The Tuesday ‘BushWhack’ing

It's April 15th, do you know where your taxes are? Mine? Filed, refund sent, refund spent... wow that was fast... sure am glad I have that other check coming soon, that will turn around the economy just like that… it’s so hard to express sarcasm in the written form.

• Sen. McCain released his presidential economic plan that includes an end to earmarks (heard that one before), a gas-tax holiday (yeah, right) and government-backed mortgages… (we’ll see…)
• “President” Bush has ordered the release of $200 million in emergency aid to aid (imagine that) countries where the soaring cost of basic food has spurred riots and instability…
• The DNC filed a lawsuit yesterday in an attempt to fore the FEC to investigate whether McCain violated federal spending limits for his primary campaign after using the “prospect” of $6 million in federal matching funds as collateral for a campaign loan in December. Additionally McCain got the advantage of automatic ballot access in every state rather than having to gain ballot access themselves, a pricy task whose cost usually reaches well into the millions. After it became apparent that he would get the nomination, he decided to NOT claim the funds so he could spend more freely… which, at first blush, would seem like a violation of FEC rules. But so far the FEC has done nothing but look the other way. (Eventually the FEC will have to act, as the DNC will NOT let this incident go away and WILL make an issue of it... stay tuned)
• I mentioned it yesterday but it’s so damn laughable it bears repeating. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari is still maintaining that Iraq is paying it’s share of the cost of the war…
• Will the ‘bitter’ness ever end on the Democratic presidential campaign trail?
• This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. 83% of Arabs have an “unfavorable view of the United States” while 70% have no confidence and a scant 6% believe the surge in Iraq worked…
• Eighteen people were arrested outside the White House Sunday for protesting Bush’s silence on Darfur…
• And have we mentioned? That we’ll soon have a Rummy autobiography to leaf through? Word is that former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is working on his memoirs for a 2010 publishing date. Allegedly he will donate proceeds to a non-for-profit foundation that he founded and the book will “span my lifetime,” according to Rumsfeld… (2010 huh? What’s the statute of limitations for federal crimes? Considering that Rumsfeld legacy as one of the brightest political minds took a SERIOUS hit by serving in the Bush(whacked) Administration, it should be interesting to see what he says about Bush... stay tuned, should be a good read. Unless he has it ghosted by the people that write Bush's SOTU, then it will be filled with rhetorical nonsense that has no basis in fact...)