Zogby:

President Bush’s job approval rating has remained in the low 40s despite a more favorable public rating of his handling of Hurricane Rita than Hurricane Katrina, the storm that demolished his approval rating nearly a month ago…

The survey finds that, despite a more favorable rating for Hurricane Rita preparation and leadership, President Bush continues to be viewed in negative terms for the government’s performance during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. It also finds that his signature strong issue, the War on Terror, has ticked downward slightly, and his handling of the war is now approved by a minority of voters.

In a sign of ongoing difficulty for the administration, however, fewer Americans say the nation is heading in the right direction than a month ago, with just 40% saying the nation is on the right track—versus 54% who say it is headed in the wrong direction, a number that has ticked upwards a point since last month’s poll…

President Bush’s 43% approval rating marks a slight increase from last month’s 41%, but a significant decline from post-re-election numbers posted as recently as this February.

Alternative fuel: Writing in the New York Times yesterday, the Democratic governor of Montana, Bryan Schweitzer, made a very strong pitch for refining fuel oil from the nation’s – and especially Montana’s – vast coal reserves. Schweitzer is a soil scientist by trade and says fuel made from coal, which is called “synfuel,” is better for the environment than fuel made from oil – and it works in today’s combustion engines:

Most people are surprised to learn that we can produce gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products out of coal. Indeed, the process was used in America as early as 1928. In World War II, 92 percent of Germany’s aviation fuel and half its total petroleum came from synthetic-fuel plants. South Africa has used a similar technology for 50 years, and now makes 200,000 barrels per day of synthetic gasoline and diesel.

“Synfuels” have remarkable properties: they are high-performing substances that run in existing engines without any technical modifications, and they burn much more cleanly than conventional fuels. The synfuel process, which is nothing like conventional coal use, removes greenhouse gases as well as toxins like sulfur, mercury and arsenic. And the technology has other applications: a synfuel plant can generate electric power, make synthetic natural gas, and produce the hydrogen that many (including President Bush) believe is the energy source of the future.

Sounds great but what’s the downside?

The hurdle in making synfuel has always been the cost of production, about $35 a barrel, more expensive than oil has historically been. But as we all know, times have changed. Yes, there will be significant start-up costs for private companies, but risk can be alleviated with long-term buyers like the military and with new federal loan guarantees. And while Montana will do its part to help with appropriate transportation and other public facilities, a stronger federal investment – like the billions in annual subsidies and tax breaks big oil companies have long received – could really kick-start the industry.

Thanks to L.R. for the tip!

Boy king on his own: President Bush held a news conference today that was intended to quell the trepidacious howling from his party’s lunatic fringe about the questionable idealogical purity of Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers.

After watching the news conference, Chris Matthews, on MSNBC, noticed that during the course of the President’s 55 minute blither he never once mentioned Vice President Cheney. The implication, of course, is that Cheney – who used to call the shots – was not involved in the decision to nominate Miers, who served as White House Counsel after Alberto Gonzalez moved to the Cabinet as Attorney General.

As we reported last month, rumors have been swirling about the deteriorating relationship between the President and Vice President, including this:

Cheney has been getting tired of being called upon to fix Bush’s mistakes. Cheney said Bush is almost incapable of making any decision. He waffles and waffles. Then, once he makes a decision, he refuses to change it. Because of his born-again faith, he says “It’s in the hands of G-d now” and washes his hands of it. Then Cheney is called in to repair the damage.

It sounds like Cheney’s withdrawal from decision-making forced Bush to come up with the Supreme Court nominee on his own. Faced with this tiresome task, what does Mr. Bush do? He repeats an earlier pattern and chooses the person in charge of vetting candidates. This time it was Harriet Miers who was vetting Supremes; in the earlier instance, it was Dick Cheney who was charged with vetting prospective VPs.

This half-assed decision-making suggests a high degree of impatience, an inability to focus and a paucity of imagination. Think about it. When the initial round of vetting is complete, Bush is given the resumes of the best and brightest Republicans in the land. Certain people – Condi, Mom, Dad, Jeb, Laura and others – have their favorites. But this is one for the history books. Who should he pick? The pressure is just too much.

So Bush makes a non-decision decision: He picks someone he knows – someone he’s “comfortable with.” Someone who’s been right there, all along.

This is the facile mind of the man who sits in America’s Big Chair.

