Dubya's priorities...

Pakistan should be front and center on everyone's plate today. But we live in a silly time and place, so tiger attacks and year-end lists top the slate for many. I'll return to the point and offer a few quick thoughts on yesterday's tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto. First of all, I was shocked to wake up early yesterday morning (aided by Maya's demands just after 5am to get the day started), turn on CNN and NPR @ 5:10...and soon learn that I had been briefed approximately 20 minutes before Dubya. What does the leader of the Free World watch @ 7:30am on his "ranch"? My bet is well-worn SpongeBob SquarePants DVDs. Snark aside, I have a theory about this whole mess. The Musharraf government is telling the truth. It was al-Qaeda that orchestrated the plot. Conspiracy theorists are playing off the worst fears of Pakistanis - Musharraf had Bhutto whacked. That's easy to ignite in the public imagination since the population of Pakistan is largely illiterate and given the recent crackdown on the formerly independent media, sourced only by state-controlled or compliant lackies. But I suggest you think about it through this prism for a moment - kill the opposition leader supported by the Americans and you accomplish two things. 1) Cause anarchy. 2) Ruin both the hopes of the Bushies to calm Pakistan and undermine any future claim of Musharraf's legitimacy. I'm sad to say that I believe we've once again been gamed by the "terrorists" our leaders have spent so many lives and so much treasure to demonize. In one fell swoop, we've once again lost a country that we supposedly bought at the Pottery Barn years ago.

The last hypocrisy that I can mention today is just now percolating over the wires. Dubya has threatened through surrogates to veto the Pentagon funding bill for this fiscal year over a convoluted rationale that I strongly believe he and his minions will regret almost immediately. In a nutshell, language in the bill allows victims of Saddam Hussein's rein to seek compensation from the current Iraqi government. How we have jurisdiction over this, I have no freakin' idea. Somehow, the current Iraqi government turned the screws on the Bushies to set up this fight. As a result, Dubya has thrown his Executive Branch veto power down as the gauntlet once again. One question to all those Congressional Staffers that I know hang on my every word - can you please plan to split this ripe melon wide open given the changes in Pakistan and omnibus domestic appropriations compromises to justify full hearings on all aspects of this massive Defense bill? Fact check - as best as I can glean, the Defense bill amounts to $459Billion, and the ominbus domestic/debt-servicing/Medicare/Medicaid/SSI bill was tagged at $555Billion. Which do you think deserves a closer looksie? Maybe Dubya did us all a favor on this flub.

Hope your own budgets are signed, sealed and delivered today. Rock on.

Next question: "All of us in (insert appropriate Hickville reference) want to know if you believe that prayer is helpful with your work?"

Hillary's campaign continues to amaze. If you've not yet heard (and I was pleasantly surprised that a particularly well-informed dinner guest last night hadn't), her latest kerfuffle relates to planting questions in the audience of Iowa rallies. As if. Everyone knows it happens given all the 20-something advance staff marshalling supporters and cheeseballs around the endless events they're currently droning on through. Yet the way her people have handled it "without her knowledge" convinces me that she's once again trying to have it both ways. She condemns attack politics, but doesn't deny it happened in her shop. I'll say it again - horrible, horrible campaign work. The action is much, much less offensive than the reaction. Which leads me to repeatedly intone that we should all be very afraid of the arrogance of the Dems heading deep into the '08 cycle. Congress ain't even baked a cake much less given anyone anything they can use during their leadership. And we're supposed to believe in this "inevitable" candidacy? Somewhere right now, Howard Dean is screaming in an airport bathroom. Oh, and that's in no way meant to be the pun you think was intended.

On another Hillary follow-up, the Maid-Rite waitress, Anita Esterday, gave an interview to The Huffington Post regarding TipGate. No surprises if you're entirely cynical. Her life has been turned upside down and she will no longer consider voting for Hillary. If you're unacquainted, you can catch up. Anyhoo, I sound like I'm piling on here. But I seriously feel like this sort of junk targeting her was as likely as Tuesday following Monday. Guess that makes me the cynic, after all.

The NYTimes scored an interview with Pervez "The Perv" Musharraf in which he offers the most Orwellian defenses of martial law since, well, Orwell. But that was fiction. Pakistan is a nation-sized keg that's gonna get dropped at least a few more times before it makes it to the deck and gets tapped in the crowd. Thereafter...well, stand back and try not to hold the first glass.

Big news upcoming on the Maya front. We're shifting her from the part-time educational care of the Lutherans to that of the Jews. Call it a system upgrade. Or don't - no offense to all those Lutheran IT managers out there. Regardless, it won't happen until January. So pics of the Jesusmas pagent will still get some play here before we get ready for all the High Holidays that I vaguely remember come somewhat annually. But don't quote me on that. In all seriousness, it will be very nice place for her advancement just down the hill from our home. Maya's impressive command of all the lyrics on the latest Justin Roberts album I think slam dunked her application.

Hope your own upgrades go smoothly today. Rock on.