Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Over the weekend, outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made what will presumably be his last “surprise trip” to Iraq, this time to say goodbye to the troops and thankthem for their service. One odd twist — instead of his usual complement of reporters, Rumsfeld brought only one media personality on this trip: Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
* Another evangelical pastor in Colorado has resigned because he’s secretly gay? Apparently so.
* It took almost a year, but Dubai Ports World no longer owns any U.S. ports. (thanks to B.H. for the tip)
* I vaguely remember a time — I think it was called “2002” — when Iraqi oil revenues were going to completely finance post-war reconstruction. Instead, as the NYT reported today, “Iraqi ministries are spending as little as 15 percent of the 2006 capital budgets they received for the rebuilding — with some of the weakest spending taking place at the Oil Ministry, which relies on damaged and frequently sabotaged pipelines and pumping stations to move the oil that provides nearly all of the country’s revenues. In essence, the money is available — despite extensive sabotage, the oil money is flowing — but the Iraqi system has not been able to put it to work.”
* In Texas, a state lawmaker wants to make it legal for blind people to hunt. He doesn’t appear to be kidding.
* A lot of Dems, including me, were worried about the GOP’s 11th-hour financial investments shortly before Election Day, taking advantage of their flush campaign coffers. It turns out, as Greg Sargent noted, “In the final two-and-a-half weeks of the midterm election, the GOP spent a staggering amount of money — nearly $40 million — on House races without picking up a single seat and while losing 29 of them to the Dems.” For those keeping score at home, that means the Republicans spent nearly $1.3 million per House seat lost. Wow.
* Rick Santorum met with Sen.-elect Bob Casey last week for a fairly lengthy meeting, but the interesting part came afterwards. Santorum “refused to be photographed with Mr. Casey … and brushed past reporters in his closing days in the Capitol.”
* The anti-Rove backlash continues. US News reported, “It’s an ugly rumor, but it’s spreading like wildfire: Karl Rove has lost his touch. In an amazing betrayal within a family where top political aide Rove is royalty, Bushies have been sneering at his pre-election happy talk that the GOP would keep the Senate and take a slight hit in the House, both soon to be run by Democrats.”
* In one of the stranger mainstream-media attacks on bloggers ever, John Carroll, an assistant communications professor at Boston University, aired a report on Friday about political bloggers on Greater Boston TV. Carroll alleged that MyDD’s Matt Stoller, Chris Bowers, and Scott Shields are not real people, but are actually Jerome Armstrong using pseudonyms. For what it’s worth, I’ve met Bowers and Stoller and can attest to the fact that a) they’re real; and b) they’re not Armstrong. Carroll is reportedly poised to make an on-air correction this week.
* The federal bribery investigation in Alaska is getting increasingly interesting. One state legislator was arrested late last week, and the offices of six more lawmakers were raided by the FBI.
* No matter what happens in the 110th Congress, the fact that Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) will not chair any more committee hearings, at least not anytime soon, is great news.
* Kofi Annan told it like it is. The right might not like it, but Annan’s been right for a long time.
* And in media news, remember the AP’s John Solomon, who wrote a series of ridiculous smear pieces on Harry Reid earlier this year? Today, we learned that Solomon’s dubious work is being rewarded — he’s moving to the Washington Post, where he will run the paper’s investigative unit. Given his record, it’s an honor to which he’s not entitled.
If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.