Twenty taboo topics

Here are some issues the presidential candidates dasn't talk about on the campaign trail.

This stuff is funny and informative, just as The Rascal usually is.

Same to you, Karl!

Granted, it's not as big a stunner as Tommy Thompson's withdrawal from the presidential race, but Karl Rove's resignation from his White House gig is major news nonetheless.

As for why Rove is leaving, I' m not going to be modest. He knew The Rascal was on his case. Let him also know this: He can run, but he can't hide. I'll hound him to the ends of the earth -- even to Poughkeepsie, if it comes to that.

I'll have more to report on Rove later today, as I'm calling in all my chits from among the political intelligentsia. You'll find the straight skinny here and nowhere else.

But let's get serious for a minute here. Let's not be taken in by all the nonsense we're going to hear about Rove having been some kind of political genius. The one inescapable fact is that he's been the "architect" (as George W. Bush calls him) of the most spectacularly unsuccessful presidency since Richard Nixon's and one of the worst in American history.

Yes, the disastrous war in Iraq has been Dick Cheney's doing more than Rove's, but Rove, given his influence with Bush, could have steered the president away from this tragic blunder.

On domestic policy, Rove is almost entirely to blame for the administration's failures, as is explained in a piece in the current issue of The Atlantic (subscription required to get it online). The man, for all his vaunted brilliance as a campaigner, has a tin ear when it comes to the politics of governance.

Rove's departure from the White House should be cause for lament among Democrats, who have enjoyed kicking him around, and cause for pleasure among some Republican insiders, who often bristled at his arrogance and abrasiveness.

It's not unlikely, of course, that Rove will make more headlines in the coming months. He's still a major figure in ongoing investigations, including the probe of how and why a bunch of federal prosecutors got canned.

UPDATE: You would think that a British paper like The London Times would be the last to refer to Rove as "Turd Blossom" in a headline. You'd be wrong. FURTHER UPDATE: Somebody at The Times had second thoughts and took down the "Turd" headline.

Horror in Iraq!

The situation in Iraq suddenly has taken a terrible turn for the worse:

Alberto Gonzales is over there trying to help the Iraqis establish a justice system.

Church cancels service for gay war vet

And these people call themselves Christians.

Bush gang becoming fratricidal

The erstwhile loyalists of the Bush administration are scurrying like so many rats escaping a sinking ship, and as they leave, they're turning against one another and against their former idols in an unseemly spectacle.

Please avert your eyes, gentle people. This isn't a pretty picture. The self-righteous can be especially scornful, even toward their own.

Well, well, well. What have we here?

Why, it's a video of Dick Cheney from back in 1994 explaining that the first President Bush was right to have avoided getting bogged down in a "quagmire" in Iraq and that the U.S. casualties that would have been sustained in overthrowing Saddam Hussein in the first gulf war would not have been worth it.

For a guy who looks as if he talks out of only one side of his mouth, Cheney actually has a record of talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Nutty rightists praying for another 9/11

OK, I'm taking a break from my brief break to pass along this stuff about the hopes among the loonies at Fox News and at other rightward precincts that we'll soon have another 9/11 to teach us a lesson about something or other.

Is there no end to their depravity?

Preoccupations

The Rascal is taking a few days off from blogging --barring some major event that requires my offering guidance to my intellectual lessers.

I'll be back on the Internet tubes (as that genius Sen. Ted Stevens calls this medium) on Sunday.

Meanwhile, you'll find some especially provocative reading here and here and here and here and here and here.

Stay cool.

Chris Matthews, please, please go away!

Chris Matthews, who's older than he looks (he's 61), also is a lot dumber and weirder than he looks.

Consider the evidence here and here or anywhere else you encounter his ridiculous presence.

Matthews' obsession with superficialities and the stupid questions he asks distinguish him as one of the worst political commentators and interviewers on the planet.

He should never again be allowed to moderate a debate among presidential candidates. The guy makes Wolf Blitzer look like Edward R. Murrow.

