Some News and Notes

Just wanted to pass along word for a show next week. So if you are looking for something to do on Tuesday the 7th after voting...

tokyo police club
bombardment society
the 49'r
tuesday, nov 7th

I'm heading to Chicago this weekend and I'm guessing I won't be online at all. In the coming days I will have a complete voting guide for November 7. I will also post my picks of the week before I leave.

I think that's it. Oh yeah, on Thursday, Nov 9, Cursive is playing at Sokol! If you haven't heard the new CD yet, go get it IMMEDIATELY, it's great.

While I'm at it I might as well post a good article I read the other day. Here it is...

October 25, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Running Against Themselves
By MAUREEN DOWD

Things have become so dire for the Republicans that now even Bush is distancing himself from Bush.

The president is cutting and running from the president.

In a momentous event at the White House on Monday, Tony Snow made a major announcement about an important new strategy for Iraq. The president will no longer stay the course on the rallying cry “stay the course.”

A presidency built on message discipline (Message: “Stay the course”) is trying to salvage itself with some last-minute un-messaging (Message: “No more stay the course”).

Of course, the administration has never really said what “the course” is, so it was never really apparent what “staying” it meant, anyhow.

It was a wacky moment for Tony Snow, who renounced the slogan while sticking to the policy. “It left the wrong impression about what was going on,” the press secretary said, “and it allowed critics to say, ‘Well, here’s an administration that’s just embarked upon a policy and not looking at what the situation is,’ when, in fact, it’s just the opposite.”

The important thing was that the cliché sounded good to Republicans, strong and virile, for a while. But pollsters for the White House seemed to be the last to learn that even many of the party faithful had soured on the phrase, deeming it inflexible and stupid. Has Karl Rove, who urged G.O.P. candidates to keep the Democrats on the defensive on national security, lost his magic?

In a White House with a Fox News all-spin sensibility, officials don’t think they need to change the strategy as much as they need to change their slogan.

The overworked Bush phrase suggested “burying your head in the sand,” Steve Hinkson, political director at Luntz Research Companies, a G.O.P. public opinion firm, told The Washington Post’s Peter Baker. “The problem is that as the number of people who agree with remaining resolute dwindles, that sort of language doesn’t strike a chord as much as it once did.”

Unwilling to admit mistakes or face the urgent need to go past semantic changes in a protectorate that has fallen into a vicious civil war, in which Americans are merely referees and targets, the White House is falling back on marketing. Just as Andy Card rolled out the war as a marketing event, the Bush team now thinks that all it needs to do is come up with a catchy and chesty new advertising pitch.

Bay Buchanan assured Wolf Blitzer that the president still intended to stay the course and seek victory, he just wouldn’t use that phrase, because it gave people the impression that W. was unwilling to change tactics.

After all, Dick Cheney told Rush Limbaugh last week that the inept Iraqi government was doing “remarkably well.”

But given the Republican meltdown, it’s obvious that Democrats are having better luck mocking the Republicans for staying the course than Republicans are having mocking the Democrats for cutting and running. But Democrats have no ingenious ideas about how to extricate ourselves from this nasty war either.

Yet W. once more accused the Democrats of wanting to cut and run in Iraq at a campaign stop in Sarasota, Fla., yesterday.

Many frantic Republican lawmakers are also running against themselves, either reneging on their support for the war they started, or railing against Washington, the town they absolutely control, claiming that the capital has forgotten their values, or making ads denouncing the Democrats’ “homosexual agenda,” even though Republicans are now the party of gay scandal.

It’s a hilarious spectacle of a whole party re-enacting the classic scene in Mel Brooks’s “Blazing Saddles,” in which the sheriff holds the gun to his own head to take himself hostage.

The Bushes don’t connect words with action. Action is something that’s secretly plotted with the inner circle behind closed doors. The public should stay out of it. The Bushes just connect words with salesmanship. Poppy Bush never meant it when he said “Read my lips: no new taxes” at the 1988 convention. It was just a Clint Eastwood-sounding line in a Peggy Noonan speech, meant to pump up his flighty image.

Just so, his son never paid any mind to his campaign promise not to nation-build, and he didn’t come through on his bullhorn pledge to catch the perpetrators of 9/11 or his tough-guy vow to bring in Osama dead or alive.

To W., the words he says to Americans don’t matter as much as the words Dick Cheney says to him. He just has to hope that daddy’s friend, James Baker, the smooth fixer who is co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group and who has already suggested moving past the meaningless partisan jargon of “cut and run” and “stay the course,” comes up with a plan to rescue Junior from a fine mess one more time.

My Picks for 10/28/06

It's been a fairly rough year to this point, but I expect it to turn around quickly. I normally don't say this, because confidence in betting football is a bad idea, but I have a real good feeling about this weekend. Here is my top 5...

1* North Carolina +9 Over Wake Forest - I've taken NC a lot this year, and they have done nothing but disappoint. However, I feel like they are far undervalued, going up against a Wake team that is one of the most overrated in the country. NC keeps this one close and it comes down to the wire and may possibly inch out a close win, but cover easily.

2* Troy -10 Over North Texas - I talked a few weeks ago about how should come out firing during the SBC season, and they simply dominated the game that week, but did not cover. This week they are going against one of the worst teams in the country, and should win this game by at least 3 TD's.

3* Tennessee -5 Over South Carolina - The other USC has been playing some good football of late, but there offense is still a joke, as they lack the personnel to execute a Spurrier offense correctly. USC is simply overmatched in this game, and Tennessee will be able to move the ball all day, while the SC offense sputters, and Tenn wins by 2 TD's.

4* Kent St -6` Over Ohio - I have been riding Kent all season long. They have only lost 2 games to the spread this year, and I will continue to ride their hot streak. This is still an underrated team because I think people just don't realize they are a good football team - and I understand because it's hard to believe. But coming into the season it was obvious they were one of the most talented teams in the MAC and should slip Solich a Rufee or two, winning this one by 3 TD's at least.

5* BYU -8 Over Air Force - BYU has been simply unstoppable this season. They have been winning games by 30+ points regularly. Shit, they went into BC a few weeks ago and should have won that game. This is a VERY good football team. Air Force on the other hand is unathletic, and very average, and BYU should absolutely dominate this game from start to finish. They are much more talented, athletic, and big than AF. BYU wins this one by no less than 20.

One note on my preseason predictions. I picked Navy to beat ND before the season - this game is today and ND is favored by 14. So if I picked Navy to beat ND, why don't I like them at +14? The reason is simple - Navy is playin without their star QB. If he was playing, Navy would be my 5* pick this week, but as it is, ND will win by about 2 TD's.

Good Luck and GO BIG RED!

Sorry I'm late, Friday

It's been a long day so far. And really it doesn't feel like a Friday. Got a few things to say then will get to something to make us all laugh...

Tonight Tilly and the Wall will be on David Letterman. And lucky them, they are on the show with Bill O'Reilly! Can't wait to talk to them - I hope they met him.

This doesn't really feel like the start of a weekend for me. I'm on call all weekend and have a ton of homework to get done.

Go Cards! 1 win away from their first World Series title since 1982.

Remember to vote NO on 423!

There was some other stuff I wanted to say...but I can't remember what the hell it was. Oh well.

OK, this is hilarious. Enjoy watching our jackass President.


Other stuff going on this weekend - my niece Natalie's 2nd birthday (2 parties of course, wouldn't it be great to be a kid again?), Huskers take on Oklahoma St, the World Series, Dave Dondero Saturday, and Tilly on Letterman tonight. So quite a bit going on so I better get all my homework done and not get any calls! Have a great weekend.

DK

As if college tuition isn't expensive already...

