From #2 Conservative: Gen Petraeus to Lollipops...

From American Progress:

Think Fast...

"The conservative British newspaper, The Telegraph, has named its top 100 most influential conservatives (and top 100 liberals), and coming in at #2 on the conservative list -- right behind Rudy Giuliani, and just ahead of Matt Drudge, Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh" -- is Gen. David Petraeus.

Several civil rights organizations and leaders are "urging black Americans to refrain from spending money" today in a "national blackout." The move is meant to send a message to Washington "that blacks are fed up with racism and injustice," in light of recent racially-charged incidents nationwide.

"The number of foreign visitors to the United States has plummeted since the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington because foreigners don't feel welcome," according to tourism professionals. The decline has cost America "94 billion dollars in lost visitor spending, nearly 200,000 jobs and 16 billion dollars in lost tax revenue."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he is "weighing" whether to support the Mukasey nomination. "No nominee from this administration will agree with us on things like torture and wiretapping," Schumer explained. "The best we can expect is somebody who will depoliticize the Justice Department and put rule of law first."

Consumer Product Safety Commission chief Nancy Nord and her predecessor "have taken dozens of trips at the expense of the toy, appliance and children's furniture industries and others they regulate," according to internal records. Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called on Nord to resign.

The Democratic Governor of Puerto Rico, Anibal Acevedo-Vila, "says he has been improperly made a target of Justice Department prosecutors" for political reasons. His "case is one of several under review by the House Judiciary Committee" for allegedly selective prosecution of Democrats by the Bush administration.

While there are pockets of security where life in Baghdad is starting to get back to normal, "it's not normal by most standards. Across the city Sunnis and Shiites live in sectarian enclaves, many walled off. Sunnis fear visiting Shiite areas and vice versa, even if it is just a few blocks away. Trust has broken down so much that a stranger in a neighborhood can arouse enough suspicion to warrant an attack."

On Monday, President Bush "spent an hour with 14 reporters in an off-the-record session -- meaning what he said could not be reported -- to offer those assigned to the White House a rare look at his thinking on a variety of issues." The White House said the strategy driven by "a desire to be creative to try to provide some access to the president."

And finally: Some of Georgetown's "most notable homes" shut out trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), CBS News's Bill Plante, and former George H.W. Bush aide C. Boyden Gray, for example, were nowhere to be seen. At the home of journalist Bob Woodward though, "two old men sat on the front steps in front of a glass bowl of lollipops and chocolate treats and mechanically reminded small children to 'just take two. JUST TWO.'"

Wrap...