Non-football open thread

by Erin Alecto

Josh Marshall reports business as usual:

Texas' Hunt Oil Co. and Kurdistan's regional government said Saturday they've signed a production-sharing contract for petroleum exploration in northern Iraq, the first such deal since the Kurds passed their own oil and gas law in August.

A Hunt subsidiary, Hunt Oil Co. of the Kurdistan Region, will begin geological survey and seismic work by the end of 2007 and hopes to drill an exploration well in 2008, the parties said in a news release. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As Josh points out, Ray L. Hunt of Hunt Oil, Inc was twice appointed by Bush to the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Is anyone surprised?