Today, testifying under oath, C.I.A. director George Tenet said that during the month of August 2001, he did not visit Texas, which is where George W. Bush was vacationing. After his testimony, it was revealed that Tenet was wrong; that he'd gone there on August 17. Others are discussing questions relating to how involved Bush then was in what the C.I.A. was doing about terrorism, or about whether Condoleezza Rice fibbed in her testimony about how often Bush met with Tenet. I'm not going to get into that.

What interests me here is the notion that sometimes, even under oath, people get things wrong. I don't think Tenet was deliberately lying. He had no reason to lie and even if he did, it would be the kind of lie that is easily disproven. He just misremembered.

This happens…to everyone. I'm even willing to believe George W. Bush misremembered when he claimed to have watched live TV coverage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Back during the last presidential debates, Al Gore happened to mention that some time before, he'd gone with James Lee Witt, who was then the head of FEMA, to inspect the damage from some flooding in Texas. It later came out that Gore had gone to other disasters with Witt but had inspected the Texas flood situation with the regional FEMA director. People like William Bennett immediately cited this as an example of Al Gore being a pathological liar.

This is one of the aspects of politics that really annoys me. I don't think it reflects on someone's integrity that they occasionally misspeak or misremember. I do think it reflects on the integrity of those who try to spin everything the opposition does as a lie and a sign of aberrant character…and are quite willing to make up rules as they go along. John McCain and a few others have scored points with me because they occasionally (not always) refuse to stoop to such tactics and scold those who do. But they don't do it very often and most of our public figures and pundits don't do it at all.

Carol Lay is one of the best, most original cartoonists working today. Over on her website, you can see some of her work and purchase originals, prints and pins. And if you're going to purchase something, this would be a dandy time as Carol is holding a Divorce Sale. So here's your chance to help a terrific talent and get a bargain at the same time.

William Saletan has an analysis of Bush's press conference last evening. I don't agree with all of this but I think it's an interesting way to look at it. This administration does place a high value on saying the same thing over and over, even after the underlying facts change.

Here's an article that offers some perspective on the fight by the Simpsons voice cast for better pay. Two things you should always remember about such disputes: One is that the demands and responses are always posturing and exaggeration. If and when they settle, it will be a compromise. Secondly, the money we're talking about here is a share of the profits. The money the actors don't get paid is money that the studio gets to keep…and even pay out in bonuses to people who have less to do with the show's success than the actors. It does not go to widows and orphans.

Here's the latest on the negotiations for the voice cast of The Simpsons to return for another season. I am wholly on their side on this. What they're asking for is a teensy fraction of what that show is worth.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart continues to be the cleverest show on television. Or at least, I think it is. If you haven't sampled it, you're really doing yourself a disservice. I highly recommend their deconstruction of the Condoleezza Rice testimony, and if you missed it, you can view a portion online.

The way the Comedy Central website is set up, it's a little tricky to link directly to a videoclip. Go to this page and select "Me Ain't Culpa." And while you're there, watch some other clips. Better still, watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

I'm still battling that deadline so here are a few brief items and updates…

• Several folks have written to tell me of past, unsuccessful attempts to introduce White Castle to Los Angeles. I'm not sure if those were owned-and-operated stands or if White Castle tried farming out the business on a franchise deal. But apparently there have been times when White Castle's reticence to venture outside its established turf hasn't been as firm as it has been in the past few years.
• Two people wrote to note that Aaron McGruder does not actually draw Boondocks, at least not any more. The piece to which I linked says that he's handed that task off to an assistant.
• I just received an e-mail ad for medications from "Thereafter R. Listlessly." Another great name.
• Yes, I know the incident of the man who wagered his life's savings in Vegas was being filmed for a British reality series. I still think it'll be more than that. And that it's not a good idea to try such a thing.
• Yes, I know that there was no live TV coverage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center on 9/11 and that G.W. Bush could not possibly have seen it as it happened, as he has claimed. I'm surprised the Democrats have not made more of that little discrepancy…but they will.
• Corey Klemow writes to say, "People keep saying that Bush was 'reading to children.' As I'm sure you know (since you've linked to it and all), the footage of Bush in the classroom that day shows that the children were actually reading to him." Like me, Corey thinks that's a tiny detail but it is worth mentioning.
• Lastly, this weblog post by Kevin Drum lays out an interesting account of why he changed from backing the war in Iraq to opposing it. I frankly don't understand why folks who support the effort aren't more upset about the wildly inaccurate estimates we've had of cost, manpower, timetable, being welcomed in the streets, etc. Even if one presumes they were all honestly believed when they were made, that does not inspire confidence in our leaders…or their current projections.