The passing of Initiative 423 would make it even more expensive. For a UNO undergrad resident the cost of tuition currently is $150 per credit hour. If Initiative 423 would have passed in 1997, this cost would have been $250 per credit hour this year. And this is just the beginning, as every single year the cost would go up even more. We need to do 3 things:

1. Vote NO on Initiative 423.
2. Visit the University of Nebraska Website concerning 423 to learn more about its effects on the Nebraska University system.
3. Spread the word to vote NO on 423.

I have posted many reasons, and will continue in the coming weeks, about why 423 must fail. If you believe in cuts to Medicaid, schools, police, fire departments, etc., then feel free to vote yes. But if you care about these things, you must vote NO on 423.

DK

I don't normally post Iraq stories...

...But I had to post this one from the NYT today. The reason I don't post stories on Iraq, and am critical of any I read, is that it's the same old story, and we're all just a little sick and disgusted of it all. But the amount of money being spent (and that will be spent in the future) is out of control. The idea that we can borrow billions of dollars from other countries, while CUTTING taxes, leaves me almost speechless.

October 24, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
Iraq and Your Wallet
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

For every additional second we stay in Iraq, we taxpayers will end up paying an additional $6,300.

So aside from the rising body counts and all the other good reasons to adopt a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, here’s another: We are spending vast sums there that would be better spent rescuing the American health care system, developing alternative forms of energy and making a serious effort to reduce global poverty.

In the run-up to the Iraq war, Donald Rumsfeld estimated that the overall cost would be under $50 billion. Paul Wolfowitz argued that Iraq could use its oil to “finance its own reconstruction.”

But now several careful studies have attempted to tote up various costs, and they suggest that the tab will be more than $1 trillion — perhaps more than $2 trillion. The higher sum would amount to $6,600 per American man, woman and child.

“The total costs of the war, including the budgetary, social and macroeconomic costs, are likely to exceed $2 trillion,” Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-winning economist at Columbia, writes in an updated new study with Linda Bilmes, a public finance specialist at Harvard. Their report has just appeared in the Milken Institute Review, as an update on a paper presented earlier this year.

Just to put that $2 trillion in perspective, it is four times the additional cost needed to provide health insurance for all uninsured Americans for the next decade. It is 1,600 times Mr. Bush’s financing for his vaunted hydrogen energy project.

Another study, by two economists at the American Enterprise Institute, used somewhat different assumptions and came up with a lower figure — about $1 trillion. Those economists set up a nifty Web site, www.aei-brookings.org/iraqcosts, where you can tinker with the underlying assumptions and come up with your own personal estimates.

Of course, many of the costs are hidden and haven’t even been spent yet. For example, more than 3,000 American veterans have suffered severe head injuries in Iraq, and the U.S. government will have to pay for round-the-clock care for many of them for decades. The cost ranges from $600,000 to $5 million per person.

Then there are disability payments that will continue for a half-century. Among veterans of the first gulf war — in which ground combat lasted only 100 hours — 40 percent ended up receiving disability payments, still costing us $2 billion each year. We don’t know how many of today’s veterans will claim such benefits, but in the first quarter of this year more people sought care through the Department of Veterans Affairs than the Bush administration had budgeted for the entire year.

The war has also forced the military to offer re-enlistment bonuses that in exceptional circumstances reach $150,000. Likewise, tanks, helicopters and other battlefield equipment will have to be replaced early, since the Pentagon says they are being worn out at up to six times the peacetime rate.

The administration didn’t raise taxes to pay for the war, so we’re financing it by borrowing from China and other countries. Those borrowing costs are estimated to range from $264 billion to $308 billion in interest.

Then there are economic costs to the nation as a whole. For example, the price of oil was in the $20- to $30-a-barrel range early in this decade but has now shot up to more than $50, partly because of the drop in Iraq’s oil exports and partly because of war-related instability in the Middle East. Professors Stiglitz and Bilmes note that if just $10 of the increase is attributable to the war, that amounts to a $450 billion drag on the economy over six years.

The bottom line is that not only have we squandered 2,800 American lives and considerable American prestige in Iraq, but we’re also paying $18,000 per household to do so.

We still face the choice of whether to remain in Iraq indefinitely or to impose a timetable and withdraw U.S. troops. These studies suggest that every additional year we keep our troops in Iraq will add $200 billion to our tax bills.

My vote would be to spend a chunk of that sum instead fighting malaria, AIDS and maternal mortality, bolstering American schools, and assuring health care for all Americans. We’re spending $380,000 for every extra minute we stay in Iraq, and we can find better ways to spend that money.

Nov. 7, for real.

Don't know what to vote for this upcoming November 7 in Nebraska? See the message below from Sarah Ann...

My sweet friends,

As you may already know, numerous ballot initiatives are flying around
all over the place. And because I know all of you are very passionate
individuals, I would like to take a moment to focus your attention on
two intiatives, very important to all of us, which have become a priority
in my work the last few months. Because both efforts are quite simply,
grassroots, I figure who better to spread word to than my friends? So, I
am now going to lobby you like my friends and ask you to vote no on 423
and yes on 5. Here's why . . .

When you go to the polls, Amendment 423 will read like it sounds too
good to be true, and indeed it is. In fact, it is one of the most
conservative pieces of lunacy Nebraska has ever faced. It would
create a rigid and impractical spending lid in our state's constitution
that would leave Nebraska financially crippled. Colorado is the only
state to be suckered in by this outrageously poor
policy, and after 13 years under it Coloradoans voted to suspend it in
2005. (Things got so bad at one point that Colorado dropped its
requirement to have children receive full immunizations before
entering school b/c the state couldn't afford the vaccinations. This
was only one tragic effect.) I don't want to see Nebraska
inevitably backpeddle because of this idiocy brought to us by
certifiable multi-millionaires from out-of-state who would like to see
government shrink so small they could "drown it in a bathtub." I am
not kidding, I am quoting. They have already spent well over $1 million
to bring this harmful policy to Nebraska and promote it, and their funds are
seemingly endless. This fight is bad, and it is only going to get worse.
We must all vote no on 423. Please.

And while I'm at it, I would encourage you to vote yes on Amendment 5.
This amendment will simply reallocate money the state already has in
an educational trust fund to provide an endowment for early childhood
education. The beauty of this policy is that if we cleverly set aside $40
million from the interest of this trust, it will be matched with $20
million of private funding. No new taxes here, just a wise use of
money to create the first ever public-private partnership of its kind in the
nation to allow more children from low-income families the opportunity to
access quality early childhood services and education. This is Nebraska
progressiveness at its best, people. (Quality care for children early
in their development is crucial, sweet ones, and I feel like telling
you those same individuals bringing us 423 have come out
publicly against Amendment 5 because apparently they want to make a
career out of being total jerks.)

In brief, no on 423 and yes on 5.

I've attached two one-pagers I use at work in case you want to spread
the news yourself or learn more about these issues. If you would like any
further information or would like to talk about either 423 or 5,
please call or write.

Thank you for your time and thoughtful attention to these efforts.

with so much love,

sarah ann

___________________________________________________________________

Note: There are a couple of PDF's that lay out all this information in detail, as she mentioned. If you would like to receive them, send me an email at dave.kocsis@gmail.com and I will send it to you.

DK

Shit I forgot to post my picks!

Of course, when I'm having a good day (so far). Some of these games have started, but here they are.

1* Arkansas -19 Over Mississippi - Arkansas rolled.
2* VA Tech -17 Over So Miss - This is not enough points, as VT will roll the lesser team at home.
3* Maryland -3 Over NC St - Maryland rolled.
4* Florida St -6` Over BC - In progress, FSU up 3-0 early.
5* Central Florida -5` Over Rice - In progress, Rice up 3-0 early.

Friday

It's Friday, but I'm still not awake. This should be a fun weekend up ahead. Tomorrow Nebraska takes on Texas, and also tomorrow is Steve Pennisi's wedding. Tonight we are going to Old Chicago downtown, and a bunch of Steve's buddies from Minnesota will be there. I'm guessing we won't be there all night but will be until around 10 at least, then will move on to a bar that we actually enjoy. So if you want to come by, do it.

