deber B —- The "Queen" lost her Tiara a long time ago as far as I’m concerned.  Maybe Pelosi has lost her glow with the President.  Oh my, so sad.  I think she was definitely in on that meeting and gave her consent to waterboarding.  That’s why she’s having a tizzy now.

Oh, by the way, friend of mine at Notre Dame says they are receiving petitions daily against Obama speaking at graduation.  Seems one petition had over 350,000 signatures and more are coming.  Also, the alumni donations have fallen - so far the total is $8.5 million.  And, there are students forming a protest.  Some of the alumni are calling for the Presiden of Notre Dame to resign.  Hum, it doesn’t sound good. 

I’m sure Pelosi would not be asked to be a substitute speaker! 

Talk about profiling!  The ACLU helps anybody who furthers their own limited agenda, how hypocritical!

if no one is held accountable, then America will be thought of as a country that believes in torture

exactly. but it looks like some people in this neck of the woods don’t seem to care what the world thinks of us and what our actions say to people and what it says about our moral standing (or what we have left)

You said the magic word, "diversion." Yours are just dark and twisted fantasies, of course. But from 2002 through 2005, the Bush administration really did issue terror warnings as distractions to steer public attention away from bad political news  at least 13 times. Here are few:

Number Ten:

Last Thursday. At 10 AM Eastern Time, the President addresses the National Endowment for Democracy, once again emphasizing the importance of the war on terror and insisting his government has broken up at least 10 terrorist plots since 9/11.

At 3 PM Eastern Time, five hours after the President’s speech has begun, the Associated Press reports that Karl Rove will testify again to the CIA Leak Grand Jury, and that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald has told Rove he cannot guarantee that he will not be indicted.

At 5:17 PM Eastern Time, seven hours after the President’s speech has begun, New York officials disclose a bomb threat to the city’s subway system - based on information supplied by the Federal Government. A Homeland Security spokesman says the intelligence upon which the disclosure is based is “of doubtful credibility.” And it later proves that New York City had known of the threat for at least three days, and had increased police presence in the subways long before making the announcement at that particular time. Local New York television station, WNBC, reports it had the story of the threat days in advance, but was asked by "high ranking federal officials" in New York and Washington to hold off its story.

Less than four days after revealing the threat, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says "Since the period of the threat now seems to be passing, I think over the immediate future, we’ll slowly be winding down the enhanced security."

While news organizations ranging from the New York Post to NBC News quote sources who say there was reason to believe that informant who triggered the warning simply ‘made it up’, a Senior U.S. Counter-terrorism official tells the New York Times: "There was no there, there."

The list of three additional examples follows.

Number Eleven:

October 22nd, 2004. After weeks of Administration insistence that there are terrorist plans to disrupt the elections, FBI, Law Enforcement, and other U.S. Intelligence agencies report they have found no direct evidence of any plot. More over, they say, a key CIA source who had claimed knowledge of the plot, has been discredited.

October 29, 2004. Seven days later - four days before the Presidential election - the first supposedly new, datable tape of Osama Bin Laden since December 2001 is aired on the Al-Jazeera Network. A Bush-Cheney campaign official anonymously tells the New York Daily News that from his campaign’s point of view, the tape is quote “a little gift.”

Number Twelve:

May 5th, 2005. 88 members of the United States House of Representatives send a letter to President Bush demanding an investigation of the so-called “Downing Street Memo” - a British document which describes purported American desire dating to 2002 to "fix" the evidence to fit the charges against Iraq. In Iraq over the following weekend, car bombings escalate. On the 11th, more than 75 Iraqis are killed in one.

May 11th, 2005. Later that day, an instructor and student pilot violate restricted airspace in Washington D.C. It is an event that happens hundreds of times a year, but this time the plane gets to within three miles of the White House. The Capitol is evacuated; Vice President Cheney, the First Lady, and Nancy Reagan are all rushed to secure locations. The President, biking through woods, is not immediately notified.

Number Thirteen:

June 26th, 2005. A Gallup poll suggests that 61 percent of the American public believes the President does not have a plan in Iraq. On the 28th, Mr. Bush speaks to the nation from Fort Bragg: "We fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we’ll fight them there, we’ll fight them across the world, and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won."

June 29th 2005. The next day, another private pilot veers into restricted airspace, the Capitol is again evacuated, and this time, so is the President.

deber b — Hope you enjoyed your visit in the "Sunshine State".  Tampa is a fun city.  Lots to do and great people!  It must be that midwest influence.

It’s all deversion!  Away from the economic problems facing this country.  And, you are right - it is sad.  The obsession is taking precedence over anything else.  2012 is in my prayers each night.