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the zeitgeist checklist: What Washington is talking about.

Zeitgeist Checklist: Rotting Corpse EditionWhat Washington is talking about this week.

By Christopher Beam
Posted Friday, Feb. 23, 2007, at 6:36 PM ET

1. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 35 [UP ARROW]

Mission Accomplished, Cheerio!
Iraq. Prime Minister Tony Blair announces the pullout of 1,600 British troops from Iraq—a real vote of confidence for President Bush's surge. Dick Cheney, who even Bush disagrees with on the war, calls the withdrawal a sign that "there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well." Baghdad is decidedly not one of those parts, as the security situation deteriorates faster than Anna Nicole Smith's corpse: A Sunni woman accuses Iraqi police officers of rape, insurgents detonate a tank truck full of chlorine, and another helicopter gets shot down.

2. Last Week: 1 Weeks on List: 2 [DOWN ARROW]

Shocker: U.N. Resolution Ignored
Iran. Iran pushes ahead with its nuclear program, despite a U.N. request to suspend uranium production. The United States is expected to demand strict sanctions. U.N. officials are expected to ask again, this time like they mean it. The BBC, meanwhile, discovers what it calls U.S. "attack plans" listing specific targets in Iran. Officials reassure them it's OK, President Bush just discovered Google Maps.

3. Last Week: 7 Weeks on List: 16 [UP ARROW]

Barack Goes Hollywood
2008. Hillary and Obama clash over remarks made by Hollywood mogul David Geffen. Geffen, a former Clinton donor, says he now supports Obama because Hillary made a mistake on the war and is "the easiest to beat." Tom Vilsack momentarily swells with pride, then drops out. But Obama refuses to return Geffen's money, saying he doesn't need to apologize for someone else's words. That, and he doesn't want to jeopardize the fall 2008 release of Obama, starring Don Cheadle.

4. New This Week [UP ARROW]

Britney Shears
Celebrities. Britney Spears shaves her head, gets a tattoo, and checks in and out and back in to rehab. She might as well spare us the suspense and join the Church of Scientology already. In Anna Nicole Smith news, future Court TV judge Larry Seidlin bursts into tears as he reads the ruling that she will be buried with her son in the Bahamas. Apparently no one told him the Oscars aren't till Sunday.

5. Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 6 [DOWN ARROW]

Sob Story
Crime. The Virginia "McMissile" case closes as Jessica Hall, convicted for throwing a McDonalds cup into a moving car, walks free. A judge says her initial two-year sentence was too harsh. In his closing arguments at the perjury trial of Scooter Libby, defense attorney Ted Wells breaks down crying and pleads with the jury to "give him back to me!" Best supporting actor, easily.

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Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter.
Illustrations by Vivian Selbo.
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