hinese New Year starts this Sunday. My wife and I always celebrate it and maybe one good reason for these two Westerners doing so is because, more and more these days, I get the feeling that the January 1st, New Year celebration, ends up being something of a Christmas after- thought; a poor cousin to Yuletide. Chinese New Year is a fifteen day celebration. This year being the year of the dog. So, "Gung Hei Fat Choy."

I watched President Bush this morning addressing the press corps and the nation in an ad-lib performance. He appeared at ease and jovial, but in the end I thought, borrowing a line of Dan Fromkin of the Washington Post, in his review of a press conference the President gave at Kansas State University last week, "How can a president of the United States talk for almost two hours, unscripted, and be so fundamentally unrevealing?"
One thing he is achieving is getting more polished at folksy banter with some stale over-used sound-bites. But nothing new, revealing or important.

Last week Zogby International revealed the finding of a poll on the subject of the possible impeachment of President Bush. The results are quite astounding; 52% of American adults thought that Congress should consider impeaching Mr.Bush if he wiretapped U.S. citizens without court approval, including 59% of independents and 23% of Republicans. It is possible that the topic of impeachment could become an issue in this fall's Congressional elections. That would appear to be unlikely unless the Democrats regain majority status in the House of Representatives. W. contends that as Chief Executive, with his authority as commander in chief, he is entitled to order the eavesdropping on international calls of terrorism suspects without court approval. Many Constitutional scholars take issue with that stand.
Beyond that, Rep. John Conyers introduced legislation last month to create a special panel to investigate the Bush administration's alleged manipulation of pre-Iraq war intelligence.
Thus far it is all talk and no action. My fear is the memory of how the attack on President Clinton brought government almost to a standstill, was a major distraction and made it more difficult for even a brilliant politician like Mr.Clinton to make the necessary and right decisions in many other areas.
We deserve better leadership.