portgate and spygate are closely related

* wolcott: "As I post, President Bush is on Fox News delivering a speech in Indiana, looking jaunty and relaxed, repeating soundbites such as "As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down" and working that Determined Jaw as if he were personally going to grind terrorists between his back molars. He has to repeat himself ad nauseum because if he paused to reflect on the harm he's done and the horror he's unleashed he'd collapse like a paper cup crushed beneath a boot."

* "The UAE is not only the center of financial dealings in the Persian Gulf, it is switching central for dope and arms dealing. The dope comes out of Afghanistan into the UAE where tax monies are collected and used to buy arms, which were sent back in for the Taliban." (link)

* Glenn has a good post on why portgate and snoopygate are closely related. It ends thusly: "The fact that Congressional Republicans have stepped so publicly out of line, questioned the President's judgment with regard to defending the nation, and insisted that they have a serious and important role to play in exercising oversight concerning national security matters, is actually the most encouraging sign yet of the real possibility that there will be serious consequences for George Bush's (snoopygate) decision to deliberately violate the law."

* and dont miss Glenn's post on the importance of freedom of speech, and the associated hypocrisy coming from the wrongwingers