Once again, a high-ranking member of the administration is insisting that the NSA surveillance program, as it has been authorized, is both Constitutionally and legally permissable.  From today’s Vice Presidential address to the Heritage Foundation: Wartime conditions are, in every case, a test of military skill and national resolve. But this is especially true in the war on terror. Four years ago, President Bush told Congress and the country that

For the record, being called “Wanker of the day” by Atrios is a lot like being called dumpy by Margaret Cho—or being told by Jessica Cutler that you “really can bring a world-class ass fucking!” Though on the plus side, maybe my newfound noteriety will garner me my own panel discussion at the next EschaCon!  A boy can still dream, can’t he?

“You’ve completely missed my point,” he said—waving her away like he would a busker, or the officious water service at a Chinese restaurant.  “Completely and utterly missed it.”

Via Instapundit and the Washington Post, we learn that Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette fame is handing off the reins to her site (Underneath Their Robes’ David Lat will take over)—hardly a surprise, given that she’s landed a second book deal, from Riverhead again, for a non-fiction work that will purportedly take on “the next generation of political activists” and be out in time for the 2008 elections.  The deal

From Peter Ackerman and Ramin Ahmadi, writing in the IHT: For months Iranian activists and even moderate clerics have been concerned about the radical tendencies of Iran’s new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the past few weeks—after he said that the Holocaust was a myth, called for Israel to be wiped off the map and banned Western music from state-run radio and television, the concern spread around the world. But there

* **** update From the Guardian UK,