Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* Monica Goodling, a senior counselor to Gonzales who worked closely with Kyle Sampson on the prosecutor firings, will plead the 5th<\/a>. I’ll have more on this tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n * Best wishes to Rep. Nick Lampson<\/a> (D-Texas) for a speedy recovery.<\/p>\n * Last week, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted he would stay on the job because he’s so “focused on protecting our kids<\/a>.” It was a rather weak defense, and as it turns out, protecting children isn’t his strongpoint anyway<\/a>: “Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton…are now being accused of failing to prosecute officers of the Texas Youth Commission after a Texas Ranger investigation documented that guards and administrators were sexually abusing the institution’s minor boy inmates.”<\/p>\n * Supporters of the Democrats’ deadline for the war in Iraq outnumber opponents, 59% to 33%<\/a>.<\/p>\n * You’ve probably heard rumors that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists. When it comes to Iraq, the rumors aren’t true<\/a>: “The senior American envoy in Iraq, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, held talks last year with men he believed represented major insurgent groups in a drive to bring militant Sunni Arabs into politics…. Mr. Khalilzad’s willingness even to approach rebel groups seemed at odds with the public position of some Bush administration officials that the United States does not negotiate with insurgents.”<\/p>\n * George Will apparently equates<\/a> Paul Krugman with Ann Coulter. Wow.<\/p>\n * The NYT ran a rather shameless puff piece<\/a> on 32-year-old Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), the number three man in the House GOP caucus. As far as I can tell from the article, Putnam’s most notable accomplishment this year has been levying false charges against Speaker Pelosi about her military plane. Putnam later acknowledged that he didn’t know if his charges were true, and didn’t care if he was lying<\/a>. The NYT article neglected to mention this. * It wasn’t a good weekend for privacy advocates. Not only was the NYPD spying on harmless, law-abiding protestors, but the government database that serves as a feeder for all terrorist watch lists has quadrupled in size<\/a>. It’s too easy to get added to the database, and practically impossible to get out of it.<\/p>\n * If this racist and homophobic email<\/a> from a military recruiter to a potential recruit isn’t enough to get the guy fired, the military needs to reevaluate its employment standards.<\/p>\n * The state of Massachusetts chose a Diebold competitor for a state contract, so Diebold is suing<\/a> local officials. (thanks to R.M. for the tip)<\/p>\n * If you’re interested, here’s an online survey<\/a> exploring the role of Internet advertising in American politics.<\/p>\n * The satirical newspaper The Onion is out with a special issue<\/a> this week, “The War in Iraq: Celebrating Four Years of Winning.”<\/p>\n * Jonathan Chait explores<\/a> why some conservatives seem to become more hostile to climate change science whenever it’s bolstered by more evidence.<\/p>\n
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\n* The Smithsonian announced this afternoon that its top official, Secretary Lawrence Small, has resigned<\/a> in the wake of a scandal involving his expense account. An internal audit in January found that Small had made $90,000 in unauthorized expenses, including private jet travel and expensive gifts, and charged the Smithsonian more than $1.1 million for use of his home since 2000. (thanks to Gridlock for the tip)<\/p>\n