you can call it a spin-off, call it a knock off, title it part 2


photo by silver juice!

* Top ten conservative idiots. excerpt:

1. The White House Conspirators

"Even a Supreme Court nomination - which was timed to try to knock the Valerie Plame scandal off the front pages - couldn't divert attention from the White House's machinations last week. First the Washington Post revealed that 'A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked '(S)' for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials.' In fact, it was later revealed that the memo was actually classified "'op secret.'

"Meanwhile Dick Cheney's chief-of-staff Lewis 'Scooter' Libby and Karl Rove have now been identified as two of the sources in the Plame leak case and the prosecutor in the case is apparently looking at perjury and/or obstruction of justice charges. These are two of the most powerful men in the White House - this scandal goes all the way to the top.

"But there's more: it was also suggested last week that Judith Miller's source could be none other than John Bolton, Bush's dubious pick for ambassador to the United Nations, who is still having difficulty getting confirmed. Not only that, but Bolton testified before the grand jury and then somehow failed to mention that fact in the forms he had to fill out for his confirmation hearings. Whoops.

"Finally, a panel of ex-CIA officers convened by Senate and House Democrats blasted George W. Bush last week for jeopardizing national security. Said former CIA analyst Larry Johnson - a Republican, by the way - 'I wouldn't be here this morning if President Bush had done the one thing required of him as commander in chief - protect and defend the Constitution. The minute that Valerie Plame's identity was outed, he should have delivered a strict and strong message to his employees.'

"Well quite. And now let's take a look at the strict and strong message that the commander-in-chief actually delivered..."

-- Related, given Alberto Gonzales appearance on Face the Nation, Think Progress asks: "If the Attorney General of the United States can answer questions on the ongoing investigation, why can’t the White House?"

* From Harper's:

-- Number of killed or captured suspects reported so far by the U.S. media to be Al Qaeda's "number 3" man: 4

-- Average amount of sugar consumed each year by a U.S. preschooler, expressed as a percetage of body weight: 149

-- Average number of times each day that aircrafts intrude into D.C.-area restricted flight zones: 2

-- Number of corpses shipped on Delta Air Lines last year: 42,175

* Spiritualized's Jason Pierce recovering from very serious illness.

"Spiritualized leader Jason Pierce is recovering from a serious, unspecified injury that apparently left him near death. 'So [after] nearly dying twice in the last two and half weeks, Jason has now and fantastically made an alarming and brilliant recovery and is due home today,' writes his partner Juliette on the group's official Web site.

"'He is still fragile and really weak, weighing in at maybe 8 stone [112 pounds] but love and happiness on his side,' the post continued.