Media Miscarriage

"At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have declined to be considered for the position, the sources said, underscoring the administration's difficulty in enlisting its top recruits to join the team after five years of warfare that have taxed the United States and its military.

"The article's not the problem, mind you, but the subject matter. This is truly DC-czarism, 'we can't figure out what the hell we're doing so let's appoint a new bubble on the flowchart' run amok. Instead of 'czar' maybe we can just call the person 'training wheels'? Someone to oversee wars, the Pentagon, the State Department and everything else? Don't we elect that person every four years?"

I did think this was one czar we could do without. Have you noticed how much having an intelligence czar has improved things?

With so much to accuse the media of these days, I'm not sure why anyone has to make stuff up. The Nation's John Nichols finds a strange roll of the dice in Reno:

"With all the bizarre behavior in Washington, it is easy to forget about the over-the-top antics of state officials around the country. But, sometimes, a governor outdoes himself.

"Consider the case of Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, a former Republican congressman who was elected to his current job last November. Gibbons, who was the subject of an inquiry into whether he assaulted a woman during the gubernatorial race, is now reportedly the target of an Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry into whether he steered federal contracts to a Nevada defense contractor who allegedly made secret payments to the then congressman.

"The newspaper that broke the story of the Gibbons scandal was The Wall Street Journal, which is generally seen as the most political conservative and Republican friendly of America's nationally-circulated newspapers. While there is no question that the Journal's editorial page bends hard to the right, it's news pages have a good reputation for reporting responsibly on national affairs -- which should come as no surprise, as titans of industry and Wall Street traders do not like to be lied to.

"But Gibbons says The Wall Street Journal is bought and paid for by the Democrats. Indeed, the governor claims 'the Democrats have paid to have these Wall Street Journal articles written.'

"Asked for more details about those payments, the governor's press secretary said, 'As far as the Wall Street Journal story goes, we don't know. We don't know who is providing it but we do hear rumors just like you do.'"

Rumors? A governor is throwing around rumors?

The Most Honest Blog Post of the Week comes from one of the Ankle Biting Pundits:

"I freely admit that I'm linking to this story from our buddy John Hawkins solely because it has some very hot pictures that Rachael Ray took for FHM Magazine a few years ago. Damn, I'd like to be a chocolate-covered spoon right now."

It's safe for work--kind of.