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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryBush considers standing by Iraq strategy
WASHINGTON - April may become the new September when it comes to deciding whether to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq, if President Bush's senior advisers have their way. But Congress might not stand for it. The Illustrated Daily Scribble
The WorldBomb targets minivans in Baghdad, toll disputed
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A bomb exploded near minivans in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday, and officials gave sharply differing accounts of casualties.
U.S. pours funds into Iraq’s industry
Efforts to rebuild Iraq’s shuttered industrial base, including an infusion of $760 million in U.S. funds over the past year, is making slow progress but has had little success getting Iraqi products to American consumers.
Lebanese laud troops' win over militants
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Thousands of Lebanese on Tuesday lined roads and cheered troops triumphant after crushing al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants in a three-month-long battle that became the country's worst internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war.
Ex-president to head key Iranian clerical body
TEHRAN, Iran - Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani was picked Tuesday to head a key clerical body empowered with choosing or dismissing the country’s supreme leader — a vote seen as a victory for Iran’s moderate conservatives, state media reported… The body’s real clout only kicks in after the supreme leader is gone — a sort of Iranian version of the Vatican’s College of Cardinals when they gather to pick a new pope.
Taliban links to Pakistan blasts probed
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan on Wednesday probed suspected links between pro-Taliban militants and the twin suicide blasts that killed 31 people and heightened the crisis facing President Pervez Musharraf.
Amnesty demands independent probe into Bangladesh unrest
DHAKA (AFP) - Amnesty International Wednesday called for an "unrestricted inquiry" into alleged violations by security forces during last month's nationwide student unrest in Bangladesh.
Chinese kids undergo required military training
Compulsory military boot camps in China are part of a nationwide training network in which 50 million children ages 9 to 18 will get military education this year.
Howard backs Bush on Iraq as APEC begins
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard vowed to keep Australian troops in Iraq despite mounting pressure at home to withdraw, as annual Asia-Pacific meetings began in Sydney.
Three held in Germany over attack plot
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has arrested three men suspected of belonging to an Islamist terrorist group and planning attacks, German officials said on Wednesday.
The next war? (by Arnaud de Borchgrave)
After a brief interruption of his New Hampshire vacation to meet President Bush in the family compound at Kenebunkport, Maine, French President Nicolas Sarkozy came away convinced his U.S. counterpart is serious about bombing Iran's secret nuclear facilities. That's the reading as it filtered back to Europe's foreign ministries: The NationBush unlikely to cut troop levels
President Bush’s senior advisers on Iraq have recommended he stand by his current war strategy, and he is unlikely to order more than a symbolic cut in troops before the end of the year, administration officials told The Associated Press Tuesday.
Were YOU fooled? Of course not.—Caro
GAO: Baghdad Failing To Meet Most Goals
Baghdad has not met 11 of its 18 political and security goals, according to a new independent report on Iraq that challenges President Bush's assessment of the war.
General: Next few months in Iraq Crucial
BAGHDAD - The No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq said Tuesday that the next three to four months will be crucial in determining whether the United States can start to withdraw troops from Iraq without sacrificing security gains since the troop buildup began early this year.
We’re always just a Friedman Unit away from success. Always.—Caro
Bush Shifts Terms for Measuring Progress in Iraq
President Bush is focusing on new American alliances with the tribes and local groups that Washington once feared would tear the country apart.
GAO Chief Suggests Administration Is Cooking The Books On Levels Of Sectarian Violence In Iraq
Gen. David Petraeus has claimed that there has been a 75 percent reduction in sectarian violence. In testimony today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, GAO Comptroller General David Walker said those statistics cannot be independently verified.
Pentagon says it acts as quickly as it can to meet needs
(A) USA TODAY investigation shows. Since the war began, members of Congress — Democrats and Republicans — repeatedly have forced the Defense Department to invest in body armor, order devices to jam signals from detonators used by insurgent bombers, and buy vehicles that top military officials initially deemed unnecessary… (T)he military cut or underfunded several programs and moved so slowly and grudgingly that members of Congress took extraordinary measures.
Bush Success Rating at Historic Low
President Bush’s success rating in the Democratic-controlled House has fallen this year to a half-century low, and he prevailed on only 14 percent of the 76 roll call votes on which he took a clear position. The previous low for any president was in 1995, when Bill Clinton won just 26 percent of the time during the first year after Republicans took control of the House.
Democrats, Promising to Force Change in War Strategy, Aim to Reframe Iraq Debate
As Congress reopened for business on Tuesday, the Democratic leadership promised to force a change in President Bush’s war strategy.
That would be great, Democrats, but I’m not exactly holding my breath.—Caro
Containment as a basis for national security
Yale scholar and author Ian Shapiro proposes that containment, the strategy designed by George F. Kennan in the 1940s to deal with the Soviet Union, be implemented today to cope with the new challenges of terrorism. He sees it as a way for the U.S. to establish a rational, respected, effective foreign policy.
