The White House is

downplaying and disparaging Seymour Hersh's report in the current New Yorker to the effect that the USA is comtemplating the use of tactical nuclaer weapons against Iran's alleged atom bomb program.
Nuclear non-proliferation is a complicated subject, it admits deterrence theory, lots of hard science and many many unhappy political realities. It is also a depressing unsexy topic that is normally shunned by most of the punditariat.
That having been said I'll offer a few disparate notes on the topic:
It is an inherent contradiction to believe nuclear weapons can be actually used in order to restrain or suppress a particular nuclear weapons program. Their use automatically invalidates the policy goal in extremis.
That having been said nuclear weapons do have their uses however horrific from the policy standpoint. It is the threat of their use that restrains various actors...if the threat is both credible and paradoxically never acted upon. The US made very credible nuclear threats during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the USSR made similar threats against the PRC during the Sino-Soviet Border dispute in 1969.
Threats work-under carefully defined circumstances.
What I think is going on here is that the White House is initiating one of those threats in order to get some leverage over Tehran. They are using a non-Administration source and an opposition publication which only puts said threat in bold highlight.
Indeed Bush doesn't have much wiggle room here, his popularity is pegged at 35% or so...Iraq has errupted into Civil War, the GOP's congressional corruption has been exposed and he doesn't have the horses to take down Iran from a conventional combat standpoint.
Nor does sanctions hold much terror for Iran, not as long as the world thirsts for their oil.
For that fact, a nuclear threat against Iran has limited utility due to the fear of radiological contamination of their oil reserves.
But Bush has few cards to play in a situation he has beautifully bungled from day one.
I think John Kerry may have the right idea, try and drag Moscow and Peking into a coalition to restrain Iran's atom bomb program. It is certainly worth a try, but doing this will require some serious diplomatic heavy lifting....and that is not President Bush's strong suit.

If...

Really bad op-ed writing is your thing, they you must check out Joanie Vennochi's latest column in the Boston Sunday Globe.
In it, she tries in a half hearted wat to render George Bush Jr. Lies, crimes and blunders morally equivalent with Bill Clinton's blow job.
Then she hems and haws for two paragraphs and finally dismisses the notion with an embarrassed wave of her hand.
This is a prime example of the sort of crap columnists write when they lack a moral compass, when they have dislikes and fetishes not beliefs and interests.
The nation is burning from within and without, and all Joanie can do is drag out her battered and shopworn Bill Clinton action figure for yet another session of rhetorical needlework.

Bloggers versus Pundits

What do Ellen Goodman and Jeff Jacoby both have in common?
They both devoted considerable column inches this week to slagging bloggers. They both dislike our alleged frantic emotionalism, immediacy and or poor spelling.

Oh and we and they are competing for the same audience cohort, let us not forget that.
Humble Elias sees this as good news, if they feel they must sniff at and dismiss us, we must be making an impression.
If it is a bad impression so much the better, these yaps have had years to speak the truth to power, they won't so with bad spelling and all, the sinecure falls to us.

Barrios Out?

The Boston Globe has been suggesting that State Senator Jared Barrios is about to abandon his quest to be Middlesex County DA.
Maybe it is for the best, a sort of political natural selection process seems to have occurred here, leaving Law Enforcement Professional Gerry Leone the last man standing.
Leone from what I've seen of him, appears to be a very serious guy with a long resume and much experience in the field of prosecution.
Barrios on the other hand despite his obvious charisma and many talents seemed to be in the wrong race. In elections to come one can easily see him stepping up to Secretar y of State or Lieutenant Governor.
But that depends on the breaks, at the moment the rumor is Barrios will be running for re-election thus nudging the somewhat troubled candidacy of Anthony Gallucio aside.
One hopes to hear of him again, he is after all a very earnest and sincere man.

If Tom Reilly is over and done with...

how come he has managed to raise about 370K in campaign donations in the First Quarter of this year?
An amount that is about comparable to what Deval Patrick raised...

As yet I have no dog in this fight, but it seems to me that despite some appalling political pratfalls earlier this year that Tom is still alive, well and thoroughly competitive.
4.1 million dollars can buy a fella a very fair hearing down the road when the race heats up.
Just sayin'...

The Hammer Falls

Tom Delay is abandoning congress under a mounting load of legal worries and electoral issues.
Kudos to Joshua Micah Marshall and all those who unerringly kept this dirtbag son of bitch in the crosshairs for all that time.
And so The Hammer departs, he leaves Congress in a bloody shambles, divided between outright theocrats and those ardent to revive wage slavery.
Corrupt and worthless himself, Delay was a master of foulmouthed persecution politics and that haughty tone of xian triumphalism.
Of course, total domination of congress costs money so while he was preaching the sweet gospel of the little baby Jesus Armed and Truculent he was also collecting money from every crook and lobbyist in DC.
It is tempting to dismiss Delay as a man of the past, a machine pol brought down by zeal and greed. I think he is diresome harbinger of things to come, even more corrupt theocrats are no doubt waiting in the wings, inspired by Delay's example and intoxicated at the possibilities presented by his kind of raw power worship.
Certainly nothing in the current system of checks and balances will prevent someone ten times worse than Delay from seizing power.

So...

the House and Senate are all but at war over an Immigration Bill?
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys really.

I hope Congressman Tancredo chases Bill "JesusMan" Frist into the Senate Cloakroom with a machete.

A fight between The GOP Faction that supports racial and cultural purity versus the cabal that is desperate for cheap labor is a consummation devoutly to be wished.
The bastards deserve one another.
Frankly I haven't been this viscerally excited about a fight since Bill Goldberg challenged The Rock to a brawl determining who was dominate mesomorph of the Universe.