Subcultures spawn defining rituals: fans of Insane Clown Posse have the Gathering of the Juggalos; practitioners of radical self-realization congregate at Burning Man; and for the national journo-politico elite and its legion of camp followers there are the publication of Bob Woodward's inside-the-Beltway, memo-and-tell, docudramas.

Well, by now we all know not to respond to those e-mails promising millions of dollars will come our way if only we allow our bank accounts to be used as conduits for smuggling money out of Nigeria, or South Africa, or wherever.

But what do we do when someone purporting to be a member of the US military makes us the same offer? Isn't it our money in the first place, this money being shifted out of Iraq? The quandary deepens.

Why didn't American journalists think of this sooner?

• Bush: "I don't know what the guy said, but I saw his sole"
• Modesto Bee: "I couldn't believe he had time to get a second one off."
• Politico: Bush ducks shoe, but female press secretary gets whacked in face with microphone during ensuing melee