The Rest of the Week In Review

So this is a new feature where I compile all the stories I would have gotten to write about in the last week if the President issued a signing statement that days now have 30 hours in them. It's essentially Quick Hits with a new name. Making it new to you!

• I can't believe that anyone is letting Republicans and Bush defenders get away with hyping up that whole Fort Dix plot. Not only was it an absurd plan to begin with (6 people attacking a military base? They can't dub a tape to DVD so they give it to a Circuit City employee?), but the FBI informant appeared to drive the boat, to the extent of scouting the locations and mapping out what weapons to buy.

• California is the only state in the country that doesn't help National Guard members with tuition expenses. That's kind of abominable.

• Al Gore has a new book out called The Assault on Reason. The excerpt in time kind of looks down its nose at the reader, and I didn't really respond well to it, actually. Gore is describing a real problem, but people aren't as stupid as, say, television executives think they are. Gore gets around to mentioning the Internet at the end of the excerpt, and actually ends up making a cogent argument for needing net neutrality.

• Oh yeah, Pakistan's going to hell. The issues in that country are so complex, and it's about the most dangerous place on the planet. The notion that the nation "is one bullet away from becoming an unstable extremist government with a nuclear weapon" is probably true.

• With all the food safety problems we've seen over the last few months, it certainly seems like we need the Food Safety Act of 2007 put together by Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut. Of course, if the Food and Drug Administration did its job, there would be no need for another regulatory agency. I'd rather see FDA more empowered, but as long as the guy doing the hiring is the same guy that hired Brownie, that's not really going to bear much fruit.

• This was a great op-ed by Ezra Klein about how we need good government, not the systematic destruction of government. It actually deserves more than a fleeting mention. I believe that this whole "no government, no taxes, nothing for anyone but me" attitude is losing steam, and if someone can articulate why we need government to do bold, great things, we can finally put that to bed forever.

• Dan Weintraub does a good rundown of the various health care proposals in California. I really think he gets it completely wrong. He's acting like the pressure is on the Democrats to get something done. It's not. The pressure's on the governor. Of course, this I agree with:

Economically, the most sensible approach still seems to be a requirement that everyone (not just employees) have insurance, with statewide or regional pools to maximize purchasing power for those who want to go that route, and subsidies for the poor and working poor. The subsidies would have to be financed with some kind of new fees or taxes, and the broader, the better.

Of course, both Nunez and Perata's bill doesn't cover everyone, and in fact only strives to cover employees. And the governor doesn't have a plan, at least not one that any legislator would carry. And anything with taxes requires a 2/3 vote. So I don't know what Weintraub is getting at here.

• We're at the point in the 21st century where CIA agents are testifying a fake beard and glasses. Whatever happened to the white curtain and the silhouette? By the way, this was at the Jose Padilla trial, and I just told you all of the evidence in the trial. In other words there really isn't any.

• And in a move that is sure to keep several thousand white men locked up with their transcripts of the Warren Report and the writings of Jim Garrison, a new scientific report is challenging the "magic bullet" theory and suggesting multiple shooters in Dallas in 1963. This should come as news to magic bullet theory creator Arlen Specter, but not to anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of physics.