The Morning Quickie.

Brake failure on U.S. truck caused crash; so the accident that started the Afghan riots the other day was caused by brake failure? That's a little difficult to swallow.

Talk of Pelosi as Speaker Delights Both Parties; other Democrats are somewhat weary of her, but they'll stand behind her because they think she does a good job of broadcasting the party's beliefs. Republicans think she'll make a good tool with which to scare the public because she's from "freaky San Fran".

Breaking News: President George W. Bush will announce on Monday that Treasury Secretary John Snow is resigning and that he will nominate Goldman Sachs chairman Henry Paulson to replace him. Well, that's interesting news. Apparently, someone (Bolten) must have told Bush that nominating his old buddy, Donald Evans, would be a bad idea (cronyism).

Iran Says It Wants to Resume EU Talks; they just don't want direct talks with the U.S. now.

UNAIDS Head: World Is Losing HIV Fight; "I think we will see a further globalization of the epidemic spreading to every single corner of the planet."

EU court rules airline data deal with US illegal; "The European Union acted illegally when it agreed to transfer airline passenger data to the United States as part of U.S. efforts to fight terrorism."

Analysis: Democrats Wary of November Vote; "Republicans are three steps from a November shellacking -- each a grim possibility if habitually divided Democrats get their acts together."

Bold Statement on Immigration Shows Off Lady Liberty's Undies; "From the front, you can see the Statue of Liberty. From behind, it shows Lady Liberty's behind, in a thong bikini. The nearby sign says 'Kiss my American Ass.'" How...cute.

Spiegel Interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; talks of the Holocaust and more.

"Weapon of Mass Destruction" Targets Sex Shop In Waldo; someone with a weird religious bent decided to place a homemade jug of chemicals near an air conditioner to filter in stuff that would "discourage" a porn shop from opening.

Tags: ["Weapon of Mass Destruction" Targets Sex Shop In Waldo], [Bold Statement on Immigration Shows Off Lady Liberty's Undies], [Art Bollinger], [Spiegel Interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad], [Holocaust], [the future of the state of Israel], [mistakes made by the United States in Iraq and Tehran's nuclear conflict with the West], [Republicans are three steps from a November shellacking -- each a grim possibility if habitually divided Democrats get their acts together], [Analysis: Democrats Wary of November Vote], [UNAIDS Head: World Is Losing HIV Fight], [The world continues to lose an ugly battle to HIV/AIDS that shows no sign of letting up after 25 million people have died a quarter-century into the epidemic], [Peter Piot], [EU court rules airline data deal with US illegal], [The European Union acted illegally when it agreed to transfer airline passenger data to the United States as part of U.S. efforts to fight terrorism], [European Commission], [European airlines have been obliged to give U.S. authorities 34 items of information on passengers flying to the United States, including name, address, all forms of payment and contact telephone numbers], [Iran Says It Wants to Resume EU Talks], [ruled out direct talks with the United States], [Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki], [Talk of Pelosi as Speaker Delights Both Parties], [Nancy Pelosi], [President George W. Bush will announce on Monday that Treasury Secretary John Snow is resigning and that he will nominate Goldman Sachs chairman Henry Paulson to replace him], [Brake failure on U.S. truck caused crash], [The U.S. military said Tuesday that the brakes on an American truck caused the deadly traffic accident that sparked the worst violence in the Afghan capital since the fall of the Taliban in 2001]