Odds and Ends

More news saved from the cracks. First up, news from the other side of the world...

Discouraging news from the Palestinian territories: "Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas traded gunfire with Hamas policemen in Gaza on Tuesday as tensions soared after the killing of three young sons of one of Abbas's top intelligence officials."

And a McClatchy Newspapers report indicates that Lebanon 'is headed toward a breaking point': "Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators piled into downtown Beirut Sunday, demanding that the U.S.-backed government step down immediately or face an escalation in a siege on the prime minister's headquarters being coordinated by the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah militia."

Violence continues to escalate in Afghanistan.

And in Baghad, a suicide bombing kills at least 60 civilians. 221 were additionally wounded. In related news, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees fleeing their country are likely to seek refuge in the U.S., but the administration is expected to hold firm to their policy that only 500 Iraqis can be resettled here next year.

Meanwhile, in military-related political news, senior U.S. military officers are being accused of "using their rank and influence to coerce soldiers and airmen into adopting evangelical Christianity". The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has asked for a video implying this to be investigated.

The Hill, a congressional newspaper, reports that "The three unreleased sections of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s controversial 'Phase Two' report on the Bush administration’s use of prewar intelligence are headed for circulation next year". The report had been delayed regularly by the GOP chairman of that committee, but the incoming Democratic chairman (Jay Rockefeller of WV) promises it will be completed and released, stating "the history of all this evolution of the war has to be brought to full accountability."

Democrats also plan to "pursue a broad overhaul of tax breaks and other subsidies to oil companies in January."

The new House Intelligence Committee chair, however, really needs to do his homework.

Finally, on the issue of pork/earmarks, "Democrats taking power in January have settled on a plan to clean up $463 billion worth of GOP budget leftovers". They will "kill thousands of hometown projects, called 'earmarks'" in unfinished spending bills. Additionally, as a way of getting through the legislative mess the Republicans have left for them to clean up, they plan "to offer a single spending bill covering 13 Cabinet departments."

Finally, Jon Stewart says goodbye to the outgoing Republican congress.