Ya gotta feel sorry for the old man

I never cared much for the senior President Bush, but I can't help but feel sympathy for the old guy in light of the embarrassment his son has been to the family -- and the nation.

BooMan has got an interesting take on a piece in The New York Times that examines the personal angst of George Herbert Walker Bush.

Damn! Newtie's right again!

It pains me to say this, because there's so much about the guy that I don't like, but Newt Gingrich is getting in the habit these days of making sense. This stuff he said at the National Press Club the other day is a good example.

I had cause last week, as well, to give Gingrich a qualified nod of approval.

Stop it, Newt! Stop it right now!

This raises some interesting theories

The Associated Press story about President Bush having been treated for Lyme disease last year includes this passage:

"Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection that, if left untreated, can cause arthritis and other problems. Symptoms can include lethargy, joint pain, fever, limping and loss of appetite."

What the story doesn't say is that a broad range of psychiatric reactions have been associated with Lyme disease, including paranoia, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic attacks and major depression.

Just thought you ought to know.

Domino theory: Voting for prez starts this year

Some of these states are getting ridiculous in their efforts to steal a march on the presidential primary trail.

Global warming punishes Rockford, world

While cleanup crews here at the building that houses Rockford Rascal World Headquarters dealt with a watery basement Tuesday morning, large parts of the rest of the city struggled with far worse flooding conditions.

This was the second time in 11 months that Rockford has been struck by disastrous floods in the wake of torrential rains.

Meanwhile, a tornado touched down last night in Brooklyn, of all places. Snow fell in Argentina for the first time in 90 years. Hundreds of millions of people across the world have had to cope in recent days and weeks with unusual weather events of all kinds.

The situation was reported thusly today on an Irish Web site:

International flights were delayed and thousands of US commuters were unable to get to work today as torrential rain flooded New York's subways and rail lines.

The National Weather Service briefly posted a tornado warning for parts of the city and surrounding areas, including New Jersey, and fallen trees blocked streets in some neighbourhoods. The flash floods came as the weather service issued a heat advisory that warned temperatures could climb to 101F (38.3C) because of the muggy weather.

Elsewhere, a large section of the US suffered high temperatures and humidity and the elderly, children and those with health problems were warned to avoid prolonged periods and strenuous activity outdoors, drink plenty of water and wear light-coloured and loose-fitting clothing to prevent suffering a heat-related illness.

Yesterday, an expert with the UN weather agency said extreme weather events this year are in line with predictions made by an important report on climate change. Omar Baddour, a climatologist with the World Meteorological Organisation, said: "We can say that the start of the year 2007 was a very active year in terms of extreme climatic and meteorological events."

In May, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its fourth report, warning that global warming would increase the number of extreme weather events and cause more natural disasters, which will hit the poor hardest.

Global surface temperatures in January were 3.4F (1.9C) higher than average since records began in 1880, with Europe experiencing an unusually mild winter, according to data compiled by WMO.

The Geneva-based agency said April temperatures around the world rose 2.46F (1.37C) above the historical average. Since then, record storms, floods and heat waves have occurred in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

Hundreds have died and thousands have lost their livelihoods in floods since the start of the year in China, South Asia, Mozambique, Sudan and Uruguay, while the period from May to July was the wettest in England and Wales since records began in 1766, WMO said. It said two heat waves in south-eastern Europe in June and July broke previous records, with temperatures in Bulgaria hitting 113F (45C) on July 23.

Other extreme events this year include rare snowfall in South Africa and Argentina, and the first cyclone ever documented in the Arabian Sea, according to WMO.

But, of course, there are those who will deny that any of these events have anything to do with global warming, or they'll claim that climate change is only natural and is not caused by manmade greenhouse gases.

Fortunately, the cover story in the current edition of Newsweek is well timed. It's about the feverish effort of global warming deniers, many of whom are financed by polluters, to downplay the crisis.

Meanwhile, the evidence refuting their nonsensical claims continues to mount, here and elsewhere.

Chickenhawk dad praises chickenhawk sons

Mitt Romney (shown here counting the number of his five sons who are serving in the military) says his boys serve their country in another way -- by pushing his presidential candidacy.