In addition to that, the Cardinals are in the World Series! It was a classic game last night against the Mets.

Hmmm, I'm not real humorous this morning. Too tired right now. So just check out this funny rant about Studio 60.


Everyone have a great weekend.

DK

My Picks for 10/14/06

Last week was my 2nd straight 2-3 week. But even worse, it was my first losing Saturday of the season. Let's say we turn it around this week. Here we go...

1* Texas A&M +2 Over Missouri - Mizzou has been great this season, very impressive. They went on the road last week and destroyed Texas Tech. However, they got the benefit of many turnovers, all scoring TD's or setting up easy scores. As a result of that we get serious line value. It is brutal playing at A&M, and I think A&M is a better football team overall. Chase Daniel is a young QB and finally stumbles today, with A&M winning this one easily.

2* Auburn Pick Over Florida - Auburn lost their unbeaten season last week as Arkansas dominated them. Florida got a great win over LSU, and are a very good football team, but are a little bit overrated. The Auburn defense should be able to hold down the Florida offense and win a very close game.

3* Navy -2 Over Rutgers - Navy leads the NCAA in rushing at over 350 yards a game, and Rutgers has one of the top rushers in the country as well. This is a tough game to leave the conference to play, and that Navy rushing attack is almost impossible to defend. Navy runs all over this overrated defense today.

4* North Carolina +2` Over South Florida - USF has been playing some good football, but UNC has a very underrated defense, and this is a tough road game for USF, especially with a freshman QB. Joe Dailey should get the start and I see him having his best day as a Tar Heel, and UNC wins this game.

5* Troy -10 Over UL-Monroe - This game is far and away my favorite of the day. Troy has played an absolutely brutal schedule so far this season, and they've been impressive in some and others they've gotten killed. Last week they had a week off, and thanks to the early tough schedule, week off, and explosive offense that we really haven't seen, Troy gets focused for their first conference battle and win this game by 3 TD's.

Nebraska looked pretty good last week, and I expect the winning to continue, as they go into Manhattan and get the first win at KSU since 1996.

Good Luck and GO BIG RED!

Friday, Today, Friday

Sorry I haven't posted all week but I spent about 30 hours studying for my test Tuesday. No joke, 30 hours. Luckily it went very well, but it was the hardest test I ever took in my life - 10 questions, 1 page essay per question. I'm not sure which hurt worse at the end, my brain or my hand.

I have a couple of things today. Lets start with the funny post. You can't go wrong if you're looking for a good, quick laugh, turn to the Onion Opinion pages.

I'm sure that most of you, but definitely not all of you, know who Stephon Marbury is. If you don't he is a guard for the New York Knicks, who has always had a reputation of a very good player, but doesn't have the best reputation as a stand-up person. However that has all changed recently. A couple of months ago Marbury released a new shoe. In a time where kids literally kill other kids for their shoes, which run well over $100 normally, Marbury decided a change needed to be made. His shoes are selling for only $15! I never liked the guy before, but this is an absolutely amazing thing to do. He is doing this for the kids who can't afford the top name shoes and I can't praise the guy enough. What will this do for the kids? What will this do for the shoe industry? It's hard to say. But with all the egoes and greed among professional athletes, Marbury has now shown the exact opposite, showing that he cares just as much about our communities as he does himself. If you would like to listen to an interview with Stephon on NPR click here.

Everyone have a great weekend.

DK

Week 5 NFL Picks

My NFL picks...

1* Patriots -9 Over Dolphins - The Dolphins start Joey Harrington today because Culpepper is hurt. Is there any reason not to bet against Harrington?

2* Colts -17 Over Titans - Again, this is more of a bet against the Titans than anything. As long as the Colts hold the Titans to <=14 points, they should cover this one easily.

3* Packers +3 Over Rams - The Rams will struggle going into Lambeau, and despite Ahman Green not playing, I think this will be a high scoring game, with the Packers pulling out a close win.

