Cunningham's Hard Cell

In fact, the job of director has been vacant since December 2003.

Turkey and Staples

Eat too much over Thanksgiving? Concerned about even more serious waistline damage from next month's holiday parties and then a New Year's Eve feast?

Not to worry -- help is on the way. The folks at Medicare are proposing to cover bariatric surgery (stomach stapling and such) for Medicare beneficiaries younger than 65.

The proposal was unveiled last week -- on Thanksgiving eve, no less -- by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"More than 60 percent of the population is . . . overweight or obese," an announcement noted, with an increased risk of all manner of diseases. Because recent studies show these surgeries are quite risky, coverage will not be available for those older than 65.

The Looking-Glass War

In an interview with The Washington Post in January, Bush, asked why Osama bin Laden had not been caught, said, "because he's hiding."

In March, Bush told reporters: "And we -- we -- we are -- spend every day gathering information to locate Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri , obviously people such as Abu Musab Zarqawi ."

In June, CIA chief Porter J. Goss said he had an "excellent idea" where bin Laden was but diplomatic concerns made apprehension difficult.

Yesterday, Goss, interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America," explained further why the topmost terrorists are still at large. Bin Laden and Zarqawi haven't been found, he said, "primarily because they don't want us to find them and they're going to great lengths to make sure we don't find them."

Oh.