I don't know where to begin with the whole Iraq-Niger uranium debacle (or should I say spectacle?) Experience tells me that when a politician makes a statement "standing behind" someone, the object of those kind words is usually one foot out the door already. My sense here, though, is that CIA Director George Tenet is in no danger of losing his job over this. So I guess it's okay to allow false information through - and face no consequences for doing so. The press keeps referring to Tenet as "the fall guy." That implies...a FALL. If he stays where he is, which I admit remains to be seen, you can't call him a fall guy.

Bush had declared that this is over. I LOVE that concept. "It's over." The president will tell the press and the public what's newsworthy and what's worth investigating. Think of all the time it will save us if we just all sit down, shut up and do what GWB tells us to do. Think of how simple life would be if we could ALL decide when something's over. But the problem with me is, when I decide something's over, it's rare for anyone else to agree with me. So maybe I'm more bitter than outraged? Nah...

But I am struck by one thought - why didn't Bill Clinton find a loyalist to claim he'd (or she'd) suggested a presidential blowjob in the Oval Office and then found a willing service provider for the President of the United States, arguably one of the most stressful, tension-filled jobs on the PLANET. And then Clinton should have just told the press and the public - it's over, someone's taken responsibility, it's over. No Ken Starr, no grand jury, no blue Gap dress, no impeachment.

But the Clinton episode did produce one good thing - and what I believe should be the tagline for our generation: Define what "is" is. And once again, we're being taught a lesson about the awesome power of words. Rumsfeld says what Bush said about uranium was "technically correct." This could be dismissed as a case of simple semantics - but that would be tragic. Because someone(s) made the subjective decision in crafting that SOTU speech of what was acceptable and what crossed a line. They were wrong. And there should be consequences when you're that wrong.

So, being the idealist that I am, I again hope "these 16 words" - (Tenet and Rice obviously read from the same script) - prove to be the undoing of GWB's popularity and will help bring down the current administration. I'm overstating, I know. But now they're REALLY starting to piss me off.