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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryInterrogations Were Humane, Except When They Weren't
In his confirmation hearing (Tuesday), (CIA General Counsel-Designate John A.) Rizzo was all over the map about what the CIA actually did with detainees in its custody… (T)he CIA, based in part on legal guidance delivered by the general counsel's office, authorized its interrogators to force detainees to stand for up to 40 hours; chill their cells to 50 degrees while dousing their naked bodies with cold water; and to simulate drowning them. Whether Rizzo actually believes such practices are humane, he conceded that "there had been some concerns that were expressed" by CIA interrogators who feared prosecution for carrying out the authorized interrogations. The Heretik
The World78 killed by bombing at Baghdad mosque
BAGHDAD - A truck bomb struck a Shiite mosque Tuesday in central Baghdad, killing 78 people and wounding more than 200, even as about 10,000 U.S. soldiers northeast of the capital used heavily armored Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles to battle their way into an al-Qaida sanctuary.
Iraq becomes prime training ground for export of Jihadists
Iraq has overtaken Afghanistan as an ideal training ground for Jihadists to export their battle across and beyond the Middle East, experts say. The new generation of Islamist militants in Iraq are more battle-hardened than their veteran anti-Soviet counterparts from Afghanistan, and the export of their Muslim "holy war" to calmer Arab countries has become a phenomenon.
Scared Gazans clamoring to enter Israel
EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip - Trapped by Israeli tanks and Hamas gunmen, hundreds of terrified Palestinians holed up in a stench-filled concrete tunnel at a border crossing Tuesday, desperate to flee the Islamic militants now ruling the Gaza Strip.
Bush and Olmert seek to prop up Abbas
WASHINGTON - President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sided emphatically Tuesday with a weakened Mahmoud Abbas, hoping extra money and warm words would give the moderate leader primacy over the Islamic militant Hamas in the newly divided Palestinian territories.
Blasts reported near Pakistan-Afghan border
Explosions were reported Tuesday at a suspected militant hide-out in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, and there were several casualties, the army said.
Sri Lanka military says kills 70 rebels in a day
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops killed around 30 Tamil Tigers in a clash overnight in jungle in the island's restive east, the military said on Wednesday, hours after the navy said it had killed around 40 insurgents in a sea battle. The NationBush to veto stem cell bill
WASHINGTON - President Bush has chosen to use his veto pen three times — twice on the stem cell issue where politics, ethics and science collide.
Army considers longer combat tours again
WASHINGTON - The Army is considering whether it will have to extend the combat tours of troops in Iraq if President Bush opts to maintain the recent buildup of forces through spring 2008.
What would Jack Bauer do?
Senior judges from North America and Europe were in the midst of a panel discussion about torture and terrorism law, when a Canadian judge's passing remark - "Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra 'What would Jack Bauer do?' " - got the legal bulldog in Judge Scalia barking. The conservative jurist stuck up for Agent Bauer, arguing that fictional or not, federal agents require latitude in times of great crisis. "Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles. ... He saved hundreds of thousands of lives," Judge Scalia said.
Scalia believes that fiction is truth. Is anyone surprised? —Caro
Senate approves new taxes for big oil
WASHINGTON - A proposal to hit oil companies with $29 billion in new taxes advanced in the Senate on Tuesday, targeting the money to energy conservation, wind turbines, electric hybrid cars and clean coal technology.
Democrats Gain Ground in Battleground Districts
The first Democracy Corps battleground poll of 70 key congressional districts -- half Democratic and half Republican -- shows named Democratic congressional candidates "hold on average a 9-point lead in these districts that actually supported the Republican candidate by 1 point in 2006 and President Bush by 8 points in 2004. That means the center of the battlefield has shifted as much since 2006 as it did in the lead up to it."
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg leaves Republican Party
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday that he would leave the Republican Party, in a maneuver seen as possible preparation for launching an independent presidential bid in 2008. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
New politics, new media, new majority
Democrats have an opportunity to build a new governing majority and a realigned national politics with impact as powerful as the coalition of Franklin Roosevelt and the up-tempo patriotism of John Kennedy… A mobilized base of Democrats is now organizing around the Internet in alliance with progressive radio… As progressive radio and the progressive Internet increasingly empower and support each other, the power of both is heightened and the move into comparatively low-rated cable is inevitable. Women represent a majority of people, voters and consumers. Hispanics are the largest-growing demographic in America. Blacks represent substantial numbers. Yet women, blacks, Hispanics and progressives are almost completely excluded as political show hosts in a new silent majority whose voice has only begun to be heard.
This is Brent Budowsky’s best essay to date. Be sure to click through and read the whole piece. All it will take is a few bold funders, a few bold leaders, and we will change the world. —Caro
I will be a guest today on the Tony Trupiano Show, at 1:00 PM ET. Listen to Tony’s show every day between noon and 3:00 PM ET onlistener supported RadioPower.org.
