More Odds And Ends

Pipe burst. Room flooded. It's that kind of a week. Here's more news saved from the cracks-

NBC News has officially decided to call the situation in Iraq a civil war (just because it, you know, is). Expect many pundits and right-wing bloggers to waste more time engaging in more semantical arguments about this.

Rush Limbaugh, tempermental child that he is, is done playing with the Middle East toy. Says that we should just "blow the place up." I'm sending him to bed without his oxycontin.

We still have Rummy to kick around for a while... facing likely confirmation, Robert Gates won't be sworn in as Defense Secretary until the new year. The reason? "[T]he delay is a 'personal gesture' from Bush to Rumsfeld: By waiting until after Dec. 29 to send him packing, Bush gives Rummy the right to call himself America's longest-serving secretary of defense." Awww, what a nice gesture between criminals. Those 'fresh perspectives' the President spoke of when he announced Rummy's exit three weeks ago can wait another month, right Middle East?

$500 million. That's what the President "hopes to raise... to build his library and a think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas". I'm sure there'll be a wall in Washington DC in 20 years that will be his real legacy.

Moving on... with the issue heating up over who will be the chair of the House Intelligence Committee when the new congress convenes, Glenn Greenwald notes that the ethical failures of Alcee Hastings leaves out one important thing: the leadership/intelligence failures of front-runner Jane Harman. Counters Josh Marshall: Third option, please.

(UPDATE: Rep. Pelosi meets with Hastings... he will drop his bid for the position.)

Ed Kilgore to Democrats: Don't write off the South!

With even the top energy companies 'coming to terms with climate change' and attempting preemptive adjustments before the new Congress forces them to clean up, Matt Drudge is still leading the way for climate change skeptics. Think Progress catches him in action again.

More from Think Progress... yes, people, raising the minimum wage is actually a good thing.

Oh, and also, the House's GOP frontman on the immigration issue is a crazy person.

The AP reports that the "Justice Department has begun an internal investigation into its handling of information gathered in the government's domestic spying program." Italics added by me because, well, that will go nowhere. The investigation, for instance, does not plan to address the constitutional implications.

Finally, some Colorada residents say 'bah humbug!' to 'peace on earth, goodwill toward men'. From the AP again: "A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti- Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan." Well happy holidays to you too, homeowners association!