THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

And the world has progressed about as well as can be expected without me.

Just in time for my return, we find from Newsweek, that TurdBlossom Rove was a player in Plamegate."

Rove has never publicly acknowledged talking to any reporter about former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife. But last week, his lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed to NEWSWEEK that Rove did—and that Rove was the secret source who, at the request of both Cooper's lawyer and the prosecutor, gave Cooper permission to testify.

If TurdBlossom ever needs a defense, he will no doubt try the old "I didn't know she was a spy" defense.

Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall has a wonderful roundup of all the latest twists and turns in CunningScam.

When last we updated the Duke Cunningham 'Livin' Large Free of Charge' chronicles (DCLLFCC) you'll remember that Duke was trying to offer advice on getting a presidential pardon to one Thomas Kontogiannis, a Long Island real estate developer who'd recently been convicted in a bribery, kickback and contract-rigging scandal...Around the time Duke was offering the advice he managed to sell his boat, the Kelly C, to Kontogiannis for what was apparently a vastly inflated price, bagging Duke a quick $400,000 profit. And somehow as part of this deal (we still haven't figured out quite the ins and outs of it) the Kontogiannis family mortgage lending company agreed to fund a series of discount loans that Duke used to buy his new house in Rancho Sante Fe.

But it seems that wasn't the only mortgage Duke got from Coastal Capital, the Kontogiannis family's mortgage company. According to this Friday evening AP report, they also set Duke up with another mortgage -- this one for $150,000 -- for a two-bedroom condo he bought in Arlington, Virginia. (And all this time you thought Duke lived on a boat!) The total purchase price was $350,000 and he resold it in 2004 for $500,000.

And there is more, much more. When I was growing up, my parents always told me that you are known by the company you keep. This story is giving us a very good idea of who Randy "Duke"Cunningham really is.

Expanding upon CoinGate, The Toledo Blade gives us a view of the personal and political framework that this scandal was built on.

From the governor's office to the Ohio Republican Party, high-ranking staff members have traded their official titles for personal riches and the influence that comes with helping select a U.S. president.

A select group of key players in state government have used the same network of connections they established in their official positions to make money for themselves and raise loads of cash for their party and President Bush, a Blade investigation shows.

The payoffs come in the form of lucrative state and federal lobbying deals, political consulting pacts, and having the pull to convince campaign contributors to support their candidates.

Also, earlier this week, they ran an article on the federal campaign financing investigation, with references to a sweet Republican husband and wife team.

I have not yet followed up on any new reports, but I would recommend a visit to S.D.Watch to catch up on the latest on John Thunes "Son of Silverado"