Jason Leopold has led this story all the way to the finish line:

Within the last week, Karl Rove told President Bush and Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, as well as a few other high level administration officials, that he will be indicted in the CIA leak case and will immediately resign his White House job when the special counsel publicly announces the charges against him, according to sources.

Details of Rove's discussions with the president and Bolten have spread through the corridors of the White House where low-level staffers and senior officials were trying to determine how the indictment would impact an administration that has been mired in a number of high-profile political scandals for nearly a year, said a half-dozen White House aides and two senior officials who work at the Republican National Committee.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, sources confirmed Rove's indictment is imminent. These individuals requested anonymity saying they were not authorized to speak publicly about Rove's situation. A spokesman in the White House press office said they would not comment on "wildly speculative rumors."

Just waiting for the shoe to drop, then. What are the charges, Mr. Fitzgerald?

Rove is said to have told Bolten that he will be charged with perjury regarding when he was asked how and when he discovered that covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson worked for the agency, and whether he discussed her job with reporters. ... Sources close to the case said there is a strong chance Rove will also face an additional charge of obstruction of justice, adding that Fitzgerald has been working meticulously over the past few months to build an obstruction case against Rove because it "carries more weight" in a jury trial and is considered a more serious crime.

Sounds like Karl is going to be spending more time with his family.

Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

Or more specifically, the snapshot of the practice of American politics and religion.

From now on, as Andrew Sullivan has established and Phillip Martin has advanced, "Christians" will be replaced with Christianists and "Christianity" is discarded in favor of Christianism.

You're going to have click on the links to get the frontstory. Here's my summary: the new words most accurately describe the co-optation of selected religious tenets by (mostly -- well, virtually exclusively) the Republican Party and their various acolytes in order to advance their political agenda, but which betray the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Christianists, in short, are hypocrites, and I believe Jesus would have spit them out of his mouth.

Here's a few examples of what I'm talking about:

• Christianists like Bill Frist -- and his buddy James Dobson -- really don't give a cat's ass about domestic animals -- or poor people, for that matter.
• Christianism is Tom DeLay grinning through his mugshot, letting us "see Christ through him", while lobbyists pour champagne on his daughter in a hot tub.
• Christianists like Rick Perry go to church to sign a bill that outlaws marriage except between heterosexuals while our children go without the proper schoolbooks to pass the state-mandated tests to advance to the sixth grade.
• Christianism is when Greg Abbott argues before the United States Supreme Court that a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the state Capitol doesn't violate the First Amendment. And a majority of Justices agree.
• A small group of Christianists gathered just this past weekend in Pasadena to choose the man -- sorry, Dr. Sekula-Gibbs -- who will try to fill the golf shoes of The Hammer. The Seven District Twenty-Two Apostles, minus the Sugar Land mayor who was saved from the dead by prayer, dutifully answered their questions (.pdf).

Gee, I'm sure there's more examples of Christianism but I haven't even Googled yet.

Can you think of any?
Rabid conservatism defeats itself!

The real news is the last line of this article:

Republican leaders from Harris County met in Pasadena Saturday to interview potential candidates for the 22nd District congressional seat that will be vacated by outgoing Rep. Tom DeLay sometime in May or June.

The day drew seven hopefuls, who filled out a questionnaire detailing their political history and philosophies, including Houston City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, state Rep. Robert Talton of Pasadena, lawyer Tom Campbell, who came in second to DeLay in the March primary, state Rep. Charlie Howard of Sugar Land, state Sen. Mike Jackson of La Porte, businessman Timothy Turner and Precinct 3 Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers.

In closed-door sessions, potential nominees handed out copies of their questionnaires and gave presentations to the roughly 50 precinct chairs. The replacement nominee for the November ballot will be selected by a four-member committee of precinct chairs — one each from Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston and Harris counties.

...

The leaders at the meeting did not say whether any candidate had broken out of the pack on Saturday, but several expressed disappointment that Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, who many considered a leading candidate, did not fill out the questionnaire and failed to show.

Wallace would have been the front-runner, holding the blessing of The Hammer; that he would snub the actual kingmakers seems to bode ill for his prospects.

So who do you think the Pukes will pick for the privilege of losing to Nick Lampson in November? There's a couple of polls where you can vote.

Rabid conservatism defeats itself!