George W. Putin. Oops. I Mean, "Bush."

So the POTUS now has the authority to order wiretaps on US citizens in an end run around the very system that exists to require him to ask permission for said authority.

But not to worry. It's for your own protection.

Mmm hmmm. I'm inclined to believe that any time someone says that something is for your own good, you can be pretty d**n sure it's primarily for HIS own good.

An additional joyful piece of irony is Republican Arlen Specter's call that the situation not be "politicized." Why is it that Republicans are so anti-politicization when it deals with Abu Ghraib, WMD, "mission accomplished," but are the first people on board the Politicization Tour Bus when someone doesn't pay nanny taxes, gets some illicit physical attention in the White House, or when a friend of the President commits suicide (Vince Foster)?

For heaven's sake, if it weren't for activities associated with "politicization" Congress would have nothing to do but maybe pass legislation benefitting the American people; and lord knows we can't have that going on. The most beautifully, breathtakingly ridiculous aspect of Specter's plea against "politicization" is that it came from the man who, in perhaps one of the most instructive cases of politicization in US history, personally defamed Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings by accusing her of "flat-out perjury."

Apparently, the relationship between politicization and legitimate inquiry are similar to how Mel Brooks described that of comedy and tragedy: "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."