According to comments from White House press secretary Tony Snow, no covert agent of the United States government should expect to be more covert than you or I.

Responding to a reporter at Tuesday’s press conference who asked whether the White House was apologetic for exposing CIA agent Valerie Plame, Snow offered these heart-felt words of sympathy to Plame and her husband Joe Wilson:

"I'll apologize...there it's done," he answered curtly.

According to a letter released Thursday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Vice President Dick Cheney does not consider himself part of the Executive Branch under certain circumstances. This begs the question:

If our Founding Fathers created the United States government with three branches, and the Vice President is not part of the Executive Branch, to which of the other two branches does he belong?

Last week, I blogged about The Sopranos’ allusion to the end of American Empire. I contended that the final season (and part of the previous season) of the show was chock-full with symbolism about the Bush administration and on a broader scale, it symbolized our nation’s lame-duck standing on the world stage. After watching the finale, I’m more certain than ever that this was the case.

The other night, after watching this week’s episode of The Sopranos, I had one of those “ah-ha” moments, an epiphany about the entire final season of the show. My realization was this:

At some point, the writers of the show decided to transform their gangster series into a subtle political statement. Symbolically, they have chronicled what they perceive as the end of the American Empire. Through both of Tony’s families, his personal family and his crime family, we’re watching the fictional, small-scale telling of the degradation of American world dominance.

Hat tip to Chip for sending these still-relevant song lyrics.

The Fish Cheer & I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
by Country Joe McDonald

Gimme an F!
F!
Gimme an I!
I!
Gimme an S!
S!
Gimme an H!
H!
What's that spell?
FISH!
What's that spell?
FISH!
What's that spell?
FISH!

Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for?

Rest easy, America. We are safe. With Tuesday’s arrest of six more terrorists, we can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that our government is shielding us from the world’s most diabolical minds.

God bless.

Thanks to the keen insights and vigilant guard of a Circuit City employee turned Sherlock Holmes, the United States has sniffed out another terrifically concealed sleeper cell that threatened to destroy the very foundation of everything we hold dear. On the importance of this citizen’s actions, don’t take my word for it. Just listen to U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie:

Hat tip to Chip for sending this fine bit of satire from Randy Newman.

That’s the question I heard as I rummaged through a bin of pricey, organic apples. A split-second before this stranger’s question registered in my mind, her hand came to rest gently on my right forearm, an entirely unwelcome way to approach me. (I like my personal space.) Her tone was exactly like that of a Christian missionary approaching a lost sinner, asking “Do you know your personal lord and savior Jesus Christ?”

“Why is this woman talking to me? Why is she asking me that? And what’s up with the holier-than-thou tone?”

For more than 6 years, I’ve criticized the Bush Administration for all things, small and large. But something happened at yesterday’s press conference that struck me as the weirdest on-camera moment to date (barely beating out the press conference of Harry Whittington, who emerged from the hospital and apologized to Dick Cheney for getting shot in the face...by Dick Cheney.)

Two Giant Tips of the Hat to Chip for recommending that I watch the original version of the "The Conversation" and for recommending the inclusion of the Matthew Dowd story in this post...

Watching the goings-on in Washington lately, I couldn’t help but notice a pattern here. Every single story or scandal seems to be a loose translation of a movie I’ve seen before. So, I thought I’d write about three of these stories as if I were scripting movie trailers for fictitious films...

TRAILER #1

MUSIC:
TENSE, STICATTO VIOLINS

VIDEO MONTAGE: