President Bush yesterday:

Let me say one other thing about the 9/11. I told the commissioners right here in the Oval Office that had we had any inkling, whatsoever, that terrorists were about to attack our country, we would have moved heaven and Earth to protect America.

Yes, it would have been something if the president had some clue that terrorists were about to strike the United States. Imagine how things might have been different had the president received some warning like this:

“Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US“

Oh wait, he actually did. But I guess he was too busy moving brush at the ranch at the time to move any “heaven and Earth.” Or do anything whatsoever.
You’d think the White House journalists might grow weary of this sometime, but I suppose its all part of the game now. Besides, the news channels were all worked up tonight about the “stunning,” “chilling” video which offers the shocking revelation that 9/11 hijackers did indeed make it through the airport security checkpoints and onto the planes. I guess old stories magically become “news” if there’s matching video.

You may be aware of BugMeNot.com, a website which allows you to bypass compulsory registration at many free websites.
I just noticed that Mozilla has a plug-in based on the same concept. I’ll have to try it out.

Resolve! Not giving in to terrorists!
I guess that kind of chatter is easy to offer when you’re a politician who isn’t getting shot at:

After more than a year of fighting, U.S. troops have stopped patrolling large swaths of Iraq’s restive Anbar province, according to the top American military intelligence officer in the area.
Most U.S. Army officers interviewed this week said the patrols in and around the province’s capital, Ramadi – home to many Iraqi military and intelligence officers under Saddam Hussein – have stopped largely because the soldiers and commanders there were tired of being shot at by insurgents who’ve refused to back down under heavy American military pressure.
. . .
After losing dozens of men to a “voiceless, faceless mass of people” with no clear leadership or political aim other than killing American soldiers, the U.S. military has had to re-evaluate the situation, said Army Maj. Thomas Neemeyer, the head American intelligence officer for the 1st Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division, the main military force in the Ramadi area and from there to Fallujah.
. . .
In the wreckage of the security situation, Neemeyer said, U.S. officials have all but given up on plans to install a democratic government in the city, and are hoping instead that Islamic extremists and other insurgent groups don’t overrun the province in the same way that they’ve seized the region’s most infamous town, Fallujah.

Seems like that’s pretty much our game plan in all of Iraq: hoping things don’t all fall apart. At least not until November 3.

Just received one of the Nigerian scam e-mails (yes, I’m behind the times). I guess there must still be some Internet un-savvy people who fall for this kind of thing. But you’d think the frauds behind this would mix things up to try to catch a few more people off guard. You know like changing the country and plot to something fewer people have been tipped off on.

Nope. No signs of our armed forces being stretched too thin here:

Seven years ago, Lexington psychiatrist Charles Ham retired from the Army.
Or at least he thought so.
Then, the other day, he got a call telling him to report to Fort Jackson for a physical examination.
Ham, who wore a U.S. Army uniform for 41 years, knew 5,600 veterans who recently had left the service were being called up. But he never thought he would be on the list.
“You know, I’m 67 years old. Why do you need me?” Ham asked.
The caller explained the Army needed psychiatrists to counsel troops.

I’m glad we’ve had almost four years to repair the military Clinton decimated.