NOTES ON A SCANDAL YOU CAN ACTUALLY HANDLE

You've probably heard the name "Valerie Plame" before - maybe read a headline or two about her.

Or, perhaps, you clicked on a few links one day while you were too tired to think at work, hoping to catch up on the scandal that recently rocked Washington.

Or, more likely, you ignored the whole damn thing because it was too complicated a mess to devote much time to. Let's face it - we've got lives to live here. We work. We have obligations. We can't be up to speed on every little injustice in this world, even if it's one of the worst injustices our government has perpetrated on a living patriot.

We need our news in easy-to-digest bytes, and taking in the whole Plame/Rove/Cheney/Libby drama would require more chewing than a mile of beef jerky. I was going to attempt to break it all down for you because, well, that's what I used to do. Break shit down into byte size chunks. These days I'm too busy to break shit down - but not too busy to point you in the right direction.

The second half of Bill Maher's New Rules, which you can view here gives an EXCELLENT recap of the whole story in about two minutes. The best explanation I've seen yet...and certainly two minutes of American history in the making worth knowing if you find two minutes to spare.

The first half of his New Rules segment is pretty damn amusing, too.