TODAY'S TOP FIVE: Snow Delay.

The Bush Administration: A Lottery That Rewards Stupidity Let's say that you help convince your boss to embark on a bold new project that is sharply criticized both within the company and within the business community as a whole. But you insist that you have sound reasons for doing so, and that ultimate success will vindicate you. Maybe you even cut some corners and play around with the details to make the project seem better to your boss. Then, when the project is completed, it turns out the only vindication is of the critics, since the project is a disaster from start to finish. How do you think this display of dishonesty and incompetence will be rewarded? Well, if you're Paul Wolfowitz, and the project is the invasion of Iraq, you get rewarded by becoming the top choice to succeed James Wolfensohn as head of the World Bank! So there is a happy ending to this, after all.

And a Child Shall Lead Them...Into Eating Cat Food At last, the kid from The Omen movies has a real-life counterpart: Nine-year-old Texan (of course) Noah McCullough, who is being paid by the anti-Social Security gang Progress for America to shill around the country for the president's plan to scrap guaranteed retirement incomes. The idea that the American people will take advice on a topic as complicated as Social Security from a fucking nine-year-old is...actually, brilliant. This is the smartest thing the bastards have done so far.

Is It Time to Invade Iraq Again? Now that everyone has forgotten about the supposed original reason for invading Iraq (WMD, anyone?) and has instead agreed to pretend that the reason we invaded was to end Saddam's human rights atrocities, the question must be asked: Is it time to invade Iraq again? Because, according to the State Department, the U.S.-installed interim Iraqi government is guilty of "serious human rights abuses," including "torture, illegal detention by police, and forced confessions" as well as summary executions and the use of forced child labor. It is time that America sent a message to America-occupied Iraq: America will no longer tolerate these atrocities, and is willing to invade if it must.

Bloggers in "Not Entirely Worthless" Shocker Here's an interesting commentary on how bloggers have driven the "Jeff Gannon" story (easily the best news story of the year so far). It's nice to see bloggers not being worthless for a change. Yeah, yeah, I realize this is a blog, but the operative words here are still Bart Simpson's, when he replied to Milhouse's suggestion to put shocking information on the Internet: "No, we actually have to reach people whose opinions matter!" But here's a question, even for a blog-basher like yours truly: How come much of the mainstream media has ignored Guckertgate? Is the news judgement of the Daily Kos really that much better than everybody's at CBS and ABC, which still have not aired reports on the scandal?

Words of Wisdom From the Aptly-Named Dick Armey Some people object to irresponsible cads like myself characterizing the president's position (and the position of young Noah McCullough) on Social Security as being in opposition to it; the president doesn't want to scrap Social Security, I am told, he wants to fix it so it's there forever, like fossil fuels and the ozone layer. Fortunately, there are still Republicans dumb enough, or heedless enough of public opinion, to ignore the script: take former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who told a gathering in Texas over the weekend that the real goal is to "phase out" Social Security in favor of private accounts. Thanks, Dick.

-Consider Arms