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As seen sometimes in manuals government reports, it's a weird phrase. The page isn't really blank if there are words there telling you it's blank. Anywho....speaking of blank..not a lot of focus today, so here are a few thoughts on stories making news..

Water found on Mars

Amazing. The world is apparently so screwed up that people don't seem excited. Now, had they verified 'the face' was real..

Cats at risk of Alzheimer's

Which only means they're living long enough to get it. Must be the cat chow.

Prince Charles--we're living on borrowed time.

Does anyone really listen to anything he says anyway? Especially on global warming.

Al Gore

I would urge the President to try to separate out the personal issues of being blamed in history for his mistake and instead recognizing that it is not about him. It’s about our country," Gore said in an interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer.

See above.

Iraq Study Group

Since this group was bi-partisan it was clearly intended to provide bi-partisan cover stories to extricate us from Iraq. We know this.

Ironically, Pelosi's new intel chief now agrees with McCain that we need more, not less troops. Maybe it's serious, but perhaps the notion has occurred to them that if the Democrats were to put an effort into winning Iraq it would be seen as their victory, with less credit going to the lame-duck president (who screwed it up). That would make the pro-war Hillary look better, especially in contrast to Gore (see above).

Weirdly, it would also benefit the entire country. Just think of it--a stumbling bi-partisan effort to make themselves look better that miraculously results in us winning, not retreating. Could happen.

MORE 12/6/06

LGF is worried about the ISG's recommendations pertaining to Israel, ie, giving back the Golan and retreating to 1967 borders. Ordinarily I'd agree, except for one thing:

RECOMMENDATION 16: In exchange for these actions and in the context of a full and secure peace agreement, the Israelis should return the Golan Heights, with a U.S. security guarantee for Israel that could include an international force on the border, including U.S. troops if requested by both parties

The Israelis are going to have to give a little more in this process to make it work. But such a huge cave-in would require either US, Aussie, or Brit troops along the periphery to ensure a big-stick deterrence in case on non-compliance. Otherwise, the ISG has wasted their time and our money.

MORE 12/6/06

Looks like the terrorists are weighing in on the ISG report. It's hard not to think this won't be a trigger for more violence in order to speed up the process. It's the MO of Saddam and his gang--see a weakness, exploit said weakness.