And Down! Down Goes Ashcroft!

If only it were a permanent recusal to heavily walled, rural real estate, in a 6 x 8 foot cell.

Saw it first on CrawlingWestward.

By the way--have you noticed how, once again, the press has been giving Dubya a free ride on this? I spoke last night with some good friends of mine about this phenomenon: the media's treatment of Bush is roughly on par with the lackeys in Saddam Hussein's regime (or the civil servants of the various Imperial Houses in China).

I mean, you all but expect them to approach Dubya the Dauphin with eyes averted, head down, and perhaps backwards on their knees. Jeez, I've seen more backbone exhibited by a dog about to be punished by its master (and knowing it did wrong) than by the press in their dealings with the regent.

Sure, there's the whole "thirty pieces of silver and a view of the Potomac (or Hudson)." I'll grant them the fact that any serious questions asked by a single journalist would likely result in their immediate banishment from the White House Press Corps. Which, to a career journo, is sort of like having tenure at a major university. Well, almost tenure, because if you lose your gig, well, you're likely to be fired. And there goes the chance to write the novel, the memoir, the chance to go on the lecture circuit, etc. etc. etc.

Of course, you can also say that the press corps has checked their collective sense of ethics and responsibility in with their coats and hats when it gets this bad. You know, at least Al Giordando keeps the independent tradition of the free press alive.

As for the rest of 'em, couldn't they at least come up with some sort of disclaimer?

"What you are about to see, read, or hear, is a simulation. We repeat, only a simulation. No actual "news" is implied by the consumption of this "news product." FoxNews, USA Today, The New York Times, CBS--hell, all the print and broadcast media--thank you for your cooperation."