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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryGOP senator says Iraq plan not working
WASHINGTON - Sen. Richard Lugar, a senior Republican and a reliable vote for President Bush on the war, said Monday that Bush's Iraq strategy was not working and that the U.S. should downsize the military's role. Off the Wahl
The WorldU.S. troops target bomb networks
JISR DIYALA, Iraq - Newly arrived U.S. troops southeast of Baghdad are destroying boats on the Tigris River and targeting networks bringing powerful roadside bombs from Iran as the military cracks down on Sunni and Shiite extremists from all directions.
Suicide bomber kills 13 at Baghdad hotel
BAGHDAD - A stealthy suicide bomber slipped into a busy Baghdad hotel Monday and blew himself up in the midst of a gathering of U.S.-allied tribal sheiks, undermining efforts to forge a front against the extremists of al-Qaida in Iraq. Four of the tribal chiefs were among the 13 victims, police said.
Mideast negotiators meet in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM - Mideast negotiators held talks Tuesday, a day after Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders pledged to work to renew the peace process.
Israel announces mass prisoner release
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - Israel's prime minister promised Monday to free 250 Palestinian prisoners and promised to improve life in the West Bank in an attempt to boost Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas' takeover in Gaza.
UN report: Afghan opium production rises
VIENNA, Austria - A U.N. report released Tuesday showed that the "runaway train of drug addiction" has slowed, with estimated levels of global use holding steady for the third year in a row. Afghanistan's opium production, however, increased dramatically.
U.N. team in N.Korea for reactor shutdown talks
BEIJING (Reuters) - U.N. nuclear officials arrived in North Korea on Tuesday to negotiate terms for inspectors to confirm the shutdown of Pyongyang's nuclear reactor and source of bomb-grade plutonium. The NationA Strong Push From Back Stage
The president is "the decider," as Bush puts it, but the vice president often serves up his menu of choices. Cheney led a group that winnowed the president's list of potential Supreme Court nominees. Cheney resolved a crisis in the space program after the Columbia shuttle disaster. Cheney fashioned a controversial truce between the legislative and executive branches -- and averted resignations at the top of the Justice Department and the FBI -- over the right of law enforcement authorities to investigate political corruption in Congress. And it was Cheney who served as the guardian of conservative orthodoxy on budget and tax matters.
The third in the four-part series. How well have Cheney’s budget and tax policies served us? See below.—Caro
Study: 'BRICs' overtake U.S. in energy
The main challengers to U.S. economic power — Brazil, Russia, India and China — have overtaken the United States in dominating the global energy industry, according to a new study by Goldman Sachs. The rising power of the four countries — the new economic tigers nicknamed the BRICs — is already evident in the metals and mining sector and is starting to be felt in insurance and consumer-related industries, said Anthony Ling, a managing director at the investment bank.
Waiting For A Promised Boost From Tax Cuts
Years after tax breaks pushed by the White House went into effect, with promises that they would boost private savings and create jobs, some economists are wondering when (if ever) those cuts will lead to the predicted good results in the economy.
Cheney Author: 9/11 Didn’t Change Cheney, Gave Him Opportunity ‘To Put His Views Into Action’
(Tuesday) morning on Washington Post radio, Barton Gellman — the co-author of the (WaPo) Cheney series — argued that based on his research of Cheney, he found “no evidence” that “9/11 exerted a profound psychological change on the Vice President.” Instead, Gellman argued, “(Cheney) has not changed his views very much over the years. What has changed is he has a greater opportunity to put them into action.”
Calling Cheney's Bluff
Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel has come up with the right response to Dick Cheney's attempt to suggest that the Office of the Vice President is not part of the executive branch. The House Democratic Caucus chairman wants to take the Cheney at his word. Cheney says his office is "not an entity within the executive branch," so Emanuel wants to take away the tens of millions of dollars that are allocated to the White House to maintain it.
I’m no fan of Rahm Emanuel, but this is absolutely the right kind of move for Democrats. Ridicule is the way to handle this kind of insanity.—Caro
Gonzales apparently not probing Cheney exemption.
After Vice President Cheney’s office refused to follow a presidential order on classification procedures, National Archives official J. William Leonard asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to have the Office of Legal Counsel help solve the impasse. Justice Dept. officials said last week that the matter has been “under review” for five months. But it appears that’s not the case.
A GOP Plan To Oust Cheney
The big question right now among Republicans is how to remove Vice President Cheney from office. Even before this week's blockbuster series in The Post, discontent in Republican ranks was rising.
Sorry, Sally Quinn, I don’t believe it. Republicans are even more cowed by Cheney than the Democrats.—Caro
Scholars urge Bush to ban use of torture
WASHINGTON - President Bush was presented with a letter Monday signed by 50 high school seniors in the Presidential Scholars program urging a halt to "violations of the human rights" of terror suspects held by the United States.
Now we know that they should have petitioned Dick Cheney. Wouldn’t do any good, of course.—Caro
Three Bad Rulings
Chief Justice Roberts and the four others in his ascendant bloc used the next-to-last decision day of this term to reopen the political system to a new flood of special-interest money, to weaken protection of student expression and to make it harder for citizens to challenge government violations of the separation of church and state. In the process, the reconfigured court extended its noxious habit of casting aside precedents without acknowledging it… (M)agnifying the voice of wealthy corporations and unions over the voice of candidates and private citizens is hardly a free speech victory.
