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[Caro]

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

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Commentary: Congress escapes leaving NSA to eavesdrop freely
Our representatives in the Democratic-controlled Congress left town after one final, cowardly cave-in to Bush administration fear-mongering by passing a law that not merely extended but expanded warrantless wiretapping that further encroaches on the rights of every American and further erodes our constitutional protections. What were they thinking? Do they really believe that the voters in 2006 elected a Democratic majority to take over the Republican role of rubber-stamping whatever The Decider decides is right?

Steve Bradenton

The World

U.S. helicopter forced down in Iraq
BAGHDAD - A car bomb struck a market in a Kurdish area in the northern city of Kirkuk on Friday, killing at least eight people and wounding dozens, police said. South of Baghdad, the U.S. military said a helicopter was forced down, leaving two soldiers injured.

Iraqis united in opposition to foreign control over oil.
Alternet reports, “Despite the ethnic bloodshed in Iraq, majorities of Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds are united in their disapproval of the proposed oil laws that Washington and Big Oil are pushing… “Considering the multiethnic bloodbath we’ve witnessed over the past four years, it’s an impressive display of Iraqi solidarity,” writes Joshua Holland.

America’s illusory strategy in Iraq
Having upturned the Sunni order in Iraq and the Arab world, and hugely enlarged the Shia Islamist power emanating from Iran, the US finds itself dependent on Tehran-aligned forces in Baghdad, yet unable to dismantle the Sunni jihadistan it has created in central and western Iraq. Ignoring its Iraqi allies it is arming Sunni insurgents to fight al-Qaeda. And, by selling them arms rather than settling Palestine it is trying to put together an Arab Sunni alliance (Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia) with Israel against Iran. All clear? How can anyone keep a straight face and call this a strategy?

China defends toy safety
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese-made toys are overwhelmingly safe and the number of unsafe products is dwarfed by the total export value, state media said on Friday, a week after Mattel pulled goods because of fears about lead in paint.

East Timor violence drives hundreds from homes
DILI (Reuters) - About 1,000 East Timorese have fled their homes because of ethnic and political violence triggered by the controversial appointment of a new government this week, police said on Friday.

Chavez offers Equador refinery help
QUITO, Ecuador - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered Thursday to help Ecuador build a $5 billion oil refinery, as the socialist leader pledged to spread his government's oil wealth to another South American ally.

The Nation

Cheney urging military strikes on Iran
(T)he president's top aides have been engaged in an intensive internal debate over how to respond to Iran's support for Shiite Muslim groups in Iraq and its nuclear program. Vice President Dick Cheney several weeks ago proposed launching airstrikes at suspected training camps in Iraq run by the Quds force, a special unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to two U.S. officials who are involved in Iran policy.

Bush warns Iraq over ties with Iran
US President George W. Bush sternly warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki Thursday against cozying up to Iran, amid what Washington sees as unsettling signs of warming Baghdad-Tehran relations.

Bush won't seek increase in fuel tax to bolster infrastructure
WASHINGTON — President Bush rejected calls to increase the federal fuel tax Thursday, saying Congress could serve the nation's infrastructure needs by better prioritizing how it spends money. Bush also used a White House news conference to turn up the pressure on Iran.

Bush: No bailout for pinched homeowners
President Bush said Thursday concern should be shown those who've lost their homes but it's not the federal government's job to bail them out. "Obviously anybody who loses their home is somebody with whom we must show an enormous empathy," Bush said. Asked whether he would champion a government bailout, Bush responded: "If you mean direct grants to homeowners, the answer would be 'No, I don't.'"
Will somebody please tell Bush that helping the homeowners will help the fund managers? Then he’ll go for it, unless he insists on direct aid to the fund managers while ignoring the homeowners.—Caro

A jukebox that only plays one song
The deficit is high, the debt is growing, the war’s financial costs are exorbitant, and the nation is just coming to grips with the need for a sizable investment in the nation’s bridges and infrastructure. Given this environment, the president has a plan: more tax cuts.

President Bush on Accountability
On Scooter Libby: "Lewis Libby was held accountable." On Al Gonzales: "I haven't seen Congress say he's done anything wrong ... Why would I hold someone accountable who has done nothing wrong?"

Administration Fights Dem Plan to Boost School Aid for Vets
The Bush administration opposes a Democratic effort to restore full educational benefits for returning veterans, according to an official's comments last week. Senate Democrats, led by Virginia's Jim Webb, want the government to pay every penny of veterans' educational costs, from tuition at a public university to books, housing and a monthly stipend.

GAO Finds Problems with Defense Department Contract in Iraq
Chairman Waxman releases a GAO report analyzing the Defense Department’s decision to pay KBR nearly all of the $221 million in costs that the Defense Contract Audit Agency questioned during its audits of the Restore Iraqi Oil contract for reconstruction work on Iraq’s oil infrastructure. The report finds multiple violations of federal acquisition regulations and procedures, placing millions of taxpayer dollars at risk and leaving questions unanswered.

U.S. cocaine use down sharply, workplace testers say
WASHINGTON — Cocaine use by U.S. workers is at its lowest rate in at least a decade, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said Thursday… The decline coincides with tight supplies and rising prices in many U.S. cities, according to a drug market intelligence report released by John Walters, the office's director.
See the problem with politicizing the entire government? We have no idea whether this report was doctored by Bush’s political appointees.—Caro

Mortgage delinquencies spreading: AIG
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group, one of the biggest U.S. mortgage lenders, warned on Thursday that mortgage defaults are spreading. While saying most of its mortgage insurance and residential loans were safe, AIG made a presentation to analysts and investors that showed delinquencies are becoming more common among borrowers in the category just above subprime.