4* Cards +4 Over Chiefs - Matt Leinart gets his 1st career start against an improved Chiefs defense, but I think he'll do well and should beat the Chiefs today.

5* Cowboys Even Over Eagles - In the biggest game of the day, expect the Cowboys to go into Philly and get the win. They are a much better football team, have a better coach, and should dominate every phase of the game in going on the road to get the win.

My Picks for 10/7/06

Last week I went 2-3 again, putting me back in my place. It's got to change sometime. There are a TON of games I like this week, but these 5 are the cream of the crop. Here they are...

1* Mississippi St +24 Over West Virginia - I have said it time and time again that West Virginia is way overrated, though they have been impressive this season. However they step out of conference for this game against a highly underrated defense. Miss St should slow down West VA and threaten to win this game, before the talent of West VA pulls this one out, in a very close game.

2* South Florida -6` Over UConn - This game is a huge revenge match for USF. Last season they went up to Conn and got destroyed, keeping them out of the BCS game. However that game was played in the cold and slow, and 90% of the USF had never even seen snow before! The tables are turned, and UConn gets to go down in the heat of south Florida, and USF wins this one by 2 TD's or more.

3* Hawaii -11 Over Nevada - Nevada beat me last week with a nice road win, but it's much tougher going into Hawaii to play. Hawaii also boasts one of the best passing offenses and one of the best QB's in the country. Their defense will simply not be able to match up, and with a solid Hawaii defense, Hawaii wins this one by 3 TD's.

4* Cal -4` Over Oregon - Oregon killed me last week in destroying ASU, but this week go into a much tougher situation against a Cal team that has been dominating since the 1st game of the year at Tennessee. Cal is by FAR a better football team, Oregon will not be able to stop the Cal offense, and Cal puts this one away early in a blowout.

5* Colorado -5 Over Baylor - Seriously, 5 points? Not that it matters, but the spread on this game if these teams were starting the season Saturday would be -20. Colorado is hungry for a win, and has been playing much better lately, and it should come together Saturday for a Colorado win by no less than 17 points.

I mentioned there were a lot more games I like - they include Tennessee, Texas Tech, Tulane, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, and of course, Kent.

The Nebraska game will be tough Saturday night. They played like shit last week, but I expect the defense to bounce back, the offense to score a lot of points, and the Huskers pull out a tough, close win.

GO BIG RED
Good Luck
!!!!!
DK

It doesn't feel like Friday

I'm not working today (and didn't work yesterday). I also took Monday and Tuesday off. Sounds like fun, but it's not. Tuesday I have a mid-term and I'm spending the entire 6 days studying. Then Wednesday I have a quiz in my other class. As a result, this funny post is going to be very lazy, but very funny. Check out this article from The Onion.

Everyone have a great weekend.

DK

Woodward Fallout

I'm sure everyone has seen articles and TV stories about everywhere you turn on the new Bob Woodward book, but I really liked this one. Check it out...

October 4, 2006

Op-Ed Columnist

Don’t Pass the Salted Peanuts, Henry

By MAUREEN DOWD

Tom Lehrer said that political satire was rendered obsolete when Henry Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize for prolonging the Vietnam War.

But even the inventive Lehrer could never have imagined that Dr. Strangelove would get a second chance to contribute to misleading the public about a military catastrophe in a misunderstood land — a do-over in scarring the American psyche and reputation in profound ways.

Yet, as Bob Woodward reveals in “State of Denial,” the sequel to “Bush is a Genius,” Mr. Kissinger has been one of the few trusted outside advisers that W. has listened to on Iraq. The administration has shaped its policy to hew to the 83-year-old Unwise Man’s belief that the only way to beat an insurgency is to stick it out, no matter how many American kids and foreign civilians die.

Especially if elections are coming up. As the historian Robert Dallek, who is writing a book on Nixon and Kissinger, notes, “Kissinger was complicit in using foreign policy to try to save Nixon during Watergate.”

Bob Haldeman wrote in his diary on Dec. 15, 1970, using “K” for Kissinger and “P” for President Nixon: “K came in and the discussion covered some of the general thinking about Vietnam and the P’s big peace plan for next year, which K later told me he does not favor. He thinks that any pullout next year would be a serious mistake because the adverse reaction to it could set in well before the ’72 elections. He favors, instead, a continued winding down and then a pullout right at the fall of ’72 so that if any bad results follow they will be too late to affect the election. It seems to make sense.”

Thirty-five years later, Mr. Kissinger, the consummate fawner, was once more able to sway a president with faux deference. Dr. K encouraged W. to play the tough guy on the war, even though he’d never gone to war himself.

In September 2005, Mr. Woodward writes, W.’s head speechwriter, Mike Gerson, visited Mr. Kissinger and received a lecture declaring that the only exit strategy for Iraq was victory and a copy of the diplomat’s “salted peanut memo” from 1969, warning against resisting pressure to withdraw troops from Vietnam: “Withdrawal of U.S. troops will become like salted peanuts to the American public; the more U.S. troops come home, the more will be demanded.”
It’s the kind of logic that makes Dr. K such a valuable counselor to a president who has already declared privately that his midterm election strategy is to tar the Democrats this way: “Surrender and taxes.”

The shrink-wrapped president did not consult his own father before going to war against the same dictator. And, moving from Dr. Strangelove to Dr. Freud, two of W.’s top war counselors — Rummy and Henry the K — are men who did not bother to conceal their contempt for Bush senior as a naïve lightweight.

As Mr. Woodward notes, part of Rummy’s allure for W. was the fact that Poppy Bush considered him an arrogant, Machiavellian sort who could get you in deep doo-doo. “It was a chance,” Mr. Woodward says, “to prove his father wrong.” Or right.

It’s been clear for years that Dick Cheney and Rummy have been using the Bush presidency like an elaborate vanity production to replay Watergate and Vietnam, and to try to reverse things that bothered them during prior stints in the Nixon and Ford administrations.

As Mr. Cheney told his pal Rummy when W. gave him a second crack — a quarter-century later — at the defense chief job: “Get it right this time.”

The vice president has been diabolically successful in exploiting 9/11 to restore the Imperial Presidency to where it was before Congress and the public became such Nosy Parkers after Watergate. Mr. Cheney and Rummy have been less successful in their attempt to exorcise the post-Vietnam American skittishness about using force; their abysmal misadventure in Iraq has only reinforced it.

Mr. Kissinger’s reasoning for favoring war in Iraq had none of the idealistic gloss about democracy that the president came up with later. Like Mr. Cheney, he thought it was a good idea to invade Iraq not because it was strong, but because it was weak. “We need to humiliate” radical Islam, he told Mr. Gerson, and send the message that “we’re not going to live in this world that they want for us.”

Half a century of foreign affairs experience, and he still doesn’t understand that humiliating young Arab men — and occupying Muslim land — just radicalizes them? We’re expanding terror at a cost of about $6 billion a month.

NFL Picks Week 4

I went 2-3 last week - I'd almost call that a success considering how my NFL picks have gone this season!!! Anyway, this will be quick...

1* Ravens Pick Over Chargers - This line was the Chargers by 2 the other day, so I'm not the only one that thinks the Ravens will win this game. It should be a defensive battle with the home team and experienced QB coming out on top.

2* Chiefs -7 over 49ers - In a battle of my 2 favorite teams, LJ and the Chiefs get the job done against an injury ridden, overrated 49ers team.

3* Panthers -7 Over Saints - The Saints are as overvalued as a team can come, and the Panthers are as undevalued as any team can be. With a healthy Steve Smith, the Panthers roll.

4* Colts -8 Over Jets - Again, an overvalued team in the Jets get too much credit. They are a bad football team who has come across some early season luck - Colts roll.

5* Cards\Falcons Over 40 - This line is simply too low in a game involving the Cardinals. Their offense hasn't been as high powered as it was last year, but it's still better than 40 points for a totals play.