Politics in America is my life blood, the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning to check the New York Times, Washington Post and various other sources of disquietude on the American frontier.

Those who say the frontiers are a thing of the past are dead wrong . . . we are all frontiers in America today and there's a richness comes of that, an off-balancing that keeps our nation fresh.

Wrongheaded as hell from time to time, but fresh, baby and that's what really counts.

• They Canned My Favorite Judge
  Judge Royce C. Lamberth is gone. I can’t believe it. My absolutely favorite guy on the federal bench and they sent him to the showers.
• Why Not Just Shoot Network TV and be Done With It?
  The TV most of us grew up with is an aging fighter, punch-drunk and staggering with one arm governmentally tied behind it, hoping to make it to another round. The match has long been lost, just please let us get off the ropes for one more round.
• At Veterans Affairs, Another Hopelessly Amateur Screw-Up
  This is a Congress with no sense of their routine work or collective responsibilities. If they are the ultimate result of Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America, then they should (at the very least) be sued for breach of contract.
• Emergency Rooms, the New Primary-Care Centers
  With 48 million uninsured and a near-equal number underinsured, where are they to go when a child wakes in the night with whooping cough or an asthma attack?
• Flat-Tax and Flat-Earth, Two Disproved Theories
  Instead of swatting this down as an unintended consequence of an outdated piece of legislation, murky forces within the legislature are welcoming it as another way to get what they want.
• Impressing the Inner Circle--A Lesson in Wealth, Ability and Power
  Criticized for making consistently political selections of yes-men, sycophants and contributors, for sensitive and powerful positions in government, Bush grabbed a critic and an environmentalist, Chairman of Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs, to head Treasury.
• Make Mine Extra Crispy
  Empire-builders are extraordinary men. They are either made from heroic egos and messianic vision or they are crafted of the darker components, greed and a thirst for power.
• Four-Dollar Gasoline? Get Over It
  Let gasoline hit $3.50 a gallon and Congress falls all over itself making asinine proposals and President Bush asks for permission from that same over-wrought Congress to mandate mileage requirements for automobiles.
• An Open Letter to George Soros
  I hope I can take the liberty of a first-name salutation. You've got a few bucks and it's well known that you take an interest in politics.
• As Angry As I Have Ever Been
  I really don’t know where to start with this one, without sounding Maureen Dowd-like. Maureen’s shrill and constant one-note harping has, for me, become mere background music to what may once have been a defensible position.
• DeLay and Rostenkowski, No Surprises There
  Tom DeLay just won his party’s nomination for this fall's mid-term election from his district in Texas and won it big-time.
• A Golden Parachute For George Walker Bush
  First of all, there’s precedent. He’s been consistently bailed-out of his other failures throughout a lifetime of coming-up-short. It’s time to take the man aside yet again, pay off his debts, settle the pending suits, assuage the stockholders, buck-up his fragile self-image and put him out to pasture on the ranch he loves so well.
• Enough Of This Nonsense
  The Supreme Court took up the battle over campaign finance yesterday, revisiting their 1976 finding that has turned free speech into the biggest cash-cow in Washington.
• Business Targets Law Enforcement
  "It struck me that following repeat criminals was really an inventory-management problem." A eureka moment and confirmation of my prejudice. A government agency would never think like that.
• Shoes, It's Raining Shoes
  At the moment, Jack Abramoff is ground zero for the ugliest and most wide-ranging bribery scandal to hit the Congress in . . . decades? . . . years?
• Injustice Ain't Blind, Condi
  Condoleeza Rice, our current Secretary of State, has just published as an Op-Ed piece the most condescending collection of clap-trap I’ve seen in ages.
• There's a Strong Consensus Building
  That’s the quote from Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, the full statement enlightening us further that "There is a strong consensus building in Washington in favor of President Bush's strategy for victory in Iraq."
• Corporate Ethics vs Congressional Ethics, There Is a Difference
  There is a sense of absolute wrong about various corporate misdoings and yet, somehow a kind of natural entitlement to money-contributions in the Congress.
• We Tried “Limited Government” and it Failed
  A hundred years ago, Mark Twain said “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” That was correct in his day and there has been a sharp decline in the intervening years.
• Where Are You, Ross Perot?
  Remember Ross Perot? The funny-looking guy with the big ears and the bigger wallet who wanted to be President in ’92 and ’96?
• Not Caring Much for Arrogance
  I don’t know about you, but I don’t care much for arrogant people.
• A Clearly Rattled President, A Clearly Wrong Request
  An agitated and confused President Bush asked the United States Congress to give him authority to use the military should a flu outbreak occur in America.
• The Image of Greatness is Not Greatness
  This administration regularly talks about their image and controlling their image and polishing their image, as though it meant something substantive.
