NEWS BITS

HOMELAND SECURITY -- SHOWER CURTAINS, SHOWER DOORS, OR BULLET-PROOF VESTS? The new headquarters of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is at least $19 million over budget, in part because "ATF Director Carl J. Truscott put through or proposed unnecessary plan changes and upgrades to the 438,000-square-foot building in the past two years." The Washington Post reports that Truscott "has devoted much of his time" recently to critical decisions like "the relative merits of shower curtains vs. shower doors, and soap dispensers vs. soap dishes for the building's gymnasium area." He also requested "nearly $300,000 in extras for the new director's suite, including a $65,000 conference table and more than $100,000 for hardwood floors, custom trim and other items." Meanwhile, the Post reports, "the agency is considering sharp cuts in the number of new cars, bulletproof vests and other basics it provides agents."

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ENERGY -- EXXON VP SAYS AMERICANS SHOULD EMBRACE THEIR ADDICTION TO OIL: In his 2006 State of the Union address, President Bush said, "[W]e have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world." But yesterday, Exxon Mobil Senior Vice President Stuart McGill tried to dissuade the American public of any such notion, instead making the case that the United States will always rely on foreign imports of oil to feed its energy needs and should stop trying to become energy independent. "Realistically, it is simply not feasible in any time period relevant to our discussion today," McGill said. While Bush urged that the best way to break our oil addiction "is through technology," McGill sounded a more pessimistic tone about the power of American ingenuity. He said, "No combination of conservation measures, alternative energy sources and technological advances could realistically and economically provide a way to completely replace those imports in the short or medium term." For a White House that has an extremely cozy relationship with Exxon, it remains to be seen how McGill's comments will shape the administration's policy.

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FORMER CIA OFFICIAL: BUSH DIDN'T EVEN ASK FOR IRAQ ASSESSMENT

WALTER PINCUS WASHINGTON POST - The former CIA official who coordinated
U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the
Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify
a decision it had already reached to go to war, and of ignoring warnings
that the country could easily fall into violence and chaos after an
invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Paul R. Pillar, who was the
national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000
to 2005, acknowledges the U.S. intelligence agencies' mistakes in
concluding that Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass
destruction. But he said those misjudgments did not drive the
administration's decision to invade. "Official intelligence on Iraqi
weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what
led to the war," Pillar wrote in the upcoming issue of the journal
Foreign Affairs. Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war
without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any
strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq."

"It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in
making even the most significant national security decisions, that
intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made,
that damaging ill will developed between [Bush] policymakers and
intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work
was politicized," Pillar wrote.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2006/02/09/AR2006020902418.html

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SMART GROWTH ASPEN SIZE

DENVER POST - County officials, who oversee the ritzy resort towns of
Aspen and Snowmass, are considering instituting a maximum home size as a
way to control growth and simplify the local land-use process. Pitkin
County gets only one or two requests annually for residential structures
of 15,000 or more square feet, said commissioner Mike Owsley. . . "The
demand is absolutely there" for larger properties, said Ed Foran,
president of the Aspen Board of Realtors. "Some people have a problem
philosophically with the sheer magnitude of a 15,000-square-foot home.
But I don't know if our county commissioners should be making
philosophical decisions like that." . . .

Real estate worth $2.2 billion sold in Pitkin County last year, and $2.8
billion worth sold in Eagle County, setting records in both counties. .
. Colorado has some of the nation's most expensive homes for sale,
according to the recently published Ultimate Homes magazine. . .
Ultimate Home's top spot went to Donald Trump's $125 million,
75,000-square- foot mansion in Palm Beach, Fla.

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_3489005

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STUDIES: MATERIAL SUCCESS COUNTERS HAPPINESS

CAREY GOLDBERG, BOSTON GLOBE - In recent years, researchers have
reported an ever-growing list of downsides to getting and spending -
damage to relationships and self-esteem, a heightened risk of depression
and anxiety, less time for what the research indicates truly makes
people happy, like family, friendship and engaging work. And maybe even
headaches. . .

Ed Diener, a University of Illinois psychology professor and happiness
expert, said in an e-mail that he has found that "those who value
material success more than they value happiness are likely to experience
almost as many negative moods as positive moods, whereas those who value
happiness over material success are likely to experience considerably
more pleasant moods and emotions than unpleasant moods and emotions."

Studies show that poor people who emphasize materialistic goals are
especially likely to be unhappy, while in some studies, materialistic
rich people show fewer ill effects, presumably because they are meeting
more of their goals. But even for the better-off, materialism can create
a nagging appetite that can never be satisfied. . .

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/02/08/news/snmat.php

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SHERIFF SAYS HE'LL USE TICKETS INSTEAD OF ARRESTS IN POT CASES

REUTERS - Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, who oversees the
University of Iowa in Iowa City, told a legislative committee he would
treat possession of small amounts of marijuana like a traffic violation,
allowing hundreds of students arrested each year to graduate without a
criminal record.
"The guy that's carrying 50 bales of marijuana ... that's a different
animal," Pulkrabek said, adding he favored rounding up intoxicated
people in a locked "detox center" in lieu of the crowded jail.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060209/od_nm/crime_marijuana_dc;_ylt=
AlLwdfKUWzzgq6b26VfBFw7tiBIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--