Oddly, I haven't posted hardly at all this week, though I have had things I wanted to write about. I get busy and this has fallen down the list of priorities lately. So, a few brief thoughts.

The more I read about the Plame investigation, the more intrigued I am. Time magazine's cover article of this week was significantly better than Newsweek's. Newsweek presented it more as a political issue and Time covered it from the national security angle, really explaining the problems her outing caused the CIA.

Until the investigation is over and we know more about the original issues, for right now I think the focus should simply be on the White House's repeated statements that Rove and Libby had nothing to do with it, when we now know that they were the sources for the reporters involved (though it is still unclear who was the original leak). I liked the grilling by the White House press corps last week of Scott McLellan. Keep it up. John Stewart's comment was hilarious -- "We've replaced the White House Press Corps with actual reporters."

Don't worry, no spoilers. I finished Harry Potter 2 a.m. Wednesday, which was still Tuesday night for me. I had to go to Dallas Monday, so I didn't get to read much after the weekend until Tuesday evening. About midnight I was approaching that point that with all the Harry Potter books is the don't-put-it-down-again point (around 200 to 150 pages left in the book). I thought, "I either put this down now or decide to stay up till I'm done, because if I read two more pages, I'll read it till the end." I choose the latter.

Generally I like the book, with a few issues. It is more character development and backstory and far less plot driven than the last two. It has really set up the last book. That one should be spectacular.

I want to commend the President for nominating someone who will not cause a nasty confirmation battle. A confirmation battle would have been horrible for the Senate right now. I'm quite proud of the President for finding a nominee who it seems will be easily confirmed.