Note: This is an early impression, and there's probably a lot of information that either isn't out there, or hasn't reached me yet. But it's a start.

This is cross-posted from my website.

**********************

Russia has invaded two so-called “breakaway provinces” that are officially part of the sovereign nation of Georgia. Now, despite of two cease-fire announcements, the Russians are not leaving. In addition, they are threatening to open up a second front by invading Poland.

So whose fault is it?

Clearly, there is a convoluted situation in the area known as South Ossetia. Both South Ossetia and Georgia were annexed by Russia in 1801, but the area has been Balkanized for centuries, and neither the Romanovs nor Soviet rulers were able to change that. Both North and South Ossetians have long fought for unification. North Ossetians tended to be willing to be, if not part of Russia, at least closely associated with that country. South Ossetians, on the other hand, have tended to prefer complete autonomy.

So this nice, little old lady was standing outside the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, where John McCain was ... performing, and she was holding a sign that said "McCain=Bush." No big deal. She wasn't approaching anyone, or shouting anything, or getting in anybody's way. She was just standing there, holding a sign.

Except that she was arrested by the Denver Police on the demand of the Waffen SS -- excuse me, the Secret Service.

The YouTube video is here.

Remember in 2004 when John Hall had to tell the Bush campaign team not to use his song "Still the One" (Billboard article available here)? McCain is now on notice as well. Yup, he used the song at a "town hall" on the campaign trail.

According to MSNBC, Hall stated, "This is yet another example of John McCain not learning anything from George Bush's mistakes. First, McCain adopted Bush's failed policy of an open-ended war in Iraq, then he wrapped his arms around the failed Bush economic policies that have put the squeeze on middle class families. Now, he's making the same mistake George Bush made illegally using a copyrighted song without asking either the writers or the performers for permission."

It seems the "third Bush term" line is getting more accurate every day.

Back in 1993, Jose E. Medellin was part of a Houston, TX, gang that raped, tormented and killed two teenaged girls. He was arrested and, after being Mirandized, confessed. But Medellin is Mexican, and under the terms of the Vienna Convention he was entitled to contact Mexican diplomats as well. He wasn't informed of that right.

Medellin was sentenced to death.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice ("ICJ," also known as the "World Court") ruled that Medellin's rights were violated by Texas authorities -- and Bush ordered the state of Texas to reopen the case. That's right, he actually went along with a ICJ decision!

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has now ruled that Bush had no power

Just before the 2004 election, Osama bin Laden released a videotape that is credited with giving George W. Bush a second term as President. Recently, pundits are again speculating over whether he will do it again just before the 2008 election, and what effect it will have.

Before delving a little deeper into this question (something the self-appointed pundits never seem to do), let us remember that over six years after bin Laden’s group hijacked four planes and killed almost 3,000 Americans he is still a free man. In that time, George W. Bush has shifted his position from “Wanted, Dead or Alive” to “not that interested” to … well, he seems to be ignoring bin Laden completely.

Could the two facts – bin Laden’s videotape and Bush’s nonchalance – be connected?

A “new” video has surfaced, showing Dick Cheney talking about his decision not to invade Baghdad when he was Secretary of Defense. In 1991, we “liberated” Kuwait from the invasion by Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein, and the coalition forces stopped after ridding Kuwait of Iraqi forces.

At the time, Cheney said, “… if we had gone to Baghdad we would have been all alone … It would have been a U.S. occupation of Iraq.” He went on to ask, “Once you got to Iraq and took it over … then what are you going to put in its place?” He continued by worrying that Syria and Iran would claim parts of Iraq and that Turkey’s “territorial integrity” would be threatened.

He even said, “It’s a quagmire.” Those are Dick Cheney’s exact words.

In his press conference yesterday, George W. Bush called our seemingly interminable occupation of Iraq an “ideological struggle.” All evidence to the contrary, Bush still believes that he can create an atmosphere in which American values, systems and lifestyles will magically flourish in Iraq.

In the short term it is obvious that Bush is wrong. The only time in the history of the planet that one people imposed a non-totalitarian system of government on another was in 1945, and we had to drop a couple of atomic bombs on the Japanese first. Unless Bush & Co. are planning to nuke Iraq, there is no way that region’s people are going to surrender their history and customs to our political system.

In the long term Bush is still wrong, although it is not quite as obvious.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg used his first public appearance since announcing switching from the Republican Party to being an independent, a press conference celebrating the alleged success of his 311 program, to showcase his policy creativity to the media.

Bloomberg’s aware that his leaving the Republican Party would confirm to the media, his current constituents and potential presidential voters, that he’s pursuing an independent Presidential candidacy, despite saying wink, wink, I’m not running, and knew the world be watching his first appearance after making public his official political independence. This is why Bloomberg is using a press conference honoring 311, a program that he is particularly but unjustifiably proud of, as the location of his personal Presidential Debutante Ball.

Bloomberg hoped touting 311 success would perpetuate the myth that he’s a non-partisan problem solver. But the emperor has no clothes. 311 is useless.

I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is going to prison.

Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, crimes committed during the special prosecutor’s investigation of the “outing” of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. For his crimes, Libby has been sentenced to spend thirty months in prison.

The argument in the press now is whether George W. Bush should pardon Scooter Libby. Those who favor a pardon claim that the investigation didn’t find any “real” crime, that nobody has accused Libby of being the original source of the “outing,” and that Valerie Plame Wilson is doing quite well, thank you.

But nobody is asking why Scooter Libby lied.

This is a key question, first because anyone who lies to the FBI and to a grand jury must be covering up something serious, and second because what Libby is covering up could, if uncovered, lead to an unprecedented situation.