December 31, 2005, Just another New Year's Eve
Happy last day of 2005, everybody, the first year of the rest of the Bush Administration. I have a discussion of brush-clearing over at American Street; note the milestone-- the President has managed to spend 365 days on vacation at his Texas hobby ranch in the last five years... The "war president" who has deemed the Bill of Rights as too dangerous to actually uphold because of the serious existential threat presented by a smallish criminal gang... (more dangerous, he implies, than either Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia) hasn't deemed it too dangerous to spend over 20% of his presidency on vacation.
And so here we are. For the new year, look for nothing particularly new. Economically, we will continue our long slog into a permanent malaise (except for our super-rich, of course, who will continue to do fabulously, as more tax cuts-- and social program cuts-- are inevitable). Militarily, we'll be reducing our troop strength in Iraq to around 80 or 90 thousand troops by September; Iran will probably spread rumors that it has the bomb by the end of the year, though I'm pretty sure this won't be confirmable; OBL will pop up around Columbus Day to assure us that if we vote for Democrats in the Congressional mid-terms, he will kill our children. And this one move (along with rigged voting machines and gerrymandered districts) will somehow override the immense distaste of the American people for Republican corruption (Jack Abramoff will have implicated most of the House GOP leadership as part of his plea deal; Bill Frist's securities "issues" will prove very, very serious, and Karl Rove and Scooter Libby will be appealing convictions associated with obstruction of justice to Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald, though Rove will still be advising the President "informally"), and the GOP will hold both houses of Congress in the mid-terms.
I will keep trying to bring you first-hand reports from the various wars going on out there, in particular, though, our own Government's war on our own constitution. Otherwise, like the rest of you, I will try to live my life, with familia TD, as best we can.
On behalf of the Loquacious Pup, Mrs. TD and m'self... wishing you all a happy healthy new year, and all the best for '06...
Comments
A hearty Hauoli Makahiki Hou to you, Mrs. TD, and the Pup!
Posted by Linkmeister at December 31, 2005 12:55 PM
Good stuff. Linked you on this at Total McKrap 2005. And for good measure added you to the blogroll too. Been by a few times. Always impressed. Laugh in the New Year.
Posted by The Heretik at December 31, 2005 5:45 PM