Stranger than fiction:

From A conservative blog for peace correspondent Dave McLaughlin
Sinead O’Connor says she’s quitting the music biz to teach religion to kids
Her 'religion', anyway - whatever it is right now. (Hey, I didn't know she was still in the music business!) Dave McLaughlin: You can't make stuff like this up.

From A conservative blog for peace correspondent Lee Penn
The GOP Establishment/Sun Myung Moon connection
Lee Penn: For discernment. Of course, it is a matter of record that the Moonies run the Washington Times, and I have recently documented that Moonies are active in the United Religions Initiative. A blog entry with more links.

From lewrockwell.com today
Ted Rall on how the Democrats can beat Bush in 2004
Not that I want the Democrats in power, but the GOP really is no better. Maybe liberal Ted Rall is another example of the stopped clock.

'NEW YORK--Michael S. Dukakis served with honor in the U.S. Army for two years. Three decades later, he was ridiculed for riding in a tank while wearing a helmet and a goofy grin. George W. Bush, a simian-faced draft dodger, hitches a ride to an aircraft carrier decked out in full "Top Gun" regalia and CNN calls dubs him our "warrior president."'

'Simian-faced'? Hey, I thought one of your points against the other side was that they were 'mean-spirited'. Still, the irony of Mr Bush's 'Top Gun' posturing, considering his Vietnam War record, didn't escape me. But to give him credit, the Bush who deserted (yes) the Air National Guard was pre-evangelical Christian conversion. My guess is personally he's not really a bad man now. Just not very bright and a sock-puppet President. Bill Clinton, OTOH, was a despicable person, the man who bombed Belgrade on Orthodox Easter, an alleged rapist (multiple times) the Left including the feminists actually defended ’cos he was proabortion. My guess was he'd be remembered in spite of all that as a lovable rogue, the party animal with the shades and the sax, though nobody seems to be paying much attention to him either way these days.

'Post-attack America is feeling mean. We've used our pain as justification to kill thousands of Afghans and Iraqis, but we still haven't touched the bastards who hit us on 9/11. The recession has killed off millions of jobs, and no one seriously believes that Bush's tax cuts will bring them back any time soon. ...the Bush Administration guts ...civil liberties. ...And Americans of all political flavors feel besieged in a world where most view us as ignorant and bellicose.'

All true.

'...conservatives beat on lefties for expressing disunity during a time of crisis.'

Not this conservative. But at this point in American history, does the 'c' word really mean anything anymore?

'Few Americans are aware that Bush gave up on Afghanistan a few months after the U.S. invasion or that the Taliban and Al Qaeda are doing great--and those who know the truth don't like to think about it. We've transformed Iraq from the Arab world's most secular state to a hotbed of revolutionary Islamism.'

Yeppers.

'Dwell on the two years Bush went AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard. "Brave Americans gave their lives in Vietnam," a 30-second spot should intone as the camera pans over names of the fallen on the black wall in Washington. "Rich kid George W. Bush deserted. This coward snorted coke and drove drunk while other kids died."'

That's right - and if one goes AWOL longer than 30 days, it's desertion, a crime punishable by losing one's privilege to vote, let alone run for and hold office.

Still, does it really make any difference which mainstream party holds the White House? Rhetorical question. I don't think Al Gore would have done the right thing about Palestine, for example - get out and stay out - so Sept. 11 may well have happened under his watch with the same dismal results.