by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both, Washington-related stories.
President Bush was expected to announce an agreement between major banks and the Bush Administration to freeze for five years low teaser interest-rates for some financially stressed homeowners with sub-prime mortgages.
The U.S.'s top U.S. military commanders in Iraq want to avoid a rapid drawdown of their military forces since they fear the gains they've made in reducing violence would be reversed.
Access to detailed notes from an Iranian-military meeting were central to the U.S. intelligence agencies' revised conclusion that Iran stopped actively working on building nuclear weapons in 2003.
Arab nations are concerned that the new U.S. intelligence report on Iran's decelerated nuclear-weapons efforts will cause the U.S. to ease pressure on Iran and allow Iran to spread its influence throughout the Mideast.
With an electric atmosphere inside the Supreme Court and protesters outside, the high court's justices heard and weighed into the Guantanamo debate again, hearing arguments over whether terrorist suspects who are detainees have a constitutional right to hear and confront the charges against them.
China's increasingly important role as a provider of pharmaceuticals to U.S. consumers raises concerns that weaknesses in product safety in China could cause some of those drugs to be unsafe and affect the availability of needed pharmaceuticals in the case of a national emergency.
Sen. Hillary Clinton's lead in New Hampshire shrunk to about six points over fellow Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama in the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll.
House Democrats' leaders are caught between the two sides in the immigration debate, the House Hispanic Caucus which wants House Democrats to stop pushing enforcement-only bills and members in vulnerable districts who believe their chances for re-election will be hurt if they back away from such measures.
The birthrate for teenagers between 15 and 19 rose three percent in 2006, the first rise since 1991.
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Comments
Yet again, the DNC Swamp has avoided reporting about the federal indicatment of Clinton's #3 fundraiser Norm Hsu.
Posted by: Bruce | December 6, 2007 9:09 AM
Another story you won't read in the DNC Swamp, perhaps because a Democrat contradicts his party's "Defeat" mantra. From the AP:
"Rep. Earl Pomeroy says he saw significant security improvements in Iraq during his fifth trip to the country, but said much more is needed.
"I've never felt more hopeful about the success of the effort than coming back from this trip," Pomeroy, D-N.D., told reporters on Wednesday. "At the same time, we need to transition this now, so the United States no longer carries the principal combat and security functions."
Posted by: Bruce | December 6, 2007 9:17 AM
How many lives could have been saved if U.S. intelligence had been used correctly with regard to Iraq?
We do need to defend ourselves, but we cannot afford to come out guns ablazin' shootin' from the hip.
Posted by: San Miguel | December 6, 2007 9:48 AM
Irrelevant RNCBrucebot. Your sorry-assed hero stated the surge was conducted to provide security for the Iraqi governent to come together. Why is it that none of you 25% deadenders ever mention that aspect of the surge's purpose? Benchmarks aren't met and the Iraqi Govt. is no further along in their reconciliation. While all agree violence is down, its attributed to a myriad of things such as more troops (which can't be sustained indefinately) and ethnic purging (it's estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis have been displaced). If this is what you call success, you're even dumber than most on the Swamp believe.
Posted by: neal | December 6, 2007 10:20 AM
neal...Are you saying that I'm not smart enough to know how dumb Bruce is?
Posted by: GK | December 6, 2007 10:46 AM
Left-wing radio host caught w/child porn.
http://www.examiner.com/a-1090907~Talk_show_host_indicted_for_child_porn.html
Posted by: Terry | December 6, 2007 10:07 PM