The Comb-licking One takes a tumble:

[World Bank] President Paul Wolfowitz will resign at the end of June, he and the bank said late Thursday, ending his long fight to survive pressure for his ouster over the generous compensation he arranged for his girlfriend.

Of course, we’re not saying “generous compensation package,” now are we? Because that would be wrong [snicker].

So, if Wolfie’s resigned, why are Gonzo, Cheney, and Bush still in office?  Read more 

W for “Wolfie,” I mean. A hilarious story on Wolfie resignation kabuki:

Wolfowitz Hangs On As Ouster Hits Wall

Odd, that. So many investigations of Bush insiders seem to hit walls.

The [World Bank] board adjourned without resolution late yesterday, promising to keep talking today.

Gee, it’s almost like some Christianist operative visited all the Board members and, well, played the tapes from the material the NSA’s been hoovering up about them (not that I’m foily).

Meanwhile, Wolfie hangs on, ostentatiously licking his comb for all to see:

But Wolfowitz, who has clung tenaciously to his post through weeks of controversy, even as World Bank staff members took to the streets to demand his ouster, stuck to his position that he tried to do the right thing in handling his girlfriend’s career situation.

But the ever-reasonable Bush White House is trying to broker a Compromise:

Seeking to break the logjam, the Bush administration pressed a compromise: The board could issue a statement that Wolfowitz had erred in handling the raise for his longtime companion, Shaha Riza, but apportion some of the blame to a bank committee that Wolfowitz believes gave him murky ethics advice. Wolfowitz would then resign …

“Murky ethics advice”?! Sweet Jeebus, how hard could this have been? Just don’t engineer a raise for your girlfriend! Wolfie needed a fucking committee to tell him that?

And now, the really, really good part;  Read more 

No time to delve into the bottomless well of hilarity this story engenders, but can’t let it be said we overlooked it.

NYT: Wolfowitz Criticized for Getting Girlfriend Job

Google for more details—particularly staid, sober sites run by banks. They are, to put it kindly, livid over this. Betcha some folks at the US State Department are not amused either, particularly Dick Cheney’s non-lesbian daughter (who this Fuckbuddy works for) and C. Rice (the FB makes way more salary than Condi does.)

Tee hee.  Read more 

The January/February 2007 issue of The Atlantic offers an article by Niall Fergusson titled “A War to Start All Wars” which begins:

The United States invaded Iraq in April 2003 for multiple reasons, but the most ambitious was a desire to remake a whole region. The Middle East, it was argued, was full of political and economic underachievers, driven to violence by a Muslim/Arab inferiority complex. Replacing Saddam Hussein with an exemplary democracy would begin a domino effect, spreading American values to Iraq’s most undemocratic neighbors.  Read more 

Rozen gets it just right: how the fuck can you call yourself an “independent” journalist when you’re making promises on paper to politicians not to reveal a political event? Because, a war planning session with the specific purpose of convincing a president to lead a nation to war is an event. Zakaria is a whining beotch. Because, yeah, sure, everybody gets invited to secret, secure locations in Virginia with top administration officials and offered the chance to craft policy months before the rest of the world even knows it’s policy. Changing your tune isn’t going to help make you more believable, you sluttish punk.  Read more