ne day when they construct the George W. Bush Library, I wonder what it will include besides "My Pet Goat."

Our President has been a stern critic of leaks of classified information, and those around him have frequently said that they want to "get to the bottom" of who it was that leaked the name of Ambassador Joseph C.Wilson's wife, covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, to the media. During the intervening nearly three years the White House has never mentioned the President's apparent invovlement in the deliberate disclosure meant to undermine Amb.Wilson.
It now appears most likely that Mr. Bush was the one who authorized White House official Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose sensitive intelligence information to the news media in an attempt to discredit a CIA advisor whose views undermined the arguments given for the invasion of Iraq.

The federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. It has been nearly 9 years since Congress increased it. I believe I am correct in saying that if they fail to show a little generosity by year's end, it will be the longest stretch without an improvement in the history of the country. Fortunately states are more generous and in the past year or so, eleven states and Washington DC have raised their minimum wage, with the most generous being Michigan at $7.40 by mid July 2008.
The concern is spreading nationwide. So, even if our elected Congressional representatives fail to act, the battle for a higher and much needed minimum wage is taking off at the state level.

There is still no apparent strategy to end the war in Iraq and, as the president has suggested, the withdrawal of American troops will not be completed on his watch. In Vanity Fair in 2003 Christopher Hitchens wrote of the war to come: "This will be no war - there will be a fairly brief and ruthless military intervention...The president will give an order. (the attack) will be rapid, accurate and dazzling...It will be greeted by the majority of the Iraqi people as emancipation. And I say, bring it on."
Mr. Hitchens, they brought it on and it appears that it goes on and on and on.

Anthony Zinni was a former senior military commander. He has called for the dismissal of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. On Meet the Press this distinguished retired general was asked who should lose their job over how Washington has managed its Iraq policy. His response "Secretary of Defense to begin with."
He added, "There's a series of disasterous mistakes. We just heard the secretary of state say these were tactical mistakes. They were not tactical mistakes. These were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policies made back here."
Over 2,333 US troops have been killed in Iraq and more than 17,000 wounded.

Did you follow the most recent comments by the former counsel to President Richard Nixon, John Dean?
He believes that Bush's secret intercepts of American citizens' communications are "more serious abuses" than Nixon perpetrated in Watergate. His argument being that Bush's program of electronic surveillance, without a court warrant, required by law, is probably much broader than Nixon's trampling on civil liberties as he sought to find dirt on his perceived political enemies.

Sen.John McCain trounced candidate Bush in the 2000 primary in New Hampshire. The margin was a full 19 points. He's getting an early start to seek the nomination. He has already signed up Bush's media man, Mark McKinnon, If McCain continues to show momentum and strength in the polls of likely GOP primary voters, he might well be unstoppable. As Professor Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Austin has said, "It seems what McCain is doing is the classic move...run right during the primaries, then run center for the general." He added, "He is doing what has to do. To a purist it doesn't smell right, but find me someone who hasn't done that who won."
He could win.

Just a thought, what if we had not attacked Iraq, and knowing that there was no Iraq/ Al Qaeda relationship, we had concentrated all our efforts in Afghanistan? After defeating the Taliban we could have concentrated fully on getting Bin Laden. Think how much better the American image in the world would be.