Later, after the war began in 2003, Cheney authorized Libby to release additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to defend the administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case for war.

It's either ok to leak or it's not ok to leak. With these guys classifying more crap than the last couple residents of the oval office combined, that Scott McClellan can even tell time is amazing.

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information (02/09/2006)

Ahmadinejad also ordered his commerce minister to study scrapping all trade contacts with European countries whose newspapers published the caricatures, Iranian media reported.

Well jackass, this is what a free press gets you, something obviously lacking in Iran. It would be nice to find a way to pull the plug on the Iranians, but the problem is, even if we and the Europeans stop buying from them completely, and maybe get the Japanese to do so as well (big maybe that) the Chinese will be happy to pick up that slack.

A bit of a sticky wicket this one...

Widespread Cartoon Protests Under Way - Yahoo! News

The president is said to have told Blair the U.S. "was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq. The aircraft would be painted in U.N. colors, so that if Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach of U.N. resolutions, the book said.

As I've said before, "and the hits just keep on comin'!"

Book: Blair Knew of War Plans in Jan. '03 - Yahoo! News

Chavez "is somebody elected legally like Adolf Hitler. Then he consolidated power," Rumsfeld claimed at the National Press Club in Washington, AFP quoted.

I think it's time for Rummy to step aside. This is so far out of line that I don't even know where to start.

Daily News - eluniversal.com

Emory University psychologist Drew Westen put self-identified Democratic and Republican partisans in brain scanners and asked them to evaluate negative information about various candidates. Both groups were quick to spot inconsistency and hypocrisy -- but only in candidates they opposed.

When presented with negative information about the candidates they liked, partisans of all stripes found ways to discount it, Westen said. When the unpalatable information was rejected, furthermore, the brain scans showed that volunteers gave themselves feel-good pats -- the scans showed that "reward centers" in volunteers' brains were activated. The psychologist observed that the way these subjects dealt with unwelcome information had curious parallels with drug addiction as addicts also reward themselves for wrong-headed behavior.

Now this is damn interesting...

Study Ties Political Leanings to Hidden Biases

Goss complained that leaks to the news media about classified CIA programs — such as reported CIA secret prisons abroad — had damaged his own agency's work.

"I use the words `very severe' intentionally. And I think the evidence will show that," he said.

I realize espionage is an unsavory business, but when you're running secret prisons, well, that's just tough. It's not something that should have even been considered. The fact that it got leaked doesn't surprise me, it just means that someone over there still has a soul. The fact the prisons existed means there is a large group over there that doesn't.

CIA Says Disclosures Damage Work - Yahoo! News

The researchers believe Tempel 1's surface ice used to reside inside the comet and became exposed over time. It's also thought that occasional geyser-like blasts of dust and vapor, called jets, send the ice outward. Once ejected, the ice crystals can become incorporated into the luminous coma, a cloud of material surrounding the main body of the comet, or the ice can become part of its tail.

The same team previously reported that Tempel 1's interior also contained an abundance of organic material and suggested the comet may have originated in a region of the solar system now occupied by Uranus and Neptune.

Ice AND organic matter? I'd love to see the Discovery Institute's explanation for this one.

Water Ice Detected on Comet's Surface - Yahoo! News

Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.

gee, so he wants us to get 15% of total oil used from somewhere else? Is this because the war which was supposed to pay for itself turned into an utter debacle? We'll remove Saddam, turn Iraq back up to full production and that'll solve the energy problems?

I deliberately avoided watching this because I like my television and wouldn't want it to be injured by showing this imbecile. Frankly, this speech is embarassing. Decrease Gulf oil? Not a problem, there are comments that places like Iran will be well in it's way to dry in 20 years.

Spend money on R&D into alternate energy? Why the hell isn't ExxonMobil doing this? I mean they were over 10 BILLION in the black last quarter. More to the point, his "ideas" for alternate energy (notably the ones on ethanol) are totally bogus. Under the current system it takes roughly a gallon of dead dinosaurs (read oil) to make a gallon of ethanol. He then goes on to talk about wood chips and grass. As any first year science student knows, that doesn't make ethanol, that makes methanol, and methanol and gas don't mix. I guess he missed that in college because he was consuming too much ethanol.

On other topics:
More science teachers and you want them to come from the private sector? Guess what, they're not in education because they're already making more money by not doing it. Who MIGHT you get with this pile of crap? I'm sure the Discovery Institute has a list of people with science degrees who would love to get into a classroom.

Health savings accounts? This helps the Medicare/Medicaid problem how? The people who can afford these aren't the ones who don't have health insurance now and aren't the ones drawing on Medicare/Medicaid. This is not just a straw man, it is one of the worst ideas to come out of a White House just brimming with bad ideas. The poor can't afford these, but will now be blamed for not having them.

On the bright side, he only trotted out 9/11 twice...

President Bush Delivers State of the Union Address

Yep, it's a link to Amazon. I don't care. If you haven't seen this movie, you need to. If you have seen it, you need to see it again. This movie won 4 statues of Oscar, and was nominated for 6 more.

Amazon.com: Network (Two-Disc Special Edition): DVD

And part of that calls on American journalism to get over reporting the Bush administration as though it were a credible source. We need to face facts.

Thank you Molly!

Creators.com - Molly Ivins