This case is not about Joseph Wilson. He is, in Alfred Hitchcock’s parlance, a MacGuffin, which, to quote the Oxford English Dictionary, is “a particular event, object, factor, etc., initially presented as being of great significance to the story, but often having little actual importance for the plot as it develops.” Mr. Wilson, his mission to Niger to check out Saddam’s supposed attempts to secure uranium that might be used in nuclear weapons and even his wife’s outing have as much to do with the real story here as Janet Leigh’s theft of office cash has to do with the mayhem that ensues at the Bates Motel in “Psycho.”

This case is about Iraq, not Niger. The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit - the big enchilada, to borrow a 1973 John Ehrlichman phrase from the Nixon tapes - is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped-up grounds and in so doing diverted finite resources, human and otherwise, from fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. That’s why the stakes are so high: this scandal is about the unmasking of an ill-conceived war, not the unmasking of a C.I.A. operative who posed for Vanity Fair.

Frank Rich, The New York Times

Dave MacPherson won’t be at Disneyland’s 50th anniversary. He wasn’t invited, even though he holds lifetime privileges to Disney parks and a special honor: “First Paying Guest.”

MacPherson, 72, will mark Sunday’s celebration in Anaheim, Calif., from 750 miles away at his southern Utah home, but he holds no grudge and proclaims himself Disneyland’s biggest fan.

“The first of 515 million visitors,” the retired journalist said with pride by phone from Monticello, Utah.

…

He drove his Simplex motorbike to Anaheim, arriving shortly before 1 a.m. to take his place in line an hour before anyone else showed up. Workers still were putting finishing touches on the park and testing jungle noises on speakers.

The crowd steadily grew overnight to about 6,000 people, and MacPherson made sure no one got in front of him. When the admission booth opened, a photographer for the Long Beach Press-Telegram captured him buying the first ticket.

…

Turning around to campus for a class, MacPherson didn’t have time for even one ride. Instead, he visited the restroom and left without as much as a souvenir. A few weeks later his mail produced a lifetime pass for four to Disneyland and other Disney parks as they opened.

San Diego Union Tribune