The nation is headed for a showdown with Evil . . . or rather, with the sense-shattering, all-justifying, absolute belief in it. My God - finally!

Here, for instance, is U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, explaining to Wolf Blitzer and archconservative (but pro-Constitution) former congressman Bob Barr on CNN's "The Situation Room" last week why George Bush needs the leeway to spy on American citizens as he sees fit:

"Well, I'll tell you something, if a nuclear weapon goes off in Washington, D.C., or New York or Los Angeles, it'll burn the Constitution as it does. So I'm very happy we have a president that's going to wiretap people's communication with people overseas to make sure that they're not plotting to blow up one of our cities."

Three days before Christmas, the Bush administration launched a new salvo of bright spinning lies about the Iraq war. “In an interview with reporters traveling with him on an Air Force cargo plane to Baghdad,” the Associated Press reported Thursday morning, Donald Rumsfeld “hinted that a preliminary decision had been made to go below the 138,000 baseline” of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Throughout 2006, until Election Day in early November, this kind of story will be a frequent media refrain as the Bush regime does whatever it can to prevent a loss of Republican majorities in the House and Senate. By continuing to fortify large military bases in Iraq -- and by continuing to escalate an air war there courtesy of U.S. taxpayers but largely outside the U.S. media frame -- the White House is determined to exploit every weakness and contradiction of antiwar sentiment inside the United States.

There’s a lot for the pro-war propagandists to exploit. American opponents of this war often emphasize the deaths and injuries of U.S. troops and the anguish of loved ones at home. At the same time, to whatever extent it’s a conscious strategy or a genuine nationalistic

AUSTIN, Texas -- It is clear we will need to practice hard on our credulity in the future just to get a grasp on how dumbfounding the entire Iraq War is. We need credulity up to the Wonderland White Queen's standards, believing as many as six impossible things before breakfast every day -- practice, practice, practice.

For starters, we find the Pentagon investigating itself over the secret military practice of paying to plant news stories in Iraqi papers. Now, since it's a secret practice, I don't know if the Pentagon will be able to find out much, but the way it works is U.S. military personnel, also known as soldiers, write "news" stories full of reassuring news.

National Public Radio reports that stories are filled with hyperbole and pro-U.S. rhetoric. One story written by the military and obtained by NPR dated Nov. 22 says military leaders are succeeding in stopping terrorists. It continues, "They have proven this as quiet slowly begins again to settle on the streets of western Iraq. " At the time, insurgents were staging over 700 attacks per week -- up from 150 a week the previous year.

Last night, the Executive Committee of the Ohio Democratic Party elected Chris Redfern chair.  Chris Redfern is on the record as accepting contributions from Wal-Mart.  He also will continue to hold his seat in the House of Reps., which makes him a part-time chair.  The issue came down to process, as interim chair Rhine McLin was shouted down when her process for the election -- written ballots -- was approved by voice vote.  Instead, a roll call was taken to both reject her process and then to accept a process of voting by standing.  

As Stephanie Tubbs Jones stated, the paper ballots were critical because questions had been raised that some members of the Executive Committee had been intimidated or their jobs threatened.  She was seconded by a woman who has served for many years on the rules committee of the National Democratic Party, who said that a paper ballot was not contrary to the rules and was not a secret ballot.  The roll call put the members on the spot.

Christopher Redfern (Ohio Rep.-D), who defended both fired Bernadette Noe and indicted Tom Noe (both GOP operatives), just won the highest seat in the Ohio Democratic Party.  After much procedural wrangling between candidate Dennis Lieberman supporters and Redfern supporters, the Ohio Democratic Party held the election of ODP Chair tonight, immediately prior to the annual holiday party.

Procedural controversy erupted at the ODP election because Lieberman supporters wanted a paper ballot (and, thus, a secret vote).  US Rep Stephanie Tubbs Jones supported this procedure, and former US Rep Mary Rose Oakar commented, "There's a lot of intimidation in this room."  Other Central Committee members stood and reported having received office calls from gubernatorial candidate,Ted Strickland, who endorsed Redfern. 

The majority, including Franklin County Commissioner and Congressional candidate Mary Jo Kilroy, overturned the paper ballots idea and required voting members to physically stand for their candidate.  The majority also decided to hold the election quickly, without grassroots input.