This bears repeating. Goodbye. I'm sorry I failed you, Beauty. The Heartache by Warren Zevon Shadows falling in the noonday sun Blue feeling to the maximum Look what happens when you love someone And they don't love you The heartache The risk you run The chance you take When you love someone And the sorrow For the lonely one When the heartache comes Never thought I'd be alone like this Guess I should have been a realist That's the trouble with relationships They end too soon The heartache The risk you run The chance you take When you love someone And the sorrow For the lonely one When the heartache comes And the darkness falls And the rain comes down In the midst of spring There's a sadness in the heart of things The heartache The risk you run The chance you take When you love someone And the sorrow For the lonely one When the heartache comes Shadows falling in the noonday sun Blue feeling to the maximum

TNR finds France such and easy target. As do I: "How many Frenchmen does it take to hold Paris?" goes the old joke. "Nobody knows." A little nasty, perhaps, but it suggests the deeper issue underlying France's continued opposition (as of this writing) to a resolution threatening force if Iraq obstructs U.N. weapons inspectors: Why is France on the Security Council at all?

Salman Rushdie: These are some of the reasons why I, among others, have remained unconvinced by President Bush's Iraqi grand design. But as I listen to Iraqi voices describing the numberless atrocities of the Hussein years, then I am bound to say that if, as now seems possible, the United States and the United Nations do agree on a new Iraq resolution; and if inspectors do return, and, as is probable, Hussein gets up to his old obstructionist tricks again; or if Iraq refuses to accept the new U.N. resolution; then the rest of the world must stop sitting on its hands and join the Americans and British in ridding the world of this vile despot and his cohorts. It should, however, be said and said loudly that the primary justification for regime change in Iraq is the dreadful and prolonged suffering of the Iraqi people, and that the remote possibility of a future attack on America by Iraqi weapons is of secondary importance. A war of liberation might just be one worth fighting. The war that America is currently trying to justify is not. Of course, Rushdie is not an American so he doesn't have to worry about putting American self-defense second.

Calvin Trillin in The New Yorker: I am an adviser to the President of a very powerful country. In order to divert attention from the economy, which happens to stink, I've advised him to talk about virtually nothing but war against Iraq between now and November, when our country is holding an important election. If the economy still stinks after a war with Iraq and I advise the President to talk about virtually nothing but war with North Korea until the next election, would I be "playing politics"? K.R., Washington, D.C.

Colonel David Hackworth (bio), America's most-decorated living soldier* and a guy whose opinion I value much more than that of, say, The Nation regarding military matters, does not think that President Shrub has made his case. Hackworth thinks al-Qaida and other terrorists are still our first military priority. Here: From the looks of President George W. Bush's recent $355-billion, record-breaking defense budget, nothing's been learned from either those bloody years in Vietnam or our Special Operations victory that defanged the Taliban in Afghanistan in the blink of a bomb. The biggest annual defense budget in our history - 70 percent of the cost for World War II - provides for fleets of new ships, airplanes and armored vehicles, more of the right stuff for fighting the now-defunct Soviet Empire - and for the war racketeers who contributed so generously to both major parties' political war chests. Gold-plated hardware that won't help much against the real enemy, al-Qaeda, which is about to crash once again through our still-undefended doors. Part of the prescription - a tough pill for Democrats and Republicans alike to swallow, much as the former likes the votes, the latter the cheap labor - is that our borders must immediately be sealed and the millions of illegal aliens rounded up and shipped out. We need to swallow hard, then charge a retired Marine general like Al Gray or Tony Zinni with turning all that Immigration and Naturalization Service bureaucratic blubber into lean and mean muscle to get out there and excise the sleeper-cell cancers muy pronto. And in warfare, a smart general always secures home plate before venturing out to left field. In his Oct. 24 column Hackworth has this to say: Sure Saddam is bad news -- and most of the stuff the Chickenhawks say about this brutal dictator and his thugs is all too true. But Iraq is a pussycat compared with North Korea, with its forward-deployed army composed of millions of fanatical kamikazes with more cannons, rifles and fire in their bellies than all of the U.S. military and our allies combined. The four Purple Hearts I caught there bear witness that these tigers must be kept in their cage. And he has a "plan" that makes sense: Here is what my 57 years on the security beat suggest: Protect the USA. Fine-comb what comes through our ports and borders and ruthlessly cut out all terrorist sleeper and support organizations presently embedded from coast to coast. Bring our military to U.S. Marine standards and prepare it for the war at hand, not another World War II. Nothing gets in or out of Iraq, including oil. Bomb Saddam every time he blinks -- in hundreds of air raids against the Mustached One since 1991, we haven't lost a single aircraft. Stop the flow of money or any other material support from Japan, South Korea and the USA to Pyongyang. Put out the word that the second we see the first missile moving toward a launcher, North Korea will get -- without warning -- what we had aimed at the Soviets throughout the Cold War. * Not that it should scare you, but Hackworth was also reportedly Francis Ford Coppola's model for Colonel Kurtz in 'Apocalypse Now'. No, he's not nuts, but he is a bit of a rebel.

Josh Marshall speaks truth, as usual: In all seriousness, random gun killings may just have been too common a matter to arouse that much suspicion, until these two decided to pump up the volume one day in early October.

Pandagon's take on the Noonan crime, in which he does Peg channelling Tupac (where's Biggie?).

Leah A. unleashed this terrific post over at Eschaton on the subject of Peggy (ugh) Noonan's latest crime, in which she heartlessly channels Paul Wellstone: If Leona Hemsley was the queen of mean, Peggy is its princess. Go read the rest here. On the same board, Eschaton, I had this to say of Noonan: I have NEVER understood how anyone could take her seriously. She is such an obvious (trying not to sound elitist) PHONY. Her writing style -- although very practiced and clean -- is sort of 1940's 'Grit' magazine meets Miss America and Blanche DuBois on acid with a dangerously psychopathic tinge and "a thousand points of light", using language one might use in a nursing home when addressing the elderly. In other words, it's so CALCULATED, and obviously phony. I don't get it. To which Sisyphus Shrugged replied: > Her writing style -- although very practiced and clean -- is sort of 1940's 'Grit' magazine meets Miss America and Blanche DuBois on acid with a dangerously psychopathic tinge and "a thousand points of light", using language one might use in a nursing home when addressing the elderly. Oh my. That was just lovely. julia | Email | Homepage | 11.01.02 - 3:11 pm Thank you, Julia! You made my day. (I think I love Julia.) Especially when you emailed me asking if you could quote it. See, Ms. O., I can still write a little bit when I want to and/or when properly motivated. I just don't want to much these days. I'm too addicted to cut and paste. /blowing my own horn off

... it is a collection of the spineless led by the cynical, constantly lap-dancing for special-interest cash to finance the permanent campaign, deadlocked not over high principles but over petty partisan advantage and, as C-Span devotees know, incapable of mounting a debate worthy of a junior high school. It makes you heart-sore for the state of democracy.

