Gossip Roundup: Friends in High Places

• Washington Whispers: Kerry raises $250,000 for three Democratic candidates in 24 hours… Washington-based Al Jazeera news channel, which launches late this spring, finds “friends in the administration”… Anna Nicole Smith “has done for probate what O.J. did for illegal police search and seizure,” says Chris Lehane, Democratic strategist. [USN&WR]
• Inside the Beltway: National Black Republican Association launches a political magazine. [WT]

READ MORE: 2006, Personalities, al jazeera, anna nicole smith, chris lehane, john kerry, national black republican association, o.j. simpson

Brokeback Glacier: March of the Gay Penguins Goes On

Al Jazeera has so much to offer besides the latest public service messages from Osama bin Laden. A reader sent along this article, noting that it's “right up there with the highbrow garbage I love on your site.”

Six gay penguins at a German zoo have continued their refusal to mate with females of the species flown in from Sweden in 2005, zoo authorities say. On Wednesday, Heike Kueck, the zoo's director, said the problem was that the female Humboldt penguins have proven too shy in their advances. Kueck said: “The Swedes will not make the first move.”

But how can we be sure that the Swedish seductress penguins are heterosexual themselves? As Sen. Sam Brownback recently (and controversially) noted, Sweden is one of several countries that permit gay marriage. To paraphrase the senator: “Lesbian penguins? You'll know 'em by their fruits.”

Gay Penguins Shun Swedish Mates [Aljazeera.net]

Earlier: Senator Brownback Engages in Fruit-ful Dialogue

READ MORE: Media, al jazeera, gay, gay penguins, osama bin laden, sam brownback, sweden

Homeland Security Dazzles Again

On the same day Al Jazeera airs the new bin Laden tape, we find out the Secret Service has been hard at work … busting Georgetown trust fund kids. After Georgetown Day School teacher Alison Taylor Fastov had her email account hijacked, two agents and Justice Department officals went to work on the home of:

Patrice Miller, a well-known D.C. socialite who is married to wealthy real estate developer Herbert Miller. Agents raided the Miller home—a sprawling, historic mansion known as the Bowie-Sevier House—and carted off a pair of Apple G4 laptops, an iPod, and an external hard drive, according to a search warrant return. Though Miller is named as the e-mail account holder, it seems likely that someone else in her household (perhaps a computer-savvy teenage boy who attends GDS) is the hacker in question.

Georgetown landmark raided after e-mail hack at tony institution [Smoking Gun]

— Eric Pfeiffer

READ MORE: al jazeera, georgetown, homeland security, secret service, top

Hypothetical Joke Leads to Real Prior Restraint

It’s bad enough when your national media is divided on whether a foreign leader is kidding when he talks about bombing a TV station in a faraway land. But now the British government has announced that any news outlet will be in violation of the Official Secrets Act when reproducing the contents of the memo detailing said ambiguously humrous bombing threat. A news outlet such as, oh, let’s say the London Daily Mirror, which first broke the news, courtesy of a researcher for former Labour MP Tony Clarke, that George Bush reportedly bandied with Tony Blair the notion that a well placed bomb might shut those Arab Al Jazeera types up but good. This marks the Blair government’s first effort to prosecute newspaper editors for publishing a leaked document, and the invocation of the Secrets Act means that the British Attorney General, as the London Times reports, “intends to hold part, if not all, of the trial, behind closed doors.” And you know what that means: Look for Jose Padilla to be deported any day now as a material witness. Man, does the president ever love to play a practical joke on that guy. —HOLLY MARTINS

[REUTERS/Jason Reed]

Editors Are Threatened Over TV Station Bombing Claim [London Times]

READ MORE: al jazeera, george w. bush, humor short on irony, tony blair

We Bombed in Baghdad

Controversy continues to swell around the London Daily Mirror’s report on a government memo in which President Bush appeared to broach the idea of bombing the Arab TV network Al Jazeera with Tony Blair. White House officials brush off the whole tale as “outlandish” and something they “won’t dignify with a response,” where the Daily Mirror’s original sources give somewhat conflicting accounts of the exchange, according to Kevin Sullivan and Walter Pincus in today’s WaPo:

One source is quoted as saying Bush’s alleged remark concerning the network’s headquarters in Qatar was “humorous, not serious,” while the other said, “Bush was deadly serious.”

And for good measure an unnamed official weighed in on the not-so-serious side of the question: “In Washington, a senior diplomat said the remark as recounted in the newspaper ‘sounds like one of the president’s one-liners meant as a joke.”

Yeah, we can totally see that. It’s like that time Bush was doing that whole mushroom-cloud uranium-tube riff about Iraq. Man, remind us to tell you sometime the highjinks that ensued then. —HOLLY MARTINS

Paper Says Bush Talked of Bombing Arab TV Network [WaPo]

U.S. Missile Hits Al Jazeera Office [AFP]

READ MORE: al jazeera, georege w. bush, jokes that aren’t really all that funny, london daily mail, tony blair, top

Daily Briefing: ‘Outlandish and Inconceivable’

• Pentagon has a tentative plan to withdraw about 50,000 troops from Iraq over the next year. [WP]
• For oil executives who were involved in the energy task force, the truth depends on what the meaning of “participation” is. Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D-N.J.) definition: “If you’re doing anything more than breathing in the room when you’re there. Even if you’re a silent observer.” [WP]
• Bush allegedly talked to Tony Blair about bombing Al-Jazeera. Scott McClellan: “We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response.” [WP]
• FEMA will extend housing subsidies for Gulf Coast evacuees. [WP, NYT]
• Administration formally charges Jose Padilla ahead of Monday deadline; “the government has yet to settle on a consistent strategy for holding and punishing people it says are terrorists.” [NYT, NYT, WT, USAT, USAT]
• Judge delays decision on throwing out charges against Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas). [WP, LAT, NYT]

• Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) doesn’t know what all the fuss is about: “I am amazed at what a national story this has become.” [WP]
• Bush pardons two turkeys and sends them to Disneyland. PETA flack: “It’s hard to argue with Disneyland.” [NYT]
• White House defends Samuel Alito on districting issue, saying he “has told senators that he believes ‘one man one vote’ is bedrock principle.” [NYT]
• Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) calls for a “limited drawdown” from Iraq: “Those of us in Washington have fallen behind the debate that is taking place across America on Iraq. We are failing to provide leadership on this issue.” [WP]

READ MORE: Barack Obama, Pentagon, White House, al jazeera, disneyland, fema, frank lautenberg, george w. bush, gulf coast, iraq, jean schmidt, jose padilla, oil, peta, samuel alito, scott mcclellan, thanksgiving, tom delay, tony blair