Nice timing:

On the same day a poison-laced letter shuttered Senate offices, President Bush asked Congress to eliminate an $8.2 million research program on how to decontaminate buildings attacked by toxins.
Buried in documents justifying Bush’s 2005 budget proposal released Monday is an Environmental Protection Agency acknowledgment that his proposed cut “represents complete elimination of homeland security building decontamination research.”
The agency said in the documents that Bush’s proposal will “force it to disband the technical and engineering expertise that will be needed to address known and emerging biological and chemical threats in the future.”

UPI correspondent Richard Sale reports that the investigation into who was responsible for blowing Valerie Plame’s identity is centering on Vice President Cheney’s office:

Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney’s office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer’s identity last year. The investigation, which is continuing, could lead to indictments, a Justice Department official said.
According to these sources, John Hannah and Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, were the two Cheney employees. “We believe that Hannah was the major player in this,” one federal law-enforcement officer said. Calls to the vice president’s office were not returned, nor did Hannah and Libby return calls.
The strategy of the FBI is to make clear to Hannah “that he faces a real possibility of doing jail time” as a way to pressure him to name superiors, one federal law-enforcement official said.

This could get interesting if it pans out. I can’t imagine Hannah has very many “superiors” to squeal on.

According to this table (.pdf), Knox County has had almost 2,000 more early voters than any other Tennessee county (through Tuesday). I’m not sure how that compares with past elections; perhaps it’s simply more convenient to vote here than elsewhere. But an interesting tidbit.

You are invited to meet presidential candidate Senator John Edwards.
When: Friday, February 6 @ 6:45 p.m.
Where: Riverside Tavern – 950 Volunteer Landing – Knoxville, TN
To RSVP or for more info, call (615) 329-3977.

I’m not sure how you prove the damages for this one:

A Knoxville woman filed a proposed class action lawsuit Wednesday against Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, MTV, CBS and Viacom, contending she and other viewers were injured by their lewd actions during the Super Bowl halftime show.
Terri Carlin filed her lawsuit “on behalf of all Americans who watched the halftime show” in federal court in Knoxville.
The lawsuit stems from Sunday’s now infamous exposure of one of Jackson’s breasts when Timberlake ripped off part of her costume during their performance on the CBS network.
. . .
“As a direct and proximate result of the broadcast of the acts, (Carlin) and millions of others saw the acts and were caused to suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury,” the lawsuit filed by Knoxville attorney Wayne A. Ritchie II states.
It doesn’t specify the type of serious injury.
. . .
Because the game is broadcast worldwide, Ritchie also wrote that the actions harmed the “standing and credibility” of Americans throughout the world.
Carlin’s lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages worth billions.

Yep. America’s credibility is definitely shot now.
I feel outraged that I wasn’t watching the show when everyone else got to see Jackson’s boob. Can I join the class too?