at such a proposition.

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Ever get that vexing feeling inside that can only be described as: when you witness something or learn of something that deep down you knew was possible or even probable, but for reasons unbeknownst to you at the time it happens or when you realize it's true it still shocks you to the core anyway?

The aforementioned something may even have been an ongoing something or a something that happened long ago. The something could even be a something that due to the something you witnessed or that you learned of could even be something that will happen in the future. Do you suppose wingnuts experience the same sort of spine tinglin' epiphanies?

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Growing up, whenever we studied India in geography class -- and the Sunderban Delta in particular – my young, malleable mind wandered, the mere mention of the Asian country evoking iconic images of fierce Bengal tigers stalking unwitting prey through thick, course swamp grass -- the fading, amber glow of an Indian sun ceding to the nighttime in the background. Unfortunately, those stirring images may not be filling the creative minds of generations to come in the same way.

Lohachara Island is gone... forever; recently inundated by the rising tides of global warming. It’s not the only one soon to be underwater either. By the year 2020, scientists say twelve more islands in the Sunderban Delta – home to 70,000 indigenous peoples -- will experience the same watery fate. That’s thirteen-years, folks; little more than a decade before lands habitable for thousands of years disappear, never to sustain terrestrial life again. Can the fate of the majestic Bengal tiger be any less harsh? Currently, there are an estimated 4,000 tigers in the region threatened by the rising tides.

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You didn’t think they’d actually do it, did ya. I mean it could get ugly... with the protests and all. Would they dare risk it? They have more guts than I’ve been giving ‘em credit for. But I guess waging perpetual war is as high a stakes game as you’re gonna find in an imperialistic world.

From the Associated Press article:

WASHINGTON - The Selective Service System is planning a comprehensive test of the military draft machinery, which hasn't been run since 1998.

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Chinese state-controlled media in Beijing released a scathing rebuke to dear leader Bush, and surprisingly enough, also to the American people. Bear in mind that China owns a lot of U.S. debt.

The piece was published December 5th in the Oriental Morning Post:

"Bush has lost all dignity... and, Americans all judgment."

By being a 'Vietnam deserter' and sending the children of others to die in Iraq, has President Bush lost the legitimacy to rule?

"In the delusion of comfort they've sunk into, Americans chose a cruel cowboy to be their President. The bill for making such a choice is finally coming due."

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