WE WON’T HAVE TO WORRY ANY MORE

Column no. 51 By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH - March12, 2005

Junkie:   Dr. Jonas’ column below is a TPJ first.  TPJ is co-opting Dr. Jonas’ article intended for today to reprint two of Dr. Jonas’ previous articles by Dr. Jonas on Bush’s escalating confrontation with Iran over nuclear development.  TPJ noted that Dr. Jonas, in the sum of both of the prior articles, posed a seemingly repugnant question; is the world safer with Iran holding the nuclear trigger opposed to the United States?

Even one of Dr. Jonas’ friends wrote him:

Steve: If you're really, truly more afraid of George Bush than of the theocrats in Teheran, I'm afraid we don't have anything to say to each other on this topic. If it's just rhetoric, I think it's ill-judged rhetoric.

Shortly after TPJ published the second of Dr. Jonas’ articles this news item appeared, but received only the most cursory coverage:

03/02/05 Washington, DC -- Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) has advocated for attacking Syria with nuclear weapons. Rep. Johnson was quoted telling a recent church gathering, "Syria is the problem. Syria is where those weapons of mass destruction are, in my view. You know, I can fly an F-15, put two nukes on 'em and I'll make one pass. We won't have to worry about Syria anymore."  -- Information Clearing House

Representative Johnson is one of Representative DeLay’s confederates from Texas.  TPJ has been unable to find any rebuke of Rep. Johnson’s irresponsible and reckless threat by Bush or White House representatives.

TPJ readers should reread both of Dr. Jonas’ articles below in the context of Rep. Johnson’s public threat­­­

_____________

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED:  February 24, 2005

GOING NUCLEAR IN IRAN

Our Editor/Publisher Michael Carmichael has just published the item next below on The Iran War, beginning:

Seymour Hersh and Scott Ritter have reported that the US planning for the Iran War is reaching a very advanced stage. George Bush has already approved a June launch, when the bombing will target strategic sites inside Iran.

And continuing: ". . . the Defense Department is now revising military plans for a maximum ground and air invasion of the oil-rich nation."

Right above the notice of Michael's item in my email inbox was the daily bulletin from the Washington Post, which contained this lead item:

Army Having Difficulty Meeting Recruiting Goals

The active-duty Army is in danger of failing to meet its recruiting goals, and is beginning to suffer from manpower strains like those that have dropped the National Guard and Reserves below full strength, according to Army figures and interviews with senior officers.

(By Ann Scott Tyson, The Washington Post)

The Georgite maxi-Imperialists must know this. The US will have no where near enough ground forces for any sort of ground invasion. It cannot hold its own against guerrillas in Iraq, much less the large, well organized and well-equipped Army it would be facing in Iran. It could very well face mass rebellion in the ranks of the Reserves and National Guard, and even the regular forces, including some high-ranking officers (many of whom opposed the Iraq invasion, at last at the panned level). Does this mean that they are planning to go nuclear?

Yes, folks. That's what I said. The end of civilization as we know it may be closer than most of us think.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED:  March 3, 2005

IRANIAN NUKES

Not a day seems to pass without the Iranians changing their position on nuclear weapons development. One day, they are accepting European proposals for an agreement to suspend it; the next day they seem to be repudiating any agreement.

I happen to think that the scariest nation having nuclear weaponry at present is the United States under the Georgites. It is well-known that leading members of and top advisors to the Georgite regime have for some time openly talked about invading Iran. The U.S. is the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons, and since the time of Eisenhower American administration, (only under successor Republican ones to my knowledge) has actually considered using them again in one situation or another. Currently, in the Iraq situation Georgite sympathizers talked about “nuking” Falujah and it is only recently that cost-cutting Republicans in the Congress have eliminated, for the time-being at least, the Georgite program to develop “bunker-buster” nuclear weapons, designed to get at underground facilities of various kinds.

If I were in the Iranian leadership, given these facts and given that close-by Israel, presently under the Partition-rejectionist/Palestinians-ejectionist Sharonists, is estimated to have about 400 nuclear weapons, I would want to have them too. Unless a deal is made, given that the Iranian nuclear industry is widely decentralized, only a complete takeover of the whole country by the US could prevent that from otherwise happening eventually. The trade that the Iranians may be on their way to making with the Europeans and the Russians may be indeed to not acquire them, in return for a solid guarantee of protection against the US. Perhaps this is what the on-again/off-again nature of the public Iranian position is all about, as the various forces maneuver behind closed doors to provide those guarantees to the Iranians. Stranger alliances have occurred in history.

