Bush sounds retreat.

It's official. The neo-cons are out and Daddy's realists are in...and we all know what a great job they did..remember the "New World Order". Demoralised by the mid-term elections, the President has allowed himself and the country to get rolled by a sick alliance of cynical realists like Robert Gates and congentital idiots like Nancy Pelosi.

First, he cuts yet another deal with Kim Jong-il (Bouffant Boy really means it this time, then he decides he'll discuss Iraq with Boy Assad and the Mad Mullahs after all. We all know what's going to happen with the surge as well. They'll lay down enough firepower to pacify Baghdad for six months or so, declare mission accomplished, and slink home.

We'll live to regret this...at least those of us who don't get killed in the next wave of 9/11s.

Tariana Turia, Racist or Merely Stupid.

Never the sharpest tool in the shed, Tariana shows that she's either fundamentally racist or has the IQ of a penguin. Calling for limitations on immigration to New Zealand from "traditional sources" such as Canada and England (that would be white people for the subtext challenged), TT said this:

"No, we aren't playing the race card, because we are not talking about Asian immigration."

Nope, no racists in the Maori Party. And just when more than a few socially conservative voters were toying with giving them a party vote. Somehow, I don't think Pita Sharples would have said that.

Iraqi Prostitutes, NZ Sex Workers

TV One aired this CBS news report last night on Iraqi regugee women in Syria forced into prostituion through economic necessity. The report says that turning to prostitution is a "mark of desperation". Just so. Then why isn't it a mark of desperation when New Zealand women stand outside on Manchester Street every night? Why is it a lifestyle choice in Christchurch, but a humanitarian crisis in Damascus? Tim Barnett and all his enablers need to take a deep look inside their rotten souls.

Say goodnight, Joe.

Was that Joe Biden whistling past on his way to political oblivion? No one, and I mean no one, can sink a presidential candidacy faster than Joe Biden. Even pointy hat man David Duke and eco-nut Ralph Nader managed to stay in the race longer than Biden. Here he is on Barack Obama (see link to the Observer story above):

"Mr. Biden is equally skeptical—albeit in a slightly more backhanded way—about Mr. Obama. “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

And I bet he's one of your best friends, too.