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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top Storyhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/world/upbeat-bush-hints-at-more-troops-for-iraq/2007/08/29/1188067191690.html&t=4&n=1&s="upbeat+bush"">Upbeat Bush hints at more troops for Iraq
THE US President, George Bush, has given his strongest indication yet that he intends to continue with plans to increase troop numbers in Iraq after the September 15 report to Congress, when he delivered an upbeat assessment of military progress and a more positive view of the political outlook. He also warned that pulling out of Iraq would harm US interests in the Middle East for decades and expose America to the threat of increased terrorism and a nuclear arms race in the region by allowing al-Qaeda-backed Sunni extremists to flourish and Shiite extremism in Iran to spread.
OOPS! He forgot to mention stratospheric gas prices. He hasn’t gotten the report, but he has made up his mind. Not that that’s new.—Caro
Porter ties U.S. withdrawal from Iraq to $9 gasoline
Rep. Jon Porter…, who returned Tuesday from his fourth trip to Iraq, met with U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Iraqi Deputy President Tariq al-Hashimi and Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh. "To a person, they said there would be genocide, gas prices in the U.S. would rise to eight or nine dollars a gallon, al-Qaida would continue its expansion, and Iran would take over that portion of the world if we leave," Porter said Wednesday in a phone interview from Las Vegas.
And what was the price of gasoline BEFORE we invaded that practically defenseless country? According to the DOE, regular gas was $1.69 per gallon on 3/24/03, just after the invasion. On 8/27/07, it was $2.749.—Caro The Radical Fringe
The WorldIraq gov't asks militias to halt attacks
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government called on armed groups to follow the lead of the biggest Shiite militia and freeze their operations, while the U.S. military on Friday reported the deaths of two more American service members in fighting against Sunni insurgents.
Iraq protests Iranian attacks in Kurdish region
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari demanded Thursday that Iran stop firing artillery and mortars at Kurdish villages in northern Iraq and warned that more attacks could damage relations between the countries… The demand was a rare public reference to a burgeoning border conflict in northern Iraq that has nothing to do with Iraq's sectarian warfare or U.S. allegations that Iran providing weapons and training to Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq.
Report on Iran’s Nuclear Activity Exposes Split
The I.A.E.A. report has exposed a new divide between the United Nations inspectors and the United States over how to contain Iran’s atomic program.
Canada says arrested several Afghan bomb makers
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian forces in southern Afghanistan have arrested several bomb makers and militants in a series of raids over the last month, a senior military officer said on Thursday.
Musharraf’s Aides Deny a Deal With Bhutto
Pakistani government officials denied that Gen. Pervez Musharraf had agreed to resign as army chief, saying that no decision had been made.
Suspected chemical weapons found at U.N. office
U.N. archivists for UNMOVIC, the U.N. chemical weapons agency, unexpectedly turned up samples of material from an Iraqi chemical weapons plant in old files on Friday, U.N. officials said. The samples were in weapons inspectors' files dating back to the 1990s, but the substance is not believed to pose any immediate danger, the officials said. The NationUS lawmakers' plane under fire in Iraq
A military cargo plane carrying three senators and a House member was forced to take evasive maneuvers and dispatch flares to avoid ground fire after taking off from Baghdad on Thursday night.
Why are members of Congress putting their lives in danger to see dog and pony shows staged for them by the military brass?—Caro
White House Preparing Strategy To ‘Water Down’ Pessimistic Reports From Iraq
According to unnamed officials familiar with the White House’s strategy regarding the GAO report, “the administration is preparing a case to play down the findings, arguing that Congress ordered the GAO to use unfair, ‘all or nothing’ standards when compiling the document.”
Petraeus: WH won’t write my September report.
Recently, the media revealed — and the White House confirmed — that Gen. David Petraeus’s much-anticipated September report on Iraq will “actually be written by the White House.” But this week, Petraeus assured lawmakers that he won’t let the White House interfere with his analysis.
Pentagon won't make surge recommendation to Bush
WASHINGTON — In a sign that top commanders are divided over what course to pursue in Iraq, the Pentagon said Wednesday that it won't make a single, unified recommendation to President Bush during next month's strategy assessment, but instead will allow top commanders to make individual presentations. "Consensus is not the goal of the process," Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. "If there are differences, the president will hear them."
U.S. Says Company Bribed Officers for Work in Iraq
An American-owned company paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to U.S. officers in efforts to win more than $11 million in contracts.
Iraq contractors' problems no impediment to finding new work
KBR is far from the only contractor to repeatedly secure high-dollar procurements in spite of questionable performance records. According to the nonprofit watchdog group, Project on Government Oversight, the top 50 contractors in fiscal 2005 paid fines, penalties, restitution or civil settlements in excess of $12 billion over the previous 10 years.
