Misc Stuff I've been planning to post on for a couple of days now

But the kid's been sick...

• Via Brad DeLong, Michael Froomkin on the Ohio Vote Count:

  Discourse.net: Delay, Delay, Don't (re)Count the Votes: Is there any way to understand this sort of tactic as anything other than an attempt to prevent an honest recount: "Ohio Official Refuses Interview Over Vote"? (Note that the headline is British understatement — in fact the Ohio Secretary of State is apparently trying to get a court order to block having to explain the weird things he’s done to lock out recounters, prevent observers from actually observing, and other very suspicious hijinks.




• Iraq Rebels Were For Bush, say French hostages
• From WaPo: "The FBI announced the appointment yesterday of its sixth counterterrorism director since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, underscoring the bureau's struggle to retain executives in senior positions."



• Also from WaPo:

  House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is leaning toward removing the House ethics committee chairman, who admonished House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this fall and has said he will treat DeLay like any other member, several Republican aides said yesterday.
  
  Although Hastert (Ill.) has not made a decision, the expectation among leadership aides is that the chairman, Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.), long at odds with party leaders because of his independence, will be replaced when Congress convenes next week.
  
  The aides said a likely replacement is Rep. Lamar S. Smith, one of DeLay's fellow Texans, who held the job from 1999 to 2001. Smith wrote a check this year to DeLay's defense fund. An aide said Smith was favored for his knowledge of committee procedure.




• Finally, WaPo says we shouldn't worry too much about nuclear terror...yet.