boom

just weeks ago Bush was speaking of a "holocaust" due to Iran's nuclear ambitions. but the day before he made that speech

The International Atomic Energy Agency...reported "significant" cooperation from Iran with its nuclear probe...
IAEA Deputy Director-General Olli Heinonen highlighted the importance of Tehran's increased readiness to answer questions about former nuclear activities...
"We have an important step for the first time," he said. "We have been able to agree ... on how to resolve the outstanding issues...This is not an open-ended timeline."
VIENNA, Austria (AP)

so, if the rationale for bombing Iran is fading, no worries, find another one: Iran is helping Iraq - lets bomb them anyway.

ITEM: "The Pentagon is preparing to build a military base near the Iraq-Iran border to try to curtail the flow of advanced Iranian weaponry to Shiite militants across Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday in its online edition."
Reuters.com

ITEM: U.S. Officials Begin Crafting Iran Bombing Plan-Fox News
"...according to a well-placed Bush administration source, "everyone in town" is now participating in a broad discussion about the costs and benefits of military action against Iran, with the likely timeframe for any such course of action being over the next eight to 10 months, after the presidential primaries have probably been decided, but well before the November 2008 elections."

ITEM: Lieberman to Petraeus yesterday: "Is it time to give you authority, in pursuit of your mission in Iraq, to pursue those Iranian Quds Force operations in Iranian territory, in order to protect Americas troops in Iraq?" Petraeus didn't exactly say no: "...any kinds of operations outside the borders of Iraq would rightly be overseen by the Central Command."

ITEM: the British troops that you heard were withdrawing from Basra - they're headed for the Iran border:
"British forces have been sent from Basra to the volatile border with Iran amid warnings from the senior US commander in Iraq that Tehran is fomenting a "proxy war".
In signs of a fast-developing confrontation, the Iranians have threatened military action in response to attacks launched from Iraqi territory while the Pentagon has announced the building of a US base and fortified checkpoints at the frontier." - The independent (UK)

ITEM: "Reports that the Bush Administration will put Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorism list can be read in one of two ways: it's either more bluster or, ominously, a wind-up for a strike on Iran. Officials I talk to in Washington vote for a hit on the IRGC, maybe within the next six months. And they think that as long as we have bombers and missiles in the air, we will hit Iran's nuclear facilities." - Robert Baer, Time.com

the democrat majority in congress has pussied out on any real troop withdrawal in Iraq. they have been dazzled by the shiny objects on the general's coat and are merely racking up sound-bites for future use in primary ads. Bush will throw them a bone tomorrow night and announce a possible troop cut - but the most optimistic estimates put the number of troops in Iraq in January, 2009 at 135,000 - the same number that we started with. (estimates of the number of non-uniform mercenaries there add another 100,000.)
now, a third war is brewing, hawks like Lieberman and McCain are fanning the flames, and the dems are barely awake.
want more bad news?
"Dollar hits fresh 15-year low" - Financial Times
and this:

MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- The Russian military has successfully tested what it described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb, Russia's state television reported Tuesday...
The statement reflected the Kremlin's efforts to restore Russia's global clout and rebuild the nation's military might while the ties with Washington have been strained over U.S. criticism of Russia's backsliding on democracy, Moscow's vociferous protests of U.S. missile defense plans, and rifts over global crises.
The U.S. Massive Ordnance Air Blast, nicknamed the Mother Of All Bombs, is a large-yield satellite-guided, air-delivered bomb described as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in history.
Booming oil prices have allowed Russia to steadily increase military spending in recent years, and the Kremlin has taken a more assertive posture in global affairs.
Last month, President Vladimir Putin said he ordered the resumption of regular patrols of strategic bombers, which were suspended after the 1991 Soviet breakup.

didn't i tell you that the dvtv astrologer is usually right?

this year its different

there's tension, despair. perhaps because two NYC firefighters were killed here just weeks ago.

perhaps because half of the children near the Trade Center on Sept. 11th developed breathing problems.

perhaps because most in this country now realize that thousands in uniform have died in vain, thousands more will for years to come, and scores of thousands in uniform will return missing limbs, or pieces of their skulls, or both.

perhaps because the evil, lying rat bastards in the white house will attempt to force-feed us all the same shit on a different anniversary, and that the opposition party is impotent, despite a mandate and a majority. perhaps because a critical mass of the U.S population now realizes that our nation is despised by much of the world, and the core principles of our former democracy are now not worth the parchment they are written on.

i can't write anymore, it hurts to care, and it is painful to be numb. i will instead quote a fine but depressing piece from a mainstream news site.

It took America 1366 days to win World War II. Yet in the 2192 days since the Twin Towers fell our political leaders not only have failed to resoundingly win the Battle of Baghdad, they haven't even been able to come up a constitutionally sound and comprehensive set of legal policies and practices to guide our systematic war on terrorism...
Good ideas, like establishing a wholly separate legal system to handle sensitive terror-related cases and causes, have been shot down without a fair hearing in the court of public opinion (never mind inside the White House). Terrible ideas, like allowing agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine when the private records of consumers can be poached from telecommunications companies, have rocketed through the corridors of power to become policy.
this from CBS News' Andrew Cohen: 'Opportunities Squandered Since 9/11'

as we remember the many innocent people who were killed on September 11th, and the countless more military casualties, the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis dead, the millions of refugees streaming into Lebanon, also remember what this country was before George W. Bush made a shameful mockery of it.

then read 1984 again. we were warned.

smokin' in the boy's room

the Senator Larry Craig saga just keeps getting better.

the toe-tapping congressional sex scandal threatens to obscure any repugnican hopes of reframing the failed but ever-ongoing war on terror, September 11th flag-waving we're-at-war: no-questions-asked mandatory patriotism, and of course, the much-anticipated General Petraeus report that the General will not author. then again, maybe that's what the scandal is supposed to do.while others on the weblog circuit (no links - find them yourself) are suggesting a presidential pardon in the works, that won't happen (not now or even in January 2009, which would be way too late for Craig's critical-condition political career).

Craig wants to "clear his name" (fat chance), not be pardoned for his actions that he claims never happened.

more likely (though still a long shot, considering he plead guilty over seven weeks ago) is a Minnesota judge overturning his plea. what do you suppose the quid-pro-quo would be for that ambitious judge - a promise of an appointment to a cushy seat in some federal district court perhaps? Senator Arlen Specter - who has come as close as anybody to supporting Craig's claim of innocence and was until earlier this year the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee - may have some clout in this department, but that's probably even less likely.

perhaps Specter feels - as i do - that Craig fell victim to a dispicable and useless sting operation by over-zealous and underworked cops. don't these airport cops have water bottles to confiscate?

for far more perspective on the Senator who-is-not-gay, catch tonight's broadcast of Gay USA, seen at 11:00pm in Manhattan on channel 34 and simulcast on the web at mnn.org (click on channel 34 icon); airing nationally starting Friday on the Free Speech TV Network (schedule here) and on Dish Network channel 9415; or listen to the podcast anytime here or at the iTunes store. (full disclosure - i'm the studio director of that broadcast.)

btw - there's no dvtv live broadcast tonight because our MNN studios are being renovated (unless something dire happens, in which case you will see me actually seated(!) in a very small, bright studio). we should be back on the air with an all-new dvtv live next thursday eve, which will be posted here next friday.