Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested in June at a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes police officer investigating lewd conduct complaints in a men's public restroom, according to an arrest report obtained by Roll Call Monday afternoon.

Craig's arrest occurred just after noon on June 11 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. On Aug. 8, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct in the Hennepin County District Court. He paid more than $500 in fines and fees, and a 10-day jail sentence was stayed. He also was given one year of probation with the court that began on Aug. 8.

Is this the scandal they were hoping would bury the Gonzales resignation? Ummmm... I'm quite sure there will be more to come from this one...

Idaho GOP Sen. Craig Pleads Guilty To Lewd Incident In Male Public Restroom - Politics on The Huffington Post

Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general, announced his resignation Monday _ ending a nasty, monthslong standoff over his honesty and competence at the helm of the Justice Department.

Not only is he out, but there's no one in the wings. That's new. Rummy-Gates, already there. Fleisher-Scotty-Snow, all ready on the spot. O'Neil-Snow, set. Ashcroft-Fredo, set. Fredo-ummmm.... Whoops.

FREDO OUT!

Despite this staggering mess, there are no noble outcomes for those who have blown the whistle, according to a review of such cases by The Associated Press.

"If you do it, you will be destroyed," said William Weaver, professor of political science at the University of Texas-El Paso and senior advisor to the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.

Tell the truth, try to make things actually work, and kiss your ass goodbye. When everything that has gone on for the past few years finally comes out, people are going to look back at Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon, compare W to them, and ol' tailgunner Joe and Tricky Dick are going to look like paragons of virtue and rectitude.

Whistleblowers on Fraud Facing Penalties - Forbes.com

Shaping the Bush administration's message on the Iraq war has taken on new fervor, just as anticipation is building for the September progress report from top military advisers.

For the Pentagon, getting out Iraq information will now include a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week Iraq Communications Desk that will pump out data from Baghdad _ serving as what could be considered a campaign war room.

WHOA WHOA WHOA! Getting out the news is nice and all, but this strikes me as putting politics over security. Someone at the Pentagon should be looking at this and saying "Hold it."

Pentagon Setting Up War Information Room - The Huffington Post

Michael Vick filed his plea agreement in federal court Friday admitting to conspiracy in a dogfighting ring and helping kill pit bulls. He denied ever betting on the fights, only bankrolling them.

So what can we expect? He'll probably get a year to two years, then be out. In the meantime, it may be a good idea for the NFL to remove him. Guys involved in drugs? They're really only hurting themselves (discounting the drug related crime issue of course). Vick? Torturing and killing dogs? Here's your post release scenario. Vick gets a tryout, some offensive lineman on his team likes dogs, a defensive lineman also on the team does too, they line up across from each other, and oops, he put a move on me, oops, he just sort of blundered into where I was going, oops, I really didn't mean to hurt him that dead.

That assumes he makes it through prison of course. They may be criminals, but they probably like their dogs.

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick files plea in federal court, admits dogfighting - NFL - Yahoo! Sports

Three-term Rep. Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican facing a federal inquiry into his family's insurance business, said Thursday he will not seek re-election next year.

This is at least #5 going down for corruption/ethics/legal issues for the GOP. The problem isn't that government doesn't work, it's that Republicans can't govern (see Katrina, Iraq, Afghanistan, DoJ, DoD, Crandall Canyon, Blue Skies, Mark Foley, Duke Cunningham, etc.).

Arizona congressman to retire amid probe - Yahoo! News

The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed by three sets of parents. Greg Hampel and Ed Swaya of Seattle had feared taking their daughter back to Oklahoma to visit her birth mother. Heather Finstuen and Anne Magro feared that non-biological mom Finstuen couldn't sign medical releases and other forms. Lucy and Jennifer Doel, who live in Oklahoma, had felt the impact of the misguided law: When their little girl had to be rushed to a hospital, the ambulance crew said only "the mother" could go along.

Good. Oklahoma not ok!

AlterNet: Federal Ruling Protects Kids of Gay Parents

Clinton said new tactics have brought some success against insurgents, particularly in Iraq's Anbar province.

"It's working. We're just years too late in changing our tactics," she said. "We can't ever let that happen again. We can't be fighting the last war. We have to keep preparing to fight the new war."

I was a little hesitant to say this before, but Hillary coming up with this has moved me squarely into the "not Hillary" camp. The overall on the surge is exactly what was predicted. Violence is down slightly in the troop concentrated areas, but up in others, in other words, it's a wash. Further, the point of the surge was to buttime for the Iraqis to build a unifying government. That clearly isn't happening. The Sunnis have pulled out, the more fundamentalist Muslims (like al-Sadr's wing) have pulled out, the Kurds only interest was hanging around to see what happened and make sure they weren't going to get trampled on again, and NONE of that is working.

Hillary saying this sends not just a mixed message, but a wrong one. It's working so we should get out? WTF? Great, she sends a sop message to moderate Republicans (who hate her and wouldn't vote for her even if you were going to chop off their voting fingers) and to wavering independents (hey Hillary? There AREN'T ANY OF THOSE ANYMORE!) to try to position herself better for the general election. Way to go Hillary, you've just positioned yourself in opposition to the entire base of your party and have been so damn wishy washy about this that people won't trust you because you don't have a solid position.

She voted for the war in 2002, voted for more money at every step, then says she regrets doing so, and now says it's working but we should get out anyway. With the exception of Mike Gravel who I think is kinda nuts, I'll take anyone but Hillary for the Democratic nomination.

Clinton, McCain split on Iraq pullout - Yahoo! News

My committee of couch potatoes decided I should play it cool, with just a simple handshake and introduction. This seemed like a lackluster idea, but acknowledging my own lack of expertise, I offered the suggestion up to Sandy. She seemed a little flat on the concept, so I whipped out my own backup idea: When I met my date, I would hand him the remote control to my vibrating underpants. Sandy paused, then burst out with "I would fucking LOVE you if you did that!"

Something I stumbled over that made me laugh.

REALITY REJECT - Portland Mercury

"Mr. Vick has agreed to enter a plea of guilty to those charges and to accept full responsibility for his actions and the mistakes he has made," Martin said in a statement. "Michael wishes to apologize again to everyone who has been hurt by this matter."

Does this mean we get to see a "The Longest Yard" as a new reality series starring Michael Vick?

Lawyer: Vick to plead guilty to dogfighting charges - NFL - Yahoo! Sports