A friend, a very sharp political analyst and a strong anti-Georgite on most issues, sent me the following comment:

Steve: If you're really, truly more afraid of George Bush than of the theocrats in Teheran, I'm afraid we don't have anything to say to each other on this topic. If it's just rhetoric, I think it's ill-judged rhetoric.

I sent him the following response (and since, three days later, I have not had a reply from him, I guess he is sticking to his non-discuss position):

Hi. Yes, I am more afraid of George Bush and the theocrats/neocons who are running him than I am of the theocrats in Teheran (who are at least faced by a democratic opposition that has some real power). George Bush is rapidly turning our country into a fascist dictatorship, something the Iranians don't have the power to do. The negative impacts of that developing development not only for our country but for the human species as we know it are terrifying, in my view.

It is almost as if the Georgites are using as a script my book The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022, originally published in 1996. The political scenario of the book begins in 2000 with the election of a not-too-bright Republican totally beholden to the Christian Right. It continues with the victory in the 2004 election of something I called the 'Republican/Christian Alliance.' Sound familiar?

Further on the original subject, whether or not the Iranians acquire nuclear weapons, I am much more afraid that the Georgite theocratic/Armageddonists might use ours than that they would use theirs.

Junkie:  The commentary above is taken from two pieces written by Dr. Jonas originally for Junkie Editor Michael Carmichael’s fabulous website, Planetary Movement.  Both pieces can be found here:  Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 27: Iranian Nukes and Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 31: Further on Iranian Nukes.

IRANIAN NUKES

Column no. 50 By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH - March 3, 2005

Not a day seems to pass without the Iranians changing their position on nuclear weapons development. One day, they are accepting European proposals for an agreement to suspend it; the next day they seem to be repudiating any agreement.

I happen to think that the scariest nation having nuclear weaponry at present is the United States under the Georgites. It is well-known that leading members of and top advisors to the Georgite regime have for some time openly talked about invading Iran. The U.S. is the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons, and since the time of Eisenhower American administration, (only under successor Republican ones to my knowledge) has actually considered using them again in one situation or another. Currently, in the Iraq situation Georgite sympathizers talked about “nuking” Falujah and it is only recently that cost-cutting Republicans in the Congress have eliminated, for the time-being at least, the Georgite program to develop “bunker-buster” nuclear weapons, designed to get at underground facilities of various kinds.

If I were in the Iranian leadership, given these facts and given that close-by Israel, presently under the Partition-rejectionist/Palestinians-ejectionist Sharonists, is estimated to have about 400 nuclear weapons, I would want to have them too. Unless a deal is made, given that the Iranian nuclear industry is widely decentralized, only a complete takeover of the whole country by the US could prevent that from otherwise happening eventually. The trade that the Iranians may be on their way to making with the Europeans and the Russians may be indeed to not acquire them, in return for a solid guarantee of protection against the US. Perhaps this is what the on-again/off-again nature of the public Iranian position is all about, as the various forces maneuver behind closed doors to provide those guarantees to the Iranians. Stranger alliances have occurred in history.

A friend, a very sharp political analyst and a strong anti-Georgite on most issues, sent me the following comment:

Steve: If you're really, truly more afraid of George Bush than of the theocrats in Teheran, I'm afraid we don't have anything to say to each other on this topic. If it's just rhetoric, I think it's ill-judged rhetoric.

I sent him the following response (and since, three days later, I have not had a reply from him, I guess he is sticking to his non-discuss position):

Hi. Yes, I am more afraid of George Bush and the theocrats/neocons who are running him than I am of the theocrats in Teheran (who are at least faced by a democratic opposition that has some real power). George Bush is rapidly turning our country into a fascist dictatorship, something the Iranians don't have the power to do. The negative impacts of that developing development not only for our country but for the human species as we know it are terrifying, in my view.

It is almost as if the Georgites are using as a script my book The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022, originally published in 1996. The political scenario of the book begins in 2000 with the election of a not-too-bright Republican totally beholden to the Christian Right. It continues with the victory in the 2004 election of something I called the 'Republican/Christian Alliance.' Sound familiar?

