Wonkette

Fareed, we know you’re not from there, but take our word for it: Europe is way older than 50. Seriously, David Ignatius up there with you? He’s like 56 and he’s only showing the first signs of continental drift and erosion — dude hasn’t even reached the age of mercantlism yet! MORE »

• The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea detonates the tiny little nuclear weapon they made. US forces were so looking forward to Iran. [WP, NYT, LAT,USAT, W$J]

• Jim Kolbe, Congress’s only openly gay Republican, confronted Foley all the way back in 2000. [WP]
• But the “main” cover up started here: details about the Fall 2005 Foley “intervention” with Trandahl, Shimkus. [NYT]
• Republican Congressional candidates say Foley is still “sucking,” hurting their campaigns. [WP]
• George Allen, “The Man Who Could Maybe Still Get Elected Sheriff In Lynchburg,” neglected to report stock options in technology companies he got after serving as Governor, but before joining the senate. [NYT]
• Fareed Zakaria is not too sexy for secret Iraq war justification meetings. [NYT]
• Slapping childrens’ asses increases their chance of becoming a greedy corporate shrew. [USAT]
• UN Anti-Poverty campaign testing viral video marketing, surprised at how “tasteless” Americans really are. [WSJ]

• Heard on the Hill: Ricky Martin on the Hill to talk about human trafficking, won’t break into song… The Distilled Spirits Council and the Scotch Whisky Association is throwing a party for Prince Andrew (not the Nazi). [Roll Call]
• Yeas and Nays: Heath Shuler, former Redskin, current Congressional candidate, owes a shitload of back taxes… LAT: “Bourbon drinkers tend to be Republican; gin is more often a Democrat’s drink.” Tell that that to… uh, us. [Examiner]
• Reliable Source: O Magazine declares David Gregory, Barack Obama, Fareed Zakaria, and Patrick Fitzgerald to be among the 50 “Sexiest Men Alive.” [WP]
• Rush & Molloy: Chaos at FoxNews as marital problems between Brit Hume and wife/DC bureau head Kim lead to her departure from the bureau. [NYDN]
• Under the Dome: Rep. Chris Dodd (D-CT) is Catholic, wife is Mormon. Dodd: “At Bob Jones University, we are now a two-cult family”… “Rep. John Sweeney (R-N.Y.) has proudly accepted a $1,000 contribution from a strip-club owner.” [The Hill]

While Condoleezza Rice is busy doing bicep curls, her State Department underlings are doing heavy lifting in the gossip department. For some reason, lately we’ve received a fair amount of State-related scuttlebutt. Here are some highlights.

A tipster tells us: “The U.S embassy in Sudan held a private dinner at their residence. [U.S. Charge d'Affaires] Cameron Hume was dropping the usual comments about the Sudanese goverment. A couple of Sudanese businessmen — incidentally, they don’t support the GOS whatsoever — felt he was being over the top. One told the ambassador that his comments were inflammatory and did nothing to foster better relations between the two countries. This is where it gets good. Apparently the man has a temper. So he said that they were like the businessmen in Nazi Germany and they indirectly supported the regime. They told him that his tone wasn’t acceptable. This is where it gets better. He told them to ‘Run tell your goverment and your Prophet too.’”

OH NO HE DIN’T!!! And did he draw a cartoon of the Prophet too? (If you think we’re making this up, the broad outlines of the story are confirmed by this news account.)

Additional gossip — concerning Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and the infamous Pamela Willeford, Ambassador to Switzerland and Dick Cheney hunting partner — appears after the jump.

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