Quick Hits

Time to clear the decks:

• Props to Jane Harman, CA-36, who not only voted for the McGovern Amendment to withdraw from Iraq, but now has joined the movement to close Gitmo. I once talked to Harman's campaign manager, and he swore up and down that she has not been changed by the primary challenge on her left in 2006. Don't believe it; Harman has been a pleasant surprise and is serving her constituents well.

• As a complement to closing Gitmo, which is vital if we ever want to restore any moral standing in the world, we must restore habeas corpus protections. We cannot hope to dictate how developing countries and nascent democracies should structure their government systems so long as we can indefinitely detain people without allowing them to understand the nature of their crimes. We have already destroyed any hope of America as a moral beacon; we can now only salve the wound.

• I don't think I was the only one that saw this Hamas Mickey Mouse story and thought, "Hamas thought the IDF was tough, wait until they get a load of Disney's lawyers!"

• One step forward, one step back: after mandating that all children in Texas be given the HPV vaccine, Governor Rick Perry won't veto the repeal of the vaccination order. Even Laura Bush said on CNN today that these girls should be given the opportunity to have this vaccine and eliminate the possibility of contracting cervical cancer. But the Christian right would rather see young women die than ever have sex. This is really one of those stories that shows the American Taliban for who they are.

• At the same time that consensus build on combating carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, the federal government is subsidizing the construction of numerous coal plants, and they're doing so under the rural electrification program that dates back to the Depression, even when 100% of the country has access to electricity. Sigh.

• Good news, France, since the election of Nicholas Sarkozy, Bill O'Reilly has lifted his byocott! Now 70 year-olds from Kansas can finally make those bulk purchases of Bordeaux and Camembert that will revitalize the French economy! He's saving the Republic, that Billo!

• An example of "Wait, Wait, We Won't Tell You":

Some low-income seniors may have missed out on millions of dollars in federal subsidies because the government did not notify them that they could be reimbursed for past prescription drug purchases when they enrolled in Medicare's drug benefit, a Government Accountability Office study has found.

The problem is one of several that has complicated the enrollment of nearly 7 million "dual eligible" people who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, according to the study being released today.

You don't think that the rules governing Medicare Part D were made intentionally obtuse, to confuse citizens and ensure that they wouldn't be likely to collect their fair share? Nawww.

• I still don't think redistricting will make as much of a difference as many believe, but if you're going to do it, you might as well have a national standard, which is what Zoe Lofgren seeks to administer at the federal level.

• Bob Geldof is a crank and probably a little jealous that someone is putting on a series of socially aware concerts without him, but he does have a point about Al Gore's Live Earth event. Any social movement should have a rallying cause in the form of a specific piece of legislation or a specific treaty. Raising awareness has its place, but exactly who doesn't know about global warming at this point? Besides every conservative spinner, I mean.