On A Box Of Soap. Max Cleland, 9/11 Commission member, explains in a must-read Q&A how the agreement re the presidential daily briefings works: "A minority of the commissioners will be able to see a minority of the documents that the White House has already said is pertinent. And then a minority of the commissioners themselves will have to brief the rest of the commissioners on what the White House thinks is appropriate. [T]hey have to report to the White House what they're going to tell the other commissioners. ... [T]he president of the United States is cherry-picking what information is shown ... We're coming down to the final [months] of the commission and we're still messing around with access issues. ... I don't know if they're hiding something. But the public will never know and the 9/11 commission will never know ... [T]he White House has made it darn near impossible to get full access to the documents by May, much less get a full report out analyzing those docs by May. ... [Bob Woodward, author of "Bush at War" is] a private citizen. He got access to documents we don't have yet! Just think about that." ... The 9/11 Commission has also issued a subpoena to the City of New York for its tapes and transcripts of emergency 911 calls. Mayor Bloomberg says the city will fight the subpoena.

Gen. Tommy Franks told Cigar Aficionado that if the US is hit with a WMD that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government. ... General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Osama bin Laden had "taken himself out of the picture" and that his capture was not essential. Since when does the criminal get to call off the investigation? A quote from Bush on September 13, 2001: "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." Did W change his mind? ... In a front-page story last Monday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer attributed a Saddam Hussein quote - "The evil ones now find themselves in crisis, and this is God's will for them" - to Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Oh, that liberal media!