My head feels like it might explode - I've had a four alarm banger going on all day. Seizures do this to me, casting a tight net over my brain, then drawing it close until gray matter begins squeezing out through the holes. This headache is exacerbated by the suspicion that the current anti-convulsant meds I'm eating are having little, if any effect on the frequency and severity of the seizures that routinely scramble my brain. Never mind those meds are costing me dearly, even at the deeply discounted and civilized prices available from our kinder, gentler neighbors to the north.

Following the news fuels the throbbing jackhammer. Not since Nixon has the White House used its considerable powers to savage a political opponent in the manner the Shrubbies are doing to Richard Clarke. Selectively declassifying documents to paint a very narrow, somewhat contradictory picture of Clarke is indicative of the overall desperation driving the Shrubites. This administration has consistently been one of the most secretive in US history, making classification of everyday documents into a normal procedure. To open the gates even a little speaks to their burning desire to crush this man who dare criticize policy decisions.

Most, if not all, of this blatant smear campaign has been carried out by the office of the National Security Adviser, Condoleeza Rice, herself willing to make time to appear on numerous television shows to excoriate Clarke while refusing to appear in front of the 9-11 commission to testify publicly and under oath, as Clarke has already done. In a crass political calculation Rice and the White House have tossed away their original rationale for her refusal, executive privilege, in favor of a public appearance where, by assertion alone, it is hoped she can either directly refute Clarke's testimony, or sufficiently cloud the waters. Though under oath, Rice has considerable leeway if she is careful - the commission has not had unlimited access to classified documents, not by any measure.

In other words, she can lie to her heart's content. Coupled with the selective declassification of a few documents, she ought to make short work of Clarke's testimony.

Understand I am no fan of people like Clarke, who is an old style Cold Warrior remade in the modern age (though not a Neocon, which is a completely different species), willing to use military force in secret to eliminate the enemies of the United States. In his testimony, I heard the voice of my father, a post World War II Republican and ardent Cold Warrior. Unlike my father, who saw everything in terms of the Soviet Union and the terrifying assumptions of Mutual Assured Destruction, Clarke has adapted to the more nebulous circumstances of stateless warfare. Some of his Republicanism is of the throwback variety - he made mention several times of the necessity of improved intelligence services that are restricted enough to protect civil liberties. This is in stark contrast to the Shrubites, who believe civil liberties are reserved for those who can afford to pay for them.