Does he even know?

* "The problem, according to diplomats at the State Department and the UN, is that Bolton may not be willing to accept a recess appointment, which would be good until the next Congress convenes in January 2007. That could not be confirmed yesterday, but sources said it is widely believed to be true at both institutions." LINK
ha ha ha

* "-- George Hawi, the Communist Party leader assassinated yesterday in a car bombing widely attributed to the Syrians, was not only "a critic of Syria," as the NYT noted ominously; he was even more opposed to U.S. and Israeli policies in the region. Hawi is already being rigged up as a martyr to Syrian nogoodnikism, one more reason to lay some hot-lead "regime change" on Damascus." LINK

* david gregory interviewed krove on hardball. vid at c&L

* "Will President Bush ever tell us the real reason why he committed America's treasure, the lives of American soldiers, and the reputation of our country to war in Iraq?
Does he even know?" LINK

* davidcorn: " When I was discussing the memos the other day with a skeptical mainstream media reporter who brushed (thememos) aside as insignificant, I said, "Imagine if you came across official U.S. documents that noted that before the war, Condoleezza Rice had said in private meetings that the WMD intelligence was uncertain, that Hussein's WMD programs were not robust, and that the WMD case for war was 'thin.' Wouldn't that be hot-damn front-page news?" "You have a point," this MSMer said. Well, that's what happened in London. Put aside the questions of fixing intelligence and lying about intentions, these memos demolish Bush's case for war and his CIA-made-me-screw-up defense." LINK

* syria apparently must do more to lockdown its 700km iraq border, otherwise (sic) they'll get themselves a war. meanwhile blinky and the idiots cant keep the 6 mile baghdad airport road safe.

* meanwhile, " The spokesman for President Karzai, Javed Ludin, said that Pakistan was not doing enought to stop the infiltration into Afghanistan of militants " LINK

* "“Terrorism can be defeated in Iraq,” Rice said. “And when it’s defeated in Iraq, at the heart of the Middle East, it will be a death knell for terrorism as we know it.”" LINK

* "I once had occasion to do a very extensive background investigation into Rafik Hariri – about a year before his death. And I have to say that the corporate media's post-murder portrait of the great selfless martyr for Lebanese liberty bore almost no resemblance to the real person I had encountered in my research – the crafty, ruthless, Saudi-citizen, pro-Syria player who had ridden the sea of blood and corruption that is modern Lebanese history to power and riches." LINK

* " (Reuters) - In a 200-page report after a year of bitter wrangling, the commission accused Jose Maria Aznar's Popular Party (PP) government of ignoring police warnings that its support for the Iraq war increased the threat from Islamic terrorism in Spain." LINK
hmmm. if thats true, then the same is presumably also true that for america. somehow, blinky sold the story that he makes people safer.

* fwiw, heres my favourite headline of the day: The SpongeBobification of Fruit Flies

* juancole: "Since the US military seems incapable of winning the guerrilla war in Iraq either militarily or politically, someone else will have to do it if we are to avoid Gulf War [IV] and its consequences. " LINK

* via americablog is this flash which is a song apparently called "the idiot son of an asshole". its not a great song, but its a good flash and i sang along. hilites include "he's too dumb to eat pretzels" and they call him the unpresident. which i quite like. and if u watch the clip, you will find yourself despising him just a little bit more. on related matters, i hope bonfiaz knows what he is doing when he calls for impeachment - the egadministration minus the president is still the egadmin. grrr.