Further on the original subject, whether or not the Iranians acquire nuclear weapons, I am much more afraid that the Georgite theocratic/Armageddonists might use ours than that they would use theirs.

Junkie:  The commentary above is taken from two pieces written by Dr. Jonas originally for Junkie Editor Michael Carmichael’s fabulous website, Planetary Movement.  Both pieces can be found here:  Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 27: Iranian Nukes and Dr. J.’s Short Shot No. 31: Further on Iranian Nukes.

GOING NUCLEAR IN IRAN

Column no. 49 By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH - February 24, 2005

Junkie:  Dr. Jonas published this article on Junkie Editor Michael Carmichael’s wonderful website, The Moving Planet Blog.

___________

Our Editor/Publisher Michael Carmichael has just published the item next below on The Iran War, beginning:

Seymour Hersh and Scott Ritter have reported that the US planning for the Iran War is reaching a very advanced stage. George Bush has already approved a June launch, when the bombing will target strategic sites inside Iran.

And continuing: ". . . the Defense Department is now revising military plans for a maximum ground and air invasion of the oil-rich nation."

Right above the notice of Michael's item in my email inbox was the daily bulletin from the Washington Post, which contained this lead item:

Army Having Difficulty Meeting Recruiting Goals

The active-duty Army is in danger of failing to meet its recruiting goals, and is beginning to suffer from manpower strains like those that have dropped the National Guard and Reserves below full strength, according to Army figures and interviews with senior officers.

(By Ann Scott Tyson, The Washington Post)

The Georgite maxi-Imperialists must know this. The US will have no where near enough ground forces for any sort of ground invasion. It cannot hold its own against guerrillas in Iraq, much less the large, well organized and well-equipped Army it would be facing in Iran. It could very well face mass rebellion in the ranks of the Reserves and National Guard, and even the regular forces, including some high-ranking officers (many of whom opposed the Iraq invasion, at last at the panned level). Does this mean that they are planning to go nuclear?

Yes, folks. That's what I said. The end of civilization as we know it may be closer than most of us think.

THE GEORGITE SOCIAL SECURITY SCAM: BASES FOR SUSPICION

Column no. 48 By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH - February 16, 2005

There is a great deal of discussion going on of the Georgite proposals for Social Security Deform, and you may well be sated on the subject by now.  There is of course no “crisis.”  So what else is new?  The Big Lie technique is the single most important component of the Georgite propaganda strategy, whether the subject is invading Iraq, or destroying Social Security.

In this column, I examine several aspects of the issues surrounding the Georgite dream of destroying Social Security that have not received too much attention yet, in my view.  So, if you are a Social Security Deform junkie, as well as a Political Junkie, you still might find this column of interest.

Does George Bush really mean what he says about Social Security and its potential shakiness and his suddenly discovered concern for its future?  Or does he not?  The suspicion is that the second answer is correct.

Basis for Suspicion, No. 1.  When it comes to Social Security, George Bush tells us that he is concerned about the future, the far-distant future as it turns out, or so he says.  Is his next major initiative, then, going to be about other concerns for the future, often for a future quite a bit closer in time than Bush’s fictional date for the Social Security “crisis,” such as for: global warming (and a very new “doomsday is much closer than you think” report), the effects of his budget deficits on the US and global economies, the huge US balance of trade deficit, the running down of the US infrastructure compared to that of other countries, the degradation of the environment due to his policies, a US health care delivery system that is hurtling towards financial disaster, and so on and so forth? Doubtful.

Basis for Suspicion, No. 2. There is in parallel a sudden major concern about one particular aspect of what the Republican Religious Right has forever dubbed "social spending" (actually national domestic spending).  They have hated all the other elements of domestic spending ever since the Republican Party converted from the party of freedom to the party of business back in the 1880s.  The RRRs are now trashing as much domestic spending as quickly as they can.  They just do not like it.  Why all of a sudden a concern with this particular element of it, Social Security?

