Blue Radar

As I post each morning, here are some of the political stories thatmight not be worthy of their own posts, but are nonetheless newsworthy:

• Former General John Batiste has been fired by CBS for his role in the VoteVets.org ad that criticized President Bush's stay the course war policy.  Batiste had been a CBS political consultant.  (So much for CBS' liberal bias!)
• On May 10th, General Patraeus sent a letter to every soldier reminding them to adhere to the laws that govern modern warfare.  He emphasized that torture is unacceptable.  (The fact that this letter even had to be written underscores the damage that Cheney and Rumsfeld's torture mentality has caused.)
• The conservative blog Red State will "declare war" on the Republican House GOP until they remove Republican Congressman Ken Calvert from the Appropriations Committee.
• On Friday evening, Bush gave the commencement speech at St. Vincent College in Pennsylvania.  Out of protest, 30 faculty members signed a letter that criticized the war.  Even a philosophy major decided not to finish his thesis because he didn't want to graduate when Bush gave the speech.
• GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wealth is estimated at $250 million, according to financial assets made public.
• Earlier this week, Lou Dobbs' CNN show reported that illegal immigration is responsible for the rise in leprosy over the last three years.  Dobbs said that "unscreened illegal immigrants coming into this country" is one of the main reasons why the leprosy rate has gone up.  But according to U.S. State Department statistics, Dobbs' leprosy numbers were incorrect.  The Southern Poverty Law Center is asking for CNN to retract Dobbs' statement.
• Starting this Monday, the price of stamps will increase.  The cost of a first-class letter will go up from $0.39 to $0.41.
• Friday on CNN International, an accidental caption read "Bush resigns."  It stayed on the screen for 12 seconds, and was ultimately replaced by the correct headline: "Blair resigns."  (Although one cannot blame them for confusing Tony Blair for George W. Bush!)
• A group of Iraqi politicians have been dispatched to Washington D.C. in an effort to convince the U.S. Congress not to end the U.S. military occupation in Iraq.  (Then how about not going on recess!?)

If we left anything out, feel free to add any stories in the commentbox.