"Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word." -- Charles De Gaulle (1890 - 1970)

This one gets it: Ruben Navarrette Jr. gets the conscription proposal of Charles Rangel. Caspar Weinberger's take on it is so disingenuous as to be laughable.

Heard it for myself: This Rumsfeld atrocity is a couple days old, but I just heard it this morning on NPR. Completely amazing! Here are some opinions on it from local Minneapolis-St. Paul readers of the Strib, as published today:

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says that the lack of evidence found by weapons inspectors in Iraq means "they could be hiding something." Does that logic then also dictate that the obstructionist nondisclosure of the participants and agenda of Vice President Dick Cheney's secret energy plan meetings could mean that an orgy of oil company executives met to plot the military domination of the world's supply of oil instead of coming up with a comprehensive plan to wean our nation of its dangerous oil addiction? -- Dan Brown, St. Paul.

Before weapons inspectors were sent into Iraq, the White House promised to go to war as soon as weapons of mass destruction were discovered in that country. Lately though, the talk has changed. The White House now promises war if Iraq cannot prove that it is weapons-free. Guilty until proven innocent. Just what would it take for Iraq to unequivocally prove its innocence? -- C. Turner, Mounds View.

Here's one last one, with a terrific conspiracy theory:

I'm surprised our leaders in the intelligence community haven't been able to put two and two together. Fact: U.N. weapons inspectors have been unable to uncover evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Fact: There is a mysterious hole in the ice of North Long Lake north of Brainerd. Surely these two phenomena are connected. Any true-blooded American with a minimal level of cultural literacy knows that cartoon villains such as the Joker, Lex Luther and Saddam Hussein possess a diabolical genius capable of carrying out such an evil plan. Where better to hide military contraband than in our own back yard? Perhaps our leaders will mistakenly assume they are part of our own arsenal. Why then, one might ask, have the divers been unable to locate this hoard? Clearly this further illustrates the level of Saddam's cunning. The only other explanation for the mystery at North Long Lake is that Dick Cheney's hideout is about to be revealed. -- Chuck Viren, Minneapolis.

Miss Drunk: This is stupid on so many levels I don't even know what to say.

The Bush Administration gets Boing-Boinged: Courtesy of a mysterious scarlet pimpernel, a fun way to catch up on stuff you didn't know (or maybe you did) about our pals in the highest levels of the current administration.