Today’s edition of quick hits. <\/p>\n
* The tragic massacre<\/a> in DeKalb: “The 27-year-old gunman who killed five students and himself in a university lecture hall was known as “an outstanding student” but had stopped taking medication a couple of weeks ago and had been behaving erratically, police said Friday.”<\/p>\n * Additional details<\/a>: “Law enforcement officials said [Stephen] Kazmierczak started buying his guns last August, all legally and all from the same gun dealer in Champaign, where he was enrolled at the University of Illinois. He bought a Sig Sauer 9mm on Aug. 6 and a Highpoint .380 on Dec. 30. Two of the weapons \u2014 the pump-action Remington shotgun and a Glock 9mm handgun \u2014 were purchased less than a week ago, on Saturday, authorities said. He had a valid permit required for all Illinois residents who buy or possess firearms, authorities said. ”<\/p>\n * Is the Clinton campaign really going to try and ride the “only 18 debates thus far<\/a>” wave to victory in Wisconsin? It seems to me she has stronger pitches than this one.<\/p>\n * The SEIU endorsement was expected, but now it’s official<\/a>: “The Service Employees International Union gave Barack Obama its highly prized endorsement on Friday afternoon. The S.E.I.U.\u2019s endorsement is especially coveted because the union has 1.9 million members and has a rank-and-file that is far more politically active than most other unions\u2019. Moreover, its political action committee is expected to collect more than $30 million this campaign, making it one of the biggest PACs in the nation.”<\/p>\n * Justice Department Official Steven Bradbury argued, without a hint of irony, that the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding isn’t like the torture technique used during the Spanish Inquisition, but rather<\/a>, is like “the sort popularized by the French in Algeria, and by the Khmer Rouge. This technique involves placing a cloth or plastic wrap over or in the person’s mouth, and pouring or dripping water onto the person’s head.” I suppose this is supposed to make us feel better about the national disgrace?<\/p>\n * After 13 months of campaigning, Obama has passed Clinton in national polls<\/a> for the first time. (Of course, Obama fans shouldn’t get too<\/i> excited about this, given that it’s a state-by-state race, not a national one.) * As it turns out, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was also<\/i> against torture before he was for it<\/a>. No wonder he and McCain get along so well.<\/p>\n * There’s at least some evidence that the term “socialized medicine” may not be nearly as scary<\/a> to Americans as Republicans would like to believe.<\/p>\n * Al Gore told a group of businesspeople yesterday that the mortgage crisis and the financial risks facing investors in carbon-based industries are worth comparing<\/a>: “You need to really scrub your investment portfolios, because I guarantee you — as my longtime good redneck friends in Tennessee say, I guaran-damn-tee you — that if you really take a fine-tooth comb and go through your portfolios, many of you are going to find them chock-full of subprime carbon assets…. The assumption that you can safely invest in assets that come from business models that assume carbon is free is an assumption that is about to go splat…. You have lots of assets, many of you do, in your portfolios right now that truly do deserve that epithet \u201csubprime.’\u201d<\/p>\n * If Dems used winner-take-all primaries like Republicans do, Clinton would have a big lead over Obama. If Republicans used proportional primaries like Dems do, Romney would practically be tied<\/a> with McCain. Interesting.<\/p>\n * Given his history, Chris Matthews should probably just not talk about Hillary Clinton at all, but he apparently can’t help himself<\/a>: “Chris Matthews fired a salvo at the Clinton campaign this morning after both he and his MSNBC colleague were privately and publicly rebuked for recent comments deemed misogynistic or inappropriate. Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, the Hardball host went off on the Clinton press shop, calling them ‘knee cappers’ who were ‘lousy’ and delve in the business of ‘intimidation.'”<\/p>\n * Fascinating item<\/a> from Cernig: “There were over 24,000 tapes made of interrogations at Gitmo, according to official statements by military officers. What happened to them?”<\/p>\n * Remember all of those times Rudy Giuliani bragged about his budget skills? Well, never mind all that; his defunct campaign is facing a mountain of debt<\/a>. \u201cWe are deeper in the hole than I thought we would be,\u201d wrote John Gross, the campaign\u2019s treasurer, in an e-mail message to several senior campaign aides obtained by the Times.<\/p>\n
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\n* Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, a prominent Clinton backer, is opposed<\/a> to the Clinton campaign’s efforts to count delegates from Michigan and Florida. \u201cYou don\u2019t change the rules in the middle of the game. Period,” Kerrey said.<\/p>\n