From Blackwater's Prince to Congress's Pelosi...

From American Progress:

Think Fast...

Though Blackwater USA CEO Erik Prince told a congressional committee yesterday that the company's guards opened fire on only 195 occasions in Iraq since 2005, "two former Blackwater security guards" stated they believe "employees fired more often than the company has disclosed. "The underreporting of shooting incidents was routine in Iraq," said one guard.

The Bush administration has made "seemingly inconsistent decisions" when releasing prisoners they deem "among America's most-hardened criminals" from Guantanamo Bay, according to Pentagon documents. "Human rights groups contend that the documents show" that the military panels are often "overridden by political expediency."

The State Department launched its own blog last week, called "Dipnote." People have already complained "that the white print on a black background makes it hard to read" Finally, "unbiased news directly from the federal government, a news source long noted for truthful, unbiased reporting," the Washington Post's Al Kamen mockingly writes.

The Army has met its stated recruiting goal of 80,000 new active-duty soldiers for FY2007. But to achieve this goal, "the Army rushed enlistees into its ranks more quickly than usual, depleting the number in the pipeline for next year to less than 7,000 -- the smallest in more than a decade."

The Polish ambassador to Iraq was wounded and a civilian was killed in a car bomb that went off in downtown Baghdad today. Approximately 900 Polish troops are currently stationed south of Baghdad training Iraqi personnel.

And finally: Final score: Boxer 3, Inhofe 0. Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) has repeatedly challenged Sen. Barbara Boxer's (D-CA) authority over the Senate environmental committee. During one hearing, she had to inform him, "You don't make the rules anymore." Yesterday, Boxer slammed down Inhofe's assertion that she couldn't invite sitting senators to the hearings, pointing out that in Sept. 2006, he invited Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). "I don't mind if we have disagreements, but...let's get the facts right," she admonished him.

Wrap...