Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled today<\/a> that foreign-born prisoners seized as potential terrorists and held in Guantanamo Bay may not challenge their detention in U.S. courts. In the 2-1 ruling, which is sure to be appealed to the Supreme Court, the appeals court said, “civilian courts no longer have the authority to consider whether the military is illegally holding the prisoners — a decision that will strip court access for hundreds of detainees with cases currently pending.”<\/p>\n * Front-page exposes matter: the Walter Reed Army Medical Center quickly began repairs<\/a> on a former hotel housing veteran patients recuperating from injuries suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Washington Post exposed the often-deplorable conditions the veterans were living in, prompting immediate action from Walter Reed officials.<\/p>\n * On a related note, Michael J. Wagner, who directed the Army’s largest effort to help the most vulnerable soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, was simultaneously getting paid to provide vital service to patients and “seeking funders and soliciting donations for his own new charity<\/a>.” Last week, Walter Reed launched a criminal investigation of Wagner after The Washington Post sought a response to his activities while he ran the Army’s Medical Family Assistance Center, a position he left several weeks ago. You did a heckuva job, Mikey.<\/p>\n * John McCain said Monday that the war in Iraq has been mismanaged for years and he knows who to blame. “I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history<\/a>,” McCain said to applause. In November, upon Rumsfeld’s retirement, McCain said, “While Secretary Rumsfeld and I have had our differences, he deserves Americans’ respect and gratitude for his many years of public service.”<\/p>\n * Two months after suffering a brain hemorrhage, South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson (D) has left his hospital room<\/a> and entered a private rehabilitation facility.<\/p>\n * Strict voter ID laws “can reduce turnout<\/a>, particularly among minorities.” Turnout in the 2004 elections “was about 4% lower in states that required voters to sign their name or produce documentation. Hispanic turnout was 10% lower; the difference was about 6% for blacks and Asian-Americans.” * On a related note, the NYT reports<\/a> on the ways in which Cheney and Libby ran their own renegade White House operation, which included “occasionally misleading colleagues at the highest levels of Mr. Bush’s inner circle.” The main problem, of course, was that their operation was hopeless inept and ineffectual. It may be the reason Cheney may not be quite as powerful<\/a> now as he once was.<\/p>\n * On yet another related note, the New York Daily News reminds us that the White House vowed in 2003 that any staffer proven to have leaked CIA officer Valerie Plame’s identity “would no longer be in this administration.” The Daily News, by virtue of revelations from the Plame trial, then lists 10 other top officials<\/a> (other than Libby) who “blabbed about the spy whose job as a covert agent was classified as an official government secret.”<\/p>\n * Michael Crichton now wants to evade responsibility for his role in creating public confusion about climate change. Tough<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* There were several major Cheney pieces in the media over the last 24 hours, including this key report<\/a> from National Journal’s Murray Waas. ” If Libby is found guilty, investigators are likely to probe further to determine if Libby devised what they consider a cover story in an effort to shield Cheney…. Had Cheney testified, he would have been questioned about whether he encouraged, or had knowledge of, the leaking of Plame’s CIA status. Sources close to the case say that Cheney would have also been sharply questioned as to why, when presented by Libby with what prosecutors regarded as a cover story to explain away Libby’s role in the leak, Cheney did nothing to discourage him.”<\/p>\n