Miscellany....

The last few days have felt like emptying out the garage for the first time in years, and finding mostly stuff that exposed ugly family secrets....

Of course, top of the list is George Bush's signing of the MCA (Misery, Cruelty, Aberration).

Then, there's Mike Tyson endorsing Michael Steele for Senator from Maryland. Using the word "research" in any sentence referring to Mike Tyson is much like using "normal" to describe James Inhofe.

Thom Hartmann and Lamar Waldron seem certain that recently released documents exposing a plan for a "palace coup" against Castro bolster their contention that John F. Kennedy was murdered on orders from a Mafia don, and that the exposure of one of Castro's insiders in the coup plot moots any objections the CIA and other agencies could have to the release of all documents relating to Kennedy's assassination.

As if the JFK assassination weren't `60s enough, there's Bush meandering around the Tet offensive as if it were an election ploy....

Thought the "Bridge to Nowhere" was on hold, after being exposed as a Ted Stevens boondoggle extravaganza? Think again. It's somewhere.

Speaking of Repug politics as usual... there's this. Dick still thinks he's running Halliburton, I would guess. And on the "GWOT" scene, not so much advertising by the Repugs of the home-grown variety. Oh, yeah, and more politics as usual... GOP-style.

Some not-so-usual politics. If a governor wanted to quell domestic disturbances which were beyond the capability of the local police, he or she might have to call in the state's national guard. That's the way the system works. State national guards are under the control of the state in which they're located. Well, no, not any more. There's a natural tendency (apart from the idiot leading the Ohio NG at Kent State) to avoid killing one's friends and neighbors, so, if killing were intended, out-of-staters might be less inhibited. And that's what this change allows, and it allows Bush to make the decision, not the state governor. M'self, I'd hope that investigative reporters are poking around the edges of the FBI, Homeland Security and CIA, looking for signs of plans to instigate riots....

Finally, at the back of the garage, under a pile of rotting brownshirts, there's an old tintype of Nixon. We are all terrorists now.