Gale Norton will retire this month. The proponent of “no tree left behind� quit before reaching her goal because the shadow of Jack Abramoff loomed. We thought his only gift would be getting rid of crooked congressmen, now we learn he is also saving some national forest for our grandchildren.

This may sound cynical, but Dubai’s offer is fishy. They promise to “transfer� U.S. port operations to an American “entity� – with no loss of course. To get a sale Congress may have to sweeten the deal – a great opportunity for a Bush buddy to get a bargain, with taxpayers picking up the tab.

It is clear the President broke the law with warrant less wiretaps of Americans, but Republican Senators fixed that. In what they call “a hard-wrung compromise,� they made what he’s been doing legal. Instead of renewing his executive order every 45 days, now he has to start a new wiretap, get a warrant, or explain [...]

Democrats think their data base is not as good as the Republican’s so they decided to create a new one. Lacking faith in national leadership, a private group made a fresh start with money the DNC won’t get. Liberals are poor students of military strategy. Their version of divide and conquer is we divide they [...]

Democrats try to develop an agenda, create a menu.

Having played a major role in destroying our economy, Ways and Means chairman Bill Thomas decided to retire at the end of the year. Too bad it wasn’t sooner. He takes credit for passing the Bush tax cuts and making rich folks richer, helped insurance and drug firms fleece Medicare and old folks. He’ll be [...]

Republicans may seem vulnerable, but Democratic disagreement about what should be done gives them strength. The consensus, Rahm Emanuel says, is: “Staying the course is a fool’s errand.â€? He claims to be happy his party has a variety of “ideas about how to solve a problem.” He would probably be even happier if different candidates [...]

Apparently having nothing better to do, the administration declared war on leaks. The Washington Post and New York Times are both concerned, and Sacramento Bee reporters are already under FBI scrutiny. Bush wouldn’t have to worry about leaks if he stopped doing things he’s afraid to make public. Since there is no chance he’ll do [...]

Bush took a real chance going to Pakistan. The people don’t like him, and Musharraf had to seal the city to keep him safe. The President’s stated goal was to support his ally, but since the people don’t like the General either, it probably didn’t help. W. didn’t understand, because as a former cheer-leader, he [...]

Rearrange the letters in “hubristic,� an apt adjective to describe negotiations the President just concluded in India, and you get “Bush critic:� Our only hope. If we have enough in Congress they’ll stop his attempt to trade an arms race for a gift to the nuclear industry or what he may think will be a [...]

Bush was caught on videotape hearing how bad Katrina might be. Warnings were dire, but hedged, Brown’s concern was vague. Bush expressed confidence government was ready, asked no questions, gave no indication he was really listening. Some say it proves Bush lied about no one thinking the levees might break. Others say it demonstrates he [...]

Bush flew into Kabul for lunch. He reminded us we freed the capital of Afghanistan, promised to find Osama bin Laden “when” not “if,â€? hopped back in a helicopter and flew out, with guns at the ready. I don’t know what he wanted to prove, but he convinced me port security isn’t the only thing [...]