Headlines from Think Progress 10/30/09

[Dani Cutler]

Sorry for missing headlines yesterday, I was off contributing to a more socialistic nation:
http://www.vsuw.org/volunteer/events/project-homeless-connect-october

National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (TX) said yesterday that the GOP would “welcome” Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman into its ranks. Hoffman is slated to face off with Republican Dede Scozzafava and Democrat Bill Owens in a special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district next week.

In a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform Summit on Wednesday, former Florida governor Jeb Bush claimed that “President Obama has used the bully pulpit as a way to attack capitalism.” “That’ll make the news,” added Bush after he uttered his criticism of Obama in response to a question from the audience.

Iran told the IAEA yesterday that it will reject a plan to send its stockpile of low enriched uranium to Russia to be processed and then returned for use in a reactor in Tehran. The decision came only “hours after Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, insisted that ‘we are ready to cooperate‘ with the West.”

According to a report that “appears to have been inadvertently placed on a publicly accessible computer network,” House ethics investigators “have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling.” Committee chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said “no inference should be made as to any member.”

A report released by the Obama administration today says that “the largest stimulus program in the nation’s history has created or saved at least 650,000 state and local jobs.” The White House says that “the actual number of jobs created so far is likely closer to 1 million, since its report on stimulus job creation only focused on $150 billion of the $339 billion” spent so far.

Approximately 530,000 Americans filed for unemployment insurance last week, reflecting little change from the week before. The Senate is currently considering a bill to extend unemployment benefits by up to 20 weeks, but Republicans have been holding it up.

The Senate unanimously confirmed Dr. Regina Benjamin yesterday to serve as the nation’s surgeon general. For nearly a month, Senate Republicans had delayed a vote on Benjamin as part of the fight over health care reform. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took the GOP to task yesterday for blocking the vote on Benjamin while concern over H1N1 grows.

After months of negotiations, Honduran and American officials came to an agreement yesterday that would pave the way for the restoration of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. “We are satisfied,” Zelaya told Reuters. “We are optimistic that my reinstatement is imminent.

And finally: “These sweet potatoes are huge! They’re huge,” Michelle Obama told a group of elementary school kids yesterday, as they harvested vegetables from the White House garden. At one point, the First Lady held up one of the larger orange-colored spuds and said: “This can feed an army.” Obama was also photographed eying an earth worm. The Fall Harvest yesterday collected 223 pounds of huge sweet potatoes, carrots, fennel, lettuce, tomatoes, broccoli, turnips, eggplant, peppers, tomatillos and greens.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/30/thinkfast-october-30-2009/