Good Morning! - Morning Headlines

[Caro]

Morning headlines brought to you by

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Top Stories

Congressional leaders to meet on Iraq
WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders want to make clear to the White House that consequences should be imposed on Baghdad if it fails to implement political and security reforms.

I Drew This

The World

Insurgents hit base; troop search continues
About 50 suspected insurgents attacked a coalition base in the center of a northern Iraqi city Friday, sparking a battle with U.S. soldiers and helicopters that killed at least six militants, the Iraqi army said.

Israeli planes pound Hamas, killing 11
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli planes pounded Hamas targets early Friday, bringing the toll to 11 Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours of raids, as Israel stepped deeper into fighting between the Islamic militants and rival Fatah fighters of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Envoy: U.S., Iran Talks Will Stick To Iraq
Talks between the United States and Iran this month will be an opportunity for Tehran to enter a "whole new era" in relations with Iraq. But first it has to stop aiding Iraqi insurgent groups, the U.S. envoy leading the discussions said.

Afghan blasts kill 10, hurt minister
A suicide car bomber rammed into a government convoy in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing three people on the street and wounding the province's information minister, the governor of Kandahar said.

5 killed in mosque explosion in India
HYDERABAD, India - An explosion ripped through a historic mosque as Friday prayers were ending in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing five people and wounding several others, police said.

8 killed in fresh Sri Lanka violence
COLOMBO (AFP) - At least five suspected Tamil Tiger rebels and three civilians have been killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka, the military said.

The Nation

MoveOn targets Hoyer, Levin
A liberal grassroots group, MoveOn.org, is running advertisements that target House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), citing the lawmakers’ votes against measures to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq as evidence of a “failure in leadership.”

Judge Told Leak Was Part of 'Policy Dispute'
Attorneys for Vice President Cheney and top White House officials told a federal judge yesterday that they cannot be held liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer Valerie Plame or her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV… The lawyers said any conversations Cheney and the officials had about Plame with one another or with reporters were part of their normal duties because they were discussing foreign policy and engaging in an appropriate "policy dispute." Cheney's attorney went further, arguing that Cheney is legally akin to the president because of his unique government role and has absolute immunity from any lawsuit.
Remember when Republicans were telling us that no one is above the law? Now they’re telling us Cheney and his staff are above the law. —Caro

Was Gonzales' Emergency Visit Illegal?
When then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales went to John Ashcroft's hospital room on the evening of March 10, 2004 to ask the ailing Attorney General to override Justice Department officials and reauthorize a secret domestic wiretapping program, he was acting inappropriately, Ashcroft's deputy at the time, James Comey, testified before Congress earlier this week. But the question some lawyers, national security experts and congressional investigators are now asking is: Was Gonzales in fact acting illegally?

Dems seek no-confidence vote on Gonzales
WASHINGTON - Support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales sank further Thursday as Democrats proposed a no-confidence vote, a fifth GOP senator called for his resignation and yet another Republican predicted he won't survive a congressional investigation.

Panel softens lobbying bill provisions
The House Judiciary Committee yesterday stripped from the lobbying reform bill a proposal to limit the lobbying activity of congressional officials once they enter the private sector and soundly defeated two other top priorities of government watchdog groups.

Gingrich slams current election politics
RALEIGH, N.C. - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says the 2008 White House candidates are "demeaning the presidency" by focusing on the race rather than ideas.
This is the worst kind of hypocrisy. Gingrich practically invented the tactic of winning elections by using abusive language and hardball tactics, not ideas. —Caro

Media

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Air America to 'relaunch' with focus on 2008 political campaign
NEW YORK (AP) - Air America is scheduling a high-profile lineup of presidential candidates, political players and celebrities for next week as part of the liberal talk network's "relaunch" after suffering financial woes. Democratic candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, along with luminaries like Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Gloria Steinem, are among the more than 30 guests scheduled, the network announced Thursday.

http://www.mediachannel.org/out.php?url=http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/05/17/clear-channel-sale-is-gaining-momentum/">Clear Channel Sale Is Gaining Momentum
Strong momentum was building last night for a final plan to clinch the $19.4 billion sale of Clear Channel Communications Inc. to a duo of private-equity firms.

