* Maverick straight talker Chuck Hagel won’t be a complete mirror image of Joe Lieberman until he’s lost a Presidential election. [WP]
* Scooter Libby’s personal hell is spending eternity trapped in 2003. [NYT]
* Military now kills Iranian agents captured in Iraq, no more “Ludovico technique.” [WP]
* John Warner copied Joe Biden’s homework, plans to turn in his “resolution of opposition, opposition.” [WP]
* How are lawsuits against the NSA’s warrantless spying program going? Sorry, that’s classified. [WP, NYT]
* Strategic energy independence or an ash choked planet: choose one. [WSJ]
* Ruth Bader Ginsburg says she, er, the court misses the benefits of two women on the bench. This is code for “enjoy your abortions while you can!” [USAT]
* Subliminal messages hidden in SOTU, like the speech itself, contain “nothing, nothing at all. ” [LAT]

* Harry Reid stops the logjammin’ and passes “the toughest reform bill in the history” of the Senate (according to Harry Reid). The lobbyists’ lobbyist is sure it’ll just push bribing further underground, where a greased-up, shirtless Robert Byrd will have to delve to kill it at the root. [WP, LAT]
* John Edwards’ Georgetown manse bought in shady deal by insider-trading grandparent-abusers. [WP]
* Democrats did 100 hours worth of work in somewhere between 42 and 87 hours. [NYT]
* GSA chief Lurita Doan gets so overwrought when she hears the national anthem it makes her want to give no-bid contracts to everybody she knows. [WP]
* Alberto Gonzalez doesn’t have a political bone in his corruption-prosecuting-attorney-replacing body. Anybody that’s got problem with that can take it up with John Cornyn. [WP]
* FISA is for turbos, but Patrick Leahy isn’t willing to follow the white rabbit down the secret court’s hole. [NYT]
* Art Buchwald was a great writer, and he just died. [NYT]

* Condoleezza Rice “counselor” Philip Zelikow resigns, claims loyalty will keep him from writing a tell-all. [WP, NYT]
* Government contracts to receive closer scrutiny by Democratic congress — “tranny hookers” still allowable, as long as their fees are added to the catering line on expense reports. [WP]
* They’re still counting votes in Ohio’s 15th District. [AP, NYT]
* Kofi Annan says of civil war in Iraq, “We are almost there.” An Iraqi leader says, “It’s worse than a civil war.” The Saudi royal family says, “Jump.” Dick Cheney says, “How high?” [WP]
* The Los Angeles Times has been saying it was a civil war since October. [LAT]
* A “senior intelligence official” says al-Sadr’s Iraqi Shiite Militia receives training from Hezbollah. [NYT]
* Justice Department opens “a full review” of Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program. [NYT]
* New House Democrat Chris Carney knows something about Iraq, nothing about choking mistresses. [NYT]
* Christian Coalition parts ways with pastor who wants to help poor, save planet. [NYT]

• Senate approves bill on terror detainees that detains civil rights. [WP, NYT]

• House approves warrantless wiretapping program, making it less illegal than it sounds. [NYT]
• Congressional races use “think globally, pander locally” campaign approach. [WP]
• Jack Abramoff claims he was at the White House 400 times over 3 years. Of course, he “had a penchant for exaggerating.” [WP, NYT]
• “The Hewlett-Packard scandal turned into a spectacle Thursday as a House committee brought all those involved to a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill.” [NYT, LAT]
• Bob Woodward’s new book piles on criticism of the Bush White House. [NYT]
• Just like the battle of Bull Run: George Allen attacked on his flank - by the confederacy. [WP]

• 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]

• Two of the White House’s most controversial anti-terror programs are on the hill and multiple incarnations in multiple committees are making for confusing parallel legislation. [NYT, WP, LAT]

• Bush’s approval rating goes up one percentage point for every thousand mentions of phrase, “Iraq and terrorism.” [WSJ]
• House unwilling to give up anonymous earmarks for even a couple of weeks. [NYT]
• International Atomic Energy Agency claims a recent House Intelligence committee report on Iran is “erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated.” [NYT]
• Nationwide shortage of poll workers; ones we have too old, stupid. [USAT]
• House Republicans want 700 miles of fence built along the border with Mexico. [NYT]
• Who’s the gunslinger now? Novak blasts Armitage. [WP]

• Rhode Island’s 15 minutes of fame are up as maverick Senator Lincoln Chafee wins GOP primary. [WP, NYT, USAT]

• Michael Chertoff tells congress that the US cannot “defend ourselves against every conceivable threat.” Nation’s petting zoos and popcorn factories now totally unprotected. [NYT]
• Hillary Clinton wins primary in a cakewalk, eats no actual cake. [NYT]
• Democrats feel NSA is inappropriately advocating it’s own spying program. [WP]
• Maryland elections display DC levels of logistical incompetence. [WP]
• States taking it upon themselves to increase minimum wage, “for the first time, a majority of states could require higher pay than the federal rate.” [USAT]
• Diplomacy now so obsolete reporters forced to write about who’s doing Condi this week. [NYT]
• Adrian Fenty will be next mayor of DC. [WP]

• Years of debate preceded announcement of secret prison closing, sites could be ready to use again on minutes notice. [WP]

• Military tribunals also taking years to prepare. Republicans split on classified evidence issue, no consensus on horizon. [NYT, CNN, W$J]
• Tomato/tomáto argument continues over “terrorist surveillance” or “warrantless eavesdropping” program as Bush asks congress for more authority to catch devious email-using criminals. [WP]
• John Bolton still unconfirmed, spittle collecting in mustache as he grumbles his discontent. [WP, USAT]
• Richard Armitage is so sorry. “I value my ability to keep state secrets. This was bad, and I really felt badly about this.” [NYT]

* When we look at Golf Digest’s ranking of Washington golfers, all we see is a whole lot of strokes. [Golf Digest] MORE »

Yesterday we blogged about how the Georgetown law school students who protested Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s speech by turning their backs to him also had “tap this” written on their rears. A reader directed our attention to this message board — for the San Antonio Spurs, of all things — which features photos of the students with “tap this” on their asses (such as the one shown at right, by Charles Dharapak for the AP). MORE »

A recent New York Times story about the NSA domestic eavesdropping program included the photograph above (Mike Theiler/European Pressphoto Agency) of students protesting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales by turning their backs to him during his speech. MORE »