Is a damaged Administration less likely to attack Iran, or more?

(New Yorker) - A month before the November elections, Vice-President Dick Cheney was sitting in on a national-security discussion at the Executive Office Building. The talk took a political turn: what if the Democrats won both the Senate and the House? How would that affect policy toward Iran, which is believed to be on the verge of becoming a nuclear power? At that point, according to someone familiar with the discussion, Cheney began reminiscing about his job as a lineman, in the early nineteen-sixties, for a power company in Wyoming. Copper wire was expensive, and the linemen were instructed to return all unused pieces three feet or longer. No one wanted to deal with the paperwork that resulted, Cheney said, so he and his colleagues found a solution: putting “shorteners” on the wire—that is, cutting it into short pieces and tossing the leftovers at the end of the workday. If the Democrats won on November 7th, the Vice-President said, that victory would not stop the Administration from pursuing a military option with Iran. The White House would put “shorteners” on any legislative restrictions, Cheney said, and thus stop Congress from getting in its way.

16 decide to make quiet statement by entering on post

(Ledger-Enquirer) COLUMBUS, GEORGIA - Sixteen SOA Watch protesters were arrested Sunday after willfully trespassing on Fort Benning property.

The fact that they crept through and climbed over the fences separating them from the post isn't breaking news. After all, crossing the line has become a ritual of sorts at the annual event.

Each protester must answer this question: To cross or not to cross?

(Counterpunch) - As I stood in line for coffee on the morning after election night, a Democratic Party supporter ahead of me in line said, "Thank God this country is finally switching trains."

If only that were true.

On Election Day 2006, the U.S. public didn"t switch trains but simply ratified a different group of conductors. It"s the same old train, on the same tracks, heading in the same direction.