• Katrina Wets the Pants of Both Parties
  If Democrats think they’re going to get a lot of mileage out of the current mismanagement of hurricane Katrina, they’ve another think coming.
• Rumsfeld, Busy With the Bizarre
  Well, we’ve had something in Washington, an event called the America Supports You Freedom Walk and I guess I’m confused.
• Find Someone, Anyone But Me, to Blame
  I’ve purposely stayed off this subject until now, because God knows it’s had enough press and conjecture. The entire media is swept up in showing these New Orleans victims of first; an historic hurricane and then; the ineptness of our government in some sort of sadistic dance, as if it were a ratings-game and the Nielsens were poised with the over-nights.
• Another U.S. Army Shame Under Donald Rumsfeld
  I don’t know just why he’s been so destructive to the Army when, as Secretary of Defense, he has equal opportunities to savage the Air Force, Navy and Marines.
• The Lowered-Expectations Presidency
  Whenever it bumps and bungles its way into yet another disaster, it’s never a mistake or a miscalculation, just an understandable matter of unrealistic expectations.
• America Dishonored
  For the first time that I know of, an American president has been declared to be a source of law instead of beholden to it.
• A Bolt-On Solution
  If you can’t get a nominee confirmed, then bolt on whatever temporary fix you can, seems to be the president’s approach, no matter how messy the carpentry.
• Disingenuous, A Presidency Defined
  I know these presidential photo-ops are planned months in advance, but sometimes George just lays a turd in the nation’s lap and smiles as though it was a golden egg.
• Time to Ante Up
  Everybody has a dog in this fight over Central American free trade.
• China Announces Program to Dominate Space
  Actually, it’s just Rummy quietly dropping the other shoe and the opening quote is accurate, except that it’s the United States who’s rattling all those sabers.
• Who's Ox is Being Gored?
  "This is a huge, nationwide, concerted effort to destroy everything we believe in," DeLay told supporters at the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group.
• The Demise of the Diplomat
  CIA Director Porter Goss said an interesting thing in his appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee recently. He was talking about upcoming elections in South America and I don’t know what he really meant.
• What is it With the Clothes?
  Robin critiqued Condoleezza Rice’s choice of clothing at her Wiesbaden Army Airfield tour on Wednesday and (apparently) found it soaked in sexual meaning.
• W's Willing Deficit
  A doctor friend of mine says that the first thing they teach you in medical school is that all bleeding stops eventually.
• Bob Samuelson's Column
  I hope the link to Bob’s column, Cut My Benefits, stays active at the Washington Post archives for a while, because we all ought to read it.
• My Gut Seldom Lies
  Not to say it’s never been wrong, but over a number of decades my gut has a pretty good track record judging people, places, things and stuff.
• Another Fart in a Whirlwind
  An expensive fart, an eighty-five million dollar fart in a whirlwind no one needs.
• Gaming Your Retirement Income
  Sounds like roulette but it’s called ‘privatizing social security’ and a good many thoughtful economists think W named it thus because it takes a public trust and puts it in private pockets.
• Going Up in Smoke
  Attorney General nominee Gonzales lit his own tail on fire in testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
• Coronating a King
  They don’t do it all that often in England, but I wouldn’t be surprised if settling the ever-waiting Prince Charles into the throne would cost less than the $150 million or so George W is going to spend on January 19th.
• Conservative Republicans?
  That just cracks me up, that conservative label that Republicans like to wear in the collar of their jackets like a hex sign on an old barn to ward off any hint of liberalism.
• Here's a Hundred Bucks, Go to College!
  Is it irony, George? Some sort of perverted sense of humor, or are you serious, standing up there behind the lectern at Florida Community College, promising to increase the maximum federal grant for low-income college students by $100 a year for five years.
• Gonzales Policy Doesn't Bind, Unless it Does
  That is it would have, if it had, but it didn’t, depending upon who and when it was supposed to, if it did at all, which probably isn’t likely whenever that question was appropriate to ask.
• Another Toy for the Donald
  Not that Donald, although congratulations are in order for his wedding. No, it’s Rummy we’re talking about and his new sleuthing machine, something conjured up to set those CIA rascals back on their heels.
• Another Toy for the Donald, Part Two
  Well, John McCain was listening and claimed to be not all that happy about reading things that pertained to his Senate committee in the Washington Post.
• The Everett Dirksen Billion
  Depending upon who you ask, the Iraq war has thus far cost between $300-390 billion and we’re what, halfway through the slog? Maybe a third, or a quarter.
• "Lost" Voters?
  Goodness folks, along with the invention of the ballot came manipulation of the ballot.
• ...as Harry used to say...
  “It's amazing what you can get accomplished if you don't care who gets the credit." That was Harry Truman, who accomplished a great deal of legislation within a hostile congress
• All This Red and Blue Crap
  Crap perfectly describes my attitude toward those who have suddenly found it fashionable to divide my country up like a poorly-made quilt.
• Irony (def) "the incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs"
  Irony brought to a new level of definition---it's always been one of those dicey words to actually define.
• They Became a Political Power the Old-Fashioned Way, They Earned It!
  Time to stop agonizing and get back to the business of democracy---time to get down to the work---the necessary work---it's catch-up time.
• Don't Look to Pogo for an Explanation
  There is scarcely an excuse for not knowing the issues of the past election except for John Kerry's outrageous inability to define them in terms the electorate could understand.
• Daddy Knew an Uneven Fight
  Daddy's views might not have been politically correct to voice in today's society but they were dead-on, accurate and words to survive by.
• The Supremes Robe Up For Act Two
  We choked it down four years ago because we are not a nation of anarchists and the unelected-but-seated president seemed, on the face of it, not that distinctively different a choice
• Freedom of the Press...Try Explaining That to a Warlord
  The salient fact is that the truth came from inside rather than outside America.
• John Kerry and the Contribution Thing
  John Kerry is getting a lot of heat for bringing to our collective attention the abuses of business registering offshore to avoid taxes, while taking contributions from business in his campaign.
• Thomas Jefferson, One More Time
  Please, not again. We've been inundated with Jefferson and books about John Adams and they're really, you know, so passe' and last year's news.
• The Dean Dream Team
  Howard Dean has an excellent chance of becoming the next President of The United States and, a week before the Iowa primary, I hereby throw my punditry into the bull ring of pundits.
• A Presidency of Image
  We want our presidents to stand tall and tell us anything in a distorted need to believe
• Human Rights
  I see by the papers, that Congress is again going to tie human rights issues to our aid program in China
• Government Does Work
  Our growing dissatisfaction with government, the common cry that it just doesn't work any longer and is beyond the control of each of us, is as old as the republic
• Fulfilling the Promises of a Campaign
  We've accepted the view that campaign promises are merely part of the drill, something not to be taken seriously and certainly not anything to be actually expected
• The Deficit
  We have come lately to accept the unacceptable, a level of constant debt that brings no return, not short-term and not long-term
• The Politics of Confrontation and Incentive
  Politics is no more or less self-interested than the other ambitions of man, but greed is often made to wear the coat and tie of nothing more sinister than self-interest
• The Arms Race
  If it occurs to you that I am hopelessly out of date and that the arms race is over now that Reagan's "Evil Empire" has fallen by the wayside, I offer the view that the power structure within the armaments industry has merely shifted its target
• Terrorism, the Dark Corner of Our Own History
  This morning's New York Times carries a lead article about Bush's appearance before a joint session of Congress and it's really given me the blues
• When Good Men Are Silent
  Evils that befall the world are not nearly so often caused by bad men as they are by good men who are silent when opinions must be voiced
• Congress Weighs In At the Pumps
  The push for higher mileage vehicles just got a flat tire in Congress. Swerved out of control, ran off the road, landed in the ditch of good intention and no guts. Smashed up by that pothole called "lobbyist money"
• PAC Formed For Americans to Buy Back Government
  Reached in his hammock on the porch of a mountain retreat, Haywood explained the goals of the organization as "giving the voter a chance to finally buy back the government sold out from under him."
• Oprah For President
  She doesn't have any political experience. What could possibly be more political than success in show business?
• Quiet, Like a Mouse
  If you're tired, as I am, of hearing Republicans slammed as being in the pocket of Big Business, then I welcome you to the reason Democrats and Independents have been unable to make a case that resonates in the voter's mind
• Mid-Term Elections
  It wasn't a sweep, but Republicans gained control of the Senate and maintained and broadened their control of the House, so it might have well have been
• I'll See You In My Dreams
  A dream and required no further proof that this was indeed the White House than my sure knowledge of the fact. Such is the manner of dreams, you know it as well as I.
• Extra-Special Forces
  Donald Rumsfeld has another good idea and Don's ideas are always interesting, sometimes breathtakingly so
• Every Purpose But Public
  We've seen Bill Clinton's popularity polls hold steady or climb in the face of what couldn't be a more embarrassing set of allegations
• Cold War II
  Abrogating the 1972 Ballistic Missile Treaty
• A Cozy Feel For a Bad Idea
  A 'Director of National Intelligence' just isn't a very intelligent idea
• Clear to the Bone
  Unwillingly admitting that George Bush is a stupid president
• A Blow-Job By Any Other Name
  The Chief Justice administers the Oath of Office to an unelected president and never blushes
• Campaign Promises
  It sometimes seems we've given reality over completely to theatre, as you and I nod and cheer and vote for a candidate who promises to cut our taxes and reduce the deficit.

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