Orwell might pause at this

Headline on RTÉ at the moment: "1.1m of ecstasy seized in Rosslare" - no doubt this, coupled with the recent hauls of individuality and beauty, should be a major setback for the Brotherhood.

somewhat mixed signals

Seems to be a wide spectrum of stuff going on in the latest on those secret CIA prisons/flights. From the linked article, I have learned the following:

• Condi's going on the offensive over the whole thing to basically tell us You-Ro-Peons to stop asking awkward questions.
• An unnamed offical in a quote to the WaPo said, effectively, "we're all in this together, so shut up".
• Scott McLellan, who I can't imagine anybody believes these days ("no seriously, Scott, what colour is the sky? don't give me this "blue" crap") , says that the US is the world leader in human rights (ha!) and blah blah blah. In essence, a resounding "no, there are no secret flights/jails".
• Our own minister for the appropriate department says that Condi expects "allies to trust that America does not allow rights abuses". Note, he's not saying that he actually believes Condi on this one, which is extraordinarily spineful for a sitting Irish politician being asked awkward questions about the US
• And (I already knew this, but I'm putting it in for completeness) the main instigator of this fuss from the EU side of things is, well, the UK. You know, "special relationship between our countries" and all that.

I'm sure Condi's actual statement (due before her visit to the EU on Monday, apparently) will shed light on all of these diverse views.