THE TENSION: The Decline and Fall of Western Civ. for 21 Sep

Heads up diablos, this news burns as it goes down.

Reuters reports that Iran's president Ahmadinejad, responding to Western criticism of his questioning of the Holocaust and a call for Israel to be "wiped off the map," says his issue is with the fact Israel has a state and homeland, and not with the Jews as a people. I guess that means Ahmadinejad would rather see Jews locked up in concentration camps (that he has yet to acknowledge) over Jews living in Israel. The Washington Post carries the full rambling transcript. It is also of some interest to note that Ahmadinejad broke bread with the lib-folks over at the New Republic last night.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, probably taking his cue from liberal blogs and Western self-hating media, launched a new personal attack on President George W. Bush, using a visit to a church to call the US leader an "alcoholic" and a "sick man," reports AFP.

Democrats, seemingly annoyed that Chavez echoed netroot talking points, mounted a tepid response. Charles Rangel backhanded Bush saying, "[Chavez] has to understand that while we have problems politically sometimes with President Bush, that we -- he is still our president," and, "Even though I'm fully aware that [Chavez] and President Bush enjoy these personal attacks on each other, they can do politically what they see fit to do, but you don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district, and you don't condemn my president. If there's any criticism of President Bush, it should be restricted to Americans whether he voted for him or not." Rangel issued a formal statement with somewhat watered down anti-Bush sentiments. In an attempt to further distance Chavez from the DNC party line, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi simply called Chavez a "thug." Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, however, couldn't contain his glee and defended Chavez's United Nations rant. Major news outfits downplayed both of Chavez's rants.
And as if adding insult to injury, the brief media spotlight on Ahmadinejad and Chavez seem to be part of some post-Labor Day alignment of planets that includes falling gas prices and a series of strong Bush domestic and national security responses, all conspiring to help Republicans in important pre-election polls. The LA Times reports President Bush's approval rating has reached its highest level since January, helping to boost the Republican Party's image across a range of domestic and national security issues just seven weeks before this year's midterm election, a new Times/Bloomberg poll has found.

President George W. Bush charged on Thursday that Democrats would raise taxes if put in control of the U.S. Congress, turning to a familiar campaign theme as he seeks to stave off Republican losses in November, according to Reuters.

Time Warner Chief Dick Parsons says Facebook and YouTube are overvalued, according to MSNBC. Keep in mind that the Parsons idea of corporate value is to make AOL a free service, simply throwing away a cash flow from the 20 million or so credit card accounts on-file that AOL bills $22 a month. The AOL-Time Warner debacle lives on as the ghost of a golden-egg-laying goose named America Online.

The average American home now has more television sets than people, reports AP.

Despote the fact that HIV is pretty much isolated within certian risk groups, AP reports all Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 should be routinely tested for HIV to help catch infections earlier and stop the spread of the deadly virus, federal health recommendations announced Thursday say.

U.K. TV Channel 4 is to broadcast a documentary showing a human corpse being hung on a cross to depict Christ's suffering, according to the Daily Mail.