Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Bill Clinton and Barack Obama spoke on the phone today, reportedly for about 20 minutes, and both issued statements afterwards indicating that it went well. I shudder to think about the extent to which their statements will be parsed and analyzed for evidence of animosity.
* I’ll try and have more on Obama’s Missouri speech on patriotism tomorrow, but in the meantime, here’s a good report on his remarks.
* McClatchy: “The Pentagon Monday announced a proposed death penalty prosecution of a Saudi man at Guantánamo, alleging he organized the October 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole off Aden, Yemen, that killed 17 American sailors…. It seeks to try him by military commission at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba, and execute him if convicted.”
* AP: “Former detainees of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq are suing U.S. contractors in four states for alleged torture…. The complaints allege that innocent people who were arrested and taken to the prison were subjected to forced nudity, electrical shocks, mock executions and other inhumane treatment by employees of defense contractors CACI International and L-3 Communications, formerly Titan Corporation. The plaintiffs are represented by law firms in Philadelphia and Detroit and by the Center for Constitutional Rights.”
* We never really stopped having to deal with the consequences of the administration’s early catastrophic errors in Iraq: “The U.S. Army’s official history of the Iraq war shows military chiefs made mistake after mistake in the early months of the conflict.”
* It’s stunning to see just how badly major media outlets screwed up reports on Wesley Clark today, over and over again.
* The Mukasey Justice Department sure does like to act like the Gonzales Justice Department: “Two weeks ago, Chairman Henry Waxman (R-CA) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued subpoenas for FBI paperwork regarding interviews with President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney on the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. And now the Justice Department has responded: Think again, Henry.”
* Keep an eye on this one: “The Bush administration said Monday it will delay paying doctors for treating Medicare patients in early July to give Congress more time to block a scheduled 10.6 percent fee cut. The decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services doesn’t block the cut, scheduled to take place Tuesday. It’s up to Congress to decide that. But to give Congress more time to act, the agency will instruct its contractors not to process any physician or non-physician Medicare claims for health care services given during the first 10 business days of July.”
* Have the National Journal rankings about the “most liberal” senator not been debunked enough already?
* Lieberman and the White House agree on the likelihood terrorism. It must be a day that ends in “y.”
* I guess this is some sort of progress for free speech: “The fence around the public demonstration zone outside the Democratic National Convention will be chicken wire or chain link, authorities revealed in U.S. District Court today. That may allow protestors to be seen and heard by delegates going in and out of the Pepsi Center during the convention.”
* I get the feeling Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons (R) is not exactly the kind of guy you’d call “pro-family.”
* Good news, we probably have nothing to fear from the latest atom-smashing experiment. (thanks to R.K. for the heads-up)
* The no-bid contracts have not gone unnoticed: “Sen. Charles Schumer called Monday for an independent probe into the Iraqi government’s decision to open the country’s oil fields to foreign oil companies. ‘This is a head fake by the Iraqi government,’ Schumer said just hours after the Iraqis announced their plan. ‘The Iraqis have shown they will pursue these contracts at all costs, their nation’s political stability be damned.'”
* And Ari Fleischer’s father, a Democrat, told his local paper that “if his son was going to rebel, it’s better I became a Republican than a drug dealer — but not by much.”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.