A spectrum of liberal responses to Cindy Sheehan has come into sharper focus.

The message is often anti-Bush... but not necessarily anti-war.

Frank Rich spun out his particular style of triangulation in the New York Times on Aug. 28. While deriding President Bush's stay-the-course stance, Rich also felt a need to disparage the most visible advocate for quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.

Putting down Sheehan -- and, by implication, the one-third of the U.S. public that wants all American troops to exit Iraq without delay -- Rich's column mocked "her bumper-sticker politics" and "the slick left-wing political operatives who have turned her into a circus."

Rich criticized "the utter bankruptcy of the Democrats who had rubber-stamped this misadventure in the first place." Yet, in effect, he was willing to help rubber-stamp continuation of the "misadventure" in the present tense.

The president, Rich lamented, "pretends that the only alternative to his reckless conduct of the war is Ms. Sheehan's equally apocalyptic retreat."

Hurricane Katrina, one of the largest and strongest storms on record, roared onto shore this week, causing massive devastation in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and other states. But another danger to the region is still brewing. With storm surges of up to 20 feet in some areas, huge petro-chemical plants, gas stations and waste pits have unleashed a toxic cocktail of chemicals ranging from vinyl chloride to gasoline.

Take Action! Natural disaster or terrorist attack - Tell Congress to act NOW to prevent more tragedy.

Already nicknamed "Cancer Alley," the polluted area now suffers from contaminated flood waters of up to 20 feet - which can affect homes, drinking water and surrounding waterways. In New Orleans, the city's levee system is now serving only to hold water in the city, creating a temporary lake of toxic chemicals, gas, oil and storm debris.

The un-reverand Parsley is sowing the wind. Perhaps if he and Carl Rove would have been more concerned about the unfit armaments (instead of gay marriage to get George into the White House) perhaps the almost two thousand soldiers and marines would be alive today. Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind is something Parsley needs to think about. Parsley, like the herb, is only decorative.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The trouble with deregulation is that it always takes some disaster like Enron before we realize there was a reason for the regulation to begin with.

We are about to repeat one of the huge mistakes of the 1920s and '30s because we have forgotten why PUHCA (pronounced Pooka) was instituted in the first place. PUHCA is the Public Utility Holding Company Act, passed in 1935, which prevents concentration of ownership of power plants. Both the House and Senate versions of the energy bill contain a repeal of PUHCA.

As Kelpie Wilson pointed out in article for Truthout, "For 50 years we have had reliable, cheap electric power that has allowed strong economic growth, and no PUHCA-regulated energy holding company has ever gone broke."

PUHCA was partially repealed in the '90s, and even that much deregulation was part of what led to Enron, Westar and other slight mishaps.

PUHCA puts utilities under strict regulation by both state and federal governments. It restricts ownership of utilities to public or private companies that are in the business of producing power.

For a long time, the last refuge of scoundrels was “patriotism.” Now it’s “the war on terror.”

President Bush and many of his vocal supporters aren’t content to wrap themselves in the flag. It’s not sufficient to posture as more patriotic than opponents of the Iraq war. The ultimate demagogic weapon is to exploit the memory of Sept. 11, 2001.

The fourth anniversary will provide the Bush administration with plenty of media opportunities to wrap itself in the 9/11 shroud and depict Iraq war critics as insufficiently committed to defending the United States. A renewed attempt to justify the war as a resolute stand against terrorism is well underway.

On Aug. 24, eager to pull out of a political nosedive, Bush stood in front of National Guard members in Idaho and read from a script that was thick with familiar rhetoric: “Our nation is engaged in a global war on terror that affects the safety and security of every American. In Iraq, Afghanistan and across the world, we face dangerous enemies who want to harm our people, folks who want to destroy our way of life.” And: “As long as I’m the president, we will stay, we will fight and we