I was expecting this sort of thing to keep under wraps until the day after Bush’s reign expires.  And especially not while the war is still raging.

Can you imagine all of his “hush hush” conversations being packaged into a handy book seller cassette format? I suspect there’s a library full of taped Bush conversations somewhere. Hello Nixon!

Revealed: Saddam ‘ready to walk away for $1bn’

A transcript of an eve-of-war conversation between President George Bush and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has revealed a previously undisclosed initiative to avert war in Iraq by spiriting Saddam Hussein out of the country.

But Mr Bush seems to shrug off the idea, saying “it’s also possible he could be assassinated”, and he makes made clear that the US would in any case give “no guarantee” for Hussein. “He’s a thief, a terrorist and a war criminal. Compared to Saddam, Milosevic would be a Mother Teresa.”

The most interesting thing is that at the time this conversation was documented, Bush and Blair still promoted their willingness to a diplomatic resolution. But this conversation shows that peace was never an option.

“We have to get rid of Saddam. There are two weeks left. In two weeks we’ll be ready militarily,” Mr Bush told Mr Aznar.

And that’s history, folks.

Popularity: 2% [?]

“I know you are- but what am I?”

TEHRAN (AP) — Iran’s parliament yesterday approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army “terrorist organizations,” in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Wow… the school kid style antics between our two governments continue.

The hard-liner dominated parliament cited U.S. involvement in dropping nuclear bombs on Japan in World War II, using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians and torturing terror suspects in prisons.

Well… ok… admittedly that sounds pretty bad.

The resolution, which is seen as a diplomatic offensive against the United States, urges Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government to treat the two as terrorist organizations. It also paves the way for the resolution to become legislation that — if ratified by the country’s hard-line constitutional watchdog — would become law.

The government is expected to wait for U.S. reaction before making its decision. In Washington, the White House declined to comment yesterday.

Would this be the type of response they’re looking for?

Popularity: 2% [?]

It’s like voting for little Pez Dispensers.

You know you wanna click it.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that every child born in the United States should get a $5,000 “baby bond” from the government to help pay for future costs of college or buying a home.

It’s an admirable idea, yes. But if Sen. Clinton inherits the Bush era debt of $8.9 trillion and counting (each citizen’s share of the debt is at nearly $30,000), this may only deepen the troubling national debt concerns.

Remember when Bush kicked us single folks a $300 tax break check during his presidential infancy in 2001 ($600 for those that tied the knot)? I shiver at the thought of this sort of irrational spending happening again.

P.S. Spent my Bushy check on booze, if I recall. I rationalized that it would help lubricate the many years our country had ahead of us.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Just to throw this out there, talking about candidate favorites and public recognition and such- for what it’s worth here are the standings for most google hits per candidate in order from highest to lowest:

John Edwards- 6,610,000

Hillary Clinton- 6,200,000

Fred Thompson- 3,610,000

Barack Obama- 2,660,000

Sam Brownback/Mitt Romney (tie)- 2,220,000

Bill Richardson- 2,180,000

John McCain- 2,120,000

Rudy Giuliani- 2,040,000

Joe Biden- 1,990,000

Dennis Kucinich- 1,970,000

Ron Paul- 1,910,000

Tom Tancredo- 1,840,000

Mike Huckabee- 1,820,000

Duncan Hunter- 1,690,000

Chris Dodd- 1,670,000

Mike Gravel- 1,620,000

List of candidates taken from the Washington Post.

Google count is of course flawed due to the potential for other people to have the same names, etc.

And now to really put things in perspective:

Paris Hilton has 18,300,000 google hits.

Britney Spears has 20,100,000 google hits.

Barry Bonds has 3,210,000 google hits.

Skitz M. Jones has exactly 69 google hits. no joke.

Bill Clinton has 12,700,000 google hits.

and George W. Bush has 44,800,000 google hits.

So you can kinda tell where the public’s interest is resting these days.

Popularity: 3% [?]