Basis for Suspicion, No. 3.  Even if the Social Security System were in the dire financial straits that the Georgites (and no other observers) say that it is, why is "privatization" the only way to "save" it (and even Bush now admits that it won’t)?  In fact, all of the evidence is that privatization would eventually kill it (see below).  There is a host of other ways to protect the System should it need protecting in the future, ways known to work.  Among them would be, as the population gets older and older and the proportion of active workers smaller and smaller, to raise some of the necessary funds from general taxation.  But that would be anathema to the Georgites.  In fact, one of the major reasons behind the Georgite scheme is likely to be specifically to prevent recourse to general tax funds no matter how many years in the future that drastic measure might have to be taken.

Basis for Suspicion, No. 4.  Leading Republicans give as one reason for their sudden rush of concern over the System their former contention, that privatization is the only way to save it.  That reason is that the national savings rate is so low and their scheme would increase savings.  The US national savings rate is indeed very low, and does need to be increased for a variety of reasons.  But many other much more direct ways exist to increase savings, without putting the Social Security System at such dire risk.  One could start simply with making bank savings account interest not taxable up to some predetermined level.  The problem with this for the RRR is that a) detaxing a portion of savings would provide a tax-cut for workers, and that is not a priority for the RRR, b) their money-people don't use savings accounts, and c) the lost revenue would have to be made up from somewhere (guess what source I would propose) and that wouldn't do now, would it?

Basis for Suspicion, No. 5 is the likely real goal of the Georgite plan.  In my view, what is going on here is clearly an attack on the Federal government's most popular and best-run program in its totality.  It is first on Grover “Shrink the Federal Government to the Size of a Bath-tub and then Drown it in the Tub” Norquist's hit-list.  Mark Schmitt (1/13/05, circulated by my friend Derek) put it very well: “This is of a piece with the national fiscal sabotage inherent in the notion of ‘starving the beast’: degrade the fiscal capacity of the U.S. government.  Increase its indebtedness at an unsustainable rate, allow the professional standards of its civil service to atrophy, rupture its historic international relations, diminish its credibility in financial commitments.”

As we deal with the Georgites on this issue, I think it is vital that we do not simply argue on their agenda (as we so often do).  In this case, their desired agenda is whether or not there is a “crisis,” is “privatization” a good idea or not.  But the real battle here is not over how Social Security should be run and financed.  It is clearly over whether there should be a Social Security program as we have known it since its inception or not.  The Republican Right has had Social Security in its sights since the day after its passage in 1935.  It is on this agenda that the counter-attack should begin.  Before arguing about details, first make the Georgites prove that their attack is not one aimed at destroying the whole program, on the way to destroying everything other than military-industrial, prison-industrial, opposition-repression/suppression, and mind/behavior-control Federal Government functions.

Am I being a total over-the-top alarmist here?  Consider what is going on with the Bush “Budget” (in quotes, because a number of big-ticket items like the cost of his wars have been conveniently left out).  Here is The Washington Post (Feb. 7, 2005): “ $2.5 Trillion Budget Plan Cuts Many Programs: President Bush [unveiled] a budget that eliminates dozens of politically sensitive domestic programs, while it proposes significant increases for the military and international spending, according to administration documents.  (By Mike Allen and Peter Baker, the Washington Post).” And The Los Angeles Times: “Bush to Propose Billions in Cuts, By Joel Havemann and Mary Curtius, “WASHINGTON-President Bush propose[s] a 2006 budget Monday that, despite record spending of about $2.5 trillion, will call for billions of dollars in cuts that will touch poor people on food stamps and farmers on price supports, children under Medicaid and adults in public housing.”

Oh yes.  All of these cuts of national domestic programs vital to many people slated for slashing in a show “fiscal discipline,” cost about $15 billion, in a $2.5 trillion-and-counting Budget.  Perhaps I am just the suspicious type.

Note:  This column is drawn from my “Short Shots” Nos. 39 and 43, appearing on the Weblog of The Planetary Movement Ltd. UK, Michael Carmichael (our esteemed European Editor), Creator and Director, The Moving Planet Blog.  (Click on the blue hyperlinks to go directly to the indicated material).

