Terrorism up; information down

The State Department has published an annual report detailing the incidences of terrorism worldwide since 1986, but this year, Smirky's Pet Poodle has apparently decided to cancel the publication. Why? Because the number of terrorist attacks has skyrocketed to an unprecedented level, and that information doesn't fit in too well with the Administration's Vietnamesque declarations that their "War on Terrorism" is succeeding. "According to Johnson and U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the issue, statistics that the National Counterterrorism Center provided to the State Department reported 625 "significant" terrorist attacks in 2004. That compared with 175 such incidents in 2003, the highest number in two decades."
Of course, moves like this are second-nature for this Administration and its cronies. Concealment of important historical and statistical documents, or the suppression of access, are the only means by which these people can continue to escape criminal prosecution for their acts. This shouldn't be any surprise for anyone patient enough, or smart enough, to ignore the smoke and mirrors produced by the Republicans in power. Misdirection, delay (pun unintended, for once),--gee, wasn't the Iraq war justified because of WMDs? Well, we finally have the definitive report on that, and of course, there weren't any--and denial followed by rewording/reconceptualizing (most recently, the choice of the term "nuclear option", originally coined by Trent Lott and other Republicans, now being foisted off on Democrats due to poor reception among the citizenry) are the main weapons the Republicans in power use to completely befuddle most of us. It works, too, thanks to the laziness of the press corps, who can rarely be relied upon to actually dig for any truths, let alone ones that contradict what those in power feed them.
It seems that this tide may be turning, as more and more people (including journalists, which possibly signifies that they finally realize that following Smirky and the gang off sanity's cliff might not have been such a good way to further their careers) are beginning to wonder just what the hell Smirky's cabal is talking about. Social Security "reform" is dying a painful death as Bush continues to attempt to convince everyone he's right, and Frist's drive to change the Constitution isn't playing well either. A glimpse of sunrise?