Today’s edition of quick hits. <\/p>\n
* New details<\/a> on the State Department’s snooping on presidential candidates: “The Associated Press has learned that the two contractors fired for snooping into Barack Obama’s passport records worked for a Virginia-based company called Stanley Inc. Earlier this week, the 3,500-person company won a five-year, $570-million contract to support passport services at the State Department.”<\/p>\n * This<\/a> is overdue: “Something about HUD chief Alphonso Jackson’s reputation as the most cronyfied Bush administration official of all makes Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Patty Murray (D-WA) think he might not be the best man for the job. In a letter to President Bush today (which you can read in full below), the two, who chair on the two key oversight committees for HUD, say it’s time for Bush to pull the rug out from under his most loyal cabinet member.”<\/p>\n * The Chinese aren’t going to be happy<\/a>: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met with the Dalai Lama and offered words of support for Tibetan protesters and criticism of China\u2019s crackdown during a visit Friday to Dharamsala, India, the headquarters of Tibetan exiles. ‘If freedom-loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China’s oppression in Tibet we have lost all moral authority to speak on human rights anywhere in the world,’ Pelosi said.”<\/p>\n * Want to know what would make matters in Iraq worse<\/a>? “The success of the US “surge” strategy in Iraq may be under threat as Sunni militia employed by the US to fight al-Qaida are warning of a national strike because they are not being paid regularly. Leading members of the 80,000-strong Sahwa, or awakening, councils have said they will stop fighting unless payment of their $10 a day wage is resumed. The fighters are accusing the US military of using them to clear al-Qaida militants from dangerous areas and then abandoning them.”<\/p>\n * Speaking of Iraq<\/a>: “At least two Iraqi families of victims killed by Blackwater security guards in September tell ABC News they have refused compensation offered by the company.” Blackwater offered $20,000 for each victim. “Several of the Iraqi families have already filed lawsuits against Blackwater in U.S. courts, alleging the security guards were guilty of ‘war crimes.'”<\/p>\n * It appears, based on Bill O’Reilly’s standards<\/a>, that Fox News is running a hate site<\/a> on par with the KKK and the Nazis. * It was quite a lively episode of “Fox and Friends” this morning. Not only did Chris Wallace take the conservative trio of hosts to task, but Brian Kilmeade literally walked off the set<\/a> after a dispute with his co-hosts Gretchen Carlson and Steve Doocy.<\/p>\n * The Clinton campaign’s financial troubles are so serious, it may be “in the red<\/a>.” Not a good sign.<\/p>\n * Lawrence Lessig’s new project: “Change Congress<\/a>.”<\/p>\n * Remember the girl in Clinton’s “3 a.m.” ad? She’s a young woman now, and she’s made an ad of her own<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Bizarre Right-Wing Ugliness of the Day, Part I<\/a>: “Discussing his opposition to the Uniting American Families Act \u2014 ‘which would allow gay Americans the same right straight Americans have to sponsor a foreign partner for citizenship’ \u2014 Family Research Council Vice President Peter Sprigg recently offered rhetorical support for exporting gay men and women from America. ‘I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them into the United States because we believe homosexuality is destructive to society,’ said Sprigg.”<\/p>\n
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\n* Good point<\/a>: “Last week the McCain campaign included an op-ed slamming Obama and the Rev. Wright in its morning clip package to reporters — then later in the day had an aide say they regretted doing so. This week, the campaign suspended an aide for Twittering the appalling ‘Is Obama Wright?’ video. I’m starting to believe that the Senator’s campaign isn’t entirely serious when it emphasizes its commitment to avoiding any and all ugly personal attacks in this race. Either that or senior aides are having a hell of a time communicating that seriousness.”<\/p>\n