Behind Allawi's Bid for Power
No sooner did (former Iraqi prime minister Ayad) Allawi hire (Republican lobbying firm) Barbour Griffith two weeks ago than congressional staffers said they began to be bombarded with e-mails from Allawi (from an Internet domain registered by the lobbying firm) featuring news stories that depict the Maliki government as hopelessly deadlocked and riddled by sectarian militias. “All the e-mails make the Iraqi government look bad,” said one congressional staffer who asked not to be publicly identified talking about the Iraq issues.
Well, isn’t that interesting? We citizens can’t get the email addresses of congressional staffers. How come Barbour Griffith can? Oh, that’s right. Money is the only thing that counts in Washington.—Caro
Justice Dept. Investigating Gonzales's Testimony
The Justice Department is investigating whether departing Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales gave false or misleading testimony to Congress on a broad range of issues, including the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program and the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year, the lead investigator said today.
All the President's Lawyers: How to Avoid Another "Torture Opinion" Debacle
Professor (Dawn) Johnsen examines the inadequacy of external checks on presidential powers, particularly as exercised in a time of war or national emergency… (She) argues that the danger is not only whether Congress and the courts are maintaining a check on the executive branch, but whether the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) within the executive branch is acting properly to fulfill its credo of “faithfully executing” the laws to which the President is bound.
Census Shows a Modest Rise in U.S. Income
The nation’s median household income grew modestly in 2006, the Census Bureau reported yesterday, even as the percentage of people without health insurance hit a high. Experts said the rise in income was mainly a reflection of an increase in the number of family members entering the workplace or working longer hours. Average wages for men and women actually declined for the third consecutive year… Some Republicans seized on the new data as evidence that Bush administration policies had been good for people’s pocketbooks.
George Bush admired a single mother with a disabled child who worked three jobs as “uniquely American” (scroll down). I’m not sure he realized just how apt his description was. ONLY in America are individuals stressed to the breaking point. Where are the family values in this kind of treatment? This woman never sees her family.—Caro MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
I will be a guest on Tony Seton’s America Back on Track today at 3:30 PM ET. Listen to Tony from 3:00 to 4:00 PM ET every weekday on the Quality News Network.
From Apocalypse to Disaster, America Is Obsessed with the Prospect of Bad News
Author of the new book A Culture of Calamity, Ken Rozario explains why we are so fond of a good crisis.
http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/08/30/a-city-floods-and-its-paper-sails/">A City Floods And Its Paper Sails
The Times-Picayune went from being an average metropolitan daily to a vital must-read resource in an unlikely post-Katrina success story.
Craig Story Nets 'Idaho Statesman' its Best Web Day Ever
The Idaho Statesman of Boise drew its busiest Web traffic ever on Tuesday after posting a lengthy story about an alleged sexual incident involving Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and another man, as well as other alleged improper activities. Today, the paper called on Craig to resign.
A Guide to Media Manipulation, Republican Style
(I)n recent years the GOP has turned the technique of making hay from their opponents' words into a reliable formula for success. Here's how it works: First, find something your opponent said that might be open to multiple interpretations. Next, take it out of context. After that, distort it beyond all recognition (and don't worry, the truth-seeking press will offer you no sanction for this deception). Express your consternation, your anger, your amazement that your opponent has revealed him/herself to be such a deplorable reprobate for whom no decent American could consider voting. Finally, repeat the offending statement over and over, from now until election day… (A)ll too often, Democrats give Republicans a helping hand.
Plenty of people know what the problem is. Very few are willing to work together to solve it.—Caro
Matt Drudge rules their world...and falsely accuses them of murder
Here's how the (death of Richard Jewell, accused by the media of the 1996 bombing at the Atlanta Olympics was) bannered near the top of the Drudge Report, one of the ten most trafficked news sites on the Internet, the news source that former ABC News political director Mark Halperin said "rules our world": "THE MAN THE MEDIA MURDERED: Richard Jewell dead..."
As YOU know, because you read MakeThemAccountable, Jewell died of natural causes.—Caro
Conservative Media Study Finds Bias Where None Exists
Debunking a new Media Research Center study purporting that "since Democrats outnumbered Republicans in campaign segments on the morning shows of ABC, CBS and NBC, the three major networks are 'actively promoting the Democrats' liberal agenda.'" While former FAIR intern Volsky knows that "conservatives may tout the report as evidence of the media’s liberal bias" anyway, he finds that "its conclusion falls apart under scrutiny."
As I suspected.—Caro
Gates Marginalized By White House, Not Informed Of New $50 Billion Iraq Funding Request
On Fox News’ Special Report (Wednesday) night, host Brit Hume revealed that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was unaware of the White House’s plans (to request an additional $50 billion from Congress for the war in Iraq). “A Pentagon spokesman said Defense Secretary Gates saw the published report this morning and said, quote, ‘this is news to me,’” reported Hume.
