The Daily Disinformation

Well, as I have argued before, No Child Left Capable Of Remotely Coherent Thought is "succeeding" because the tests are artifically simple. The Brookings Institution unveiled a study showing that about 40% of the eighth grade test covers material covered in the first and second grades.

The test for fourth-graders also has "false rigor...." More than 40 percent of questions gauge first and second grade skills, two levels below the students tested.

File this one under "Countdown to Armageddon" Lame duck State Secretary Colin Powell told reporters at an economic summit in Chile that Iran is trying to adapt its missles to deliver nukes. This bald assertion comes from "intelligence." Like the intelligence about the WMDs in Iraq? It is only a matter of time before we invade.

More on Tom DeLay- House Republicans have begun to defend the indefensible. Representative Henry Bonilla, who led the effort to benefit his fellow Texan, said, "This takes the power away from any partisan crackpot district attorney who may want to indict" party leaders, writes the Boston Globe.

The Times quotes Bonilla, "Attorneys tell me you can be indicted for just about anything in this country, in any county or community," said Mr. Bonilla, an ally of Mr. DeLay. "Sometimes district attorneys who might have partisan agendas or want to read their name in the paper could make a name for themselves by indicting a member of the leadership, regardless of who it may be, and therefore determine their future. And that's not right."

More from The Times- House Republicans did not dispute the idea that the change had been brought on by the events in Texas but said most of the majority's lawmakers had also concluded that the rule was simply unfair. "In my sincere opinion, it only provoked the timing" of the change, Representative Trent Franks of Arizona said of the Texas inquiry. "When you look at the rule, it is an outrageous rule."

I couldn't agree more- it's a complete outrage to expect our Nation's leaders to remove themselves from power simply because a prima facie case of corruption has been found by a grand jury.

Of course, some Republicans are in fact not complete morons. The Times story also quotes Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticutt who said simply, This is a mistake.

File Under "No, Mr. President, A Coup Is Not A Buick" Alternet columnist Robert Scheer describes the purging of reality based advisors as The Neocon Coup. Incompetence begat by ideological blindness has been rewarded. The neoconservatives who created the ongoing Iraq mess have more than survived the failure of their impossibly rosy scenarios for a peaceful and democratic Iraq under U.S. rule. 'Nuff said there.

File Under "No Pardon For This Turkey" Really, just a bizarre thing.