Scott Bloch is not quite apolitical.

* wapo:

"(Scott) Bloch has spent most of his tenure under investigation himself due to allegations of illegal personnel practices -- and he would be investigating the executive branch at the same time that it is investigating him. What's more, as a Bush appointee who once wrote that he "sold all my mutual funds when Clinton was elected," Bloch is not quite apolitical."

* the super kathleen reardon:

"Last week's Democratic debate also revealed a gutsy field of candidates, expressing their views with greater clarity than we could have anticipated two years ago. Add to this John Murtha's fearlessness and Harry Reid's refusal to back down last week. Courage appears to be spreading among Democrats.

When the White House runs America via obsequious fools serving the selfish interests of power hungry impostors, it's high time for contagious courage among the opposition.
[]
This is the time for Democrats to be courageous, their tipping point, their exigent moment. They will indeed need "every freshly fortified vertebra" to get through the next many months. The opposition is as crafty as it is debased. There is no shortage of people selling their souls. Each is hired to do a detestable deed; instructed when caught to wave his hands, to act stupid or shocked, to then occupy precious Congressional time, receive a medal like George Tenet did, go off to write a book for millions, add a few ok-with-the-pres White House attacks to get on the liberal talk shows, and wait for their 2009 laugh fest on a private golf course.

It's a despicable, repetitive game played by the Bush Administration while young Americans die on battlefields created by "Bushie" lies. This is a sickness only courage can conquer - the kind that, once sparked, spreads and consumes all around until the pathology is extinguished.

We're witnessing small flames and sparks from Democrats and a few Republicans; the wind is at their backs. The only question remaining: Do they have what it takes to ignite their collective courage potential, withstand setbacks, take risks and, before it's too late, take this country back?"

* juancole:

"George Tenet on the staircase with the neocons
In his book and on TV, former CIA Director George Tenet remembers all the things he should've said before we invaded Iraq but didn't.

The French call it "the spirit of the staircase" (l'esprit d'escalier), the clever reply to someone that comes to you on your way up to the bedroom after a cocktail party. In his new book, released Monday, former CIA Director George Tenet has delivered himself of hundreds of pages on the staircase, imagining what he should have said or could have said to Richard Perle, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice and the other neoconservatives who marched the country to war in Iraq using the pretext of Sept. 11. In his April 29 interview with "60 Minutes" touting the book, Tenet came across as a spectacularly tragic Walter Mitty, daydreaming about how things would have been different if only he had spoken up, if he'd only been a James Bond-style spymaster instead of a timid, fawning bureaucrat. But of course, when it really mattered, at the critical juncture of his seven-year tenure as CIA chief, Tenet said nothing."

* boingboing (for mizgin): "

Dell will pre-install Ubuntu Linux
This is rad: Dell will soon start shipping computers with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed. I've been running Ubuntu, a slick, easy-to-install, easy-to-use flavor for Linux since last October. It's the only OS I use (well, I still synch my iPod with an old Powerbook, but I hope to have that fixed shortly), and I love it to pieces. Talk about rock-solid. "