There’s no doubt… I am easily amused! Persistent Illusion has crawled its way up to “Multicellular Organism” in the TTLB Blobosphere Ecosystem. And we’d like to thank everyone who helped us evolved from “Insignificant Microbe.”

It’s time for the annual Quilting Arts Magazine calendar contest. The theme this year is, “What’s Your Utopia?” If I decide to enter, I’ll have to come up with some utopia that’s really off the wall. We all agreed here at work that last year my entry, despite having lots of interesting embellishments including my own Irish lace, was discounted because it fell into the “family history/crazy quilts” category with probably 1,000,000,000 other entries.

In thinking about the theme this year, my first thought was about a really cool dream I had when I was a kid. I dreamed that I was an eagle. I launched myself from a cliff face and soared out over hills and fields and desert. The dream was so realistic that I could feel the muscles in my wings pull against the wind. I remember being surprised I was human when I woke up.

But that would be a hard one to do in a 14″ square without it ending up being thrown in with the “nature as utopia” theme with 1,000,000,000,000 other entries. I’d have to use some incredibly cool and unusual embellishments to make that one fly.

So, how is it really going in Iraq? This in today from Reuters, in a story by Tabassum Zakaria:

A U.S. intelligence report prepared for President Bush in July offered a gloomy outlook for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst scenario being a deterioration into civil war, government officials said on Thursday.

The alarming possible future in Iraq as outlined in the classified National Intelligence Estimate is in line with the view of many analysts and members of Congress…

Remember that Bush has had this report since July. And how were things in July?

The report was initiated under former CIA Director George Tenet, who stepped down in July. The conclusions were reached before the recent worsening of Iraq’s security situation. (ed: emphasis mine)

So the situation in Iraq is actually worse than it was when this report was first released in July. But it doesn’t sound as though the Bush Administration were very concerned. In response to the release of the July report, Whitehouse spokesman Scott McClellan said:

it was up to policy-makers to address the challenges outlined.

However, he added, “The Iraqi people are proving that those scenarios are wrong by the progress that they are making to build a better future.”

Policy-makers… That would be our President and his cabinet? And what is the response from Bush? In another Reuters story, Caren Bohan reports on the Bush rally in St. Cloud, Minn.:

President Bush said on Thursday freedom was on the march in Iraq even as a U.S. intelligence report depicted a bleak outlook for the country’s future.

Bush insisted the U.S. strategy in Iraq, where more than 1,000 U.S. troops have died, was working as he campaigned in Minnesota, a traditionally Democratic state that Republicans are targeting in the Nov. 2 election.

“In Iraq, there’s ongoing acts of violence,” Bush told a rally here. But he added, “Freedom is on the march,” emphasizing his campaign image as a “war president” in the election battle against Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry…

Bush did not mention the intelligence report in his speech at the rally but White House spokesman Scott McClellan said he disagreed with its pessimistic assessment.

“The Iraqi people are proving that those scenarios are wrong by the progress that they are making to build a better future,” McClellan told reporters.

Oh… Kay… So our policy-makers believe that a sand dune is a good place to stick your head. I get it. Perhaps Dubya doesn’t understand that being a “war president” is only good for your campaign if you are actually winning. Or, perhaps he understand that all too well, but just doesn’t understand that continuing to ignore negative reports, and continuing to ignore questions about why he’s ignoring the negatives, will eventually be noticed by a majority of voters. Or, worse yet, perhaps he believes that it will not be noticed.

At the rally, dozens of anti-Bush protesters stood outside carrying signs that read, “Preemptive Peace” and “Iraq Has Nothing To Do With Our Freedom.”

I’m fairly certain that Bush did not see those signs, given his penchant for keeping dissenting voices out of his rallies.

And people sneered when I said I worried about Iraq becoming the next Viet Nam. Those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

Dubya… What color is your sky?

The new Persistent Illusion skin “Moon” is finished — or at least close to being finished. The boxes are all still transparent. I may leave them that way, or fill them in later. I haven’t decided. Suggestions are always welcome.

I like Moon well enough that I’ve made it the default. But, of course, you can always go back to Mirage if you liked that better. Or any of the other skins, for that matter.

Moon is partially liquid and should look OK at any resolution from 800 x 600 and above. It looks best at 1024 x 768, because that’s what I’m using right now.

For real liquidity, of course, go with the Mommymonster skin.