Lie Detector: Snow Responds To Potentially Illegal Use Of RNC Accounts: Clinton Did It Too
During (Monday)’s press briefing, White House spokesman Tony Snow brushed aside … direct evidence of potential illegality (of the use of RNC email accounts for official government business). His response: Clinton did it too. “Those email accounts were set up on a model based on the prior administration, which had done it the same way, in order to try to avoid Hatch Act violations.”.. Snow’s statement is false.
How Many Investigations Into Bandar's Favorite Defense Firm?
Across the Atlantic, stories continue to churn around the U.K. defense giant BAE Systems' alleged payment of $2 billion in kickbacks over 20 years to Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former Saudi Ambassador to the United States, in a massive U.K.-Saudi arms deal in the 1980s… So why the comparative silence over here? After all, from 1983 to 2005 -- during the period in which he allegedly received BAE's bribes -- Bandar was one of the most powerful individuals in Washington…
Wash. Times' Pruden: Plame "little more than a clerk assigned to clip and paste newspaper and magazine articles"
In fact, in a recent court filing, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald explicitly stated that Plame "qualified" as covert under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Moreover, Fitzgerald attached to a separate filing a summary of Plame's CIA employment, which asserted that, at the time her identity was disclosed in the media, Plame was chief of a component in the agency's Counterproliferation Division "with responsibility for weapons proliferation issues related to Iraq." The summary further described Plame as having traveled overseas in a covert capacity "at least seven times to more than ten times" since January 2002.
Richard Cohen's brilliant (and unintentional) exposé of our media
Richard Cohen's Washington Post column (Tuesday)… grieves over the grave and tragic injustice brought down upon Lewis "Scooter" Libby… When it comes to the behavior of our highest and most powerful government officials, our Beltway media preaches, "it is often best to keep the lights off." … If even our Beltway media -- rather, especially them -- argues that criminality by government officials should not be punished, and that light should not be shined on what they do, then pervasive government corruption and deceit are inevitable.
Tim Russert on Presidential Race
The transcript of his appearance on Fox has "Bulldog" Russert proclaiming his broad-mindedness thus:… “I read a lot. I read six and seven newspapers. I read the New York Times, the Washington Times, I read the Washington Post, (New York) Daily News, (New York) Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today… I read the Weekly Standard, the New Republic. I love to read left, right, center. I want to know what everyone is thinking and why.” Left, right, center? We count two right-wing papers, five centrist papers (two of which have right-wing or right-leaning editorial pages), a centrist magazine and a right-wing magazine. Technology & ScienceU.S. FTC warns of bogus e-mail containing spyware
San Francisco (IDGNS) - A bogus e-mail message supposedly sent by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission contains spyware and targets corporate and banking executives as well as consumers, the FTC said Monday.
Scientists move closer to human therapeutic cloning
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Human therapeutic cloning has moved a step closer after U.S. researchers said they had successfully created embryonic stem cells from monkey embryos.
Immune System Protein Tied to Weight Loss
TUESDAY, June 19 (HealthDay News) -- A piece of the body's immune system might also help dampen appetite and help people lose weight, research in mice suggests. The findings are preliminary, and so far there are only indications that the component -- a protein called interleukin-18 -- helps prevent mice from getting fat.
Papers Reveal Isaac Newton's Religious Side
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Three-century-old manuscripts by Isaac Newton calculating the exact date of the apocalypse, detailing the precise dimensions of the ancient temple in Jerusalem and interpreting passages of the Bible -- exhibited this week for the first time -- lay bare the little-known religious intensity of a man many consider history's greatest scientist.
Yes, well, Newton also believed in alchemy. —Caro
Space pioneers wanted for 520-day Mars experiment
LE BOURGET, France (AFP) - The European Space Agency (ESA) on Tuesday called for applications for one of the most demanding human experiments in space history: a simulated trip to Mars in which six "astronauts" will spend 17 months in an isolation tank on Earth.
Summer Solstice: How and Why Seasons Change
In the Northern Hemisphere, summer will officially begin at the solstice, on Thursday, June 21 at 2:06 p.m. EDT (11:06 a.m. PDT). The sun will reach the point where it's furthest north of the celestial equator. Summer officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere and winter begins for the Southern Hemisphere… This changing of the seasons takes place because the plane of Earth's equator is tilted 23.5 degrees to our orbit around the sun. EnvironmentPlanet-Saving Remedy Proposed: Stop Shopping
The good news is that industrialized nations are recycling more. The bad news is that they are wasting more as well. In most places, recycling can't keep up with higher and higher consumption rates. The problem is that capitalism creates hardened consumers, so even if many buy green, they still buy too much. The situation is seen as unsustainable by many economists.
Google tries to kickstart an energy revolution
Google.org is going to give vehicle-to-grid technology a much-needed boost, to the tune of $10 million. The company is going to modify six cars, a mix of Toyota Priuses and Ford Escape hybrids, with batteries that can draw juice from the grid and feed juice back in. The promise of this technology is that if it spreads, it will enable distributed electricity storage that can smooth spikes in electricity demand without expensive new generation plants. That means less new dirty coal. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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