Instahoglets May 32rd 2007

By Cernig

A periodic punchpost spectacular of blogroll goodies and "news less travelled."

Do you get the impression that even Bush officials don't know what the Plan B will be when the surge fails to deliver any ponies? Kevin Drum points out that one bunch are anonymously telling folks that it will involve the UN and thinks that's unlikely. Meanwhile, Spencer Ackerman finds another bunch saying it will involve nationalist Iraqi politicians - which may be inevitable but will hardly be what BushCo would prefer.

The Dems are about to buy into ownership of the quagmire in Iraq. Think Progress explains why they shouldn't make such a massive mistake.

And Jim Henley reminds us that "lilly-pad" is just a euphemism for "permanent base" - the Bush plan to stay in Iraq forever has never changed.

(AP) -- U.S. intelligence agencies warned senior members of the Bush administration in early 2003 that invading Iraq could create instability that would give Iran and al-Qaida new opportunities to expand their influence, according to an upcoming Senate report. But they carried on regardless.

Creature at State of The day notices a tacit admission from Bush today - "Al Qaeda is perfectly willing to follow us home while we are fighting them over there. By golly, they can fight us over there and follow us home at the same time." So what's that about staying in Iraq again, George? And can we please try to remember that 2005 happened after 2003?

Pakistan has denied the alleged presence of CIA officials in the country to hunt down Al-Qaida terrorists. Can't have them catching bush's get-out-of-jail-free card.

Or is it that we are fighting them over there so that other fundie crazies can napalm us over here?

While the public were watching American Idol, the head of Boeing's military manufacturing division warned against any "peace dividend" and the Iraqi government said it would buy at least $1.5 billion in US weaponry this year. Always follow the money.

If you're following the ongoing AttorneyGate saga then you've probably already figured out that TPMmuckraker is the 'paper' of the record. Here's their low-down on Monica Goodling's testimony. For a "storm in a teacup" non-scandal (as our rightwing friends insist) there's a whole lot of taking the 5th going on, isn't there? Oh look, there goes another one!

"At best unprofessional, at worst undemocratic and petty." If that sounds like a general description of the Bush administration to you, then join the McClatchy Club.

Blogging good news! Ron from Middle Earth Journal will now also be posting new and original material at Gun Toting Liberal. I'm a big fan of both Ron and GTL so I'll be looking forward to reading.

Tony Blair has an op-ed in today's London Times and Bush ain't gonna like it. How to stop the lights going out in a dangerous world - The right energy policies will secure our future.

And if all that isn't enough of a news, politics and blogging fix, there's always memeorandum, the best blog aggregator around.