Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The Jena Six controversy hasn’t generated enough national attention thus far, but this is hard to ignore: “Thousands of protesters clogged the tiny town of Jena, Louisiana, Thursday to show their indignation over what they consider unjust, unequal punishments meted out in two racially charged incidents. They swarmed over the grounds of Jena High School, surrounding the stump of the tree from which nooses hung in early August 2006, about three months before six black teens known as the ‘Jena 6’ were accused of beating a white classmate.”
* On a related note, the House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings and a forum on the controversy.
* Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), Rudy Giuliani’s homeland security advisor, is continuing to take heat for telling a reporter this week that there are “too many mosques” in the United States. The DNC blasted King today, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations has also repudiated the lawmaker. “We call on Republican leaders and other people of conscience to repudiate Representative King’s bigoted remarks and to support the civil and religious rights of all Americans,” said CAIR official Corey Saylor.
* I received several emails today asking why Obama didn’t vote on John Cornyn’s anti-MoveOn amendment today. The senator released a statement this afternoon: “The focus of the United States Senate should be on ending this war, not on criticizing newspaper advertisements. This amendment was a stunt designed only to score cheap political points while what we should be doing is focusing on the deadly serious challenge we face in Iraq. It’s precisely this kind of political game-playing that makes most Americans cynical about Washington’s ability to solve America’s problems. By not casting a vote, I registered my protest against this empty politics. I registered my views on the ad itself the day it appeared. All of us respect the service of General Petraeus and all of our brave men and women in uniform. The way to honor that service is to give them a mission that is responsible, not to vote on amendments like the Cornyn amendment while we continue to pursue the wrong policy in Iraq.”
* As I recall, when the United Arab Emirates sought to purchase a number of U.S. ports, there was quite a collective freak-out. Will there be a similar reaction if Dubai takes significant ownership of the NASDAQ stock exchange?
* House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) responded to the “small price” flap by sitting down with — who else? — Fox News today. Boehner insists he was responding to a question about financial costs. The video shows otherwise.
* Howard Kurtz really ought to feel embarrassed about this: “On CNN’s Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz repeated a pattern in which he suggests that the media skew coverage against Republicans by asking — regarding scrutiny of Rudy Giuliani’s actions related to 9-11 — ‘Why all the press scrutiny of the mayor’s performance that day?’ and ‘Is there any possibility that he’s being kind of Swiftboated here?'”
* Number of times Bush said “in other words” during his 35-minute press conference: Nine.
* Bob Novak is apparently among the conservatives unhappy with Michael Mukasey’s nomination to be Attorney General. Today, Novak described Mukasey as “unqualified and ill-equipped for the daunting task of rehabilitating the Justice Department.”
* Maybe Circuit City shouldn’t have laid off all of their best and most knowledgeable employees.
* Conservatives who whine that symbolic resolutions are “meaningless,” probably don’t realize how hypocritical they appeared today. They irony is usually lost on this crowd.
* O’Reilly is selling, “Don’t taze me, bro” bumper stickers. Seriously.
* “Staying in Iraq: $25 Billion per Year … Forever”
* The secret lobbying campaign your phone company doesn’t want you to know about.
* Tim Grieve: “One day after voting to block consideration of a measure that might have helped hasten the end of the war in Iraq, Republican Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts have written a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs urging full funding for a new cemetery at Fort Riley in Kansas. The reason: With an influx of casualties from Iraq, the existing cemetery at Fort Riley is now full. Well, not entirely full: A spokesman for the facility tells Reuters that bodies can be buried on top of other bodies if family members want to share plots.”
* And finally, the Quote of the Day, by way of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.): “It is a sad day in the Senate when we spend hours debating an ad while our young people are dying in Iraq. Now that the Senate has twice voted on this ad, it is time to move on and vote to end the war.”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.