No A-Bomb for Iran After All

An interesting twist, for sure, that will cause the right wing military-industrial commentariat to go ballistic: it turns out Iran isn't building nuclear weapons after all.

That's the conclusion of the most recent National Intelligence Estimate, a document compiled jointly by our leading intelligence agencies.

What this tells us is that after six years of letting politicians--especially Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Donald Rumsfeld--dictate what the intelligence agencies would find, we're now finally in an era when the President, having had most of his political cronies run out of town, is allowing the intelligence agencies to do their work.

Just imagine if this is how it had gone in the run-up to the Iraq war--we would have saved thousands of American lives, tens of thousands of Iraqi lives and a trillion dollars.

Now, a prediction (an easy one, at that): look for a slew of op-ed pieces from the right wing attacking this NIE, cherry-picking data just like they did on Iraq, and continuing their sword-rattling for a preemptive strike against Iran.

P.S.--Don't get us wrong: we think Iran is still up to some serious mischief, both in Iraq, and perhaps more malevolently, in Lebanon.

Seriously, though--we need to engage Iran, not demonize it. For example, it's hard to see how the U.S. can justify intervening in Iraq for strategic reasons, but then denounce Iran for having an interest in what's going on along it's border. Iraq fought a long, costly and deadly war against Iran not that long ago, and the Iranians have some pretty good reasons to dislike Iraqi Sunni muslims. That doesn't necessarily justify what they're doing, but it does suggest getting a dialogue going.

Webb Iran Bill; Surge Kills U.S. Soldiers; What Does NRLC Have To Hide; Cold Coulter Shoulder; Obesity Surgery For Kids; Callahan Retirement

Today we cover a potpourri of Curmudgeonly short subjects:

Webb Bill Would Limit Authority To Start A War With Iran

Jim Webb has introduced a bill in the Senate that would prevent Bush from using funds to start a war with Iran without Congressional authorization. See here for details.

Bombs Kill U.S. Soldiers In Baghdad

The risks of a troop surge in Iraq were obvious: sending in more U.S. soldiers and placing them in the streets of Baghdad makes them more vulnerable to attack. Today, those risks hit home as bombs killed at least nine U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and maimed many more. Why are we fighting in this civil war?

What Does The National Right To Life Committee Have To Hide?

The National Right To Life Committee has "vowed" to kill legislation that would require executive branch officials to disclose who has been lobbying them. (See story here.) This is pretty reasonable legislation in the wake of the Abramoff scandals and other related examples of insidious political lobbying of the Bush administration. The legislation would obviously apply to future administrations as well, whether Democratic or Republican.

We wonder what the NRLC has to hide.

Let Coulter Run Her Mouth

We really hate to even mention the lady's name in any way because it only gives her the attention she obviously craves. However, we're happy to have AC make public appearances in front of conservative audiences to call people she disagrees with "faggots" and "traitors" because it lets the independent middle of the road citizens see what Brown Shirts these "conservatives" really are.

Obesity Surgery For Children

We haven't said much about obesity for some time--evidently the issue has dropped off the media screen. We did see a report today that the number of children having radical surgery to treat obesity tripled between 2000-2003, and presumably has increased more since then.

That's pretty sad news. While many food marketers have become more responsible in their advertising, we still see plenty of promotions that do little more than encourage overeating. Burger King is a particularly big offender in this category, evidently because it is desperate for business. Wendy's may be worse, because unlike Burger King it pretends to be concerned about obesity and children's diets, yet continues to promote massive triple sized bacon cheese whatever burgers, while also retaining its misleading 20 ounce "small" drinks.

Worse is Quiznos Subs, which has been going after Subway by comparing its meat-filled overstuffed sandwiches with Subway's leaner offering. Maybe the Quiznos person in the ads should weigh 300 pounds, compared to Subway's Jared. (In any event, a regular Subway sandwich costs about half that of a regular Quiznos; for some extra $ you can make your Subway just as fattening.)

At bottom, public health officials have made little headway against obesity in recent years, with most initiatives, such as banning sodas in schools, being minor band-aids.

It's truly sad to see children so large they need life-threatening radical surgery to save themselves.

Fairfax GOP Delegate Vincent Callahan To Retire

The Washington Post reports that Fairfax Republican Delegate Vincent Callahan, who has served a remarkable 40 years in the Virginia House, is retiring at age 75. This presents an excellent opportunity for a Democratic pick-up in the fall election--Callahan was the sole remaining Republican inside the beltway.

Still, it comes at a high cost to Northern Virginia. Callahan was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, a perch from which he could steer money to NoVa (from whence the money came, we might add).

It's too bad Democratic gains often come at the cost of more moderate Republicans, but that's the way it will be, both at the state and national levels, in our current political environment.