Consider the headlines...

* Terrorism prosecutions have fallen back to pre-9/11 levels. A new report notes, "In the eight months ending last May, Justice attorneys declined to prosecute more than nine out of every 10 terrorism cases sent to them by the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies."

* Attacks and civilian deaths in Iraq have risen sharply in recent months, with casualties increasing by 1,000 a month, and sectarian violence has engulfed larger areas of the country, the Pentagon said Friday in a strikingly dismal report to Congress.

* The number of roadside bombs, sectarian attacks, and daily strikes have all gone up in Iraq, and a new NIE may be even more startling.

* Ali al-Sistani has now "abandoned attempts to restrain his followers."

* Despite the president's audacious claim that the Taliban "is no longer is in existence," and the president's allies who insist that "things are going swimmingly in Afghanistan," the reality is both of Bush's wars are going in the wrong direction.

– Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

Following up on yesterday's item about the Santorum-Casey debate, it's also worth taking a moment to consider how embarrassingly wrong Santorum is about WMD in Iraq.

"[W]e have found weapons of mass destruction, they were older weapons, but we have found chemical weapons. The report was just released not too long ago that, that said that there were over 500 chemical weapons found in Iraq."

Santorum realizes his WMD claims were thoroughly debunked a few months ago, doesn't he?

The only mystery here is the one that leads Santorum to believe he still has credibility on the issue.

– Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report

As someone with a background in the visual arts, I've always been fascinated with the implicit stories being conveyed behind photo choice in the print media. It's a little bit of psychology, a little propaganda, and a little marketing rolled into one. It can make or break whether you buy the story. A year or so ago, I stumbled across what has now become one of the my favorite sites: BAGnewsNotes. At BAGnewsNotes, print photos are dissected and analyzed and often, the underlying thrust of stories are uncovered for what they are.

Last year, photographer Alan Chin went to the Gulf Coast and brought back images shared on BAGNewsNotes that were stunning in their unflinching yet compassionate look at the victims and the damage of Hurricane Katrina.

You can see the entire photo essay here. Alan's work is simply amazing. Many more images to be found here.

Emailer David reminded me that David Ignatius on "The Chris Matthews Show," claimed Ali al-Sistani was worried Iraq was spinning out of control back on 7/23/06.

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

David:.. the most important and powerful personality in Iraq is signaling the Bush administration this week that he is worried that the situation in Iraq is spinning out of control. He is the crucial person. If he gives up on this effort-this effort is over...

I guess his information was correct since Ali al-Sistani has now "abandoned attempts to restrain his followers."

The most influential moderate Shia leader in Iraq has abandoned attempts to restrain his followers, admitting that there is nothing he can do to prevent the country sliding towards civil war.

This news does not bode well as Juan Cole reports:"Sistani's aide, Sheikh Hassan Mohammed Mahdi al-Jawadi, 56, was gunned down in front of his office by gunmen in a car on Sunday."

Remember the polls that said that Bush resonated with voters because "he was the kind of guy you wanted to go have a beer with"? As ridiculous as that is as a standard for the office of the President, the truth is that the average American voter does place an inordinate amount of importance on a fairly shallow understanding of not only the office sought, but of the person they are electing to it.

At the Edinburgh TV Festival, Al Gore lamented on what it takes to get elected nowadays.

Kyra Phillips' Top Ten Excuses

#41 with the great Victor Wooten guesting

For all their talk of "fighting them there, so we don't fight them here", there is a very real war that the Bush Administration policies are waging here on our shores: The War Against The Middle Class . Despite the rosy characterizations of our economy from pundits, there is real data that shows that the American Dream may be just that--a dream--for a growing percentage of Americans, who struggle with a larger debt burden.

Thom Hartman, an Air America personality and author, has written an interesting book SCREWED: The Undeclared War on the Middle Class on what he terms "the death of the middle class" that I've just started reading. Hartman makes a fairly compelling case for a "Fair Market Economy" vs. the neocons' beloved Free Market Economy, which history has shown has benefitted just the top percentage and caused a greater and greater chasm between the upper and middle classes.

Elizabeth Warren speaks to Newsweek as to the dangers of the new bankruptcy bill and what it means to middle class families. And Nickel and Dimed author, Barbara Ehrenreich, enumerates the all-too-familiar dangers of the white collar job market in her new book, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream.

So what do you think? Have the policies of this administration struck the death knell for the American middle class?

Have fun...

Glenn Greenwald is hosting FDL's book Salon with John Dean today. He's online and chatting about his new book, "Conservatives Without Conscience"

Join in...