Unintentionally Hilarious Photo of the Moment, vol. 59

EXCLUSIVE! The indictments are in, and the wait is over!

After a long day of nervous waiting -- complete with capricious salivating and nail-biting -- by political pundits, the media and bloggers far and wide, "Plamegate" Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald, we have just learned, has returned from the federal courthouse with four, count 'em, four indictments in tow. And, suffice it to say, this goes straight to the very top of the U.S. government...

	White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley A real wild card, the inclusion of Hadley in the mix...While he worked alongside Condoleezza Rice during the build-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, as well as during the White House's planning stages in 2001 and 2002, few longtime observers of the Fitzgerald investigation had ever really pegged Hadley as having much to do with the leaking of Valerie Plame's name to media sources. Though, according to documents, Hadley apparently played a heretofore unknown role in the subsequent cover-up, and has now been indicted for perjury.
	Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby Libby, of course, had long been speculated to be one of the primary targets of the Fitzgerald investigation, so his indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice pertaining to the cover-up of the Wilson matter will come as no surprise to those who knew all along the degree to which he sought to protect his boss, Vice President Dick Cheney, from being tainted by the grand jury's inquest. And, it seems, in sacrificing himself, he succeeded in saving his boss' hide, as Cheney seems to have safely skirted through the investigation unharmed.
	Deputy chief of staff and top presidential political adviser Karl Rove "Bush's Brain", as he's been called time and again, was, alongside Libby, long determined to be one of the major architects of the White House smear campaign against Ambassador Joseph Wilson. So his indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice also comes as no surprise. Whether or not he will resign later today, and the damage such an action will do to Bush's presidency, remains to be seen.
	White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford Finally, the big gun...an indictment for criminal conspiracy in the effort to reveal the identity of an undercover CIA operative. Though Comerford was only recently hired by First Lady Laura Bush this past August -- a mere two months ago -- anonymous sources within the President's staff have reported that the first female to ever serve as the White House's executive chef had been a longtime problem for the administration. Starting with her efforts to discredit Joseph Wilson for making disparaging comments about the administration's making a deceptively inaccurate link between Iraqi heads of state and the acquisition of Nigerian uranium, sources say that Comerford's name has been revealed on transcripts from journalists Matthew Cooper and Walter Pincus as the primary source of the now infamous leak of Wilson's wife's identity. These sources also add that scribbled within Pincus' notebook were numerous references to "yellow cake" and "flame", which had erroneously been thought to reference Comerford's pastry recipes and sautee methodology. When asked for comment by reporters covering the case moments ago, Comerford was weeping and defiant as she made her way through the White House's front gate, stammering, "I don't know what's going on...I don't know what I did wrong! I did nothing wrong!" Sources had no comment on her strongly-worded denials.

For Shame! Turning your backs on your biggest donors like this...

"Republicans Ask Oil Industry for Help With Fuel Prices", the New York Times, October 26, 2005

"Major Oil Company Profits Expected To Be $96B, Up From $68B Last Year...", the Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2005 (by way of the Huffington Post)

When even President Bush seems to have stopped taking this war seriously...

"Iraq war has taken a toll of 2,000 -- Latest death reflects a trend: Insurgency now flares up in areas U.S. thought safe", the Los Angeles Times, October 26, 2005

"Bush: Iraq war will require more sacrifice", Reuters, October 25, 2005:

As the U.S. military death toll in Iraq reached 2,000, President George W. Bush said on Tuesday the war will require more time and sacrifice, and rejected calls for a U.S. pullout.

"Each loss of life is heartbreaking, and the best way to honor the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission and lay the foundation of peace by spreading freedom," Bush said, his voice breaking with emotion as he spoke at a luncheon of military wives at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington.

That emotion that broke his voice? Fear...and the realization that four years of hypocrisy and deception regarding Iraq may very well be taking its toll on his beloved legacy.

Poor sap.

NOT IN ANY WAY RELATED: Mr. 3000

Please, God, carry me through this time of great difficulty

RELATED: Bushies feeling the boss' wrath: Prez's anger growing in hard times - pals, Thomas M. DeFrank, the Daily News, October 24, 2005

In case you ever wondered what's wrong with privatized healthcare

Buried deep within this morning's completely-not-shocking "revelations" that President Bush's handpicked Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) very likely knew what he was doing when he unloaded his soon-to-depreciate healthcare stocks, and may have been involved in some form of so-called insider trading, was this throwaway item:

Questions about his HCA holdings have been a staple of Frist's public life. The Nashville-based company, the country's largest chain of for-profit hospitals, was founded in 1968 by Frist's father, Thomas F. Frist, his brother, Thomas F. Frist Jr., and Jack C. Massey, the former owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Mmmm! That's quite a tasty, fattening little nugget of information for our liberal diets.

Redactio ad Absurdum

In anticipation of this "Fitzmas" nonsense due sometime this week, here's hoping special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's indictment(s) and/or reports are a little more nuanced and fleshed-out than this relevant historical document, the Senate Intelligence Committee Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq (July 7, 2004). Page 79, above, is from the section addressing Ambassador Joseph Wilson's Niger reporting.

You can see it's page 79 because, well, that's all you can see. That and some nicely-formatted, indeterminately-numbered bullet points and indentations.

Now Playing: The Ultimate Film About the Downfall of Big Institutions (Fun with Tom DeLay's Mugshot, Vol. 2)

(With the flashiest of thanks to James Reitano.)

A message much clearer than the aspens, which turn in clusters out West

As anticipated, The Smoking Gun has posted Tom DeLay's mugshot, taken earlier this afternoon. The wire services, however, lack our EXCLUSIVE* Ultrrrra-Zoom technology, and seem to have missed out on the hidden story, the coded message that Rep. DeLay is sending to a particular subset of his would-be base:

SEE ALSO: The blogosphere's semi-ridiculous Libby Writes IN CODE to Miller?, Daily Kos, October 1, 2005

*With all due reverence to Golden Fiddle. You go, boyfriend!

At this rate, they'll become fully literate just in time to escape the calamitous effects of the polar ice caps' melting due to your equally-disastrous environmental policies

President George W. Bush: colorblind, or blind to reality?

From Education Law Gets First Test in U.S. Schools, the New York Times, October 20, 2005:

Fourth-grade math students showed some of the most rapid progress in closing the achievement gap between black and white students, Mr. Kingsbury said. Extrapolating from those results, he said, black and white students would probably be performing at equal proficiency levels by 2034. Other results, like eighth-grade reading, suggest it will take 200 years or more for the gap to close, he said.

From President and Secretary Spellings Discuss Nation's Report Card, hurling forth from the straight-shooting mouth of President Bush (via the White House's Office of the Press Secretary), October 19, 2005:

This is an encouraging report. Thank you for coming, Madam Secretary, because it shows there's an achievement gap in America that is closing; that minority students, particularly in fourth grade math and fourth grade reading are beginning to catch up with their Anglo counterparts.