In Chertoff's record, shades of politics
WASHINGTON -- Shortly after President Bush took office in 2001, Michael Chertoff, then head of the Justice Department's criminal division, met with the conservative group Judicial Watch. It wanted criminal charges brought against Hillary Rodham Clinton in connection with a lavish fundraising event in Los Angeles the year before. "Chertoff personally assured us he would pursue it," the group's president, Tom Fitton, said recently… Justice did not pursue a case against the senator from New York, but instead went after one of her fundraisers, David Rosen, who eventually was acquitted.
How dare they float this man’s name as a candidate for Attorney General?—Caro
When moderates feel lost in the GOP
RAYMORE, MO. -- Talk about a nasty divorce. In an announcement last month that left Missouri politicos agape, state Sen. Chris Koster, a rising Republican star and chairman of the Senate's GOP caucus, abruptly declared himself a Democrat. Not only did Koster join the marginalized minority party in Missouri, but he did so with a thundering speech that lambasted his former colleagues as ignoring the needs of their constituents and slavishly following the dictates of "religious extremists."
Impeach Bush and Cheney or nuns will whack the crap out all of us with rulers (by Wolfrum at Shakesville)
Blow off the will of the people all you want. U.S. citizens are pretty much ignored, as we've come to find the past several years. But ignore nuns at your own peril. These are women armed with some serious rulers, after all. "Coalition of nuns calls for impeaching Bush and Cheney"
In the US, class war still means just one thing: the rich attacking the poor
Most Americans identify themselves as "middle class" - but in the middle of what is not clear. Anything that would identify working people as a group with a collective set of interests that are different from and at times antagonistic to the interests of corporations has pretty much been erased from public discourse… Long ago the wealthy declared war on the poor in this country. The poor have yet to fight back.
SECRET TRADE DEAL: Report Shows Bush/Dem Pact Designed to Let Big Business Evade U.S. Taxes
(O)pposition to The Secret Trade Deal of 2007 may … find renewed vigor following a new report showing how one of the least discussed pacts in the deal - the one with Panama - includes language designed to allow many of the largest corporations to hide income in tax havens and avoid paying U.S. taxes MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
Going After Gore
Al Gore couldn't believe his eyes: as the 2000 election heated up, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other top news outlets kept going after him, with misquotes ("I invented the Internet"), distortions (that he lied about being the inspiration for Love Story), and strangely off-the-mark needling, while pundits such as Maureen Dowd appeared to be charmed by his rival, George W. Bush. For the first time, Gore and his family talk about the effect of the press attacks on his campaign—and about his future plans—to the author, who finds that many in the media are re-assessing their 2000 coverage.
Long-time readers of MakeThemAccountable won’t find much that’s new here, and I really doubt that any of the Gore bashers in the media are re-assessing anything, but you may find this Vanity Fair article interesting. It’s been a long time, but you may also enjoy reading David Podvin’s parody of a Ceci Connolly article supposedly about Tipper Gore’s decision whether or not to run for the Senate in 2002. The parody was so true to type that Ms. Connolly called me and said people had been calling her, asking if she had really written it. She demanded that I delete the article from my website, and even sicced a Washington Post Company attorney on me. I didn’t delete the article, but I wish I’d had the presence of mind to ask Ms. Connolly if she had even thought about why people wondered if she had actually written it. Oh, and be sure to note Connolly’s comment in the Vanity Fair article, “I never threatened Carter Eskew”. She certainly was threatening to me. Another good thing about this Vanity Fair article is that it credits Bob Somerby of The Daily Howler for the research he’s done to debunk the lies about Gore being a liar. The mainstream media should always acknowledge the writers they borrow ideas and information from, even if we’re the freaky, wild-haired, lefty hippies on the internets.—Caro
Garry South: Rove's dirty tricks
Regardless of whether he is ultimately judged a political genius or goat, someone of Rove’s ilk had no business whatsoever plying his trade in a high-ceilinged West Wing office on the taxpayers’ dime, running a federally funded continuation of Bush’s political campaigns and perverting public policymaking at the highest levels of government into cynical partisan maneuverings. Whoever the next president is, Democrat or Republican, people like Rove and me should be domiciled outside government, not embedded inside it.
Karl Rove, Still Behind the Curtain
President Bush's behind-the-curtain adviser, Karl Rove, is expected to reprise that role for the prez in Texas, we hear. Now retired from the White House, Rove is planning to take charge of the Bush library and museum, including the design, fundraising, and planning for what insiders are calling a copy of the conservative Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
He’ll be busy trying to rewrite history, but he’s good at it.—Caro
ONLY DEMS:
(Indicted former Mitt Romney fundraiser Alan B.) Fabian was … missing-in-action when the Post published (a John Solomon) “news report” on the front page of Monday’s paper. The report listed four fund-raisers for major candidates who are said to have, or to present, “legal issues.” But all four men raised funds for Dems—and one of the four fund-raisers has no current “legal issues” at all. Meanwhile, Fabian—indicted just last month—was AWOL from the Post’s story… As always, the Washington Post is a joke, on page one—and as always, the liberal world is silent.
