The Ana Log

By Ana Marie Cox

WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL DOES NOT CHARGE BY THE HOUR Dick Cheney tells a conservative talk-show host that deciding to "dunk" detainees underwater to get information is a "no-brainer," which explains a lot about how the White House counsel came up with the rationale to defend such techniques to begin with.

LAVENDER GROWS IN THE GARDEN STATE! New Jersey's Supreme Court declares that same-sex couples have the right to marry--or civil unionize, depending on what wording the legislature settles on. Democrats fear (and Republicans hope) that the controversial decision so disturbs social conservatives that they might actually vote. It might be even more alarming if the stereotype fit better; "gay New Jersey" sounds like either an innovative fabric or an oxymoron.

AND SPEAKING OF NEW DRAPES President Bush and company do their darnedest to demonize House Speaker-in-Waiting (maybe) Nancy Pelosi. She's a liberal! She loves taxes! She will take your guns away! That might work, but as far as scary-looking Halloween costumes go, we're still thinking Denny Hastert.

WE WISH WE LIVED IN VIRGINIA IF ONLY TO VOTE FOR ALLEN Virginia Senator George Allen finally comes up with ammo against opponent James Webb: icky sex scenes from Webb's novels about the Vietnam War. They're perverted, they're gross, they're ... from a novel. Usually when politicians dismiss an attack as "fiction," they mean true lies, not, well, actual fiction. Then again, when your standard for "credible" is a possible 2008 Allen run for President ...