I shall create a Grand Army of the Republic

Well, the new U.N. resolution on Iraq has been formally reached.

The good news is the new language hamstrings Team Bush's attempts to quickly go to war with Saddam Hussein. First, there has to be some sort of inspection process. There is no automatic trigger for war, no set of conditions which would have the U.S. and Britain pound Baghdad and its occupants into the earth. The warmongers in Washington have been dissuaded and diplomacy...you know, that quaint idea of working together...has won the day.

The bad news is I don't think this will matter to Team Bush. I don't think they'd be happy if Saddam Hussein was disarmed. They want Iraq and its oil, and I'd imagine that just having Saddam Hussein still around would be an embarrassment after all the huffing and puffing by Team Bush to blow his house down.

Plus, it would be a terrible thing for Team Bush to suddenly have its bogeyman be rendered toothless, their white whale playing nicely with the global community. With the international villain off the radar, the American voter's view would return to a crappy domestic economy.

So, I'm guessing war after Ramadan ends...maybe by January.

Fight the power

Three days after the Democrats got their asses handed to them for being empty (or GOP-lite) candidates, the tiny civil war for new party leadership has begun to take firm shape.

In one corner is the centrist Dem from Texas, Rep. Martin Frost. In the other corner is California's Nancy Pelosi, a more liberal Dem. Both held serious power positions before the infighting began and the race is shaping up to be a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party. Frost backers say should Pelosi win, the Dems would become a "permanent minority party." Note to Dems: You already are. You played suck-up to Bush by trying to occupy the crowded center and center-right real estate in American politics and you got hammered and humiliated Tuesday. Try something new. Or rather, get back to your roots, stake a position of substance and hammer the GOP with a populist plank.

I understand that the Dems are trying to make sure they don't alienate their base, but it's just silly to start thinking that now after giving Team Bush nearly everything it wanted. Who knows, maybe if the Dems go progressive (a wonderfully loaded term, painting the GOP as "regressive") they could put the GOP and their motives and goals in sharp relief.

Still, it's a balancing act for Dems, as this snip from the above linked article points out.

Democrats nationwide are confronting a larger dilemma, which is reflected in this contest. If the party appears too liberal, as history has shown, Democrats suffer at the polls. George McGovern in 1972, Walter F. Mondale in 1984, Michael S. Dukakis in 1988 -- and Democrats who ran for other positions in those years -- learned this.

But if Democrats appear too close to Bush and other Republicans, they give voters -- especially their base of union members, minorities, environmentalists and lower-income workers -- little incentive to work or vote for them.


If the Dems who wept over the death of Wellstone were serious about their lamentations, now would be a great time to back up their words with actions in picking Pelosi. She would be highest-ranking woman in Congressional history (Yeah, I know. It's taken this long. Sad, isn't it?) and would be a signal to voters that there's new life and vision in the party.

The Dems really have nothing to lose.

Well, duh

The Center for Responsive Politics came out with an analysis Wednesday saying "over 95 percent of U.S. House races and 75 percent of Senate races were won by the candidate who spent the most money."

The brain trust also went on to reveal that more than 88 percent of the U.S. population likes ice cream and thinks puppies and kittens are cute.

But it's where I do most of my thinking

So, I'm scooping out the litter box for my cats. As I pour new kitty litter in the box, something falls out of the litter container. It's a coupon, but not for cat litter (which could be useful considering how much my little darlings like to go potty). No, it's a coupon for cat food.

And I think to myself, how gross. Imagine finding a coupon for chili when you buy a pack of toilet paper.

Talk about feeding the problem.