Dan Froomkin in the Washington Post has the questions being asked around Washington and the blogosphere Wednesday morning:
• If the reason Bush returned to Washington is that he is more effective here, then why didn’t he come back two days ago?
• If the White House considers the return from vacation largely symbolic, then what is […]

Is the aim to reduce the number of abortions in this country or not? If the answer is “yes,” then can we please make Plan B, aka the “morning-after pill,” available to everyone and not just the well-off who can get a prescription for it?
FDA Official Quits Over Delay on Plan B : Women’s Health […]

Number of People Living in Poverty Increased by 1.1 Million in 2004. Approximately 1.1 million people fell out of the middle class into poverty in 2004, an increase of 5.4 million people living in poverty since Bush took office in 2001. The poverty rate has increased from 12.5 to 12.7 percent over the past year, […]

“Outlook for Children Appears to be Bleak” by Judith R. Tackett (Nashville City Paper)
“The Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth began working with some sobering statistics Wednesday as it began developing a Children’s Agenda for the state.
One in five Tennessee children lives in poverty, placing the state at the 40th worst ranking compared to the […]

Mary and Freddie have taken Monday and Tuesday off. Mary will be back with guest co-host , Cecily Friday, this Thursday from 8 to 10 am on WRVU-FM.

From the NY Times: “The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, aligned himself with President Bush today when he said that the theory of “intelligent design” should be taught along with evolution in public schools.” He said, “I think today a pluralistic society should have access to a broad range of fact, of science, including […]

We thought there was a line that the conservative media wouldn’t dare cross. We thought that they might not crank up their smear machine to full attack mode and spare the mother of a dead altar boy, Eagle Scout, honor student, Marine. We were so wrong. They know no decency.
Their politics of hate is disgusting. […]

What They Did Last Fall By PAUL KRUGMAN
“By running for the U.S. Senate, Katherine Harris, Florida’s former secretary of state, has stirred up some ugly memories. And that’s a good thing, because those memories remain relevant. There was at least as much electoral malfeasance in 2004 as there was in 2000, even if it didn’t […]

Robert Unlikely to Face Big Fight
Democrats have decided that unless there is an unexpected development in the weeks ahead, they will not launch a major fight to block the Supreme Court nomination of John G. Roberts Jr., according to legislators, Senate aides and party strategists.
Woodward: Cheney to run in ‘08
Renowned journalist Bob Woodward predicts Dick […]

Maureen Dowd in today’s NY Times: “How could President Bush be cavorting around on a long vacation with American troops struggling with a spiraling crisis in Iraq?
Wasn’t he worried that his vacation activities might send a frivolous signal at a time when he had put so many young Americans in harm’s way?
“I’m determined that life […]