* The 126 House Democrats that voted against the Iraq war in 2002 enjoy feeling prescient, will soon enjoy chairing powerful committees. [WP]
* Robert Gates’s confirmation hearings begin tomorrow, learn all you never needed to know about him today. [WP, LAT]
* The “other” Iraq Study Group, working for Gen. Peter Pace, recommends more troops in Iraq. So, there’s that. [WSJ]
* National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley tells Russert that “significant changes” are afoot for Iraq, still hasn’t a clue what they’re likely to be. [WP, NYT]
* Barack Obama’s massive popularity and promise is pissing off other potential Presidential candidates… [NYT]
* …like second-generation White House grasper Evan Bayh, whose exploratory committee has begun exploring. [WP]
* President Bush can’t stop thinking about those Alaskan oil fields. [NYT]
* CIA unable to sway Venezuelan Presidential elections as Hugo Chavez wins easily. [LAT]
* Steven Spielberg, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Dolly Parton, and Smokey Robinson among those “knighted” at the Kennedy Center Honors last night. [NYT]

• Justice Scalia speaks out against “homosexual sodomy,” boy/girl buttlove still totally awesome. [Raw Story]

• That feeling of dying a little on the inside you get when you read about the latest thing the President has done? Yea, his father gets it too. [The Carpetbagger Report]
• Iraq is now in full-scale civil war. American troops will be unaffected as their orders remain, “just shoot everybody.” [The Swamp]
• If Venezuela gets the open seat on the UN Security Council, they will, “cockblock John Bolton at every turn.” [The Corsair]
• Cindy Sheehan planted her surgically removed uterus in the ground in Crawford, TX. [Hot Air]
• Bush now mining the fertile fields of late ’80s Tom Cruise movies for talking points. [HuffPo]
• Japan reconsidering nuclear weapons — if created, the warheads would be stored in a 5-missle changer available in either black or silver. [Captain's Quarters]

• George Bush wants to stick all 4 inches of his ” fat headed stub” into your ass, and not like metaphorically over gas prices or anything. [Fleshbot]

• Osama Bin Laden totally not dead, just filming new episodes for this season’s Survivor: Waziristan. [Stop The ACLU]
• Scooter Libby, who would be late to his own funeral, was late to his hearing today, and avoided his own funeral. [TalkLeft]
• 7-Eleven terminating supply contract with Venezuelan owned CITGO gasoline to sell its own brand of gas that will presumably come in “Motormelon” and “Octane Chill” varieties. [Hot Air]
• Cancel the Mandarin classes, China’s going bust. [Global Guerrillas]
• Katherine Harris’s campaign office in Sarasota is a great place to get your drink on, says omniscient Google maps. [Herald-Tribune]
• Rising expectations infect bloggers, being invited to the White House no longer good enough. [Hotline on Call]
• Washington Times HR Director tries to lay his hands on some underage human resources. [Fishbowl DC]

• Chris Wallace was in fear of a fair and balanced beat down from Bill “The Mountain” Clinton. [Fishbowl DC]

• Which was a definite possibility considering Clinton was completely wasted. [LGF]
• Venezuelan foreign minister mistakes typical airport security hassles for targeted diplomatic snub, Bolton scoffs. [Atlas Shrugs]
• Bush plans to invade Iran in November, making it neither “October” nor “surprising.” [HuffPo]
• Giant inflatable Bush balloon receives fellatio from British dog at pop show during which no concert-goers understand the metaphor. [Dlisted]
• From dog blowjobs to pig-fucking accusations, there’s a political precedent for everything. [Political Animal]
• Osama Bin Laden: maybe dead, again. [ABC News (Australia)]

• Venezuelan owned CITGO gas stations facing boycott by people whose giant vehicles need the most refilling. [GOP and the City]

• George Allen’s “ethnic rally” from the point of view of the “ethnics” in attendance. [Shaking Her Assets]
• Flight Attendants resort to lying to get you off your damn phone. [Freakonomics]
• Why are oil prices dropping? Because of the growing stability in Iraq and the decreasing possibility of an invasion of Iran, duh. [Blogs For Bush]
• Ever relevant Consumer Product Safety Commission wants you to take product safety TO THE EXTREME! [Consumerist]
• Tragically misunderstood Mahmoud Ahmadinejad respects Jews like George Allen, has several Jewish friendsters. [Captain's Quarters]
• Richard “Leakmeister” Armitage threatened to bomb Pakistan “back to the stone age.” Unless he didn’t; buy President Musharraf’s book on Monday to know for sure! [ChicagoTrib]
• Lynn Westmoreland thinks torture is fucking hilarious. [Echidne of the Snakes]

• Rove’s been telling his candidates he’s got an “October surprise” to put them over the top. We sure hope he can find Bin Laden in the next 9 days. [Newsmax]

• New political-networking sites enjoy idea-exchanging utopia, have not yet devolved into “Democratic lady looks for hot night with Republican stud.” [Washington Wire]
• All good Democracies know that in order to survive you have to kick someone’s ass, or become someone’s bitch. [Whiskey Bar]
• In case you forgot, Housing and Urban Development is still the most corrupt government agency not based at the Pentagon. [The Carpetbagger Report]
• Bill Clinton endorses “whacking” terror suspects in lieu of torture. [The Swamp]
• Proof that nobody has ever voluntarily left a job to “spend more time with family.” [Outside The Beltway]
• Republicans plan for Ahmadinejad-Chavez barnstorming tour to support Bush’s national security plans as, “no one makes a more compelling case than the duo of Mahmoud and Hugo.” [Scrappleface]

• Heard on the Hill: Steny Hoyer is unhappy about a Senate candidate’s website, which features of a photo of Hoyer making friendly with the Republican… John Kerry sent out an email blast full of effusive praise for potential ‘08 opponent Al Gore. [Roll Call]
• Reliable Source: Morou Ouattara, former chef at Jack Abramoff’s restaurant “Signatures,” will appear on Iron Chef tonight. He’s also opening his own restaurant… The judge in Steinbuch v. Cutler is considering Jessica Cutler’s motion to dismiss the case. [WP]
• Page Six: A private equity firm established by Bono is investing in a video game dramatizing the assassination of Hugo Chavez. [NYP]