Random News & Views Roundup

- As expected, Bush has nominated General Michael Hayden as CIA director. He's expected to face a tough confirmation process, however, with opposition from both Republicans and Democrats. Not only that, TPM Muckraker reveals:

While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company.

Another symbol of the venerated vetting powers of the White House? We'll soon find out.

Foggo, the number three CIA man who is embroiled in the Cunningham scandal, is expected to resign soon:

Many of Goss' top aides were expected to soon leave the CIA. Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo has decided to retire, said an intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public.

The FBI is investigating whether Foggo's friend, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, provided prostitutes and hotel suites to a California congressman jailed for taking bribes in exchange for government contracts. Foggo is also under investigation by the CIA's inspector general.

- Dear George W, Love Mahmoud. The president of Iran has sent a letter to Bush via the Swiss, suggesting that he has 'new solutions' to their serious differences.

“Given the fact that the issue of Iran is before the United Nations at this time, certainly one of the hypotheses you’d have to examine is whether and in what way the timing of the dispatch of that letter is connected with trying in some manner to influence the debate before the Security Council,” Negroponte told reporters.

A sixth-grader could have told you that, Negroponte, but that's not the point. The US has not had direct relations with Tehran since the hostage crisis way back when and while Bush keeps proclaiming that he's all for diplomacy, brushing off this letter as simply an attempt to influence the Security Council does nothing to solve the impasse.

- New York's pitbull Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has his sites set on H&R Block. When Spitzer's on the case, you know you're in serious trouble.

- Another Republican with ties to the Abramoff lobbying scandal bites the dust. A former aid to Rep Bob Ney has pleaded guilty in the far-reaching investigation. So many scandals...so many corrupt Republicans. In a related story, the DNC is suing the Secret Service in order to obtain records pertaining to the Abramoff scandal.

- new Bush approval number: 31%. Heh.