Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The aftermath in China continues to unfold: “Rescuers arrived for the first time in the epicenter of China’s massive earthquake, scouring flattened mountain villages for thousands of victims and distributing air-dropped supplies to survivors. The death toll of nearly 15,000 appeared likely to soar far higher. Leveled hospitals forced doctors and nurses to treat survivors in the street. Helicopters dropped food and medicine to isolated towns. Mourners burned money before rows of bodies, believing their lost relatives could use it in the afterlife.”
* Conditions in Burma may yet get worse: “Another powerful storm headed toward Myanmar’s cyclone-devastated delta, where so little aid has been delivered that the United Nations warned on Wednesday of a “second wave of deaths” among an estimated 2 million survivors. The area was pulverized by Cyclone Nargis on May 3, with the Red Cross estimating on Wednesday the toll will be between 68,833 and 127,990.”
* Bloodshed near Baghdad: “Iraqi police say a suicide bomber killed 22 people and wounded at least 35 at the funeral of a Sunni school principal west of Baghdad. The bomber blew himself up in a funeral tent in the village of Abu Minasir. The funeral was for a grammar school principal who was shot and killed Tuesday.”
* Senate Republicans pulled a foolish stunt on the floor today to undercut the bipartisan GI Bill expansion, and give McCain’s watered-down version a better chance.
* Fortunately, the stunt failed, and McCain’s bill won’t be added to an unrelated bill giving public safety workers the right to unionize. (Yes, the GOP was playing stupid games with veterans’ benefits and first responders.)
* Karl Rove asked House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers if he can answer questions via mail. Today, Conyers responded: “No.”
* Unbelievable: “The U.S. government has injected hundreds of foreigners it has deported with dangerous psychotropic drugs against their will to keep them sedated during the trip back to their home country, according to medical records, internal documents and interviews with people who have been drugged. The government’s forced use of antipsychotic drugs, in people who have no history of mental illness, includes dozens of cases in which the “pre-flight cocktail,” as a document calls it, had such a potent effect that federal guards needed a wheelchair to move the slumped deportee onto an airplane.”
* McCain and the RNC did something similar, so this will keep things competitive: “Howard Dean announces: ‘As part of the agreement, a new entity, ‘Democratic White House Victory Fund,’ has been formed. The fund will allow both candidates to raise money for the Party, forming one joint fundraising committee account that will accept money for the nominee’s primary and general election and for the DNC.”
* ACLU: “The American Civil Liberties Union has obtained previously withheld documents from the Defense Department, including internal investigations into the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. Uncensored documents released as a result of the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit shed light on the deaths of detainees in Iraq and internal disagreement within the military over harsh interrogation practices used at Guantánamo Bay.”
* I can only hope that this kind of racism backfires.
* The New Hampshire phone-jamming scandal lives!
* Good point from Krugman: “Do you remember how, after the 2004 election, we had — according to all the talking heads — entered a new era of permanent Republican dominance? At that point the GOP held 232 seats in the House to the Democrats’ 202 — and this was thought of as overwhelming dominance. After last night’s special election in Miss., the Democrats hold 236 seats to the Republicans’ 199.”
* I had no idea HIV-positive people faced such onerous U.S. travel restrictions.
* I get the feeling Arlen Specter likes football a little too much.
* David Broder is accepting a contract buy-out, but he’s staying with the paper as a contract employee of The Washington Post Company. His column will reportedly remain unchanged.
* The WaPo editorial board noticed the problem with Cindy McCain’s tax returns.
* Chris Wallace and the “Fox & Friends” guys have made up.
* For the third year in a row, Miami, Fla. — the city in which I was born and raised — was named the worst American city for road rage. I’m really not surprised.
* And finally, you’ve seen Bill O’Reilly’s on-camera meltdown, but have you seen Stephen Colbert mocking O’Reilly’s on-camera meltdown?
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.
