Not dead, not "retired"

But I am no longer an Athens resident (more on that in another post)

Prior to the move, my hard drive crashed, and anything with the word "blog" in it is inacessible from work (even if, say, I had gotten into a habit of posting or composing the vast majority of my recent posts on my lunch break--no dice).

But I'm back now, and content should resume its hopefully-more-than-sporadic trickle.

Assuming my head doesn't explode from following the news.
See for example today's NYTimes:
"Under pressure from President Bush, Democratic leaders in Congress are scrambling to pass legislation this week to expand the government’s electronic wiretapping powers."

What?

Sooooooo many things wrong with this sentence...

A few:
1. What "pressure" could a lame duck president with poll numbers not seen since Milhaus Nixon's impeachment trial days, whom a large portion of the country views as a figurehead anyway, what with "Fourth Branch" Cheney serving as de facto president, and a democratic majority (slim in the Senate but larger and near veto-proof in the House) what pressure could he honestly exert here?

Say the democrats are weak on terrorism? Ok, let me play PR man for the Democratic party then. "Weak on terrorism? Under your watch Mr. President Al Queda has rebuilt to pre 9/11 levels and an Al Queda-inspired terrorist cell that DID NOT EXIST PRIOR TO THE IRAQ WAR has formed in Iraq, and your appointed Director of Homeland Security (sic, what with already having the NSA, DOD, and law enforcement and all) says we're at risk, based on a 'gut feeling.' If the Dems are as you say 'weak', what does that make your administration?"

2. And it's a doozy. The illegal wiretapping (a felony by the way) was an issue that even pissed off some Republicans when it came out last year. It's the best chance to get pathological liar and ass clown Alberto Gonzalez out office. Unlike the partisan firing of USAs, it can register with the average voter. And Congress would prefer to say "ok, you've broken the law, wiped your ass with the Constitution, and bascially told the citizens of the United States 'we give not even one iota so small you'd need an electron microscope to see it-size shit about your quaint ideas of individual rights or privacy' but this time we trust you, despite your incredible exhaustive track record of time and time and time again proving that you can't even be trusted to keep our bridges from falling down."

So yeah, maybe I should take a break from the news.