Wonkette

Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann recently took a little break from her baby-farming to remind voters of how crazy she is. She assured her constituents that God had not abandoned them in Iraq and called global warming “voodoo.” She also warned them about a terrible place called “Democrat land” where something is horrifically wrong with the phone systems. More gibberish after the jump. MORE »

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced last night that he was giving up his efforts to pass a so-called overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill before Christmas. The Administration’s wiretapping authority expires in February, but between Dodd’s supposed willingness to damage his chances at the Presidency to vote against it (you, know, do his actual job as a sitting Senator) and the recalcitrance of other Dems to provide blanket immunity to the phone companies for illegal cooperating in illegally tapping our phones, Reid just couldn’t get it done in time to drink some egg nog. So, they’ll come back in mid-January, dick around with it until the last possible second and then pass something that doesn’t do much to change the status quo, like usual. Aren’t we all glad we voted for a change in leadership last time? We got new faces but didn’t have to worry about a dizzying change in direction! [Washington Post]

Your telephone company wants the government to forbid you from suing them for cooperating with said government in spying on you. All the lobbyists are Bush family connected, except the ones who are Democrats. But have you seen those new Wes Anderson AT&T ads? [Newsweek]

In the first reported case ever of John Negroponte being vaguely (if inadvertently) involved in something that could, in the long run, maybe be vaguely good for democracy, a letter from him presents yet more proof that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a liar. MORE »

The White House said today it would not comply with congressional subpoenas for documents and testimony relating to the firings of federal prosecutors last year, setting up a potential constitutional confrontation over its claim of executive privilege.

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The CIA, apparently eager to recruit 16-year-old girls, has a brand-new personality quiz on their website. It will kill all of two minutes of work today, so check it out! The AP reports that it will use your answers to inane, non-CIA-related questions (most of them having vague connection to glamorous spy movies, but seemingly as written by a committee of people generally unfamiliar with spy movies) and classify you into one of the following groupings: “daring thrill-seekers, thoughtful observers, curious adventurers, innovative pioneers or impressive masterminds.” MORE »