Remember the "backdoor draft"? Do you recall how the administration side-stepped Congress by making several "interim appointments"? Well, now add to this dark strategy the shadow budget of "emergency spending."

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said that US military spending in Iraq and Afghanistan will average 44 percent more in the current fiscal year than in fiscal 2005, rising to $9.8 billion per month. See Bloomberg News, March 17, 2006.

This headline needs no commentary (although it probably deserves a rant): "Congress raises debt ceiling to nearly $9 trillion, then passes big bills." See CBC, March 16, 2006.

The major offensive in Iraq called Operation Swarmer (billed as "the largest air assault operation" since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003) turned out to be just another big, expensive, wasteful photo opportunity. See also BBC News, March 17, 2006.