by Kathie Kerr of Universal Press Syndicate, the company that distributes Coulter’s column. (Kerr has reversed her earlier stance that “[Ann Coulter] is the one that needs to address this.”)

Andrew Sullivan writes that Al Gore’s claims about global warming are irresponsible, just like Vice President Cheney’s claims about weapons of mass destruction:

It occurs to me that the global warming debate is not unlike the WMD-terrorist debate, except the sides are reversed. Accrding [sic] to Ron Suskind, Dick Cheney’s “one percent doctrine” means that if there’s a one percent chance that a terrorist could have access to a WMD, we must act as if it were a certainty – because the outcome, however unlikely, would be too disastrous to risk. On global warming, Gore expresses a not-too-dissimilar equation: if there’s a small chance that human behavior could lead to environmental catastrophe, we should act as if it were a certainty – because waiting too long is too big a risk to take.

Except Gore’s claims are based on scientific research that has been rigorously peer-reviewed by thousands of scientists. Cheney’s claims were based intelligence he manipulated and cherry-picked to reach a predetermined result.

There is a scientific consensus (not a “small chance”) that global warming is real and driven by humans. Even most skeptics (maybe even Cheney) would acknowledge, if the earth is going to keep getting warmer and warmer, we are in for serious trouble.

At today’s press briefing, Press Secretary Tony Snow was asked about the death of Ken Lay, the convicted former Enron CEO whom President Bush nicknamed “Kenny Boy.”

First, Snow dodged the question, asking the reporter: “I don’t know, what do you think would be the appropriate thing to say?” Later, he played down the relationship between the two, refusing to let Bush be described as a “friend” of Lay’s. “[T]he President has described Ken Lay as an acquaintance, and many of the President’s acquaintances have passed on during his time in office,” he said.

Watch it:

Full transcript below: Read more

in Palm Beach County after authorities found he had a bottle of Viagra that was apparently prescribed to in his doctor’s name, prosecutors said Wednesday.”

“I think [Ann Coulter] is the one that needs to address this,” says Kathie Kerr of Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes Coulter’s column. Kerr told TPM Muckraker that editors should get involved only after an “investigation is complete and the allegations are proven correct,” but said she wasn’t aware of any investigation by her company into Coulter’s “textbook plagiarism.”

Duke Cunningham “is now in jail, but his case exposed a world of bribery, booze, and broads that reaches into the Pentagon, the C.I.A., and Congress.” Vanity Fair takes a look at who might be the next Washington power-player to go down.

In today’s paper, Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson asserts that there is little we can do about global warming:

The real truth is that we don’t know enough to relieve global warming, and — barring major technological breakthroughs — we can’t do much about it.

Samuelson draws his conclusions from “a new report from the International Energy Agency.” Actually, the study – Energy Technology Perspectives, Strategies and Scenarios for 2050 (purchase required) — concluded the exact opposite:

[B]y employing technologies that already exist or are under development, the world could be brought onto a much more sustainable energy path. The scenarios show how energy-related C02 emissions can be returned to their current levels by 2050.

Samuelson twists the data to argue we are now “powerless” in the face of global warming:

[T]he IEA simulates five scenarios with differing rates of technological change. In each, greenhouse emissions in 2050 are higher than today. The increases vary from 6 percent to 27 percent…the IEA report indicates we’re now powerless. We can’t end annual greenhouse emissions, and once in the atmosphere, the gases seem to linger for decades.

Here is what Samuleson doesn’t tell you. Without taking action, the IEA estimates that greenhouse emission will increase by 138%, so even the most pessimistic action scenario decreases growth in emissions by 111%. Samuleson doesn’t bother to mention a sixth scenario where greenhouse emissions decrease by 16%.

You can contact the Washington Post at ombudsman@washpost.com. Please be polite.

CNN reports, “Enron founder Ken Lay has died in Aspen, Colorado, a spokesman for Lay’s family said today. Lay was awaiting sentencing after being found guilty of conspiracy and fraud.”

UPDATE: KPRC in Houston reports Lay “died of a massive heart attack.”