"six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators."

* Simon on the Beeb's new investigation into Dr Kelly's death:

"Someone from the Beeb actually came to see me about this but he wasn't giving much away. Someone else had dropped my name to the corporation and they thought I was worth a visit. My angle is really just about the missing weapons, and I have been speculating that Dr Kelly might have had a personal viewpoint that may have been slightly different from his 'official' position that the weapons were still there somewhere in Iraq. No-one else from the British side of the inspections process has gone public about this, indeed the Hutton Inquiry failed to publish significant quantities of personal statements which were submitted to Thames Valley Police, who were the prime and original investigation agency.

I think the Beeb will follow up closely on what Member of Parliament Norman Baker has been saying. See his website. He is more concerned about the actual manner of Dr Kelly's death, rather than the circumstances that surrounded it. His and Rowena's approach is that if it wasn't suicide then it must have been murder. My own take is that there may be even more to it than this.

I have no proof or evidence to support the idea that Dr Kelly may even staged his own death to make it look like murder in an attempt to 'get back' at the Government and the MoD, but there, I've just suggested the notion. You might think that a brilliant bio-scientist might just have known of a better way to carry out such an act, even in an almost undetectable way, yet no-one has ever suggested that this may be a possible explanation.

My own take is that Dr Kelly had been forced to lie for the establishment. The bigger question is whether this was just to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee only two days before his death, or whether this went much much wider, basically in order to maintain the pressure on Saddam to reveal all and to make the case for war to remove him.

Somehow I think all we are going to get is rather more questions about the whole affair placed more firmly into the public arena. Real answers will be as elusive as they ever are."

* abc:

"Convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff is scheduled to report to federal prison tomorrow, over the objections of federal prosecutors who say they still need his help to pursue leads on officials he allegedly bribed.

Sources close to the investigation say Abramoff has provided information on his dealings with and campaign contributions and gifts to "dozens of members of Congress and staff," including what Abramoff has reportedly described as "six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators."

The sources say Abramoff was about to provide information about Bush administration officials, including Karl Rove, "accepting things of value" from Abramoff."

* WIll Bunch:

"If the White House really wanted to win Rep. Curt Weldon's seat in Delaware County, why did the Air Force wait until two days after (second item) the election to announce a huge new helicopter contract for the Boeing plant that is the largest private employer in Weldon's soon-to-be-ex-district."

* brithume is spinning away from Baker et al: '5 out of the 8 members don't have any national security/military experience' and 'there's petty squabbling in the sub-cttees'

* violence in iraq before the US election was so that the dems would win. violence in iraq after the US election has something to do with the dems, according to brithume.

* truthdig:

"In an original Truthdig interview, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), the potential next chair of the Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations, calls for congressional hearings into how and why America invaded Iraq, and demands “accountability” for those who led America into a “war based on lies.”"

* juancole:

"The US military in Iraq says that the troops are increasingly targetted by sniper fire from trained Sunni Arab guerrillas. Funny thing, when CNN reported this story, using videotape produced by the guerrillas, Lynn Cheney accused them of lack of patriotism. But here we have the US officer corps admitting the story is entirely true and quite important. So is Lynn Cheney on the side of democracy, or of its enemies? Or maybe she thinks the officer corps is full of traitors?"