The CNN article, Blair urges tougher action on Iran, covers the main points and I heard bits and piece from the BBC coverage earlier this morning.

Tony “the poodle” Blair is in the very undemocratic United Arab Emirates complaining about Iran interfering with the promotion of democracy in the Middle East the day after an election in Iran.

The head of Fatah calling for new elections less than a year after Fatah lost at the polls promotes democracy, but Hezbollah calling for new elections 18 months after the last election is a coup attempt?

Iran is interfering with democracy by supporting political parties in the region in which it is located, but the US and UK is promoting democracy by supporting opposing political parties in those countries which are on different continents?

The friends of the US and UK in the region are not exactly beacons of democracy, most are autocratic regimes or monarchies, which is why most of the people in the region don’t believe us when we say we are promoting democracy. Iran is one of the more democratic governments in the area with elections that actually cause a change in policies and the people in charge. This is why the US and UK have a major credibility problem with the Arab street.

Over at Blonde Sense the Jersey Cynic combines information from The Carpetbagger Report and a Paul Kiel post at TPM Muckraker to produce a list of government reports and information that is no longer available because the facts didn’t agree with the press releases produced by the Shrubbery.

When the Democrats take over Congress, their oversight hearings are going to be eye opening. There are going to be a lot of people testifying that they don’t have the information to answer questions, because the data is no longer collected, even when the collection of the data is required by law.

The current administration doesn’t know what is going on, and doesn’t want to know.