With the news today abounding in headlines about Bush's saying during his visit to the Middle East, "There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967," in reference to Israel's presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, I wanted to point out that Bush doesn't use "occupation" to mean "horrible oppressive regime." He has not shied from using the word to describe the U.S. presence in Iraq, for example. Therefore "occupation" in the Bush lexicon doesn't seem to mean a foreign presence that is necessarily illegitimate, only that it is one that must have an endpoint.

In other Bush Administration news, it looks like an economic small government -- i.e., starving the beast -- could help achieve a civil libertarian small government as well. Though I do wish they would pay the bills on the taps that were capable of getting FISA court approval... those sound like good, constitutional ones to have.