From Bush's "inertia" to Black Puma sneakers....

From American Progress:

Think Fast...

Despite President Bush's tough rhetoric on the genocide in Darfur, "the situation on the ground in Darfur is little changed." Critics say Bush is "allowing initiatives to drop because of inertia or failure to follow up, while proving unable to mobilize either his bureaucracy or the international community."

"A suicide bomber on a bicycle killed 28 Iraqi policemen doing their morning exercises at their base north of Baghdad on Monday, police said, in one of the deadliest strikes on security forces in months."

Former Bush aide Dan Bartlett will announce today that he is "moving to Texas to join Public Strategies Inc., one of the nation's best-connected public affairs firms." At the firm, Bartlett will reunite with Mark McKinnon, "who directed the advertising efforts for Bush's 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns."

"More than a year after Congress told the Energy Department to harden the nation's nuclear bomb factories and laboratories against terrorist raids, at least 5 of the 11 sites are certain to miss their deadlines, some by many years."

Oil prices today "broke through $93 a barrel for the first time, hitting $93.20 before easing back slightly to $93.06."

"Islamofascism" is "not an ideology; it's a figment of the neocon imagination," writes Paul Krugman in The New York Times today. "The term came into vogue only because it was a way for Iraq hawks to gloss over the awkward transition from pursuing Osama bin Laden, who attacked America, to Saddam Hussein, who didn't."

"Dozens of construction projects launched by the Army Corps of Engineers to protect the New Orleans region from the most catastrophic floods are behind schedule by an average of nearly eight months, an internal audit shows."

New claims by former Secretary of State Colin Powell further detail the close ties between President Bush and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair: "In the end Blair would always support the president. ... Jack [Straw] and I would get him all pumped up about an issue. And he'd be ready to say, 'Look here, George'. But as soon as he saw the president he would lose all his steam."

And finally: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has taken a "sartorial cue" from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). "Whitehouse's trademark black Pumas...so inspired Brown" that he "asked Whitehouse where to find the sneaks, promptly bought a pair and now sports them with his work attire." Brown's spokesman said that the senator was "mindful of just how hard those unforgiving marble floors can be on one's feet, back and neck, and he was covetous of his fellow freshman's sleek-but-cushioned footwear."

Wrap...