All of Romney's sons are of military age, and their dad is a big backer of the war in Iraq. So, since they're backing dad's candidacy, they, too, are backing the war. But they just can't bring themselves to participate in it.

Back in the day, their dad was a backer of the Vietnam war and....you guessed it, he didn't serve in the military, either.

Who still supports Bush?

According to this, your typical die-hard supporter of President Bush is a white evangelical male in his 40s.

So, if you see this guy on the street (or the beach), avert your gaze and immediately go to a place of safety. Do not -- repeat, DO NOT -- try to engage this person in conversation. He's not likely to understand anything you say.

Do Americans suddenly smell victory in Iraq?

There's a new USA TODAY/Gallup poll showing that 65 percent of Americans think the U.S. military surge in Iraq has not made any positive difference or has made matters worse, and that two-thirds of respondents want U.S. troops withdrawn by next April 1, and that 57 percent think the U.S. invasion of Iraq was a mistake to begin with.

You'd think those numbers would be discouraging to the die-hard war hawks, wouldn't you? Well, that's not necessarily the case. Some of them, in fact, are so delighted that the military surge is slightly more popular in this poll than in the last one that they're willing to hail the survey results as a massive sea-change in public opinion.

This blogger, for example, says Americans "don't want to leave Iraq because they know leaving Iraq--no matter how it is dressed up by Democrats--is defeat." Never mind that the poll shows that two of every three Americans do, in fact, want to leave Iraq.

This guy says the surge is "gaining support...and now Gallup is showing movement towards finishing the job."

Finishing the job? Buddy, you've been watching too many John Wayne movies. It's not a simple matter of macho bluster. The job is far from being finished, perhaps impossibly far.

Just the other day, Admiral Mike Mullen, President Bush's nominee for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, painted a less than rosy picture of the situation in Iraq in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Mullen said the Iraqi government has not made much progress toward the political settlement of differences between the Shiite Muslim majority and the Sunni minority. He said that without such a settlement, victory in Iraq is impossible, no matter how many troops we send there or how they long they stay.

Mullen also said the surge can't be sustained beyond April of next year, given current strains on personnel resources.

Since the admiral made those remarks, six Sunni cabinet ministers have said they'll boycott future meetings of the Iraqi government, thereby deepening the country's political crisis.

Meanwhile, four more U.S. troops have been killed, raising to 19 the death toll among Americans in the first six days of August. Iraq's power grid is on the brink of collapse. Violent Shiite militias are filling the void in southern Iraq created by the pullout of British troops. And 60 decomposing bodies were discovered Monday in a mostly Sunni area near Baquoba.

Still, some of the war hawks misread the polls and conclude that Americans suddenly can sense that victory in Iraq is just around the corner.

Sure it is. We just have to be willing to sacrifice more of our sons and daughters for the cause.

Rumor that Manzullo won't run is denied

Last week, The Rascal passed along the rumor, which emanated from Roll Call, a Washington paper, that Republican Rep. Don Manzullo of the 16th Congressional District of Illinois might not seek a ninth term.

Chuck Sweeny (pictured here), political editor of the Rockford Register Star, reports today that an aide to Manzullo says the rumor is bunkum.

Sweeny also refers to me as a "rascally left-wing blogger." Hey, that's not fair. Rascally, yes. But, left-wing? Come on. I'm a timid, moderate fellow, not much more radical than your average Kiwanian or your typical member of the Jaycees.

By the way, is there still a Jaycees?

Six years ago today

On this date in 2001, a classified intelligence memo, the top of which is shown above, was laid on the desk of President Bush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Bush wrapped up his official work early that day and spent the afternoon fishing. Five weeks and one day later, America was attacked. Eighteen months after that, Bush went to war against Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with the attacks and had no significant involvement with Osama bin Laden or his al-Qaeda terrorist network.

Now, in the fifth year of that war in Iraq, Bin Laden remains at large, and al-Qaeda is bigger than ever.

Patriots who love the troops to death

Frank Rich, with his usual eloquence, gets it right.