Think Progress

IRAQ -- SHOE-THROWER FACES UP TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON: Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush, appeared before a judge yesterday and admitted to "the action he carried out." Reuters reports that the court decided to keep Zaidi in custody and that after an investigation is completed, "the court may send him for trial under a clause in the Iraqi penal code that makes it an offense to attempt to murder Iraqi or foreign presidents." Abdul Satar Birqadr, a spokesman for Iraq’s High Judicial Council, said that al-Zaidi faces up to 15 years in prison. "A less severe charge, insulting the leader of a foreign nation, carries a sentence of up to two years in prison or a fine of 200 Iraqi dinars, about 17 cents," notes the New York Times. Today, a criminal court judge will decide whether there is sufficient cause to try al-Zaidi. Al-Zaidi reportedly was "beaten in custody," according to the BBC. According to his brother, he is also suffering from a broken hand, broken ribs, and internal bleeding. TV al-Sharqiya in Iraq reported that the al-Zaidi had "signs of tortures on his thighs."

ECONOMY -- BUSH: 'I'VE 'ABANDONED FREE MARKET PRINCIPLES': The Bush administration has repeatedly touted the President's adherence to free markets throughout his time in office. "Free markets remain the best way to promote growth, create good jobs, and ensure rising living standards. That is why the President has actively sought to open markets," Gregory Mankiw of the Council of Economic Advisers explained in 2004. But on CNN yesterday, noting the multiple bailouts of financial institutions from his administration, Bush said he had "abandoned" the free market in order to "save" it. "I have obviously made a decision to make sure the economy doesn't collapse," said Bush. "I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system." Bush's logic is deeply flawed. Much of the crisis was caused by the "belief that markets are self-adjusting and that the role of government should be minimal," Nobel Prize-winning economist Joe Stiglitz explained. Stiglitz noted how former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan admitted earlier that there is "a flaw" in his free market "view of the world." One of the chief problems was the administration's failure to regulate mortgage markets. As the Wonk Room explained, the administration ignored several "prescient warnings" about the crisis. In 2005, regulators proposed stringent checks on bankers and mortgages. Bowing to pressure from big banks, however, the administration ignored these warnings and also gutted several important regulations.

ADMINISTRATION -- BUSH LIBRARY FOUNDATION PRESIDENT ALREADY SPINNING BUSH'S LEGACY: In an article yesterday on the George W. Bush presidential library, McClatchy noted that "[t]he present hasn't worked out so well" for President Bush, "so now he's banking on a kinder and gentler future." To that end, Bush library foundation president Mark Langdale has already begun to spin the President's legacy, calling the debacle surrounding Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina simply evidence of "the limitations of government assistance." "There's an interesting lesson about Katrina and the limitations of government assistance to respond to big natural disasters," Langdale said. "They are acts of God, and they are tough. It's definitely a story line I would not shy away from addressing somehow in the museum." This is not Langdale's first act of Bush celebration. Pictured behind him in an image accompanying a Dallas Morning News article on the library last week was a photo of Bush superimposed over Martin Luther King, Jr. "I'm confident that people will come to change their mind about the president and some of the decisions he made," said Langdale. "You need time to get past the current news cycle and the prejudices and emotions of the moment."

Time Magazine named Barack Obama its Person of the Year today "for having the confidence to sketch that kind of future in this gloomy hour and for showing the competence that makes Americans hopeful that he will pull it off."

As part of "an elaborate operation devised to smooth the first transition of power" since 9/11, The White House "has prepared more than a dozen contingency plans to help guide President-elect Barack Obama if an international crisis erupts in the opening days of his administration." The memos imagine terror strikes, cyber attacks, nuclear explosions, and "outline options for Mr. Obama to consider."

Obama will hold a press conference this morning to announce former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack and Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO) as the next Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior. Vilsack "will lead a sprawling federal bureaucracy charged with overseeing farm subsidies, land conservation, food safety and hunger programs." Both environmentalists and food industry leaders reacted positively to his selection, but some food activists are raising concerns.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steven Preston tells the Washington Post that "the centerpiece of the federal government's effort to help struggling homeowners has been a failure." Though "the three-year program was supposed to help 400,000 borrowers avoid foreclosure," Preston says "it has attracted only 312 applications since its October launch because it is too expensive and onerous for lenders and borrowers alike."

In a speech earlier this year, incoming Energy Secretary Steven Chu bluntly stated, "Coal is my worst nightmare." Chu said he isn't "sold on the idea that technology to capture greenhouse emissions and pump them underground will save the coal industry." More »

NASA declared yesterday that the year 2008 was the ninth warmest year since 1880 and that "all of the nine warmest years have occurred in the past 11 years." Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Joseph Romm notes that the World Meteorological Organization also reported yesterday that the global mean temperature for 2008 makes it the tenth warmest year since 1850.

The House Progressive caucus -- the largest "organized faction in the Democratic Caucus" -- is pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA) to embrace a "$1 trillion, two-year stimulus package aimed at low- and middle-income Americans." Pelosi's spokesperson said the idea would be "considered."

According to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans "say that they have been hurt by the downturn" in the economy "and that the country has slipped into long-term economic decline." The poll "also found that a rapidly increasing share of Americans -- 66 percent, up from just over half a year ago -- are worried about maintaining their standard of living."

The House Oversight Committee has released a report showing that "hundreds of Clean Water Act violations have not been pursued with enforcement actions." "Our investigation reveals that the clean water program has been decimated as hundreds of enforcement cases have been dropped, downgraded, delayed, or never brought in the first place," Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) noted.

And finally: On Monday, the Bush administration held its final Hanukkah party. The event, which reportedly "wasn't quite as wild as last week's Christmas party for members of Congress," did feature "dancing until 9 p.m. in the White House foyer (by men only)." The Washington Post's Mary Ann Akers reports that the highlight was an appearance by former Bushie Karl Rove who "worked the crowd and held court in the East Room next to the all-kosher buffet." Other attendees were Attorney General Michael Mukasey, White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT).