Just when I'm working on being Mr. Nice Guy, Steve Ford at the N&O comes along with a column today and ruins everything. His effusive and lame defense of our Imperial Presidency is astonishing . . . and downright sad.

How disgusted am I? Let me count the ways.

1. Creepy. I won't debase our pages by recounting most of his sorry prose. Suffice it to say: waste of paper and ink. You'll have to follow the link if you want the whole story.

2. Uninformed. "President Bush's anti-terrorism electronic surveillance program -- the one that's being roasted as warrantless, domestic wiretapping -- is supposed to be targeted against people suspected of having some link to al-Qaeda. But given the size and acuity of the NSA's electronic ears, wouldn't a conversation with someone overseas in which bin Laden's name cropped up be likely to get the eavesdroppers' attention?"

No one, especially Mr. Ford, knows anything about the technology and scope of this illegal program, which makes his column quite nearly as useless as . . . nevermind.

3. Smarmy.

Frankly, I imagine that I've been snooped and my privacy violated. Yet the needle on my outrage meter has barely twitched.

His may not have twitched, but mine is off the chart.

4. GOP talking points..

It's bad enough that Ford's side-kick, Rick Martinez, carries water every day for the neocon facsista . . . but this column is beyond ridiculous:

Critics of the snooping program focus on what they see as an abuse of presidential power, with the administration simply asserting on its own say-so that it operates in accord with the executive branch's prerogatives under the Constitution to counter foreign threats. They see a violation of the statute requiring a warrant before eavesdropping can proceed, when it involves communication to or from this country. The dudgeon reaches such heights in some quarters that there's muttering about impeachment.

And so it is. The imploding of the N&O editorial pages continues, day in and day out, turning the once Old Reliable from a watchdog into a lap dog. Go read the rest if you want to see just how far the old paper has fallen.

A

PS Have I mentioned how delighted I am when I walk to the end of my driveway every morning and the N&O isn't there? It sure feels good to no longer be subsidizing Mr. Ford's dirty little soap box.