Countdown Newsletter -- 02/22/06: In the Dark

[Patsy Stone]

------------------------------------------------------
Tonight on Countdown
------------------------------------------------------

President Bush was unaware of the pending sale of shipping operations at six major U.S. seaports to a state-owned business in the United Arab Emirates until the deal already had been approved by his administration, the White House said Wednesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11494815/

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

Lawyers for Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff deny they are trying to scuttle the prosecution of the ex-White House aide with their demands that the government turn over classified material to the defense. In a court filing late Tuesday night, attorneys for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said their client must be given access to large amounts of classified material. "Denying Mr. Libby's requests because they pertain to 'extraordinarily sensitive' documents would have the effect of penalizing Mr. Libby for serving in a position that required him to address urgent national security matters every day," lawyers for the ex-White House aide wrote. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11188278/

The record $365 million Powerball jackpot has been claimed by a group of eight workers from a Nebraska meat processing plant on Wednesday. "I didn't know what to think," said Robert Stewart, 30, who said he was a maintenance supervisor before the win. "I still don't know what to think." http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10892645/

Prince Charles has no right to complain about his personal journals being published because he was far from reticent about airing his political views, London's High Court was told on Wednesday. Charles is taking legal action against the publishers of the Mail on Sunday which printed extracts from his diaries last year. "This case is about politics, political opinion and the role of the heir to the throne in relation to these issues," said lawyer Mark Warby, defending Associated Newspapers against Charles' invasion of privacy accusations. http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-22T132332Z_01_L22586847_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BRITAIN-CHARLES.xml

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
NEW DELHI -- A 7-year-old girl wed a stray dog as part of a ritual to ward off the "evil eye" on her and her family in eastern India, a news agency reported Wednesday. Shivam Munda's upper teeth appeared before her lower teeth - considered a bad omen by members of the Santhal ethnic group to which she belongs, the Press Trust of India said in a report from Dhanbad, a coal mining town in the eastern state of Bihar. Kundan Munda, a coal mine worker, said his daughter married the dog only to "remove the evil eye," a superstitious belief that some misfortune could befall her and the family, and that she would be free to marry a man later. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/INDIA_GIRL_WEDS_DOG?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
Bringing new meaning to the phrase, 'seven-year itch'.

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
Assailants wearing uniforms detonated two bombs inside one of Iraq's most revered Shiite shrines Wednesday, blowing the top off its landmark golden dome and spawning mass protests and reprisal attacks against dozens of Sunni mosques as leaders pleaded for calm. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11491483/

Three teenagers accused in a series of attacks that killed one homeless man and seriously injured two others pleaded not guilty Wednesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9898736/

Consumer prices shot up in January at the fastest pace in four months as the cost of gasoline and electricity posted big gains. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11495795/

A couple accused of forcing some of their 11 adopted, special-needs children to sleep in cages pleaded not guilty Wednesday to child endangering and other crimes. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11500825/

Two planes came within a few hundred feet of each other last week when a controller at Los Angeles International Airport mistakenly cleared three planes for the same runway, officials said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10750050/from/RS.5/

Navy quarterback Lamar Owens has been charged with raping a female midshipman in her dormitory room, the academy announced Wednesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11498693/

Kid Rock has won an initial victory in his attempt to stop a California company from releasing an explicit sex video featuring the rap-rocker, former Creed singer Scott Stapp and four women. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11497865/

Authorities are investigating the circumstances behind a spectacular crash on Pacific Coast Highway that destroyed a rare Ferrari Enzo estimated to be worth more than $1 million. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11499944/

[WolverineDG]

1. Do we now have enough proof

that this idiot is not really the president? First, he's not told that a plane has entered the protected airspace in DC last summer when everyone else was running around like chickens without a head, then Cheney leaves him completely out of the loop when he tries to blow his friend's head off, & now he didn't know about the sale of shipping operations to the UAE. Enough is enough!

dg