From Sgt Mora's mother to a leaf in Condi's hair...

From American Progress:

Think Fast...

The mother of Sgt. Omar Mora, the soldier who co-authored a New York Times op-ed critical of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq, is calling on the Army to explain her son's death. "I want to know all the details of how he died. I want to know the truth," said Olga Capetillo.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is "leaving office quietly today with a low-key farewell address to Justice Department employees in Washington." One former senior official said that Gonzales had been "just sort of drifting off" and "minimizing his activity" for some time.

A new survey by a British polling agency suggests that the Iraqi civilian death toll from the war could be more than 1.2 million. The agency said it drew its conclusion from responses to the question about those living under one roof: "How many members of your household, if any, have died as a result of the conflict in Iraq since 2003?"

Bill Allen, the former head of Alaskan oil company VECO Corp., "admitted yesterday in court that he bribed three Alaska legislators," including Ben Stevens, the son of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). The elder Stevens is currently the target of a federal investigation also involving VECO.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that, while he was aware of "subprime" lending practices, he failed to see early on that "an explosion of mortgages to people with questionable credit histories could pose a danger to the economy." "I didn't get it" until later on, said Greenspan.

Consumer confidence dropped from 89.3 in August to 71.1 in September, its "lowest point in nearly 1 1/2 years as a deep housing slump and a credit crunch made people more worried about the country's economic health as well as their own."

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee announced Thursday that they will meet on Sept. 20 to consider "a bill to provide for limitations in certain communications between the Department of Justice and the White House."

The cost of health insurance in the United States climbed nearly twice as fast as wages in the first half of 2007. Kaiser vice-president Gary Claxton said, "In 2007, the increase in health insurance premiums was about twice the rate of inflation and not quite twice the increase in workers' pay."

Last week, California conservative activists' "bid to change the state's method for meting out its electoral votes was endorsed by the state GOP and cleared by the California secretary of state, moving it closer to a place on the June 2008 ballot." But Community Rights Counsel Doug Kendall writes that this referendum would be "patently unconstitutional."

And finally: At the White House remembrance ceremony for 9/11 victims on Monday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's outfit was "almost perfect -- except for that pesky leaf stuck in her hair. Fortunately, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Steve Johnson was there to clean up Condi's hair. After all, any EPA employee is supposed to be good at cleaning things up."

Wrap...