QUICK QUESTION ABOUT DELAY STEPPING DOWN

As everyone has heard by now, the big news in Washington is that Tom DeLay has permanently stepped down as House Majority Leader.

But remember this? From the AP writeup:

Speaker
Dennis Hastert, his own grip on power secure, said he expects elections to be held when lawmakers return to the Capitol the week of Jan. 31.

(emphasis mine) Here's the irony: The reason the House was originally scheduled to reconvene in late January, as opposed to earlier, was in the hope (among Hastert & co.) that DeLay's legal troubles would be over by then, allowing him to retain his leadership position. This was reported by Roll Call back in December.

Sooooooo... now that DeLay won't be Majority Leader either way, is there any reason the House of Representatives can't open its doors at a more conventional time?

PAT ROBERTSON IS IN A PERSISTENT VEGETATIVE STATE

Hey Pat, can't a 300-pound man in his 70's just have a stroke without it being the terrible retribution of God?

See also: Amy Sullivan's amusing take on Pat's latest nutcasery.

The Facts Machine will be getting back into the swing of things this week.

Watching Anderson Cooper interview that woman and her two children outside the church in West Virginia last night was the most heartwrenching thing I've seen on the news in a long time.

I feel really awful for the people in the eastern half of the country, who went to bed thinking a miracle had taken place.