Well, the legislation Bush promised never materialized, and on Wednesday attempts to arrive at a compromise oil law collapsed.

What's particularly revealing is the cause of the breakdown. Last month, the provincial government in Kurdistan, defying the central government, passed its own oil law; last week, a Kurdish Web site announced that the provincial government had signed a production-sharing deal with Hunt Oil of Dallas, and that seems to have been the last straw.

Now here's the thing: Ray L. Hunt, the chief executive and president of Hunt Oil, is a close political ally of Bush. More than that, Hunt is a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, a key oversight body.

Okay, that's comment one from Paul Krugman. I'd like to combine that with this quote from Executive Order issued July 17, 2007

(i) to have committed, or to pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of:

(A) threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq; or

(B) undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq or to provide humanitarian assistance to the Iraqi people;

(ii) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of, such an act or acts of violence or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or

(iii) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.

(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section include, but are not limited to, (i) the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order, and (ii) the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.

Now by my interpretation of this, it seems that Hunt Oil's move to create a separate plan with the Kurdish provincial government clearly undermines the efforts to create a unified Iraqi government. That would appear to be in violation of the executive order. Of course since Ray Hunt is a good buddy of W, and part of his Advisory Board, there's no way in hell that's going to go anywhere.

What I can say with 100% certainty however is whether or not any law was broken, this is a HUGE conflict of interest for Hunt to be involved in both sides of this.

San Jose Mercury News - Bush ally's Kurdish oil deal proves the surge has failed

Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran.

Now it has emerged that Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, who has been pushing for a diplomatic solution, is prepared to settle her differences with Vice-President Dick Cheney and sanction military action.

Because two failed wars just isn't enough.

Bush setting America up for war with Iran - Telegraph

"Presidents should be very careful at all times in discussing the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons. ... I don't believe that any president should make any blanket statements with respect to the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons," Clinton said.

No, this is just flat wrong. In the current global environment, about the only time to use them is if your intent is to blow up the whole damn world. Nukes are not scalpels, they're a nukes, and for just about any task that the US would be involved in, there are better tools available. Want to blow up a large area? FAEs aka Daisy Cutters are great for that. Underground bunker? We've got penetrators, or if you want to got old school, break out something like Barnes Wallis' Tallboys or Grand Slams. Take out an individual? Nukes pretty much guarantee you'll do it, but take every man, woman and child in the area with them. Laser guided bombs are the way to do that one.

And oh yeah, "tactical nukes?" In theory, you can "dial-a-bomb" a nuke down to 10 tons, but at that point you're talking about a fizzle, and a very dirty bomb. More realistically, you're talking something in the 10-20 kiloton range, and that's Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Tactical? Sure, if your tactic is genocide.

Obama: Nukes 'Not on the Table'

While the rest of the world is enjoying a boom in tourism, and our own tourist industry is begging the government for a let-up on such draconian policies, the abysmal way we are treating air passengers – even those who have nothing to do with visiting America as tourists – is costing the country millions of dollars a day, our reputation as debased as our currency.

A very pointed account of what international travel is like these days, or rather, what it is like if you're coming to, or even passing through, the US.

Crooks and Liars » Nonny Mouse Goes Down Under

Kirk, an Illinois Republican, made the argument on Thursday during a heated debate in the House of Representatives over whether the U.S. government should be allowed to donate condoms and other contraceptives to family planning agencies abroad that also engage in abortion.

The proposal was narrowly approved by the House, over the protests of anti-abortion lawmakers who prefer sex abstinence education. The measure faces a veto threat from the White House.

You just can't make this stuff up... Let's see, we're going to fund sending condoms to a largely Catholic country. And what does the church say about contraception? Isn't this the bunch that Monty Python made fun of with "Every sperm is sacred?" Why it seems it is...

Lawmaker urges condoms for border control | Politics | Reuters

President Bush has talked with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about taking a role as a Middle East peace envoy after he leaves office next week. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the State Department's top diplomat for the Middle East, talked with Blair in London on Wednesday, while the White House and State Department spoke glowingly about the prime minister's credentials but said there was nothing to announce yet.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also expressed support for Blair playing a role in the Middle East.

Well shit! He's got the endorsement of the two most hated people in the Middle East, sounds good to me!

(Most hated is open to debate, but I think it's debate about whether or not person x is someone to consider as well, not any question about whether they W and Ehud aren't right there)

Bush Eyes Blair for Mideast Peace Role - The Huffington Post

"In beloved Iraq, blood is flowing between brothers, in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and abhorrent sectarianism threatens a civil war," said the king, whose country is a U.S. ally that quietly aided the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

I think it's time to go.

Abdullah: U.S. Occupation 'Illegitimate' | The Huffington Post

According to Swiss daily Blick, the 170 infantry soldiers wandered just over a mile across an unmarked border into the tiny principality early Thursday before realizing their mistake and turning back.

A spokesman for the Swiss army confirmed the story but said that there were unlikely to be any serious repercussions for the mistaken invasion.

"Dreadfully sorry, didn't mean to interrupt breakfast." It's all part of a plot to unify the European banking system! Today Lichtenstein, tomorrow Luxemburg! It'll only take about a day...

Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein | The Huffington Post

The Saudi royal family has been, by turns, both a sponsor and a target of Sunni extremists, who object to the corruption and decadence among the family’s myriad princes. The princes are gambling that they will not be overthrown as long as they continue to support religious schools and charities linked to the extremists. The Administration’s new strategy is heavily dependent on this bargain.

The latest from Sy is particularly disturbing in a lot of ways. It's painfully obvious the shrubery still has no understanding of the religious, national or tribal divides in the mid east, and doesn't understand the games being played by ANY of the players there.

This is sort of like watching a train wreck in super slo-mo, but you're not sure if you're going to get hit by shrapnel, and don't know if those tanker cars are empty, or full of something else that could make the whole thing much, much worse.

The New Yorker : The Redirection - Seymour Hersh

The RCMP and CSIS should review their policies governing the circumstances in which they supply information to foreign governments with questionable human rights records. Information should never be provided to a foreign country where there is a credible risk that it will cause or contribute to the use of torture.

I don't expect anyone to actually read the whole thing, it's a 350+ page document, but it details what the US government did to Maher Arar, kidnapping him at JFK then sending him to Syria to be tortured as a "terrorist." The above is the recommendation of the Commission. It's referring to the United States. We're the foreign country that is torturing people!

Arar Commission Report