Friday Link-Dump

Paul Wolfowitz will 'resign' as head of the World Bank at the end of June. Turns out at least one person wasn't surprised. A "former colleague who served with Wolfowitz in four administrations said that 'the kinds of problems he got into were predictable for anybody who really knew Paul.'" The ex-colleague also "voiced admiration for his intellect but said Wolfowitz 'couldn't run a two-car funeral.'". A current colleague at the World Bank reports that upon learning of his departure, "[e]veryone ran into the hallways and were clapping and hugging each other." Needless to say, the source wanted to remain anonymous.

John McCain "missed another vote today on a resolution related to the Iraq war, skipping a procedural move on a war funding measure in favor of hitting the campaign trail in New York." It was his 42nd missed roll call in a row. If he misses three more, he will have missed half of the roll call votes so far in the 110th Congress.

Alberto Gonzales looks like he'll be facing a no-confidence vote soon. And the number of U.S. Attorneys that were slated for firing has risen to thirty - a full third of all U.S. Attorneys.

Illinois, according to census analysis by the AP, is the "Most American State" as defined by "21 demographic factors, including race, age, income, education, industrial mix, immigration and the share of people living in urban and rural areas." That must scare the shit out of the GOP since Illinois elected that Obama guy...

Iowa, (in the bottom ten of the "Most American States") sees "Sen. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards locked in a tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination, 28% to 26%, with Sen. Barack Obama at 22% and Gov. Bill Richardson at 7%."

George W. Bush may need his veto pen again soon. "Shrugging off a possible veto from President Bush, the House demanded that the administration develop a plan to transfer detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The 220 to 208 vote came on an amendment to a bill authorizing defense programs that the Democratic-led House passed overwhelmingly."

Dick Cheney, or rather his lawyers, argue in court "that Cheney is legally akin to the president because of his unique government role, and has absolute immunity from any lawsuit." The judge asked, "so you're arguing there is nothing -- absolutely nothing - these officials could have said to reporters that would have been beyond the scope of their employment [whether it was] true or false?" Answer: "That's true, your honor."

And finally...

The White House squaks endlessly about how it 'supports' the troops but says nothing about not supporting a pay raise for them.