12/4 Quick Hits

1. Interim UN Ambassador, possible slavery advocate, and just generally undiplomatic dickwad John Bolton resigned his commission, effective in the next few days. Good riddance.

2. One day, we will be ashamed of what we've done to Jose Louis Padilla- the American citizen who was arrested without charge on American soil, imprisoned indefinitely, and allegedly tortured. The NY Times (free registration required) offers up more insight into what we've done to him, and it ain't pretty. Glenn Greenwald has more.

3. The largest commercial insurer in New Orleans cuts and runs from commercial insurance in New Orleans. YOYO (You're On Your Own) strikes again.

4. The lame-duck House has scheduled a vote to expand offshore oil drilling in the Gulf Coast. I prioritize this because, although you can't tell from the story, this indirectly affects the Lowcountry and South Carolina. This bill is a compromise of a previous version that sought to open up almost ALL coastal waters to offshore drilling- including South Carolina's coastal waters. We should watch this very closely, because our own Henry Brown strongly supports opening up South Carolina's coast to offshore drilling, and this (lame-duck) Congress is known for inserting shit into bills at the last minute.

5. Enough rhetoric! Just a nice little diary pointing out how pragmatism can work for the Progressive movement as well. I'm not sure I buy into it, but I still recommend you read this.