Whole Lotta News

Lots of stuff has happened in the past forty-eight hours, so I'll try to keep it short. . . .

Harriet Miers is out as George W. Bush's Supreme Court nominee. It seems that every time Bush tried to play up her conservative credentials, right-wing advocacy groups didn't buy it. For liberals, Miers's withdrawal is a double-edged sword. A nominee they weren't very comfortable with themselves has taken herself out of contention, but it paves the way for Bush to nominate an ultraconservative justice that could cause a political firestorm in an already divided nation and lead to even less of a voice for those who disagree with the far right's agenda.

Meanwhile, Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been indicted for his alleged role in outing CIA agent Valerie Plame in an attempt to embarass Iraq War critic Joseph Wilson (Plame's husband), and he has quit his post as Vice President Cheney's chief of staff. Independent counsel Patrick Fitzgerald charged him with obstruction of justice, deciding that Libby's grand jury testimony wasn't straight with the facts. Hardly surprising, considering that Libby can't even get his story on how he got his nickname straight! (Let's hope Karl Rove falls next.)

And finally. . . . The Chicago White Sox won the World Series?!? First the Red Sox, now Chicago's "lesser" baseball team. Maybe the Cubs will win it next year. It looks like the meek shall indeed inherit the earth. Well, the baseball diamond, anyway. Sorry, Yankees. :-p