deposed the city's mayor

* "(AIPAC) is an important story, arguably one that has greater implications for national security than the scandal involving the churlish outing of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame. So far, at least, the media frenzy attending to the Plame affair is matched by nearly total silence about the Franklin-AIPAC affair? Can it be true that reporters are more courageous about pursuing a story that involves the White House than they are about plunging into a scandal that involves Israel, our No. 1 Middle East ally?" (link)

* "Four-star General Kevin Byrnes, the third most senior of the Army’s 11 four-star generals, was sacked over allegations that he had an extramarital affair. Meanwhile, Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, the senior commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib torture and abuse scandal, is being considered for promotion to, yep, four-star general." (link)

* michael wolff in vanity fair: ""Not only did highly placed members of the media and the vaunted news organizations they worked for know it, not only did they sit on what will not improbably be among the biggest stories of the Bush years, they helped cover it up. You could even plausibly say that these organizations became part of a conspiracy -- they entered into an understanding that, as a quid pro quo for certain information, they would refuse to provide evidence about a crime possibly having been committed by the president's closest confidant."" (link)
yes, michael, you could argue that. ive been arguing for years that they should all be round up and indicted on RICO charges.

on that note, heres Ron on why judy miller needs to be defended, and here's CI also arguing that she probably should (at least that miller shouldnt be singled out)

* sibel is on demnow- 20mins - with the author of the VF article (link)

* its pledge week for pbs (or at least on Lehrer) - and so in the middle of lehrer, the switch to the local stations to do their fundraising. some stations, including mine, dont switch to fundraising and so lehrer does a fill-in piece. today, the main stories on lehrer are lung-cancer, "who rules the range" (enviro issues for open ranging), and some book. the fill-in piece (which most apparently dont get to see) is about am.soldiers going awol. nice work tomlinson.

* "Armed men entered Baghdad's municipal building during a blinding dust storm on Monday, deposed the city's mayor and installed a member of Iraq's most powerful Shiite militia." (link)

* btw, buried in the above nyt story about deposing the mayor is a story about which wapo manages to write an entire piece: "Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday that weapons have been found in Iraq that were "clearly, unambiguously" from Iran and that the weapons would ultimately become a problem for Tehran." (link)

* "The Pentagon also announced that Iraqi and U.S. forces have arrested suspects in Haditha, Iraq, in the deaths of 20 U.S. Marines in two incidents last week.
Myers said the arrests showed that Iraqi civilians were against the insurgents and cooperating with the U.S.-led coalition in the country." (link)
is QuagMyer intentionally stupid?

* "KABUL, Afghanistan - A U.S. service member was killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Wednesday, raising to five the number of Americans killed in less than a week" (link)
ah yes - the other war...

* from James Wolcott:

"Tbogg is keeping a running count of how many American troops are dying in Iraq while Bush is on vacation in Crawford, kicking back at the ranch and hiding from Cindy Sheehan.
Current tally: 43."