I wanted to write about the district judge that ruled that the NSA’s warrantless domestic surveillance program is illegal. But Washington Post editor Fred Hiatt says her ruling is unhelpful. So, never mind. Apparently, the judge utilized “angry rhetoric” and is some sort of judicofascist. So, I guess it is still okay for the government to read the emails of any American that ever corresponded with a Pizza Hut delivery guy that delivered a pie to an Uncle of the brother-in-law of a possible bad guy. That’s comforting and I won’t write about it anymore.

I just watched Bush give a somber and depressing press conference from Camp David. He appeared unusually confused and was barely coherent. I don’t even know if they can quote some of what he said because it will be incomprehensible in verbatim form.

His statement was about the economy, a subject that clearly fatigues the President and destroys his usual eloquence. He did note that we can now expect to halve the deficit by 2009 because we had a 30% smaller deficit than anticipated last year. I’ve leave it to the economists to parse that statement.

He also noted that Hizbollah “started it” and that their victory was a defeat. Never mind that Cheney started it and that a victory is a victory. Maybe Bush wanted to use a word like ‘pyrrhic’. But he doesn’t even know what that means.

Bush understands some things though. He understands how to run a government of thugs. Did you know that the Abu Ghraib whistleblower was granted assurances of anonymity. Did you know that Rumsfeld ‘thanked’ him by name during Congressional testimony? Did you know that he now requires protection? And why did we wonder about the motives for the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson?

I assume Rumsfeld will find several new people he wants to ‘thank’ after he reads this article.

At least it is Friday.