Friday Roundup: Death By a Thousand Emails

It was only a matter of time before Congressional Democrats were able to nail something to Rove, and it looks like the US attorney scandal is where everything it going to start. An administration is spoiled by a lack of oversight when it operates for so long within unified government, and the skill with which the Bush administration is handling its political problems since Democrats took over Congress could only be called negligible in polite circles. They don't call it "death by a thousand cuts" for nothing, and the inability of the White House to control the slow, steady leak of emails can only indicate that their problems are only going to get worse.

Another area in which steady news could lead to significant changes is the environment. The information confirming global warming continues to come out, and this morning, this story showed up about the NOAA announcement that this winter has been the world's warmest since anyone started keeping track. I know some conservatives that live around here who point to ICE STORM 2007 Parts I - III as evidence that global warming is a lie, but meteorologists are always right once the day's already happened, so there. I guess we've settled that argument.

Charles Kuffner has been following a story of some interest -- some of the candidates who filed for Houston City Council were kept from the ballot due to some paperwork irregularities; the problem, though, is that other candidates with those same irregularities were allowed as candidates in previous elections. The Chron's Matt Stiles is referenced by Kuff as the pointman covering the story.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht has raised the $340,000 to pay the legal fees he incurred while defending his support of Harriet Miers, and to that I say, good for him. Undertaking a finance operation for any purpose is difficult and requires work, but finance operations are necessary in politics. I was surprised, though, that this article about it in the Dallas Morning News contains no mention of Representative Tony Goolsby withdrawing the legislation which would pay for those same legal fees with taxpayer dollars. Now what happens if the bill passes?

Republicans are already making moves to win back some of the seats they lost by going negative against freshman Democrats, despite the fact that there are currently no opponents for them. The DCCC is doing the same thing, so I guess everyone's suspicions are confirmed. Welcome, officially, to the 2008 campaign cycle.

Finally, I am currently watching Valerie Plame testify before before Congress in the CIA leak investigation. There's someone standing in the gallery behind Plame wearing a shirt that says "IMPEACH BUSH NOW." It wouldn't be so bad if she weren't clad head to toe in institutional pink. It is kind of distracting! You can check it out on CSPAN 1. This is an important step in making some processes of the Bush administration transparent. As an added bonus, Karl Rove's name has already been brought up several times, and appeared on a chart.

I'm cutting out today for Merry Olde England, but I'll be back with you at least once before skipping town. Next week, George and Patrick will be covering the lion's share of the work, so you will have a lot of words to read.