Back To... Reality???

Wow. I really needed that holiday.

Back to catch up on a week of news and at first sight it all looks like yadda yadda yadda, same old same old.

But then a few stories start jumping out at you. Like the AWB scandal, for example. Finally they get some warm, red blood on the table and then - Cole shuts up shop? Really?

Really. Now watch how a John Howard stooge works, children. And just remember what happened to every other similar enquiry in the past five years. You think Howard might be prosecuted by his own draconian anti-terror laws? Think again.

Then there's the Rep. Mark Foley (GOP of course) paedophile story. What a demented freak. Why is it that the most ardent zealots are always the biggest hypocrites? Hmmn? Could it be something to do with the double standards by which our society lives?

Gotta love this New York Times quote:

Even by the standards of Washington, this revelation stunned Mr. Foley’s colleagues for how openly he had courted danger.

Josh Marshall is hot on the tail of this one, pointing out that the GOP leadership knew of it a year ago. Ouch!

And what the hell is Bob Woodward up to? Trying to make amends with a new book, STATE OF DENIAL?

aking advice on the strategy for Iraq from Henry Kissinger, the controversial Vietnam war-era national security adviser turned secretary of state.

"The role is not an extraordinary one," the spokesman said after speaking to Dr Kissinger.

"The President has a lot of people in, and he listens to them, and Dr Kissinger was one of them."

"Dr Kissinger says he agrees with the overall thrust of American policy. He thinks we're doing the right things. He said he also may have times when he disagrees on details," Mr Snow said.

On another front, Mr Snow denied that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld feuded to the point that he would not return her telephone calls.

"I talked with secretary Rice today and her quote was, 'This is ridiculous, and I told that to Woodward'," said Mr Snow, who added that Dr Rice and Mr Rumsfeld take part in a daily telephone call with the national security adviser.

He stopped well short of denying another bombshell reportedly in Woodward's book: that former White House chief of staff Andrew Card had twice pushed Mr Bush to fire Mr Rumsfeld.

Woodward has wormed his way into the Bush White House, particularly with his flattery of Big Dubya. If he is turning, it could be interesting.

And here's a Bush quote to ponder:

Iraq is not the reason the terrorists are at war against us. If that ever becomes the mind set of the policymakers in Washington, it means we'll go back to the old days of waiting to be attacked and then respond.

Err....???