So, Fearless Leader* says that there was a thwarted terrorist threat to Los Angeles? After the WMD debacle, how gullible does he think Americans are? Wait--does he even think?

This person--who thinks of himself as the "education president" and declared that no child should be left behind (and then scuttles funding that would benefit at-risk children in favor of military expenditures) needs to return to school himself and learn how to think logically.

He calls himself born-again, but has he ever asked himself WWJD? Would Jesus put military adventure over the welfare of the poor and sick? (The next budget proposes to raise the Iraq expenditures and lower the Medicare expenditures. Oh yes--and cut the taxes of the wealthy--the ones least affected by the budget cuts.)

Maybe ten years ago I read an excellent book by Paul Kennedy titled The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Kennedy's thesis is that each century has seen a different power come to more or less dominate the world, but that domination has lasted less than than century for each one. First was Portugal in the 16th century, with its explorations, followed by Spain in the 17th. France was powerful in the 18th century and England the 19th. The 20th century came to be dominated by the United States. And now it is the 21st century.

What brought each of the first four powers down? Ultimately, they overreached their capacity to control/influence/whatever. The costs of maintaining a world-wide empire (remember the saying "the sun never sets on the Union Jack?") took a greater and greater proportion of their budgets. Domination was expensive.

Need I continue?

By the way--make sure you are registered to vote. If you moved, change your registration. I don't know about other states, but in Louisiana you can register to vote at DMV when you get you license plate. I think you can also register at the library and a lot of other places.

Voting gives you the right to gripe.

*Fearless Leader is from Rocky and Bullwinkle--Boris and Natasha reported to him.