White smoke in Baghdad. No, sorry, just another oil pipeline blowing up

The last, honest to God, we really mean it this time, widow of a Civil War veteran dies. She was 97. She married the guy when she was 21 (and already a widow), and he was 81. After he died, she married his grandson.

Despite all previous denials, Cheney was indeed involved in arranging contracts for Halliburton (Time magazine has the smoking email).

(Monday:) The wrangling over the Iraqi interim presidency is still going on. Bremer is threatening to veto any vote by the Governing Council that isn’t for his nominee. Of course, it’s supposed to be Brahimi who makes the decision, so Bremer would be vetoing a non-binding, irrelevant vote by a puppet government for a ceremonial, temporary office in another puppet government. About as important as winning a Golden Globe award. Today Bremer is offering a compromise candidate, a general who was imprisoned by Saddam. But before that, he was slaughtering Kurds, so...
(Later:) Wrangling over, Pachachi steps aside. The IGC is certainly throwing its political weight around effectively, considering it’s not supposed to have any. Ghazi Yawar. The last name sounds like a yawn.

Today a council member suggested that the first act of the new president should be to establish a “de-Bremerisation” committee.

Freedom returns to Gloucestershire, where the forces of oppression have allowed the resumption of the annual Chasing of a Giant Wheel of Cheese Down a Hill. And there was a streaker. Which would have livened up the dedication of the World War II memorial.

Bob Herbert in Monday’s NYT notes that a law passed in 1996 prevents prisoners in the US from suing for “mental or emotional injury,” i.e., the sort of thing that happened in Abu Ghraib, unless they were also physically harmed.

Another good Dana Milbank piece, on Bush’s use of straw men.