The Loosest Of Loose Cannons ; Senator Larry Craig

Senator Larry Craig has said he will carry on in the Senate, despite his wish to change his guilty plea which was turned down yesterday and the despite the wishes of many in the Republican Party. The head of the GOP Senate Committee has pleaded with Craig to leave.

He won't stand again at the next election, but in the meantime will continue to represent his constituents, despite what they may think of him and his actions over recent months.

Many think he's just going to continue to be nothing but a 'national punch line'.

Tell The Truthiness ; Hasn't his integrity been shattered, how can he remain and for how long before his Senate position becomes completely untenable?

Saunter To The White House 2 ; If We Ignore Black People, Like The Iraqis, They'll Kill Each Other Eventually

With the 2008 US General Election looking several Worlds away from that of the ballot of 2000, some things just don't seem to have changed.

Despite the running of Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, which people said just wouldn't and couldn't happen a few years ago, the actions of the GOP in this election run-up could harm relations between ethnic groups more than anyone realises.

The offer for the main Republican hopefuls to speak at a PBS sponsored GOP forum at Morgan State University Maryland, has been shoved aside.

Fred Thompson, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have snubbed the debate. The city of Baltimore, where Morgan State is located is a mostly black city.

Tell The Truthiness ; Old, white men don't like to mix with black folk? Doesn't this sound like a bad modern remake of 'In The Heat Of The Night'? GOP, grow up and wake up.

War On Reality Part 48 ; Mr Craig Returns To Washington

Senator Larry Craig returned, unannounced, to the Capitol today.

When questioned as to whether he would be resigning, after last month's arrest by police for soliciting sex in an airport bathroom, he said no.

Perhaps he's forgotten that in the immediate furore last month he said he would resign, then backtracked.

Tell The Truthiness ; Does this guy even remember which state he represents? Idaho for the record.

War On Reality Part 40 ; Bin Laden Reserves Complimentary Seat At Next GOP Debate With Tape Donation

The 'latest' tape from the Big Bad Bin Laden has been released, timed to help politically the Republican party and Mr Bush.

All tapes of Bin Laden have been released at times which strategically have potential to give the GOP a boost by, well scaring people and discrediting any hint of an alternative to the official 9/11 story.

Tape is released, tape is played on TV for 24 hours, President or Secretary Of Defence or Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs makes appearance on TV saying how we must not let these terrorists win and to keep spreading liberty throughout the World.

And the result? Anyone who was waivering to vote for another party at the next general/midterm election decides to stick with the Republicans.

The US company IntelCenter, which gained this tape, has been caught out doctoring tape of Mr Big before and of presenting other tapes in totally the wrong context.

Tell The Truthiness ; Indeed, the Bin Laden in this tape looks nothing like the earlier ones, there are so many holes in the official story of him being reponsible for the attacks that it makes Swiss Cheese look watertight. Plus, don't the Republicans and the Bush Cohorts know that tapes like these have diminishing returns?

Senator Larry Craig Resignation

After being treated like a leper by the GOP, Senator Larry Craig resigned this lunchtime.

Tell The Truthiness ; He didn't help himself by pleading guilty to start with when he has since admitted that he didn't do anything wrong. So why do it?

Senator Larry Craig's Police Squad Tape

As it says above, here's a recording of Senator Larry Craig's police interview.

Tell The Truthiness ; Can we get the Senator to appear on Ellen in a couple of weeks, it'd be fun to see him dance.

Holding Them To Account 8 ; Senator Craig Sidesteps His Wide Stance

So, as expected, the Republicans demonstrated their infantile treatment of an unfortunate situation and made sure Senator Larry Criag resign today. That action is due at 12.30pm Eastern Time.

Tell The Truthiness ; Other parties in the US and around the World are able to understand those members who are or may be gay, why do the Republicans make their attitude towards these situations so uncaring?

Holding Them To Account 2 ; Bush's Brain Resigns

In a teary farewell, the man anyone who likes the idea of democracy loves to hate resigned this morning.

Karl Rove will leave at the end of August, for, yes, that old chestnut, the sake of his family.

He's nicknamed 'Bush's Brain', can we expect the rest of the President's body to follow in the next couple of months?

