Al Gore

This morning, I got up, stumbled into the kitchen, made myself a cup of coffee, and (bleary-eyed) sat down to see the news on CNN. Instead of the usual commercial for some kind of pharmaceuticals, there was Al Gore. He was just starting his acceptance speech for his Nobel Prize. He was, as usual these days, a moving, passionate, and incredibly intelligent speaker. (Why our country passed him over for a bumbling idiot is still a mystery to me.)

Gore's speech was a call to action. A powerful one. Read the full text here.

Rats Leaving a Sinking Ship

Friday was Karl Rove's last day on the job. "The Architect's" vision was for a permanent Republican majority in Congress and a solid hold on the Presidency. He pursued it with skill, single-mindedness, and ruthlessness. But now he's gone and, thank God, his vision is in ruins.

Rove's vision was essentially corrupt. It was all about one political party achieving and wielding power. In essence, it was no different than the German Nazis of the 1930's, or the Iraqi Ba'ath Party of the 1980's. Rove wasn't interested in statesmanship, or bringing people together, or achieving the best for the country. No, he wanted American power to be controlled by the few. And to achieve it, he was willing - no, eager - to use any means. "Divide and conquer" was his strategy. Remember statements like "if you're not with us, you're against us" and you'll see the hand of Rove.

Fortunately, Rove wasn't quite as ruthless as the Nazis or the Ba'athists. While the Third Reich was intended to last a thousand years, in reality it lasted a bit over ten. And Rove's "permanent Republican majority" was gone after six.

And now Alberto Gonzalez is stepping down. I didn't think it would happen, but miracles really do occur. As I stated before, Bush can pick some pretty good people when he has to - witness Admiral Mike McConnell as the intelligence director, and Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. So let's see who he comes up with. Pundits are saying that Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff is a strong possibility, but he'd be a disaster. He hasn't done all that great a job at Homeland Security, and moving him over to Justice sends the message that Homeland Security isn't that high on Bush's priority list. Plus, he probably wouldn't make it through the confirmation process.

I'm still reading Al Gore's book "Earth in the Balance". It's scaring the hell out of me. I'm going around now looking at everything - I mean everything - in terms of its impact on the environment. When I see TV ads for new cars, it makes me think about how much energy went into making that car, and how much gas it'll burn, and how much pollution it'll put out. I'm not even halfway thru the book yet and I'm bummed!