"Sicko" is Completed and We're Off to Cannes!
It's a wrap! My new film, "Sicko," is all done and will have its world premiere this Saturday night at the Cannes Film Festival. As with "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," we are honored to have been chosen by this prestigious festival to screen our work there. My intention was to keep "Sicko" under wraps and show it to virtually no one before its premiere in Cannes… Well, going quietly to Cannes, I guess, was not to be. For some strange reason, on May 2nd the Bush administration initiated an action against me over how I obtained some of the content they believe is in my film.
The right wingers keep helping Michael Moore promote his films. —Caro

Book Excerpt: The Assault on Reason (by Al Gore)
American democracy is now in danger—not from any one set of ideas, but from unprecedented changes in the environment within which ideas either live and spread, or wither and die. I do not mean the physical environment; I mean what is called the public sphere, or the marketplace of ideas. It is simply no longer possible to ignore the strangeness of our public discourse. I know I am not alone in feeling that something has gone fundamentally wrong.

Politico editor "emphatically" denies pro-conservative bias
Liberal watchdog group Media Matters of America accuses Politico of cozying up to conservatives, but editor-in-chief John Harris says that's not true. "The idea that we are organized around a conservative world-view -- I don’t even know where to begin. It just simply does not resonate with me in any way." Adam Reilly writes: "Might allegations of conservative bias simply suggest that, when it comes to the gamesmanship of politics -- which seems to be Politico’s real passion — Republicans tend to be more skillful than Democrats?
Um, doesn’t the fact that you’re concerned only with the GAMESMANSHIP of politics prove Media Matters’ point, Mr. Harris? —Caro

ABC, CBS still have not reported on Comey's revelation of wiretapping "hospital drama"
ABC and CBS still have not reported -- on either their evening news or morning news broadcasts -- former deputy attorney general James B. Comey's account of what NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams May 15 called a "rare glimpse of a high-level, late-night power struggle" over the National Security Agency's warrantless domestic wiretapping program.

Technology & Science

http://www.mediachannel.org/out.php?url=http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/05/17/its-silicon-valley-vs-telcos-in-battle-for-wireless-spectrum/">It's Silicon Valley Vs. Telcos In Battle For Wireless Spectrum
Apple's iPhone may be the most eagerly awaited gadget of the year, but when it finally goes on sale some time next month, only 30 percent of US mobile phone customers -- those who subscribe to AT&T's wireless service -- will be able to use it.

Family Income and Brain Development
Children develop most of their basic verbal, memory and abstract reasoning skills from ages of 6 to 10, and the effect of family income on these abilities may be smaller than previously thought, scientists are reporting.

Trust fund for grizzlies, wolves weighed
BILLINGS, Mont. - Grizzly bear and gray wolf populations in parts of the Northern Rockies are considered stable enough by the government to survive without Endangered Species Act protection. But the animals could get a trust fund to shield them from hard times.
I love animals as much as anyone, but I object to setting up a trust fund for grizzlies and wolves until after we’ve set up a trust fund for hungry children. —Caro

Merging Black Holes Observed in New Detail
Scientists have pinpointed the precise locations of a pair of supermassive black holes at the centers of two colliding galaxies 300 million light-years away. Infrared images made by the Keck II telescope in Hawaii reveal the two black holes at the center of the galaxy merger known as NGC 6240 are each surrounded by a rotating disk of stars and cloudy stellar nurseries.

Environment

U.N. Professor Says Climate Change Is Creating New Refugees Who Deserve U.N. Protection
Increasing global temperatures and land degradation are forcing more people to migrate, creating a wave of environmental refugees who need U.N. protection, a professor at the United Nations University said.

Ocean may be losing ability to soak up CO2
The ocean, which has absorbed some excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for centuries, may be losing that ability, a new report says. Researchers reporting in the journal Science say at least the Southern Ocean that surrounds Antarctica seems to be losing its ability to take up the gas.

Solar Power From Space: A Better Strategy for America and the World?
The basic idea: build huge satellites in Earth orbit to gather sunlight, convert it to electricity, and beam the energy to Earth using microwaves. We know we can do it, most satellites are powered by solar energy today and microwave beaming of energy has been demonstrated with very high efficiency. We're talking about SSP - solar satellite power. SSP is environmentally friendly in the extreme. The microwave beams will heat the atmosphere slightly and the frequency must be chosen to avoid cooking birds, but SSP has no emissions of any kind, and that's not all.

'Ecoterrorism' case stirs debate in US
Ashland, Ore. - When law-enforcement agencies arrested 10 animal rights activists and environmental radicals 18 months ago, it was a major breakthrough in the fight against what officials call "ecoterrorism."… (W)ith all defendants having pleaded guilty because of the weight of the evidence against them, including an informant who wore a recording device, prosecutors are seeking "terrorism enhancements" to their sentences.

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[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. morning!

thanks! :hi: