It is as likely that this escalation will lead to an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself as it is that it will lead to an Iraq that can levitate itself, fellate itself and book itself on a cruise to Bermuda.

The best description for the "surge" I've yet seen. Ouch.

The Blog | Marty Kaplan: There Is No Itself There

"We have seen huge sums of money spread across the country like peanut butter. If you want to build a honey pot to spread money around the states, around the 50 states, so be it, but call it what it is. Don't call it homeland security."

Nice description by Bloomberg.

wcbstv.com - Bloomberg Furious Over Homeland Security Money

Under the Constitution, the president has broad war-making powers, while Congress controls spending. Democratic leaders have swiftly rejected any suggestion of withholding money from troops already in combat zones.

Bullshit. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution:

Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
...

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;

While the President until Article 2 is commander in chief and has authority over how that war shall be waged, his "war-making powers" are zero. It's time to pull the plug on this festering canker.

Democrats to challenge Bush's Iraq plan - Yahoo! News

CREW was provided a photo of President Bush and Jack Abramoff taken at a campaign fundraiser in December 2003.

Oops. Not sure what it means, but when you go to the levels the White House has to surpress anything like this, well...

Bush and Abramoff have met. Here is the photo. | Citizens Blogging for Responsibility and Ethics In Washington

Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay Iran’s nuclear programme indefinitely and prevent them from having to live in fear of a “second Holocaust”.

Try it would cause a "second Holocaust." You want to start tossing around nukes in the mid east? That's sort of like playing with matches while floating on a raft in the middle of a gasoline tank.

By the way, here's one for you, HOW does Israel pull this off? The Iraq raid back in 1981 was at the limit of Israeli range. Running an operation into Iran is beyond the range of the planes, so how do they get there? Answer, they do mid-air refueling, but the Israeli's don't have that capability. Who does? The US Air Force and US Navy. Fill in blanks as needed.

Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran - Sunday Times - Times Online

"I figured I'd better get it in before we waited another 10 years," he said after turning it in Friday with the $171.32 check. "Fifty-seven years would be embarrassing."

And now from the "Oops" department.

Man pays library $171, 47-year late fee - Yahoo! News

And so the make-believe winter collided with reality: People wore T-shirts as they ice-skated on the wet and slushy rink at Rockefeller Center, and the Polar Bears held a moment of silence, turned their backs on the Atlantic and headed toward the boardwalk, a protest, albeit an underdressed one, against global warming, they said.

This is both hilarious and scary.

72-Degree Day Breaks Record in New York - New York Times

The appointment of Fallon, a former Navy aviator who commanded an air wing during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, is seen as a signal of strength to recalcitrant Iran. While Bush may not intend to go to war with that nation, if he ever did use a military option, it would have to depend largely on carrier-based air attacks commanded by Fallon.

Exactly. This isn't about dealing with the disaster that Iraq is or the horrible mess Afghanistan is becoming, it is about having an air commander to bomb the hell out of Iran. It's not enough that we have to make a total mess of things in the middle east, George Bush wants to push over the final domino that may shove the entire region into total war.

And just so we're clear, total war is a very specific phrase, not a flourish. If this happens the middle east is going to look like the Russian Front, no holds barred, if it moves, kill it, war. Creating one of those gets you sent to hell. Creating one of those deliberately puts you around the top of the "monsters" list.

Iraq: What Bush’s Staff Shakeups Mean - Newsweek The War in Iraq - MSNBC.com

The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.

It wouldn't be appropriate to know who has been breaking the law at the White House. Well okay, that's a simple answer, it's most of them, so W decided to block access to the records of who has been there. This needs to be shot down faster Harry Whittington.

White House visitor records closed - Yahoo! News

Some experts doubt that the smaller deployment would be sufficient to halt Iraq's escalating civil war between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

Some experts? Some? Find me a single non-neocon, non-member of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders who thinks this will do anything other than further enrich the target rich environment that is Iraq. At absolute best it means they'll be busy blowing up our guys more than each other for a little longer.

Iraq is turning into an utter bloodbath and a place that will be destabilizing the Middle East for years. Calling this a blunder is wrong. As we've found out, there were people inside State and DoD who studied this and put out a huge report about what would be needed that was not just ignored but deliberately buried. This isn't going to be like Vietnam. Try Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, whole orders of magnitude worse.

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 01/03/2007 | Bush considering smaller-than-expected increase in troops for Iraq