Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In an encouraging move, Congress passed its stem-cell legislation, despite an almost-certain veto by the president. The House vote was 247 to 176, which included 37 Republicans joining the vast majority of Dems. That’s a big majority — but it’s 35 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.
* Even better news from the Hill today: The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Specter/Leahy habeas restoration bill today. “The committee sent it to the floor with no amendments, no debate and on almost a party line vote (with the GOP sponsor, Senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania voting in favor).” Kudos to Specter and committee Dems.
* The GOP candidates owed Erin Flanagan an answer to the question about when we can get out of Iraq.
* For more on restoring habeas rights, Ari Melber had a good item today, which offers some helpful details and context on today’s vote.
* Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) thinks NSA Stephen Hadley ought to be fired and replaced with someone competent. I not only agree, I think it’s a no-brainer.
* CNN’s Glenn Beck has proven himself to be an offensive loudmouth, spewing right-wing nonsense on a program with plummeting ratings. Naturally, therefore, Washington Post Radio is interested in hiring him. Let’s all say it together: What liberal media?
* Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) got a little irate with Barack Obama today on the floor of the Senate. He sounded like he ought to try decaf.
* A news report indicated that a Polish man woke up from a 19-year coma, prompting far-right blogs to immediately argue that Terri Schiavo’s fate could have been avoided. The only problem is the news report about the man in the coma was rubbish.
* Monica Goodling wrote a fascinating email to a DoJ colleague we hadn’t heard about before last night: New Justice Department communications released tonight include an email from Monica Goodling, former counsel to Alberto Gonzales, directing another official to draw up a directive giving her unprecedented authority to hire and fire political staffers. Goodling tells the official, assistant attorney general Paul Corts, to “send [it] directly up to me, outside the system.” Why do you suppose it was important to go outside the system?
* Tony Snow: “[T]here is a carbon cap system in place in Europe; we are doing a better job of reducing emissions here.” The poor guy has been lying so much for so long, he just doesn’t care about reality anymore.
* Noah Shachtman on a fascinating new study: “U.S. Army War College professor Steven Metz has quietly released a radical new study. In it, he argues that American forces should stop trying to fight complex insurgencies, like the one raging in Iraq — and stop trying to prop up governments that are battling insurgents. Instead, Metz asserts, the U.S. military should serve as ‘neutral mediators and peacekeepers (even when [we] have much more ideological affinity for the regime than for the insurgents).’ Getting out quickly should be the highest goal. ‘Protracted conflict, not insurgent victory, is the threat,’ he writes.”
* NYT: “Justice Department investigators looking into former Representative Jim Kolbe’s relationships with House pages found no wrongdoing and have closed their inquiry, Mr. Kolbe says.”
* McClatchy: “A leader of an influential conservative legal group recommended a replacement candidate for the U.S. attorney in San Diego just days after the sitting prosecutor’s name was secretly placed on a Justice Department firing list, according to a document released Wednesday. The recommendation by the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo, came before anyone outside of a tight group in the White House and Justice Department knew about a nascent strategy that ultimately led to the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.”
* Bush impugned the motives of conservative critics of his immigration policy, but can’t imagine why that bothered them so much.
* LAT: “The founder of a Republican environmental organization was charged Wednesday with tax evasion and obstruction of justice as part of the continuing federal criminal investigation into lobbying practices in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, allegedly failed to pay more than $77,000 in federal income taxes from 2001 to 2003. She was also cited for making “false and fictitious” statements before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005, which was investigating Abramoff’s representation of Native American tribes.”
* And finally, TP: “Last week, CNN announced that it had hired a reporter to cover ‘things like Britney, as well as the Michael Jackson memorabilia.’ Today, during a preview of its coverage of Paris Hilton’s jail term, a CNN anchor described the network as ‘the most trusted name in Paris news.'” Reason #1,684,352 why I do not watch television news.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.