Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

Primary Road

• Okay, this is what we know (as of bedtime last night) [CNN]
• North Carolina, Barack Obama — 56% — 42%
• Indiana, Hillary Clinton — 52% — 48%.
• NC: What were they thinking? According to exit polls, people in North Carolina were seriously concerned about their wallets. “An overwhelming majority of North Carolina Democrats voting for president Tuesday said they’ve been hurt by what they’re calling a recession.”
• NC: What they weren’t thinking: The state was split almost in half as to whether they cared about the whole Rev. Wright controversy.
• IN: How they voted: Sen. Clinton’s strategy to concentrate on blue-collar workers may have worked — rural residents voted two-to-one for Hillary
• IN: What they weren’t thinking: The state was split almost in half as to whether they cared about the whole Rev. Wright controversy.

Here comes the math.

The War Over Supporting The Troops

• The war in Washington continues over whether or not to give educational benefits to American soldiers returning from combat. [Think Progress]
• On the side of Light and Truth, Sen. Jim Webb (D., VA).
• Sen. Web is the sponsor of the 21st Century GI Bill, legislation who would pay a big chunk of college costs for military vets and members of the national guard who’ve served in active duty for two years after 9/11.
• On Webb’s Side: 56 Senators, including 10 Republicans. [Library of Congress]
• On the Other Side: The Pentagon. The White House.
• The Pentagon and the White House say they are afraid too many soldiers will actually come home and get that education instead of re-upping for another tour of duty.
• Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Miller yesterday said, “...We think pegging it to a longer period of service — the number we have in mind, at this point, is six years of service — that the longer you stay in, the sweeter the benefits are to you. Six years would show a commitment to service.”
  Please log in to download this clip.
• Let’s put this in context.
• a) We’re pretty sure two years in Iraq shows a “commitment to service,” don’t you?
• b) Under these terms, a soldier who’d gone to Iraq with the invasion in 2003 and had stayed there ever since would *still* be a year short for qualifying for the benefit.
• We like how NYT columnist Bob Herbert put it: [NY Times]
• “The notion that expanding educational benefits will have a negative effect on retention seems silly. The Webb bill would cover tuition at a rate comparable to the highest tuition at a state school in the state in which the veteran would be enrolled. That kind of solid benefit would draw talented individuals into the military in large numbers. … Politicians tend to talk very, very big about supporting our men and women in uniform. But time and again — whether it’s about providing armor for their safety or an education for their future — we find that talk to be very, very cheap.”

How about you have to serve in Iraq for 2 years before you’re allowed to vote against the bill? Seems fair to us.

The White House Keyser Soze

No more Mr. Nice Guy! The Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee yesterday authorized its chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D., NJ) to subpoena top Dick Cheney aid David Addington. [NY Times]

Who is David Addington? Let’s take a stroll down memory lane. [The New Yorker] [US News] [NY Review of Books]

RESUME

• Job: Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, top adviser.
• Nicknames: “Cheney’s Cheney.” “Cheney’s Hitman.” “The most powerful person no one has ever heard of.” “Keyser Soze.”
• Claim To Fame: Played central role in crafting the “New Paradigm,” a strategy that says “that the President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority to disregard virtualy all previously known legal boundaries, if national security demands it.”

EXAMPLES

• Okay. David Addington…
• Drafted or helped the people who drafted the torture memos.
• Was the “leading architect” of President Bush’s signing statements, allowing him to bypass or ignore laws he doesn’t want to follow.
• Orchestrated the plan to override the FISA laws and wiretap Americans without warrants.
• Crafted the military tribunal system to prosecute detainees, bypassing people like Secretary of State Colin Powell, then-National Security Adviser Condi Rice and then-head of the Justice Department criminal division, Michael Chertoff.
• Came up with the idea that detainees should be held indefinitely without legal recourse
• Led the campaign to defeat the McCain amendment to ban the abusive treatment of detainees. (He was defeated, but then won again when President Bush attached a signing statement to the amendment.)
• Helped vet the (false) claim that Saddam Hussein tried to buy yellowcake from Niger.
• Fought to keep Dick Cheney from releasing documents related to his top-secret, controversial Energy Task Force meetings (in which the vice president was suspected of allowing energy industry lobbyists influence policy.)
• And much, much more!

QUOTES ABOUT DAVID ADDINGTON

• Former Secretary of State Colin Powell: “He doesn’t care about the Constitution.”
• Republican legal activist who served as dpty. Attorney General Bruce Fein: “Cheney and Addington are not students of history. If they were, they’d know that the Founding Fathers would be shocked by what they’ve done.”

Not to be confused with David Addison, the wise-cracking detective portrayed by Bruce Willis in the iconic 80s show “Moonlighting.”

Good News, Bad News

What’s in a name?

California finally made it easy for men to take their wives last names, but it wasn’t without a fight. One Cali man fought for two years, filed a lawsuit alleging sex discrimination paid a $350 fee, went to several court appearances, and filled out enough paperwork to fill a forest. Thanks to all his work, and the ACLU, both married couples and domestic partners can now choose whichever last name they’d prefer on their marriage and drivers licenses. [ABS-CBN]

GOOD NEWS

Another blow to the patriarchy as couples can now pick whichever last name works for them.

BAD NEWS

This guy is whipped!

Quote Of The Day

“I explained to them that they are young and they could have young people’s diseases. My main concern was to not catch a venereal disease, an HIV disease, in this place.”

— Saddam Hussein, on his greatest fears in jail. We just got a glimpse of what his gonorrhea-filled Hell must look like. [USA Today]

Speed Round

VICE PRESIDENT GORE

Vice President Gore on NPR yesterday, saying a president “personally reviewing the kinds of torture techniques being used prisoner by prisoner, its obscene.”

SEARCHLIGHT ON HARRY

Sen. Harry Reid talked to Wolf Blitzer yesterday about overcoming his poverty to become the Senate Majority Leader. “My dad didn’t graduate from the eighth grade. …My mother had no teeth.”

JOHN’S JUDGES

Sen. John McCain says that, if he becomes president, he’ll pack the court with more Scalia and Alito types. All together now...>SHUDDER<.

OOPS

A law professor discovered a tiny constitutional flaw in the appointment of patent judges over the last eight years. His expose could undo thousands of patent decisions concerning claims worth billions of dollars. [New York Times]

3500

U.S. “surge” troops who may now be coming home in the next few weeks. [New York Times]

NUCLEAR BUDDIES

In Putin’s last day in office, Russia and the U.S. signed a key agreement on civilian nuclear power. We get access to their technology, and they get deals on storing nuclear fuel. [MSNBC]

TALE OF TWO FLORIDAS

Mayors in North Lauderdale are spear-heading an effort to split the state into two parts over tax equity. Just what we need...two Floridas. [CBS]

MOVING MEMORIAL

The Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, PA, may have to be moved due to a property dispute. Disappointed family and friends are eying a plot not far away, but hope to keep their makeshift memorial to their loved ones in its original location. [WTAE]

BEWARE OF ECONOMISTS

Sen. Menendez: “Thank God that we don’t have economists making necessarily public policy. . .” You know, we’re not so sure thats a good thing.

[TPM]

WE THOUGHT THE “P” WAS FOR “PROTECTION"?

An EPA official says there’s a “distinct possibility” the agency WILL NOT take action to limit a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has contaminated drinking water supplies in 35 states. [Star Tribune]