Think Progress

JUSTICE -- MUKASEY NOMINATION IN JEOPARDY OVER HIS REFUSAL TO CALL WATERBOARDING TORTURE: Earlier this week, Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey refused to explicitly say whether waterboarding is illegal, leaving several Democrats "very concerned" about his nomination. Since then, nine senators, including four Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, have said that they will vote against Mukasey. Mukasey needs 10 votes to pass the committee and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has "signaled the Senate would not consider the nomination if it does not clear a crucial vote next week in the Judiciary Committee." Much of Mukasey's fate now rests in the hands of Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who have remained mum on their intentions. With Mukasey facing potential defeat, President Bush has ratcheted up his rhetoric. In his speech at the Heritage Foundation yesterday, Bush threatened that if his Mukasey is not confirmed, it "would guarantee that America would have no Attorney General during this time of war." His spokeswoman, Dana Perino, echoed his hyperbolic rhetoric, urging Congress to confirm him now and ask questions later. The committee will vote on Mukasey next Tuesday, Nov. 6.

IRAQ -- ADMINISTRATION FALLS SHORT IN ADMITTING IRAQI REFUGEES:  "The United States accepted only some 450 Iraqi refugees in October, well short of the Bush administration's stated goal of 1,000 a month." This comes after a September announcement by State Department officials was supposed to "clear the logjam," allowing "about 12,000 Iraqi refugees will be admitted to the United States over the next year." According to the U.N., Iraqis "top the list of people seeking asylum in 36 of the world's richest countries," and "asylum applications...filed by Iraqis rose 45 percent in the first half of 2007 compared to the previous six months." Adding to the difficulties refugees face, Iraqis note that they must travel to neighboring countries like Syria or Jordan to apply for asylum, because they "are not allowed to apply in Iraq." From Oct. 2006 to Sept. 2007, the State Department intended to admit roughly 7,000 refugees but "sharply reduced that figured to 2,000 over the summer when it became clear that the original figure could not be met." The United Nations estimates that over four million Iraqis have been displaced since the start of the war in 2003, leading human rights groups to call it "the world's fastest growing refugee crisis."

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH CALLS 'WAR ON TERROR' CRITICS 'DISINGENUOUS OR NAIVE': In his speech at the Heritage Foundation yesterday, President Bush attacked critics of the term "war on terror," saying that "people who deny we are at war are either being disingenuous or naive." He added, "We are at war -- and we cannot win this war by wishing it away or pretending it does not exist." Numerous people in the Bush administration, however, have admitted that using the term "war on terror" was a mistake. In September, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen banned the phrase "Global War on Terror" from "any future correspondence." Both former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers have stated that the "global war on terror" is misnamed. In 2004, Bush himself admitted the term was a mistake, stating, "We actually misnamed the war on terror, it ought to be the struggle against ideological extremists who do not believe in free societies who happen to use terror as a weapon to try to shake the conscience of the free world."

"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.'"