Tell The Truthiness ; Rumsfeld, now Rove, could we have Gonzales next please?

We'll post footage of him announcing his departure once it's available, but in the meantime, here's an interesting film about the Houston Plan. We've never heard of it either.

YouTuber Upset At Clinton/Obama Question

The question asked about open discourse between those states the US hasn't talked to for a while and the future President in the YouTube debate has been discussed by the man who put it forward.

Tell The Truthiness ; Is true there are efforts afoot to prevent the Republican version of this event going ahead?

War On Reality Part 18 ; Power & Responsibility On Bush's Watch, He's Caught Out, Now Get Out

Enough is enough, the one piece that was given in karma-like opposite to all that Bush and his cohorts have gotten away with, has been reversed.

Scooter Libby is getting a pardon, in all but word, though it means the same thing. There have been reports that the machiavellian shadowman, Dick Cheney, made a deal with Libby before the trial even started to assure him that he would not serve prison time.

Tell The Truthiness ; If the leadership of this once great country carries on, even until the next election, it will damage democracy at home and abroad which may never be repaired. You cannot wield all the power and take none of the responsibility, things don't work like that.

Are The Walls Coming Tumbling Down At The White House, Leaving A Bare Iraq Policy Exposed For All To See?

A number of things seem to have happened at once in the past 24 hours, though seemingly unconnected, their effect could be the change in the wind which may make the US turn it's tide of offense in Iraq.

Firstly, in Washington, two leading senior Republicans, supporters of the President's strategy (if you can call it that) in Iraq have both spoken out against more of the same in the continuing conflict. Senator Richard Lugar voiced his concerns in a floor speech that the surge in Iraq just isn't working. Plus John Warner agreed with Mr Lugar's comments.

Secondly, the UK Prime Minister stepped down and his replacement, Gordon Brown, the former Chancellor is expected to have a cooled relationship with the US and is due to announce plans to scale down UK troop numbers in Iraq. As one commentator said '' Brown can have a more remote relationship with Bush and no-one will say a word against him, because unlike Tony Blair, Gordon Brown never said he would stand 'shoulder to shoulder' with him''.

Tell The Truthiness ; We might not have to wait until September for changes, Mr Bush may not be able to leave Iraq for the next guy and just might have to begin to clean up his own mess.

War On Reality Part 12 ; Anyone Left Standing On This Thing?

The Democrats rolled over, though there is a faint hint that they could regroup to challenge Bush in the near future, but right now what's left to try?

Maybe we should lobby the MPs in the Iraqi Parliament and get them to shout at the White House and Downing Street for the 'coalition of the willing' (perhaps we should replace 'willing' with 'failing') to get the hell out of their country.

Tell The Truthiness ; When the populations of two countries, the UK and US, both say get the troops out now and their governments refuse, what's left to do? March on London and Washington and demand in person? Maybe its the only thing left to do.

Ron Paul Goes Out On His Own ; Any Other Republican's Want To Join?

After the GOP Presidential debate, one person seems to have come out ahead, a Republican who doesn't seem on the surface, to be a Republican.

Ron Paul has become quickly branded as the Libertarian Republican, who seems to be telling people what they want to hear.

That is, a Republican who appears smooth around the edges, dare we say a 'Compassionate Conservative'?

Maybe we're wrong and he is just what he appears to be up front, someone different.

Tell The Truthiness ; A candidate who appears to know what they think, without a page of just-handed-to-him talking points. The rest of the debates will inform us more.

Scare Tactics Are First WMDs In Election Campaign

Rudy Giuliani has kicked off the age old argument of voting Republican rather than Democratic. That the Republicans are best at defence and the Democrats cannot be trusted with national security.

He suggested in response to a question at a town hall meeting in New England that voting Democrat would put the US at greater risk of terrorist attack and that the country would be back to it's ''pre 9/11 attitude of defence.''

The Truthiness Blog Says ; Isn't time someone (and why not Giuliani who at one time united the country?) went beyond this predictable electioneering which shows it's head every time the security of the country is talked about. It's cheap and it's easy. Be brave politicians and campaign on what you'd do and don't blame your opponent for what you think they'd do if you lost.