Media

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Stu Bykofsky | To save America, we need another 9/11
ONE MONTH from The Anniversary, I'm thinking another 9/11 would help America.

The Iran Attack That Wasn't
How reporters trumped up a story about Iranians killing Americans in Iraq.

http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/08/09/att-censors-pearl-jam-another-reason-for-net-neutrality/">AT&T Censors Pearl Jam -- Another Reason For Net Neutrality
AT&T has said on any number occasions that it won't block or degrade Web sites. Not to get too technical here, but they didn't promise not to censor, did they?

The One Campaign Issue Ignored By Big Media? Themselves.
That more presidential candidates are speaking out against media consolidation should signal the importance of this issue in 2008 election cycle. But it's a signal that's not getting a clear reception in the newsrooms of the nation's largest media companies.

Think Again: The Rise and Rise of ‘Netroots Nation’
(T)he YearlyKos convention—now to be known as Netroots Nation—didn’t please all bloggers, who worry about losing their mojo. TeddySanFran, blogging at Firedoglake, came away unhappy with the convention’s slickness and the mainstream media’s attitude, calling out Politico.com’s Mike Allen for, well, pandering to bloggers, then turning around to mock them with Tucker Carlson. He even gets in a dig at blogger-turned-print journalist Ezra Klein for defending the mainstream media. His conclusion? “I want the revolutionary, angry, Establishment-challenging, rabble-rousing netroots back.
Alterman’s piece has a good survey of the entire media coverage, I included this one because it’s so rare to see bloggers daring to criticize bloggers.—Caro

Internet News Audience Highly Critical of News Organizations
The internet news audience – roughly a quarter of all Americans – tends to be younger and better educated than the public as a whole. People who rely on the internet as their main news source express relatively unfavorable opinions of mainstream news sources and are among the most critical of press performance. As many as 38% of those who rely mostly on the internet for news say they have an unfavorable opinion of cable news networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC, compared with 25% of the public overall, and just 17% of television news viewers.

One Million Iraqis Killed?
"The Lancet study was based on a survey completed in July 2006. So, although at the time it was the best, indeed the only scientific estimate of Iraqi deaths, it is now a year old. ... We wanted to provide an update of that so we have extrapolated from the numbers that the Lancet study reported, using the trend provided by the deaths reported by Iraq Body Count, which counts deaths reported in Western media. And our online estimate now stands at 999,987 -- so it's about to cross the one million mark."

DailyLit Delivers Book Tidbits via Email & RSS
DailyLit is a useful, free service that delivers books to you in installments, via email or RSS. There are currently about 400 titles to choose from, all part of the Creative Commons License, so you’ll find pretty much all classic titles. The books are all broken down in to easily digestible sections, averaging about 2 pages worth of text, which will take you about 5 minutes to read.

Technology & Science

Electronic leash
LoJack for Laptops resides on your hard drive or in a special recovery chip on the motherboard. The software stays in contact with LoJack's monitoring center. When you report the stolen laptop, the monitoring center kicks into gear… Local law enforcement authorities are contacted to help with the tracking process.
NFL improves instant replay capabilities
NEW YORK - All the fans who ever grumbled that they could do a better job than NFL referees — well, maybe they were right. Or at least some of them had better equipment with which to make instant replay decisions. So the league this season is switching to high definition technology for its officials to use to review plays on the field.

"Fat" hormone sheds new light on obesity: study
LONDON (Reuters) - The hormone that tells us we are full also regulates our desire for certain foods, researchers said on Thursday, in a finding that sheds light on why people gain weight and could lead to new treatments for obesity.

Stem Cell Trouble Slows Healing of Aging Muscle
Prodding cell signaling might help speed repair, scientists say

Friendship May Lie in the Genes
DNA-guided temperament helps decide whom people are drawn to, study suggests

Stone Age Settlement Found Under English Channel
Erosion on the floor of the English Channel is revealing the remains of a busy Stone Age settlement, from a time when Europe and Britain were still linked by land, a team of archaeologists says. The site, just off the Isle of Wight, dates back 8,000 years, not long before melting glaciers filled in the Channel and likely drove the settlement's last occupants north to higher ground.

Discovery of Middle Asia Cities Recasts Ancient History
New discoveries at dig sites in Middle Asia are rocking the archeological world and redefining the origins of modern civilization.

Get your cameras ready for two meteor showers
The best time to practice is during the upcoming Perseid meteor shower. At their peak, the Perseids are nearly as good as the Aurigids, but the Perseids are much easier to observe.

Environment

Forecast Lowers Hurricane Estimate
U.S. government forecasters have minimally reduced prediction for the Atlantic hurricane season, but said that up to nine hurricanes and up to 16 tropical storms are expected to form, still a busier-than-average season.

Research Reports Good Environmental News
WASHINGTON (AP) - For a change, there's some good news from the world of the environment. Several rare and vulnerable birds are rebounding in Europe. Conservation efforts in Peru are reducing damage to the Amazon rain forest. And black-footed ferrets are making a comeback in Wyoming.

Global Warming to Slow Down, Then Speed Up Again
The pace of global warming may slow down over the next few years, before speeding up again, a new study says. The results of the study, detailed in the Aug. 10 issue of the journal Science, are based on a modified climate model that better predicts potential climate change on shorter time scales, the authors say.

Ford CEO Says Fuel Economy Standards Are Market Distorting
Ford Motor Co. President and Chief Executive Alan Mulally said that federal regulations to improve fuel economy will cut into automakers' profits by pushing them to build more small cars than demand warrants.
Actually, Alan, allowing oil companies to sell the product at less than the full social cost is what’s market distorting.—Caro

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