Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) signed a civil unions bill<\/a> into law today, making New Jersey the third state to institute a law that grants gay couples “all the rights and responsibilities of marriage under state law.”<\/p>\n * One more argument against Rep. Virgil Goode’s (R-Va.) ridiculous anti-Ellison, anti-Muslim thesis: Ellison traces his American ancestors back to 1742 and isn’t an immigrant<\/a>.<\/p>\n * I’ve mildly critical of Sandy Berger and his handling of classified materials, but I probably haven’t been nearly critical enough<\/a>. The guy’s recklessness, irresponsibility, and stupid conduct was truly ridiculous.<\/p>\n * The New Year’s Eve declassification<\/a> of hundreds of millions of classified government documents — including 275 million from the FBI alone — should keep historians, researchers, and scholars busy for a very long time. The fact that Bush didn’t block the documents’ release (though he still has 10 days to change his mind) is one of the better decisions he’s made.<\/p>\n * I think Hillary did quite well<\/a> on “The View” this morning.<\/p>\n * Not surprisingly, McCain-Feingold provisions are running into some legal trouble<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Kudos to Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) for getting behind a plan<\/a> for publicly-financed campaigns. May other governors follow her example.<\/p>\n * Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), caught on film welcoming the assassination of Fidel Castro, blammed filmmakers for having doctoring the video. She was lying. Blatantly<\/a>. * It’s encouraging to see that “An Inconvenient Truth” will be made available, for free, to so many teachers<\/a>.<\/p>\n * Any new Koufax Award categories<\/a> you’d like to see?<\/p>\n * If I didn’t know better, I’d say Bill O’Reilly doesn’t actually watch<\/a> Fox News.<\/p>\n * Publius has some good advice<\/a> for the GOP today. I don’t think they’re listening, but it’s good advice anyway.<\/p>\n
\n
\n* Eric Kent made it through two tours of duty in Iraq and one in Afghanistan with hardly a scratch — but had to go to the hospital<\/a> after trying to open one of those awful plastic containers used with electronics products.<\/p>\n