ThinkFast: April 28, 2009

“Countries around the world began tightening their border and immigration controls Tuesday as the number of confirmed cases of swine flu continued to rise.” As many as 152 people, all in Mexico, are believed to have died due to the flu while the number of confirmed cases in the United States stands at 50.

Rep. David Obey (D-WI), who included $420 million in pandemic flu funding in the House’s stimulus bill that was later removed by “moderate” senators, intends to “again request additional funds in the upcoming supplemental.” “We are not prepared today,” Obey said.

The Obama administration is moving to tighten a last-minute rule promulgated by President Bush that allowed coal companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining operations close to streams. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will ask a federal court to re-institute a 1983 Reagan-era rule prohibiting dumping within 100 feet of a stream.

In 2007, former CIA officer John Kiriakou launched a media blitz defending waterboarding, telling ABC News that Abu Zubaydah cooperated after being waterboarded for “probably 30, 35 seconds.” Recently released memos reveal, however, that Zubaydah was waterboarded at least 83 separate times. “[L]ost in much of the coverage was the fact that Mr. Kiriakou had no firsthand knowledge of the waterboarding,” the New York Times notes today.

“Twenty-eight groups representing millions of hunters and sportsmen” are demanding that Rush Limbaugh end his work with the Humane Society because they fear the organization has a “secret agenda to end all hunting in America.” Limbaugh recently recorded two PSAs for the organization.

Congressional Democrats “sealed an agreement” last night on a budget plan that sets the stage for President Obama to “overhaul the health care system but allows his signature tax cut for most workers to expire after next year.” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) “forced cuts of $10 billion from Obama’s $50 billion boost for non-defense programs funded by Congress each year.”

In an indication that Barack Obama’s presidency is “altering the public perception of race relations in the United States,” a new New York Times/CBS poll found that “[t]wo-thirds of Americans now say race relations are generally good, and the percentage of blacks who say so has doubled since last July.” ”Despite that, half of blacks still say whites have a better chance of getting ahead in American society.” 

Gay and lesbian couples celebrated the legalization of same-sex marriage yesterday in Iowa. At least “360 couples applied for marriage licenses statewide on the first day that the high court’s decision took effect” while “same-sex marriage opponents had urged county recorders not to issue marriage licenses.” 

Today marks Equal Pay Day 2009, the day that “symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work, on average, to earn as much as a man earned the previous year.” Women in the U.S. still make just 78 cents for every dollar a man earns, although a new GAO report finds that the pay gap between men and women in the federal workforce is shrinking. Yesterday, ThinkProgress spoke with Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) about the effect of the economic recession on working women.

And finally: Utah County Republicans have defeated a measure titled, “Resolution opposing the Hate America anti-Christian Open Borders cabal.” Delegate Don Larsen claimed that left-wing foundations were “pumping money into the Democratic Party to push for looser immigration laws and anti-family legislation” because “Democrats get most of the votes cast by illegal immigrants and people in dysfunctional families.” “Satan’s ultimate goal is to destroy the family,” Larsen said, “and these people are playing a leading part in it.” Larsen’s fellow Republicans argued that the GOP shouldn’t be pushing out Latinos and the resolution “would do the party more harm than good.”

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