But the proposal is stalled, and Democrats, some Republicans and families of people who died in the attacks accuse the White House of undermining an idea it only reluctantly embraced."There is a pattern of this White House announcing its support for a general principle, whether it be prescription drug coverage or No Child Left Behind," said Senator Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee helped lead a Congressional inquiry into intelligence failures preceding Sept. 11. "Then, when it comes down to the actual realization of that goal, they — to use the president's term — crawfish." The impasse is a revealing example of how sensitive the issue of intelligence lapses before Sept. 11 remains for the administration. Although the White House denies thwarting approval of a commission, an almost completed Congressional deal was suddenly undone in October after a Republican lawmaker involved in the final negotiations received a call from Vice President Dick Cheney. This is shameful. What are these people trying to hide? I have no doubt that there is true concern about protecting intelligence assets, but please: This. Is. Political. Clearly there exists embarrassing data beyond the August 6, 2001 briefing in which the White House admits President Bush was told of possible al-Qaida “traditional” hijackings. What? I don’t think it was a Machiavellian conspiracy along the lines of the “Bush knew” variety presented by Gore Vidal, among others. I think they are trying to hide incompetence, which is scarier. Condoleeza Rice’s assertions that the warnings of “traditional” hijackings left the Bush team unprepared for the flying bombs of 9/11 was always more than lame since both could have been stopped by keeping the terrorists off the damn planes. Yet the press and others gave her more or less a free pass on this. Why? Why hasn’t there been one single person fired or even reprimanded over the 9/11 attacks? To this day! Surely it was the biggest intelligence breakdown in the history of the United States. Or was it? What did these people know and when did they know it, and if they didn’t, why not? What was Cheney doing in the basement of the White House while Bush was flying around the country? There are countless questions that require answers. Why is the administration stonewalling an investigation and why are others in government allowing them to do so? Why why why. We deserve answers, but I fear if the Republicans take control of the Senate, to go along with the House, White House and Supreme Court, we may never get them, at least not in our lifetimes. I would have respected Bush had he said something along the lines of “this happened on my watch”, but he has never come even remotely close to such an admission. Could the White House be stonewalling the investigation until after the makeup of the next Congress is set? Nah, that would be cynical … After all, this is America, right?

The F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, said today that investigators had sought to "replicate" the powdery anthrax that was used in last year's lethal mailings to aid their search for the sender of the spores that killed five people.

Mr. Shelby, who is not up for re-election on Tuesday, was sharply critical of Mr. Pitt for his failure to inform the agency's other commissioners about Mr. Webster's role as head of the audit committee of U.S. Technologies. But like most other Republican lawmakers, he stopped short of calling for Mr. Pitt's resignation.

"In the past two weeks a flurry of indicators suggest the economy weakened sharply in September and October," economist Joseph T. Abate of Lehman Brothers in New York told his firm's clients. "With momentum flagging, the rapid erosion in confidence and the pickup in uncertainty are likely to severely restrain consumer and investment spending over the next three to six months."

The outcome is so important to Bush that he has, in the view of a number of strategists, put his short-term standing in jeopardy. His frenetic campaigning has removed attention from Iraq and terrorism and may be undermining Bush's image as a nondivisive figure, polls indicate. A series of surveys has shown sharp and quick drops in the president's popularity, prompting political strategist Dick Morris to opine in the New York Post that "by campaigning for Republican candidates around the nation, Bush seems to be undermining the case for a military emergency."

Here's another one. Sorry. But this one's so true ... Similar To Rain written by Warren Zevon 1995 Zevon Music BMI Once upon a time these stories always start There lived a handsome prince and he had a happy heart And a princess, too--she was a beautiful kid She said she'd never leave him but she did Sometimes love is wet and cold Similar to rain, just a hard to hold Love can make you sad and blue If you don't watch out it'll fall all over you Everybody knows that winter can be nice You can play in the snow, you can skate on the ice But you can't skate far when the ice gets thin 'Cause you might fall in Sometimes love is wet and cold Similar to rain, just as hard to hold Love can make you sad and blue If you don't watch out it'll fall all over you Gray skies everywhere Storm clouds know your name Sadness in the air Feels like rain Sometimes love is wet and cold Similar to rain, just a hard to hold Love can make you sad and blue If you don't watch out it'll fall all over you

Zevon said he had suffered from shortness of breath for several months and only saw a doctor after he confided his condition to his dentist. ``I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years,'' the 55-year-old singer said. ``It was one of those phobias that didn't pay off.'' I, for one, after viewing the tape, freely and without shame admit that a tear or four dribbled down my cheeks. It's tough to see someone, whose words have meant so much to you, to just sort of fade away before your eyes. But I was proud of the sumbitch! If I can be half the man or half as classy as Warren when it's my turn to exit this stage, well, then I will have accomplished something. Shit. He was funny, too, believe it or not.

Many Americans might agree (with apologies to Barry Goldwater) that Egyptian-style extremism in the name of anti-terrorism is no vice. They would be wrong. Not only for moral reasons but for pragmatic ones as well: Arbitrary arrests and executions, carried out by unloved governments at the bidding of the unloved United States, can lead to those governments being replaced by ones that support terrorists instead. The election in Pakistan in early October was a warning sign: A coalition of religious parties, which had never before fared well at the voting box, won a shocking 45 out of 272 available seats, making them the third-largest group in the National Assembly. Their campaign was based on explicit opposition to Musharraf's support for America's war on terrorism, almost every component of which--from ousting the Taliban in Afghanistan to rounding up Islamists in Karachi--has led the public to view their government as a puppet of Uncle Sam. It would not be terribly surprising if the October 12 terrorist bombing in Bali sparks a similar process in Indonesia, in which an abuse-laden crackdown by a moderate and inept government leads to a surge in support for Islamists. The United States cannot afford another round of blowback. If history teaches us anything--our support for anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan begat the post-Soviet chaos that led to the Taliban, which hosted Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, spawning Mohammed Atta and September 11--it is that unintended consequences matter.

