On the way home from work today I listened to this story on NPR. It looks like the Italian people have had enough of Emperor Bush's worldwide shenanigans. Italian courts have indicted a bunch of unknown Americans (presumably CIA operatives) for kidnapping an Egyptian cleric in Milan under the "extraordinary rendition" program and a US marine for shooting an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq. And Saturday thousands are expected in Vicenza to protest the expansion of a US military base there. When I was in the Navy I visited (and got drunk in) several ports in Italy and I always found the people to be very friendly and happy to see Americans. That's all changing now. Dubya has so diminished our reputation through the generally clueless and arrogant thuggishness of his foreign policy that even the laid-back Italians have begun a national discussion regarding the necessity for dozens of US military bases in Italy.

I'd bet good money that the boy king is oblivious to it, and he probably wouldn't give two shits if he knew, but the rest of the world is starting to push back against US imperialism. When a former KGB chief and all-around evil bastard like Vladimir Putin calls you on the carpet for excessive use of force, you have to figure things have gotten a little out of hand. I can only imagine how much worse it's going to get over the next two years as dubya continues his calamitous search for a victorious war preznit legacy. We are going to pay for this presidency for decades.