"Dr. Condoleezza Rice is an honest, fabulous person. And America is lucky to have her service. Period."

--From the President Bush press conference, July 30, 2003

"fab-u-lous \ 1: given to telling fables 2: celebrated or known from fables only: not real, actual, or historical 3: characteristic of fables : like the contents of fables in being marvelous, incredible, absurd, extreme, exaggerated, or approaching the impossible.

--From Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1961

Thanks to the ever-alert Madam Cura for that one.

Speaking of things known only in fables, I always hear about the president's weekly radio address, but who actually broadcasts it and who, who listens to it?

On this weekend's edition of "On the Media," Brook Gladstone conducts an extremely important interview with Scott Armstrong of the National Security Archive. He points to the fact that Congress (at least the Dems and a few of the more responsible GOPs) has a constitutional duty to manage the finances of the military, and yet they have to beg -- beg -- to get any information on what the occupation of Iraq is going to cost. And their begging falls on deaf ears within the emperor's administration. I'll post a link to the transcript once it's available next week, but in the meantime, go here to hear to segment.

Oh, and that occupation. Looks like we're going it alone.

It's tough to shake off the sense of doom.