Countdown Special Comment: You have no remaining credibility about Iraq, sir
Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment tonight is without a doubt, one of his hardest hitting and most emotional to date. Keith absolutely lays waste to President Bush’s lies and rhetoric about the surge. He contrasts his callous disregard for the truth and the troops between his six hour photo op in Iraq and the interview with Draper released this weekend.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
White House Website Scrubbed of FOIA Reference
Last month, the White House argued in federal court that its own Office of Administration was not subject to FOIA, even though the White House website said otherwise. The White House website has now been changed.
FEC won't regulate political blogging
WASHINGTON - DailyKos, an influential political Web site that serves as a virtual bulletin board for liberals, qualifies as a media entity exempt from federal campaign finance regulations, the Federal Election Commission said Tuesday.
Blogs about politics on radar of state elections officials
The rapid growth of political blogs and Web sites has attracted the attention of state elections officials, who are considering what, if any, new regulations should be imposed on the Internet.
Yeah? Well, what about talk radio? Regulate them first, then come talk to us.—Caro
Asterpix Puts Hyperlinks in Videos
With the official launch of Asterpix.com on September 6th, they are aiming to bring “hypervideo” to the masses for anyone to use… Hypervideo is a concept wherein you can make hyperlinks inside a video (see embedded clips below). Say there is a video of a war movie with a tank in it. You make the tank into a hyper object, and when the user clicks on it, they might be taken to a menu of other videos about that object.
Now we need text and keyword searches for video.—Caro
Facebook Profiles Will Appear in Google Results Next Month
If you thought the news feed was a threat to your privacy, be warned: Facebook is announcing Public Search Listings today, meaning profiles will be searchable through Facebook, and soon turn up on Google, Yahoo and MSN Search. As of tomorrow, search will be available through Facebook; users will then have one month to change their privacy settings before profiles get indexed by the major search engines. These results will include, at most, your name and profile picture. Technology & ScienceU.N.: World now has 4B phone lines
Telephone service has quadrupled in the past decade to 4 billion lines worldwide, according to a report Tuesday from the U.N. telecommunications agency.
ATM makers see ties to cell phones, PDAs
CLEVELAND - Diebold Inc. and NCR Corp., long key players and staunch competitors in the automated teller machines market, are both firming up strategies for communicating with an ATM by cell phone or personal digital assistant.
Diebold, great! They make voting machines that amateurs can hack. We can all feel good when they’re in charge of wireless tie-ins between personal devices and ATMs.—Caro
Smoking in Movies May Put Teens at Risk
Silver screen cues tend to reinforce positive associations with the habit, study says
Excessive TV Spurs Attention Trouble in Kids
But the new study is at odds with much of the previous research, experts say.
Study: Our DNA Less Alike Than Thought
Scientists had thought we were all 99.9 percent alike. Now they say it's only 99 percent. (Human and chimpanzee DNA is 95 percent alike.) The research could help understand the genetic underpinnings of disease.
Born lucky: Scientists discover ‘skinny’ gene
Scientists now say they have discovered the “skinny” gene. And they’ve found this lucky batch of DNA in a variety of animals, including humans, according to a report published Tuesday in the journal Cell Metabolism.
3,000-year-old beehives found in Israel
JERUSALEM - Archaeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old beekeeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.
‘Bringing the Ocean to the World,’ in High-Def
Researchers are undertaking a mammoth effort to observe oceanic life using fiber optics and the Internet. EnvironmentHurricanes Felix, Henriette, Set Records, Wreak Havoc
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico - Felix walloped Central America's remote Miskito coastline and Henriette slammed into resorts on the tip of Baja California as a record-setting hurricane season got even wilder Tuesday with twin storms making landfall on the same day.
Loss of Arctic ice leaves experts stunned
The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at record lows, scientists have announced. Experts say they are "stunned" by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as the UK disappearing in the last week alone… If the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030.
Climate Change Refugees
It has already started. The first ripples from rising seas are inundating low-lying areas, threatening coasts and islands. Climate refugees around the world are fleeing regions beset by violent storms, extreme temperatures, melting glaciers, spreading deserts, swelling oceans and other escalating effects of global warming. Billions of people are at risk and the number is growing.
New Data: Growth In Carbon Emissions Slowing
LONDON - Growth in global emissions of the heat-trapping greenhouse gas carbon dioxide slowed slightly last year, preliminary data from the U.S. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) suggest.
A 500-Mile Commute Without Gasoline?
An Austin-based startup called EEStor promised "technologies for replacement of electrochemical batteries," meaning a motorist could plug in a car for five minutes and drive 500 miles roundtrip between Dallas and Houston without gasoline.
Retailers Push Packagers To Think "Green"
NEW YORK - Growing demand from retailers and manufacturers for smaller, eco-friendly packages is pushing box makers and chemical companies to create compact packaging that is bio-based and recyclable. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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