Don Imus’ morning radio program returned to the air this morning on ABC Radio Networks, with a new cast featuring two black comedians, Karith Foster and Tony Powell. Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and John McCain, as well as Democratic candidate Chris Dodd and political consultant James Carville, were all slated to make appearances this morning.
56 percent: Percentage of likely Alabama voters who “believe it is somewhat likely or very likely that the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman was politically motivated.”
House Democratic leaders say they are “hopeful” that the full House will consider a motion of contempt against former White House counsel Harriet Miers and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten before the end of the year.
$1 million: Amount the national debt expands per minute, totaling approximately $1.4 billion a day. The debt is up from $5.7 trillion when President Bush took office in January 2001 and it will top $10 trillion sometime right before or right after he leaves in January 2009.”
The U.S. military is “join[ing] the green movement.” “On Dec. 17, the Air Force will dedicate the largest solar array in North America at Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base, on the same day that a C-17 transport plane makes the Air Force’s first cross-country flight using a blend of synthetic fuel. Giant wind turbines rise from the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay.”
As the U.N. conference on climate change gets underway, Bloomberg observes, “Seven years after he lost the U.S. election, Al Gore has more influence on U.S. global warming policy than the man who defeated him.”
Reverend Canon Andrew White, an Anglican chaplain working in Iraq, says that although Christians have been in the country for 2,000 years, the current situation is “the most difficult they have ever been for Christians. Probably ever in history. They’ve never known it like now.”
A WSJ analysis of subprime mortgages issued after 2000 shows that “an increasing proportion of them went to people with credit scores high enough to often qualify for conventional loans with far better terms.” The study reveals “how far such mortgages have spread into the economy — including middle-class and wealthy communities where they once were scarce.”
“The Food and Drug Administration is so underfunded and understaffed that it’s putting U.S. consumers at risk in terms of food and drug safety, an advisory panel to the FDA says in a report to be discussed Monday.”
And finally: Hanukkah begins Tuesday at sunset, but the White House will be kicking off the festivities early with a party tonight. According to White House staff, President Bush is the first “to include a Hanukkah party among about two dozen holiday parties at the White House, as well as the first to light a menorah in the Executive Mansion.” White House aide Jeremy Katz, who is in charge of the party, said that the guest list is a “challenge.” “I have had to turn down relatives who have made creative pleas to get in,” he said.
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