The Administration's reaction to this assessment was to downplay the report and try to come up with alternative ways of measuring progress.

Congress will be told that violence is down in Iraq, even though the first six months of 2007 have been the deadliest for U.S. troops and the civil unrest that plagues most of Iraq has not abated.

Congress will be told that it really isn't that big a deal that the Iraqi parliament can't agree on oil revenue sharing, holding provincial elections or de-Baathification of the government.

Congress will be told that the Administration was unable to foresee that the benchmarks set for the Iraqi government would not be met - just like it couldn't foresee jetliners being flown into skyscrapers or that the levees in New Orleans would fail. Besides, those benchmarks were unrealistic, anyway.

Chiefs fan in Bronco country

I can't imagine he was so busy out of the playoffs that he couldn't take a second to sign it. He may have used it as rolling paper. Who knows. But the point is, respect was lost and he is officially mentioned in the Bat Guano entry. Good luck Travis. Next up...............................The New England Patriots. I hate to mention the team as a whole, so let me be more specific. Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and Randy Moss. Let me start by saying that I was born in Salem Massachusettes. I was a Patriots fan as a child and I have always supported them right behind the Chiefs now that I am an adult. But I must say regrettably, it will be hard for me to do that from now on. Let's start: Tom Brady - Before the SuperBowl started Eli Manning approached Tom Brady to shake his hand and wish him luck.

Bodies ... The Exhibition

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Rialto perchlorate case parties agree to delay

A messy battle over efforts to clean up Rialto's drinking water continued Tuesday as suspected polluters and government agencies agreed to push past a court-imposed deadline.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge was scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday regarding whether state cleanup hearings held by the State Water Resources Control Board can go forward.

But state officials working for the Riverside-based Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board and three suspected polluters wanted 60 more days to continue negotiating a settlement to the contamination dispute instead of going through hearings before the state board.

"The parties want some additional time to continue the talks," said Kurt Berchtold, assistant executive officer of the regional board.

In case those two-month-old talks unravel, the parties are also trying to agree on a schedule to resolve the court dispute over whether the state hearings can even take place.