Odds and Ends

Congress is back in session this week. Yay? Here's the news...

Former Justice Department bigwig Jack Goldsmith recalls VP Cheney's chief of staff telling him in 2004 that "We’re one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious [FISA] court." What patriots.

I am so shocked, I forgot to faint... an AP report reveals that lawyers behind the CA ballot proposal to rework the Electoral College to benefit the GOP "have ties to a Texas homebuilder who financed attacks on Democrat John Kerry's Vietnam War record in the 2004 presidential campaign." You know, that group that had no connection with the White House.

Speaking of electoral scams, apparently "Justice David Souter nearly resigned in the wake of Bush v. Gore."

And speaking of Gore, Vanity Fair has an article looking back on how the media covered his 2000 campaign.

If the White House pulled the trigger on a war against Iran, what would it look like? A top British newspaper writes that "The Pentagon has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military capability in three days, according to a national security expert." A real cakewalk.

And are 'carbon offsets' sound environmental practice? The LA Times explores the debate.