Choosing the Nuclear Option?

Anyone else think all this noise about seeking a compromise in the Senate fight over rules for debate and confirmation of judges is smoke screen? For whatever reason, it looks to me as if both sides - or at least those with the votes on both sides - want to move from the long period of posturing to settle the matter one way or the other. Whether that is because each side believes they have the votes (they can't both have counted right, and I suspect some of the unknown votes are holding out for some juicy payoffs) or because they are more weary of the stalemate than they are afraid of the outcome, I don't know.

David Brooks, who sometimes has an exalted opinion of his influence, tried to shame the senators into reaching a comrpomise with his snide column yesterday saying they could find one if the moderates would become as active as the zealots. I confess to a certain weariness with all the hype, though I do fear this president being unleashed from the restraints of the old senate rules.

A piece on local (Albany) NPR this morning told of level 3 sex offenders (those considered likely to repeat) getting subsidies for prescriptions of Viagra.

George Orwell could never have come up with such a bizarre story.

The South Koreans say they have made a big leap forward in stem cell reasearch that tags the cells to the person and the person's illness. President Bush says he will veto any bill that proposes such a thing.

Who could have dreamed we would come to this?