ThinkFast: June 3, 2008

At Fort Benning in Georgia, the Army has assigned soldiers suffering from PTSD to housing located just 200 yards away from firing ranges. The “barrages from rifles and machine guns” make these wounded soldiers “cringe” and “stay awake and on edge,” and recently “sent one soldier to the emergency room with an anxiety attack.” Complaints to medical personnel and officers have brought no relief.

55 percent: Americans surveyed who said their families were financially worse off than they were a year ago. The USA Today/Gallup poll finds that “Americans are more downbeat about their personal financial situations now than they’ve been in decades.”

CQ reports that in just the first three months of this year, “three of the nation’s biggest telecommunications companies have employed 37 lobbying firms to urge lawmakers to include such immunity in any overhaul of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.” These companies and their allies spent more than $14 million lobbying during this time.

During a panel session at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee yesterday, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said, “Obama and McCain don’t actually differ, at least on paper, even on Iran.”

A new report by NASA’s inspector general concludes that the Bush administration’s “distortion and suppression of climate science” is “‘inconsistent’” with the law that established the space program 50 years ago.” The report found a “sustained pattern of activities, largely supervised by senior political appointees, that included muting or withholding news releases on global warming” and blocking scientists from the media.

Even Dick Cheney believes that John McCain’s gax tax holiday is a bad idea. “I think it’s a false notion, in the sense that you’re not going to have much of an impact, given the size of the gasoline tax on the total cost of the gallon of gas,” Cheney said.

“We have the first global warming bill in history that is comprehensive, bipartisan and that enjoys support across the country,” said Al Gore of Senate climate change legislation being debated this week. “While it’s important that people change their light bulbs, it’s even more important that we change the laws.”

John Albaugh, chief of staff to former Republican congressman Ernest Istook, “has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to defraud the House as part of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Albaugh, who faces up to two years in prison, “told a federal judge that he was guilty of accepting gifts in return for official favors.”

A new Urban Institute study finds that “Massachusetts reduced its proportion of uninsured adults by nearly half in the first year of mandatory health coverage and made gains in the share of people receiving routine preventive care.” At the same time, the study finds “no evidence that residents were dropping private health coverage to take advantage of state-subsidized policies.”

And finally: In addition to his Emmy, Stephen Colbert has another award to add to his mantle — “The Great Princeton Class of 2008 Understandable Vanity Award.” The award was mounted on a mirror. “I have to say, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful,” Colbert said to Princeton’s class of ’08 on Monday. Instead of offering motivational advice, he also told the students, “I’m scared of you. I can tell you are go-getters. … When you leave here, no one will ever, ever want to hear you sing a capella.”

What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.