Nothing but blue skies . . .

Waiting for a Soft Landing: "according to most forecasts, we're headed for a swell year -- though a boring one," writes Robert J. Samuelson in the Washington Post.

Then, he goes on to cover his ass, with this list:

Housing goes bust.
The dollar "crashes."
General Motors files for bankruptcy.
Oil jumps to $85 a barrel.
The "yield curve" of interest rates "inverts."

I tend to think Bush's economic policies are really bad for the country. A zero savings rate cannot be good. But, it is hard to foresee an economic crack-up any time soon. Still, there will be another Hurricane season, won't there?

4 Reasons to Be Glad Bush Is Still President

LA Weekly: Features: Zeitlist: Politics: 4 Reasons to Be Glad Bush Is Still President: "Another silver lining in the dark clouds over Washington is that it might be a swiftly breaking storm. "

Ezra Klein and Joshuah Bearman claim to list four reasons, but, really, they are all the same reason: Bush's re-election means that Bush will be around to reap what he has sown, that, since Bush is still President, Bush will be properly blamed for his own failures, in Iraq, on the Economy and generally.

The essence of a political storm is that events form an morally instructive narrative, by which the electorate learns the errors of its ways. Ezra and Joshuah are young enough to hope that the electorate learns something from the debacle which is Bush.

I have expressed the fear that the Democrats might get blamed for the costs of cleaning up after Bush -- for withdrawing from Iraq or raising taxes to restore fiscal sanity. We'll see.

Calculated Risk: Two Views: Debt, Deficit and Social Security

Calculated Risk: Two Views: Debt, Deficit and Social Security: "So its a question of who pays: high income earners or low and middle income earners."

And, that my friends is the difference between the political parties.

You can't prosecute him, because it would undermine the permanent Republican majority

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall January 3, 2006 12:21 AM: TPM presents a reader's pious e-mail, which begins the inevitable attempt to calm the political storm on the basis of high principle: "At some point [the Abramoff Matter] will become a potent enough matter to be profoundly political in nature and those involved in the legal system will have to withdraw. To do otherwise would be to improperly engage the legal system in a political contest and undermine the foundational premise of an independent judiciary. This is the tightrope that Fitzgerald is walking in the Plame matter. So long as he is pursuing the violation of a particular Federal statute he is on solid ground. But were he to find himself standing on the threshold of something that, if pursued, could alter the political balance of power then he would have to retreat. Otherwise he would fall into that political contest and improperly involve DOJ in the public arena of political combat."

This is just great. First, the Republicans remove the Independent Prosecutor option, now they want to take the career prosecutors out of the equation as well. Elections are all there is. If crooked, incompetent authoritarian Republicans can win election, then we have to surrender the government to them. A Republican President can void the law. A Republican judiciary can void the Bill of Rights. Why? Because elections matter, and the American people are misinformed by the corporate, right-wing media.

No storm here. Just a little rain. Move along. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Reconstruction Taper By Jay Dixit

Reconstruction Taper By Jay Dixit: "The Bush administration's decision not to seek new funds in its congressional budget request next month signals the winding down of the rebuilding effort in Iraq, says the WP. Less than 20 percent remains of an $18.4 billion rebuilding effort. Half was spent on the insurgency, the criminal-justice system, and the trial of Saddam Hussein. Billions that were initially supposed to go to rebuilding Iraq's decrepit infrastructure went to new security forces and maximum-security prisons and detention centers. Bringing reliable electrical, water, sewage, and sanitation services to Iraq will require tens of billions yet, but, as one brigadier general put it, 'The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq.' "

No, what we "intended," evidently, was to enrich Halliburton and Bechtel, and screw the Iraqis. It is absolutely shameful, and, failing in the reconstruction is the major reason Bush has lost Iraq.

TPMCafe || OFF-MESSAGE: RISE OF THE DINOs?

TPMCafe || OFF-MESSAGE: RISE OF THE DINOs?: "A successful jihad against corrupt Republicans does not position the political system to move us forward in public policy."

In other words, the coming perfect storm is not going to erase the social trends and ideologies, which have been corrupting America. Duh.

The Washington Monthly

The Washington Monthly: "When the Justice Department starts leaking like a sieve, and all the news embarrasses the White House, you know Bush has a problem."

That, of course, would be the "optimistic" interpretation. The other interpretation is that Bush is systematically undermining the independence and professionalism of various units in the Justice Department.