Oops.  That's a problem.  For Kryptonite, that ranks right up there with "Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction and has ties to al-Qaeda."

Teachers across our country have long spent money out of their pocket for school supplies that aren't supplied by the schools.  Sad, but true.

Teachers in poor schools do so even more.

Now California teachers are losing a tax break that helped them defray those costs.

Hmm.

The article I linked to on MSNBC focuses on an intelligence paper downbeat on Iraq.  At first I thought it was the big news, but it was based on intel from a few months before the war.  Still, it's interesting that the intel from that particular era could be so downbeat, even pessimistic, while Bush was thinking that he'd have our soldiers stroll into Baghdad and everyone would be grateful.

Finally, a strong move.  Well-timed, too.  This election should be about the issues, and a big one in any race with an incumbent is "how did the incumbent do?"  This should stick, because it will resonate.  And it contrasts nicely with all the BS swift-boat lies and so on.  As bad as Bush's Vietnam-era record was, it was thirty years ago.  Bush's Presidential record is affecting us all today, right now.

Let's roll.

In much happier news, rational people (i.e. not Bushies) associated with the government are still making breakthroughs:

Physicists make atomic clock the size of a sugar cube, won't lose or gain 1 second in 300 years

In the article, they say they can't even determine what will be the most important applications of this techology yet.  I believe it.  Of course, I believe that in most cases new technology leads to applications not dreamt of by the original inventors.

Separately, an oil pipeline junction was attacked and set afire north of Baghdad.

Oil has been creeping back upward the last couple of days.  The main reason:  hurricane Ivan's march towards the Gulf Coast and therefore the bulk of U.S. oil production.  Today's second reason was the Iraqi pipeline attack.

Again, though this article doesn't go into it:  world oil useage has crept up over time.  Now it's very near what the world is able to produce regardless of oil quotas in OPEC, etc.  Any hiccup in production means oil prices go up.  The craziness caused by Bush's war ensures lots of hiccups in production.  Add that to the other worldwide hiccups that come up, and oil prices have a tough time going down.  My feeling is that they simply won't go down--not down to the high-$20s where they were before Bush's war.  If we're lucky and things settle down a bit in Iraq and other worldwide factors don't come into play, we may see the mid-$30s again.  But I wouldn't count on that either.  (Full disclosure:  I currently hold a bullish position in ExxonMobil, largely because of my belief that oil prices won't fall soon or far.)

I still think it's hilarious that the press gives any coverage to Bush's lip service on alternative fuels.

I don't think simply letting the assault weapon ban lapse is the best move.  And I don't like the way the Republicans just let the ban lapse overnight, and without debate.  It smacks of some of their dirtier legislative tactics of recent years, such as holding the votes open while they strong-arm Congressmen until they get the numbers they need, or holding votes at 3 AM when no one will see them voting.

So, while powerful weapons in the hands of the responsible are fine, the question is how will we keep them from the criminals?  While I think the assault weapons ban went too far in keeping regular folks away from guns, it must be said it did a fair job making assault weapons hard for most criminals to get a hold of--except the most desperate or well-connected.  With the lapse of this law, we have a legal vacuum with nothing else being put in place.

The impeachment power hasn't been used in Britain since 1806.

Three hurricanes in a month.  No power, and high heat.  Yeah, I'm glad I don't live in Florida.

I remember the one time I vacationed there, a storm passed through.  The rain came down in sheets.  I don't think I've been through rain anywhere else that hard.  And I've lived in the Pacific Northwest for a long time now.*

Between living under a second Bush, the heat, and the hurricanes, I don't think I would want to live there.  Beautiful state, though, at least when a hurricane hasn't been through.

* We usually get gentle rain, almost a mist, but we get our share of genuine rain storms too.

Cheney's role in the Bush campaign is to say the ugly, nasty things so that Bush can look "Presidential."  Or, at least, as Presidential as Bush can look.

Cheney said: