Unfortunately, I will be unable to update the blog this weekend. So what I have decided to do instead is to give you my take on the weekend’s news right now. Granted, it may be a little unusual. But I think I’ve pretty much got the pattern down by now. So why wait? Here it is. Your –review– preview of the weekend’s news.

George W. Bush will say something incredibly stupid, like taunting terrorists to attack American troops or saying that Hussein and bin Laden are working together to build nuclear weapons out of an aluminum tube. This display of idiocy will undoubtedly include at least one unforgivable assault upon the English language, a pronounciation blunder I am sure to make fun of at great length.

There seems to be quite a bit of controversy surrounding former Vice President Al Gore’s recent speech sponsored by MoveOn.org. As usual, conservatives jumped on this as an opportunity to smear Gore’s reputation and make him out to look like some sort of raving madman. The view from the right that has been airing all over your “liberal media” since the speech was given can best summed up by Tucker Carlson’s words on yesterday’s episode of Crossfire. “Democrats in Washington are so consumed with soul-killing hatred for George W. Bush, they can barely think straight. And yet — and here’s the funny part — they continue to give speeches anyway,” Carlson said. He went on to say, “If you hate George W. Bush so much that you have gone completely insane, then MoveOn.org is just the site for you and also for Al Gore. Gore’s speech today was furious and incomprehensible and very, very long.”

The International Institute for Strategic Studies released its annual report today. The report showed that, as I have been saying for at least a year now, the U.S. led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has actually boosted al-Qaida’s membership. So here is a message to every conservative I have talked to in the last year who has told me about what a great job Bush is doing of fighting terrorism. I hate to say, “I told you so.” Oh, who am I kidding? I love saying, “I told you so.” Nothing makes me feel quite as good as sweet vindication.

“President” Bush gave his speech tonight at the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, PA to make sure everybody understood that he has a clear plan for Iraq. Bush started the night off with some tough words. “This vile display shows a contempt for all the rules of warfare and all the bounds of civilized behavior.” Bush then added, “But that’s enough about me. Let’s talk about the terrorists.”

Bush also took advantage of the opportunity to once again demonstrate his disapproval of what we can only assume was supposed to be “Abu Ghraib” and not “Abu GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!” Really George, if you can’t pronounce it properly just say “Abu Grabe” like everybody else.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appeared before Congress last Friday to address the issue of Iraqi prisoner abuse by American soldiers. In his testimony Rumsfeld put the blame exactly where it belongs–the media. Said Rumsfeld, “We’re functioning in a — with peacetime restraints, with legal requirements in a war-time situation, in the information age, where people are running around with digital cameras and taking these unbelievable photographs and then passing them off, against the law, to the media, to our surprise, when they had not even arrived in the Pentagon.”

Of course, this was only one quote of many during Rumsfeld’s 6 hour testimony in which he made sure we all knew that the real problem in this situation is not the fact that Iraqi prisoners are being tortured. It’s that somebody took photographs of said torture.

The Los Angeles Times ran a story yesterday in which it was revealed that 70-90% of the prisoners in Iraq were arrested by mistake. According to the article, “Coalition military intelligence officials estimated that 70% to 90% of prisoners detained in Iraq since the war began last year ‘had been arrested by mistake,’ according to a confidential Red Cross report given to the Bush administration earlier this year.”

Unfortunately, I was unable to comment all last week while the whole Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal was going on since the Anthropik Network was down in preparation for the public beta. But we’re back now!

Sadly, that this sort of thing happens in war really comes as no surprise to me. Even in the American military which has an almost unbelievably clean record in regards to this sort of behavior, there are still going to be a few incidents like the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. That is what war is.

On tonight’s Nightline Ted Koppel will read the names of the 721 Americans who have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war. However there are some who say this act of respect is nothing more than a ploy to criticize the war. Among those some is the Sinclair Broadcast Group which carries ABC in a number of cities. As a result, they have decided to preempt tonight’s broadcast of Nightline saying, “Despite the denials by a spokeswoman for the show, the action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq.”

A year and one day ago today, George W. Bush made his grand entrance by fighter plane aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. In that moment of victory Bush, standing in front of a banner that proudly boasted the words “Mission Accomplished,” delcared, “major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” Indeed, since America’s victorious end to the war in Iraq in May 2003, the scene in the Middle East has been nothing but peaceful.