Think Progress is reporting this tidbit as being reliable, but I don’t see how we can pick and choose what to believe when it comes from Fox News. I think we should always assume their reports are made up, unless confirmed by three independent sources.—Caro
Countering Ann Coulter at Xavier University
Some of the progressive students at Xavier University in Ohio aren't too happy that the nasty, bigoted homophobe Ann Coulter is appearing on their campus. But, they've turned their anger into action at their blog, Counter Ann Coulter. They're raising money -- in $5.00 increments -- to bring progressive speakers to campus.
This is absolutely a better way to counter right wingers than shouting them down or throwing pies in their faces. Click here to contribute, if you can.—Caro
CRAIG vs. VITTER....
Lots of conservative bloggers, following Hugh Hewitt's lead, have called for Larry Craig to resign even though they didn't call for David Vitter to resign when he was outed for visiting prostitutes last month. Is this because Craig was trolling for gay sex and Vitter was trolling for straight sex? Probably, but before we go too far down that road I think Scott Lemieux is merely stating the obvious with his alternative explanation: “In the specific case of Hewitt, though, there's probably a more important factor: Louisiana's governor is a Democrat, and Idaho's is a Republican. Craig resigning would mean a Republican incumbent going into the 2008 election; Vitter resigning would mean another Democratic Senator.”
CNN's host Glenn Beck says New Orleans should not be rebuilt
Okay, Jonathan Kaplan and CNN, make up your mind about New Orleans. You sent Anderson Cooper to New Orleans to report live about the struggle to rebuild the city:.. You also had Soledad O'Brien (who never should have left the morning show, p.s.) do an hour long special on called "Children of the Storm." But then, Mr. Kaplan, you have one of the stars of your network, Glenn Beck, completely trash New Orleans -- and say that the city should not be rebuilt.
Since Soledad O’Brien’s departure from CNN’s American Morning, there’s more fluff, more celebrity reporting, stupid animal videos, and lots of sappy interviews by Kiran Chetry with people who once knew somebody who had something happen to them. Of course, Kiran’s training ground was Fox “News”.—Caro
CNN to stop using Reuters news service
The CNN cable television news network said on Thursday it would stop using the Reuters news service, ending a 27-year relationship, to contain costs and invest in its own news gathering operations.
Your own news gathering, CNN? Like the nonsense dug up by the likes of Kiran Chetry?—Caro Technology & ScienceTwo IBM discoveries add promise for nano-computing
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Imagine cramming 30,000 full-length movies into a gadget the size of an iPod.
EarthLink Abandons San Francisco Wi-Fi Project
San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom, remains committed to a plan to roll out a citywide Wi-Fi network despite EarthLink’s decision to bow out of an agreement to build the system.
Damp, Moldy Homes May Cause Depression
But researchers say more study is needed to prove a link.
Study: Ordinary People Have Good Taste, Too
It doesn't take years of film appreciation classes to recognize a good movie, new research suggests. The results of the study, to be published in the October issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, revealed that when the influence of marketing isn't present, both regular folks and experts tended to agree on what movies deserved a thumbs-up or an ill-fated thumbs-down.
The mystery of accidental Mexican mummies
People who lived in the mining town of Guanajuato, Mexico, more than a century ago left behind a scientific mother lode: their own accidentally mummified bodies.
Neutron accelerator sets world record
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - The $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source facility, though still powering up, has established a new mark as the world's most powerful accelerator-based source of neutrons for scientific research. EnvironmentStudy predicts more severe U.S. storms
WASHINGTON - As the world warms, the United States will face more severe thunderstorms with deadly lightning, damaging hail and the potential for tornadoes, a trailblazing study by NASA scientists suggests.
Global Warming Might Spur Earthquakes and Volcanoes
Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and landslides are some of the additional catastrophes that climate change and its rising sea levels and melting glaciers could bring, a geologist says.
Industrial Nations Shy away from Stiff 2020 Goals
Industrial nations were shying away from fixing stiff 2020 guidelines for greenhouse gases cuts at U.N. talks on Friday in what environmentalists said would be a vote for "dangerous" climate change. A draft text at the U.N. talks dropped mention of steep cuts in greenhouse gases of 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 as a non-binding "guide" for rich nations' work on a pact to fight global warming beyond 2012, delegates said.
China Says One-Child Policy Helps Protect Climate
China says its one-child policy has helped the fight against global warming by avoiding 300 million births, the equivalent of the population of the United States. But delegates at U.N. climate change talks in Vienna said on Thursday birth control is unlikely to find favour as a major policy theme, partly because of opposition by the Catholic Church and some developing nations trying to increase their population. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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