We’ve got to leave the office early today, so let’s do some Quick Hits on the way out. Some are extra spicy, so keep that Friday afternoon beer handy! Here we go!

• When you hear people, including U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, talk about how the compromise on the FISA legislation was a choice between an imperfect bill and retaining the government’s ability to spy on suspected terrorists, keep foremost in mind that this is utter bullshit. The government has always had, and never was in danger of losing, its spy powers. When you hear the “imperfect bill” line, however, translate it thusly in your mind to this: “It was a choice between [following the Constitution and our oaths of office] and [avoiding being called pussies by a bunch of chickenhawk Republicans who long ago decided to use the Constitution as toilet paper].”
• So, let’s see if we have this right: Political consultant and serial failure George Harris makes an illegal donation to Assemblyman Bob Beers via the Internet during the special session. Harris then rats Beers off to the Review-Journal, and then files an ethics complaint against the assemblyman for violating campaign finance law. (In Nevada, of course, said law is enforced by the secretary of state, a fact lost on the dense Harris.) Can you say “unclean hands”?
• Oh, wait, that whole thing was just an attempt to get headlines from one of only two Nevada journalists who still considers Harris something other than the punchline to an ever more sad and pathetic joke. Never mind.
• The Senate today passed a housing bill that had been held up by our very own U.S. Sen. John Ensign, ostensibly because he wanted to include a package of renewable energy tax breaks. But Democrats in both houses refused to budge, thus sending him an inescapable message: Senator Ensign, here’s your ass!
• Republicans may not like illegal immigrants, local paper finds. Meanwhile, in another story in that same local paper yesterday, we learn Hispanics are becoming an ever larger voting bloc. We like where this seems to be headed…

There goes the liberal media again, bashing Gov. Jim Gibbons.

First, the Associated Press reported that Gibbons asked for and received a property tax break on 40 acres of land he owns in rural Elko County, reducing his liability from $5,000 down to $15. The Review-Journal jumped on the story, sending it out as a news flash. So did my colleague Jon Ralston, in his FLASH newsletter.

Of course, the Democrats didn’t wait long to open fire on the embattled Gibbons: The state party issued a news release just before noon:

At a time when Gov. Jim Gibbons is all too aware that local and state governments are suffering for revenue, the Associated Press reports today that Gibbons might have used his power as governor to get out of almost $5,000 in property taxes in Elko, leaving the county assessor feeling “uncomfortable.”

Elko County Assessor Joe Aguirre told the Associated Press that while he extended an agricultural assessment to Gibbons — allowing Gibbons to pay $15 a year in property taxes instead of $5,000 a year — he “allowed the change to take effect after requests from the governor and an attorney who serves on the Nevada Tax Commission,” and the process made him “feel uncomfortable.” He also said Gibbons still doesn’t qualify and “can’t qualify” for the break.

The Republican assessor told the Associated Press, “To say I was put in an awkward position I think is an understatement.”

“How low can Jim Gibbons sink, that while he’s slashing money for our most vulnerable residents — from students to seniors to veterans — he could be using his office to avoid paying taxes on his retirement property?” said Kirsten Searer, deputy executive director of the Nevada Democratic Party.

“This report indicates Gibbons is reckless and self-indulgent in using his power as governor, and it comes just weeks after news broke that Gibbons used a state-owed cell phone to send hundreds of text messages to a friend. Once again, it looks like Gibbons is abusing the trust of Nevada voters.”

Oh, we can see the avalanche of publicity now: Gibbons is a hypocrite. Gibbons is a tax-dodger. Gibbons doesn’t care about people. Gibbons is a sociopath who probably would have been a serial killer or a third-world tin-pot dictator if he hadn’t been able to fool enough of the gullible Nevada public into voting for his sorry ass in the last election. It just never ends!

But check this out: We think Gibbons is just being consistent here. See, the governor hates taxes. So when he dodges taxes using his political influence, he’s just following his long-held philosophy, right? When he said “no new taxes,” he could just have easily been saying “I personally am going to pay no new taxes, even if I buy a big spread of land upon which I can put the moves upon some fine ladies outside the prying eyes of news media cameras.”

Gibbons hates government, and wants it to be smaller, right? He’s said as much on many occasions. So, by dodging a hefty tax liability, he’s simply doing his part to shrink the bloated Elko County government. That’s integrity, people!

So instead of piling on and calling the governor a bunch of names — two-face; cheapskate; corrupt; douchebag — we should be thanking him, for being one of those rare people who puts his beliefs into action.

Good job, Gov. Gibbons! Keep it up, at least until midnight on Dec. 31, 2010.

Investigative reporters don’t come any more talented than Seymour Hersh. His ground-breaking, hard-hitting pieces have clarified the reporting in a host of American newspapers and journals, from his uncovering of the My Lai Massacre in 1969 to his in-depth coverage of Abu Ghraib in 2004.

Since 2005, Hersh has repeatedly written about the Bush administration’s covert preparations for an eventual war with Iran, including revelations that American troops have repeatedly been on the ground there in recent years.

Hersh’s latest piece in The New Yorker, published earlier this week, fleshes out further the best-laid bellicose plans of Bush & Co. to create a situation in which war with Tehran would be inevitable. The revelations in the piece further illustrate how a host of covert, so-called black ops missions in the Middle East have left American uniformed generals with the fear that our own military might be losing control of the situation.

White House talking heads have taken great pains in recent years to deny many of Hersh’s assertions, which are always based on interviews with sterling sources inside America’s war machine. His latest piece is further evidence that you can rarely trust the geopolitical coverage you read in the mainstream media.