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Last night we were reading the latest from the Times, a carefully worded report on note-passing fun that makes us a little wet with hope that Libby and Cheney will disappear from the face of the Earth for their involvement with the leaking of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. But, as focused reading makes our heads spin, we were automatically drawn to the Times' interactive graphic (a portion of which is featured above), Timeline of a Leak. A handy chart showing who was involved with what and where, it's an invaluable decoding tool for two years' worth of political and ethical crap-slinging.

What's more, the graphic features cute little headshot graphics for each of the major players, and we're in love with the thumbnail graphic for Valerie Plame (AKA Ms. Wilson). The image is cropped from a Vanity Fair feature, but it's certainly not the only available image of Plame out there. But the scarf-and-sunglasses look is so perfect, isn't it? The image makes this whole federal investigation so glamorous, and the chart thus tells you exactly why you should care about this mess: Because trapped in the midst of the grimacing pusses of boring old white guys is the fate of a foxy and clandestine screen goddess!

Timeline of a Leak [NYT]