Well, it finally happened. If your local daily covers it, it'll probably be a paragraph hiding near the classified section. But, let's hope Friday July 25th was an important beginning.

What was it? Six hours of testimony to the House Judiciary Committee - officially an inquiry into Executive Power and the Bush Administration. For the record, it was not about impeaching Pinocchio Flight Jacket and other arrogant members of his mis-administration.

Are you old enough to remember the promise made by Senator Pat Roberts (former chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee) to complete Phase II of the Senate inquiry into pre-Iraq invasion and occupation? That was five years ago. For five long years, Pinocchio Flight Jacket's (aka George W. Bush's) obedient sitter wagged his tail, dangled his tongue and did his favorite trick. He sat.

Now at last the report under Senator Jay Rockefeller's chairmanship has been officially submitted. While it is certainly less than flattering for the Bush administration -- thanks in large part to the, uh, leadership of Poodle Pat Roberts -- the five year delay provided ample time for covert CYA, short for cover your asses. Poodle Pat and his master surely sighed, "Thank you, Jesus and our busy Department of Defense PR staff."

But they're still nervous. Day after day the same drone from Pinocchio Flight Jacket's camp: "Well, everybody thought, uh... everybody had the same, uh, intelligence. It was the dadgummed intelligence was wrong, don'cha know. Lies? No, no, no. Uh, bad intelligence."

It is important, nay, crucial, for Americans to respond to administration propaganda with these stubborn reminders...

This kid deserves an Oscar:

"..the question... is not whether newspapers are making any money here -- assuredly they are; rather it's whether this 'miracle heater' ... is something you should buy for the advertised price of $298...or just another fast-buck hoax foisted on you by a newspaper advertising department with limited scruples...." (Pete Selkowe, Racine Post, Wisconsin)

I'm disappointed and cranky.

Bad enough Bill O'Reilly from FOX (Pretends-to-be) News roosts regularly on my local paper's opinion page. Now the advertising department accepts garbage as well.

Friday was the second time this full page ad mimicking a news story appeared in this paper. The first time I chided our editors about the "Heat Surge Roll-n-Glow" advertisement, but my objections obviously didn't carry much weight. Last week an identical or nearly identical full page ad was headlined, "Amish man's new miracle idea helps home heat bills hit rock bottom." Horse hockey...

Dick Armey: "Now, the fact of the matter is, the party isn't so upset with John Wayne as some personalities are upset with John Wayne ..."

Tucker Carlson: "John Wayne? A euphemism for John McCain?"

Dick Armey: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, John McCain."
(MSNBC, Jan. 30)

Armey, a former Republican congressman from Texas, is credited as the author of the Contract with America which led to a Republican takeover of Congress in the 1990's Whether or not his slip of the tongue was intentional, he was dead-on.

My friends, the understated machismo of John Wayne is precisely the strategy that McCain McBush hopes will win him the White House.

The John Wayne McCain movie now playing is, of course, "The War in Iraq." And we hear the predictable paranoia monologue...