Thursday’s Mini-Report

December 21, 2006

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) signed a civil unions bill into law today, making New Jersey the third state to institute a law that grants gay couples “all the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law.”

* One more argument against Rep. Virgil Goode’s (R-Va.) ridiculous anti-Ellison, anti-Muslim thesis: Ellison traces his American ancestors back to 1742 and isn’t an immigrant.

* I’ve mildly critical of Sandy Berger and his handling of classified materials, but I probably haven’t been nearly critical enough. The guy’s recklessness, irresponsibility, and stupid conduct was truly ridiculous.

* The New Year’s Eve declassification of hundreds of millions of classified government documents — including 275 million from the FBI alone — should keep historians, researchers, and scholars busy for a very long time. The fact that Bush didn’t block the documents’ release (though he still has 10 days to change his mind) is one of the better decisions he’s made.

* I think Hillary did quite well on “The View” this morning.

* Not surprisingly, McCain-Feingold provisions are running into some legal trouble.

* Kudos to Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) for getting behind a plan for publicly-financed campaigns. May other governors follow her example.

* Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), caught on film welcoming the assassination of Fidel Castro, blammed filmmakers for having doctoring the video. She was lying. Blatantly.

* Eric Kent made it through two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan with hardly a scratch — but had to go to the hospital after trying to open one of those awful plastic containers used with electronics products.

* It’s encouraging to see that “An Inconvenient Truth” will be made available, for free, to so many teachers.

* Any new Koufax Award categories you’d like to see?

* If I didn’t know better, I’d say Bill O’Reilly doesn’t actually watch Fox News.

* Publius has some good advice for the GOP today. I don’t think they’re listening, but it’s good advice anyway.

* And, even in defeat, Rick Santorum is as bitter and bizarre as ever: “I have always said that if World War II was covered like this war, I really, very seriously, doubt that we would have ever won that war. … The bottom line is, the media — and I am not saying that they are intending to do this — but simply by what they are doing, without question, it is aiding the terrorists and their objective.”

If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

The fact that Bush didn’t block the documents’ release (though he still has 10 days to change his mind) is one of the better decisions he’s made.

Talk about faint praise! Beyond this and choosing Bernanke, name another. (“Ditching Miers, Kerik, and at long last Rumsfeld” is cheating.)

“I have always said that if World War II was covered like this war, I really, very seriously, doubt that we would have ever won that war.”

An interesting question, actually. Weren’t the decisive elements the Russian army and our nukes? Maybe we wouldn’t have nuked Nagasaki, which I personally would count as a good thing.

  • The NJ Civil Unions Bill purports to grant gay couples “all the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law.” What a load. Straight couples’ marriage contracts are recognized in all fifty states and internationally. That’s what marriage is. This isn’t that. Can you say “second-class citizenship”?

  • Meanwhile, yesterday Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — barely two weeks into her term — signed a bill putting an advisory question on a special election ballot next spring asking voters if they want to forbid spousal benefits to same-sex partners. Apparently, she forgot what happened the last time the question was asked — earlier this year, when testimony against such a measure ran 9:1 against in legislative hearings. Which is why the legislature dropped the idea. Some people never give up.

  • Trickster Sanitorium needs to study his history a bit more. World War 2 WAS covered by the media; journalists were embedded with the various divisions and brigades on a regular basis. Sure, they didn’t have cell phones—but I remember a couple of old guys when I was a kid, yammering about having to lug those gods-awful Remington-Rand typewriters all over Europe….

  • Rick Santorum is a JACKASS worthy of being a regular on Fox News…..

    STFU Rick you are an embarassment to my state……

    Go home school our kids and move to Virginia

  • “[Santorum] Go home school [y]our kids and move to Virginia” – lib4

    No, no, no! Damnit we don’t need him we have Goode!

    He – is – your – problem!

  • Methinks Sanctimonious Santorum is confusing the LOTR with WWII. Seriously, I think there some sort of contest afoot in the GOP to see who can have the weakest grip on reality. Or, who can gobble their body weight in mind-altering drugs in the shortest amount of time. Either way, the competition, she is fierce.

    However, Rick is one of the few people on my list of ReThugs most likely to strip naked, write “Eat Me!!!” across his chest and engage in random acts of anti-social behaviour with a pruning hook. Can’t wait for one of his kids to grow up and write that tell all book. Chapter One: Daddy Loved Our New Puppy.

    On second thoughts, maybe I CAN wait. Yikes. Watch your backs Keystone Staters, you’ve got a fiend in Pennsylvania.

  • “I have always said that if World War II was covered like this war, I really, very seriously, doubt that we would have ever won that war. … The bottom line is, the media — and I am not saying that they are intending to do this — but simply by what they are doing, without question, it is aiding the terrorists and their objective.”

    If by 1945, the Allies were bogged down in the Solomons in the Pacific and Sicily in Europe, I’m sure there would be significant criticism coming from the American press, politicians, and the American public.

    And it’s not negative press coverage that loses wars, its shitty leadership and their bonehead decisions.

  • Ricky isn’t a complete idiot. All he is doing is laying the ground work to sell his repackaged campaign speeches.

    For now, he is working on a book based on the “Gathering Storm” speech that became a hallmark of his last campaign because, he said, he feels “compelled to sort of make the case” for battling Islamic terrorism.

    He will also be hitting the speaking circuit. This all pro-wrestler bluster designed to generate buzz and keep him in the news till January when he can cash in.

  • When I read the declassification story this afternoon, I figured that surely there must be a catch. The first thing that came to mind was that the shear volume of the released material may make it nearly impossible to comb through to get at anything meaningful. I just did a little Googling to see if I could find any expert opinion on this matter. Here is what I found at the Federation of Scientists Government Secrecy Project.

    In practice, however, the impact of the policy may not be as dramatic as one might imagine, for several reasons.

    First, many agencies have sought and received exemptions for one of nine categories of information (war plans, intelligence sources, WMD information, etc.) that need not be declassified. (Selected agency declassification plans may be found here.)

    Second, records that involve the interests (“equities”) of more than one agency are not subject to this month’s deadline. Rather, they are to be declassified by December 31, 2009.

    Third, declassification does not imply immediate disclosure. Some declassified records may still need to be reviewed for privacy data and other exempt information.

    Finally, the processing of hundreds of millions or billions of declassified pages to make them publicly accessible is a logistical challenge that may exceed the capability of the National Archives, which has faced increasing budgetary pressures.

    Unless Congress chooses to provide supplemental resources for the Archives, many declassified records will remain inaccessible.

    BushCo may have determined that blocking the release wasn’t worth the fight since it may not have to great an impact anyway. Also look for BushCo to cut funding for the National Archives.

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