The President observed that American troops, many of whom were among the at least 24 dead at an attack on a mess tent at an American encampment in Mosul, Iraq were on “a mission of peace.” Well, that’s the first time the already Orwellian named “Operation Iraqi Freedom” has been called “a mission of peace.” I’m reminded of the former New York Jet receiver, Abdul Salam (Soldier of Peace). I mean, say what you will, but our little adventure of aggression against the Iraqi people was (1) a misguided attempt at American self-defense, (2) a misguided effort at altering the...

Nothing like taking advantage of the cover of the longest night of the year to unveil the President’s plans for his second term: decreasing the deficit by half by lowering taxes on those most able to pay them, massive borrowing for social security “privatization”, increased spending on “defense” and “homeland security”, and, of course, higher debt service payments as massive trade and budget deficits cause interest rates to rise. Your talking dog has seen this sort of thing, many times in the course of his professional career. As a bankruptcy attorney. Admittedly, it tends to be the exception: most bankruptcies...

For those who, like Senators Kerry and Edwards, were cowed by George W. Bush’s asinine question “Would you rather Saddam Hussein were still in power?”, we give you further evidence (in the form of multiple killings and kidnappings that left at least 67 iraqis dead today in Karbala and Najaf) that only around 51% of the American electorate, and seemingly no one else on the planet, would sincerely answer that question in the negative. While Saddam’s regime was clearly brutal, it was orderly and staunchly opposed to, say, the theocrats of Iran, and hence, useful to us (at one time,...

That would be the Chinese government, of course, which announced (via this week’s visit to our friends at Beijing’s People’s Daily) that measures are under way to weed out incompetence and corruption among the cadres in China’s vast government bureaucracy. Very interesting, of course, in an authoritarian one party state; but as China’s vast middle class becomes more vast, its ability to demand responsive government services will only grow. Does that mean people become somewhat less demanding as their economic and social plights… worsen? Hmmmm… Let’s just say that here in America, of course, we will not be bullied by...

Steve Darnell, writing to Pravda and thereby constituting this week’s visit, has to go all the way back to the winter of 1777 as the basis for this piece lauding Secretarissimo Rumsfeld and his catty response to PFC Wilson’s inquiry as to why American vehicles in Iraq aren’t properly armored (one fact which accounts for around, oh, half of American combat deaths in that theater). General George Washington, you see, had to endure privations at Valley Forge, and American infantry men always bitch. No point in noting that the American military, at Rummy and Dubya’s directions, geared up for an...

Welcome to the Republic of Gideon, baby. Yes, your Social Security Administration refuses to accept proof of marriages performed in New Paltz, New York (thanks to the village’s Mayor West performing, heaven help us. same sex marriages…) The SSA won’t accept proof of any marriages performed in New Paltz– straight or otherwise. Via No Capital. It just so happens that Mrs. TD and I were married some thirteen years ago… in… New Paltz… New York… We’re filing for our tax refunds immediately… We’ll try to break the news to the Loquacious Pup gently… After having lived through 9-11-01 from a...

Big Pharma superstar Pfizer’s arthritis pain drug, the heavily advertised Celebrex, was found responsible for a signficant increase in heart problems, according to a Pfizer study of other applications for the drug. Well, well, well. What we have is just part of the vicious cycle now operating in America’s so-called health care apparatus: big pharma develops a drug for some use, then advertises the &^%$ out of it, people go to their doctors demanding the neat new drug they saw on t.v., doctors are under pressure to satisfy their patients (and as an added benefit, the insurance companies are much...

Contracts to develop a couple of minor Iraqi oil fields were let to Canadian and Turkish bidders. The contracts, totalling under $500 million, were notable for their smallness, i.e., no major oil companies (or Bechtel, Halliburton or the usual favored suspects) seemed to have an interest in them. The contracts are of note because they are, of course, the first “post-war” contracts let by “the sovereign” (albeit illegitimate) government of Iraq. The announcement of these contracts comes just as former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was allowed to meet with his defense lawyers (for the first time). Relationship between the two?...

One of the funniest television shticks I’ve ever seen was but a moment: on an NBC television special hosted by Don Rickles in the early 1970’s, the network decided to feature another of its stars, and asked Rickles to point him out. Rickles did so, as follows: “Ladies and gentlemen, its Mr. Bob Hope! I guess the war must be over!” [It wasn’t.] Fast forward to a less funny moment in what has now moved into the ranks of bloodiest American military adventures, and what now passes for “entertaining the troops”, an event attended by around 1,000 service personnel (same...

Amidst reports of successive attacks on gates leading to the protected American suburb in the center of Baghdad affectionately (and, interestingly, accurately so) called “the Green Zone”, interim premier (and, I suppose, the front runner in next month’s show elections in Iraq) Iyad Allawi has announced that starting next week, proceedings will commence vis a vis trials of former members of the Saddam Hussein Tikriti regime. Now, those irritating defendants and their irritating attorneys are kvetching about things like not being able to have counsel present during interrogations and proceedings, or having, you know, formal charges and shit for like,...