We all know Republicans are suckers. The McCain campaign is well aware of this too, and are prepared to take advantage of their supporters who are retail shopping challenged. If you're a Republican who wants to wear your support of John McCain proudly, be prepared to be fleeced on the fleece jacket.

I know this happened nearly five years ago, and is yesterday's news. But, we might want to remember that yesterday is still with us today in the Republican Party.
The 2008 Democratic nominee for president of the United States is not a woman. The Understatement of the Year seems to be: many are disappointed about this. The irrational can blame Obama. The rational can blame a traditional media elite that is wallowing neck deep in sexism, bigotry, and misogyny. Both are distractions from a deeper problem and a real and present danger.  

Since the Hillary Clinton's endorsement of John McCain as a candidate who is ready to be Commander-in-Chief, I've been searching for a moment in time. A place where, in McCain's lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House, he demonstrates that he has crossed The Threshold.

I think that since we now know Sen. McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election.

- Hillary Clinton, yesterday

LEHRER: New question, two minutes, Senator Kerry.
If you are elected president, what will you take to that office thinking is the single most serious threat to the national security to the United States?

KERRY: Nuclear proliferation.

- Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate, October 8, 2004

I think one of the reasons John Kerry has endorsed Barack Obama for Democratic nomination is that he knows Obama takes the issue of nuclear proliferation seriously.
Unfortunately, I have my doubts about Hillary. Never mind that she has spoken favorably of John McCain's "lifetime of experience", what Clinton implies is her approval of the Republican agenda on national security. An agenda that promotes nuclear proliferation.

Here's what I think is one of the most under reported stories of the year, if not the decade.
Among our "friends" in the Middle East there is a very disturbing trend. Millions of women are strangely unaccounted for and I have heard very few asking any questions about this.

There are 2,000,000 missing women  in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
450,000 missing in the State of Kuwait.
350,000 missing in the United Arab Emirates.
280,000 missing in the Sultanate of Oman.
230,000 missing in the State of Qatar.

Where are they? I hope that I am wrong. But the numbers suggest catastrophic heights of misogyny among our "friends" in the Middle East. These lost populations look even worse when you consider the numbers as a percentage of total population. Relatively speaking, these are not countries with large populations. So, what is happening that there would be:
7.6% missing in Saudi Arabia, 19% missing in Kuwait, nearly 15% missing in the UAE, 9% missing in Oman, and 27% missing in Qatar?!

The details and analysis are below the fold.

As you may have heard, a company, Dubai Ports World, based in the United Arab Emirates has been given the responsibility of running operations at six American ports as part of a corporate sale. This is detailed in a dairy today by georgia10

So, what's so special about the UAE and its ports operations?  Well, in a word: PLENTY. The company, Dubai Ports World shares an Executive Chairman with another company called Nakheel.  He is the Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, and he has a vision. A project the UAE is working real hard on these days.

Come...follow me to the UAE.  I want to show you something.

I am not a weapons of mass destruction expert. But, like many of those who frequent this blog, I know that ketchup is not vegetable.
There are probably some others here that know that the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism or GSAVE--formerly know as the War On Terror--is not about preventing the spread of extremism, nor limiting the reach of terror. Nor does it seem to be about stopping the spread of WMD.
What is the President's solution to stopping the spread of WMD? More specifically, what does he plan on doing about nuclear weapons proliferation?  Because as I know that ketchup is not a vegetable, I also know that WMD are not something exclusive to Iraq.
For reasons too numerous to list in plain text on my 150 GB hard drive, I don't trust the President's word. I can only attempt to understand him by looking at his deeds, and it looks to me that what the Bush administration is engaged in should be known as WARGASM or We Are Reality: Global Arms Trade Metastasizing.

Let's look at nuclear weapons in Pakistan.

Last week, Robert Novak veered dangerously out of control on CNN's "Inside Politics". When he said that vulgar word in reference to a large male ungulate BM and walked off camera the way he did...I was shocked. And when I realized that I had soiled myself while watching this on my TraumaTron...I felt terrorized.
This week, the Wall Street Journal is asking the "Liberal press pack" to apologize to Novak for making him say that vulgar word in reference to a large male ungulate BM and walking off camera the way he did.
Apologize to a lying, treasonous, Bush administration bunion sucking tool.
Novak should be sent to an internment camp with the rest of his kind.