Whether then-candidate Bush made the right decision in picking Dick Cheney is up for grabs.

Whether President Bush has made the right decision by nominating Harriet Miers will be made clear if she joins the Court and votes in a way that forfends proceedings against Cheney, Bush or other highly placed officials.

“Homosexuality is an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it. The State carries the power of the sword, that is, the power to prohibit conduct with physical penalties, such as confinement and even execution.”

— Roy “The Ten Commandments Judge” Moore, 2002

According to the Associated Press, Roy Moore, known as the ‘Ten Commandments Judge,” has declared his intention to run for governor of Alabama.

GADSDEN, Ala. — Roy Moore, who became a hero to the religious right after being ousted as Alabama’s chief justice for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse, announced Monday that he is running for governor in 2006.

Moore’s candidacy could set up a showdown with Gov. Bob Riley, a fellow Republican, and turn the Ten Commandments dispute into a central campaign issue in this Bible Belt state.

Two Democrats, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley and former Gov. Don Siegelman, are already running. The Republican and Democratic primaries are June 6.

Moore, 58, said that if elected, he has no plans to relocate the Ten Commandments monument from its new home at a church in Gadsden.

“But I’ll tell you what I will do. I will defend the right of every citizen of this state — including judges, coaches, teachers, city, county and state officials — to acknowledge God as the sovereign source of law, liberty and government,” he said.
[…]

Following is the preamble to the Iraq constitution. To read the full text, as translated from the Arabic by the Associated Press, go here. Millions of copies have been printed by the United Nations and are being distributed throughout Iraq. A total of $25.4 million has been provided by the European Union, Canada, Denmark, Britain and the United States to support constitutional activities, including printing and distribution.

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

“Verily we have honored the children of Adam” (Quran 17:70)

We the sons of Mesopotamia, land of the prophets, resting place of the holy imams, the leaders of civilization and the creators of the alphabet, the cradle of arithmetic: on our land, the first law put in place by mankind was written; in our nation, the most noble era of justice in the politics of nations was laid down; on our soil, the followers of the prophet and the saints prayed, the philosophers and the scientists theorized and the writers and poets created.

Recognizing God’s right upon us; obeying the call of our nation and our citizens; responding to the call of our religious and national leaders and the insistence of our great religious authorities and our leaders and our reformers, we went by the millions for the first time in our history to the ballot box, men and women, young and old, on Jan. 30, 2005, remembering the pains of the despotic band’s sectarian oppression of the majority; inspired by the suffering of Iraq’s martyrs — Sunni and Shiite, Arab, Kurd and Turkomen, and the remaining brethren in all communities — inspired by the injustice against the holy cities in the popular uprising and against the marshes and other places; recalling the agonies of the national oppression in the massacres of Halabja, Barzan, Anfal and against the Faili Kurds; inspired by the tragedies of the Turkomen in Bashir and the suffering of the people of the western region, whom the terrorists and their allies sought to take hostage and prevent from participating in the elections and the establishment of a society of peace and brotherhood and cooperation so we can create a new Iraq, Iraq of the future, without sectarianism, racial strife, regionalism, discrimination or isolation.
[…]

Wingnut whiners: Sometimes it pays to monitor the Dark Side, if for nothing else than for the humor in it. I subscribe to ConservativeHeadquarters.com, “hosted by Richard Viguerie.” This nutjob just put out what appears to be a press release wherein he quotes himself in full lamentation over Harriett Miers’ nomination:

Conservatives Feel Betrayed
“President Bush Blinks on Supreme Court Nominees”

“Congratulations are due to Ralph Neas, Nan Aron, and Chuck Schumer for going toe-to-toe with President Bush and forcing him to blink,” said conservative activist Richard A. Viguerie. “Liberals have successfully cowed President Bush by scaring him off from nominating a known conservative, strict constructionist to the Court, leaving conservatives fearful of which direction the Court will go.”

“President Bush desperately needed to have an ideological fight with the Left to redefine himself and re-energize his political base, which is in shock and dismay over his big government policies,” Viguerie added.

“With their lack of strong, identifiable records, President Bush’s choices for Supreme Court nominees seem designed more to avoid a fight with the extreme Left than to appeal to his conservative base,” lamented Viguerie.

Many conservatives worry that without verifiable records, President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees will be more like the liberal Justice Souter than the conservative, strict constructionists Scalia and Thomas.

[…]