Four easy pieces

As BuzzFlash points out, this is a no-brainer wedge issue for the Democrats. Let's hope there's still some Dems left in the party with the brains to see that stem cell research is an easy sell. They need to be conspiciously behind this bill and force a White House veto.

Condi finds it grotesque that anyone might suggest the debacle in Iraq has contributed to the rise of violence in the Middle East, (not to mention elsewhere around the world). Think Progress has the video. I find it grotesque that she is still invoking 9/11 as an excuse for every cursed failure of this administration.

On a brighter note, I have figured out the White House meme of the week. Confrontation. I've heard it used a dozen times this week, including remarks by Bush that suggested all this rampant violence in the world was occurring right along but no one noticed until he started "confronting" it.

Maybe they should confront this. A gang of bank robbers who used fully automatic machineguns obtained the weapons from an Iraq vet. This is an inevitable consequence of the lowered standards our military has been forced to accept for enlistment. Just as with drugs, the war zone offers a cheap supply of deadly weapons that can be sold at a tempting profit in the US. As the ranks of our military are being filled with gang members who seek to arm themselves against each other and extremist militia groups who seek to foster violent revolution against society, our personal security is endangered by a whole new class of criminal.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Chait at the LAT asks the long forgotten question, "Is Bush still too dumb to be president?" Unfortunately, the answer is still yes.