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Bush gave a wartime speech in Annapolis. He said "defeat is not an option" and promised to "stay the course". Media skeptics broke no new ground by saying that the speech broke no new ground. A wartime speech in Gettysburg years ago got a similar response.

I'll be in Washington, DC tomorrow to sign my book, A Recent History of the United States in Political Cartoons… A Look Bok!  If you're near the University Club at 1135 Sixteenth St. NW, stop by. Maybe I'll go native. (see below)

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Republican Congressman Randy Cunningham resigned Monday.  He took bribes from defense contractors. A Tuesday Wall Street Journal editorial says he's "gone native". Republicans came to power with a mandate to change business as usual in Washington. They have made pork fly.  Discretionary spending is at a 40 year high.

The Journal editorial also points with alarm and dismay, "…a Beltway adage once held that when Democrats came to Washington, their incomes went up, but when Republicans worked in government their incomes went down".  Looks like a rising tide lifts all boats.

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My dictionairy shows two definitions for "complicity": 1. being an accomplice 2. (Rare) complexity. Both applied to Akron beauty queen Cynthia George. She was convicted of complicity in the 2001 execution style murder of her secret lover, Jeff Zack. The actual shooting was performed by her other secret lover, John Zaffino. Mrs. George's husband, prominent local restaurant owner, Ed George, stood by her throughout the trial. Three of her 7 children, including Zack's daughter, watched as she was sentenced to life in prison.

There was no smoking gun. Cindy George was convicted mostly on circumstantial cell phone call records. 

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General Motors announced 30,000 more job cuts. The company is under pressure from  Kirk Kirkorian, who according to the Washington Post, owns 9.9% of the company's shares. This reminds me of another old economy company facing a shareholder revolt: Knight Ridder, owner of many newspapers and boss of me. Newspaper circulation is falling and ad revenue is being Googled. That's why you're reading this blog. Run out and ask about 10 million of your friends to do the same. Now. And while you're at it pick up a newspaper. After rebates and the extended employee discount you should find it very affordable.

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Ohio Republican coin collector and donor, Tom Noe, has been indicted for illegal contributions. In a totally unrelated matter, Workers Comp funds are being re-allocated after millions invested in rare coins went missing.

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The Bush administration took offense at being called intelligence manipulating liars.  Vice President Cheney called the accusations, "revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety."  He relied on backbone positive veteran, John McCain, for credibility, "Senator John McCain put it best: 'It is a lie to say that the president lied to the American people."

Chappaquiddick waterboarding champ, Ted Kennedy, responded by saying, "In fact, the only thing dishonest and reprehensible is the way the administration distorted, misrepresented and manipulated the intelligence to justify a war America never should have fought."

Meanwhile, intelligence was being manipulated in a different way by many of the president's supporters in Kansas.

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"Oh, that America might see the last of these fish-eyed sacks of loathsome bile and infamy: unwholesome in their birth; repugnant and stench-forming in their decline."  That was Tony Blankley's understated take in the Washington Times on the aging Watergate generation in Congress. He continued, "Now the Watergate babies have grown old — and age has not improved them. They plan to finish their careers as they started them — in defeatism, betrayal and national dishonor."

The Democratic drumbeat against the war in Iraq has come to a head. New York Times theater of war critic, Frank Rich  says, "Mr. Bush may disdain timetables for our pullout, but hello, there already is one, set by the Santorums of his own party:  the expiration date for a sizable American presence in Iraq is Election Day 2006."

According to Jim Hoagland of the Washington Post, "U.S. military commanders are composing their own scenarios that point to a drawdown of 30,000 to 40,000 American troops- from a current force of about 140,00 - that will begin before the midterm elections."

John Murtha, the Vietnam veteran  Congressman from Pennsylvania, was the 800 lb gorilla who sent the whole apparatus plunging past its tipping point and into the abyss by calling for an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.

Republicans said Murtha lacked backbone and promptly found a Marine who said only cowards cut and run. Murtha, who is a 37 year Marine vet, pointed out that Dick Cheney took 4 draft exemptions during the Vietnam war.

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Bob Woodward learned about Valerie Plame, International Woman of Mystery, over 2 years ago from a top administration official who was not Scooter Libby. The famed Watergate sleuth protected his source and kept the information to himself. After all, that's what he's famous for. But silence is a sin in media ethics these days and sources must be confessed to Inquisitor Fitzgerald.

Judging by Father Fitzgerald's busy confessional, the Plame name seems to have gotten around quite a bit among members of the Washington Media Church.

Thanks to all who stopped by the Elms Author Author Series in Akron yesterday afternoon for signed copies of my book, A Recent History of the United States in Political Cartoons - A Look Bok!

The book covers the period from Watergate through the 2004 election. Basically, the period of the Baby Boomer. From a Boomer's perspective that means it's a comprehensive history from the beginning of time. The book has lots of pictures and comes in very nice shrink wrap packaging. My next signings will be at the IX  Center in Cleveland on Friday from 7-9pm and Saturday 10am - 4pm