I think Talking Points Memo is sounding just about the right note of alarm:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey...so far [has] dropped two big bombshells. DOJ will not be investigating:

(1) whether the waterboarding, now admitted to by the White House, was a crime; or

(2) whether the Administration's warrantless wiretapping was illegal.

His rationale? Both programs had been signed off on in advance as legal by the Justice Department.

We have now the Attorney General of the United States telling Congress that it's not against the law for the President to violate the law if his own Department of Justice says it's not. ... It is a naked assertion of executive power. The founders would have called it tyrannical.

Can we make it 347 more days without Congress selling the farm?

Via Bruce Schneier, a fourth undersea cable providing Internet connectivity to much of the Middle East has been cut in as many weeks:

The first three have been blamed on ships' anchors, but there is some dispute about that. And that's two in the Mediterranean and two in the Persian Gulf. There have been no official reports of malice to me, but it's an awfully big coincidence. The fact that Iran has lost Internet connectivity only makes this weirder.

This may not be more important than tonight's primary elections, but it may be important.

I have to thank Mike Huckabee for comic relief just now, too.

Maria Shriver has endorsed Obama, just a couple of days after her husband, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, endorsed McCain. Interesting.

Yes, this is my 1,000th post since this blog started in November 2005.

I had hoped to write a long, introspective essay on blogging in general and this blog in specific over the years, but it turns out I have work to do today, so that will have to wait until the 2,000th post or so. (Many of you are fighting back tears, I know; though I suspect they're tears of joy.)

No, today I'm just going to mention the two most immediately relevant things that confronted me on my way to work today.

(All times EST)

9:01pm: I'm having a strange duality of experience. It's hard enough listening to Dubya; I simply can't subject myself to Tim Russert on top of it. So I'm watching the NBC feed while listening to NPR and hoping there isn't a delay.

The humble Lego brick turned 50 on the 28th. That explains today's Google logo.

For the first time in 11 days, the temperature in Chicago got above freezing this afternoon. It's odd how warm it feels out there right now.

Speaking of chilling, I saw No Country for Old Men last night. Great film. Very chilling.

For the fifth time in a row, I've had to cancel a flight today because of weather. Very frustrating. Next attempt in two weeks.