The day of reckoning comes. Those who sought to destroy us now stand huddled and humbled before the people's tribunal. Even there they seek to evade their crimes with silence and unspeakable lies, and to try the patience and insult the intelligence of all. But it does not avail. They are cursed and reviled, and then they scurry back to their befouled confinement...there to reflect on happier days at Enron.
 
Not to worry, Mr. Lay will receive all the protections guaranteed him by the Geneva Convention...
 
...Although prosecution may be a little hindered now that the administration appears to have been turned, to paraphrase Monty Python, " into a mute." In part to get ahead of the curve of growing criticism, and in part to better reflect the altered nature of our government, the administration has made certain appellative and structural changes. Cabinet members will henceforth be known, for example, as the "Secrecy of Defense," the "Secrecy of State," the "Secrecy of Justice," and so forth. The offices of President and Vice President will, as many have long expected, be combined, and will be known as their "Honorable Clandestines."
 
It helps if you can put a label on these things.
 
And once again underscoring the wisdom of his insistence upon an employment package that includes hazardous duty pay, Secretary of State Colin Powell has been hard-pressed to put a rational spin on his boss' "Axis of Evil" comments. Of late the General has been busier than a feminist at a Southern Baptist prayer meeting. His new duties include circling the wagons at State; attempting to talk Iran's now suicidally-depressed moderate President down from the ledge; and providing some feverish back-channel reassurances to the North Korean leadership, a group that brings a new luster to the term "hot under the collar."
 
This week we turn our attention to the world of journalism -- particularly the pleasures and perils of access -- in the im-mediate (nudge-nudge) Fearless Fable entitled "The Conjure Pen." Next week our Epistolary Chief Exec sits down and writes a letter of state, all by himself!
 
And finally a note of concern: we here at Team W don't think it fair to keep referring to "Evil Axes." Axes aren't evil, people who use axes are evil. The poor little things are themselves wholly without blame. It never seems to end. First it was that rash of Ax-murders, when no prudent ax dared travel the streets alone, now it's this. Seriously, enough is enough.
 
Yours until it all adds up,
 
Hank