From Gonzales to watermelons..both veggie & fruit?

From American Progress:

Think Fast

"In more than five hours of often-combative testimony" yesterday, Alberto Gonzales, "grim-faced, clasping his hands and hunched over, struggled to offer a coherent explanation for the dismissals" of eight U.S. Attorneys. He "appeared frustrated, weary and at times combative," and "angered" committee members "as he invoked a faulty memory more than 50 times."

The U.S. military is constructing a 3-mile-long concrete wall in Baghdad "to cut off one of the capital's most restive Sunni Arab districts from the Shiite Muslim neighborhoods that surround it, raising concern about the further Balkanization of Iraq's most populous and violent city."
"A suicide bomber breached Baghdad's heavy security presence again Thursday, killing a dozen people in a mostly Shiite district a day after more than 230 people died in one of the Iraq war's deadliest episodes of violence."

A new national poll shows "a third of Americans say global warming ranks as the world's single largest environmental problem, double the number who gave it top ranking last year." Seven in 10 Americans want federal action on global warming, and about half of those surveyed think the government should do "much more" than it is doing now.

"A bill giving Washington, D.C. its first full seat in Congress cleared the House yesterday, marking the city's biggest legislative victory in its quest for voting rights in nearly three decades." But the bill doesn't appear to have enough votes to break a Senate filibuster, and President Bush has vowed a veto.

"The number of returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans visiting Department of Veterans Affairs walk-in clinics has more than doubled since 2004, while the clinics' staff has increased by less than 10%, agency records show."

"In an early morning statement Friday, the World Bank's board said that Thursday's meeting to discuss issues raised by President Paul Wolfowitz's handling of the terms of his girlfriend's employment...ended without a final resolution. The board asked an ad hoc committee for 'early recommendations' on what action, if any, to take."

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), a strong proponent of gun-rights who once served on the National Rifle Association's board of directors, is leading talks with the NRA in hopes of resurrecting a bill to "bolster the national background-check system and potentially block gun purchases by the mentally ill."

And finally: "Oklahoma already has the strawberry as its official fruit, so the state Senate cleared the way Tuesday to declare the watermelon the state vegetable." The Senate debated over whether the watermelon is a fruit or vegetable. "I guess it can be both," State Sen. Don Barrington (R) conceded.

Wrap...