Today’s edition of quick hits. <\/p>\n
* Market watching these days is enough to give someone whiplash<\/a>: “Wall Street swung between steep losses and large gains Wednesday, as investors wrestled with fears that a recession in the United States is inevitable. Each of the major indexes at times were down more than 2 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which fell more than 320 points before rebounding. Some investors seeking safety turned to Treasury bonds, often a haven as the stock market plunges.”<\/p>\n * I suspect it will surprise no one to hear that the war in Iraq is costing a lot of money<\/a>: “The Iraq war may not dominate U.S. news reports as the carnage drops, but a new report underscores the financial burden of persistent combat that is helping run up the government’s credit card. ‘Funding for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other activities in the war on terrorism expanded significantly in 2007,’ the Congressional Budget Office said in a report released on Wednesday.” By the CBO’s estimate, Iraq is costing $11 billion a month.<\/p>\n * On a related note, the CBO also concluded that the U.S. budget deficit for the current year would increase to a quarter-trillion dollars<\/a>. This does not include the cost of a likely economic stimulus package, which will likely add an additional $100 billion to the nation’s charge card. I vaguely recall hearing Bush bragging about cutting his record-high budget deficits “in half” before leaving office. Just another presidential assurance Bush didn’t mean and couldn’t keep.<\/p>\n * There’s no better time than a recession for Republicans to block healthcare for low-income kids<\/a>: “The House Democratic leadership again failed to win over enough Republicans to undo President Bush’s veto of a children’s health insurance bill Wednesday. The 260-152 vote fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto on the measure, which would have added $35 billion to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and, Democrats assert, provided health benefits to 10 million children.” A group of 42 Republicans broke party ranks, but that wasn’t nearly enough.<\/p>\n * In an unusually inane report, ABC News told viewers that Barack Obama had a confrontational and “testy” exchange with a reporter on the campaign trail yesterday. ABC’s report was almost comically misleading<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Dems still want to know<\/a> if Michael Mukasey can now<\/i> explain whether he believes waterboarding constitutes torture. The cat still has the AG’s tongue. * AP<\/a>: “Tens of thousands of Palestinians on foot and on donkey carts poured into Egypt from Gaza Wednesday after masked gunmen used land mines to blast down a seven-mile barrier dividing the border town of Rafah. The border breach was a dramatic protest against the closure of the impoverished Palestinian territory imposed last week by Israel.”<\/p>\n * Oh dear<\/a>: “Senior Democrats have decided that holding a controversial vote on the contempt citations, which have already been approved by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, would ‘step on their message’ of bipartisan unity in the midst of the stimulus package talks.” Here’s a tip: the Bush White House will continue to treat Congress and its subpoenas as an easily-ignored annoyance until they think there may be consequences.<\/p>\n * No matter who’s using them, loyalty oaths make me uncomfortable<\/a>: “Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich asked the Supreme Court Thursday to block the Texas Democratic Party from using a loyalty oath to keep him off the presidential primary ballot. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a similar request earlier Thursday. Kucinich and singer-supporter Willie Nelson are pressing the case, objecting to the Texas Democratic Party’s oath that a presidential candidate must ‘fully support’ the party’s eventual nominee. Kucinich crossed out the oath when he filed for a spot on the primary ballot. A federal judge in Austin ruled against Kucinich last week. U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel ruled the state party has the right to require the oath.” (thanks to JJF for the tip)<\/p>\n * The New Hampshire recount doesn’t<\/a> seem to be having much of an effect.<\/p>\n
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\n* Hillary Clinton’s Senate predecessor, Daniel Patrick Moynihan<\/a>, also described modern Republicans as the “party of ideas.” One assumes her campaign won’t mention this in its misleading radio ads.<\/p>\n