"unable" is certainly a weasel word.

But there's a difference between deliberate greedy rat-bastardry (Enron, Bush, Bush) and shocking negligence (Rumsfeld's overconfident crusade).

I have a prediction. It's not one I particularly relish. I recently changed my party registration from Republican to Democratic, on the theory that if I kept voting Democratic, I ought to belong to the damn party. I don't approve of fiscal irresponsibility and homophobia and all the rest of it.

I'm a gregarious beast, like all other human beings, no matter how superficially anti-social or ill-tempered. I want to belong. I want to talk to people, and hear what they have to say.

So: Democratic, online, gregarious, politicial-minded. Should be reading liberal blogs, should be nodding my head in thoughtful, beard-stroking agreement, yes?

Not so much.

Y'all are downers. Busy hating, Bush hating. Frothing. Going for the cheap shot. Going for the mean-spirited. Going for the sour.

Patrick, I used to keep an eye out for you on the SF newsgroups, back when Usenet was something worth following. I am honestly saddened to see what's become of you. I wouldn't want to associate with you as you now are.

Oh, the prediction? Bush is going to win a second term. Landslide. Not because he deserves it - I didn't vote for him last time and I imagine I'll talk myself into voting for whatever loser the Democrats run against him. He's going to win because the general left is drowning in its own bile. The left is no fun to be around, and that makes for lost elections as much as it does low readership.

Teresa's observation about "you folks" and its variations: vindicated again!

Despair is a downer, agreed.

"Don't mourn, organize."

Mitch, where do you propose we start?

Mitch, I'm not accusing you of anything, but many of us folk (liberals) are accustomed to posts that go like this: "I was a lifelong Democrat, but made me vote Republican.".

Now, some of those posts are undoubtedly true, but us downer mouth-frothing liberals are frequently doubtful.

That's just the way we are.

Mitch, the _Dems_ are full of hate? Using cheap shots, mean-spirited?

Wow. I take it you don't own an AM radio?

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. This whole story really outrages me. Wasn't the official reason US forces are in Iraq is to keep nasty stuff like this out of the wrong hands? And my understanding is that this is Iraq's main nuclear material storage site. Wouldn't this be absolute number one top priority for the troops to secure, once Saddam's forces were defeated? It's not like we didn't know it was there, either. Aaargh.