Human scum.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...Bush named neocon Undersecretary of State John Bolton the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. His appointment can only spell future diplomatic disaster (as if we weren't already knee deep in it). The man is as hawkish as they come. Who could forget when he cozied up to Kim Jong Il, dubbing him a "tyrannical dictator" leading an "evil regime," in a country where life is a "hellish nightmare". North Korea responded in kind, refusing further diplomatic relations with Bolton, a man they deemed to be "human scum." Right you are, Mr. Bush, a perfect choice for UN ambassador--the man who said "there's no such thing as the United Nations," and ''if the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference.'' This is the administration's not so underhanded way of saying they don't give a rat's ass about the UN, or support from the international community, at a time when they need it most to heal the wounds they created in the Middle East.

I had the opportunity (for which I am grateful, despite the fact that I have some serious qualms with his politics) to sit at a conference table with Bolton at the State Department and ask him a question last year. I brought up a report from the daily Ha'aretz from February 2003, when he told Israeli officials that "it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea after Gulf War Redux." I asked him to reevaluate this in light of the situation in Iraq, and he gave me the brush off, scoffing, "well, you weren't there, so..." So it's personal--the man is on my shit list. If there is any way to oppose his nomination, I am there.

"Who vants a mustache ride!!"