Instant Karma not necessarily gonna get you

Ahhh, high school memories. Like the guy who proves what a stud he is by adopting a "don't take no shit" attitude and is always a few beers away from ass-whoppin' time. As I remember, for our local incarnation that meant sucker-punching someone from behind and boasting of incredible fighting skills for months. When we're lucky, those guys fade into the woodwork and we never have to deal with them again. When things go horribly, horribly wrong they rise to positions of power and we wind up with 21st century America. Hopefully my high school's ersatz tough guy hasn't amassed a body count of thousands and hundreds of billions in debt. Two of 'em would just be too much to take.



President Bush was driven by a visceral hatred of Saddam Hussein, which he privately demonstrated in expletive-laden tirades against the Iraqi dictator. In May 2002--months before he asked Congress for authority to attack Saddam-Bush bluntly revealed his ultimate game plan in a candid moment with two aides. When told that reporter Helen Thomas was questioning the need to oust Saddam by force, Bush snapped: "Did you tell her I intend to kick his sorry mother fucking ass all over the Mideast?" In a meeting with congressional leaders, the President angrily thrust his middle finger inches in front of the face of Senator Tom Daschle to illustrate Saddam's attitude toward the United States.

I took the low road, but the story-- or more accurately press release about the book Hubris-- is worth a look.