MISSION ACCOMPLISHEDER!!

Another shining example of the Bush Legacy is unveiled in this morning's Washington Post. The Mega embassy built for that permanent U.S. presence in the "Free and Democratic Iraq," is, ahem, a tad askew:

"The firefighting system in the massive $736 million embassy complex in Baghdad has potential safety problems that top U.S. officials dismissed in their rush to declare construction largely completed by the end of last year, according to internal State Department documents, e-mails and interviews.

Some officials assert that in the push to complete the long-delayed project, potentially life-threatening problems have been left untouched. "This is serious enough to get someone killed," said a State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation. "The fire systems are the tip of the iceberg. That is the most visible. But no one has ever inspected the electrical system, the power plant" and other parts of the embassy complex, which will house more than 1,000 people and is vulnerable to mortar attacks."

See, those inspections wouldn't be necessary, because they're gub-ment employees, and gub-ment doesn't work. Ask any devotee of Grover Nordquist. We're soooooo much better off leaving to the private sector, especially those who pursue government contracts, and then want no oversight once the contract is signed

McGOVERN SAYS IT, WA-PO DARES TO PRINT IT

A great American - one who probably won't be here for the inauguration in 2009 - and never made to his own inauguration, has dared to step up and speak what so many finally realize. The Constitution's personal purge mechanism needs to be used to eliminate dumb and evil, the linchpins of our national decline. And the seemingly dead-to-real-journalism for a decade plus Washington post has dared to put the whole thing in their Sunday paper It's a must read, but here's a good appetizer for the national soul:

Impeachment is unlikely, of course. But we must still urge Congress to act. Impeachment, quite simply, is the procedure written into the Constitution to deal with presidents who violate the Constitution and the laws of the land. It is also a way to signal to the American people and the world that some of us feel strongly enough about the present drift of our country to support the impeachment of the false prophets who have led us astray. This, I believe, is the rightful course for an American patriot.

As former representative Elizabeth Holtzman, who played a key role in the Nixon impeachment proceedings, wrote two years ago, "it wasn't until the most recent revelations that President Bush directed the wiretapping of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Americans, in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) -- and argued that, as Commander in Chief, he had the right in the interests of national security to override our country's laws -- that I felt the same sinking feeling in my stomach as I did during Watergate. . . . A President, any President, who maintains that he is above the law -- and repeatedly violates the law -- thereby commits high crimes and misdemeanors."

I believe we have a chance to heal the wounds the nation has suffered in the opening decade of the 21st century. This recovery may take a generation and will depend on the election of a series of rational presidents and Congresses. At age 85, I won't be around to witness the completion of the difficult rebuilding of our sorely damaged country, but I'd like to hold on long enough to see the healing begin.

There has never been a day in my adult life when I would not have sacrificed that life to save the United States from genuine danger, such as the ones we faced when I served as a bomber pilot in World War II. We must be a great nation because from time to time, we make gigantic blunders, but so far, we have survived and recovered.