Swamp Gas, November 29, 2007

by Frank James

A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important or most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.

Republican presidential hopefuls had often feisty exchanges in their CNN/You Tube debate in St. Petersburg, Fla. whose tension betrayed the high stakes of the meeting with the first casting of real votes just slightly over a month away.

The accelerating pace of the U.S. program to embrace Sunnis in Iraq has Iraq's Shiite-led government increasingly worried that the Americans are creating an empowered Sunni force that will threaten the government once the U.S. disengages from that country.

The Marine Corps's top general has proposed that Marines being pulled from Iraq be redeployed to Afghanistan where the Taliban and al Qaeda have been resurgent. But his proposal is meeting with Pentagon resistance.

The credit being provided by lenders to U.S. companies is tightening severely and at a rate not seen in decades, raising concerns of a possible recession.

Immigration over the last seven years set a U.S. record of 10.3 million, greater than any similar period in American history, according to an analysis of Census data.

The Food and Drug Administration is considering a war on salt which many doctors believe is causing heart and other ailments for Americans who unknowingly consume significant amounts, even in processed foods that don't taste particularly salty.

Sen. Barack Obama's foes have used his grandfather's Muslim faith to start and spread rumors that the Democratic presidential candidate is an adherent of Islam too, which is untrue, forcing the candidate to address the issue.

The economy grew at a very robust 4.9 percent pace in the third quarter, according to revised government data, with the growth owing to higher inventories and exports but companies' profits were flat.

Pakistan permits its nuclear scientists to be highly conservative Muslims but it uses techniques invasive to privacy to try to distinguish religious conservatism from extremism, which it and the U.S. consider a threat to the security of its nuclear program.

Foreclosure filings nearly doubled in October from the same month a year ago to 224,451, up 94 percent, with Ohio having the highest rate in the nation.