Behind closed doors, the Newz never sleeps.

I'm outside of my typical window for putting anything up today, so I appreciate those of you that have checked back for something of mildly justifiable interest. After a full morning of being hilariously antic, Maya's out like a light for a nap. Our little veal-fattening pen of an apartment has one thing in healthy multitudes - doors. So when Maya's down for the count, we shut her behind a few layers of vertical wood, turn on the monitor, and try to get some things done. For me at the moment that means doin' drive-bys on a passel of stories.

There should be no doubt whether the Bushies are having trouble "standing up" the Iraqi government and it's alleged layers of legitimacy when debates about abusing prisoners put our military on the side of restraint. The Baghdad facility discovered last week sounds atrocious. Any time in the future that Condi or Rummy or fiddle-faddlers like Krauthammer defend the use of torture, I hope someone reminds them of this story.

Dubya yesterday estimated that 30,000 Iraqis have died since we showed up. Which tracks with what the folks at Iraqbodycount.org have tabulated. If I weren't so stunned by Dubya's correct-ish response, I'd have more to say. I only wish someone would have asked him how many WMDs had been found.

I saw a bit of the Brian Williams interview with Dubya on the "Today" show this morning. In it Dubya tries to claim that he reads the morning newspaper ("not every article, of course"). What paper, we don't yet know. My bet is the Times. The Washington Times, that is. Aside from the whole Moonies link, Dubya also loves their salient placement of "Marmaduke" and "Hi and Lois" in the midst of their Op-Ed page. Actually, I made that last bit up. But it's at least more plausible than Dubya actually reading the newspaper.

After seeing the Pack limp to victory on Sunday, I now realize that this year's top college player, Reggie Bush, is no longer headed to 'Sconi. But even if the current Packers management had the first pick, I expect they'd pick Billy Bush. Get used to the margins, Packer fans. Because that's where we're gonna be viewing the NFL from in the next decade.

The Guvahnator denied Tookie's clemency. So without any cheesy lines of movie dialogue, we're left with another deathrow vacancy. I can understand that all sorts of people believe in the death penalty. Personally, I think it's shameful. But until someone proves that an innocent person has been executed, most Americans will turn their eyes away from stories like this one. That proof is coming, though. Of that, I'm quite sure.

The Diebold voting machine CEO that promised to deliver Ohio for Dubya has resigned citing "personal reasons". There's plenty of buzz saying that whistleblowers brought fraud to the attention of Diebold's board. Anyone shocked out there? Anyone?!!

The Fed just kicked up interest rates another notch. That's 13 straight hikes, from a low of 1% to 4.25%. So just before Greenspan hands over the reigns, everyone's confused about where our monetary policy is headed. If the Bushies weren't up over their asschaps in Iraqness, I'm sure we'd be hearing daily speeches about how well the economy is doing. As it is, I wish the best to anyone out there trying to figure out just how to invest or plan for the future monetarily. We've put all our money in goats. They're pretty smelly and the depreciation's a bitch. Better than Enron, though.

The British paper "The Independent" offers a pretty ugly tabulation today, which marks the 1000th day of the Debacle in Iraqle (my new nickname - not as inspired as "The Daily Show" tagging it "Mess o' Potamia"...but I'm not out for a Peabody here). Every single one of us should read it. Twice. And then we should all call our Congresspersons and ask if they've read it. And then we should ask why our media organizations aren't marking this tragic milestone in the same way. Denial is not only a river in Egypt, after all.

I've got a list of chores to check off, so I should table some of this ramble for a later date. Thanks so much for reading. I'm really getting some great feedback about what I've thrown up against the wall here at and the Family Buick. And aside from being cheaper than therapy or heroin, that's why I'm doing this. Hope your own progress is regularly noticed by medical professionals. Rock on.