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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryBush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction
Salon exclusive: Two former CIA officers say the president squelched top-secret intelligence, and a briefing by George Tenet, months before invading Iraq.
According to a new book, Bush continued to insist privately, through April of 2006, that Iraq had WMDs.—Caro Steve Bradenton
The WorldChemicals found at U.N. may be harmless solvent
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Vials of mysterious chemicals from Iraq discovered in United Nations offices last week may have been a harmless solvent rather than a toxic warfare agent, U.N. sources said on Wednesday, quoting law enforcement officials.
The WMDs weren’t at the UN, either.—Caro
Iraq bombs kill 8 U.S. troops
A car bomb killed at least 13 people Wednesday in a Shiite part of Baghdad, and the U.S. command announced the deaths of eight more American soldiers — some victims of a weapon the American command believes comes from Iran.
Israel says no Gaza offensive, for now
JERUSALEM - Israeli leaders ruled out a large-scale military response to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip but threatened on Wednesday to cut off electricity or other vital supplies to the impoverished area if militants keep up attacks.
Iran's Ahmadinejad has 'proof' US won't attack
TEHRAN (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sought to justify his confidence the United States will not attack Iran, saying the proof comes from his mathematical skills as an engineer and faith in God, the press reported on Monday.
And he talks to the same God as George Bush. So is God telling them different things, or are they both crazy?—Caro
2 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban attacks killed two British soldiers and two Afghan police officers Wednesday in restive southern Afghanistan, while nearly 30 militants were killed elsewhere, authorities said.
Australia to tell Russia no uranium sales to Iran
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday he would tell Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would not approve the sale of uranium to Moscow if there was any possibility it could be resold to Iran or Syria.
Britain in top-secret work on new atomic warhead
Scientists are secretly working on the design of a revamped British nuclear warhead… The top-secret project is being run in conjunction with US efforts to build a range of modernised "failsafe" nuclear firepower for its own submarine-launched Trident missiles.
Germany searching for 10 men behind attack plot
BERLIN (Reuters) - German security officials are searching for 10 men they believe provided support for a foiled plot to attack U.S. installations in the country, a senior government official said. The NationStudy: Iraqi forces far from ready
The study found that the Iraqi military, in particular its Army, shows the most promise of becoming a viable, independent security force with time. It predicted that an adequate logistics system to support these ground forces is at least two years away. Worse off is the Iraq national police force. The study, which described the police force as dysfunctional, corrupt and infiltrated by militias, recommended that the force be scrapped and entirely rebuilt.
Remember who was in charge of putting the police force together, General David Petraeus, who’s scheduled next week to tell us how wonderful everything is in Iraq.—Caro
Nuclear Warheads Mistakenly Flown Over U.S.
An Air Force B-52 bomber carrying six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads flew across the central United States last week after the nuclear weapons were mistakenly attached to the airplane's wing, defense officials said (Wednesday).
Staging Nukes for Iran? (by Larry Johnson)
Why the hubbub over a B-52 taking off from a B-52 base in Minot, North Dakota and subsequently landing at a B-52 base in Barksdale, Louisiana?... I called a old friend and retired B-52 pilot and asked him. What he told me offers one compelling case of circumstantial evidence… Barksdale Air Force Base is being used as a jumping off point for Middle East operations… Why would we want to preposition nuclear weapons at a base conducting Middle East operations?
New Book Details Cheney Lawyer's Efforts to Expand Executive Power
Vice President Cheney's top lawyer pushed relentlessly to expand the powers of the executive branch and repeatedly derailed efforts to obtain congressional approval for aggressive anti-terrorism policies for fear that even a Republican majority might say no, according to a new book written by a former senior Justice Department official.
U.S. builds for future at Guantanamo
The U.S. military is building a mobile courtroom complex on an unused runway at the Guantanamo Bay naval base and plans to be ready by March to conduct as many as three terrorism trials at a time.
Homeland Security Department woes cited
In a stinging assessment, congressional auditors say the Homeland Security Department has fallen far short of meeting its performance expectations in the first four years of its existence.
