A seven paragraph story bearing no byline and buired on A21 is worth noting -- "Gifts Were Illegal, DeLay Trustee Says" (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/politics/08delay.html):
In violation of House rules, the legal defense fund for the House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay, Republican of
John Files' "No. 2 at Interior Dept. Resigns" informs us that "former lobbyist for mining companies" J. Steven Griles, Deputy Interior Secretary, has resigned. Mr. Griles is to "return to private life."
Op-ed news (which is a rare thing on this site), Donna Brazile, Rahm Emanuel, Gary Locke, Howard L. Wolfson and Jamal Simmons all have op-eds in this morning's paper (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/opinion/index.html).
Bush's jacket photo is being called, by Buzzflash -- www.buzzflash.com, a tribute to the Love Boat bartender. I prefer Kara's call (posted on this site earlier), that Bush found himself "In his 'I Feel Pretty"-Elton-John best mood, Bush decided to raid Cory Aquino's closet, hence the heavily padded shoulders and general uni-sex look of the jacket." But all the jokes are good jokes.
On page A14, David E. Sanger writes ("Bush Gives Praise and Caution at Marine Base"):
During his visit, Mr. Bush wore a specially tailored Marine tanker jacket, the all purpose, all-weather jacket for officers and enlisted men, siad Maj. Jason Johnston, a Marine spokesman. Mr. Bush's jacket had custom touches like his name and designation as commander in chief [me: In case he forgot?] embroidered across the front.
Now help me out, Bush was in the Marines when? Shondra e-mailed in to remind us that on May 28, 2004, Bush famously remarked of Karen Hughes, "Karen's a West Texas girl, just like me." Shondra wonders if the jacket's an attempt to dress like Karen?
Could be. But if so, Hughes missed seeing her influence (or possibly avoided the embarrassment of finding herself wearing the same thing as Bush) because Eric Schmitt & Carlotta Gall report in "Karzai Is Sworn In, Citing a 'New Chapter' for Afghanistan" (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/international/asia/08afghan.html):
In a sign of the event's importance to the Bush administration, Mr. Cheney led an American delegation from Washington that included Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and one of President Bush's most trusted advisers, Karen P. Hughes. Mr. Cheney is the most senior administration official to visit Afghanistan since the Taliban government was toppled in December 2001.
Those west Texas "girls" certainly do get around.
Lastly, Neil A. Lewis' "Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Reported After Abu Ghraib Disclosures" is buried on A12 despite the fact that this is another prison and that when two officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency attempted to get the word out, they "found the keys to their vehicles confiscated, and been instructed 'not to leave the compound without specific permission, even to get a haircut'"; they were also threatened, and told their e-mail messages were being screened." The article can be found here http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/08/politics/08abuse.html and again, this isn't Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay. (Though I'm sure we'll be told this is an "isolated incident." There sure are a lot of those, aren't there?)
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