Wal-Mart is all the rage amongst progressive groups in the state. The company has manipulated the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority into condemning a stream-fed lake northwest of Denver in order to pave it over for a new store.

They've also convinced Denver to provide over $10 mill in tax-incentives to bull-doze a mall of Chinese shops, as much of a Chinatown as Denver has ever had.

But Wal-Mart has provided the fortune behind Kroenke sports (via marriage), the entity which owns the Denver Nuggets basketball team, the Colorado Rapids soccer team, and the Colorado Avalanche.

We seek thee whom sometimes we would flee...

I speculated earlier today that Hollinger's inside dealings would certainly have affected Richard Perle.

Turns out he was one of the inside dealers;

One transaction that caught the attention of some Hollinger investors was a $2.5 million investment earlier this year in Trireme Partners, a venture-capital company in which Mr. Perle, an independent director, is a managing partner.
Mr. Perle has also played a prominent role in the late 1990’s and early 2000 in directing investments in other companies through Hollinger Digital, Hollinger’s investment arm.
Under review is a $14 million investment the company made under Mr. Perle’s direction through Hillman Capital, a venture-capital group controlled by Gerald Hillman — who has since become a partner at Trireme and is a member of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, as was Mr. Perle.
The $14 million investment contributed to a fund used by Hillman Capital to acquire — with another private equity group — more than 70 per cent of Cambridge Display Technology, a U.K.-based technology group that holds a patent in light-emitting polymers, in 1999.

I really hope that the Bush push on Bremer to transition to local government by June '04 isn't so election-motivated as to put the entire effort at risk.

But I'm as skeptical as the conservatives;

Speeding Transfer Of Power in Iraq Carries Big Risks;

Just a few weeks ago, the top American occupation official in Iraq cautioned against transferring sovereignty back to Iraqis too quickly. "Shortcutting the process would be dangerous," warned Ambassador L. Paul Bremer.

U.S. troops would remain a significant presence backing the new government. But by next spring the Pentagon is planning to bring home 30,000 of the 130,000 troops now serving in Iraq, with hopes of more cuts in the following months if Iraqification proves a success.

Bush said over the weekend that we won't be in Iraq "for years".

But there's now way a transition to 'democracy', as touted now by Bush, can happen in less than many years.

We're going to spend $87 billion, then tens of billions more for years after that. There's no way in my mind that our troop levels will decline much under 100,000 for years to come.

No science to those numbers, just my sense of things.

And I'm sure the Bushies know all this, too.

Bush lied to get us to war, and is misadrepresenterating now to shore up his re-election hopes. As the Journal says,

The political advantages to Mr. Bush of Iraqification are obvious: The clear outlines of an exit strategy would be in place before next year's presidential election, but not so close to November to appear unseemly.

WSJ today:

Hollinger International Inc. said Monday that Chief Executive Conrad Black and President and Chief Operating Officer David Radler will leave their posts following a discovery of unauthorized payments to Lord Black and other executives.

Lord Black controls the Chicago-based newspaper publishing company through Toronto-based holding company Hollinger Inc. Hollinger International publishes the Chicago Sun-Times, London's Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post.

Recall that Richard Perle is one of Conrad Black's primary, and perhaps closest, advisors.

The significance of which is simply that Perle has long been happy to cavort among those who manage over the edge.

Which undoubtedly informed his positions as primary (profit-making) advisor to Rumsfeld....