That's all for now. Back to deadline!

Here's a profile of Aaron McGruder, who draws the syndicated strip, Boondocks.

Michael Chabon has a good article in the New York Times about escapism in entertainment.

When I was younger and first discovering the joy of pictures of beautiful women, my favorite photographer was a man named Peter Gowland. In this article, I tell an amazing (but true!) story of discovering not only his work but his studio. And today in the Los Angeles Times, there's this article about his job. Nice work if you can get it.

UPDATE at 10:50 AM: I screwed up the above links. They should work now.

If you're going to the WonderCon in San Francisco at the end of this month (or thinking of going), you may want to take a look at the Programming Schedule. I'm hosting four panels which I'll be reminding you about here, ad nauseam.

My comment that I thought George W. Bush was being treated a bit unfairly brought an amazing amount of argumentative e-mail…and from all sides. Pro-Bush folks were upset that I was minimizing the injustice being perpetrated on their guy while anti-Bush folks were upset that I thought it was possible to treat Bush unfairly. And as is often the case, a couple of both mistook predictions for wishful thinking on my part.

In any case, there's too much of this for me to answer individually, especially since I'm back battling a big deadline. I may not be posting much here for the next day or two, and I know I won't be able to respond to all the e-mail.

But before I get back to work, I have another prediction. I don't think Bush is going to be harmed, at least not in a real electoral sense, by what he did or didn't do before 9/11. When all the hearings and charges dissipate, the consensus will be that a lot of things could have been done — by Bush and Clinton and the FBI and the C.I.A. and many other folks — and we all wish they had been done. But no individual can really be held culpable for not doing them.

At the same time, I think Bush may be harmed by the inevitable discussions of what he did or didn't do on 9/11. As the story is told, Bush was on his way to visit a classroom when he was informed that a commercial airliner full of people had crashed into the World Trade Center. He supposedly watched a few seconds on TV, made a joke about "that's some bad pilot" (or words to that effect) and then went in and read to children. I think we're going to hear a lot about that, especially now that it's been established he'd been briefed that Osama's boys wanted to hijack planes and had been casing New York buildings. The fact that he apparently didn't "connect the dots" when that first plane hit is something we're going to hear a lot about…and at some point, he's going to have to give America a convincing explanation. Someone is also going to have to explain why it was that at 9:00 AM, neither Bush nor Condoleezza Rice knew there had been two hijackings even though the F.A.A. had known for almost forty minutes and NORAD for almost twenty. And Bush is really going to have to answer the charge that after Andrew Card informed him "America is under attack," he continued to read to children for at least five minutes instead of, for example, ordering all planes grounded as someone else had to do.

I'm not saying there aren't good explanations for all of this and perhaps some of the established "facts" in the timeline aren't as factual as we think. I just think this is going to become a major campaign issue…and all the current revelations about advance briefings and what Bush knew before 9/11 are just arming those who will charge that he was irresponsible to not act as soon as that first plane hit.

It's over at Comic World News. Here's the link.

Lewis Black has a special that begins multiple runs today on Comedy Central. It's called Lewis Black: Taxed Beyond Belief and I haven't seen it yet. But as I've laughed at darn near everything Mr. Black has done, I thought I'd mention it.

Also: "Smilin'" Stan Lee will be on the Home Shopping Network on Monday, April 15, hawking a number of signed, limited-edition items and celebrating the 40th anniversary of Spider-Man and the release of the movie. It'll air in different times around the country but I think it's 4:00 in the afternoon on the west coast. Better check to make sure.

No one seems to know the cause of the massive power outage that hit the Bellagio Hotel early Sunday morning. Obviously, these people have not seen Ocean's Eleven.

In other news: This is not a smart thing to do. Even though in this case, it turned out okay and will probably lead to a TV Movie or something of the sort.