1) Over at AlterNet.org, Matt Taibbi has an article in which he pulls no punches against favorite left-wing blogosphere whipping-boy Joe Klein. I have wondered why Klein has become such a favorite target, and it comes down to two things - his arrogant attitude toward lefty blogs, with his constant "how dare they" pose whenever his integrity or even his thought processes (such as they are) are questioned; and his utter refusal to admit he was wrong about Iraq, and that in being so wrong, he has a duty now that he has seen the error of his previous position to acknowledge the correctness of his adversaries. I find his constant harping on dirty language and civility to be tiresome, to be honest; an additional strike against him (and one Tiabbi brings up).
Part of Klein's problem is that he actually believes that his judgement and understanding are superior to those of us who do not have the kind of access he does. That he has been wrong, again and again and again, should perhaps tell him something about his judgement. That he cannot take criticism should tell him and us something else - he is thin-skinned and needs to toughen himself up a bit. As for the foul language thing, all I can say is, Joe, deal with it.
2) Think Progress highlights part of a Vanity Fair article in which anti-tax guru Grover Norquist, no friend of the neo-con hawks in the Defense and State Department, makes clear that the Bush Administration is gearing up for some serious air action against Iran. You think? Two carrier battle groups and increased troop levels in Baghdad unrelated to any plan for their use in Iraq clearly show that he is plpanning for the likely contingency that Iran would launch a ground war against US forces in Iraq subsequent to some kind of massive air assault against their country.
The time is long past for Congress to put the brakes upon any of this. Forget the surge in Iraq; get on record, not in some nonsensical non-binding way, but in a way that ties the hands of the Administration, forcing some kind of serious consequences (can we all say the word impeachment?) should he ignore the mandate of the legislature and launch. Our current situation in Iraq will come to look like a pleasant afternoon in the park with family and friends should Bush unleash hell upon Iran. And that is only for starters. I cannot emphasize enough - we need to force Congress to act NOW to stop this before it happens. Waiting for the planes and missiles to take off from our ships in the Persian Gulf is far too late; by then we all need to buckle our seat belts for the roughest ride by far we have taken since the Second World War.
By the way, since I was right about Iraq before it even began, I trust my own judgement on this as well. If we attack Iran, we are in far deeper trouble than just a shooting war. The very life and health of our Constitutional form of government will be at stake.