I came across this only on the warbloggers, and it seemed significant to me.

Kristof's little swing around the Persian Gulf states has been a total bust. He's turned in one horseshit column after another. Today he offers us these pearls of wisdom: As I argued recently, the current fad of demonizing Saudi Arabia is vastly overdrawn. The kingdom is not an enemy and is not a terrorist state. But as the Saudi Internet shows, we and Saudi Arabia have few values in common. Then why are they funding Islamofascist terrorism worldwide, playing all sides against the middle? And what about those madrassas they're funding, Nick? Those people aren't singing hymns. The rumors are that Crown Prince Abdullah, the Saudi leader, frets that American bases are undermining Saudi security (by inflaming fundamentalists) more than bolstering it. And the bases are of dubious value to the United States because the Saudis tightly restrict how we use them. They are of dubious value if they won't let us use them. This is one of the reasons why those bases in Iraq will come in so handy. (Yes, I know he was probably sent there to write anti-war columns. Don't write and bitch at me.)

Don Arthur has this on Daniel Pipes.

Here a Hitch, there a Hitch, everywhere a Hitch Hitch. Am I bothered that he's evidently hanging out with the likes of Andrew Sullivan and giving interviews to pigs? Damn straight. But he's still interesting ... I got this link from Goddard, who I've decided to mention rather than the name of the place with the link.

Democrats filed a lawsuit Thursday to prevent Republicans from stacking polling sites in Miami-Dade County with GOP-picked poll watchers. Deja vu all over again? Lean Left has this, too.

The administration stayed with the talks longer than many countries expected after President Bush opened his campaign against Iraq here in September warning the United Nations that it was becoming obsolete. With Secretary of State Colin L. Powell personally steering the globe-spanning negotiations, and Mr. Bush himself frequently picking up the phone, several envoys from nonpermanent member nations said the Council had been persuaded that a skeptical administration gave multilateralism a fair try.

Now, the oversight board created by Congress to police and clean up accounting after a wave of corporate failures will begin its life with an investigation into how its own members were chosen. The S.E.C.'s inspector general and the General Accounting Office began conducting investigations today into Mr. Webster's selection. and Yet it's no accident that Mr. Pitt picked the wrong man. Mr. Webster was chosen over better candidates precisely because accounting industry lobbyists — a group that clearly still includes Mr. Pitt — believed he would be ineffectual.

Mr. Bush's original tax cut began life as a campaign tool, designed to secure the conservative base of the Republican Party during the 2000 primary campaign. It is not surprising that, in low-octane midterm elections in which turning out the base may be the key to victory, Mr. Bush is reviving the tax issue. Yet the president's rhetoric is troubling. His reference to the estate tax perpetuates the absurd mythology around the subject. In 1999, the last year for which data are available, a grand total of 26 estates in Colorado paid any inheritance tax; besides, farmers' heirs aren't forced to sell out because of it, because the first $2 million of property that's passed on carries no tax and the rest carries a tax that can be paid off over 20 years. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush's talk of making other tax cuts permanent raises questions about his grasp of the economic challenges facing the country and mocks the reasoning behind his original tax policy. Mr. Bush's original tax cut began life as a campaign tool, designed to secure the conservative base of the Republican Party during the 2000 primary campaign. It is not surprising that, in low-octane midterm elections in which turning out the base may be the key to victory, Mr. Bush is reviving the tax issue. Yet the president's rhetoric is troubling. His reference to the estate tax perpetuates the absurd mythology around the subject.

Faced with mounting funding problems in the federal Superfund program, the Bush administration has been forced to delay or partially fund several dozen cleanup operations at Superfund sites throughout the country. In the case of the seven high-priority projects, the EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response rejected requests from regional officials for a total of $92 million to continue work this year, according to the EPA Inspector General's report.

The struggle between the French and American ambassadors that has been going on for the past two weeks in the corridors of the United Nations does not, of course, mean that Mr Chirac has suddenly rekindled his former love affair with Iraq, which dates back to the early 1970s, and that he is trying by every means available to save Saddam's skin. Why not, Jacques? It's been very lucrative. Who built Iraq's reactors? Hmmm?

Razor blades imported from Britain for $113 apiece. Tweezers from Japan for $4,896 each. Cut rubies from Burma for $38,192 per carat. And for U.S. trading partners, the deals of the century: car seats exported to Belgium for $1.66 each, missile launchers to Israel for $52 a shot, wristwatches encased in precious metals to Colombia for $8.68 a pop. Lurking in reams of 2001 government trade data are thousands of such wildly mispriced transactions, and those trades may hint at corporate tax evasion and criminal money laundering on a grand scale, according to two academic researchers who have been mining the data for more than a decade.

The 78-count indictment closely tracks allegations that prosecutors leveled against Fastow in a sworn statement by an FBI agent at that time. The court papers also include a new claim: that Fastow attempted to block investigators by persuading his top aide, Michael J. Kopper, to tamper with laptop and desktop computers late in the summer of 2001. That was shortly after Enron executive Sherron Watkins raised questions about Enron's accounting practices but before the company's financial woes became public.

If this is true, and it may well not be since CHB has a well-known bias, then the DNC should be ashamed, too.

Nathan Newman nails it. Peggy Noonan, who has always been a phony, has committed the obscenity of her career.

The Democrats who control the Senate are unlikely to approve such a plan, but for Bush, that is largely beside the point. Republican officials said the timing was designed to dramatize the stakes going into the elections, when just a few races will decide whether Democrats keep their majority. The strategy, drafting proposals for major changes in the way judges are chosen without consulting senators of either political party, suggested an eagerness by the White House to expand its powers rather than to broker compromise on a delicate issue. Bush is attempting to redefine the Constitution's balance of power between the White House and the Senate for deciding who becomes a federal judge. He does not seek to rewrite the basic responsibilities -- the president selecting candidates and the Senate confirming them. But Bush wants to change when the president could make nominations and to reduce the role of the Senate's committee system. Think Shrub can be trusted to make rational judicial appointments? People who are qualified and devoid of ideological biases? Time to revisit the man Shrub puts forward as a women's health expert: "Jesus stood up for women at a time when women were second-class citizens," Hager says. "I often say, if you are liberated, a woman's libber, you can thank Jesus for that." "Dr. Hager — an opponent of women's reproductive rights who prescribes prayer and Scripture to treat women's health conditions — has no place chairing a panel that has enormous power to influence women's health policy," said Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today ordered an investigation into the appointment of William H. Webster to head a new board overseeing the accounting profession after Mr. Webster's disclosure that he told the S.E.C. chairman, Harvey L. Pitt, that he had headed the auditing committee of a company facing fraud accusations. DeLong has more on Webster here.

Herbert-> What these hideous cases all have in common, apart from the grief and suffering endured by the victims and their survivors, is that statistically none of them are that big a deal. Ten people here, five people there — very small potatoes in the crucible of criminal violence that we've got going here in the United States. Even the total number of people killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — approximately 3,000 — is dwarfed by the annual toll of homicides in the U.S. The F.B.I.'s annual Uniform Crime Report was released Monday. It showed that in 2001, the last year for which complete statistics have been compiled, the number of people murdered in the U.S. — exclusive of the Sept. 11 attacks — was a staggering 15,980.

Mr. Sharon now has less political counter-weight with which to balance the demands of his right-wing base — demands, such as for greater settlement expansion or more aggressive military tactics against the Palestinians, that could irk the United States. The Bush administration has sought to calm this conflict as it prepares for a possible war in Iraq. ... or this: The National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu alliance, an extreme right-wing opposition party whose seven votes are crucial, reportedly rejects a new U.S. peace proposal that, as written, aims to create an independent Palestinian state by the end of next year. Sharon also has problems with the proposal. But Eliezer Cohen, an alliance lawmaker, said his party would demand military operations against the Palestinians "four or five times bigger" than the ones Sharon's government has launched.

But even a behind-the-scenes role for Mr. Erdogan makes some here nervous. Many refuse to dismiss his past. Elected mayor of Istanbul in 1994, he banned alcohol in municipal restaurants, opposed entry into the European Union and supported withdrawing from NATO. "You cannot be secular and a Muslim at the same time," he said in a speech in 1995. "The world's 1.5 billion Muslims are waiting for the Turkish people to rise up. We will rise up." Are you sure you want a Jeffersonian democracy in Iraq, Mr. Wolfowitz?

A couple of Zevons for the road: The Heartache Shadows falling in the noonday sun Blue feeling to the maximum Look what happens when you love someone And they don't love you The heartache The risk you run The chance you take When you love someone And the sorrow For the lonely one When the heartache comes Never thought I'd be alone like this Guess I should have been a realist That's the trouble with relationships They end too soon The heartache The risk you run The chance you take When you love someone And the sorrow For the lonely one When the heartache comes And the darkness falls And the rain comes down In the midst of spring There's a sadness in the heart of things The heartache The risk you run The chance you take When you love someone And the sorrow For the lonely one When the heartache comes Shadows falling in the noonday sun Blue feeling to the maximum Heartache Spoken Here When I was young The sky was filled with stars I watched them burn out one by one I've had my share Of disappointing love affairs And I'm no stranger to disillusionment Little darlin' If you need a helping hand If you need someone You can count on me And I will understand CHORUS Heartache spoken here I know a thing or two about heartbreak and tears So come on down, we'll talk about it Heartache spoken here Heartache spoken here I know a thing or two about heartbreak and tears So come on down, we'll talk about it Heartache spoken here A house of cards A castle made of sand Don't take much to blow away Rows and rows Of broken hearts and broken homes so much sadness, you see it every day Litt darlin' If you need a helping hanad If you need someone You can count on me And I will understand CHORUS I know it hurts so When the one you love don't need you I now the sorrow That a reckless heart can lead to CHORUS and Exit shuffling to 'Bad Karma' ... Bad Karma Was it something I did In another life? I try and try But nothing comes out right For me Bad Karma Killing me by degrees I took a wrong turn On the astral plane Now I keep on thinkin' My luck is gonna change Someday Bad Karma It's uphill all the way I can't run, Can't hide Can't get away It must be my destiny The same thing happens to me every day Bad Karma Coming after me Bad Karma Killing me by degrees Bad Karma Bad Karma It's a dog's life And it's not my fault Ought to hang my picture In the All-Time Losers' Hall of Fame Bad Karma It's a low-down dirty shame I can't run, Can't hide Can't get away It must be my destiny The same thing happens to me every day Bad Karma Coming after me Bad Karma Killing me by degrees Bad Karma Bad Karma

"Tucker Carlson's on Crossfire expressing his "violent disgust" at the [Wellstone] service. My, what delicate stomachs Republicans have! After 4 years of cigars and blowjobs you'd think they were made of sterner stuff." -- Tresy Kilbourne on Eschaton

Damn. Could get messy, very messy: The speech provoked scores of calls to GOP headquarters and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Norm Coleman's campaign, said Bill Walsh, the state party's deputy executive director. "They overplayed their hand, and our phones are ringing off the hook," he said. Many callers were offering to contribute money, Walsh said.

Zevon on Letterman tonight? I'm not sure I have the heart to watch ... sigh.

I swear to God that the headline, when I read it, on this article about the D.C. sniper was: Defense Case Seen As Tough Well, duhhh ...

Dispensing information rather than drugs, the court held, is protected by the First Amendment. The court rejected the government's argument that "a doctor's `recommendation' of marijuana may encourage illegal conduct by the patient." It called the link between the prohibited speech and criminal conduct "too attenuated." ... and this lower graph: Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, said the decision took issue with a particularly intrusive form of federal interference with state law. So I surf on over to Volokh's blog to check out his argument -- here and here -- and I come across a link to this, ummm, open letter to Susan Sarandon, read it and find I don't disagree (even if it's a bit highhanded, preachy and insinuates that Republicans aren't necessarily bad people). Lord, I'm turning into a warmonger and I'm not comfortable with it ... :-( I need to read more Raimondo.

Nothing even remotely close to peace as long as these two old bastards hold power. Remember that old 'Star Trek' episode with Frank Gorshin and Lou Antonio (I'm old) in which they are mortal enemies, both black and white but on different sides of their bodies? That's who these 2 remind me of. "I will never meet Arafat, but I will talk to others directly," Sharon told the paper. Yasser Arafat cajoled Palestinian legislators into approving his new cabinet yesterday by telling them that a vote against his choice of ministers was a vote for Israel and America.

