How Can We Make Our Super Rich Oil Friends Even Richer?

Oil, Iraq and failure in Afghanistan: The legacy of the Bush administration grows clearer as each day passes; failure, that is, for the rest of us, success for the oil industry. (See today's New York Times' stories: "U.S. Advised Iraqi Ministry on Oil Deals," "Amid Policy Disputes, Qaeda Grows in Pakistan," and "Hoarding Nations Drive Food Costs Ever Higher." The increasing cost of energy is directly tied to the increasing cost of food.)

These People Vote:

Just how dumb are Americans? Read The Washington Post story about Findlay, Ohio for a glimpse. As one resident says, "It's hard to ignore what you hear when everybody you know is saying it." The more outrageous the lie, the more people seem to want to believe it.

The Dude on relationships: "I've reminded the prime minister—the American people, Mr. Prime Minister, over the past months that it was not always a given that the United States and America would have a close relationship." — George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., June 29, 2006 to the Prime Minister of Japan. (28 percent of America's Iraq war debt is owed to Japan; 24 percent is owed to China.)