While Rome Burns . . .

In the days following Hurricane Katrina, a photo of President Bush playing guitar surfaced in the blogosphere with the frequent caption "Nero Fiddling while Rome Drowns" or words to that effect.

The analogy is more appropriate than ever these days. The empire is falling into disarray.

The president has spent our government into a crippling deficit. Financially, our country is now at a point where we are forced to haggle over the particulars in rebuilding the Gulf Coast. We are bickering over funding the preventative measures necessary to prevent another such disaster.

This is not to mention the under-funding of things like education and homeland security.

In the meantime, the burgeoning sex and money scandals involving Republicans at the highest levels of governement is all too reminiscnet of the "great" Caligula.

And today? Today, the President nominated a man to head the CIA, a man who actually believes that there is nothing in the 4th Amendment that refers to "probable cause."

It's simple folks. Either we take our government back or we're screwed. Totally screwed.