Don’t take your eye off of Bush

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeThe only thing that seems to be in the news is McCain, Hillary and Obama with an occasional smattering of tornado coverage and a few blurbs about gas prices. I rarely see any recent coverage on MSM about Iraq. Last night I saw that same old tired file footage of the Al Qaeda training video that has run since 9-11 - you know, the one with the Jihadis on monkey bars. When I see these reports this morning, it makes me think Bush wants to wait till these deals go though before the US strikes. Iran eyes Azeri Shakh-Deniz gas from Caspian Sea Iran is interested in buying significant amounts of gas from the second phase of ex-Soviet Azerbaijan's largest gas field, Shakh-Deniz, in the Caspian Sea, an Azeri government source told Reuters on Wednesday. The second, $10 billion phase of Shakh-Deniz is expected to come on stream towards the end of 2013. "Iran's deputy oil minister and the general manager of its state gas company spoke to the management of (Azeri state oil firm) Socar over importing some seriously large volumes from Shakh-Deniz's second phase," the source said. Iran sees gas pipeline deal with India, Pakistan by mid-year Iran's ambassador to New Delhi said Tehran hopes to finalise a gas pipeline deal with India and Pakistan by mid-year, in an interview released on Wednesday. The 7.5-billion-dollar project which aims to transport natural gas from Iranian oilfields to Pakistan and India was discussed during a visit to India last month Iranian by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "It is hoped the trilateral agreement will be signed by the middle of summer this year," Iran's ambassador to India Sayed Mahdi Nabizadeh was quoted as saying in an interview in the latest issue of India's Hardnews magazine. I just think we are taking our eye off of Bush way too much. When he is NOT watched, he tends to exercise his powers of dictatorship more readily. SPECIAL REQUEST FOR TCD FANS: The San Francisco Chronicle is pondering the addition of new cartoons for their paper - a process that seems to be initiated by Darren Bell, creator of Candorville (one of my daily reads - highly recommended). You can read the Chronicle article here and please add your thoughts to the comments if you wish. If anything, put in a good word for Darren and Candorville. I am submitting Town Called Dobson to the paper for their consideration. They seem to have given great weight to receiving 200 messages considering Candorville. I am asking TCD fans to try to surpass that amount. (I get more than that many hate mails a day, surely fans can do better?) This is not a race between Darren and I, it is a hope that more progressive strips can be represented in the printed press of America. So if you read the San Francisco Chronicle or live in the Bay Area (Google Analytics tell me there are a lot of you), please send your kind comments (or naked, straining outrage) to David Wiegand at his published addresses below. If you are a subscriber, cut out your mailing label and staple it to a TCD strip and include it in your letter. candorcomment@sfchronicle.com or David Wiegand Executive Datebook Editor The San Francisco Chronicle 901 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94103