O! The incompetence: As has often been said, the only thing George W. Bush is competent at is lying. Now we learn he’s even incompetent at being a dictator. It turns out that the thousands of wiretaps he “repeatedly and insistently” — and illegally — ordered against U.S. citizens overwhelmed the intelligence system in the aftermath of 9/11:

In the anxious months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the National Security Agency began sending a steady stream of telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and names to the F.B.I. in search of terrorists. The stream soon became a flood, requiring hundreds of agents to check out thousands of tips a month. But virtually all of them, current and former officials say, led to dead ends or innocent Americans.

F.B.I. officials repeatedly complained to the spy agency that the unfiltered information was swamping investigators. The spy agency was collecting much of the data by eavesdropping on some Americans’ international communications and conducting computer searches of phone and Internet traffic. Some F.B.I. officials and prosecutors also thought the checks, which sometimes involved interviews by agents, were pointless intrusions on Americans’ privacy.

[…]

Here is why we will invade Iran before the November elections:

President George W. Bush’s job approval rating dipped below 40 percent in a new telephone poll by Zogby International.

Zogby said Sunday 39 percent of those polled said they approved of the Bush’s job performance, and 40 percent who said the nation overall is headed in the right direction.

The deterioration in Bush’s numbers appears to be the result of eroding support among investors who backed his 2004 re-election bid, said John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International.

The European Union pledged USD 100 million in aid to boost the global fight against bird flu on Friday and Turkey stepped up the culling of birds to try to stop the deadly virus spreading further Turkey has already culled more than 800,000 birds). Following are the latest key facts about the status of bird flu in Europe:

France — Extended its poultry confinement measures to 58 departments of the 96 in mainland France, from an original 26, as fears grow over a virus believed to be carried by migratory birds.

Germany — Increased customs checks on people entering from Turkey to stop illegal import of poultry products.

Greece — Has banned all animal produce from Turkey, and is spraying vehicles entering the country through its northeastern border with Turkey as a precautionary measure.

Netherlands — The Dutch government said on Thursday it wants to vaccinate its huge poultry population against bird flu. The European Commission has yet to approve vaccination. The Netherlands, Europe’s second-biggest poultry producer after France, is home to 90 million poultry.

Romania — Has found highly pathogenic avian flu in 26 villages in and outside the Danube delta, Europe’s largest wetlands and a major migratory route for wild birds.

Russia — President Vladimir Putin told the government on Tuesday to take measures to prevent a new outbreak. Russia has been battling bird flu in poultry since July, culling more than 600,000 domestic fowl. The virus has been confined to eight Russian regions, but no case of human infection has been registered in Russia so far.

Ukraine — Mass poultry deaths were detected at the start of January 2006 at 3 poultry plants in Primorskoe village in Crimea. Ukraine reported its 1st outbreak of bird flu in a dozen villages in Crimea, a major stopover point for migratory birds, in late November 2005.

In a speech for the the bipartisan Liberty Coalition and the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy today, Vice President Gore said that President Bush ” has been breaking the law repeatedly and insistently” and called for a special prosecutor to investigate the president’s illegal wiretaps:

We have a duty as Americans to defend our citizens’ right not only to life but also to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is therefore vital in our current circumstances that immediate steps be taken to safeguard our Constitution against the present danger posed by the intrusive overreaching on the part of the Executive Branch and the President’s apparent belief that he need not live under the rule of law.

I endorse the words of [former GOP Rep.] Bob Barr, when he said, “The President has dared the American people to do something about it. For the sake of the Constitution, I hope they will.”

A special counsel should immediately be appointed by the Attorney General to remedy the obvious conflict of interest that prevents him from investigating what many believe are serious violations of law by the President. We have had a fresh demonstration of how an independent investigation by a special counsel with integrity can rebuild confidence in our system of justice. Patrick Fitzgerald has, by all accounts, shown neither fear nor favor in pursuing allegations that the Executive Branch has violated other laws.

Republican as well as Democratic members of Congress should support the bipartisan call of the Liberty Coalition for the appointment of a special counsel to pursue the criminal issues raised by warrantless wiretapping of Americans by the President.

Woman scorned: Michael Scanlon was ratted out by his former fiancee. Emily Miller, who turned him in to authorities after he dumped her for a manicurist.

Their love affair began secretly in the late 1990’s when they both worked for then-House Majority Rep. Tom DeLay, who is now under indictment for money laundering.

Scanlon was DeLay’s communications director, and Emily was the Leader’s young press secretary.

Yes – Michael was Emily’s boss.

Last November, Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a congressman — allegedly Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH). He faces five years in prison and has agreed to repay over $19 million he bilked from Indian tribes. He will also testify against his former lobbying partner, Jack Abramoff, and others.

Much of the government’s case against Scanlon rests on the testimony of Emily Miller, with whom he had shared details of the crimes he and Abramoff were committing.

The Scanlon-Miller bust-up two years ago — after Scanlon had left DeLay’s office to go into lobbying, and Miller had moved to the press office at the State Dept. — reverberated into the national news and caused a brief but memorable political snafu for then-Sec. of State Powell and the Bush Administration:

In May 2004, Miller found herself at the center of attention when—while live on air—she ordered a cameraman for NBC’s Meet the Press to stop filming Colin Powell [during a live remote from Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt]. A copy of the transcript shows Miller, who also used to work as an NBC staffer, as a brusque press aide. Powell eventually ordered that the interview continue and asked Miller to step aside.

What many people didn’t realize at the time, however, is that during the Powell interview Miller was upset because her fiancee, Michael Scanlon, had broken off their engagement, two of Miller’s former State Department co-workers said. While still engaged to Miller, Scanlon had started an affair with a manicurist and broke up with Miller because he planned to marry the other woman, three of Scanlon’s former associates at DeLay’s office said. They added that the two had numerous public arguments.

Finally! Some sex in these scandals.

Saving face: “Representative Number One” in the Abramoff indictment also happens to be the chairman of the House committee that will be charged with “reforming” the lobbying corruption. Even for Republicans, this was too much:

Rep. Bob Ney, an Ohio Republican implicated in a lobbying corruption investigation, said Sunday he will step aside temporarily as chairman of the House Administration Committee.

“Unfortunately it has become clear to me in recent days that the false allegations made against me have become a distraction to the important work of the House Republican Conference and the important work that remains ahead for the House Administration Committee,” Ney said in a written statement.

Maybe this is sort of like the way Rep. Tom DeLay “temporarily” gave up his position as majority leader.