Let me see if I have this straight.  As we continue to level Fallujah, a story comes across the Associated Press written by Maggie Michael, "Al-Zarqawi Headquarters Found in Iraq".  It seems that as we continue the liberation of Fallujah we came across what was deemed to be the command center of the insurgency, run, of course, by Al-Qaida.

How do we know this?  Well, let me quote the article:  "According to CNN's footage, the suspected al-Zarqawi command center was in an imposing house with concrete columns and a large sign in Arabic reading 'Al-Qaida Organization' and 'There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger.'"

What?  No neon?  Inside the house the U.S. soldiers found "documents, old computers, notebooks, photographs and copies of the Quran.  Several bodies also were found."

So here is this organization, the world's most high-profile terrorist group (whether it actually exists or not), sought world-wide with tens of millions of sinking U.S. dollars as bounty.  We have had no success in tracking down these insurgent terrorist evil barbarian brutal murderers in spite of all of the above.  Oh, I forgot, W., Dick, Condoleeza and Donald said we had killed or captured 70% of them.  Anyway, this shady, secretive, subterranean, sneaky bunch has been hard to get a handle on.

So in Falluja the headquarters has a "large sign"?  A "treasure trove" of information is found lying about?  Letters from al-Zarqawi are left unmailed, for all the world to read?  Is there a postal service in Iraq? 

What gives here?  Let me make a number of observations: (1) This Al-Qaida is the most bumbling bunch since Inspector Gadget. You mean they can't burn stuff or otherwise destroy it?  Maybe since they only had six months warning that this was coming they had to leave in a hurry? (2) Assuming this story is true, does this mean we can't even find them when they put a sign on the house?  Even if the sign is in the house, don't you think someone might rat them out?  Why would they put a sign on or in the house anyway?  Did we try calling information? (3) If they are that dumb, and we are that dumb, will this thing ever end?

Can this story be for real? 

If so, what's next?  Maybe something along these lines: "Osama bin Laden discovered living in Manhattan with Liza Minnelli."

Much to my surprise, the clamor to see that all of these voting snafus are properly investigated and resolved has grown and hit the big time.  When no less a light than Keith Olberman continues to press for answers, even in light of the normal far-right bashing, it gives one hope.

Not necessarily any hope that the election would be overturned- that would be too much to ask, and I don't believe in that kind of God.  But it does offer hope that these blatantly open attempts to skew votes and deter voters will be exposed to the harsh light of day.  This might, in turn, ensure that the election of 2008 will be fair.

In light of the 2000 debacle, it is amazing to me that we can accept that 3% of the vote is lost due to "spoilage".  If Florida 2000 proved anything, it proved that all of these ballots, no matter how funky or mis-punched, could, in fact, be counted.  So why in hell on earth would we go into this tight election without a plan to count each and every vote, no matter how long it takes.

And with the entire Diebold scandal out there for the whole world to see, why wouldn't every discrepancy be investigated, analysed, parsed and diced?  For goodness sake, Diebold, run by a right-wing fanatic, went to court to fight having a simple paper trail.  WHY?

Finally, as we know, John Kerry can concede until he's blue in the face, but it all means nothing until all the results are certified and until the electoral college votes.

Stranger things have happened (i.e., Watergate, Dylan's Christianity, Bush wins in '04).  JFK may yet be President whether he wants to or not. 

On the way to New York City on Sunday with my sixteen year old daughter, it occurred to me that perhaps, just perhaps, the newly elected Religious Right might take care of a problem that has been bothering me- a lot.

My daughter is a wonderful girl, and I love her more than anything.  I love her so much, that in spite of any number of things, when she asked me to take her to NYC on my only day off, I agreed.  One other thing I have to agree to when we travel is that she gets to play her music.

But halfway into some Eminem song I had to call a halt.  Every other word was motherf....r.  I grimaced through those, but when the lyrics went to "I went to the bar and the bartender su...d my d..k." I about lost my mind.  The reason was twofold: One, that such lyrics could be recorded, and two, that my daughter not only listened to them but did so in front of me.  To her credit, when I flipped it off she didn't complain- she knew I was right to do so.

Fast forward an hour to Sloppy Joe/Dirty Janes on Broadway downtown, right across the street from Yellow Rat Bastard.  Dirty Janes has an incredible selection of t-shirts, etc., and was totally crowded with kids and their parents.  Most of the kids, or at least a lot of them, were younger than my daughter.  As I milled around, staying away from daughter so as not to embarass her, guess what music popped on to the loud, throbbing stereo system?  Yes, you are absolutely correct.

And everyone just went on shopping.  The kids rifled through the shirts and jeans and coats and the parents milled about and no one seemed to think anything about it.

And for the first time since the election, actually for the first time ever, I found myself thinking, "maybe this administration will clean out that cesspool".

I even scared myself.

Many of us invested more time and emotion into this election than we ever imaged we were capable of.  I know I did.  I've watched many presidential elections from afar, involved only to the extent that I might share a few of my cynical observations with whomever happened to be around at the time. I knew, or thought I knew, that it didn't make any difference who was President. 

This time was different.  This time I knew what it meant.  This time I knew how important it was.  A lot of us did.

We gave time, money, energy and our hearts and minds to striking down what we see destroying our country and threatening our lives and those of our children and our neighbors.  We knew that as polarized as the nation was, that the people who knew and cared would outnumber (and outvote) those who did not know or who could not see or who had their own narrow agendas. And we were as mobilized as we could possibly be.

But we were wrong.  The electorate has picked a direction, and it is not ours.  I remember thinking when Bush was picked as the Republican nominee in 2000 how easy he was going to be to defeat.  The American people would not elect an idiot. And they didn't, but they almost did, and it left an opening, and the vicious and unscrupulous prevailed, and he was appointed.

And then thinking, no, knowing, that after the four year long unceasing debacle that this administration has been, that he would be cashiered out after one term.  And then shaking my head as he hung in the polls, wondering at the intelligence of this country, and then beginning to think he might actually steal another election, or rig an event or an attack or a scare which would make it close.  But never, never thinking he would win the popular vote by nearly four million votes.  Forget the electoral college.  One man, one vote, he won by four million votes.

Boy oh boy. Remember after the 2000 election, when all the pundits said, and a lot of us believed, that since Bush actually lost the election he would have to govern from the center?  Well, we saw how that worked out.  Now he has a "mandate" and "political capital" which he intends to spend on things the American people told him they wanted (i.e., pre-emptive war, staggering deficits, bigger and better Southern Baptist churches).

And his demeanor!  Today he gave a press conference- a press conference!- and he seemed so calm, so confident, so self-assured.  He has God On His Side.  Just how scary is that?

Batten down the hatches.  Katy bar the door.  Bend over and touch the ground and kiss your ass goodby.  Say a prayer (a Southern Baptist prayer) for Michael Moore. To quote Walt Kelly's "Pogo" (remember him?)- "We have met the enemy and he is us."