One of the challenges of covering the Bush Administration these days is resisting the temptation to assume that everything they do is a stunt or a con. Sure, more often than not it is. But you have to keep your wits about you.

So when I first saw the reports yesterday that the Pentagon was planning on shooting down this failing satellite before it re-enters the atmosphere, my first reaction was, you've got to be kidding me. It didn't ease my suspicions when the first AP wire story referred to it as "the option preferred by the Bush administration."

Sure enough, it looks like this whole Star Wars operation is fishy as well, according to actual rocket scientists.