Quick Hits, I Can't Keep Up With The News Edition

A quick sampling as I blow some time during my second job of the day (thiings are tough all over, son):

• It took all of half a day for one of Condi's biggest lies, that the Bush Administration received no comprehensive antiterror strategy from Clinton, to be totally rebutted by a document detailing, yep, a comprehensive antiterror strategy. This made NBC Nightly News tonight as well. If I were Karl Rove, I'd be calling up Roger Ailes and yelling my head off at him. Do you really think this is what they want to be talking about right before the election? The August 2001 PDB? The lack of a Principals meeting until a week before 9-11? All that?

• If you seriously want to vomit and make Edward R. Murrow cry, read Katie Couric's blog about her meeting with the aforementioned Condi. I think a junior high schooler's letter to Tiger Beat has more nuance and intelligence to it.

• One of yesterday's big stories around the blogs, courtesy of Attaturk (click to enlarge):



Newsweek, keeping America safe from bad news.

• The African Union will increase troop presence in Darfur and stay through at least the end of the year. Amazing what a little pressure from the world (and George Clooney) can do. It's time to keep the pressure on. I am glad that Gov. Schwarzenegger signed the bill authorizing divestiture in Sudan (although as the overseer of CALPERS, I would imagine Angelides had plenty to do with this). The Darfurians' lives are at stake here, and everyone can do their part.

• Senator Macaca is still stepping in it, as more folks come out and say he used racial slurs.

• The Citizens Health Care Working Group, a coalition of citizens created to brief the President on health care issues, has released a very interesting report basically confirming that the American people want a real health care system that works for everyone, including overwhelming support for a system that covers all Americans. Politicians are way behind on this issue. Particularly the President, who's offered absolutely nothing of value on health care in 6 years, while costs have gone up and the number of uninsured has exponentially increased.

This report is destined for the Oval Office wastebasket, sadly.

• A good report on a meeting between Sen. Feingold and a couple bloggers on Booman Tribune. Feingold understands that the "Let's Legalize Torture" bill is an affront and pledged to do what he could to stop it or at least delay it.

• Yeah, they played football at the Superdome last night. Am I the only one weirded out by that? A site of human misery and despair is now a show palace for sports? "Let's give a rousing Superdome cheer to your New Orleans Saints!!!" "We want help, we want help..."

• These antiwar protests seem to be getting more and more frequent. This one was actually inside the Hart Senate Office Building. Here's pictures from another one led by Phil Angelides in San Francisco. Dare I say, in the words of Buffalo Springfield, that "there's something happenin' here"?