Sparse Doings

Even after just two rehearsal nights, I already have an appreciation for my nights off. We ate at the local Mexican restaurant (while there are three, we only ever eat at one), and Your Sis went to bed. She was headed for a quick sleep but was distracted by a PBS special on warplanes, and we cuddled on the couch. Military porn brings a couple together, you know. After she was tucked away, I worked on new comic project that's so brilliant that I dare not mention it online.

Moving Picture of the Day
The brilliant "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker" campaign from Reebok. The shorter version remains my favorite Super Bowl ad ever.



In The News
For a long time, conservative talk-show hosts have blamed administration ineptitude on White House moles embarrassing them with leaked documents. While I'm never one to give them credence, the emergence of a memo defining Iraq's prime minister as useless just hours before Bush was to meet the man raises eyebrows. The planned extended summit became a curtailed conference, and Malakhi bailed on a planned event with Bush and the press yesterday. Did someone sabotage the meeting or does this underscore suspected bureaucratic incompetence in the executive branch? This couldn't have happened at a worse time. A bipartisan panel is about to announce its recommendations on Iraq, and, reportedly , they will say we need to leave. Also a clutch of Iraqi officials (including six cabinet ministers and 30 congressmen) boycotted the prime minister for talking to Bush. It sounds like both sides recognize the PM should be ditched, but he was elected. We made a huge deal about free elections in Iraq. How do we maintain that support for the process but not the result? My cynicism says we should watch for some type of scandal that will remove him from power.

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Speaking of cynicsm and jaw-dropping administration policies, check out this transcript of a press briefing as Tony Snow and adviser Dan Bartlett change identifications and become Senior Administration Officials to avoid connecting them to their comments on Iraq. If you go here, you can see more examples of the White House issuing transcripts without identifying the official liaison to the press.