Alberto Gonzales is going to Chicago

And I'm not going to snerk. Not. Not going to snerk.

I'm just going to report the news in a calm and dignified manner:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is likely to face questions about the allegedly mediocre status of U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald when he arrives today for a scheduled round table discussion and press conference.

Gonzales is supposed to be at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse to discuss the "Project Safe Childhood" campaign designed to protect kids from online predators. But he's likely to be asked to field inquiries about Fitzgerald being ranked as undistinguished on a chart sent to the White House from the Justice Department in 2005, as well as the controversial fall firings of a group of U.S. attorneys.

Gonzales is to appear for a round table discussion of the project with Fitzgerald and Ernie Allen, President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The mediocre rating has been the subject of much joking among prosecutors, federal agents, defense lawyers and the press in the city, and especially at the building where Fitzgerald has earned accolades for sweeping public corruption investigations.

Fitzgerald finally spoke out about the situation last week as his office was announcing yet another indictment against a one-time City Hall heavyweight.

After discussing the new charges against Al Sanchez, a former top aide to Mayor Richard Daley, Fitzgerald said he simply goes to work everyday concerned about doing his job. When he thinks about the rating, he said, it's only because a friend is teasing him about it again.

If you don't want to register to read the full report, go instead to firedoglake, where I first read the news (and you can just imagine the hilarity that has ensued over there).

Updates on those interesting White House emails that have been going through unauthorized channels:

CREW have been pressing this case for over a week now. Yesterday, House Oversight Committee chair Henry Waxman made his first move -- writing to both the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign ...

... to retain copies of all e-mails sent or received by White House officials using e-mail accounts under their control, raising the political stakes in the congressional inquiry into U.S. attorneys' firings.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said his broadly written request was based on evidence that White House officials -- particularly aides to top political adviser Karl Rove -- have used their politically related e-mail accounts to hide the conduct of official business regarding the prosecutor firings and other matters being investigated by Congress.

"The e-mails of White House officials maintained on RNC e-mail accounts may be relevant to multiple congressional investigations," Waxman wrote to the group's chairman, Mike Duncan, adding that as "governmental records" they are subject to preservation requirements and "eventual public disclosure."

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with my Delete key.