Almost a year ago, Seymour Hersh warned of the Bush administration's "intensified planning" for an attack on Iran. Other voices have sounded the same alarm. The White House has consistently denied that it plans to invade Iran. The president said:

"Some are trying to take my words and say what he is really trying to do is go invade Iran. Nobody is talking about that."

Nobody except the president's war planners, who are developing a contingency plan to execute just such an invasion, according to a Hersh story in today's online New Yorker. As distilled by Reuters:

Despite the Bush administration's insistence it has no plans to go to war with Iran, a Pentagon panel has been created to plan a bombing attack that could be implemented within 24 hours of getting the go-ahead from President George W. Bush, The New Yorker magazine reported in its latest issue. The special planning group was established within the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent months ...

It sounds like people actually are "talking about that," Mr. President. Or do they communicate only by email and memo?

It's been a week since I've been wandered around my home town of Denver, almost a month actually if I count three trips to Washington for the Libby trial and one to San Diego. I need to grocery shop, visit the TL mom, do some laundry, etc.

While I'm off doing these non-eventful activities, here's a place for the rest of you to discuss what's going on in the world.

I'll be back in time for the Oscars, so consider this a non-Oscar related open thread.

Steve Gilliard of The News Blog is in the hospital. Go on over and send him some good wishes. Thanks to one of his guest posters, here are the Oscar nominees:

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Leonardo DiCaprio – BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling – HALF NELSON
Peter O'Toole – VENUS
Will Smith – THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Penélope Cruz – VOLVER
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN

[Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen Babel, stop reading now.]

The Media has always virtually ignored the issue of money in politics. I have always considered it a major issue, but, like the Israel/Palestine issue, not seeing any readily discernible solution, I don't spend much time on it. The Media does not either, other than using it to extoll how much of a maverick McCain is or covering Abramoff's crimes.

But the Washington Post pays attention now, because it can bash Dems. Clearly, the hire of John Solomon was for this purpose. Today, he joint authors another hit piece:

Democrats took over in January after a campaign that accused Republicans of fostering a "culture of corruption" in Washington and "selling access" to lawmakers. Abramoff has been convicted of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy and is in federal prison. Now, with the tables turned, Democrats are courting Abramoff's most famous clientele -- Indian tribes.

What a bigoted piece of nonsense - Indian tribes are reduced to being "Abramoff's clients? Outrageous. And wrong.

Yes, I blog about the Oscars. Every year. I'm just as interested in the clothes and the red carpet goings-on as I am in the movies.

But this year, I'm also into the music. There will be performances by James Taylor, Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Randy Newman, Melissa Etheridge and more.

More viewers are expected this year because many of the awards, including Best Picture, are up in the air. Babel or The Departed?

Predictions anyone?

We're lucky we have celebrities. Without people like Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, and Tim Hardaway, the popular media might never pay attention to the country's most serious and enduring social problem: intolerance.

An incident this offensive deserves as much attention as the Gibson, Richards, and Hardaway rants. Will it receive comparable coverage? No celebrities were involved, so don't bet on it.

A Catholic school principal has organized sensitivity training for students who shouted "We love Jesus" during a basketball game against a school with Jewish students. The word "Jew" also was painted on a gym wall behind the seats of Bishop Sullivan Catholic High School students attending the Feb. 2 game at Norfolk Academy, said Dennis W. Price, principal of the Virginia Beach school.

Price who also watched the game, said the rivals exchanged chants, "Then, at some point, our students were chanting, 'We love Jesus.'"

"It was obviously in reference to the Jewish population of Norfolk Academy; that's the only way you can take that," he added.

For whom would Jesus vote? "Influential Christian conservatives" are having trouble deciding, according to a David Kirkpatrick article in the NY Times.

Many of the conservatives who attended [a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform], held at the beginning of the month at the Ritz-Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., said they were dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election.

We can only hope that religious extremists have cause to "worry that they may find themselves on the sidelines of the presidential race" in 2008.

Jason Leopold has reviewed Patrick Fitzgerald's closing argument in the Scooter Libby trial, and points out these comments:

Rebutting the defense's assertion that Cheney was not behind the leak, Fitzgerald told jurors, "You know what? [Wells] said something here that we're trying to put a cloud on the vice president. We'll talk straight. There is a cloud over the vice president. He sent Libby off to [meet with former New York Times reporter] Judith Miller at the St. Regis Hotel. At that meeting, the two hour meeting, the defendant talked about the wife [Plame]. We didn't put that cloud there. That cloud remains because the defendant obstructed justice and lied about what happened."

More...

Northern light:

Canada’s highest court on Friday unanimously struck down a law that allows the Canadian government to detain foreign-born terrorism suspects indefinitely using secret evidence and without charges while their deportations are being reviewed.

....“The overarching principle of fundamental justice that applies here is this: before the state can detain people for significant periods of time, it must accord them a fair judicial process,” Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the ruling.

Margaret Chiara of the Western District of Michigan is the latest U.S. Attorney to get the ax from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Chiara was praised by the Judges of the District.

"This is a very classy, distinguished, highly regarded public servant," said Bell, who was appointed to the bench during the Reagan administration. "She's one of the best United States attorneys we've had in this district, and all of my colleagues agree. . . . To have her suddenly disappear without warning catches us all flat-footed."

So, why are these U.S. Attorneys being fired?

Nearly all of the dismissed prosecutors had positive job reviews, but many had run into political trouble with Washington over immigration, capital punishment or other issues, according to prosecutors and others. At least four also were presiding over high-profile public corruption investigations when they were dismissed.

The prosecutors' views on the death penalty may be a factor:

Iraqi blogger Riverbend is back after a few months hiatus. She's livid about the rape of Sabrine and the attempt to cast it as a Shia - Sunni issue. Her final paragraphs from the first linked post:

As the situation continues to deteriorate both for Iraqis inside and outside of Iraq, and for Americans inside Iraq, Americans in America are still debating on the state of the war and occupation- are they winning or losing? Is it better or worse.

Let me clear it up for any moron with lingering doubts: It’s worse. It’s over. You lost. You lost the day your tanks rolled into Baghdad to the cheers of your imported, American-trained monkeys. You lost every single family whose home your soldiers violated. You lost every sane, red-blooded Iraqi when the Abu Ghraib pictures came out and verified your atrocities behind prison walls as well as the ones we see in our streets. You lost when you brought murderers, looters, gangsters and militia heads to power and hailed them as Iraq’s first democratic government. You lost when a gruesome execution was dubbed your biggest accomplishment. You lost the respect and reputation you once had. You lost more than 3000 troops. That is what you lost America. I hope the oil, at least, made it worthwhile.