Maximum force or enduring farce?

Iraqi Leader Vows 'Maximum Force'

So Iraq has a new official government and a new leader now in his second day. A general view above.

As I write, the Prime Preacher is in Iraq - a quick visit amid mega-security and secrecy in a bid the pally-up with the new government. As everyone who can afford to do so abandons the country and sectarian violence increases, it is a new government in name only - cabinet positions remain unfilled and their "anti-terror" declarations sound hollow amidst increased hostility to our occupying forces. Blair's proposed withdrawl in favour of this new government sounds more like a retreat in disguise.

Later in the week Blair goes on to Washington in an attempt to give some renewed support to the ailing Ape Emporer. This as Amerika announces plans to deploy anti-missile system in Europe and the British Post Office announces plans to tie up with a Euro-Amerikan mega-corporation. Not to mention a similar take-over of the London Stock Exchange in the offing. Sell out? The standards watchdog reckons Blair is "about to pay the price" for his subversion.

Drugs are an issue again in one form or other. Amerikan pharmaceutical giants are revealed as deliberately perpetuating a health crisis in order to sell more product whilst in the UK it seems our soldiers have become serious industral users of the illegal ones. For a bit of history we learn when 007 met LSD, whilst prescription painkillers are revealed to be increasing heart failure in the elderly. Maybe Big Pharma have their own agenda - rabid marketing to willing ignorant consumers followed by a death sentence when they run out of money to pay for more. The same tactic for which street "drug dealers" are reviled.

Britain's Home Office is in yet more trouble as we learn that 3000 odd innocents are on its list of criminals and the new drugs minister admits to smoking pot. More on the latter later.

The math of Bush troop deployments to the Mexico border is arousing interest. 6000 guardsmen to cover 2000 miles? Assuming there are three shifts in each day, that's just one person for each mile of the border. No wonder he's tendering out a high-tech solution to benefit his financial buddies, but even that is giving rise to skepticism.

On the music front, a piece on the newly invigorated Dixie Chicks and the Beatles era comes to Progressive Rock, Progressive Thought (the 13th in a great series at Op Ed News). I have absolutely no comment on whatever that was that won the Eurovision Song Combat, but will concede it did make for a change.

Later.