THE TENSION: The Decline and Fall of Western Civ. for 13 Sep

Heads up, this news rolls downhill.

Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold called on President Bush to refrain from using the phrase "Islamic fascists" to define the enemy. "We must avoid using misleading and offensive terms that link Islam with those who subvert this great religion or who distort its teachings to justify terrorist activities," Feingold said Tuesday. Apparently Feingold is concerned that the message is in conflict with the Democrat talking point that Bush is the enemy. Yo' Senator, where is your outrage over terrorist's subversion of a religion? Scary.

File this Radar Online story under "I told ya' so." The blog, Think Progress, citing three sources, reported today that Air America Radio is filing for bankruptcy on Friday. Left unpaid for months, Air America personality and comedian, Al Franken said, "We do know that there have been cash-flow problems. I haven't been paid in a while. Like, there's no cash flowing to me." Liberal talk radio fails for any number of reasons, including the fact that most folks listen to talk radio either in the car or at work, one of the simple facts the Air America folks seems to have overlooked. In other news concerning failing radio ventures, Greenstone Media, a radio company whose founders include social activist Gloria Steinem and actress Jane Fonda, has launched an all-women, all-talk network across the United States, reports Reuters.

Reuters and the Washington Post report that one-time covert CIA officer Valerie Plame sued the former No. 2 official at the State Department on Wednesday, accusing him of violating her privacy rights. However, the lawsuit did not accuse Richard Armitage, who was deputy secretary of state in the Bush administration, of participating in an administration conspiracy to blow her cover: still no cure for the common cold, no apology from the mainstream media for creating 'Plamegate.' Far more interesting is columnist Bob Novak's piece on the real story behind Armitage's role.

It's the economy, stupid. Yes, it is the economy, alright. AP reports the federal budget deficit, helped by a surge in government revenue (make that more tax revenue even with tax cuts), is running 14.1 percent below the pace of last year, the government reported Wednesday. Al-Reuters, electing to report the story as a headline for the month of August alone, made it appear as if the deficit is growing faster.

George Clooney is slated to speak to the UN Security Council Thursday about Darfur, reports Deadline Hollywood.

While I am not holding my breath, I am waiting for the first (or any, for that matter) sign of Democrat outrage at a new film depicting President Bush's violent assassination. The Daily Mail has linked a video clip. I don't plan to watch.

Web videos posted on YouTube mock U.S. war deaths with dozens of videos purporting to show individual American soldiers being killed in Iraq, in what amounts to snuff films, overlaid with music and insurgent slogans, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

And finally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, standing up for America in a way many Americans haven't, launched a withering attack on Thursday on what he called "mad anti-Americanism" among European politicians, reports Reuters.