In Brief - March 9th, 2007
Here is today's quick news digest (including items from earlier this week):
- The Bush administration is buried under more scandals and problems than it could ever dig its way out of, says AP writer and analyst Ron Fournier (our thanks to him for making such an obvious point). The Bush cronies who run the Justice Department are in huge trouble after an audit found that the FBI had abused the Patriot Act and the civil liberties of thousands of Americans. To right wing zealots, our message is: we told you so.
- Surprise, surprise - Newt Gingrich admitted this week he had an affair during the Clinton impeachment. The ex-congressman's hopes of running for president have probably been dashed for good.
- Air America is reinventing itself under the leadership of a new CEO, Mark Green, who says the radio network (which he rescued from Chapter 11 bankruptcy) is embracing "fresh ideas for programming, for technology, for partnerships with sister organizations". Air America's history (it's almost 3 years old) has been rocky at times but the venture is still alive, much to the unhappiness of wingnuts everywhere.
- Representative Henry Waxman of California has announced that Valerie Plame Wilson will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Friday, March 16th (a week from today) which will look at whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding her identity. That's a hearing worth scheduling on your calendar. It'll be webcast and C-SPAN is also supposed to carry it.
- Ann Coulter's unapologetic nastiness is finally starting to cost her: Three newspapers - The Lancaster New Era, The Oakland Press, and The Mountain Press - have decided to drop Coulter's nationally syndicated column from their opinion pages, according to Editor & Publisher. Media Matters reports that The Times of Shreveport, The American Press, The Sanford Herald of North Carolina and the Daily Chronicle of DeKalb, Illinois are following suit. Meanwhile, about two dozen advertisers have pulled their ads on Coulter's website in the aftermath of her unfair slander of John Edwards.
