The gathering storm

. The White House is invoking "executive privilege" to block documents and testimony about the ouster of eight U.S. attorneys. But Democratic lawmakers appear prepared for a knock-down fight.
. Sen. Byrd is gathering information on Bush's use of "signing statements" as a means of imposing de facto line item vetoes.
. Rep. Kucinich wants the House to impeach Cheney. That initiative gained some credibility when Cheney asserted a claim of "president-of-the-senate privilege" with respect to answering Congressional questions.
. Rep. Conyers is pressing for testimony that might lead to indictments of GOP heavies for election fraud.
. Congress hasn't given up on the apparent misuses of national security powers imposed after 9/11, and a number of lines of inquiry are in process.

Other confrontations of this kind are also kicking around the corridors of power in Washington.

For a full catalogue of political powderkeg issues, visit Dennis Loo's pro-impeachment site (link on sidebar).

Of course, it appears that the Democrats are more interested in weakening Bush than in impeaching him. The Democrats will then have a big edge in the presidential race.
Still, despite the fierce ambitions of Democratic presidential aspirants, there's no telling what might happen. Even supposing the Democrats skillfully raise White House skirts only so high, one gust of political wind could mean all bets are off and impeachment is on.

Lest we forget, the American people are really ticked off about the continuation of this Iraq fiasco. So anything can happen.

Rupert Randolph Murdoch
Murdoch seems poised to grab Dow Jones at a wildly high price. In fact, it's so high that competing business media firms backed away from a bidding war. Their financial advisers evidently cautioned them that Dow Jones would not enhance their profitability sufficiently.

But Murdoch believes he can parlay Dow Jones into a lucrative cable business channel. Yet, some are skeptical. It's true that Fox TV has been a startling phenomenon. Yet, its down in the doldrums. Sure it's making money, but is it making enough to support such a gamble? And that's where the bulk of Murdoch's dough comes from. His other U.S. ventures are losers. In fact, he has never been able to make money with print ventures in America.

Some investment advisers are warning clients to sell News Corp. stock.

And they probably will if the 76-year-old takes up residence with his young Chinese wife in the emperor's palace he's building for them in Beijing.

That nugget was in the Times' second article on "the Murdochracy," which shed much light on how Murdoch had entangled News Corp. into the official communist propaganda apparatus.