John Byrne of Raw Story reports:

The chief spokesman for Vice President Dick Cheney, Steve Schmidt, left the United States Oct. 3 and won't return until Oct. 26, well after the investigation into who outed a covert CIA agent wraps up, RAW STORY has confirmed.

Schmidt has left for Iraq. A RAW STORY email sent to Schmidt's private White House address Tuesday yielded this reply: "I will be out of the country from October 3rd through October 26th and will have VERY limited email access. For assistance, please contact Jon Berrier at 202-XXX-XXXX. Thank you."

What does this mean? I have no clue. It could mean Cheney is expecting no indictments, so there is no need to have a spokesman around, other than one to say "we expected this result all along."

On a related note, Attytood reports its theory that Bush and Cheney are no longer getting along. I'm not sure of that, even though at the time of Katrina, I speculated that Cheney's absence was due to being fed up with Bush. I now think Cheney's health may be a bigger problem. How are Cheney and Libby getting along these days? Any friction there?

by TChris

Military reservists have recently taken more than their share of casualties in Iraq. About half of active duty troops in Iraq today are reservists.

For the first nine months of 2005 reservists accounted for 36 percent of U.S. deaths, and for August and September it was 56 percent, according to Pentagon figures. The Army National Guard, Army Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve accounted for more than half of all U.S. deaths in August and in September -- the first time that has happened in consecutive months.

by TChris

The Schuylkill County Department of Children and Youth Services has threatened to take away Melissa WolfHawk's baby as soon as it's born. Why? Because the baby's father was convicted of raping two teenage girls in 1983. He served his sentence for that crime, but that's not enough to satisfy the Schuylkill County social workers. The ACLU hopes to persuade a court that the County has no business meddling with the family when it lacks evidence that the baby will be endangered.

The ACLU argues that officials in Pennsylvania have no right under state law to question Melissa WolfHawk about her unborn baby, and that DaiShin WolfHawk should not be punished further. "There's just no evidence in this case that Mr. WolfHawk has engaged in criminal acts against very young minors," said attorney Paula Knudsen. "And while the charges that were lodged against him in the early 1980s are not excusable, he certainly has paid his time for those crimes and has moved on."

The informant who tipped off authorites to last week's' New York Subway threat now admits it was a hoax

[Government] sources said an informant in Iraq who provided the tip had told investigators there was a terrorist plot involving New York's subway system. That informant admitted he gave false information, the sources said. On Monday, New York police said they would reduce the increased security measures put in place last week on the city's subways.

It's time to bring out the TalkLeft Subway totes.

Raw Story reports:

Vice President Dick Cheney was noticeably absent from a landmark dinner held last Thursday for the 50th anniversary of the conservative National Review magazine, Roll Call will report in Tuesday editions.

While guests raved about the gourmet food served at the National Review’s 50th anniversary party Thursday night, they couldn’t take their minds off who wasn’t there: Vice President Cheney. His absence dredged up the question that dominated the blogosphere in recent months: Where’s Dick? “Not here,” was the short answer. “Scheduling conflict,” the party line.

Cheney was supposed to speak at the dinner at 7:30. For health reasons, he wanted to move his slot to 7:00. They couldn't change it, and he ended up not going.

The speculation: Is his health worse than we've been led to believe? Or is it because Libby's problems appear to be worsening?

by TChris

Initial accounts of this beating of a man by police officers in New Orleans reported that the man was drunk and resisting arrest. His lawyer disputes both assertions:

The man, a retired elementary school teacher, had returned to New Orleans only to check on property he owns in the storm-ravaged city, and was out looking to buy cigarettes when he was arrested Saturday night in the French Quarter, the lawyer and the man's father said.

What the police described as resistance may have been a natural response to being beaten.

New York Times Editor Bill Kellor spoke in Phoenix last week at the annual Association of National Advertisers conference. Among his comments:

"Most of what you know, you know because of the mainstream media," Keller said. "Bloggers recycle and chew on the news. That's not bad. But it's not enough."

The Times, Kellor asserted, is different:

The Times' assets: "A worldwide network of trained, skilled [observers] to witness events" and write about them, and "a rigorous set of standards. A journalism of verification," rather than of "assertion," and maintaining an "agnosticism" as to where any story may lead.

Arianna calls Keller "Clueless in Phoenix."

by TChris

Tommy Chong is still trying to overturn his conviction, but he's staying out of jail and going back to work.

The performer has plugged back into the stand-up circuit. He's just written "The I Chong," which chronicles his "wrongful" stint in the pokey, for Simon and Schuster. And "AKA Chong," a hit at the Toronto Film Festival, documents his arrest and prison ordeal.

Chong hopes to raise money to pay for his legal fees. In the meantime, he's imparted some sage advice:

"If there was a lesson to be learned," Chong says in a phone interview from a friend's home in Los Angeles, "it's to never put your face on a bong."

by Last Night in Little Rock

CNN talking head Daryn Kagan is today reported by AOL, which is owned by the same company that owns CNN, to have been IM'g Rush Limbaugh while on the air, and Limbaugh has been using her IM's on his radio program, referring to her as his "mistress in Georgia" (the sexist pig).

AOL's posting:

by Last Night in Little Rock

Theodore Roosevelt Heller's obituary in today's Chicago Tribune showed he was a man of high character. When he was wounded in WWII, he forced his way back into the Illinois National Guard "insisting no one tells [me] when to serve [my] country."

Even in death, Heller showed still continues to serve his country:

Right Wing News has conducted a non-scientific survey among right-wing bloggers about President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.

Before summarizing the results, let me just say that I don't think bloggers or Senators should have a fixed opinion of the nomination before the confirmation hearings. No one has heard a word from Ms. Miers yet. She deserves the opportunity to be heard before her nomination is either condemned or championed.

That said, while I'm pleased to see so many right wing bloggers down on Bush, we have to keep the reason in mind: They expected Bush to nominate a right-wing extremist and an ideologue and they don't see one in Ms. Miers.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Justice Antonin Scalia, in NYC today as Grand Marshal of the Columbus Day parade, said yesterday that he did not expect to be named Chief Justice, although the President had bandied his name around as a role model for a Chief Justice. He also said that it would be an honor to be named, but it would have taken too much of his time.