DHS ends criticized data-mining program
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Homeland Security Department has given up on one of its broadest anti-terrorism data-mining tools after investigators found it was tested with information about real people without the required privacy safeguards… (O)ne report also found that department analysts found the system time-consuming to use.
Judge scolds U.S. on wiretapping records
WASHINGTON - A federal judge scolded the Bush administration Wednesday for responding with sometimes blanket secrecy to a request for documents on its warrantless wiretapping program.
Group sues White House over missing e-mails.
The National Security Archive today filed a lawsuit charging that the White House “abandoned an automatic archiving system for its e-mail in 2002 and did not replace it,” resulting in the loss of approximately five million e-mails between March 2003 and Oct. 2005. In May, the watchdog group CREW also filed a lawsuit seeking information about the “missing” e-mails.
'Lost War' is undermining America
The "War on Drugs" has proven costly in many ways and it may be threatening our economy.
Republican Forecast: Cloudy
Recent voter surveys, including private polling done by a leading Republican strategist, suggest a broader erosion of Republicans' appeal. In particular, three groups crucial to Mr. Bush's goal of a "permanent Republican majority" are drifting away: younger voters, Hispanics and independents… The upshot is that Republicans face structural problems that stem from generational, demographic and societal changes and aren't easily overcome without changing fundamental party positions.
CEO Pay: The Outrage Constraint
{A} paper by Robert Gordon and Ian Dew-Becker, "Unresolved Issues in the Rise of American Inequality”… addresses whether the principle agent model of CEO pay is valid, i.e. whether the best interests of boards of directors, CEOs, and shareholders are in alignment and finds… the manner in which CEO pay is set is inconsistent with the best interests of shareholders. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
Jon Soltz on Hannity & Colmes: “So I’m not going to sit here and be lectured by someone like you.” (by Nicole Belle)
Normally, I’m not in favor of people agreeing to appear on Hannity & Colmes, because the deck is just so stacked against you and you’re lucky to get a word in edgewise. But VoteVets.org’s Jon Soltz (and yes, he’s been busy this week) obviously knows how to handle Hannity and get us a nice little soundbyte as well. Jon discussed with former Bremer advisor and full time Bushie Dan Senor (whose new job is for a 527 that attacks those wanting to end the Iraq occupation). Watch how Soltz got the better of him.
Click through to see the video. I think we progressives are missing a lot by not having a program to train our commentators in tactics that work in these situations.—Caro
Should Economists Rule The World? (thanks to Economist’s View)
(T)there's no outlet in the world that publishes as many economists -- and good ones, too, Nobel Prize winners -- as The Wall Street Journal editorial page. We know, and many of those economists know, that that editorial page is mendacious, extremist, and intellectually sloppy. But they nevertheless publish there, lending their titles and credibility to an outlet that continually promotes a fundamentally poisonous and empirically laughable ideology. This is, in large part, how supply-siderism survives. Not because economists believe it. But because the Right is very good at setting up incentives so it's good for the careers of otherwise credible individuals to seem like they're promoting it. And it's a shell game many economist happily participate in, and that grievously harms the country.
This is an aspect of the right-wing media machine that I hadn’t thought about. Not only does the machine foster writers and commentators who show talent for twisting facts, they provide a (sometimes) distinguished platform for otherwise respected academics and anlysts to do the same.—Caro
Mythbuster: Poverty on the op-ed page
(Wednesday,) Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson … trots out statistics to make a case against immigration. Mr Samuelson argues that we have made progress against poverty, but that progress is obscured by a flood of poor hispanic immigrants… While the absolute number of hispanics in poverty has increased since 1990, the poverty rate among hispanics has fallen dramatically over that period… Mr Samuelson's biggest blooper, however, is to ignore trends among all groups within the 1990 to 2006 time period. Between 1990 and 1993, poverty increased among all racial and ethnic groups.
