While one Iraqi source told the CIA that there were no WMD, another Iraqi source was a fabricator whose lies were eagerly embraced. "The real tragedy is that they had a good source that they misused," said one of the former CIA officers. "The fact is there was nothing there, no threat. But Bush wanted to hear what he wanted to hear."

If homosexuality were not sinful in the minds of so many folks who are sure that they know what's best for the rest of us, if entire families weren't shattered because they couldn't possibly accept their son or daughter's sexuality, if homosexuality were not feared but rather accepted or just plain old normalized in the holier than thou minds of a significant portion of our population; bathroom stalls in airports would be used for what God intended: hiding your weed before passing through security.

If lowly Democrats — who don't travel in Craig circles — have known about it for decades, how is it possible that the highest Republicans — who do travel in Craig circles — couldn't have? And if they did (as I know in my bones to be true), doesn't that make them about the most cynical, manipulating, fake-ass, scheming pack of phony bastards you ever heard of? Doesn't that make the "family values" slate nothing more than a scam to run until they get caught? Doesn't that mean that you— every last faithful Republicans out there in Idaholand—have been living a lie every bit as corrosive and corruptive as Larry Craig's?

The 9/11 tragedy did become a demarcation point for the United States, although not in the way many Americans understand. Before that date six years ago, there existed an American Republic – albeit one in decline – but afterwards a New Age authoritarian state quickly took shape.

Though some defenders of the old Republic rose up, nobody was strong enough to protect it.

As a child I learned to Worship that piece of colored cloth.

Now we have: preemptive war, the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, stop loss, neglect of returning veterans, ignored infrastructure, billions of dollars squandered on war and occupation, extraordinary rendition, secret imprisonment, warrantless domestic spying, disenfranchisement of voters, stolen elections, torture, suspension of habeas corpus and denial of due process.

I won’t pledge to it anymore.

Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says that impeachment is not off the table. That's a nice sound-bite, Congressman, almost as nice as Sen. Larry Craig's insistence that he has never had sex with a man. We all know it's a crock, and Conyers and Craig both know it when they say it, but it sounds good.

Impeachment is so far off the table it may as well be at another restaurant. As a tool for the removal of the cancer on the executive branch, impeachment is no longer operational, as they say. We've simply run out of time, because people like Conyers, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have been too scared to use their Constitutional powers for the good of the nation. They prefer to SOUND like they're serious about it, as per Conyers' insistence at a town hall meeting in Michigan this week. They have no intention of actually walking the walk, but they need to keep talking the talk, even as they continue to fund Bush's illegal war.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Hillary Clinton will do to the Democratic Party what George W. Bush has done to the GOP.

In many ways - too many ways - Hillary is - (physiology aside) - George W. Bush.