The New York Times today reports that the Republicans are up to it again, trying to censor information that they don't approve of:

Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other Bush administration officials have complained heatedly to Qatari leaders that Al Jazeera's broadcasts have been inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq.
(Weisman, Steven R. "Under Pressure, Qatar May Sell Jazeera Station." 30 Jan 05)

So the "broadcasts … [are] inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq?" It's good to see Cheney outraged over this sort of misbehavior, especially when it results in the loss of thousands of lives.

You can't fool all of the people all of the time, but you can sure fool enough people to get re-elected.

Evidently, Qatari is thinking of selling it. Can Rupert be far away? Welcome to Fox, Middle-Easterners. Get ready for a full scale assult of flesh and BS.

Obviously, the administration's pressure on Qatar fits in nicely with Bush's pronouncements on bringing freedom and democracy to the region. "Let everyone have his say, as long as what he says parrots me!"

Taxes: The Republicans, reportedly, are turning their attention to "changing the tax code." What are they going to change it to? Are they going to eliminate the the huge holes that allow partnerships among the top one percenters to avoid paying tens of billions of dollars in taxes? Does anyone really believe that they would do that to the people who bought them the election?

Computing: Steven Johnson has a NYTimes article in today's edition on the ways that new search tools might change the way we (writers) think. What he describes is equivenlant to what real writers have known all along about the value of dictionaries, among other tools. You look something up in a dictionary and low and behold, there is a wealth of other infromation you hadn't even thought of, leading you to new ideas.

This will work for that handful of people who are actually interested in thinking. I couldn't help but wonder how many people might be reading this article and become disappointed that the computer program Johnson describes wouldn't actually be doing the thinking for them.

Regime change: Tom Friedman's Op-Ed piece in todays NYTimes points out the most effective, and likely, means of bringing regime change in Iran: lowering the price of oil. This was the method used to bring about the destruction of the USSR. Russia had huge oil reserves; we all know that from the recent energy issues coming out of the country and from even the lightest study of WWII. The West helped bring about an extended period of low oil prices, helping to keep the price per barrel down to as low as ten dollars. That bankrupted the USSR's economy.

Friedman has pinpointed an eighteen-dollar-per-barrel goal for achieving regime change in Iran. He's probably right. The question is how to do it. He's arguing for conservation and development of alternative energy sources. In the long run, these have to be the answers. We've got to recycle our Hummers into cheap hybrids. Time to get started folks, unless the Neo-cons plan on bringing back the draft. Let's see, what are the odds they'll stay in power if they do that?

The Emporer's New Clothes: We've all heard the story about the emporer who got hoodwinked into walking around nude, while his flatterers told him how good he looked in his new clothes. Then he encounters a young boy who doesn't know enough to keep his mouth shut and spills the beans. Fortunately, the emporer wakes up and corrects the situation.

When, you must be wondering, will Mr. Bush wake up and realize that his advisers are selling him a bill of goods? When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you ain't saving Social Security. The "plan" is to take tax money and enrich Wall Street bankers. It's that plain and simple.

Mr. Bush's problem is that he won't listen to that little boy telling him that he's walking around in plastic wrap. His handlers won't even allow the little boy close enough to him to be heard. The only people who can wake Mr. Bush up to the fiasco are Laura, the twins, or Momma. The twins are too enraptured with their own "princess-dom" to help out here, Laura doesn't seem bright enough, and Momma … well, it appears that she doesn't really care about what happens to this country as long as her set is okay.

It is certainly a shame that the one tax that has worked in this country, the tax that has supported the rest of the government for the past twenty or so years, is about to be flushed by someone who thinks he's actually doing good.

Isn't there someone left in the administration with a shred of decency? Is everyone in the Republican party so enamored of Argentina that they have to force it into that round hole? (See Paul Krugman's "The Iceberg Cometh" on yesterday's NYTimes Op-Ed page.)

Basball:The New York Mets signed Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran for over 170 million dollars. They'll get one trip to the World Series out of it and a load of debt. And I wouldn't bet on the Series trip. They're in what might be the toughest division in baseball, with at least three other serious contenders. Think what the Marlins could do with that kind of money to throw around.

Starting the New Year: The Rev. Dobson of Colarado appears to be putting on the "brown shirt": Dobson is threatening Democratic senators "if they block conservative appointments to the Supreme Court" according to David D. Kirkpatrick of the New York Times.

Dobson is evidently feeling his muscle following all the hype about the relegious right's influence in the recent election, including the defeat of Tom Daschle. According to the times, Dobson's organization has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the purposes of imposing ultra right wing elected officials on the American public. One wonders how much the good Reverend has raised to assist the victums of the recent natural disaster in Asia and India.

Could it be that Dobson's goal is to become America's "Cardinal Richeleau," the power behind the throne, the king maker? Surely not!

Curiously, Dobson sent the threatening letter announcing his intentions to the media before submitting it to the threatened senators. Let's see, you spell "Dobson": D-e-m-a-g-o-g-u-e.

In the future: Look for a major battle between congress and the courts coming during the next Bush administration. Congressmen are attempting to threaten judges with impeachment if their decisions don't match the latest wind blowing through congress. They will also use the power of the purse (the budget) to strangle the courts. They can effectively destroy the balance of power that is our true backbone of government in the US by closing them down through a lack of funds. Then the Bushites can lock up anyone who opposes them at will.

(See Linda Greenhouse's article in today's Times.)

We have become very sedate in this country, assuming our rights are carved in stone, but the truth is that we always live on a knife edge. The lunatic fringe have at least that part right.