Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

The article states Bush's handling of the economy is rated at 39%. How is that great news for the president?
It also states economic growth is expected to be "subdued" throughout the year.
These indicators go up and down throughout the year. The next one could turn at the drop of a hat.
BTW California gas prices are higher than most because of taxes and special blends required in the state to reduce smog.

Canada, as per CNN network news, is ratcheting it up by in sending main battle tanks and more troops to fight in Afghanistan. It currently has about 2500 troops there as part of it's commitment to NATO.
Other countries, including Britain, have balked at sending more troops to Afghanistan because they're tapped out in Iraq and elsewhere.
At least Canada seems to know where the fight should be fought...

That's one of the scenarios portrayed in a feature story in Time magazine, with a teaser on today's CNN website.
It appears, according to the story, that Rice has been able to hold the Bush administration hardliners "at bay" for several months. However, the blood boiling impatience of those in the Bush administration may be the prevailing factor in launching massive air strikes against Iranian nuclear sites. Bush has said publicly that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear bomb. And, as we all know, he's the decider.
At present, the mousy, rat-faced Iranian dictator equivalent of Bush is reportedly preoccupied with purging "liberals" from Iranian universities, as if there are many left to expunge in the first place. But he's got to get them all.
So we've got the worst of both worlds, seemingly on a head-on collision...

Bush's approval rating has increased to 44%, the highest it's been for a year, according to a new Gallup poll.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer attributed the increase in Bush's approval rating to three things:
1. The recent anniversary of 9/11.
2. The declining cost of oil.
3. The recent series of speeches by Bush.
To that, I will add a fourth:
4. The astute understanding of those
44% that unless the republicans are re-elected in November, all of our women will be wearing Burkas...

Bush has effectively snowed America with his recent spat of speeches. He repeadly linked the war in Iraq with the war on terror. Today a new poll demonstrates 49% now believe the war in Iraq is the same as the war on terror.
Kudos to Bush for winning the propaganda wars even if he's losing the war in Iraq and Afghanistan...

It's started again, tis the season for your favorite political attack ad:
The GOP in Maryland is running a radio spot that claims two outrageous lies:
1. The democrats started the KKK.
2. Martin Luther King was a Republican. Actually, he was neither since he was non-partisan but the radio ad goes something like this: You know Martin Luther King was a real man, he was a republican...
It would be nice if we would get a real ad...

Overheard on KNX news radio during the afternoon commute:
Baghdad wants to mobilize 3000 Iraqi troops to stabilize the capitol and they won't come. It seems many Iraqi troops don't want to travel; it's an imposition upon them.
I guess that's one more reason why we don't hear Bush proclaiming: "When the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."

Evangelical leaders are currently lobbying pastors to advocate for conservative causes despite repeated warnings from the IRS to churches to avoid partisan interventions.
Rev Barry Lynn reported the evangelical leaders are "crossing the line" and warned 117,000 churches not to go along with voter registration drives with the clear objective to "keep Republicans in power."
Evangelical leaders are said to be pushing the GOPs stance on terrorism as a "matter of protecting the family" and "prevailing in a war between Judeo-Christian traditions and Islamic extremism.", according to a story in today's LA Times.
A picture appearing in the Times article shows an evangelical devotee seemingly in a trance while listening to the national anthem while attending a conference.
GOP presidential hopefuls are reported to be attending the conferences wherein they help whip the audience into a religious fervor on everything from illegal immigration to stem cell research.
One can only imagine them falling back into their familiar routines of feverishly stuffing mailers and licking stamps to support GOP contenders just as they did for Bush in '04.
One can only hope the IRS will be there to deter them...

I'd be skeptical of the report since nobody really knows where OBL is, let alone his status of his health.
My Merck manual lists the fatality rate with prompt antibiotic treatment of typhoid at less than 1% and 30% for untreated cases.
OBL's health status has been in question for years but the SOB keeps up appearances...

In the front page lead story in today's Los Angeles Times, a classified consensus view of all 16 US intelligence agencies concludes the war in Iraq has made global terrorism worse "by fanning Islamic radicalism" and by "providing a training ground for lethal methods that are increasingly being exported to other countries."
The classified consensus report is a "National Intelligence Estimate" or NIE which is "designed to represent the US intelligence community's most comprehensive treatment of a subject."
The conclusion of the report is diametrically opposed to that of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney who have steadfastly maintained the war in Iraq is the main front against the war on terrorism and that we are all safer as a result of their policies.
President Bush and Vice President Cheney continue to do what they do best: initiating, advancing and living the lie...