More Odds and Ends

Too much news. The world needs to slow down. Here's some of it...

Edward Jay Epstein has a piece at Slate called 'The Polonium Connection: We have to find out where it came from', about tracing back the dose of polonium-210 that was famously involved in the death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Locating where it came from, he notes, is important. Related commentary from Andrew Sullivan- here.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a Holocaust denier's conference in his country this week (among the notable attendees was former KKK leader David Duke). The usual crazy rhetoric ensued. Gee, I can't imagine why the youth of Iran dislike him so much. Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi reminds us that an Iraqi leader-- Abdul Aziz al-Hakim-- the White House has been turning to is likely a Holocaust denier himself.

Israeli Prime Minister Olmert lets the nuclear cat out of the bag, creating regional tension.

Outgoing Republican Senator Rick 'Frothy' Santorum may rise again as a cable news pundit.

Incoming Democratic Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy promised "to combat what he denounced as President George W. Bush's war-time trampling of American rights." He noted that 'real damage' has been done to our system of government in the last few years. Additionally, he stated that "Justice Department officials can expect stepped-up oversight of the Bush administration's war on terrorism and — perhaps — some all-expense-paid tickets to Iraq to help train the corrupt police force there."

Finally, Democrats consider "the creation of an independent ethics arm to enforce new rules on travel, lobbying, gifts and other issues" that they intend to put in place next month. Intra-party self-policing does not work, they note.