Pastor Prays For Rain

... on the Democrats. A massive effort it was - tens of thousands of believing Christians devoutly praying that God would rain on the ninety thousand devout Democrats who were waiting in a football stadium to hear Barack Obama accept the presidential nomination.

No luck. But now, four days later, a category 3 hurricane, Gustav, is threatening New Orleans and points west. Residents are evacuating, and the Republicans have cancelled most of Monday's hoopla. The Republican nominating convention has been wiped off the screens of America by a deluge.

Rain achieved.

In similar news elsewhere, Sarah Palin, the new Republican vice-presidential appears to have used her powers of office in Alaska to try to get her sister's ex fired from his job as a state trooper. She has denied it - and the veep vetting process apparently ignored it - but her effort is pretty well documented. The McCain campaign may now be vetting its vetting process.

Oh, reality.

In Iraq, the Prime Minister Maliki has, at the last minute, replaced the negotiators who gave Condi Rice an agreement for our exit that allowed our military to stay in Iraq for over a year after the UN mandate expires on December 31st. This was unpopular on their part, and now these negotiators have been replaced by hardliners who aren't giving way. The agreement is frozen.

As the clock ticks.

In Afghanistan, our continued demising of civilians from the air while in pursuit of military targets has proven unpopular among the populace. The leader, Hamid Karzai, has asked us to stop providing this destructive air support. We appear to have been using brute force from the air to do the work of troops who should be on the ground.

More troops are needed in Afghanistan.