The House Judiciary Committee voted Tuesday to compel a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney to testify to the committee about the Bush administration's interrogation practices.

David Addington, Cheney's chief of staff, refused to testify without a subpoena. No date has been set for his appearance before Congress.

Which Addington will ignore citing executive privilege. And people thought Nixon was bad.

The Associated Press: House panel subpoenas top Cheney aide

On Wednesday, the name of longtime Bush administration political guru Karl Rove was thrown into the mix as part of an alleged initiative to squelch the criminal investigation into Rezko by dumping U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald.

At a hearing outside the presence of jurors, one of Fitzgerald's prosecutors said former Blagojevich administration official Ali Ata was prepared to testify to a conversation he had with Rezko in late-2004 about a scheme to use Illinois' Republican National Committeeman Robert Kjellander to approach his good friend Rove. The idea was to get Rove to use his clout in the Bush White House to have Fitzgerald removed, the prosecutor said Ata would testify.

Ata pleaded guilty to corruption charges in a separate criminal case involving Rezko on Tuesday and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Government lawyers have also said they have another witness who would be able to back up the story that there was a move afoot to oust Fitzgerald.

Kjellander and a lawyer for Rove flatly denied they were involved in any such scheme.

This little gem is hidden in the mess that is the Rezko coverage. Influence peddling? To quote Kool-Aid Man, "Oh YEAH!"

Attorney Firing Scandal Part Deux

"I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president we will attack Iran," Clinton said.

Hillary, you have now demonstrated your utter unfitness to become the next president.

ABC News: Clinton on Iran Attack: 'We Would Be Able to Totally Obliterate Them'

"Who would have thought that in the United States of America in the 21st century, the top officials of the executive branch would routinely gather in the White House to approve torture?" Kennedy said in a statement. "Long after President Bush has left office, our country will continue to pay the price for his administration's renegade repudiation of the rule of law and fundamental human rights."

Partisan divide? Absolutely. We now have a torture party and a no-torture party. There isn't a much clearer divide than that.

ABC News: Cheney OK'd 'Torture'; Bush Insulated

"Her securing the nomination is certainly possible - but it will require exercising the 'Tonya Harding option.'" the official said. "Is that really what we Democrats want?"

OW! I don't think that's the kind of comparison Hillary wants.

Political Punch

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

Sorry, cCain making this sort of error is nothing new, the fact that it's now being noted is. As screwed up as things are now, someone making basic mistakes like this is a problem, the nominee making this mistake is a train wreck in progress.

A McCain Gaffe in Jordan | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

I'm trying to imagine the mindset of a man who doesn't realize that when you try to take dildos away from women, basically everyone with a brain and/or a sense of humor is going to assume it's because you're afraid you can't handle the competition.

Yet another entry in the "Law or humor?" category. In this case, it's headed back to court so it goes in law, but... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: The Dildo War in Texas Is Still Not Over

Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Renzi of Arizona, a state co-chair for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, was indicted on corruption charges stemming from land deals in his state, Justice Department officials said on Friday.

Don Pardo, who's our next contestant? Why it's Dick Renzi, come on down! And we have another seat to fill, who's that going be? James Doolittle! You're the next contestant on Indict a Republican Congressman!

And to think, this is happening with the most politicized Department of Justice evar!!!

Rep. Renzi indicted on corruption charges | Reuters

"I said to him that if we come up short and there are some acquittals in our cases, it will at least validate the process," Davis continued. "At which point, [Haynes's] eyes got wide and he said, 'Wait a minute, we can't have acquittals. If we've been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? We can't have acquittals. We've got to have convictions.'"

And the fix is in...

Rigged Trials at Gitmo

"If you want to call it significant undercounting, I guess that's a euphemism for fraud," said the mayor.

And not the kind the DoJ keeps going after, this is the real kind of fraud, screwing with the ballot box.

MIKE BLOOMBERG CLAIMS VOTE 'FRAUD’ - New York Post