ThinkFast: June 16, 2008

A new Pew poll finds that “Americans dissatisfied with political sound bites are turning to the Internet for a more complete picture.” Nearly 30 percent of adults have “used the Internet to read or watch unfiltered campaign material” and 6 percent have “contributed to a campaign using the Internet, compared with 2% in 2004.”

In a “new phase” of the Justice Department’s investigation of the U.S. attorneys scandal, department lawyers have filed a grand-jury referral relating to “allegations of political meddling in the Justice Department’s civil-rights division.” The referral, which is “the first time the probe has moved beyond the investigative phase,” is said to be focused on possible perjury by former Missouri U.S. Attorney Bradley Schlozman.

After an eight month investigation “in 11 countries on three continents,” McClatchy Newspapers found that after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. has wrongfully imprisoned “perhaps hundreds” of men “in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments.”

FEMA director David Paulison blamed Louisiana officials for turning down $85 million of emergency supplies that that agency recently gave away, after they had “lingered on storage shelves while hurricane victims suffered without the items they needed.” “We did ask Louisiana, ‘Do you want these?’ They said, ‘No, we don’t need them.’ So we offered them to the other states,” Paulison said.

On the trail today: While Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) postponed a Texas fundraiser with Texas oilman Clayton Williams, he will be holding multiple others in the Dallas area today. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) will hold a rally in Flint, Michigan to kick off the second week of the “Change That Works For You” Tour.

Launching a new Politico series dubbed “Dear 44,” Center for American Progress CEO John Podesta calls on progressives to “look beyond skimpy policy proposals and meager reforms to provide leadership and an alternative vision” on the key issues of the day, including restoring America’s international standing, solving the climate crisis, and recreating economic security for the middle class.

Same-sex couples will get the chance to begin exchanging vows today in California. “San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom plans to officiate at the private ceremony” of Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who will become one of the first couples to legally marry in the state. The couple, both of whom are in their 80s, have been “pioneers of the gay rights movement.”

“Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas.” New regulations give seven oil companies legal protection if “small numbers” of polar bears are harmed while they search for oil and gas in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea.

When DMC Pharmacy opens this summer in Chantilly, VA,”anyone who wants condoms, birth control pills or the Plan B emergency contraceptive will be turned away.” The pharmacy is among a growing number of drugstores around the country “pitting patients’ rights against those of health-care workers who assert a ‘right of conscience’ to refuse to provide care or products that they find objectionable.”

And finally: Writer Stephen E. Frantzich has coaxed the normally spotlight-averse C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb into cooperating on a new biography. “I really don’t think I am very interesting,” said Lamb. Some revelations from the book include the fact that Lamb’s appearance is often compared to Tweety Bird, and he has a collection of the cartoon figurines. He is also the godfather of one of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s children, and “is in bed by 8 p.m. and up at 3 a.m.”

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