Wonkette

Peter Hoekstra, wishing to appear slightly interested in this whole “oversight” business, made a big point of demanding that the White House fill him in on an intelligence program they’d been hiding from the Intelligence Committee, so that the Intelligence Committee could hide it from the American public. We’re so very proud. MORE »

• Japan is considering military action against North Korea. [AP via Yahoo]

• Mobs of Shiite Muslims in Baghdad violently attacked Sunni neighborhoods yesterday morning, leaving leaving more than 50 dead. A retaliatory bomb exploded later at a Shiite mosque. [WP, NYT]
• Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to President Bush last May claiming that the administration’s unwillingness to brief the committee on certain unspecified “major intelligence programs” could be a “violation of law.” [NYT WP]
• Wages for rich people are rising higher than wages for not rich people. [WP]
• Grover Norquist is finding his luster as superstar Republican fundraiser fading a bit, due to his Abramoff connection and general sliminess. [WP]
• Rick Santorum, facing a tough reelection campaign in a state he doesn’t actually live in, is “reintroducing himself” to Pennsylvania voters. [NYT]

• The would-be Sears Tower attackers rounded up in Florida last week were incompetent boobs who thought jihadists wore uniforms. The undercover agent who caught them provided them with pretend Islamic Army Boots. [Herald-Sun]

• Arlen Specter says the White House and Congress are close to an agreement to put the NSA wiretapping program under court authority. [NYT]
• Peter King, head of the House Homeland Security Committee, would like to prosecute the New York Times for revealing the existence of the administration’s secret financial-monitoring program. [WP]
• Torrential weekend rain crippled much of Washington, flooding much of the area and felling a tree on the White House lawn. [WP]
• As more Americans embrace calls for withdrawal, congressional Democrats are complaining that a privately-presented Pentagon Iraq plan closely resembles their failed “troop drawdown” resolution. [WP, WP]

• President Bush is turning 60 next week. [WP

• Sen. Specter (R-Pa.) proposes to give Bush the choice of getting a warrant from a special court for surveillance programs; proposal would specifically not limit presidential powers. Specter: “I think he [Cheney] is serious about trying to work something out. For the first time, he said they are willing to consider legislation.” [WP]
• Cheney says his communications with Sen. Specter “are not unusual.” Specter: “He does not face head on; he does not deal with his not having taken it up with the chairman. This isn’t me personally; this is institutional. This is not the way government works, to deal with a committee without going through the chairman.” [WP, NYT]
• Rep. DeLay (R-Tex.) gives “defiant retirement speech”: “I did a good job… Given the chance to do it all again, there’s only one thing I’d change. I’d fight even harder.” [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi will provide little reprieve for Republians feeling political heat. Official: “We don’t want another ‘Mission Accomplished’ moment.” [WSJ]
• Troop levels in Iraq will not be down to 100,000 by the end of this year. [NYT]
• Senate is three votes shy of repealing the estate tax. Sen. Lott (R-Miss.): “The conservative base will appreciate the fact that we are trying.” [NYT, LAT, WSJ, USAT]

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• Primary results “yielded no significant surprises”; Republican Brian Bilbray beats Democrat Francine Busby in race for Rep. Randy Cunningham’s seat. [WP, LAT]
• Cheney brokers deal to keep telephone company executives from testifying about NSA database. [USAT]
• Some Republican Senators think the recent focus on “ideologically charged topics” like gay marriage could backfire; voters have more pressing concerns. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.): “I know in many meetings of our colleagues when the issue of marriage comes up, heads drop. It is just an issue that people just feel uncomfortable talking about. It’s something that maybe in some respects they feel like, why do we even have to? Why is this even an issue?” [NYT]
• Use of “taxpayer-funded databases” provides an advantage to incumbents who can “cultivate constituents more attentively than ever.” Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.): “As incumbents, we have unlimited access to the most up-to-date technology in the world.” [WP]
• FBI sought proof that Rep. William Jefferson may have tried to bribe the vice president of Nigeria. [NYT, LAT]
• Judiciary Panel members are riled by a Justice Department official’s refusal to say “whether the Bush administration has ever considered prosecuting journalists for publishing leaked national security information.” [WP]
• Tom DeLay says “panic, depression and woe-is-me-ism” risks losing the election for the GOP. [USAT, USAT]

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Abandon hope, all ye who submit FOIA requests to the NSA: MORE »

* This is how the world will end, not with a bang, but a clank, and the thump of a pneumatic hammer on an elevator. We’re relieved that no one was hurt, but it sure was exciting covering all the action. Er, whatever it is that passes for action. In the end, the biggest danger of the day was the risk of some soiled gabardine, but even that was averted. MORE »

Happy Memorial Day! Depending on whether the CAPITOL HILL MAYBE SHOOTING can keep our interest much longer, we at Wonkette will probably be taking the rest of the day off. But our nation’s cartoonists don’t have that option — news can break any time, and it’s not going to take cheap, easy shots at itself, you know.

So, as we do every Friday, we’ve brought in the Comics Curmudgeon to comb through Today’s Cartoons and analyze them for your amusement. Corruption, intelligence, controversy, and dead guys, after the jump.

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Michael Hayden has been confirmed! Holy shit! This Friday is FULL OF SURPRISES! MORE »

• FBI and Justice Department officials, including Alberto Gonzales, defend search of Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) office; Speaker Hastert talks to Bush. [WP, NYT, LAT]
• Gen. Michael Hayden wins over the Senate intelligence committee; full Senate could confirm his nomination to lead the CIA by Thursday. [WP, NYT, LAT, USAT]
• Chertoff contends the U.S. is prepared for hurricane season but skepticism remains. [WP]
• Reaching a compromise over immigration will be a challenge for the House and Senate; Bush urged to apply his “full energy into the effort.” [WP, LAT]
• Veterans Affairs Department waited two weeks before alerting authorities about data loss. [NYT, USAT]
• Critics see recent spending bill for Iraq and Katrina “as a monumental example of earmarking taken to extremes.” [WP]

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• FBI receives complaints from both sides of the aisle for raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s (D-La.) office. [WP]
• Democrats, after pointing fingers at Republicans, face a corruption scandal in their own ranks with Rep. Jefferson. [NYT, LAT]
• AT&T allowed the NSA to view “every individual message” on its internet, lawsuit claims. [WSJ]
• Immigration overhaul is expected to be approved by the Senate this week; Speaker Hastert may override. [WP, WSJ]
• Many Republican candidates are keeping their distance from Bush. [WSJ]
• Bush describes Iraq at a “turning point”: “The terrorists are now fighting a free and constitutional government. They’re at war with the people of Iraq.” [WP]
• Democrats are concerned that voters would be “concerned or distracted” by Bill Clinton if Hillary runs for president; “he has told friends that his No. 1 priority is not to cause her any trouble” and “they appear in the public spotlight methodically and carefully.” [NYT]

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