The Great American Sea Change:

First there was the axis of evil. Carry a big stick and make lots of threats. Then North Korea exploded some bombs and fired some rockets. Things changed.

Now people are starting to talk in the Middle East. Israel is holding indirect talks with Syria. It's made deals with Hamas and Hezbollah.

And low and behold, the Bush administration has envoys participating in a discussion with—Iran. Naturally there are "no negotiations" being conducted, or at least that's what the Bushies claim, but still. (See The New York Times story.)

The Dude's take on diplomacy: "See, the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it's over." — George W. Bush in a private comment to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 17, 2006.

EPA Finally Forced To Admit Truth on Global Warming:

Yesterday the Environmental Protection Agency admitted that global warming poses very real threats to humans, not just polar bears. Deadly heat waves, hurricanes and pathogens are the direct result of global warming, as is a shortage of fresh water.

However, as The Washington Post points out "Last week, the agency decided not to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, at least not until after President Bush's term ends."

Your Military Heroes:

No one likes to criticize the the folks in uniform. It seems, somehow, unlucky. Well, I did my duty, served my time, and according to the writing on the jacket that was sold at the PX, I'm guaranteed an afterlife in heaven. (GIs will know what I mean.)

Every grunt knows that, as far as the top brass is concerned, the military exists so that the brass can have a career. And it should be plush and highly rewarding. Check out The Washington Post story on one way the generals are pursuing their goals as they fly about in perfect comfort while troops on the ground have to worry about being electrocuted while taking a shower.

Afternoon Update:

Stocks finished mixed, which they often do on Friday, ending the first week in two months when the market performed on anything like a positive note, fueled by continuing drop in oil prices.

Oil ended the day selling at $128.88 a barrel, but you probably hardly noticed at the pump. Retail sellers of gasoline will hope that you haven't yet noticed that their costs are down and won't pass the savings along until competition starts to push the price down. (See The New York Times story.)

An indication of things to come: Sales of private business jets have slumped in the U.S. traditionally the largest market for this niche item; however sales have increased in Russia, South Asia and the Mideast. (See The New York Times story.)

Where's the money going?

To date "America has … 'spent twice as much in inflation-adjusted dollars to rebuild Iraq as it did to rebuild Japan — an industrialized country three times Iraq’s size, two of whose cities had been incinerated by atomic bombs.' (And still Iraq lacks reliable electric power.)," as Frank Rich of The Times points out. Rich comes by his figures from the Vanity Fair article, "Billions over Baghdad," in this month's issue by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele.

A hundred years from now, Georgie Boy, historians will mark your administration as the most corrupt in history.

Tempest in Teapot:

Trying to brew something up as his numbers slip behind the front runner in the bid to become the Democratic party's presidential candidate, Barack Obama has called for the resignation of John Tanner, the chief of the Justice Department's civil rights division. According to The New York Times,

In a speech to a Latino group earlier this month in Los Angeles, Mr. Tanner said that a disproportionate share of elderly minority voters did not have identification, but added that it was not a widespread problem because of their life expectancy.

“Creating problems for elderly persons just is not good under any circumstance,” Mr. Tanner told the National Latino Congreso, according to a video posted on YouTube. “Of course, that also ties into the racial aspect because our society is such that minorities don’t become elderly the way white people do. They die first.”

It's reasonably clear that Tanner was being a bit insensitive in his language, but not completely off the mark. Senator Obama should focus his attention on the more relevant issue: call for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Unfortunately, only one Democratic candidate has the guts to do that.

A Rose by Any Other Name:

Okay, New York Times, you got me today. So I'm looking at the headlines and this one grabs me: "Not All Are Pleased at Plan to Offer Birth Control at Maine Middle School." Middle school! What's up with this? Where I'm from—in fact everywhere I've been from—"middle school" means grades 4 - 6. Girls in middle school are between the ages of 8 and 12 or 13 at the most. What's going on in Maine? Has pedophilia been legalized?

It turns out that "middle school" in Maine is actually junior high. The girls there who have become sexually active are still too young, but somehow 13 to 15-year-olds seems a bit less preposterous to contemplate as sexually active than the aforementioned group. After all, it's not unheard of for fourteen-year-old girls to marry, although certainly not the recommended mode of behavior in the twenty-first century. There are plenty of health issues to consider.

Nevertheless, the use of the term "middle school" in this instant amounted to cheap journalism. I certainly wouldn't have placed as much importance on the story if the school level had been properly labeled. Knowing how many people only half hear the issues being discussed, I'd guess the right wing is eating this one up. I can just see the pictures on Fox News.