Significant but uneven

Headline of the day (AP): “Brazil Opens Condom Factory to Protect the Amazon.”

McCain, in an email, accuses Clinton and Obama of calling for a “pre-emptive withdrawal” from Iraq. A pre-what-ive what now? He calls on them to “move beyond empty and destructive rhetoric”. Can rhetoric be both empty and destructive?

Speaking of empty and destructive, David Petraeus testified before Congress today. He says there has been “significant but uneven” progress in Iraq. Or possibly significantly uneven progress. Or unevenly significant progress.


There were protesters and everything.


Today Bush awarded a Medal of Honor to a dead Navy Seal (or as the Pentagon website puts it, a “fallen SEAL”) (Ew, the site just refreshed, with a picture of Bush crying). Bush let tears roll down his cheek without wiping them away until every photographer in the room got the shot.

Surge of sadness

Then he met with some visiting Afghan provincial governors. “I started off the meeting by telling them I was a governor once.” Then the governors told him how they were once warlords/drug barons/CIA assets/mujahadeen/all of the above.

They came with their own concerns: “Some provinces are quiet, and the governor wondered whether or not, because it’s quiet, people remember the people in the province exist.” Guys, most days Americans don’t remember that the people in Afghanistan exist.

BEING ABLE TO SEE: “And I shared with them our desire to help them succeed, because one of the things that really matters in democracy is that local governance is strong and good and honest, that the people are being able to see the benefits of democracy.”