Exit Tony Blair

Tony Blair made a farewell visit to the White House this week, in a last photo-op good-bye to his imperial ally, President Bush. The Prime Minister is stepping down from office after ten years of service at the end of June. Standing together, side by side at two separate podiums, both leaders echoed a loud, resounding Molly Bloom "Yes!' to their embattled policies in Iraq over the past four years.

"I think we did the right thing then, and I still believe it is the right thing now," Blair reiterated several times, letting his words fall like loose change over the President.

"What kind of demagogic doo doo is this anyway?" asks Virgil, who is something of a cruise missile himself, when he wants to be.

Meanwhile, like Gustave Flaubert submitting his sentences to the shouting test--Flaubert had a habit of going outside and reading aloud everything he'd written to an avenue of lime trees near his house--Senator Robert Byrd was proclaiming with elegaic urgency:

"We need to conclude this terrible mistake we have made in Iraq. Anti-Americanism is more robust now than in any period in our history because of Iraq. The international community is skeptical of U.S. intentions because of Iraq. Our Constitution has been trampled because of Iraq. Thousands of U.S. troops and Iraqi citizens have lost their lives because of Iraq. Thousands more are maimed physically or mentally because of Iraq. Billions of U.S. dollars have been wasted because of Iraq. President Bush has lost all credibility because of Iraq. Terrorism is on the rise worldwide because of Iraq."

"This is just so bizarro," says Virgil. "Who do YOU think is right? And how the heck is an alligator supposed to deal with this?"