The Ministry of Shadows

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Who's Paying The Bill?

Wednesday, Mar. 12, 2008 3:42 AM

Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general overseeing Iraqi reconstruction, says there is a 'significant problem' with U.S. funding being diverted to Sunni and Shiite Militias. (Bowen's office is the one the White House tried to close.)

In addition, the GAO is reporting that oil revenues are up, and that the Iraqi government has a budget surplus - but neither those revenues or the surplus are going to bolster reconstruction.

We're being bled to death by this war, both through casualties and the trillions of dollars gushing out of our economy. But the same people who tell us we're winning the war are also telling us our economy is doing just fine.


Following in the wake of last week's laughing monkey dance, we have President Bush launching into a satirical refrain about leaker Scooter Libby and disgraced FEMA director Michael Brown while attending a dinner Monday night.

As I asked after the laughing monkey dance: we're facing two failed wars, a tanking economy, rocketing oil prices ... and you're laughing and dancing.

All that's missing is a fiddle.


Navy Admiral William J. Fallon, the top military commander in the Middle East, resigned during a phone call to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Fallon had recently been portrayed in an Esquire magazine article as the lone voice against going to war in Iran.

In remarks addressing Fallon's decision, Secretary Gates offered bland assurances that Fallon was not forced out, that 'all options are on the table,' and that 'I don't think there were differences (of opinion) at all.'


From the Kid Who Needs To Be Spanked And Told To Get Off His Lazy Ass Department:

In a CBS News story about unfilled manufacturing jobs in the high-tech arena - jobs that are demanding because of the detail and need for precision - a high school student scoffed at the thought of such work.

"I'm a talker," he said. "Not a worker."


There's a technique actors call 'staying in the moment,' meaning they continue to project the intent and/or emotion of their character after they've delivered their line. Consequently, we attribute qualities like 'believable' and 'sincere' to the performance.

I happened to catch the last part of a Hillary Clinton campaign speech, where her closing words exhort her listeners to help make history, God Bless, thank you ... and *click*, her expression changes as she walks off stage. She's out of the moment so fast, there's a vacuum.



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