Today’s edition of quick hits.
* An awful scene in Chile: “A major earthquake struck northern Chile on Wednesday, toppling power lines, closing roads and sending terrified residents into the streets. Authorities reported some injuries but no deaths from the quake, which was felt in the capital as well as neighboring Peru and Bolivia. The earthquake, which struck at 12:40 p.m. local time (10:40 a.m. ET), measured magnitude 7.7 and was centered 780 miles north of Santiago, or 25 miles east-southeast of Tocopilla, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was followed by several aftershocks, including two larger than magnitude 5.”
* Getting closer to another showdown: “House Democrats defiantly pushed ahead Wednesday with a $50 billion war spending bill that calls for troops to leave Iraq, despite concerns raised by some members of the party and a veto threat issued by the White House. The bill would require that the U.S. initiate troop withdrawals within 30 days of its passage and agree to the goal of bringing home most soldiers and Marines by Dec. 15, 2008.” Bush has, of course, vowed to veto.
* NYT: “Gov. Eliot Spitzer is abandoning his plan to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, saying that opposition is just too overwhelming to move forward with such a policy. ‘You have perhaps seen me struggle with it because I thought we had a principled decision, and it’s not necessarily easy to back away from trying to move a debate forward,’ he said.” The governor added, “I am not willing to fight to the bitter end on something that will not ultimately be implemented.”
* TPMM: “Tomorrow morning is the long-awaited mark-up of the surveillance bill in the Senate Judiciary Committee. And Russ Feingold (D-WI), who voted against the bill in the intelligence committee, is going to redouble his efforts to rid the bill of its provision granting retroactive legal immunity to telecommunications companies that complied with the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program.”
* NYT: “Federal agents investigating the Sept. 16 episode in which Blackwater security personnel shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians have found that at least 14 of the shootings were unjustified and violated deadly-force rules in effect for security contractors in Iraq, according to civilian and military officials briefed on the case.” Even giving Blackwater the benefit of the doubt, the private security forces massacred 14 innocent civilians.
* The Center for American Progress has unveiled a new TV ad campaign, called, “Progressive. And Proud Of It.” I really like these ads; go take a look.
* Did Hizbollah put a mole in our government? It certainly looks like it: “A former FBI agent who pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship and then improperly accessing sensitive computer information about Hizbollah was working until about a year ago as a CIA spy assigned to Middle East operations, Newsweek has learned. The stunning case of Nada Nadim Prouty, a 37-year-old Lebanese native who is related to a suspected Hizbollah money launderer, appears to raise a nightmarish question for U.S. intelligence agencies: Could one of the world’s most notorious terrorist groups have infiltrated the U.S. government?”
* A military tragedy that few are prepared to confront: the rise in the suicide rate among combat veterans.
* Bush’s Surgeon General nominee, Dr. James Holsinger, is going nowhere fast. It’s little wonder, then, that the White House is apparently ready to give him — you guessed it — a recess appointment.
* Oh my: “[I]t began in August when a flood in much of Northern Ohio wiped out most of Putnam County’s voting machines. In September, Paul Gillmor, a Republican who represented Putnam and nearby counties in Congress, died suddenly. A special election was called for December. Meanwhile, a battle broke out for the Republican nomination, so a primary was called for Nov. 6. Putnam borrowed 40 touch-screen voting machines from Franklin County specifically for the primary. But the machines developed problems, so election officials decided to give voters paper ballots. Then the Putnam polling places didn’t have enough ballots, so voters were told to come back after more were printed. And after that, the county board of elections didn’t have containers for all the paper ballots.”
* I hate it when Pat Buchanan makes sense: “Rudy Giuliani has made a “promise” not to allow Iran to acquire a nuclear capability, even if it requires U.S. military action. Though the U.S. Army is scrimping to meet recruitment goals, Rudy has pledged to add at least 10 new combat brigades. Speaking to an Atlantic Bridge conference in London, Rudy called for NATO expansion to include Japan, India, Australia, Singapore and Israel. Has Rudy thought this through?” (thanks to reader L.K.)
* And finally, I can only hope The Onion’s satire isn’t taken seriously by the White House: “Barely two months after U.N. inspectors in Iran failed to find evidence of an active nuclear weapons program, the Department of Homeland Security uncovered new information Monday proving the Middle Eastern nation has obtained literally trillions of atoms — the same particles sometimes used to make atomic bombs — for unknown purposes.”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.