Quick Hits

Few things before I go off into the evening:

• A reason for optimism from Dianne Feinstein, of all people. Of course, she's pushing a paper trail and mandatory audits, which is not even what the National Institute of Standards and Technology is recommending (they want paper ballots, and so do I).

• Jane Harman continues her repentance tour, and now she's calling the warrantless wiretapping program illegal. This is the power of primaries come to life; Harman is finally responding to her constituents and serving her district. Hopefully we'll see this tough talk transformed into action.

• The nuts on the right are honestly the silliest people on the planet.

• I'm not a fan of Sen. Brownback of Kansas, but he's doing the right thing by divesting himself of Sudanese assets. Divestiture is the best way to pressure the Sudanese government. Brownback should have done it a lot sooner, and should continue to advocate for it strongly.

• Great rant by John Aravosis about Dennis Prager the lunatic wanting to impose a religious test on Muslim-American politicians. And an ever better performance here, with a Washington radio host doing a "modest proposal" about Muslims:

On Sunday afternoon, Washington, DC radio host Jerry Klein of WMAL was commenting on the Muslim Imams kicked off a flight. Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.

Among the callers:

"Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."

Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as crescent marks on driver's licenses, passports and birth certificates did not go far enough. "What good is identifying them?" he asked. "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and Germans."

Finally a half hour into his show, Klien revealed the game:

"I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said. For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting.

• I don't have much to say about this Russian spy poisoning, except that ever since President Bush looked into Vladimir Putin's soul and saw "a decent man," Putin's been murdering his political enemies in more and more brazen ways. Hm.

• Fuck yeah, thanks UCLA, now my boys in Maize and Blue have a 50-50 chance of rematching with Ohio State for a national championship. Though if you pinned me down, I'd say give Florida a shot. We had our opportunity and blew it.