Wednesday, October 06, 2010

ThinkFast: October 6, 2010

Politico reports that conservative activists are demanding that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney apologize for passing a health reform law in his state. “I would advise him to acknowledge he made a mistake,” said Brent Bozell, president of the Conservative Victory Committee. Referencing a recent ThinkProgress post, Politico states that Romney’s record is causing “a distraction” for the GOP.

Todd Palin fired off an email to Alaska’s GOP U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller, complaining that Miller refused to say whether his wife, Sarah Palin, is qualified to be president. “Sarah put her ass on the line for Joe and yet he can’t answer a simple question,” Todd Palin said in the email, adding, “Joe, please explain how this endorsement stuff works, is it to be completely one sided[?]”

Joe Miller has revealed this his wife drew unemployment benefits after working as Miller’s clerk when he was a federal magistrate in 2002. Miller has argued that such benefits are unconstitutional, but he recently softened his position, saying that payments for unemployment should be entirely under the control of the states.

The Washington Post reports that “half a dozen” well-placed sources reveal that the Afghan Taliban are in high-level talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to end the war in Afghanistan. The talks are different from previous ones in that the Afghan Taliban are for the first time authorized to speak for the Quetta Shura, “the Afghan Taliban organization based in Pakistan, and its leader, Mohammad Omar.”

This week, both former President Bush and former Vice President Cheney spoke separately before the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers in Colorado. Both appearances were closed to the press. The Council is the leading industry voice of commercial insurance agencies and brokerage firms.

A poll shows that voters may like the health care reform bill passed earlier this year, contrary to frequent claims by Republicans and pundits that it’s unpopular. The Public Religion Research Institute found that a majority — 54 percent — said they would be more likely to support a candidate who voted for health care reform.

Women on Wall Street earn less and have fewer jobs, according to a report by Bloomberg. More than five times as many women then men lost their jobs since July 2007, and their pay has also fallen: they earn only 58.8 cents for every dollar men in the industry earn.

“The House since January 2009 has passed 420 bills that have sat on the Senate shelf,” according to a list of legislation given to The Hill. Legislation awaiting Senate action includes “measures to audit the claims fund set up by BP after the Gulf oil spill and legislation to increase screening for diabetes.”

And finally: Outwitted by Weekly World News, Fox & Friends fell for a false story published by the tabloid, reporting as true that the LAPD was planning on purchasing 10,000 jetpacks at $100,000 each. Host Brian Kilmeade offered the sage advice, “You gotta make up some rules. Because you’re going to have jetpacks flying into choppers!” But about 40 minutes later, they corrected the record.

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