Good Morning! - Morning Headlines

[Caro]

Morning headlines brought to you by

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Top Stories

Poll: American satisfaction at new low
Only 25 percent of those surveyed say things in the U.S. are going in the right direction, according to an AP-Ipsos poll this month. That is about the lowest level of satisfaction detected since the survey started in December 2003. Rarely have longer-running polls found such a rate since the even gloomier days of 1992 ahead of the first President Bush's re-election loss to Democrat Bill Clinton. The current glumness is widely blamed on public discontent with the war in Iraq and with President Bush. It is striking for how widespread the mood is among different groups of people.

Dubya’s World

The World

Bombings kill 7 U.S. soldiers in Iraq
BAGHDAD - Bombings killed seven U.S. soldiers in Baghdad and a southern city, the U.S. military said Sunday, and the country's Sunni vice president spoke out against a proposed oil law, clouding the future of a key benchmark for assuring continued U.S. support for the government.

Iraqi parliament falling into disarray
Iraq's parliament has been making headlines — for all the wrong reasons. Voted into office as a symbol of a new, democratic Iraq, the 275-seat legislature is increasingly being viewed as irrelevant and ineffective by many Iraqis for its inability to tackle sectarian violence, soaring crime and a failing economy. The disarray threatens passage of several crucial pieces of U.S.-backed legislation, including a bill for the fair distribution of oil revenues and another to promote national reconciliation — both of which are seen as key to ending sectarian violence in the country.

Death toll in Lebanese fighting at 47
TRIPOLI, Lebanon - Lebanese troops tightened a siege of a Palestinian refugee camp Monday where a shadowy group suspected of ties to al-Qaida was holed up, pounding the camp with artillery a day after the worst eruption of violence since the end of the country's civil war.

Iran: Arabs should back nuclear program
SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan - Iran urged Arab countries on Sunday to support its nuclear program but received a cool reception at the World Economic Forum, particularly from U.S. allies worried about Iran's growing regional influence.

25 killed in southern Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - Suspected insurgents ambushed a U.S.-led coalition and Afghan patrol in the volatile south, sparking a battle and airstrikes that killed 25 suspected insurgents, officials said Monday.

Explosion kills 2 civilians in Mogadishu
MOGADISHU, Somalia - A bomb detonated in Mogadishu near the mayor's vehicle convoy Sunday, leaving at least two civilians dead, the mayor said. His bodyguards shot and killed a suspected insurgent who had been in a tree near the explosion.

The Nation

Iran offered 'to make peace with Israel'
WASHINGTON - Iran offered in 2003 to accept peace with Israel and cut off material assistance to Palestinian armed groups and to pressure them to halt terrorist attacks within Israel's 1967 borders, according to a secret Iranian proposal to the United States… The two-page document contradicts the official line of the Bush administration that Iran is committed to the destruction of Israel and the sponsorship of terrorism in the region.

Assessments Made in 2003 Foretold Situation in Iraq
Two intelligence assessments from January 2003 predicted that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and subsequent U.S. occupation of Iraq could lead to internal violence and provide a boost to Islamic extremists and terrorists in the region, according to congressional sources and former intelligence officials familiar with the prewar studies… The assessments were delivered to the White House and to congressional intelligence committees before the war started.

Bush should shed 'tin ear' on Iraq: top Democrat
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush has turned a "tin ear" to intense criticism over Iraq and should compromise with Democrats on a new war funding bill, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

Clinton wants Pre-K for all 4-year-olds
WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing a $10 billion federal program aimed at providing voluntary pre-kindergarten for all 4-year-old children in America.
This announcement follows the study published last week that shows income matters in predicting IQ level. Head Start, and programs like it, are the best way to fight that imbalance, so give Senator Clinton credit. —Caro

O'Connor: Court should follow precedent
WASHINGTON - Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor says the Supreme Court should generally follow its prior rulings so the public has confidence that laws do not change just because justices come and go.
Yes, well, you lost your right to pontificate, Ms. O’Connor, when you went against precedent by helping to put George Bush in the White House. —Caro

Experts Debate Giving HPV Vaccine to Boys
Spread of the virus linked to cervical cancer can harm them, too
It will be interesting to see how the right wingers deal with this. Will they claim that vaccination of boys will promote promiscuity, the way they have with girls?

Media

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Is Dangerous Food Good for the Economy?
That's what policy experts say, according to the Washington Post. (I)t is ridiculous to conclude that increased regulation will therefore "harm the economy." The economy is harmed when people and their pets get sick or die from eating contaminated food.

How Do NYT Reporters Know What Employers Foresee?
That's the question millions (okay thousands) of NYT readers should be asking of an article that claims employers are now unhappy with immigration bill that they helped craft. The article asserts that employers complain that the bill will not "cure the severe labor shortages they foresee in the coming decade." Unless the reporter who wrote this story has ESP, he does not know what the employers actually foresee. He knows what they claim to foresee, which unfortunately (sorry kiddies) is not always the same thing.

How often does the press beat the SEC to accounting fraud stories?
Not very often

The Template Dies Hard
Today, twenty months after the Katrina story began, one of the durable myths of the story's template resurfaced on NBC's Nightly News. Martin Savidge, nominally of the network's New Orleans bureau, flatly stated in the opening to a piece on continuing racial divisions in the city (unlike, say, which other American cities?), that most people affected by the disaster were African-American.

'Sicko' Shows Michael Moore's Maturity as a Filmmaker
Filmmaker Michael Moore's brilliant and uplifting new documentary, "Sicko," deals with the failings of the U.S. healthcare system, both real and perceived. But this time around, the controversial documentarian seems to be letting the subject matter do the talking, and in the process shows a new maturity.
Surprise! This review is from Fox News. —Caro

Publisher to Let the Public Have a Vote on Book Projects
Can crowds predict whether a book will succeed? That is the hope of the founders of Media Predict, a virtual market beginning Monday.

Technology & Science

What If Every Child Had A Laptop?
MIT professor Nicholas Negroponte?s dream is to put a laptop computer into the hands of every child as an educational aid.

Avis to Offer Wireless Internet Gear
NEW YORK (AP) - Avis Rent A Car System is offering customers a wireless Internet service to use in its rented cars, hotel rooms and other places a traveler might go. The new Avis Connect service, priced at $10.95 per day, can transmit a Wi-Fi signal to multiple laptops and other mobile devices at the same time. The service is provided with a portable device developed by Autonet Mobile that gets its Internet connection from a cell phone network.

Staples starts computer recycle program
Staples Inc. is expanding its electronics waste recycling program by accepting used computers and monitors that can now be dropped off for a $10 fee at any of the office products chain's 1,400 U.S. locations during store hours. The step by the world's largest office products supplier follows similar initiatives by many computer makers and retailers to confront the growing environmental and public health risk posed by discarded computers and other electronic gadgets containing toxic metals and chemicals.

Americans Discover the Allure of Off-Grid Living
A growing number of Americans are shunning power lines, choosing to live "off the grid," without commercial power -- and still enjoying their computers and large-screen televisions.

Environment

Report: Warming Imperils State Flowers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Imagine the Sunflower State without sunflowers. That's one of the dire predictions contained in a new report on global warming released by the National Wildlife Federation, which says the Kansas state flower could move north to other states in a few decades.

Contaminated Salvador lake is mystery bird magnet
CERRON GRANDE RESERVOIR, El Salvador (Reuters) - An artificial lake in El Salvador brimming with sewage and industrial waste is mystifying scientists by attracting thousands of migratory and sea birds.

For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com.

[w8liftinglady]

1. Thanks for taking the time to post this :)

[Caro]

2. You're welcome.

I plan to post headlines every weekday morning.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com