Going After Gore? (By Reed Hundt)
There are a lot of reporters I know and respect, but I will never forget the one… who put down his pen after a long and cruel interview about my friend and high school classmate Al Gore, and explained that he was so hard on Al because "we expect more from Gore…" What is a reporter doing expecting more from one candidate than from another?... How could someone so unaware, inattentive and misinformed (obtain) the power to publish a biograph of Al Gore? Why would anyone ever publish a word that fellow wrote? And yet they still do.
http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/09/05/the-new-don-imus-craig-carton-mocks-asians-turns-in-immigrants-outs-politicians/">The New Don Imus: Craig Carton Mocks Asians, Turns In Immigrants, Outs Politicians
CBS has replaced Don Imus with Craig Carton, a shock jock out of New Jersey, and a curious hire considering Carton is just as controversial.
BBC caves to executives, scraps climate change series.
The BBC has scrapped plans for Planet Relief, a television special on climate change designed to “raise consciousness” about the environment and encourage viewers to save energy. The network’s corporate executives protested the series, claiming it was “not the corporation’s job to save the planet.” “Negative reaction to the flop Live Earth concert, promoted by Al Gore…was cited as a factor in the decision not to go ahead with Planet Relief.”
Abrams' big decision: Do a show or run MSNBC's newsroom?
Dan Abrams' days of pulling double duty at MSNBC are numbered, reports Felix Gillette. Abrams says he can't continue to supervise news coverage and do a prime time show for much longer. Soon, he'll choose, but declines to tell Gillette in which direction he's leaning. ALSO: Abrams blasts CNN's "God's Warriors" program, calling it "shameful advocacy masked as journalism."
Fox News' Rivera doesn't care what people say about him
"I've had a wonderful career," says Geraldo Rivera. "I've been famous for 40 years."
And that is all you need to know about Geraldo Rivera.—Caro Technology & ScienceReview: After smoke clears, FiOS a hit
NEW YORK - If the installers hadn't almost burned my house down, I'd say Verizon's new cable television and high speed Internet service was fantastic.
EditGrid Launches iPhone Optimized Spreadsheets
EditGrid, the online spreadsheet service, has launched its iPhone Edition at the Office 2.0 Conference today in San Francisco. You’ll now be able to access and use your EditGrid spreadsheets from your mobile phone. One particular feature that stands out for EditGrid’s iPhone optimization is the real-time updates, which lets users get information right away without syncing files.
High Co-Pays Cause Seniors to Go Without Meds
Steep fees lead to tough choices for older Americans, researchers find
Knee Pain May Signal Lung Cancer
It could give an early warning and improve treatment success, researchers say
The Truth Behind Early Puberty
(N)ot all scientists are convinced of an actual rise in precocious puberty; reports have been anecdotal, and studies have been small or inconclusive. And while (many) possible causes to this possible problem are plausible, doctors say the likely cause, if any, is childhood obesity
Leafing Through Magazines, Chimps Exhibit Self-Control
When attempting to avoid temptation, chimps resist their urges by distracting themselves, a new study suggests. The finding could shed light on the evolution of human self-control, researchers said.
Traced: The asteroid breakup that wiped out the dinosaurs
PARIS (AFP) - The extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago can be traced to a collision between two monster rocks in the asteroid belt nearly 100 million years earlier, scientists report on Wednesday.
Panel Urges NASA to Study Dark Energy
A proposed NASA mission to study a mysterious force thought to be accelerating the expansion of the universe should be the first in the agency's "Beyond Einstein" program to be developed and launched, the National Research Council recommended today. EnvironmentGlobal warming could pose heart threat
VIENNA, Austria - Global warming may be melting glaciers and forcing polar bears onto land, but doctors warn it could also affect your heart.
Businesses Cut Carbon on the Scale of Two Cities, Carbon Trust Reports
LONDON, Sept. 6, 2007 -- U.K. businesses have cut more than 10 million tons of C02 emissions since 2001 because of work with the Carbon Trust, according to the government-funded organization.
Energy Kills. Energy Cures.
The Energy Cures Campaign, a grassroots social and environmental call-to-action, launches across the world motivating people to stop the inherent cycle between poverty, dirty energy and its drastic affect on the environment.
Carmakers Switching to Electric Motors
Beneath your car's hood, there are belts hooked to the engine, running the power steering, air conditioning and other items that drag on the engine and cut gas mileage. But as fuel efficiency becomes paramount with high gas prices and pending government regulations, automakers across the world are trying to get rid of as many belts as they can, switching them to electric motors. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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