The Week That Will Be By: Mark W Adams

Update: Sunday: 2 GIs, 69 Iraqis Killed; 74 Iraqis Wounded
Holiday news blackout caused a significant suicide bombing to go unreported.

Now, if you didn't read this when I told you to yesterday, do it now. Go on. I'll wait.

My question is, since we can declare victory, why aren't we packing for home? Yet another reason to stay in Iraq flitters into the ozone. (And great minds think alike.)

And if you missed it Sunday (I did), FedEx delivers everything to everywhere, including US made F-14 spare parts to Iran (no doubt needed to fix all the planes Saddam sent there in Gulf War I).

Speaking of ozone, Dick Cheney's dark hand still overshadows any gains on pollution controls, and the "Ozone Man" keeps giving conservatives apoplexy.

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals," said F.D.R. "We know now that it is bad economics." These words apply perfectly to climate change. It’s in the interest of most people (and especially their descendants) that somebody do something to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, but each individual would like that somebody to be somebody else. Leave it up to the free market, and in a few generations Florida will be underwater.

Love your show, Al. Don't change a thing. There are other solutions to the world's problems besides bombs and tax cuts. Like John Edwards says, it's time to be patriotic about something else besides war.

And for those who care, that UK report that there were nine "errors" in Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth was total B.S., and an astroturf operation. What? You couldn't assume that the mining industry was behind the smear? Or did you think the Inconvenient timing as Big Al hopped on a plane to Norway was a coincidence? It comes down to the difference between a scientific error of fact, and being in (quote/unquote) "error" for not presenting a balanced, politically correct counter view.

A big tip of the hat to War in Context for alerting us to the season premier of PBS's Frontline: Cheney's Law, tomorrow. It looks like we're going to get an inside look at "the story of the man behind what some view as the most ambitious project to reshape the power of the president in American history."

From clashes with Cheney's mouthpiece, David Addington, who told him he'd have "the blood of the 100,000 people" on his hands if he didn't play along with Cheney's coup, to a play-by-play of the bedside manner of Alberto Gonzales at John Ashcrots' hospital room, former Assistant Attorney General Jack L. Goldsmith describes what led to the threatened resignation of some 30 DoJ lawyers.

Goldsmith was shocked by the administration's secret assertion of unlimited power.

"There were extravagant and unnecessary claims of presidential power that were wildly overbroad to the tasks at hand," Goldsmith says. "I had a whole flurry of emotions. My first one was disbelief that programs of this importance could be supported by legal opinions that were this flawed. My second was the realization that I would have a very, very hard time standing by these opinions if pressed. My third was the sinking feeling -- what was I going to do if I was pressed about reaffirming these opinions?"

Following the broadcast, Cheney's Law will be available to view on FRONTLINE's Web site.

Another bit of must see TV comes from Robert Greenwald's ongoing video indictments against repulsiveness Republicans. He continues with his second exposé of Rudy's no-bid, crony-enabling incompetence which led to who knows how many avoidable deaths on 9/11. The Real Rudy.

Alert! Fred Thompson . . . a dullard then and now.

Cheers to BIPM, for sticking with it until he got paid to do it.

Finally, just a little bit of advice...
When it comes to Laura's ambitions, just say, "No!" In fact, "Hell NO!"