... and if we WERE safe, then we'd know where the bizarre maple syrup smell came from the other night. The city was suffused with the smell of maple syrup. One colleague said she smelled it in the movie theater, thought someone had sweets with them, still smelled it afterward and turned to her friend who'd been with her in the movie and said "Is it you?!?" The city was suffused with the smell of maple syrup and 3 days later no one knows what the hell it was. Yes, fine, the DEP and the cops and the coast guard all sprang into action after the phone calls poured in that night, but no one knows what it was -- just that apparently the air tests found nothing harmful. That's good news, but it's hardly the point. Fine. Fine, I'm jumpy and just complaining about something that can't really be…

more on this from Steve Clemons (linked at Kos):First of all, this means that Vice President Cheney has known all along that he was Scooter Libby's source -- and whether Libby had license from him or not to try and slaughter the reputation of Joe Wilson -- CHENEY KNEW.The entire charade of President Bush stating that he wanted to get to the bottom of who leaked Plame's name -- and who was involved -- is no longer believable at any level. Cheney would not have failed to disclose this to Bush, and Bush played along as if none of his staff were involved. They confessed nothing -- accepted no responsibilty -- until forced by Fitzgerald [...]

NYT says Libby learned about Plame from Cheney in a "previously undisclosed conversation." That conversation wouldn't be any sort of crime in itself, NYT hastens to add, but it does further undermine the White House assurances of accountability. And it seems to make it even more likely that perjury or obstruction charges will come out of the Fitzgerald investigation. What else makes it look like charges are coming? The fact that White House allies are already spinning. Oh and by the way, if the squirmy cries of "technicality" or "witch hunt" start to make you question the Fitzgerald investigation, go here for a bracing reminder of how it went one time when national security and the justification for an unpopular war were not on the line ...