Blowhard Australian Prime Minister John Howard better watch out who he insults. There’s a super-secret new spy base currently under construction on the blighted western edge of the so-called “land down under.” The base will coordinate communications with spy satellites and such, and will make it “almost impossible for Australia to be fully neutral or stand back from any war in which the US was involved,” according to Philip Dorlin, a visiting fellow at the Australian Defence Force Academy. MORE »

The Associated Press reports that nefarious Pepsi double-agents have been busted for stealing secrets from Coca Cola. They reveal:

The suspects include an executive administrative assistant at Atlanta-based Coke, Joya Williams, who is accused of rifling through corporate files and stuffing documents and a new Coca-Cola product into a personal bag.

After which, presumably, she slogged through three miles of swamp and underbrush, dodged terrifying hails of Orange Crush bullets and fell bleeding and exhausted at the feet of the suspiciously-named Pepsi CFO, Indra K. Nooyi. When the soft-drink world is at war, can any of us feel truly safe? MORE »

* Cool topic, NOW TELL US WHERE RIGHT NOW! [Circle V] MORE »

• White House backs Sen. McCain’s ban on the torture of detainees; noted as a “particularly significant setback” for Cheney. [WP, WP, NYT, USAT, LAT]
• In 2002, Bush authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop domestically without needing a court warrant; under pressure from the White House, the New York Times held the story for a year to “conduct additional reporting.” Former senior official: “This is really a sea change. It’s almost a mainstay of this country that the N.S.A. only does foreign searches.” [NYT]
• Republicans try to outmaneuver Democrats on final legislation. Filibuster may be in order for the Patriot Act debate; Republican lawmakers “are increasingly showing independent streaks.” [WP, NYT, LAT, LAT]
• Bush on Iraq vote: “There’s a lot of joy, as far as I’m concerned, in seeing the Iraqi people accomplish this major milestone in the march to democracy.” [NYT]
• Bush doubles proposal for rebuilding New Orleans levees to $3b; new structure would not shield from Category 5 hurricanes. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Congressional report finds that the administration withheld some prewar intelligence from lawmakers; White House disputes claim. [WP]

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• Conservatives express disappointment with Miers during “tense” meetings with administration officials; “rarely have [conservatives] been so openly distrustful of the president himself.” Lott: “Is she the most qualified person? Clearly, the answer to that is ‘no’. . . you have to also look at what has been her level of decisiveness and competence, and I don’t have enough information on that yet.” [WP, WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Senate votes 90-9 to limit interrogation of detainees in the Middle East and at Guantanamo Bay; represents a “new boldness among Republicans to challenge the White House on war policy.” [WP, WSJ, NYT]
• Former White House security official may have passed classified documents to the Philippines. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Republicans are divided over extent of budget cuts. [WP]
• CIA will not hold current or former officials accountable for failure to prevent 9/11. Kristin Breitweiser: “[Porter Goss] is either avoiding embarrassment or trying to hide something.” [WP]

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