As many in the State Department have been predicting, the Axis of Evil moved this week to remove Iraq from its list of participating nations. Iraq, which was a founding member of the Axis of Evil, had no immediate response to the decision.

Member nations cited a list of grievances against Iraq, including no longer supporting terrorism and their lackadaisical effort in repelling the American invasion. Said North Korean dictator Kim Il-Jong, "Saddam was really the one that really made things happen in Iraq. Without him, they are not really very evil at all. Certainly not evil enough to be in the axis. Saddam gave us many faithful years of murders, rapes, poverty, and corruption, but we need to wake up to the fact that he is gone. We need to maintain our image, and that means we can't lower our standards for evil, even for Iraq."

The remaining nations stated that they will be looking for another nation to take Iraq's place. When asked about possible candidates, one insider revealed that they had hoped that Russia would join, but Russia has been dedicated to their solo evil work and is not likely to join with a group anytime soon.  

Recent polls show that Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean to be ahead of the pack in Europe. Dean's anti-war, pro-nationalized healthcare stance has resonated with like-minded Europeans. Polls show that if the election was held today - and if it was held in Europe instead of the U.S. - that Dean would win by a large margin over incumbent President George Bush. Bush's pro-America positions are not popular among most of the Western European nations participating in the study. The Dean campaign is working hard at turning that trend into a win in the 2004 election.

Said one key member of the Dean Campaign, "He has Europe locked up, and if they voted this would be really easy. As it is, I'm not seeing how this helps us. I'm wondering if he shouldn't look for a few ways to attract American voters at this point."