The demonstration on Saturday in Washington drew 100,000 by police estimates and 200,000 by organizers', forming a two-mile wall of marchers around the White House. The turnout startled even organizers, who had taken out permits for 20,000 marchers. They expected 30 buses, and were surprised by about 650, coming from as far as Nebraska and Florida. [snip] Certainly, there is still debate. In Austin, the University of Texas student government passed a resolution on Oct. 22 opposing an attack, by a vote of 20 to 17. Some students seek to have that vote overturned, saying it does not reflect the sentiment of the campus's 50,000 students. The Times mentions the old Baskett alma mater! Other than the football team, of course ... The students are as busy as ever, it would seem.

The Bush administration is building cases against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and more than a dozen members of his inner circle who could be charged with crimes against humanity if the Iraqi government is toppled, according to U.S. officials. [snip] The International Criminal Court is not an option, because it does not have jurisdiction over events that happened before it came into existence on July 1. Nor is Iraq a signatory to the convention that created it. Neither are we, of course, thanks to Shrub's handlers.

The United States and France are moving toward a compromise on Iraq that would oblige the Bush administration to consult the United Nations Security Council before embarking on military action against Saddam Hussein but still leave it the freedom to act alone. ... and George Will on France-> A chronicle of the First Crusade was titled "Gesta Dei per Francos" -- "The Deeds of God Through the French." Crowing comes naturally to a nation whose symbol is a rooster, but crowing does not resonate from a perch in the United Nations, which does not take its own resolutions seriously and can hardly be taken seriously as long as it incorporates the fiction that France is a significant power. Lesse ... Loves baseball, dislikes France ... nah, I still don't like him. :-)

There was so much applause -- and so many senators and representatives -- that it might well have been a presidential State of the Union address, and so much foot-stomping at other times that the event could have been mistaken for a lively political convention. But mostly there were people with heavy hearts who felt compelled to come and commiserate with others who believed the Wellstone philosophy that politics is, and should always be, about improving people's lives. Freepers react; judge Dems to be heathens (this is news?). OK, it was a bit over the top, I'll admit.

The dispute has been fueled by the creation within the Pentagon of a special unit that provides senior policymakers with alternate assessments of Iraq intelligence. Administration hawks who have been leading proponents of invading Iraq oversee the Pentagon unit, which is producing its own analyses of raw intelligence reports obtained from the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency and other agencies, the officials said. The dispute pits hardliners long distrustful of the U.S. intelligence community against professional military and intelligence officers who fear the hawks are shaping intelligence analyses to support their case for invading Iraq.

It is an old story that bears the same lesson each time a new chapter unfolds: Intelligence analysis should be kept out of the hands of those who have a vested interest in the results.

First, he and his brainy advisers, Paul Wolfowitz and Richard Perle, set up their own State Department within the Defense Department, designing a more grandiose and aggressive foreign policy that can be summarized: "We're No. 1. We like it that way. And we're going to keep it that way." Dear Ms. Dowd: Big Fan. I share your concerns, esp. re. The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, and the problems created by the actions cited in your next 2 paragraphs, yet I must ask: What's so wrong with 'We're No. 1. We like it that way. And we're going to keep it that way'? Sorry. Continue. Then they set up their own Defense Department within the Defense Department, staging a civilian coup and yanking back power from a military establishment they felt had grown too skittish about risking troops in combat. And now Rummy and his inner circle have set up their own C.I.A. within the Defense Department. Disgusted that the C.I.A. dismisses their claims of a Saddam-Al Qaeda connection, the Pentagon hawks simply created their own intelligence unit to ferret out information that will justify their foreign policy and military goals.

The Pentagon insists this will happen soon, but mid-level officers say privately that the Bush Administration is moving slowly to avoid high-profile legal proceedings that would reveal a sorry fact: the U.S. mostly netted Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters of only low to middling importance, bagging few of the real bad guys.

Jeez ... Randy Newman is doing "I Love LA" live and in person at the Staples Center before the Spurs-Lakers game. Thank GOD -- with baseball done -- the NBA is back. I'm going to kick back and watch the Spurs ruin the Lakers' little party (no Shaq tonight). No Chick Hearn, either, which will take getting used to. Hey, Go Spurs!

Powell told European reporters that the United States intended to allow the Security Council a further role after UN arms inspectors report back from Iraq. Rather than an immediate U.S. decision to act, should inspectors report interference with their work, there would be "time for people to make a judgment," he said. U.S. frustration has grown more visible in the weeks since President George W. Bush promised, on Sept. 12, to take his complaints against Iraq to the UN. But a recent threat that the United States might try to force a vote by next week appeared Tuesday to have given way to a sense that more time was needed to give negotiations a chance.

LA Times:-> In what may well be the largest expansion of covert action by the armed forces since the Vietnam era, the Bush administration has turned to what the Pentagon calls the "black world" to press the war on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The Defense Department is building up an elite secret army with resources stretching across the full spectrum of covert capabilities. New organizations are being created. The missions of existing units are being revised. Spy planes and ships are being assigned new missions in anti-terror and monitoring the "axis of evil." [snip] Among other things, this body would launch secret operations aimed at "stimulating reactions" among terrorists and states possessing weapons of mass destruction -- that is, for instance, prodding terrorist cells into action and exposing themselves to "quick-response" attacks by U.S. forces. Such tactics would hold "states/sub-state actors accountable" and "signal to harboring states that their sovereignty will be at risk," the briefing paper declares.

Kevin at LeanLeft has this on our troublesome oil addiction.

Consumer confidence in the economy tumbled more sharply than expected in October, reaching its lowest levels in nearly nine years, a private research firm said Tuesday. Lesse, that would have been in the first year of the Clinton presidency, just after Bush I ... Hmmm ...

Bush, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building this morning, did not specifically mention the Florida recount of 2000 and the legal wrangling that resulted in his ascent to the presidency. "When problems arise in the administration of elections, we have a responsibility to fix them," the president said. "Every registered voter deserves to have confidence that the system is fair and elections are honest, that every vote is recorded and that the rules are consistently applied." Hahahahahahaha ... Main Entry: iro·ny Pronunciation: 'I-r&-nE also 'I(-&)r-nE Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -nies Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirOnia, from eirOn dissembler Date: 1502 1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning -- called also Socratic irony 2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance 3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play -- called also dramatic irony, tragic irony

Also found in the search of the vehicle was the Bushmaster rifle, a green military pack with a global positioning system, a Sony laptop computer, a pair of two-way radios, a wallet with several drivers licenses all of which contained Muhammad's picture. Outside the car was a paper towel which covered a .223 caliber round of ammunition. That is the caliber that has been linked to 11 of the shootings. What the hell did these two bozos have need of a global-positioning device for?

With Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenants dead, captured or on the run, al Qaeda's operations are being directed by a handful of combat-hardened veterans, most of them little-known Middle Eastern men who built their terrorist resumes together mounting lethal attacks against the USS Cole and U.S. embassies in eastern Africa. [snip] The new leaders, in contrast, are believed to have orchestrated a wave of recent terrorist plots against Western targets. The Oct. 12 bomb attack of a Bali nightclub district, which killed 180, most of them tourists, has focused world attention on an entrenched regional terrorist network in Southeast Asia and its links to al Qaeda through an Indonesian militant, Riduan Isamuddin, known to followers as Hambali. Other recent plots attributed to al Qaeda include the April 11 bombing of a Tunisian synagogue that killed 21 people, including 11 German tourists; the foiled suicide assaults on U.S. and British warships in the Strait of Gibraltar, and an elaborate scheme earlier this year to blow up the U.S., British, Australian and Israeli embassies in Singapore.

Bartcop, God's gift to Oklahoma, says: The Rev. Fred Phelps of www.godhatesfags.com plans to protest Paul Wellstone's funeral. Rev. Phelps is known nationwide for his intense anti-gay, hateful language. He is a true Republican, hating people that God instructs him to hate. From his website: "God hates..." (you can fill in the blank with whatever minority Rush says) He protested at the funeral services for Matthew Shepard (D-Gay) and others for whom the good reverend had orders from God to hate. I have a favor to ask: Please no not bring your Minneapolis phone books to the service and beat the living bejeezus out of the "reverend." That would be wrong. I won't link to that site, btw. If it means that much to you, cut and paste will work.

Sort of related is this: A Democrat involved with planning the service at the University of Minnesota's Williams Arena here said the family did not want the event overwhelmed by the additional security, logistical challenges and potential protesters that would accompany the vice president. But the family was also uncomfortable at the prospect of attendance by Mr. Cheney, who helped to push Norm Coleman into the race against Mr. Wellstone and to guide the Republican's aggressive campaign before Friday's fatal plane crash.

I like the way Alterman tells the "chickenshit" story best, mainly for his line on class I've highlighted in bold: When Paul was introduced to George H.W. Bush, for instance, during the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War, after just having scored his upset victory, he made an impassioned and eloquent plea for Bush to reconsider his counter-invasion of Kuwait, which Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf also believed unnecessary. The president turned to one of his aides and snarled “Who is this chickenshit?” Bush was so proud of this line — like the one where he bragged of kicking Geraldine’s Ferraro’s ass — that he told it repeatedly to journalists. (And he is alleged to be the class of that family.) Meanwhile, his son will not be attending Wellstone’s funeral.

Terrific (and accurate) quote from Atrios: The Bush family is like Marty McFly in this area. "Don't call me chicken!" Or, don't call them pussies or wimps.

Having spent his career as a pit-bull lawyer for the very firms he's now supposed to regulate, Pitt uses a light hand in dealing with his former-employers, saying that he prefers accommodation to regulation. He's so accommodating that he even got caught holding closed door meetings with accounting executives he previously represented -- executives who have regulatory cases pending before him.

Still, while waiting for a comprehensive GAO study, it's possible to make a ballpark estimate of the cost of presidential travel. An analysis based on interviews with current and former government officials and calculations of the number and distance of Bush's trips, indicates it has cost roughly $15.7 million for Bush to attend the 59 out-of-town political events he had done this year as of last week.

Almost every politician in modern America pretends to be a populist; indeed, it's a general rule that the more slavishly a politician supports the interests of wealthy individuals and big corporations, the folksier his manner. But being a genuine populist, someone who really tries to stand up against what Mr. Wellstone called "Robin Hood in reverse" policies, isn't easy: you must face the power not just of money, but of sustained and shameless hypocrisy.

Molly Ivins -> In that same speech, to show his zeal for going after corporate evildoers, Bush asked for a nice round $100 million in additional funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except the New Ethic didn't last very long. Didn't even survive the election, and I think Bush deserves credit on this point. Any posturing politician could have stuck with corporate reform until after the election was over; it takes real nerve to drop the whole thing two weeks before the election. That, or someone who thinks the American people are deeply stupid. So intense did the pressure for corporate reform grow last summer that the Congress actually passed the Sarbanes bill, including a new board to oversee the accounting industry and $776 million for the SEC -- a 77 percent increase. Bush signed the bill amid great fanfare and later took credit for solving the corporate corruption problems (even though he had opposed the bill almost until the moment he signed it). And everyone agreed, "What a good first step." Oops. Bush and his man Harvey Pitt at the SEC have already gutted the new accounting oversight board, and last week he urged Congress to appropriate 27 percent less, $568 million, than the agreed-upon increase for the SEC. That's an increase of about 30 percent over last year's budget of $438 million, and the SEC is one of the most notoriously underfunded agencies in Washington.

OK, my sick ass is going to bed now. Honest. Fake tits suck; pass it on.

Great post by Ollie over on Alternet.org. Here's a bit of it: The refusal to differentiate between regular Muslim guys and blood- thirsty fanatics only benefits the latter. It saddens /scares me that every time I mention Islamists on a forum there always forms a group of good-meaning liberals who angrily respond that Islam is not to blame and that not all Muslims are terrorists. When did I say they were? Doesn't matter, I'm guilty already by trying to touch this topic. Interestingly enough, I get exactly the same reaction from the Muslims who are not exactly terrorist supporters themselves. They immediately try to protect Islam from ... me. Come on, how can I, a puny nobody, hurt their religion even if I tried? Could I possibly undermine its PR image any more than the terrorists do when they bomb their "soft targets?" Sometimes they say, there's no such thing as the Muslim world. But most of them, even the Indonesians, describe an attack against Saddam as an attack against all Islam. What is that supposed to mean? Go read the rest of it here. Also, check out Ollie's terrific website, 'The Life and Times of Ahmed and Mohammed; and if you're Muslim, do so with a sense of humor.

