President Bush on Saturday:

Christmastime reminds each of us that we have a duty to our fellow citizens, that we are called to love our neighbor just as we would like to be loved ourselves. By volunteering our time and talents where they are needed most, we help heal the sick, comfort those who suffer, and bring hope to those who despair, one heart and one soul at a time.

Initial Bush administration aid package for suffering tsunami victims: $15 million.
Amount spent each day in occupation of Iraq/Afghanistan: $140-$280 million.

Somehow I missed this morsel last weekend.
Rumsfeld speaking to the troops (emphasis added):

And I think all of us have a sense if we imagine the kind of world we would face if the people who bombed the mess hall in Mosul, or the people who did the bombing in Spain, or the people who attacked the United States in New York, shot down the plane over Pennsylvania and attacked the Pentagon, the people who cut off peoples’ heads on television to intimidate, to frighten — indeed the word “terrorized” is just that. Its purpose is to terrorize, to alter behavior, to make people be something other than that which they want to be.

This would make for a pretty good tin foil hat moment, but it’s unlikely terrorists would shot down a plane they had already hijacked. I think Rummy is just losing it.

A bad combination.

Are East Tennessee emergency officials prepared if a deadly tsunami strikes here?
Full coverage at 6 and 11 p.m.

Apparently Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has never grasped the famed “Pottery Barn” principle:

His [Rumsfeld’s] main message over a four-city tour was quite different: that the insurgency has staying power and a seemingly endless supply of weapons, and the time has come for ordinary Iraqis to realize that they – not the Americans – will ultimately decide who prevails in this conflict.
. . .
During his visit, Rumsfeld said it would be unrealistic to predict that the level of violence will recede once the Jan. 30 elections are held. In the end, he said, it will be a “uniquely Iraqi solution,” not American.

In other words, good luck with this one.
In related news, Iraq’s largest Sunni Muslim party says it is withdrawing from the upcoming elections due to security concerns.
No problem, right? We’ll just appoint some Sunnis to serve in the government. And let them come up with the “Iraqi solution.”