Every once in a while....

....You get a stark reminder that being in Government is serious business....

It's not a lark....

It's not an "ego thing"...

It's serious busines....real people are involved...and they can get hurt...not "feelings hurt"...physically hurt...

IN OTHER NEWS!

The jury is deliberating in the Libby trial.

Firedoglake and The Next Hurrah have had excellent coverage...and our old friend Waterman has been giving us a rundown on the legal, ethical and philosophical aspects of the whole Valerie Plame-Joe Wilson-Scooter Libby (and as we learned in the trial) DICK CHENEY incident.

Even with the excellent coverages mentioned above, by Jane Hamser, Christy Hardin Smith and Marcey Wheeler, I still won't go out on a limb and predict a verdict in this one. There are too many cultural undercurrents floating around which no jury can be immune to.

And after the verdict?

No matter which way it goes there will be spin like you've never seen before. If Libby is found guilty then there will be appeals and there is the tantalizing possibility of a pardon. If you thought the story would go away after this you were mistaken.

Supporting the Troops...Republican Style

The flap over the VA treatment of Vets at Walter Reed took another interesting turn today. Yesterday, Tony Snow, speaking (presumably) for the White House said " Of Course, the President was aware of the conditions." but it's not our responsibility...the actual quote is:

Snow told the press corps that if they wanted to know what was going on at Walter Reed, those responsible for working on the problem "work on the other side of the river." In other words, it's the Pentagon's fault, and the Pentagon's responsibility for fixing it -- as if George Bush has no say over what the Pentagon does (or no desire). C'mon. They work for Bush over at the Pentagon, they are PART OF the Bush Administration.

Today, of course, the story changed: Snow claims Bush didn't know of the neglect.

The White House has since backtracked from Snow’s comments. In a small addendum added to the bottom of yesterday’s briefing transcript on the White House website, a note now reads that Bush “first learned of the troubling allegations regarding Walter Reed from the stories this weekend in the Washington Post,” and that he is “deeply concerned” by the conditions:

So......he didn't know about the conditions before he knew about the conditions ....or something like that..