Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Insult to injury: “Burma’s ruling military junta today impounded United Nations food shipments bound for the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy Delta, forcing a temporary suspension of U.N. aid deliveries. A U.N. official later said shipments would resume tomorrow, and the United States said it has received approval to fly in a single cargo plane on Monday.”
* On a related note, confused about “Burma” vs. “Myanmar”? That’s understandable.
* AP: “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, is killing and injuring innocent civilians in Lebanon. Rice says that Hezbollah is trying to protect its ‘state-within-a-state.'”
* Involuntary service: “The number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army involuntarily under the military’s controversial ‘stop-loss’ program has risen sharply since the Pentagon extended combat tours last year, officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was briefed about the program by Army officials who said that thousands of new stop-loss orders were issued to keep soldiers from leaving the service after Gates ordered combat tours extended from 12 to 15 months last spring.”
* Joe Lieberman defended John McCain today, using a very odd choice of words: “I just want to report that this morning I personally checked John McCain’s bearings. He has not lost any of them. They are all in really great shape.” That’s kind of creepy.
* This really is ridiculous. “Even with countless media outlets available these days, a Sunday New York Times cover story could always be counted on to send a jolt through the television news cycle. But apparently that’s no longer the case. Indeed, reporter David Barstow’s 7,600-word investigation of the Pentagon’s military analyst program — whereby ex-military talking heads, often with direct ties to contractors, parroted Defense Department talking points on the air — has been noticeably absent from television airwaves since the story broke on April 20.”
* Another indicator: “In yet another sign that Democratic forces are starting to view Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as their party’s presumptive nominee, a group of state party chairmen are gathering in Chicago at Obama’s headquarters Friday.”
* What if Iranian weapons that turned up in Iraq aren’t Iranian?
* Dick Cheney said things are going “swimmingly” in Iraq. The poor guy just isn’t well.
* Rasmussen Reports believes the race for the Democratic nomination is over, and has stopped polling the Clinton-Obama race.
* Congressional Republicans still want to pass the Colombian trade deal House Dems blocked a few weeks ago.
* Renewing the Plame case? “Former CIA operative Valerie Plame is trying to resurrect a lawsuit against those in the Bush administration she says illegally disclosed her identity.”
* The Senate Ethics Committee dismissed the complaint against David Vitter.
* From time to time, unhinged right-wing activists insist that Obama and Joe Biden are working on a plan to impose a “global tax that would require America to pay tax to the U.N.” In case anyone hears about this, rest assured, it’s not true.
* The KBR nightmare continues: “Government contracting giant KBR rehired a man its own officials had fired after catching him with what they believed could be child pornography. KBR rehired Ira Waltrip just a few months later to work as a truck driver in Iraq. He was apprehended there last month with a massive collection of child pornography, prosecutors say, including graphic photographs of men having sex with girls as young as six years old.”
* An interesting explanation of the difference between liberal populism and conservative populism.
* NYT: “[Sen. Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama] does not run a key Congressional committee. Instead, as the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, he is using his clout and the Democrats’ slim majority in the Senate to help determine what gets in, or almost as important, what is left out, of legislation. He will soon play a major role in deciding the fate of one such bill, to help struggling homeowners, that the House passed, 266 to 154, on Thursday. But over the years, his critics say, Mr. Shelby’s ties to the mortgage industry and the Alabama real estate market, and the generous campaign donations he receives from financial services companies, have distorted his perspective and led him to delay critical legislative remedies.”
* I guess we won’t see Lanny Davis on CNN again soon.
* Far-right blogs aren’t big on policy. What a surprise.
* Fox News staffers are supposed to support Republicans, but they’re not supposed to admit they support Republicans.
* And finally, some right-wing group is going to boycott Starbucks because of its logo. Apparently, a mermaid is a little too racy?
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.
