orichalcum

From Newsweek:

"In public, President Bush has been careful to reassure Israel and other allies that he still sees Iran as a threat, while not disavowing his administration's recent National Intelligence Estimate. That NIE, made public Dec. 3, embarrassed the administration by concluding that Tehran had halted its weapons program in 2003, which seemed to undermine years of bellicose rhetoric from Bush and other senior officials about Iran's nuclear ambitions. But in private conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert last week, the president all but disowned the document, said a senior administration official who accompanied Bush on his six-nation trip to the Mideast. "He told the Israelis that he can't control what the intelligence community says, but that [the NIE's] conclusions don't reflect his own views" about Iran's nuclear-weapons program, said the official, who would discuss intelligence matters only on the condition of anonymity."

Dear Lord in Heaven, may our next President not rely on his or her gut instinct.

I'm old-school about volunteering for television shows: Jeopardy Online Test is back.

"ROMNEY PROMISES EVERYONE IN MICHIGAN A TERRORIST-KILLING PONY.

I totally want a terrorist-killing pony. On a related note, Sarah Connor Chronicles turns out to be a very iffy show to watch with Eowyn, because every time a dog does the alert-danger bark, she gets very excited and barks at the screen in response.

In other surreal political moments, A. and I went downtown to vote early at the Cook County Election Board on Saturday, so as to avoid dealing with the polls on February 5th.
The following conversation ensued:

Me: "Oh, you're taking Mac into the voting booth? I guess that's fair; I got to vote with him in 2006."
A: "I'll hand him off to you after I'm done. He can vote twice."
Me: "Um."
Poll worker behind the desk: "They do say "Vote Early, Vote Often" about Cook County, but we don't really encourage that anymore." (paraphrased.)