TPS

Which is why my first sentence in the post you quote says "politicians will use fear." I totally agree with your statement though (paraphrasing)--if you believe only one party is capable of using fear for gain, you must believe in conspiracies....

What happens to "his presidency" if the dems gain control of the House? Based on your literal interpretation of that statement, I'm sure your answer is "he's still president;" however, he will be totally ineffective (that's assuming he was effective to begin with). In fact, the dems will push for investigations into quite a few potentially disasterous issues that the republicans have been sitting on. At any rate, I'm losing the battle. Everyone's arguments have completely supported the fact that only a conspiracist would believe that the republicans focus in the elections is fear....

Is it too difficult to believe that politicians will use fear of terrorism to their political advantage? While Bush is not up for re-election (gee, ya got me on that one), this election is about his administration's policies. Is he not in campaign mode right now? And what has been the focus of his speeches? By the way, of course it's an editorial. The point is, IT'S NOT A CONSPIRACY TO BELIEVE THAT THE FOCUS OF THE MIDTERM ELECTIONS FOR THE REPUBLICANS IS FEAR, AND TRYING TO CONVINCE THE ELECTORATE THAT REPUBLICANS WILL PROTECT US BETTER THAN DEMOCRATS. I suppose if you don't believe that, then you probably believe that Karl Rove is a man of principles....

I guess the Sydney Morning Herald believes in conspiracies too... Fear factor Bush has nothing else to run on. That's a fact.

Oops! those were supposed to be subliminal messages.... While I exaggerated the point, the terror alert seemed to be raised more often during the fall election cycle of 2004 than the rest of the year. About the only thing Bush has to run on is fear of terrorism. Do you believe politicians do not use fear to boost their chances of election or re-election? That's the hypothesis. It's not conspiracy; it's a political fact.

So true, republicans (swift boat) would never try to manipulate (terror alert) the public before an election (Al Queda video)...

I guess if you believe the Post piece, then you have to believe this piece, which is from one of the original sources of the post article. Plame's role at CIA

All I could think about watching this game was that Takeo Spikes is the source of the Bills' troubles...the jinx!

You're right, my favorite politician, that libertarian from Texas, Ron Paul said it. I love that guy.... The dollar's influence today, and its precarious status as reserve currency, has more to do with Asia's export-driven growth strategy (see the article Gavin linked to) than the petrodollar issue, though it will certainly speed the demise of the dollar as international reserve currency as Russia, Iran, et al, price oil in euros. I also believe the US (administration) is more interested in controlling access to oil than maintaining its price in $s. As for the euro, there is an increasing demand to hold non-dollars as reserves by central banks, and the euro is the only other (real) option until China opens up its financial markets.

Thanks. That's a good article.

Anyone who wants a copy, please give me an email address to send it to.

more crtics This was a letter that was supposedly published in several major American newspapers last week. Batiste isn't alone...

Thanks for remembering Chicot. If anyone is interested I wrote a paper on the topic and would be happy to send you a copy.

Damn! If only the republicans controlled Congress and the White House all would be fixed....

To his defense, it looks like he only focused on the SS crisis, not medicare. If that's the case, then it's a much smaller trillions of dollars crisis......

Interesting piece on how to correctly measure government deficits--accrual vs. cash accounting. If the government used accrual accounting, like all other entities do, they'd be forced to include future obligations incurred today--social security and medicare for example. The argument against it is that they are not "true obligations." The government has no binding contract to provide these benefit--they can be changed or elminated at any time. I'd support the accrual accounting because the government would then be forced to start answering the questions of how the current obligations will be paid? If not, what changes will be made? It's a lot easier to ignore the problem and let a future congress deal with it... Measuring deficits

Maybe it was Ezekiel's stellar play, or his new haircut?

I say arm the populace! Especially those guys in prison. We're going to need them when Cheney and company declare martial law.... Tinfoil cap to dunce cap, over...?

That would make a good picture: me in my tinfoil helmet, and you in your dunce cap..

It's a perfect storm brewing. The Neocons are licking their chops and egging on Bush and company (and israel) to go after Iran. Israel will provoke Syria and bring them into the conflict; Iran will then be forced to support Syria; and the US will jump in to support Israel. Their plan for "regime change" in Syria and Iran is about to start. It'll probably be as successful as their plan for Iraq... Oh, but it really is about the 2 Israeli soldiers getting kidnapped... Another reason to get liquid....pass the beer please....

Gee, I get that from his statement too. Friggin AAArab lover! It's a celebrity death match--Jesus vs. Mohamad! All muslims bad; all christians good. Who's the idiot...? Who's being duped? Time will tell...

According to the article, it was a 1956 law. You mentioned she voted for it in 2003 but don't provide a link. ???

are you talking about Lebanon? Palestine elected Hamas to govern it, but Lebanon's prime minister is a christian. AS for the complaining, I saw something on the news yesterday that the Americans were frustrated because they saw many other governments getting their people out quicker. Also, I'd venture to say that most of the Americans there are working for corporations, not "travellers to the Middle East".

I think that's what explains the uptick for the most patr--more and more Canadians have been buying Bills tickets. On the other hand, I sold my house six months ago for nearly double what I bought it at in 1997, so maybe something is happening?

thanks. I've signed and sent it along to others.