That rapid calculation—Wellstone's death is good for corporate America—was worth 127 points on the Dow. It was a quick reaction. And those who sold stock this afternoon can rest assured that it was probably a wrong reaction, because there's no actual evidence that a Republican Senate is better for investors. Sigh ... Welp, I hope the bastards get burned.

The Bush administration is closely monitoring a private lawsuit accusing members of the Saudi royal family of ties to Al Qaeda, and may move in a federal court here to dismiss or delay the suit, which was brought by relatives of Sept. 11 victims, according to administration officials. For once I agree with Quick. And Tony Foresta! Hey, go Tony ... A bit of Tony on Quick-> Further many of us vociferously question why this administration fails to redress known and proven Saudi financing, nurturing, and political support of the malignant bastardization of islam practiced by al Queda and all the depraved jihadist islamic murderers through out the world proselytizing the murder of Americans. I'm sure it has nothing to do with oil or energy concerns, - but riddle me this war mongers, -what exactly is Bush policy toward Saudi Arabia financing and nurturing the wahabe jihadist gangs of murderers and who attacked us on 9/11. Go read the rest of it.

The friggin' French ... Whatever your position on Iraq, you must admit that if the French are in favor of anything then there must be a high degree of probability that their position is wrong. To paraphrase an old joke, have they surrendered yet?

Excellent Herbert column: That's what murder is really like. A child's blood on the sidewalk. A stiffened leg belonging to somebody's mom. The nation is saturated with violence. Thousands upon thousands of murders are committed each year. There are more than 200 million guns in circulation. Murder is so routine, including the killing of children, it doesn't even warrant serious news coverage in most cases. We don't know what to do about all this violence. We don't know how to process it. We don't even know how to cover it. We sensationalize it, glamorize it, eroticize it.

What would be the consequences of a victory by Saddam over the U.S. in the Security Council? If President Bush were to meekly accept the rebuff of a further watering-down of the U.S.-British resolution, his administration would become a laughingstock. Worse, the world would have no way to restrain nuclear blackmail.

We inspect, you decide? Fox News is asking the United Nations for permission to send reporters and camera crews along if U.N. weapons inspectors return to Iraq. Well, hell, why not? Isn't Fox News the equivalent of state television these days? (Dig our flag pins!)

Democratic imperialists marry the realism of Bismarck with the moral sensibilities of Woodrow Wilson. They believe the United States should use its overwhelming military, economic and political might to remake the world in its image -- and that doing so will serve the interests of other countries as well as the United States. As Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, perhaps the leading democratic imperialist in the administration, said some months ago, "If people are really liberated to run their countries the way they want to, we'll have a world that will be very congenial for American interests." For democratic imperialists, Saddam's ouster presents an unrivaled chance to bring democracy to the Middle East. As Robert Kagan and William Kristol of the Weekly Standard, leading voices of this group, have argued, "A devastating knockout blow against Saddam Hussein, followed by an American-sponsored effort to rebuild Iraq and put it on a path toward democratic governance, would have a seismic impact on the Arab world -- for the better. The Arab world may take a long time coming to terms with the West, but that process will be hastened by the defeat of the leading anti-western Arab tyrant." This is an exceedingly ambitious proposition and would require an extraordinary commitment of resources, which, to their credit, democratic imperialists fully accept. It is precisely on this point that assertive nationalists, who include Cheney and Rumsfeld, disagree. Their main concern is to flex American military power to defeat threats to U.S. security. They may occasionally indulge in Wilsonian rhetoric for political expediency, but they have little interest in remaking the world in America's image. Deeply skeptical of nation-building, and convinced that world politics will always be a Hobbesian affair, they see spreading democracy as being beyond America's obligations and unlikely to work. As Rumsfeld told Congress, once Saddam is gone, Iraq's future should be up to the Iraqi people. His meaning is: Whether Iraq meets Wilsonian standards of democracy is not something the United States ought to be particularly worried about. [snip] This time, however, a gap between words and deeds could be disastrous. Raising expectations that the United States will "create a balance of power that favors human freedom" and then failing to do so will feed the cynicism about American motives that pervades the Middle East and much of the world. Worse yet, leaving behind a new Iraqi leadership that provides stability but no justice will only further fuel the resentment and anger that have attracted so many young men to Osama bin Laden's cause. Given these risks, the president would do well to decide on his aims for Iraq before the fighting begins.

As a result, a consensus has emerged in recent months among experts familiar with the technology needed to turn anthrax spores into the deadly aerosol that was sent to Sens. Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) that some of the fundamental assumptions driving the FBI's investigation may be flawed. Interesting timing on the appearance of this story, with the Shrub administration at loggerheads with the UN over Iraq ...

It is, however, a working assumption in security circles now that the terror group does have nuclear capabilities. Al Qaeda's secret nuclear stash is assumed to be somewhere in Afghanistan, although finding it is proving to be as hard as locating Osama bin Laden.

In his report in next week's Newsweek, Fineman reveals that Hillary has been telling crowds at fundraisers that Bush is an illegitimate president who had been "selected" instead of elected. This is news? I thought it was common knowledge. Freepers react to this apostasy here.

Not that I partake any longer, but this is good news.

Although about 85% of the intelligence community already comes under the Pentagon's umbrella, the CIA director still largely maintains control of the final estimates and analysis. Creating a powerful new intelligence czar under Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could shift this delicate balance away from the more independent-minded Tenet and increase the chances that intelligence estimates might be "cooked" in favor of the Pentagon.

Because a year has passed without a major terrorist attack against the United States, the report says, "There are already signs that Americans are lapsing back into complacency."

President Bush has authority as commander in chief to order the indefinite imprisonment of American-born terror suspects without second-guessing by federal judges, the Justice Department told a federal appeals court yesterday.

Atrios on "President Cartman's" latest hissy.

The Daily Howler and PLA weigh in on Shrub's propensity for lies. Important stuff.

