The "scandalous" is from Arlen Specter.  "Disappointed" and "surprised" come from Olympia Snowe.  The details come from the Guardian's story on congressional reaction to the details of the President's proposed 2007 budget.

Just when you think you've identified the most absurd conservative in the world...for instance, when you first read David Brooks...along comes another one to make your face contort into positions it should never hold.

From one Dr. Vincent G. Gioia, writing for New Media Journal

What would happen to all our "investors", China included, if the US developed the cajones in time of crisis to simply declare a bank holiday or nullify all foreign debt by law or decree? Sure, we would be disliked and more on the world stage, but so what? After all, business is business.

Scientists the world over are hailing the news published today in the Online Edition of "The Independent."

KBR wins a new government contract.  To make detention centers in the U.S.

It would be much easier to tolerate the concept of "multiculturalism" if we didn't have to deal with people whose values are, well... "different" from ours.

Thankfully, it seems that many American opinion-shapers are coming to the same conclusion

I missed the morning session of the hearing, but saw most of the afternoon one.  Not completely disheartening, and certainly not wildly hopeful.  At least the majority of the Committee members eventually made the point that the importance of the program to defending against attacks is completely beside the point; it's the need for oversight to keep the program from getting turned inward on the admin's political enemies that's crucial.

If anyone else caught the hearings, I'd be interested in their impression.

Now I watched the C-SPAN coverage of Alberto Gonzalez's speech at Georgetown a while back, and stayed alert for the panel discussion that followed it.  Which is to say, I actually saw the four panelists take a shot at either excoriating Bush and his NSA spying program or praising Bush for his NSA spying program.

Bill O'Reilly it seems did not bother to watch this, though it certainly did not stop him from devoting a segment of his show to how unfair the whole thing was to David Rivkin who, of course, was O'Reilly's guest.

The President and the White House have turned "tax cuts = jobs" into a soothing mantra for the masses.  In fact, up until a few days ago, the White House's official page on Economy and Budget had a bullet point item headlined "Tax Cuts Have Helped Create More Jobs."  It explained that "As rates decreased, incentives were created for small businesses to invest in new equipment and facilities so that they could expand and create jobs."

Hello.  This is Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, speaking to you from an undisclosed location over an NSA connection that must, by its very nature, be kept secret.  

"In order to sell a product or a service, a company must establish a relationship with the consumer. It must build trust and rapport. It must understand the customer's needs, and it must provide a product that delivers the promised benefits."
Jay Levinson, author and advertising expert.

America has never really been that fond of foreigners.  Every wave of immigration brought dire warnings of disastrous effects for the country, and today there is such antipathy to the United Nations that John Bolton can be made UN Ambassador without riots in the streets.

Yet Americans always seem surprised when some other nation views us--foreigners to them--in the same suspicious light.

Which is all a way of saying that, if the quote at the beginning of this piece is true, we have a hell of a long uphill battle to sell Iraqis on our intentions, which probably means we have a long haul on selling them on our idea of democracy.

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