As the flames rise, Bush picks up his fiddle again.

It's pretty clear by now that the Iraq Study Group has wasted its time coming out with a report that takes the Bush Administration to task for everything from the way it has been running the Iraq Debacle to the way it fails to engage in diplomacy with any of its adversaries. Bush brought in a few hand-picked "experts" to cast doubt on the report's validity so that he can continue to ignore the chorus of voices who have told him since before the war started that it was a mistake.

Let's remember, if we can, that this President not only had no foreign policy credentials (many Presidents don't), but also had no desire to attain them. He scoffed at the notion that he should learn about foreign countries and their leaders, and his followers accused the Press of playing "gotcha" politics when it exposed his sad lack of world knowledge. Let us please remember that this President is essentially the stereotype of the ugly American: the ignorant, callous, and clueless lout. In short, he is an asshole.

So his experts (two academics and three retired generals) came in and they had a chat. To tell how serious it was, the Post reports that "The military experts met with Bush, Vice President Cheney and about a dozen aides for more than an hour." Wow. More than an hour? And then what...was it Bush's nap time or was it time to feed Cheney a raw steak? Anyone who's been in the room with more than one academic should know that it takes close to an hour to get the introduction out of the way. Bush has had blackouts that last longer than that.

Not surprisingly, the generals want more money (even though they're retired), and these so-called academics agreed:

But the five agreed in telling Bush that the Army and Marine Corps both need to be bigger, and also need bigger budgets.

Are we really interested in being a nation that seems to exist for the subsistence of its military? I don't think so. These hogs already steal the lion's share of our tax dollars, both for their current operations and for servicing the debt to pay for their overruns. Some calculations have the military chewing up 49% of our money. The government itself estimates the percentage at 19%, a figure that doesn't include overspending and payment for past wars.

Needless to say, this boondoggle will continue for the near future, and all of our children will pay for it (or pass it on to their children).