SENATE GOP BLOCKS INTEL AUTHORIZATION: According to the Washington Post, "Senate Republicans late Wednesday blocked the authorization bill that guides the country's intelligence programs. It was the first time in 27 years that the bill had failed to pass before the end of the calendar year.... The bill will now wait for Congress to return from its winter recess in late January."

And why would they do something like that? Well, apparently, it was all about three sunshine amendments -- one by John Kerry and two by Ted Kennedy -- that Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts had allowed to be inserted into the bill:

Kerry's amendment would require the director of national intelligence to give the intelligence panels information on secret CIA prisons in several Eastern European democracies and in Asia.

Kennedy's amendments would require the White House to turn over copies of daily intelligence briefs that President Bush and former President Bill Clinton reviewed on Iraq.

And so the Republican Congress' true priorities are once again on public display: Protecting America from terrorists is nice. But protecting the Bush White House from its critics is Job One.