Quick Hits

Think I'll just do a little wrap-up and call it a day.

• John Edwards has taken the lead by pulling out of the CBC debate to be broadcast on Fox News. Edwards is definitely positioning himself as the movement candidate, as well as the one standing for bold, transformational change which appeals to populists and the rank-and-file. This is something to watch, and at this moment I do give him the inside track.

• I have hit Fabian Nuñez for a variety of reasons, but the grief he's taking for his support of the Compassionate Choices Act, being called a proprietor of the "culture of death" and worse by Catholic leaders. This demonization is so unhelpful, and obscures the point that the terminal should be allowed to choose their own fate and end their own suffering. I support Nuñez' stand on this one.

• The head of the General Services Administration, Lurita Doan, last seen so paranoid by the House Oversight Committee that she asked aides to take her drinking glass, is now under an investigation into politicizing the GSA which should have a subheading of "easiest investigation in the history of ever."

• Drug companies spent $155 million lobbying Congress over the past year and a half, a new record. And we wonder how things like the Medicare Bill gets passed with riders like "the federal government cannot bargain with pharmaceuticals for lower drug prices."

• More bullshit from the government that claims to keep us safe.

The Bush administration announced new security requirements for the nation's high-risk chemical plants yesterday, capping years of internal debate over industrial regulations following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks [...]

Congressional Democrats, state officials and environmental groups said the rules will undercut stronger state laws and block future efforts to limit the threat.

The federal rules do not set a timetable for changes or require the industry to take specific measures, such as switching to less hazardous chemicals or "inherently safer technology," as New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) has proposed. They give the homeland security secretary discretion to decide which plants pose a high risk.

• Sen. Whitehouse becomes the ninth Senator to support the Feingold-Reid proposal to cut funding for the war if the President vetoes the current spending bill. Courageous.

• In Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai is claiming that he has met with Taliban leaders to stop the violence, and the Taliban denied it. What exactly is going on there? Is Karzai trying to burnish his fundamentalist bona fides? Is it because he has to do so? Weird.

• If Wal-Mart is spending so much money and trying so hard to cozy up to Democrats, maybe they could explain why they spy on their own workers, critics, vendors and consultants. I would think a political party that generally likes and respects workers would want to know.

• Arianna Huffington makes a great point about how the Presidential candidates have been completely silent about the drug war. Of course, the last President or nominee who even mentioned the drug war at all was George Bush I in 1988.

• Finally, Republicans hate pigeons and are beholden to the anti-pigeon agenda.

This time, city warriors hope a new tactic will turn the tide against the downtown menaces. Their plan: Lure the birds to new rooftop nesting grounds and then steal their eggs.

"We'll build them little condos. We'll keep taking the eggs, and they won't have little ones," said Bill Stephenson, the city's animal control supervisor. "Slowly they'll die off, I guess."

The pigeon problem is just one of many housecleaning chores the city is tackling in advance of the Republican National Convention, which will come to the Xcel Energy Center next year. Flocks of pigeons have laid down their glop on skyway ledges and sidewalks and have sullied downtown's image, officials and property owners say.

You're either with us or you're with the pigeons.