Conservatives are losing the new-media war, the Politico notes. As the 2008 campaign progresses, “it’s becoming increasingly clear that the absence of any websites on the right devoted to reporting — as opposed to just commenting on the news — is proving politically costly to Republicans.”
Iraq’s Ambassador to the U.S. warns that al-Qaeda’s foreign fighters “are increasingly going to Afghanistan to fight.” Ambassador Samir Sumaida’ie said “al-Qaeda is finding it now increasingly difficult to operate in Iraq, beginning with the rebellion of the largely Sunni tribes in Anbar Province.”
“The McCain campaign has a new web ad out placing Barack Obama, for the second time, side-by-side with a foreign dictator,” the Huffington Post reports. “This time, it’s Fidel Castro.”
“About 2 million Americans get a raise Thursday as the federal minimum wage rises 70 cents. … The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law.” Higher gas and food prices, however, “are swallowing it up.”
On the trail today: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is in Berlin where he is meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and delivering an address at the “Victory Column” in Tiergarten park. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will participate in a town hall meeting on cancer alongside Lance Armstrong at the LIVESTRONG Summit in Columbus, Ohio.
Pentagon auditors “were pressured by supervisors to skew their reports on major defense contractors to make them look more favorable instead of exposing wrongdoing and charges of overbilling,” a new Government Accountability Office report found. Supervisors at the auditing agency “attempted to intimidate auditors, prevented them from speaking with GAO investigators and created a ‘generally abusive work environment,’ the report said.”
The House approved a “far-reaching government assistance” measure yesterday that allows the Treasury Department to protect mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapse and provides “an aggressive plan to help hundreds of thousands of troubled borrowers avoid foreclosure by refinancing their mortgages with more affordable government-insured loans.”
FEMA “asked a federal judge yesterday for immunity from lawsuits over potentially dangerous fumes in government-issued trailers that have housed tens of thousands of Gulf Coast hurricane victims.” A government lawyer argued that “FEMA’s decisions in responding to a disaster, including its use of travel trailers after Katrina, are legally protected from ‘judicial second-guessing.’”
Seven Western states — Oregon, Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Washington — are “joining four Canadian provinces to propose a plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions through use of a ‘cap and trade’ system.” The draft plan, which was revealed yesterday by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office, focuses on “utilities and industries that are major sources of greenhouse gases.”
And finally: Some Senators are still proud to associate themselves with President Bush. In “an examination of the wall decorations of all 100 Senate offices,” Politico recently found that “more than a quarter” of the public waiting rooms, 27 in total, feature a picture of Bush. In all, 22 Republicans, four Democrats and one independent display their fondness for Bush on their walls.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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