Who are these searchers in Chicago? –With people and plaster dust all over the house, papers to grade, writing to work on and the state of the nation to ponder, there are bigger issues, of course, but still it is puzzling that individuals I do not know in Chicago are ‘searching’ me out in Reunion.com.

This is not recent; it started several years ago; and it seems to be the same individuals. An easy ID online, nothing secret or lurid, but no answer to my couple of polite notes telling them foursquare who I am and inquiring why the search.

Also, one of them is an older woman –except that her ID comes back as a man in his thirties. All the names are MaryMargaret type monickers, including that of the guy.

Seems odd.

Meanwhile, speaking of people searches: One of my top recommendations for a newly invigorated FBI, under a new administration, would be the appointment of Colleen Rowley.

At the congressional hearing where the admirable FBI special agent Rowley testified, the public was repeatedly assured by Committee members that there would be no retaliation or pressure on Rowley as a result of her world-famous famous whistle-blowing. Where is she now?
Sic semper whistle-blowers . . .

Meanwhile, at or near the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, I am told on good lawlerly authority that President Bush offered a seat on the Supreme Court to White House Counsel and then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Gonzales, motivated–it is said–by loyalty to Bush, turned down the offered nomination.

Since this all took place well before Congress grew any spine, the smart money, locally speaking, in Texas political-legal circles has it that Gonzales made a big mistake out of a wish to stay with Bush. He would have been approved for the highest court in the land, they say.

What ifs are always tentative, of course. But there is assuredly no argument to contradict that idea; look at the confirmations of a string of neocon personnel including all the architects of the Iraq war, the unending and unsuccessful ‘war on terror’, indefinite detention, illegal ‘renditions’ and torture.