WEDNESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Al Gore warned the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today that the planet is facing a “grave danger.”
* The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Eric Holder’s nomination, 17 to 2. Only Sens. Coburn and Cornyn voted against him.
* Speaking of Holder, Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Holder assured him that he wouldn’t prosecute Bush administration officials who committed acts of torture. No one seems to think Bond is telling the truth.
* For a change, it was a good day on Wall Street.
* Don’t be too surprised if mail delivery on Saturdays becomes a thing of the past.
* Funding for repairs to the Washington Mall were stripped from the stimulus bill to make Republicans happy. They’ll vote against the bill anyway, though.
* On a related note, despite the concessions, the Congressional Progressive Caucus has plenty to like about the final House bill.
* Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is looking for a U.S. “apology.” He’ll be waiting for a while.
* The American Society of Civil Engineers have a pretty scary new report: “More than a quarter of the nation’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Leaky pipes lose an estimated seven billion gallons of clean drinking water every day. And aging sewage systems send billions of gallons of untreated wastewater cascading into the nation’s waterways each year.”
* Education is likely to get a huge boost from the stimulus.
* Have I mentioned lately how impressed I am with the new Justice Department team? It keeps getting better.
* In case this afternoon’s written apology wasn’t quite pathetic enough, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) called Limbaugh personally this afternoon to express his regrets — on the air — for subtly criticizing him yesterday.
* Speaking of Limbaugh, here’s Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), responding to some of the blowhard’s latest nonsense: “Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we’d all need pain killers.”
* So long, Washington Post “Book World” section.
* And finally, President Obama gave his new hometown of D.C. some good-natured ribbing this afternoon for practically shutting down every time a winter storm comes through: “We are going to have to apply some toughness to this town.” As someone who moved from D.C. to Vermont, I can only agree enthusiastically.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
