Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Congressional and White House negotiators agreed this afternoon on the provisions of a new immigration reform measure. The AP reports, “Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, his party’s lead negotiator on the deal, hailed it as ‘the best possible chance we will have in years to secure our borders and bring millions of people out of the shadows and into the sunshine of America.’ Anticipating criticism from conservatives, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said, ‘It is not amnesty. This will restore the rule of law.'” (I haven’t read the details yet, but the right is livid over the bill … so it can’t be that bad.)
* Valerie Plame’s civil suit against Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and two other Bush administration officials received a court hearing today, in which lawyers for the Bush gang “belittled” the case, accusing Plame of making “fanciful claims” in what amounted to “a fishing expedition.” (The AP doesn’t mention it, but the judge in the case is a Bush appointee and former aide to Ken Starr. I’m not entirely confident in his objectivity.)
* Former EPA Chief Christine Todd Whitman was asked to testify before a congressional subcommittee regarding the government’s handling of the air quality at ground zero following the 9/11 attacks. Yesterday, she refused to cooperate, citing two ongoing lawsuits on the matter. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, said he will continue to “strongly urge her to cooperate” and to appear at the hearing. He added he hoped he would not have to resort to the “compulsory process.”
* It’s like musical chairs with House Republicans accused of corruption — Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif) left the powerful House Appropriations Committee after the FBI raided his home; he was replaced by Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) who has a long history of scandals; and Calvert was replaced on his committee by Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), who was recently questioned by the FBI over his relationship to Abramoff.
* Mark your calendars: Monica Goodling to testify on Wednesday morning, May 23.
* If the Iraqi parliament backs a measure asking Americans to withdraw, Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), the number 3 Republican in the House, said he suspects that the United States would “respect” Iraqis’ wishes.
* George Washington University constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley told Keith Olbermann last night that the latest revelations in the warrantless-search program point to an impeachable offense. “The problem comes down to the failure of Congress to deal with what is a very ugly and unfortunate fact,” Turley said. “This would be a clear impeachable offense. I don’t know of a more clear, potential charge of impeachment within the modern presidency.”
* For all the hype Giuliani is getting for smacking down Ron Paul’s 9/11 assessment the other night, the media seems to have repeated a distortion: “Several media figures mischaracterized a response that Rep. Ron Paul gave at the Republican debate, with some asserting that Paul had ‘blamed’ the United States for the 9-11 terrorist attacks and others simply accepting Rudy Giuliani’s misrepresentation of Paul’s statement — that the United States had ‘invited the attack.’ In fact, Paul did not blame the United States for the 9-11 attacks or say that the United States had ‘invited’ them.”
* Six months ago this week, John McCain said “that the fate of the Iraqi venture would be decided in the next six months.” Let me guess; he wants another Friedman.
* A breakthrough in the search for a cure for baldness? A guy can dream….
* The Pentagon today tried to explain the need to ban the troops’ access to YouTube and MySpace, saying the decision is purely an attempt to “preserve military bandwidth for operational missions.” A top military information technology officer acknowledged, however, that there is no current problem that makes the new policy necessary, but rather, the website “could present a potential problem,” at some point in the future.
* Conan O’Brien seems to understand just how silly the notion of a “war czar” is.
* When Chris Matthews is bad, he’s painfully bad. When he’s good, as he was last night taking on Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) over war policy, he’s great.
* This has to be among the most entertaining things Rush Limbaugh has ever said. On his radio show, he complained that many Americans saw the Republican presidential debate, featuring 10 wealthy, middle-aged Christian white guys, which leads some in the media to ask, “How come there are no women and minorities on stage?” Limbaugh responded, “[Y]ou know, the Democrats never get those kinds of questions because it’s always assumed that they’re fair and just, and not discriminatory and all that.” Um, Rush? At the Dems’ debate, viewers saw a woman, an African-American, and a Latino. That’s why the Democrats don’t get those kinds of questions.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.