House Republicans voted to cut student loan subsidies, child support enforcement and aid to firms hurt by unfair trade practices

Yep, we need that money so we can spend half a billion on those two bridges to nowhere in Alaska...

Republicans Cut Several Programs in Budget - Yahoo! News

I remember when Bubba Clinton and Bush Sr. were doing their tsunami tour and good son Bubba slept on the floor so Poppy could have the bed. Ouch. That had to rankle Junior. Then Poppy invited Bubba up to Kennebunkport (site of Junior's DUI) to stay at his leisure. When I read that, my back went straight up. There is no way that a loadie like Junior didn't take that as an implicit criticism of everything he was and everything he'd done.

Wow. Reading Hamsher has been a riot. I have no idea if she's right or not, but the hamster working the treadmill in her brain looks like it's jet propelled.

The Blog | Jane Hamsher: Oedipus Tyrannus Wrecked | The Huffington Post

The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear program to justify the war.

Lawyers said the notes show that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.

Things just changed. While it's most likely legal for Cheney to know (he is VP after all) it might not be legal for him to tell Libby. It also means Libby knew 11 days before the first meeting with Iceberg Judy, and since this was apparantly not disclosed to Fitzgerald, Libby is basically done.

The next question is, how wide a net does Fitzgerald want to cast? From what we've already seen, he could throw one big enough to snare just about everyone at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and the Naval Observatory and probably reel them in.

Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show - New York Times

Since 2001, the trustees have written to Frist and the Senate 15 times detailing the sale of assets from or the contribution of assets to trusts of Frist and his family. The letters included notice of the addition of HCA shares worth $500,000 to $1 million in 2001 and HCA stock worth $750,000 to $1.5 million in 2002. The trust agreements require the trustees to inform Frist and the Senate whenever assets are added or sold.

Sorry Bill, that "blind trust" story you've been spouting just got skewered like a pig on its way to the fire. Would you like to try a better story now, or did you already tell that one to the SEC under oath?

Letters Show Frist Notified Of Stocks in 'Blind' Trusts

Bush usually reserves his celebrated temper for senior aides because he knows they can take it. Lately, however, some junior staffers have also faced the boss' wrath.

"This is not some manager at McDonald's chewing out the help," said a source with close ties to the White House when told about these outbursts. "This is the President of the United States, and it's not a pleasant sight."

Things getting a bit unhinged over at 1600? The descriptions sound like Nixon in '74.

New York Daily News - Bushies feeling the boss' wrath

The initial "crime," however parsed by statute, exposed more than Valerie Wilson as an undercover operative. It revealed her "employer," a consulting firm named Brewster-Jennings, & Associates, a CIA front developed over the years and used by a number of different covert agents, whose intelligence has been compromised.

This one item means the leak WAS inviolation of Foreign Intelligence and Identities Act, because she is listed as working there, and NOT for CIA.

The Unnoticed Piece of the Plame Puzzle

In a preview of how Republicans would counter charges against top administration officials by Fitzgerald, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas brushed aside an indictment for perjury -- rather than for the underlying crime of outing a covert operative -- as a "technicality."

Now I want to see if I have this right. Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury, for saying he didn't have sex with Monica Lewinsky, and that was worth three years, hundreds of millions and 200 FBI agents working on it, but Rove and Libby lying to a grand jury to cover up a breach of National Security isn't?

If that's their argument, they should be run out of town on a rail.

Lawyers see charges this week in CIA-leak case

Said another Bush associate of the rumor, "Yes. This is not good." The rumor spread so fast that some Republicans by late morning were already drawing up reasons why Rice couldn't get the job or run for president in 2008.

"Isn't she pro-choice?" asked a key Senate Republican aide.

The question is, "Is this Iran-Contra, where everything gets swept under the rug, or is this Watergate, and we're about to watch the fall of the administration?"

My guess is, it's much more the latter than the former and, at the same time, much worse. With Nixon, there was not an issue with Gerry Ford being involved in the cover-up, and so sucession was a simple matter. That is not the case here, both Bush and Cheney are heavily involved, so there are larger problems here.

USNews.com: N and W: Cheney resignation rumors fly (10/18/05)

How do I play?

Print a card out, and when the indictments are announced, see if you've got a Bingo!

Ah comedy!

Fitzmas Bingo

The compendium used boldfaced type to call attention to certain comments by Wilson, such as one in the Daily Iowan, the University of Iowa student newspaper, in which Wilson was quoted as calling Cheney "a lying son of a bitch."

Ah, a quote from my old college paper. Gotta love the fact they get away with printing the comments nobody else does because they're a college paper and don't remember to play nice all the time. :)

Bush Critic Became Target of Libby, Former Aides Say - Yahoo! News