Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* It’s hard to believe how ridiculous the Pentagon’s new war-spending plan<\/a> is.<\/p>\n * Right-wing blogs were apoplectic yesterday, but the AP is standing behind its story<\/a> about Shiite militiamen who dragged six worshippers from a Sunni mosque, doused them with kerosene, and set them on fire.<\/p>\n * To his credit, pastor Rick Warren says he’s heard the criticism, but he’s not going to rescind<\/a> his invitation to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). He noted, however, that a) he disagrees with Obama on reproductive rights; and b) Obama is addressing a conference at the church, not the church’s congregation.<\/p>\n * Speaking of Obama, his middle name may apparently cause some heartache for the media<\/a>. It’s “Hussein.”<\/p>\n * Brandon Mayfield was the Oregon man who was arrested in 2004 and held for two weeks for allegedly aiding the terrorist bombings of Spanish commuter trains — which he had nothing to do with. Today, he won a $2 million settlement<\/a> from the U.S. government.<\/p>\n * Good post<\/a> from Publius on the “Antichrist Superstar.”<\/p>\n * Good post<\/a> from Ron Chusid on “losing the enlightenment.”<\/p>\n * Now Newt Gingrich believes<\/a> that “unless the Bush administration admits that the war in Iraq is a ‘failure,’ it will never develop a strategy to leave the country successfully.” The last time Newt talked this way<\/a>, he quickly backed off the next day. * About $2 billion worth of Army and Marine Corps equipment — from rifles to tanks — is wearing out or being destroyed<\/a> every month in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n * How to force a new election<\/a> in Florida’s 13th congressional district.<\/p>\n * Great, another Roy Moore-like fight<\/a> over the Ten Commandments. That’ll be fun.<\/p>\n * The “war on penguins” continues unabated<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* Bush’s far-right appointments continue, this time for the Office on Violence Against Women<\/a>.<\/p>\n