by Frank James
A quick guided tour of some of the morning's most important, most interesting, or both Washington-related stories.
The Central Intelligence Agency admitted that in 2005 it destroyed videotapes of harsh interrogations by its employees of terrorist suspects in its secret detention program at a time when those activities had come under increased scrutiny.
President Bush unveiled a modest plan to help a fraction of the homeowners struggling to make payments on their subprime mortgage loans but the plan was criticized as too little, too late by some critics as well as being unfair to those home owners who were making their payments.
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who is a Republican presidential candidate, gave a widely watched speech in which he sought to assure evangelical Christians and other voters that, as president he would not put his Mormon faith before his constitutional duties, and that he shared the same values as non-Mormons.
The House passed an energy bill that would raise the car fuel economy standards for the first time in 32 years and also require the use of renewable fuels like wind power to produce energy but it also ends some energy industry tax breaks and faces a presidential veto threat.
Environmental groups said Saudi Arabia and the U.S., in that order, are the world's two worst global environmental sinners because of their emissions of greenhouse gases and weak government policies devoted to reducing those emissions.
State and local police departments are increasingly requiring their officers to play greater roles in arresting and helping to deport illegal immigrants, a circumstance arising from frustration with the federal government's inability to effectively address the problem.
The International Monetary Fund's leader said his institution will cut staff by 15 percent, including the first significant layoffs in the institution's history, as demand for loans has fallen greatly in a world awash in cash, especially generated by oil resources.
The Senate passed a so-called patch to keep millions of taxpayers from falling prey to the alternative minimum tax. But unlike the House-passed plan, the Senate version doesn't pay for the fix by raising taxes elsewhere, setting both chambers on a collision course.
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Comments
Either the CIA erased the videotapes because they showed interrogators giving detainees cookies and crumpets or because the "enhanced interrogation" techniques are torture.
Posted by: jethro | December 7, 2007 9:44 AM
More news the usually poll-happy DNC Swamp won't report:
"Just 18% of American voters believe that Iran has halted its nuclear weapons program. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 66% disagree and say Iran has not stopped its nuclear weapons program. Twenty-one percent (21%) of men believe Iran has stopped the weapons development along with 16% of women." (from Rasmussen polling)
Posted by: Bruce | December 8, 2007 9:13 AM
More news the DNC Swamp won't tell its readers--because it's good news on the economy, and the good news contradicts the "experts". From the AP:
"WASHINGTON (AP) — Employers added a modest 94,000 jobs to their payrolls in November, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.7 percent and wages grew briskly, encouraging signs the nation's employment climate is holding up in the face of turbulence in the housing and credit markets.
The fresh snapshot of the labor market, released by the Labor Department on Friday, showed that hiring was brisk in education and health services, retail, professional services, the government and elsewhere. That helped to offset job losses in construction, manufacturing and financial services — casualties of the housing slump and credit crunch.
The 94,000 new jobs in November came after a surprisingly strong payroll gain of 170,000 in October. The unemployment rate stayed at a relatively low 4.7 percent for the third straight month.
"This is reassuring. The pillar continuing to support the economy is job creation," said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank. "This should provide reassurance to those who worry that a recession is imminent," he said.
The performance was better than economists were expecting. They were forecasting that the unemployment rate would nudge up to 4.8 percent and they also said they thought employers would boost payrolls by around 70,000."
Posted by: Bruce | December 8, 2007 9:41 AM