The Georgite Version of ‘Freedom and Democracy’ The Coming 2nd Civil War (Unless), No. 6

Column No. 47 By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH - February 10, 2005

This column is the sixth in this series.  In my view, the projected cataclysm will come to our nation, if it does, because of the ideology, policies, and ever-growing political power of the Republican Religious Right (RRR).  In different arenas, different sources ranging from the 2004 Republican Party Platform through George Bush to Jerry Falwell and Grover Norquist have stated the primary goals of the RRR.  They are: to impose their religious beliefs on all Americans through the use of the criminal law; to reduce the functions of the Federal government to the barest minimum outside of the military-and-prison-industrial complexes and the opposition repression/suppression and private-thought/behavior-control sectors; and to replace Constitutional government as we have known it with overwhelming Executive Branch dominance operating on its own authority – that is via a theocratic-fascist dictatorship.

Except when appealing to its base in the Christian Right, however, the RRR does its best to conceal most of its true goals from the American public.  It camouflages them alternatively with foreign wars, the “terror” threat, lies about the true goals of its policies and well as the facts of the cases with which it is supposedly dealing, and appeals to the basest instincts of fear and prejudice.  When the American people become fully aware of the true aims of the RRR, I am confident that they will reject them.  The rejection may come sooner, as the result of the political process (the “Unless” of the title of the series).  Yet unfortunately, it might come later, as the result of a Second Civil War that could take place either before the RRR would be able to institute a true fascist dictatorship or much later, after it did so.

Some will characterize my position as alarmist and premature.  I fully intend it to be.  We must start focusing on what the RRR is really about.  To use Jefferson’s characterization of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 as indicating an eventual bloody conflict over slavery, “the fire bell is ringing in the night.”

A good lesson on what George Bush is really about and what he says he is about is contained in his recent Inaugural Address.  What he really is about will, if unchecked, surely lead to violent conflict in our country.  As noted last week, the entire speech was a Weapon of Mass Distraction aimed at his domestic audience, primarily his core RRR supporters, and those who otherwise voted for him.  He focused almost entirely on the foreign mission that he laid out for the United States, to spread “freedom and democracy” around the world.  Nowhere did he tell us exactly what he meant by those words, although he did use terms like “oppression” and “tyranny” as bad and “rights” and “dignity” as good.  However, they were all undefined.  So perhaps the best lesson on what Bush really means is found in his approach and policies on “freedom and democracy” right here at home.  They are legion, and I have addressed some of them in past columns, several on more than one occasion.

We have the 341-page Patriot Act which, for persons labeled on Presidential authority as “terrorists” or “abettors of terrorism,” among other things eliminates: the protection against unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause provided by the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, the guarantee of the due process of law provided by the 5th Amendment, and the right to a speedy and public trial in criminal cases guaranteed by the 6th Amendment.  Continuing on with what George Bush’s concept of “freedom and democracy” really is, we have the “Gay Marriage” Amendment, the number one agenda item this year of Bush’s core Christian Right constituency.  By depriving a sector of the population defined solely by who they are as people, not anything they have done, such an Amendment would return to certain concepts of non-full-personhood contained in the original Constitution: Negro slaves counted as 3/5’s of a person just because they were Negroes and slaves, and Native Americans did not count as persons at all.  Furthermore, such a designation for homosexual persons would vitiate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment in relation to civil marriage, which happens to be defined in the law by all 50 states.

The abortion-ban amendment that is part of the Republican National platform would criminalize anyone’s belief that life begins at any time other than the moment of conception, to say nothing of depriving pregnant women of freedom of choice in the outcome of their own pregnancies before the time of fetal viability outside of the womb.  In the torture controversy, the incoming Attorney General has stated that, in his role as Commander-in-Chief the President can declare war and then, using that declaration as his reason, can violate provisions of the Constitution, as well as unilaterally amend treaties without consulting our treaty partners.  There is nothing in the “plain language” of the Constitution, so beloved by Right-wingers when they are looking to suppress individual rights (by ignoring the 9th Amendment, to them, as Robert Bork loves to say, just an “inkblot on the Constitution”), that gives the President anything like these powers.

To the Georgites, “freedom and democracy” means rigging elections.  It means buying the news.  It means being as secretive about government operations as possible.  It means having the Secretary of Defense able at will to violate the law on intelligence functions and services.  It means lying to the Congress, the people, and the United Nations about the true reasons for invading a foreign country.  It means attacking any political opponent as “partisan,” as if partisanship were not a central element of the political process in a free and democratic nation.  Finally, it means describing an election as “fair and free,” despite the fact that it was held by necessity under the tightest security that the US Army and Marine Corps could possibly provide.  Perhaps the solution to the problem of no longer having free and fair elections right here at home would be to mobilize our armed forces on Election Day to make sure that they are.

