AddieStan

Josh Marshall has some goods on the hookers-and-defense-contractors scandal that reaches into the CIA. Our Nation's Capital is abuzz that the scandal may be the reason for today's resignation of Porter Goss.

While your blogstress could not get herself exercised about the "special treatment" afforded Kennedy after he crashed his car into a Capitol Hill barricade, she is saddened by the Rhode Island congressman's handling of his situation. While Kennedy has displayed a certain courage in speaking frankly of the fact of his addiction problems and his manic depression, much appeared to be missing from his explanation of just what addictive substance caused his recent run-in with the law. (Ambien? Painkillers? Alcohol? Nausea meds?) And his revelation today that he spent his Christmas vacation in rehab seems to be news to his constituents, long past Easter. Your cybertrix was pleased that Kennedy took the opportunity to call for parity for mental health coverage in insurance plans, but would have been happier had he taken a question or two. Now, that would have been courage.

Your blogstress invites her readers to visit The American Prospect Online, and while there, she invites them to read her piece on the paid advertisement by the United Church of Christ that has been rejected by the networks, apparently for drawing a contrast between itself and churches that reject gay people as full participants in their congregations. After that, do stroll, dear reader, through the Prospect Web site, where you will feel much to admire. For eggheads, there's a wonderful conversation between Bernard-Henri Lévy and Anatol Lieven. For distraught Democrats, there's Tomasky on ideas . And there's a swell blog called Tapped . So, get, get!

Who'd'a thunk it? Your Webwench must admit, she hadn't thought of Goss as the likely target. Stansfield Turner is asserting that Goss's resignation was just that -- the CIA director's own idea -- but this move seems to smack of something less voluntary. Turner attributes it to Goss's being passed over for the newly created position of the director of national intelligence, which went to John Negroponte. Signs of disarray seem to appear daily in the Central Intelligence Agency. Is there a scandal brewing?

The suspense is killing your blogstress, mes amis . The wires are reporting that at 1:45 President Bush will make a "personnel announcement" from the Oval Office. The choice of the Oval as the venue for the announcement is interesting; it denotes something of great importance on which the president wants to take no questions. Is this about Cheney? Rove? Rummy? Watching the beleaguered Scott McClellan give his final White House briefing, as your cybertrix is doing now, she's betting the poor guy is wiping his mental brow, saying, thank God Tony Snow's gotta deal with this one.

With all the talk about whether Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), son of the Lion of the Senate, was granted special treatment after crashing his car on Capitol Hill, your blogstress finds herself transported back to her salad days (also known as her Scotch-and-phenobarbitol days), and a conflict between her Pinto and a telephone pole. (Thank goodness it was the front end of the car that kissed the pole; hers was indeed the Ford model that came equipped with the standard exploding gas tank.) A kindly police officer took down her story, observing that the road was icy. Although he did file an accident report, your cybertrix was not charged with a crime, and was given a lift to her destination by the authorities. Note that your écrivaine was neither a congressman nor a Kennedy -- just an ordinary (if exceedingly comely) young woman.