President Bush made his first appearance with Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) last night since the Foley scandal erupted. “I am proud to be standing with the current speaker of the House who is going to be the future speaker of the House,” Bush said.
“With our intelligence on North Korea so uneven, the doctrine of pre-emption must return to the fore,” writes American Enterprise Institute scholar Dan Blumenthal, one of several prominent neoconservatives now advocating regime change “by military means, if necessary” in the wake of North Korea’s nuclear test.
“Churches so many times feel they shouldn’t get involved [in politics] because of the separation of church and state, and that is just not true,” said Rep. Katherine Harris (R), attempting to explain away her earlier commments that “if you’re not electing Christians” then “in essence you are going to legislate sin.”
Trash collectors “have one of the most dangerous jobs in Baghdad,” frequently killed by hidden insurgent bombs, or by insurgents seeking to keep the collectors from finding the bombs. As a result, garbage is now “ubiquitous” in Baghdad, “especially in dangerous neighborhoods, blanketing street medians, alleys and vacant lots in stinking, fly-infested quilts.”
“Five conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent Republican Grover Norquist, ‘appear to have perpetrated a fraud‘ on taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Senate investigators said in a report issued yesterday.”
While the Bush administration claims that beneficiaries who stay in the Medicare prescription drug plan will pay an average of $24/mo. in premiums next year, a report produced by Rep. Henry Waxman’s (D-CA) office says the administration has its math wrong. Waxman concluded that premiums will rise to $29/mo. under the plan, and the administration is disguising this increase.
A Pennsylvania state jury ruled that Wal-Mart broke state labor laws by “forcing employees to work through rest breaks and off the clock, a decision plaintiffs’ lawyers said would result in at least $62 million in damages.” Wal-Mart “is facing a slew of similar suits around the country.”
“Insurance companies…are becoming leading business protagonists in the assault on global warming.” Some are beginning to offer incentives for hybrid cars and “green” buildings that emit fewer greenhouse gases and save energy.
106. Number of countries that still allow physical punishment in schools, according to a new U.N. report, which also concluded that “in 2002 some 150 million girls and 73 million boys were subjected to forced sexual intercourse and other forms of violence involving touch, while 53,000 were killed.”
And finally: “I’m unkind on occasion, and I am selfish,” reveals former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine. While most people are already familiar with Ashcroft’s vocal talents, he also notes his other artistic hobby: making “barbed-wire sculpture.”
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
Previous in TP Politics
By clicking and submitting a comment I acknowledge the ThinkProgress Privacy Policy and agree to the ThinkProgress Terms of Use. I understand that my comments are also being governed by Facebook's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.