Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* Jaw-dropper from the AP<\/a>: “A B-52 bomber was mistakenly loaded with five nuclear warheads during a flight from North Dakota to Louisiana, a newspaper reported Wednesday. The bomber carried advanced cruise missiles as part of a Defense Department program to retire 400 of the missiles, the Military Times said.” Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called the mishandling of the weapons “deeply disturbing<\/a>” and said the committee would press the military for details. (thanks tAiO)<\/p>\n * AP<\/a>: “Ohio Rep. Paul Gillmor, a Republican whose political career covered four decades, has died, party officials said…. The body of the 68-year-old congressman was found by staff members who went to his apartment Wednesday after he failed to show up for work, according to a Republican aide who spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement. There was no immediate word on the cause of his death.”<\/p>\n * Seattle PI<\/a>: “Jennifer Dunn, a former six-term member of Congress, former chairwoman of the Washington State Republican Party and one of the state GOP’s most respected members, died Wednesday, her family announced. She was 66. A statement issued by the office of her son, King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, said, ‘Jennifer collapsed from a pulmonary embolism in her Alexandria, Va., apartment and never regained consciousness. She passed peacefully surrounded by family.'”<\/p>\n * Have you ever over-packed for a trip<\/a>? “The United States President, who arrived in Sydney last night, brought not one Jumbo jet, but three, as well as another two aircraft that carry aircraft. The President’s Jumbo has a back-up, and the back-up has a back-up.” Among those traveling with Bush are a doctor, nurse, personal chef, four cooks, 50 political aides, 150 national security advisers, and 200 specialists from other government departments.<\/p>\n * On a related note, this huge U.S. delegation arrived in Australia to some discouraging news: a majority of Aussies believe Bush is the worst president<\/a> in American history.<\/p>\n * Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on the power of the people<\/a> in Iraq’s democracy: “In a matter of weeks, we’re going to have a major breakthrough in Baghdad on items of political reconciliation — the benchmarks — because the Iraqi people are putting pressure on their politicians. That’s the best pressure that could be applied where people vote is have the people themselves, frustrated with their own elected representatives, having their say. And I saw that all over Iraq.” Hey, Lindsey, Americans<\/i> voted and expressed their frustration<\/a> with their elected representatives. Why aren’t you listening? * The DC Madam rolls out the national-security defense. Seriously<\/a>.<\/p>\n * How Republicans Govern 101<\/a>: “Where do you find a job after lobbying for a (potentially) corrupt failure of a subprime mortgage company? You go work for Gov. Jim Gibbons (R-NV) as commissioner of the state’s Mortgage Lending Division, of course! Gibbons just tapped Joe Waltuch, who served as legislative counsel to New Century Financial, which filed for bankruptcy protection in April (after predicting it wouldn’t cover its weekly payroll) and is now under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in California and the Securities Exchange Commission. Not surprisingly, some officials are pretty shocked by the choice.”<\/p>\n * Remember Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), the guy who left threatening voice mail messages<\/a> on some conservative constituents’ voicemail? He apologized yesterday<\/a>, saying “events have risen to a level that was unintended.”<\/p>\n * TP<\/a>: “Yesterday, President Bush named Barry Jackson to be Peter Wehnher’s replacement to run the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. Jackson was the major White House strategist behind Bush’s failed Social Security privatization ploy, and was one of the White House employees discovered to be using RNC email accounts to e-mail an associate of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.”<\/p>\n * Reed Hundt thinks there are plenty of reporters from the 2000 campaign who deserved to lose their jobs<\/a>. I couldn’t agree more.<\/p>\n * The “Harvard 100” rankings, in which the university’s most influential living alumni are listed, has Al Gore at number one. The president is number two<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* Among Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) many, many problems is his humiliating understanding<\/a> of climate change: “We’re at the end of a long, long term of warming. 700 to 900 years of increased temperature, a very slow increase. We think we’re close to the end of that. If we’re close to the end of that, that means that we’ll starting getting cooler gradually, not very rapidly, but cooler once again and stability might come to this region for a period of another 900 years.” Better to be silent and be thought a fool, Sen. Stevens, than speak and remove all doubt.<\/p>\n