National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of December 8, 2004

The number of Guard and Reserve mobilized last week was up 1,588 over the previous week. (DoD)

Reccomending Oil Changes

The National Commission on Energy Policy is out with a report saying the US needs to diversify its global oil supplies. In addition, the two year study reccomends the US expand a world network of strategic oil reserves and significantly boost car fuel standards. The report amy have implications for Congress' work on a new national energy policy. (Wired.com)

Crossing the Aisle on Social Security

Rep Allen Boyd (D-FL) is the first Democrat to cross over to President Bush's privitization call for Social Security. He's trying now to round up other Democrats to support the plan drafted by Rep Jim Kolbe (R-AZ).

Intelligence Bill Passes -- So Are We Now Any Smarter Being?

The Baltimore Sun and AP have a point by point list of what the new intelligence bill does. (BaltSun)

Election Problems

More than 414,000 voters had problems on election day significant enough to make them call national hotlines and complain. The Common Cause Education Fund highlighted some of the problems in a new report.

Among the cases: a woman who had to wait seven hours to vote because the polling place had only two machines for 11,000 voters. (LAT)

Pinning the Blame for the Air Force Rape Scandal

Eight Air Force officials are blamed for a 10 year long series of sexual assault issues at the Air Force Academy. The inspector general issued a report saying successive chains of command were the root cause of the continuing problem. (Herald-Sun)

Is There a Doctor in the House? We Have His Draft Card Ready

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire and the Wall Street Journal are talking about drafting doctors and other health care specialists. The Selective Service System is working on the potential draft. The military is running short as casualties add up in Iraq. The idea to call up about 36,000 health care workers has the AMA upset. (Political Wire)

The Way Washington Thinks

A friend of mine called up for Army Reserve duty in Iraq phoned in last night. He was boarding a plane for Kuwait, carrying a M-16 strapped over his shoulder. As he was on the phone, he and the other soldiers were told to check their Gerber knives before boarding. It's a security requirement. They were, however, allowed to carry on their M-16s onto the plane.

No DeLay in Giving Back Money

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) has given back $3,500 in contributions to his legal defense fund. The gifts broke House rules. The GOP recently changed their rules to allow DeLay to keep his leadership post if he's indicted in an ongoing investigation. (Houston Chronicle)

US Health Polidy: Canada - Bad. Germany - Good.

The Bush administration opposes reimporting US-made drugs from Canada as "unsafe." But they're turning to Germany to buy 1.2 million doses of flu vaccine. (WashPost)

AccuWeather Sides With the Groundhog

Maybe this is why TV weathermen get it wrong so often. Notice this line from the Philadelphia Inquirer about the groundhog photo-op in Washington:

"But Peterson and Phil, flanked by museum officials and AccuWeather vice president Barry Lee Myers, said the money will draw tourism to an economically strapped region of Pennsylvania. "

You'd think a big company like AccuWeather would rely more on doppler radar than rodents. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

An Early Groundhog Day Means Six Weeks Without Congressional Spending -- But There's a Catch

Famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil lobbied Capitol Hill to soften the uproar over his $100,000 federal grant from taxpayers. The furry rodent and his top-hatted, tuxedo-clad handler showed up for a photo-op at the Capitol.

A skeptical Rep Jeff Flake (R-AZ) put out a prepared statement saying Phil's visit to Washington could mean "six weeks without pork barrel spending in Congress," but "only because Congress will be out of session for the next six weeks or so."

The $100,000 dollar grant is for the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center -- a museum of the science and folklore of weather forecasting. (Knight Ridder)

The Racist Language Isn't So Black and White

A recount shows a more narrow margin than first thought in Alabama. The state's voters rejected a bill that would have removed "seperate but equal" language from the state's constitution.

A reader of Watching Washington points out that the original intent of Amendment 2 was to simply remove the racist language. But the issue got muddled along the way. Amendment 2 eventually included language that was vague to voters. Some people saw it as a possible way to raise taxes. The 1956 language Amendment 2 sought to repeal included a clause that said education was a priviledge rather than a right -- suggesting the state had no responsibility to pay for schools.

In the original count, Amendment 2 failed by 1,850 votes. The latest numbers show the margin 1,766. (The Crimson White)

1,000 Dead In Iraq

The Pentagon confirms the 1,000th death attributed directly to combat in Iraq. The solder was on patrol in Baghdad when he was killed by small arms fire around 11:30 am.

In all, 1,275 American service men and women have died in the Iraq War. And 9,765 have been wounded. (ABC)

Coming up with the $3 Billion was the Easy Part

California voters passed a $3 billion initiative to pay for stem cell research. But figuring out how to covert all that money into red tape is the job of politicians -- and they're busy at work on complicating the job. (SFGate.com)

The Troops will be Home by Christmas -- 2008

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says US troops could be out of Iraq by 2008. That is, if everything goes according to plan. And why wouldn't it? (Chicago Tribune)

What Washington's Not Telling Us About Iraq

The Baghdad station chief for the CIA warned in a classified cable in late November that the situation in Iraq was deteriorating with no hope of a quick rebound. Unnamed government officials talking to the New York Times say the cable reflects an unvarnished assessment of the difficulties ahead for Iraq. (NYT)