Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Best wishes go out to Jane Hamsher.
* The Dems are gearing up to cut student loan interest rates, which is a key part of the parties’ 2007 legislative agenda and is scheduled to get a vote today. Yesterday, the Bush administration announced it would oppose the measure.
* Dick Morris excoriated Barack Obama in a recent column for voting against a bill to prohibit campaign committees and PACs from paying spouses and relatives. As it turns out, Obama didn’t vote against it. Today, Morris retracted his allegations and apologized to Obama.
* Sens. Levin (D-Mich.), Hagel (R-Neb.), and Biden (D-Del.) announced that today that they’ve come to an agreement on a non-binding resolution criticizing the president’s Iraq strategy. Levin, the Armed Services Committee Chairman, explained that the resolution says “we do not support increased troops, deeper military involvement” and calls for shifting the mission of U.S. troops from combat to training, counterterrorism and protecting Iraq’s territorial integrity. He said it also calls for “the greater engagement of other countries in the region in the stabilization and reconstruction of Iraq.”
* Rumor has it that Michael J. Fox will attend the State of the Union address next week as a guest of Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.). No word yet on how Rush Limbaugh will make jokes about it.
* NYT: “Attacks by militants crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan have tripled since September along portions of the border, a senior American intelligence official said Tuesday, prompting calls for a greater effort by Pakistan to curb the influx and a larger deployment of American and other NATO soldiers here. Of particular concern, officials said, has been a rise in attacks by Taliban and other militants from remote and largely ungoverned tribal areas in Pakistan in eastern Afghanistan, where most of the American combat forces in the country are based.” Remember when Bush said the Taliban was gone forever?
* WaPo: “There is almost no scientific evidence to back up the U.S. intelligence community’s use of controversial interrogation techniques in the fight against terrorism, and experts believe some painful and coercive approaches could hinder the ability to get good information, according to a new report from an intelligence advisory group.” I generally don’t like to debate torture on practical terms, but this might help persuade some people.
* Santorum has gone from shilling for Bush in the Senate to shilling for Bush on Fox News. At least on Fox News, he dosen’t have a vote.
* Kevin Drum makes a compelling case that troop caps are probably not the best way for Congress to stop the president’s war policy.
* Jonathan Schwarz has a great post on Douglas Feith’s intellectual comrade, Saddam Hussein.
* “Nearly a quarter of the school districts in the state of Washington bar teachers from talking about homosexuality and nearly a third do not allow teachers to discus condoms.” And this is a Blue state? (thanks to Ed for the tip)
* The Energy and Commerce Committee will be holding a hearing soon on climate-change policy, a topic the committee largely ignored under GOP rule. The first star witness? Al Gore.
* Things are getting ugly on the Michigan bar. You know it’s bad when a state Supreme Court justice referred to a colleague as a “very angry, sad woman” and suggested she go on a hunger strike for everyone else’s benefit. (thanks to SKNM for the heads-up)
* Two weeks ago, conservatives were insisting that Bush and Pelosi have nearly identical approval ratings. With the latest numbers showing Pelosi over the 50% mark, and Bush under 35%, the president’s allies aren’t saying that anymore.
* And, via TP, we have Virginia state lawmaker Frank Hargrove (R), the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, announcing his belief that slavery ended with the Civil War and that “our black citizens should get over it.” He added, “Are we going to force the Jews to apologize for killing Christ?” Wow.
If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.