Midday Open Thread.

• Planning for Netroots Nation is in high gear, and the deadline for submissions for panel ideas is approaching fast--January 31.  More details from Nolan and the NN crew in this diary.[mcjoan]
• Recently unsealed court documents obtained by the NYT detail a curious situation involving (surprise!) Dick Cheney and the arrest by the Secret Service of a man who, encountering him at a ski resort, told him the "administration's" Iraq policies were "disgusting." Arresting agent Virgil Reichle didn't witness the encounter, but says he relied on the descriptions of other agents of an "assault," a description the other agents later denied. Reichle believes they changed their stories so that the case arising from the arrest, once that arrest had served its purpose ( i.e., briefly jailing someone whom Cheney found annoying), would "go away." Who's telling the truth? Well, the Secret Service and Cheney's office have no comment, and Reichle has been transferred to Guam, so you tell me. [Kagro X]
• Remember those 145,000 trailers that FEMA purchased in a no-bid contract?  The ones that ended up not being used for Katrina victims?  Well, FEMA ended up selling them for 40 cents on the dollar.  Now, they want to buy them back at full price.  Turns out they are tainted with formaldehyde and FEMA is worried about public health risks.  So, we paid full price (or more based on no-bid crony contract), sold them for a huge loss, and now have to buy them back for another huge loss.  Man, those Republicans are soooo good with money.
• Turkish warplanes destroyed 60 Kurdish rebel locations in Iraq.  Casualties are being determined.
• Controversial chess champ, Bobby Fischer died in Iceland this week.  Known for beating Russia's Boris Spassky during height of the Cold War, Fischer later went on to prove himself bat-shit crazy and was known for his anti-semetic and anti-American rants, despite the fact that he was American and had a Jewish mother.
• Random geek link of the day: Ballistic computer of 1935: the 3-ton 'Big Brain' [Plutonium Page]
• GBLT rights news from the New Mexico State Legislature: The Domestic Partnership Rights & Responsibilities Act passed the the NM House Consumer and Public Affairs committee yesterday.  The bill goes to the House Judiciary committee next.  Last year's domestic partnership bill was defeated by one vote in the Senate.[Plutonium Page]