As an MTA reader once asked, if I have a million dollars and you have one dollar, do I have a million times more free speech than you have? The Supreme Court just gave the go-ahead to more of this, below.—Caro
The Gilded Capital: Power/money connect
In 1996, the entire political world, from candidates to PACs to interest groups, raised a total of $2.8 billion to spend on the presidential and congressional elections. In 2004, that same political world raised $4.3 billion to spend on them. This election cycle, the sum is expected by most experts to soar well past $5 billion, and for the first time, the two nominees in the general election are on track to raise and spend $1 billion all by themselves… In 2000, there were 16,300 registered lobbyists in Washington. Today, there are more than 35,000, and the number of new corporations, foreign governments and other causes looking for influence grows each month. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
MSNBC’s David Shuster Grills A Cheney Apologist
David Shuster has been filling in for Tucker Carlson and today he put the screws to Ron Christie, former aide and apologist for Vice President Dick Cheney. Watching this clip I got the feeling that I was watching a real journalist at work as Shuster not only asks Christie hard questions, but follows up and calls him on his talking points and misinformation.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
Media Matters Action Alert: PBS Selects Luntz for Democratic forum analysis...
CAP/FP Report Drives Right-Wingers into a Frenzy
Senator Jim Inhofe, told KFI/640 in Los Angeles', right-wing talker, John Ziegler on Thursday night, that he had overheard Senators Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer say (in an elevator ride) that a "legislative fix" was needed to control talk radio… (W)hen it was revealed that Clinton was hundreds of miles away when her conversation with Boxer was alleged to occur, Inhofe, who has called congressional moves to curtail global warming a ploy to increase the ratings for the Weather Channel, back-tracked. He said the conversation did not happen "the other day" but rather "three years ago!" Of course Fox never really cleared up this matter.
Don’t forget to listen to Bob Kincaid’s interview with one of the report’s authors, archived at the White Rose Society.—Caro
Murdoch Reaches Out for Even More
(Rupert Murdoch’s) vast media holdings give him a gamut of tools — not just campaign contributions, but also jobs for former government officials and media exposure that promotes allies while attacking adversaries, sometimes viciously — all of which he has used to further his financial interests and establish his legitimacy in the United States, interviews and government records show.
This article was supposed to be a big expose of Murdoch. Instead, it’s a big letdown.—Caro
Paris Hilton to give Larry King post-jail interview
Hotel heiress and reality TV star Paris Hilton will give her first post-jail interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Wednesday, the show's spokeswoman said on Saturday. "She will be on for the hour," Bridget Leininger told Reuters. "We had (filmmaker) Michael Moore originally scheduled for that time."
The most trusted name in... celebrity reporting.—Caro
Talk shows' influence on immigration greater than ever
Some top Republicans who support the (immigration) legislation have defied the broadcast pundits. Others GOP lawmakers have tried to placate them, even to the point of accepting their ideas for amendments.
Testing What the Lobbyists Say on H-1B Visas
The NYT perpetuated the silly debate on whether H-1B visas lower the wages of highly-skilled U.S. workers. For those of us who believe in markets this is a straight no-brainer. If you increase supply, you lower the price, in this case the wages of highly skilled workers… To those of who believe in markets, the debate over H-1B visas is very simple. Are we going to put more downward pressure on the wages of workers who are allowed to enter the country under these visas? It would be good if the NYT could report on this issue more clearly. (BTP readers know that I do not object to seeing computer scientists subject to the same competition as custodians and textile workers.)
How about college professors and people with think-tank sinecures?—Caro Technology & ScienceFreecycling: Something For Nothing Online
It may be true that there's no such thing as a free lunch, but thanks to a new practice known as "freecycling" vigilant Web surfers can get almost anything else they need for free, according to the latest issue of Consumer Reports' Money Adviser.
Prepare for the SAT Test, or Play With Your iPod? Have It Both Ways
Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, a traditional test preparation company, is offering interactive programs for downloading to iPods with video screens.
Auction site selling itself on eBay
You might call it the ultimate full-circle moment: Two guys fed up with paying eBay listing fees are now selling their own alternative to the online auction business on eBay.
Gila Monster Spit Could Be a Weight-Loss Hit
MONDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- Overweight people with diabetes may not find the Gila monster quite so monstrous anymore, thanks to a new weight-loss drug that mimics a compound in the creature's spit. The drug -- a synthetic form of a hormone called exendin-4 found in the lizard's saliva -- helped people with type 2 diabetes shed pounds, a three-year study found.
Scientists Reverse Symptoms of Autism in Mice
MONDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists may have uncovered a way to reverse symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice… "Our study suggests that inhibiting a certain enzyme in the brain could be an effective therapy for countering the debilitating symptoms of FXS in children, and possibly in autistic kids as well," study co-author Mansuo L. Hayashi (said.)
Humans Have Spread Globally, and Evolved Locally
Modern humans appeared 50,000 years ago, but genetic drift and natural selection have recently remolded the human clay. . EnvironmentFloating Wind Turbine May Be in North Sea by 2009
The world's first floating wind turbine could be generating electricity in the North Sea in 2009 under a research pact on Monday between Norwegian energy group Norsk Hydro and German engineering firm Siemens.
Why Desalination Doesn't Work (Yet)
With water fast becoming a hot commodity, especially in drought-prone regions with burgeoning populations, an obvious solution is to take the salt out of seawater. Desalination technology has been around for thousands of years, after all. Even Aristotle worked on the problem. Tantalizing as desalinated water might sound, the energy costs have made it rather unpalatable.
Maybe they could combine a floating wind turbine and a floating desalination plant.—Caro
Mushrooms Become Source for Eco-Building
TROY, N.Y. (AP) - Eben Bayer grew up on a farm in Vermont learning the intricacies of mushroom harvesting with his father. Now the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate is using that experience to create an organic insulation made from mushrooms.
Desert Dust Cuts Mountain Snow, May Spur Warming
Desert dust blown onto Rocky Mountain peaks has cut the duration of snow-cover by a month or more, and the same thing is probably happening in the Alps and Himalayas, researchers reported Monday. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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