Tuesday, February 05, 2008

ThinkFast: February 5, 2008

THINK PROGRESS

Yesterday, right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh spent his entire program trashing John McCain. Limbaugh said it is ludicrous for McCain to claim the mantle of national security. “The idea that we’ve only got one person in this whole roster of candidates, either party, who is willing to take on the war on terror is frankly, absurd,” he said.

Voters in 24 states will head to polls for today’s Super Tuesday, the “biggest primary day in U.S. history.” With 1,023 Republican and 1,681 Democratic delegates at stake, some election observers are worried about “chaos at the polling booths with malfunctioning machines and disputed results.”

The former chairman of Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell has called on the European Union to ban gas-guzzling cars, saying they are unnecessary. “Nobody needs a car that does 10-15 mpg,” Mark Moody-Stuart said.

Bush’s budget failed to provide any funding for the FOIA Ombudsman’s Office in the National Archives and Records Administration and attempts to shift the responsibilities of that office to the Department of Justice. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that putting the DoJ in charge of transparency in government is a conflict of interest.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey reversed a 2003 decision barring a gay advocacy group from using “the e-mail, bulletin boards and meeting rooms at the Justice Department” and “issued a revised equal-employment-opportunity policy barring discrimination against any group.”

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) has placed a hold on the nomination of Mark Filip to be deputy attorney general” until Attorney General Mukasey answers questions on torture and detainee abuse cases “contained in three Durbin letters to the Justice Department dating back to 2005.”

Britain’s Prince Andrew, who is fourth in line to the throne, yesterday “launched a sharp attack” against President Bush for “failing to listen to Britain during the conflict in Iraq.” He added that since the Iraq war, Britons have been left with a “healthy skepticism” toward what is said in Washington.

Businesses that rely on seasonal workers are scrambling to fill positions, and some are shutting down, because there are fewer visas for the foreign workers who usually fill the jobs.”

President Bush’s budget, released yesterday, would slash funding for the Environmental Protection Agency “by $330 million from fiscal 2008 to $7.1 billion, with significant drops in spending on clean-water projects. The proposal calls for an overall decrease of almost $600 million from EPA spending in 2007 and the elimination of five programs.”

And finally: Craig Ferguson, host of The Late, Late Show on CBS, has been chosen as the entertainment for this year’s White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner. Ferguson seems to be a “middle ground” choice between last year’s performance by Rich Little — which was “dated and irrelevant” and Stephen Colbert in 2006 — who was too “edgy.” President Bush is “reportedly pleased” with the choice of Ferguson.

No comments: