Today’s edition of quick hits.
* This may prove to be the only thing that makes matters in Iraq worse than they are now: “Turkey has voted itself the right to launch cross-border military attacks on Kurdish separatist fighters holed up in Northern Iraq, but it has not yet decided to exercise that right. The Turkish Parliament on Wednesday authorized military operations into neighboring Iraq to hunt down guerrillas of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker’s Party, or PKK, which continues to launch attacks inside Turkey that have killed more than 30 Turks in recent weeks. Although Turkey has sent troops on similar missions in northern Iraq on up to two dozen previous occasions during the 1980s and 90s, this would be the first such incursion since U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 and took responsibility for security in Iraq.”
* Speaking of Turkey, the House resolution on Armenian genocide looks like it’s fading fast. Opponents of the measure claimed this afternoon that they had secured the votes to defeat the resolution. “If it were to run today, it would not pass,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) said at a late-morning news conference Wednesday . “I think the decision has been made by the members; (the resolution supporters) don’t have the votes.”
* China is apparently thoroughly annoyed that the president and Congress joined today to bestow the nation’s highest civilian honor on the Dalai Lama at a ceremony in the Capitol. Though Bush said the ceremony was not meant to antagonize the Chinese, he made repeated references to religious oppression. “Americans cannot look to the plight of the religiously oppressed and close our eyes or turn away,” Bush said.
* Washington Times: A defiant Blackwater Chairman Erik Prince said yesterday he will not allow Iraqi authorities to arrest his contractors and try them in Iraq’s faulty justice system…. ‘In an ideal sense, if there was wrongdoing, there could be a trial brought in the Iraqi court system. But that would imply that there is a valid Iraqi court system where Westerners could get a fair trial. That is not the case right now,’ said Mr. Prince.”
* Prospects for the telecom immunity measure supported by the White House dimmed a bit late yesterday, when Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) announced his opposition. “I certainly would not give them immunity retroactively on programs that we don’t know what they are,” Specter said.
* The NYT reported that most of the Republican presidential candidates are not actively hostile to addressing global warming. That may sound like progress, but Brian Beutler explains why there’s reason for skepticism.
* Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-Mo.) shameless dishonesty about kidnapped troops is breathtaking.
* Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R-Calif.) shameless dishonesty about Blackwater is just as bad.
* McClatchy: “One of the Bush administration’s key foreign policy successes — brokering an end to a 21-year war between northern and southern Sudan — is coming apart even as U.N. and African diplomats step up peace efforts in Sudan’s other crisis, the conflict in the western Darfur region.”
* I find it interesting that many of Bush’s 2004 “Pioneers” and “Rangers,” his top fundraisers, haven’t donated to any of the Republican candidates at all this cycle. But I find it really interesting that more than two dozen of these generous GOP donors have actually contributed to Democratic candidates.
* The House vote on the Dems’ FISA revision bill (called the RESTORE Act) should come sometime this afternoon, but House Republicans are doing everything possible to scuttle the legislation.
* Have you heard about the country music song devoted to Rick Santorum’s daughter crying after her father lost his re-election race last year? Steve M. has the story.
* Fox News’ Steve Doocy just isn’t very bright. Poor guy.
* I try not to do this often, but I can’t help myself on this one. One of the far-right blogs I check for one of my other gigs had a post claiming that Dems “abuse the language” to achieve partisan ends. The headline read, “Democrat language abuse.” The irony is rich — I think he was looking for the word “Democratic.”
* NYT: “A public radio station here stopped running underwriting messages from Planned Parenthood and returned its $5,000 donation after the station’s license holder, Duquesne University, decided the organization was ‘not aligned with our Catholic identity.'”
* Stephen Colbert announced last night he will seek the presidency, but will run in his native state of South Carolina “and South Carolina alone.” As the AP added, “Exactly how far the mock conservative pundit planned to stretch his impression of a presidential candidate wasn’t clear.”
* And finally, Lynne Cheney told MSNBC yesterday, “Think about this. This is such an amazing American story that one ancestor, a man that came to Maryland, could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths as Dick’s and Barack Obama’s.” Yes, apparently Obama and Dick Cheney are eighth cousins. Reacting to the news, Obama’s campaign spokesman Bill Burton told CNN, “Obviously, Dick Cheney is sort of the black sheep of the family.”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.