Paul Wolfowitz Will Leave Over Your Dead Body, Thank You Very Much

PLUS: Afghan smack...How American healthcare is killing you slowly...Alberto Gonzales gets another talkin’-to...Fruit flies are just like you and me...Your kid’s making the grade (thanks to his cheating teacher)...and why it’s a dangerous time to be a bird in the suburbs. Today is May 17th, and this is Mic Check.

Celebration Excuse

Ending bigotry and embracing greed. It’s May 16th, here’s why we’re putting on some Coltrane:

1792

Greed is good. The New York Stock Exchange is founded.

1846

Dat dat dweee dow. Adolphe Sax patents the saxophone.

1954

Separate but equal is neither separate nor equal. The United States Supreme Court overturns Jim Crow in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education.

1973

Actually, he is a crook. Watergate hearings begin.

2004

Love makes a family. Back off, bigots. Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage.

Raise your glasses:

Writer of young person’s wilderness stories, author Gary Paulsen (1939).

K.O. king, boxer Sugar Ray Leonard (1956).

Feel-good father turned foul-mouth freak, comedian Bob Saget (1956).

Daybook

POTUS

11:30am

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair hold a joint press conference, White House

PEOPLE

9:30am

Fed Chair Ben Bernanke talks about subprime mortgage regulation in Chicago, IL

11am

U.S. District Court holds a hearing on Valerie Plame’s civil suit against Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Richard Armitage & Scooter Libby

Noon

The Constitution Project and the BrennanCenter for Justice host a panel discussion on “And Justice for All?: A Discussion on Restoring Habeas Corpus Rights to Guantanamo Detainees.” National Press Club, DC

STUMPIN

John Edwards speaks to the Georgia Dems at the annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, Atlanta

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden and Rep. Dennis Kucinich attend a rally of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. National Mall, DC

John McCain has a fund raiser in New York, then gives the keynote at the NY GOP State Committee dinner

Rudy Giuliani hangs out at the NY GOP State Committee dinner

Mike Huckabee has a fundraiser in Little Rock, Arkansas.

ON THE HILL

Senate

10am

Senate Judiciary Committee: Markup on Senate Resolution 130, when to designate National Cowboy Day.

10:15am

Senate Armed Services Committee: Hearing on the Defense Budget for the U.S. European Command. Watch For: Supreme Allied Commander, Army Gen. Bantz Craddock.

House

9:30am

House Energy and Commerce SubCom: Hearing on the FDA role in ensuring the safety of our food supply.

10am

House Homeland Security Committee: Hearing on school safety. Watch For: Secret Service agent Robert Sica; assistant deputy secretary of the Office of Safe & Drug-Free Schools Deborah Price

2pm

House Foreign Affairs SubCom: Hearing on “Declining Approval for American Foreign Policy in Muslim Countries: Does It Make It More Difficult to Fight al Qaeda?” Watch For: Director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, Steven Kull

WATCH MORE TV

Put A TV In Your Office

Ellen: Mike Myers

Regis & Kelly: Nicolette Sheridan, Tom Selleck

The View: Terri Hatcher

Stay Up Late

Stewart: Brink Lindsey, the guy who wrote “The Age of Abundance: How Prosperity Transformed America’s Politics and Culture”

Colbert: Rep. Tom DeLay

Letterman: Luke Wilson, Rufus Wainwright

Leno: Felicity Huffman

Conan: Amy Poehler

Kimmel: Geoffrey Rush, Mary Lynn Rajskub

 

Eavesdrop

STEAL THIS AUDIO: CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS DIRECTOR OF HEALTH POLICY KAREN DAVENPORT

Who: Karen Davenport, the Director of Health Policy at the Center for American Progress. [Center for American Progress]

What: Davenport talks about the bad deal Americans are getting for their health care dollar, the lack of political leadership, and why it’s more expensive for everyone to have millions of Americans without health insurance.

  • Americans are getting a terrible deal on health care.
    Please log in to download this clip.
  • Uninsured people still get health care, they just get it late, inefficiently, and in the most expensive way.
    Please log in to download this clip.
  • It’s a travesty that people from the United States have to go abroad to get affordable health care.
    Please log in to download this clip.
  • Really, a lack of reform is a failure of political leadership.
    Please log in to download this clip.

For more info, check out CAP’s innovative work on prevention, electronic record keeping, and aiming for universal health coverage. [Center for American Progress]

Popularity Contest

We’re head of the class. We’re popular.

NYT: Ivy League Crunch Brings New Cachet to Next Tier

WP: Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn’t Buy a Lot of Groceries

LAT: Spector’s chauffeur describes events of deadly night

USAT: CBS’ fall lineup is all about the drama

WSJ: Pressed for New Product, Motorola Sharpens Razr

CBS: Yolanda King Dead At Age 51

ABC: World Bank finalizing Wolfowitz ‘exit strategy’

NBC: Zen and the art of dealing with high gas prices

FOX: Britney Is Back … to Parading Her Panties

CNN: Diaries reveal Anna Nicole Smith’s sex life, sadness

Masthead

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Mic Check is produced every weekday by Christy Harvey, Sara Langhinrichs and Nicole Murphy, and is a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Read more about Mic Check.

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