From Monica Goodling to John Kerry & Harvard....

From American Progress:

Think Fast

Former Justice Dept. spokesman Mark Corallo defended the partisan and potentially illegal hiring practices of Monica Goodling, claiming she "was trying to bring balance to the department." The civil rights division, he argued, "has long been populated by 'some of the most radical Democrats in the law.'"

U.S. soldiers in a Sunni neighborhood in west Baghdad "now openly declare pessimism for the mission's chances, unofficially referring to their splinter of heavily fortified land as 'the Alamo.'" One U.S. Army captain says Bush's escalation plan has mobilized the terrorist movement. "I sometimes worry that this period will end up going down here as their surge, not ours."

According to a new Fox News poll, "more voters say the situation in Iraq will be extremely important in deciding their 2008 vote for president than any other issue, including terrorism, health care and the economy." President Bush's approval rating stands at 34 percent in the poll.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) has "effectively blocked a resolution to honor environmental author Rachel Carson on the 100th anniversary of her birth," saying that her warnings about environmental damage have "put a stigma on potentially lifesaving pesticides" such as DDT.

"Unlike Muslim minorities in many European countries, U.S. Muslims are highly assimilated, close to parity with other Americans in income and overwhelmingly opposed to Islamic extremism, according to the first major, nationwide random survey of Muslims."

"The jump in U.S. gasoline prices this year has so far drained consumers of an extra $20 billion, or about $146 for each passenger car in the country." The average price for regular unleaded gasoline is currently a record $3.22 per gallon.

"A comprehensive immigration bill survived a significant test on Tuesday as the Senate voted to keep a provision that would let hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers enter the country each year."

Fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias writes, "What has become clear [through the attorney purge] is that the 'loyalty uber alles' mentality has infected a wide swath of the Bush administration. Simple notions like right and wrong are, in their eyes, matters of allegiance, not conscience. ... [The Justice Department] is in desperate need of leaders who place loyalty to the Constitution on a higher level than politics."

And finally: Harvard is putting out a list of famous people it once rejected. Included in that list are investor Warren Buffett, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, CNN founder Ted Turner, and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). "Rejected is such a strong word," Kerry told ABC News. "I prefer to think of it as crimson-challenged...besides I never would have fit in at a total jock school."

Wrap...