Call it coincidence, but...

1) The spy plane incident with China happened - just about the time Bush was pushing to sell some high-tech gear to Taiwan (considered a rogue province by the Chinese).

2) Cheney holds a press conference and warns that the rolling blackouts California experiences could roll across the rest of the U.S. this summer - about the time Bush is trying to convince everybody that plundering the Alaskan wilderness for oil is a good idea.

3) A study of terrorist countries undertaken by some U.S. government bureaucracy wraps up with a list of those with the most enmity towards the United States - about the time Bush is trying to revive the Star Wars initiative.

The juxtaposition of stories in the media can have a powerful influence over popular opinion. And the media can also be thought of as another manipulative tool for fashioning straw men to be knoced down at a profitably opportune time.

When a man (Eisenhower), made in the military industrial complex's image, turns around and says 'beware' of the same, something must be rotten.... And when two oil men say we should drill in Alaska, it's about as credible as tobacco execs saying smoking doesn't cause cancer. Yeah, right.