[Mr. Bird]

I don't know whether this particular anecdote is true or not, but I'm not counting on Bedard to get it right. The "Washington Whispers" column is a classic example of a spin device. Any inside baseball news is non-sourced, and probably made up.

[codebreaker]

Could be revenge on the White House for not notifying J.C. Watts on the military closing in his district.

Watts is in line to be appropriations head for the new Homeland Security Dept. and this may be a kick in the pants to get moving..