The NY Times tantalizing leads off an article about President-elect Barack Obama’s pick to head the CIA by revealing Leon Panetta "plotted his first coup when he was in City Hall." Back when Panetta was an assistant to Mayor John Lindsay, he "embraced a radical regime change"—statehood for New York City, and the Times notes a 1971 memo he wrote: NYC “can no longer depend on a body of upstate legislators, who are out of touch with urban problems, to respond to the city’s crucial needs... Statehood [for NYC] — while initiated somewhat facetiously during the last campaign — is not an unrealistic possibility. Indeed, it may well be the only sensible approach to governing New York City.” Of course, we're still part of the Empire State, though secession comes up every now and then. And while there are complaints about Panetta's creds, Senator Dianne Feinstein says "all systems are go" for his confirmation.