The contradictions are so obviously rife.  The contrast between Bush rhetoric and Georgite reality are so stark.  One wonders why, given this reality, any other country would want to try to respond to the Georgite call for “freedom and democracy” around the world, when this model for oppression is so obviously what the Georgites are on their way to implementing here at home.  The Georgites really seem to think that the way to spread “freedom and democracy” abroad (that is when they are not trying to squelch it as they are doing in Qatar by pressuring the government to shut down the inconvenient Al-Jazeera TV network) is to suppress it as much as they can at home.

To conclude, as I have said more than once in this space, let us hope and (for those readers who do) pray that the Democratic Party wakes up to this reality and joins the political battle that must be engaged if the Georgites are to be stopped in their tracks before it is too late and the Second Civil War is upon us.

WMD DISCOVERED --- IN WASHINGTON

Column No. 46 By Steven Jonas, MD, MPH - FEBRUARY 3, 2005

Yes indeed, WMD have been discovered in Washington and actually put on very prominent display, by the Bush 2nd Inaugural.  No, these WMD are not the Weapons of Mass Destruction that the official US/Duelfer Report (AOL News, 1/12/05) says do not now and never have for quite some time now existed in Iraq.  They are the Weapons of Mass Distraction that President Bush revealed to the world in his address.

The United States faces a series of very serious problems both at home and abroad, many of them the result of Georgite policies.  Take foreign affairs: the Iraq catastrophe (first and foremost for the Iraqi people, but also for the US military); Afghanistan (where not much has changed beyond a few centimeters beyond the boundaries of the capital, Kabul, except that opium production is now at an all-time high); that the US has become the prime mover/motivator in producing, not controlling and eliminating, terrorists from Osama bin Laden up or down (depending upon your point of view) around the world; that Bush has become the world’s most hated leader since Adolf Hitler was in his prime; and that the reputation of the US as a whole has never been lower since there has been a US.

On the domestic side, there are the ever-expanding Federal deficit, the ever-expanding overseas trade deficit and the resultant foreign loan obligations, the tanking US dollar which is leading some central banks to move out of dollars into euros (Mark Tran, The Guardian UK, 1/24/05), a move that could lead to an earthquake-like foreign debt crisis for the US; the collapsing US health care financing system; the collapsing Federal program for defending pension funds; the record-high levels of personal debt, and so on and so forth.

So what does the President talk about in his speech?  How the US is going to spread “freedom” around the world. Others have spoken very well to this expression of the height of American arrogance, self-delusion, irrationality, and indeed hubris.  Let me mention briefly one other aspect of the speech that deserves some consideration.  I will consider a second that has not drawn too much attention yet either next week.

In the face of the above problem-list that would have drawn at least some attention in a Second Inaugural from every other President, what does Karl Rove have Bush do?  Distract, distract, distract. The Georgite propaganda machine is doing just what it did in the Presidential Campaign: control the agenda and make it fit Bush’s needs.  In the speech, Iraq, Afghanistan, the deficit, the trade problem, etc. were never mentioned.  Just some impossible-to-achieve-goal that the world wants to hear none of, from this particular American President anyway.

While the world is not fooled or distracted, however, many of the American people are, and that is the main objective of the whole exercise.  This speech, setting totally unachievable goals, was not for foreign, but rather for domestic consumption.  In the campaign, Bush did exactly the same thing.  He made sure that the agenda was not about him, but rather about certain aspects of Kerry’s.  If Kerry had managed to make the agenda the Bush record, even with the massive Republican electoral cheating that apparently occurred, he would have won.  But Kerry was simply unable to do that.  He let Rove, et al set the agenda: gay marriage, abortion, “security,” “patriotism,” “toughness.”

The Democrats must learn this lesson about agenda control.  If they do not, they will never win the White House again.  It is time, then, for them to go to school.  The first lesson concerns the Georgite WMDs --- Weapons of Mass Distraction.  The subject of the Bush Second Inaugural is just one of them in current use.

NB:  This column is based in part on my “Short Shot No. 40 that appeared on the weblog http://planetmove.blogspot.com/ on January 21, 2005.