Today’s edition of quick hits.
* After the U.S. gave Turkey real-time intelligence in attacking PKK, the Turks are ready to pull back: “Turkey sent hundreds of troops about 1 1/2 miles into northern Iraq early Tuesday in an operation against Kurdish rebels but then withdrew them later in the day, Kurdish officials said. Jamal Abdullah, a spokesman for the regional Kurdistan government, told The Associated Press that the 300 Turkish troops had withdrawn about 15 hours after entering Iraq about 3 a.m. Jabar Yawar, a spokesman for Kurdistan’s Peshmerga security forces in Irbil, Iraq, told the AP that ‘today’s Turkish military operation was a limited one, and the troops withdrew from Iraqi territory.'”
* The torture tape controversy took an interesting turn today, when the judicial branch entered the fray: “Much to the administration’s chagrin, Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. has ordered a hearing on the CIA’s destruction of the torture tapes for this Friday at 11 AM. Back in 2005, Kennedy, a Clinton appointee, had ordered the Bush administration to safeguard ‘all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees now at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.'”
* Blackwater caused quite a scandal with shooting Iraqi civilians, but now the private security firm has really done it: Blackwater bodyguards shot the dog of the New York Times’ Baghdad bureau staff.
* Some things will never change: “If you thought Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) was going to let the berries in his state go unresearched and the vistas of alternative uses for salmon unexplored just because he’s under federal investigation for past earmarks (among other things), then you thought wrong.”
* Either al Qaeda captive Abu Zubayda was a key source of valuable intelligence or a mentally-retarded man who told U.S. officials nonsensical intelligence to stop the torture. To this day, the CIA insists it’s the prior, and the FBI insists it’s the latter.
* This is likely to have a major impact: “The Federal Communications Commission, overturning a 32-year-old ban, voted Tuesday to allow broadcasters in the nation’s 20 largest media markets to also own a newspaper. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was joined by his two Republican colleagues in favor of the proposal, while the commission’s two Democrats voted against it.”
* Quick, someone call a bloggers’ ethics panel: “On the December 17 edition of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity interviewed former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), but did not disclose during the 13-minute interview that he has reportedly helped raise money for Giuliani’s presidential campaign.”
* Good: “The House has just passed the Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act of 2007, which will ensure that members of the armed services who are discharged as a result of combat-related wounds receive the full compensation to which they are entitled by the Department of Defense. According to Department of Defense rules, enlistees cannot receive their full enlistment bonus unless they fulfill their entire military obligation. Unfortunately, members of the armed services who are wounded while on active duty are not receiving their full bonuses because their service was prematurely cut short. The Veterans Guaranteed Bonus Act, H.R. 3793, will correct this problem.”
* House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey two weeks ago, requesting records from Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation. Mukasey apparently ignored the letter, prompting Waxman to push a little further today.
* Is Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) still physically up to serving as chairman of the Appropriations Committee? A growing number of Senate Dems are worried he is not.
* It’s been watered down, but a congressional energy bill is on its way to the president.
* For right-wing talk show host Dennis Prager, a politician’s religion should be entirely irrelevant, unless he or she is a Muslim, in which case a politician’s faith is paramount.
* So much for that idea: “Former President George H.W. Bush has shot down his successor Bill Clinton’s idea of a diplomatic mission under a Hillary Clinton presidency that would send him and other notables abroad to assure other nations that ‘America is open for business and cooperation again.’ … In a statement sent to CNN Tuesday afternoon, former President Bush’s chief of staff Jean Becker said that he ‘wholeheartedly supports the President of the United States, including his foreign policy.'”
* Peter Jackson is going to make “The Hobbit” after all.
* A few weeks ago, Karl Rove was looking to cash in on his White House service with a book deal, with “Turd Blossom” seeking $3 million. How’s that working out? Not very well: “The auction for Karl Rove’s memoir drags on a month after the Republican strategist made the rounds of publishers with Washington power lawyer Robert Barnett at his side. ‘It’s very, very slow,’ says an executive at one of the few houses left in the bidding.” In the immortal words of Nelson Muntz: “Ha ha.”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.