The New Republic

. . . comes via CIA-agent-turned-blogger Larry Johnson, who's flacking Valerie Plame's new book and reveals this tidbit from it: READ MORE >>

Former TNRer Ryan Lizza's piece on Mitt Romney in this week's New Yorker frames the former governor's Mormon problem in an interesting new way. Here's a scholar of Mormonism, as quoted in the article: READ MORE >>

Valerie Plame Wilson's memoir comes out today, and as you may have heard, the CIA censors have gone to town on it (so much so that she and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, sued unsuccessfully in federal court in an attempt to be allowed to publish more of it). READ MORE >>

I think Kathryn Jean Lopez is joking when she urges Lynn Cheney to run for president. Then again, I initially thought the whole Fred Thompson boomlet was a joke, too. --Jason Zengerle READ MORE >>

The Times had a "Sunday Styles" piece about the Hollywood "eco-wives" (the environmentally conscious spouses of entertainment industry bigwigs) who descend upon Washington to lobby for green causes such as a tough climate change bill. READ MORE >>

At a reading at Carnegie Hall on Friday night, J.K. Rowling disclosed the fact, long suspected but never before confirmed, that her beloved character Albus Dumbledore was gay. READ MORE >>

From America's Most Trusted News Source (no less): Waffle House brawl lands Kid Rock in jail   So predictable. --Jason Zengerle   READ MORE >>

You might not be taking Stephen Colbert's presidential candidacy seriously, but Josh Green is. Auditioning for the job of Colbert's campaign manager, Josh has come up with a surprisingly detailed blueprint for how Colbert could actually win a delegate or two in either one of the South Carolina primaries: READ MORE >>

Over at The Stump, Noam recaps last night's GOP debate with a very smart point: The GOP race has become a contest between ideological purity (as advocated by Romney and Thompson) and authenticity (which is what Rudy and McCain are selling). But, as Noam argues, it's a shame that Romney decided not to run on authenticity--since the authentic Romney is certainly more attractive than the contrived ideologically pure Romney: READ MORE >>

To paraphrase: "It's good we supported 'freedom fighters' in Central America because now El Salvador has at least five so many soldiers in Iraq." --Isaac Chotiner READ MORE >>