Saturday

I need to get more work done today than I will. Sigh. But it is a good day for football. As much as I love the bowl games, NFL playoff games are my favorite. For one thing, no Brent Musberger....

*****

Yesterday, SOF and I drove to Pepes (our favorite restaurant in town) for lunch and nearly ran over Barry Switzer. He was jaywalking. We let him off this time.

*****

I am really curious to see what investigations into the President's administration reveal. I hear that Pelosi is urging restraint, but that there are investigations planned into the no-bid contracts (among many other issues) and that alone could cause incredible headaches for the administration.

I have said it before, but this administration is a marvel, wrapped in the flag and Bible, yet more corrupt than any administration in recent memory. Or any. I can think of other administrations that lacked competence, but none who were as active in trying to undermine the constitution or who undertook such foolhardy foreign policy.

*****

The dirty tricks, however, are not new, though some of the same people are involved in this administration. Former Chief Justice Rehnquist's papers reveal not only was the former justice addicted to prescription drugs, but that the Republicans used the FBI to investigate witnesses who might undermine Rehnquist's nomination to be chief justice. The Assistant AG under Reagan? John Bolton.

I remember fondly when Republicans were shocked, SHOCKED, I SAY that the Clinton administration had requested FBI files on some of his critics. That bothered me then and does now, and strikes me as something that Clinton should have been hassled about. Not the meaningless crap that they impeached him for.

But the Republicans have used this tactic many times. And the guy who did it for Reagan is a favorite of the Republican right. Just file that away the next time a conservative Repub complains about executive power or invasion of privacy.

*****

I keep saying that I am done talking about it, but Saddam's botched execution is hard to put behind us. My first objections were to the braying Americans telling me how this was "justice" and that he needed to die. But now it is clear that this execution was so horribly managed by this new Iraq government that it was really a Shiite lynch mob. I resisted that term, but it seems clear now. The timing was meant to offend Sunnis and the taunts by witnesses reveal further Shiite connections.

And the result? As the link above shows, Saddam has gone from ranting crazy and defeated dictator to a respected martyr. The video (which I will not watch) now has made him a hero among many in the middle east for his bravery in the face of the noose. Bravo, Iraqi and American government! Bravo.

*****

And as Marty commented in the "surge" post, our "brave" war President will soon pledge to send more actually brave Americans to Iraq. That 40,000 troops are not sitting somewhere in a magical troop closet, but will be pulled from those who have already served through stop loss and tour extensions. The worst president in American history and, I think, the most tragic administration in American history.