Today’s edition of quick hits.
* According to an AP count, the number of U.S. military service members killed in Iraq has exceeded the number of victims in the attacks of 9/11. The unfortunate milestone came yesterday, on Christmas, when six more American soldiers were killed in Iraq.
* Great quote from Rep.-elect Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), on the right-wing complaining about his ceremonial oath-of-office ceremony: “This controversy has made people dust off their Constitution and actually read it.”
* “Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth.” Wow.
* If you haven’t already seen it, John Kerry’s Washington Post op-ed from Sunday was excellent. Great opening: “There’s something much worse than being accused of ‘flip-flopping’: refusing to flip when it’s obvious that your course of action is a flop.”
* The Nebraska Public Service Commission has launched an investigation into NRCC robo-calls from this year’s House race in Nebraska’s 3rd. It’s a familiar story, that continues to bother the hell out of me: voters reported receiving repeated (often back-to-back) calls featuring a recorded voice that seemed to belong to Democrat Scott Kleeb, but what actually from the National Republican Campaign Committee. Kleeb, who had pulled ahead in some polls before Election Day, ended up losing by 20,000 votes. The Nebraska Public Service Commission is exploring whether the calls constituted attempted voter suppression.
* Fraud and waste plague Hurricane Katrina relief.
* Fraud and waste also plague Bush’s AIDS-fighting program.
* Looks like we won’t be getting improved camera angles of action on the House floor after all. Nancy Pelosi has apparently turned down C-SPAN’s request to install its own cameras on the chamber’s floor.
* The Wall Street Journal had an interesting item today on agencies that receive pork from Congress — but don’t want it. As the article explained, “[M]ost earmarks don’t come with extra money from Washington. They merely dictate how agencies must spend federal money they were already counting on.” The result, frequently, is state agencies having to spend limited federal money on lawmakers’ pet projects.
* I’ll sometimes refer to the troop “surge” so that it’ll be clear what I’m referring to, but as far as the rhetorical debate is concerned, it’s clearly an “escalation.”
* There’s just something that irks me about stories like this: “President Bush went to his ranch Tuesday to rethink U.S. involvement in Iraq.” Does anyone really believe that?
* And, finally, there’s odd result of a Georgia “blue” law this year: liquor stores will be closed on New Year’s Eve, because the day happens to fall on a Sunday this year. If ever there was a time to revisit these laws, I suspect there are plenty of people in the Peach State who would agree now would be ideal.
If none of these particular items are of interest, consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.