Wonkette

Here’s a great house for Robert M. Gates, because it’s being sold by another ex-CIA boss, Porter Goss! MORE »

• Hastert displays his stammering and backpedaling techniques, gets winded going back to 2003 — when he first learned about Foley. [WP, NYT, USAT]

• In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, a cornered, paranoid Hastert lashes out: Foley scandal is fault of Brian Ross, George Soros, and Bill Clinton consortium. [CT]
• WP prints more of the Foley IMs, but redacts the good parts. ABC on the other hand didn’t bother to redact the name of the teenager Foley sent emails too, though since corrected. [WP]
• Political fallout aside, Foley might be okay. “For the most part, the law is going to allow you to be a dirty old man.” [W$J]
• Dan Bartlett thinks bloggers have “too much time on their hands,” and that Bush’s “comma” remark is historical analysis, not belittling pith. [WP]
• White House, like, still totally down with waterboarding, brah. [WP]
• Five at Hewlett-Packard charged with criminal conspiracy, face fines that amount to a month of “latte money.” [NYT, LAT]
• Ben Bernanke warns of a “substantial correction” in the housing market. Sorry about your condo. [W$J]

• Congressional hearings on terror detainees resemble a “partisan media event” as both parties use last week of session to look smart, busy. [NYT, WP]

• Warrantless spying bill clears one hurdle, others remain. [WP, LAT]
• Liquids and gels can go back on the planes, provided they’re in tiny bottles and scanned separately. [NYT, WP, USAT, W$J]
• British soldiers kill high-ranking Al-Qaeda member in Iraq, who had previously escaped from an American prison in Afghanistan. [NYT]
• Marlboro Lights ain’t no Diet Coke, Judge rules. [NYT]
• Home prices decline for first time in a decade, effect on overall economy unknown. [LAT]
• The big newspapers pick up story of George Allen and the n-bombs. [NYT, WP]

• Surfing the net and being able to “rub one out” are the soothing remedies used by workers of all levels. [Rock Creek Rambler]

• Once again, DC is screwed by the suburbs. [Carrie Broadshoulders]
• DC dude-bloggers’ tips on how to run your “Hoo Ha beautification regimen.” [First Date DC]
• Finally something to distinguish the mayoral candidates! Vincent Orange hates the gays, Cropp loves ‘em. [Cut DC Taxes; DCist]

• Kings have their castles, but just because you’re a penniless drunk who lives in group basement apartment with bike messengers doesn’t mean you don’t have anyone to look down on. [DC Urban Family]

• Red is where the rich people are, cause those neighborhoods are “hot.” [Metroblogging DC]
• At least you don’t live in Baltimore. [Frozen Tropics]
• FEMA’s got a little class warrior streak running through it that’s apparently not so popular with the Tyson’s Galleria set. [Diary of an Ad Man]

• The Hill thinks there are actually 50 beautiful on the hill, DCeiver knows better.
  [DCeiver] MORE »

* Jon Stewart has no illusions — if he were any funnier, he’d be dead. [The Apiary] MORE »

Namely, the environment immediately surrounding her multimillion-dollar mansion, high in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco.

We previously linked to real estate porn of Senator Feinstein’s palatial residence. We now learn, via the San Francisco Chronicle, that recent landscaping changes by DiFi have infuriated city officials and her neighbors.

Details appear after the jump.

MORE »

* Diane Feinstein is richer than you. [SFluxe] MORE »

• Reliable Source: Herbert Haft’s mansion sells for a record $20 million. [WP]
• Inside the Beltway: Bush roots for Florida in NCAA game. . . Bush: “I kinda like being on the same platform as Senator Burns because he makes me sound like Shakespeare.” [WT]
• Inside Politics: Sen. George Voinovich believes John Bolton is “a changed man”. . . GOP congressmen call for House vote on RU-486. [WT]

Recent reports that the area real estate market is finally cooling probably have a lot of worried investors looking to God, but only Pastor Theresa Garrison of the Church of the Rapture got an early direct line: “Garrison always says that God channels his wishes through her, and when He said, ‘Sell,’ it was near the peak of a commercial real estate boom on 14th Street.” The Washington Post has been reporting on the gentrification of the corner of 14th and T, and the sale of the 30-year-old church was a watershed moment in letting loose the flood of urban settlers. At first — in a nod to the church’s legacy — the luxury apartments were to be called “Rapture Lofts.” Developers then thought about the target demo a little more closely. It will be called “T Street Flats.” Garrison is pleased with the name change: “See, I found out that the rent is gonna be so high that only the rich homosexuals and lesbians will be able to buy this condominium.” And bad news for bargain hunters: In case of rapture, these lofts will remain occupied. MORE »

• “Last night was the actual tour and it was one of the highlights of my time here in DC. We got to see the Oval Office, the Rose Garden, the Press Room and everything in between. . . . Quite frankly my mouth was agape the entire time.” Wait, is Jeff Gannon back? [Information Leafblower]
• “Fenty in ‘06: Suck it, holes.” [DCeiver]
• “I thought I was a happy, decent person. I thought I knew what I wanted. But there’s no way the whole world can be this unhappy and me be happy. I must be wrong. I must be unhappy with everyone else! Can someone please direct me to drugs?” Saying goodbye to Craigslist. [Craiglist]
• WP real estate chat gets to the real issue: Logan Circle construction is going $600 per sq ft. — “My question may be better posed to Carolyn Hax or Amy Joyce, but who are these buyers? Where do they work? And MOST importantly, who do they date?!” [WashingtonPost.com]
• Speaking of housing: “Would I rather buy these Chloe heels or pay rent this month?” With the Chloe heels, you might, of course, get someone else to pay your rent this month… [DCist]

Three things you urgently need to know about Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH): He buys gas for his car, he loves bear claws, and he has a gambling problem. A monumentally less pressing fact about him is that he’s just won $853,492 in D.C. Powerball, because to judge by Slate’s Henry Blodget, that sum and a Bush tax cut won’t even get you an advanced warning not to ride the subway. MORE »