Today’s edition of quick hits. <\/p>\n
* I wonder what the whole story is here<\/a>: “Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that a confrontation between Iranian boats and U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf over the weekend was ‘something normal’ and was resolved. It suggested the Iranian boats had not recognized the U.S. vessels. The Pentagon said that in the incident early Sunday, five small Iranian boats repeatedly ‘charged’ U.S. warships in the Gulf’s Hormuz Strait and dropped boxes in the water. The boats warned the U.S. ships that they would set up ‘explosions,’ a U.S. Defense Department official said…. But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Hosseini played down the incident, suggesting it was an issue of mistaken identity.”<\/p>\n * Some have trouble remembering that he ever entered the race for the Republican nomination, but Duncan Hunter announced today that he’s not going to withdraw<\/a>: “Underdog GOP presidential candidate Duncan Hunter lashed out at ‘knucklehead media executives’ who did not include him in this weekend’s New Hampshire primary debates, telling reporters he was staying in the race despite widespread expectations he would announce his withdrawal.” Hunter announced, “I’m not going to quit. I’m staying in.”<\/p>\n * The Republicans’ culture of corruption is poised to lose<\/a> one of its more notable culprits: “The California Majority Report reports that Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), one of the long-time subjects of the Jack Abramoff investigation, “will announce that he will not seek re-election.” That could come as soon as this week, reports John Bresnahan of The Politico. Back in September, Doolittle proclaimed ‘I am running again. Period.'” The Justice Department is still reportedly building a criminal case against the California Republican.<\/p>\n * William Kristol is off to a great start: his inaugural column includes a quote attributed to Michelle Malkin, which was actually delivered<\/a> by Michael Medved. It seems like the kind of thing a writer might want to get straight before publishing in the New York Times, but then again, if the NYT were concerned about standards and accuracy, it wouldn’t have hired Kristol at all.<\/p>\n * Newsweek<\/a>: “Attorney general Michael Mukasey’s decision to launch a full-scale FBI probe into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes has sent several alarmed agency employees scrambling to find lawyers. To lead the probe, the A.G. named John Durham, a hard-nosed veteran prosecutor who is assembling a team of deputies and FBI agents. Some CIA veterans fear the move is tantamount to unleashing an independent counsel on Langley. ‘A lot of people are worried,’ says one former CIA official, who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters.” * Time to retire, Andy Rooney<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Was Frank Luntz’s pro-Romney focus group on Fox News last night orchestrated? There are some interesting questions<\/a> being raised.<\/p>\n * Former Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and John Breaux (D-La.) are opening up a bipartisan lobbying shop<\/a> along with their sons, Chet Lott and John Breaux Jr. This comes as a surprise to … absolutely no one.<\/p>\n * BBC<\/a>: “The average UK person will this year have a greater income than their US counterpart for the first time since the 19th Century, figures suggest…. Analyst Oxford Economics said the UK’s GDP per head of population will reach \u00a323,500 – \u00a3250 higher than in the US.”<\/p>\n * The latest on Sibel Edmonds<\/a>.<\/p>\n * George McGovern makes the case<\/a> for Bush’s impeachment. And Cheney’s.<\/p>\n * Mike Huckabee’s tax policy is still remarkably, breathtakingly dumb<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* In case there were any doubts about the still-dangerous conditions<\/a> in Iraq: “Two suicide bombers struck in a Sunni Arab district of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 14 people including the leader of a U.S.-backed neighborhood security patrol, police said. The strikes were the latest in an apparent stepped-up campaign of suicide bombings that has seen major attacks nearly every day for the past two weeks, even as overall levels of violence in Iraq have fallen.”<\/p>\n