South Knox Bubba says Terrorists tarnish Islam image (I'm shocked)

The American version of Japan's banking crisis centers on auditors. Because our financial system is dominated not by banks but by the stock market, wise capital allocation depends on companies' publishing accurate financial statements -- and the accuracy depends on having tough, independent auditors verify the numbers. Yesterday a new report from the General Accounting Office reiterated that this system has rotted. Between 1997 and 2001, fully one in 10 public companies were forced to restate their accounts after publishing false ones. These errors triggered average declines in the firms' stock prices of 18 percent, costing investors billions of dollars. And the frequency of these restatements is rising year by year. The response that was signed into law last summer hinges on a new audit oversight board. In the past, auditors have allowed companies to publish erroneous numbers because they faced little prospect of punishment for doing so. The understaffed Securities and Exchange Commission lacked the resources to go after them. The Public Oversight Board, which was set up in 1977 in response to a public outcry over audit failures, was under the thumb of the audit lobby. Last summer's reform law therefore called for a new overseer, to be led by somebody with a demonstrated commitment to the public interest as well as a knowledge of auditing. The deadline for appointing this leader is Monday. The way things are going, the selection may end up being dominated by the audit lobby -- and the experience of the useless Public Oversight Board may be tragically replayed.

On Tuesday night, 20,000 people will gather here to memorialize Senator Paul Wellstone with speeches, songs and video eulogies. One day later, party officials said today, the state Democratic Party will meet and almost certainly pluck from retirement a man whose name is synonymous with Minnesota political history — Walter F. Mondale — to fill an empty spot on the Democratic line. ... and Josh Marshall here on the overall rising hopes of Democrats in Election 2002.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, "Jackass" earned $22.7 million in the three days beginning Oct. 25. If estimates hold when final data are released on Monday, it will rank as the third-highest October opening ever. "Jackass the Movie," based on the controversial MTV stunt series, follows a gang of inebriated urban warriors who eat a snow cone soaked in urine, defecate in a toilet displayed in a home-supply store, and pole-vault into a wall. Not surprisingly, moviegoers of a certain age and gender loved it, said officials at the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures. Almost half the audience for the R-rated comedy consisted of males aged 17 to 24. Overall, males made up two-thirds of the audience, and almost three-quarters were under 25. No great surprise, but what would a Martian think?

Sarandon said terrorism could not be fought with violence

Central to the theory - based on a reading of scripture Brown would prefer not to discuss - is the Rapture, the second coming of Christ, which will presage the end of the world. A happy ending depends on the conversion of the Jews. And that, to cut a long story very short, can only happen if the Jews are in possession of all the lands given to them by God. In other words, these Christians are supporting the Jews in order to abolish them. [snip] The linkage between the Christian right and the Republican party is getting ever stronger, especially in the electorally crucial states of the south and west. And Lynn is alarmed at the prospects for the midterm elections. The Republicans are quite likely to regain control of the Senate, removing the roadblock that currently stops the president appointing conservative judges ("impartial judges", according to most Republicans; "rabid rightwingers," according to their opponents) to lower courts and, when the expected vacancies arise, to the supreme court. This will give the right, and most particularly the religious right, unprecedented influence over all three branches of government in Washington.

The dreadful truth about the end of the Moscow theatre siege was becoming clear yesterday. The secret gas, pumped into the building to knock out the Chechen rebels and allow crack Russian troops to storm the building just before dawn on Saturday, killed scores of hostages and caused many others to slip into a coma. [snip] According to other sources, the gas, so powerful that it caused the Chechen gunmen to fall unconscious even before they could pull the triggers on their bombs, was developed by the FSB security service. But the agency, the successor to the KGB, is refusing to tell doctors the identity of the gas or provide an antidote. The gas was secretly pumped into the theatre at about 5.30am after two hostages had been killed.

Why isn't this newsworthy to the electronic media? Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan acknowledged yesterday that suspected sniper John Allen Muhammad is a member of his Chicago-based group.

The Life and Times of Ahmed and Mohammed, one of the truly great sites.

But indefinitely propping up an INC-style quisling regime might be exactly what the United States wants, as it would mean that U.S. troops would be occupying Iraq's oil fields for years to come. Again, oil IS an American interest. We currently have bases in Wahhabist Saudi Arabia, which covertly funds terrorist organizations worldwide, playing both sides against the middle. Establishing bases in an "occupied", friendly Iraq, directly across the border from the Saudis, doesn't seem like a bad idea to me. It's hard to overstate the importance of Iraqi oil. With proven reserves of 112 billion barrels (and many analysts saying that its true reserves are double that), Iraq sits above the second largest supply of oil in the world. Its crippled industry can produce only 2 million barrels of oil a day at present, but with a modest effort, Iraq's output could soar to as high as 7 million to 8 million barrels per day by decade's end. Controlling that much oil would give the United States enormous leverage over Europe and Japan, which depend heavily on Gulf oil; over Russia, whose economy is hinged to the price of its oil exports, which could be manipulated by an American-run Iraq; and over Saudi Arabia, whose regime's survival is linked to oil. "The American oil companies are going to be the main beneficiaries of this war," says Akins. "We take over Iraq, install our regime, produce oil at the maximum rate and tell Saudi Arabia to go to hell." "It's probably going to spell the end of OPEC," says JINSA's Bryen. Hey, Amen.

That's All It Took Words and Music by Edwards, Grier & Jones That's all it took The mention of your name And all my love for you Burst into flame I tried so hard To let you go, but look How I still tremble at your name That's all it took That's all it took To make me know that I still care It seems my heart just can't give up The dreams we used to share. I tell my friends I'm happy, But they read me like a book And when today I heard them say Your name that's all it took. Fiddle solo Steel solo That s all it took to make me yearn for your embrace I guess I might as well admit No one can take your place I fell for you completely Sinker line and hook And when today I heard them say Your name that's all it took. And when today I heard them say Your name that's all it took. Copyright 1973 Warner Brothers Records

Still Feeling Blue Words and Music by Gram Parsons Time can pass and time can heal But it don't ever pass the way I feel You went away a long time ago And why you left I never knew The lonely days and lonely nights Guess the world knows I ain't feelin' right And when you're gone the hours pass so slow And now I'm still feeling blue And baby Since you've walked out of my life I never felt so low Can't help but wonder why you had to go There are many girls but I can't say They come and go but still I feel this way And ever since the day you said goodbye No one treats me like you used to do I hope you're out and happy now Doing up the town cause you know how Every time I hear your name I want to die And now I'm still feeling blue All right And baby Since you've walked out of my life I never felt so low Can't help but wonder why you had to go I hope you're out and happy now Doing up the town cause you know how Every time I hear your name I want to die And now I'm still feeling blue And now I'm still feeling blue Copyright 1973 Wait & See Music BMI

I have bronchitis and feel like shit. Thank you.

Dear Microsoft: Scccrrreeeeeewwww The Butterfly. It has become more than annoying in a very short period of time, and if it pops up one more frigging time ...