Today’s edition of quick hits.
* We’ll see if the Bosnia story is still dogging Clinton tomorrow, but for today, it’s still a headache: “Clinton told reporters in Pennsylvania on Tuesday that she erred in describing the scene, which she now realizes after talking with aides and others. ‘So I made a mistake,’ she said. ‘That happens. It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.'” (The campaign has not yet explained why the senator made the same mistake several times.)
* Well, this isn’t good: “A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming’s impact on Earth’s southernmost continent. Scientists are shocked by the rapid change of events. Glaciologist Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado was monitoring satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and spotted a huge iceberg measuring 25 miles by 1.5 miles (about 10 times the area of Manhattan) that appeared to have broken away from the shelf.”
* A poorly timed attack: “A spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s campaign sent out a press release Tuesday morning belatedly attacking Barack Obama for his failure to release his tax returns – at virtually the exact moment the Illinois senator’s campaign posted his 2000-2006 filings on his campaign Web site. ‘In the public record there are 20 years of Hillary’s tax returns, hundreds of thousands of pages of records from her time in White House and countless other documents detailing her time in public life. Sen. Obama’s record is far more opaque. Sen. Obama has not released his tax returns, except for 2006,’ Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement sent to reporters just as the Obama camp posted the Illinois senator’s returns online.”
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seems unusually confident that the Democrats’ nominating mess will be resolved before the convention. He told Molly Ball of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “[I]t will be done. I had a conversation with Governor Dean (Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean) today. Things are being done.” Beyond those cryptic words, no one knows.
* This should be a fascinating lawsuit: “[N]ine Americans are accusing KBR, then a subsidiary of the oil conglomerate Halliburton, of knowingly exposing them to the deadly substance [sodium dichromate] and failing to provide them with the protective equipment needed to keep them safe.” KBR is claiming immunity under a WWII-era federal workers compensation law, but the employees have a clever response: “[T]he company’s own actions have undermined its case: To avoid payroll taxes for its American employees, KBR hired the workers through two subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands, part of a strategy that has allowed KBR to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes.”
* Speaking of interesting cases, word from the Supremes today: “The Supreme Court today said President Bush does not have to power to order state courts to reopen a death penalty case involving a foreign national because of a judgment of the World Court. The court held 6-3 that judgments of the international court are not binding on U.S. courts and that President Bush’s order that courts in Texas comply anyway does not change that. The court’s decision, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., was a rebuke to the government in a case that involved the powers of all three branches of government, the intricacies of treaties and the international debate over the death penalty.”
* This won’t help the administration’s competency problems: “The U.S. Air Force mistakenly shipped fuses that are used in nuclear weapons to Taiwan in 2006, believing the crates contained helicopter batteries, officials at the Pentagon announced this morning. The error — undetected by the United States until last week, despite repeated inquiries by Taiwan — raises questions about how carefully the Pentagon safeguards its weapons systems. It also exposes the United States to criticism from China, a staunch opponent of a militarized Taiwan. Pentagon officials said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has launched a full investigation.”
* Let’s not forget about the House contempt lawsuit: “We knew that the House’s lawsuit against White House officials would take awhile. And it turns out that it’ll be June, at the earliest, before a judge makes his first decision in the House’s suit against Harriet Miers and White House chief of staff Josh Bolten. That relatively rapid pace (for the courts, at least) is the result of the House pushing for quicker resolution of some of the White House’s more expansive claims of executive privilege.”
* Sooner or later, we’ll go a whole week without controversial news from the governor’s office in New York: “New York’s new governor, who disclosed last week that he and his wife committed adultery several years ago, said Monday he used cocaine in his 20s and smoked marijuana when he was younger.”
* There sure are a lot of high-profile senators “misspeaking” lately. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is the latest.
* And finally, after a full year of campaigning, 25 years in Congress, and two lengthy presidential races, John McCain is learning how to read a prepared speech: “In an effort to improve John McCain’s big speech delivery, his campaign put in place for today’s speech a large flat screen monitor and two side panel teleprompters. Campaign officials have expressed concern that McCain has looked in prior speeches like he was watching a tennis match. Today, by installing a large monitor in the back of the room, McCain is able to fix his gaze straight ahead.” He’s just now getting to this?
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.