For weeks, President Bush declared he would not accept a short-term extension of the Patriot Act. Then in a bi-partisan manner last week, prompted by the startling front-page news that Bush repeatedly authorized illegal NSA spying on Americans domestically, the Senate filibustered to prevent the legislation from being renewed. The Senate pushed for an extension, allowing lawmakers time to negotiate stricter civil liberties protections, but the Bushies rejected, and instead went on the PR warpath against Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (NV), Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA).

But Wednesday Bush backpedaled, as he's had to do so many times lately (Harriet Miers, McCain/torture, war mistakes). He blasted the Democratic leadership, choosing to deceive Americans yet again by ignoring the fact that this was a bi-partisan action.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- America and Russia are competing to sell expensive, high-tech warplanes to Thailand, sparking debate among Thai politicians and air force officers over which combat aircraft are better.

"It's not a good thing to depend on one provider of military equipment," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters earlier this week, prompting widespread speculation that he will lessen Thailand's traditional dependence on U.S. F-16 jet fighters in favor of Russia's Sukhoi SU-30s.

A switch to Russia would mean a commercial loss to several U.S. corporations including Texas-based Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Sechan Electronics, and General Electric which builds, arms and maintains F-16s.

"The government must heed what the air force needs," said Air Force Commander-in-Chief Chalit Pukpasuk, according to Thursday's (Dec. 22) Bangkok Post.

"The air force will select only one type which meets our needs, and propose it directly to the government. The prime minister will not pick the type," Chalit insisted.

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