This is a storyof Bush Administration meddling in federal regulatory agencies jumping up and biting the GOP in the ass -- specifically McCain's.

It seems that the Bush Administrations scheme to gut the Federal Election Commission by not appointing new members and thus assuring the FEC has no quorum is causing a big problem for McCain.

McCain is depending on $85 million in public financing for the general election -- money he can't get if the FEC can't meet.

We interrupt this primary day to bring you one of those fun ethical puzzles.

A researcher at MIT conducted some experiments to see gauge situational ethics -- basically to see under what conditions people might steal something or cheat.

This is one of those stories where you can just see that someone is going to end up apologizing and/or resigning.

Jason Whitlock, a black columnist for the Kansas City Star, wrote a column for Playboy magazine that is to appear in the May 9 edition. According to Whitlock, the column wil have a headline that will read:

“The Black KKK.” A subheadline will state: “Hip Hop is killing Black America, and it’s time to do something about it.”

Whitlock says this is a complete distortion of what he wrote with the intention of generating a controversy and ginning a racial controversy. Playboy has even, Whitlock says, tried to drag Barack Obama into it by accusing him of being unable to stop this "Black KKK."

Here is what Whitlock says the column is about:

Ralph Nader is running an ad looking for two people to be his press spokespersons.

Here's the ad:

Description of duties and qualifications: The Nader/Gonzalez '08 presidential campaign for a progressive, majoritarian redirection of our country is seeking experienced media persons to conduct outreach and receive press inquiries.

You can bring your conscience to work daily, commit truth, and engage the great issues of our times.

Writing and reportorial experience are needed, unless you are a sui generis talented and motivated dynamo in these tumultuous arenas of newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the blogs.

Applications are invited, together with references, writing samples and other magnetic material that you believe commend you for these tasks. Savor the experience, make a consequential contribution to public dialogue, public education and the substantive quality of this presidential year, whose major party candidates are so besieged thus far with trivia and distractions.

We interrupt this political blog to bring you some amazing news from the world of sports.

Danica Patrick has just become the first woman ever to win a major open-wheel automobile race, a spectacular achievement for women in sports.

Patrick gambled on fuel mileage late in the race, took the lead with three laps to go and hung on to beat Helio Castroneves at the Twin Ring Motegi course in Japan

Never again can she be derided as the Anna Kournikova of auto racing -- all looks and no wins.

Link

I am tempted to put this under the heading of "No shit, Sherlock."

Most folks with a conscience and a modicum of common sense figured out a while ago that the war in Iraq is FUBAR.

Nonetheless, the fact that the Pentagon's own "premier military educational institute" now says the same thingis striking.

I actualy feel sorry for Dean Singleton.

The chairman of the Associated Press was standing next to Barack Obama at an AP luncheon on Monday and asking him a question about Afghanistan when he suffered the ultimate (for 2008) slip of the tongue.

Bush says the recent Iraqi Army operation in Basra was a rip-snorting success because it shows the Iraqis are willing to stand up and handle their own security matters.

Yeah, right.

The Justice Department has just announced approval of a deal for the only two satellite radio companies -- Sirius and XM -- to merge.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department approved Sirius Satellite Radio's $5 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio on Monday, saying the deal was unlikely to hurt competition or consumers.

The deal was approved despite opposition from consumer groups and an intense lobbying campaign by the land-based radio industry.

The buyout received shareholder approval in November. The companies said the merger will save hundreds of millions of dollars in operating costs - savings that will ultimately benefit their customers.

The Justice Department, in a lengthy news release explaining its decision, said the two companies compete not just with each other but also with other forms of radio and entertainment.

The Washington Posthas a story out about a new book by a top diplomat from Chile, who was heavily involved in negotiations in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.

He paints a picture of Bush Administration oifficials strong-arming countries to back the invasion and even threatening trade reprisals.

The rough-and-tumble diplomatic strategy has generated lasting "bitterness" and "deep mistrust" in Washington's relations with allies in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere, Heraldo Mu¿oz, Chile's ambassador to the United Nations, writes in his book "A Solitary War: A Diplomat's Chronicle of the Iraq War and Its Lessons," set for publication next month.

"In the aftermath of the invasion, allies loyal to the United States were rejected, mocked and even punished" for their refusal to back a U.N. resolution authorizing military action against Saddam Hussein's government, Mu¿oz writes.

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." -- John 8:32

Provided, of course, you have the cash.

In this case, $209,099 -- the price that FEMA recently attached to its willingness to comply with a Katrina-related Freedom of Information Act request from The Advocate, the newspaper in Baton Rouge, La.

The newspaper was looking into maintenance and inspection contracts awarded by FEMA after the 2005 hurricanes.

These contractors were in charge of minor repairs and monthly inspections of travel trailers and mobile homes occupied by evacuees from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Yes, that is correct. I have lost $11,600.

The news of this stunning loss arrived via my quarterly 401K statement. The line item refers to "change in market value" and it tells me that my retirement nest egg is $11,600 less than what it was three months ago.

I'm hyper pissed.

OK. I an officially through with Bud Cramer. Adios. Ciao. Goodbye.

The Democratic congressman from north Alabama announced this week that he is retiring. Cramer represents a heavily Republican district and was mostly a conservative vote but at least he voted for Democratic leadership.

But now he is threatening to endorse a Republican to succeed him.

This is bad news.

Rep. Bud Cramer, who represents North Alabama and Huntsville, is one of only two Democrats from Alabama in the House.

Eight American soldiers died in attacks in Iraq yesterday. This is what you would have read in the Washington Post this morning.

BAGHDAD, March 11 -- Eight U.S. soldiers died in separate attacks here and in the eastern province of Diyala on Monday, the deadliest day for U.S. troops in more than two months.

U.S. officials announced overnight that three U.S. soldiers were killed and another wounded when an improvised bomb exploded near their patrol in Diyala. An interpreter was also killed. No other details were provided.

In Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed five U.S. troops as they mingled casually with Iraqis in a shopping district. The soldiers had parked their Humvees and stepped out into the warm sun and swirl of people on the main thoroughfare of what was once Baghdad's most elegant neighborhood.

So much for values.

Tim Goeglein has had a tough week, but he still has friends in the “right” places. The former White House aide in charge of religious and conservative outreach resigned late last week after admitting he plagiarized pieces he wrote for the News-Sentinel of Fort Wayne, Ind. Goeglein took passages from Pope John Paul II and Dartmouth professor Jeffery Hart, among others.

But Goeglein is still embraced by the conservative community. At the weekly meeting of center-right leaders at American for Tax Reform on Wednesday morning, he received three rounds of applause from the packed room, including one standing ovation, as he asked for their forgiveness.

This is rich.

White House special assistant Timothy Goeglein, director of the Office of Public Liaison, wrote a guest editorial in July on the 100th birthday of John Wayne for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.

It begins with this well-crafted and stirring paragraph:

If we could scale down the pantheon of 20th Century actors to those with screen personas so resonant that their images remain available via plaster busts and lamps still sold in novelty stores decades after their deaths, John Wayne, whose centenary is this year, shares that particular down-market upper-tier.

Which is beautifully written, except someone else deserves credit for it.

Not only does the Bush crime family assume that it can ignore congressional subpoenas, apparently they also don't have to cooperate with congressional auditors from the Government Accountability Office.

Who do those auditors think they are, anyway? -- questioning the operationof one of Bush's cabinet agencies. What nerve!