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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryHersh: Bush’s Case For Hitting Iran Has ‘Shifted,’ Now Focused On ‘Surgical Strikes’ To ‘Sell’ It
On CNN’s Late Edition (Sunday) morning, (Seymour) Hersh said the administration has adopted what it views as a rationale that can win over the public and international allies, while accomplishing its key objective of initiating a military conflict: “You can sell (this approach). It’s more logical. You can say to people, the American people, we’re only hitting those people that we think are trying to hit our boys and the coalition forces. And so that seems to be more sensible.”
Click through to watch the video.—Caro Humor Ink
The WorldRamadan violence falls sharply in Iraq: U.S.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Violence in Iraq during Ramadan has fallen by almost 40 percent from last year, the U.S. military said on Sunday, despite a warning from al Qaeda that it would increase attacks during the Muslim holy month.
That’s odd, I thought our military said they weren’t counting Iraqi deaths.—Caro
US, Iraqi forces kill over 60 insurgents
BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces killed more than 60 insurgent and militia fighters in intense battles over the weekend, officials said Sunday.
Israel prepares to release prisoners
KETZIOT PRISON, Israel - Palestinian prisoners at a desert jail removed their brown prison jumpsuits and donned civilian clothes as Israel prepared to release them Monday in a move designed to bolster moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Ahmadinejad invites Bush to speak at university in Iran
TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has extended an invitation to U.S. President George W. Bush to speak at an Iranian university if the American leader ever traveled to the Islamic Republic, state-run television reported Friday.
Suicide bombing in Pakistan kills 15
PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A burqa-clad suicide bomber set off a blast that killed at least 15 people Monday at a crowded police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, police said.
Bush authorizes 25 million dollar oil aid for North Korea
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has authorized 25 million dollars in energy aid to North Korea in response to Pyongyang's progress in complying with its denuclearization agreement.
Correa claims victory in Ecuador vote
QUITO, Ecuador - Official results haven't been released yet but that didn't stop Ecuador's president from claiming victory in an election to create an assembly to write a new constitution that could usher in a socialist model of government.
Huge crowds in Costa Rica protest U.S. pact
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - More than 100,000 Costa Ricans, some dressed as skeletons, protested a U.S. trade pact on Sunday they say will flood their country with cheap farm goods and cause job losses.
Costa Ricans are smarter than Americans. We don’t protest our own financial destruction.—Caro
Argentina fury at UK bid for Falkland seas
In a move likely to add new heat to the long-running diplomatic dispute, British officials are preparing to submit a bid to the United Nations to prove that thousands of extra square miles of the surrounding ocean floor are geographically part of the islands.
Rebels kill 10 AU peacekeepers in Darfur
HASKANITA, Sudan - Out of ammunition, clinging to a corner of their camp as rebel forces tore the refuge apart with rocket-propelled grenades and mortar fire, African Union troops meant to safeguard Darfur became the latest victims of the violence there. The NationIraq focus for new Joint Chiefs chairman
WASHINGTON - Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is troubled by the Iraq war. He thinks it has become such a consuming focus of U.S. attention that it may be overstretching the military and distracting the nation from other threats.
So, what would be a better focus, Admiral Mullen? Iran?—Caro
Shifting Targets (by Seymour M. Hersh)
This summer, the White House, pushed by the office of Vice-President Dick Cheney, requested that the Joint Chiefs of Staff redraw long-standing plans for a possible attack on Iran, according to former officials and government consultants… What had been presented primarily as a counter-proliferation mission has been reconceived as counterterrorism.
Go see War Made Easy.—Caro
US trains Gulf air forces for war with Iran
The American air force is working with military leaders from the Gulf to train and prepare Arab air forces for a possible war with Iran, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. An air warfare conference in Washington last week was told how American air chiefs have helped to co-ordinate intelligence-sharing with Gulf Arab nations and organise combined exercises designed to make it easier to fight together.
Bolton calls for bombing of Iran
John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, told Tory delegates today that efforts by the UK and the EU to negotiate with Iran had failed and that he saw no alternative to a pre-emptive strike on suspected nuclear facilities in the country.
I hate all Iranians, US aide tells MPs
Britsh MPs visiting the Pentagon to discuss America's stance on Iran and Iraq were shocked to be told by one of President Bush's senior women officials: "I hate all Iranians." And she also accused Britain of "dismantling" the Anglo-US-led coalition in Iraq by pulling troops out of Basra too soon. The all-party group of MPs say Debra Cagan, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Coalition Affairs to Defence Secretary Robert Gates, made the comments this month.
Hardball: Mario Cuomo Describes Congress As Abdicating Their Constitutional Duties
“Let’s not do what we did before and wind up apologizing for our resolutions and saying we’re sorry. Now remember, the Founding Fathers gave the powers to declare war to the Congress. That power cannot be delegated to the President. You can’t adopt a resolution and say well, the Founding Fathers wanted us to do it, but it’s too heavy a lift for us, so we empower you, Mr. President, if you feel like doing it, to do it.”
Click through to watch the video. We really need a Mario Cuomo or an Al Gore now.—Caro
Bush signs spending bill, jabs at Dems
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Saturday signed a bill to prevent a government shutdown, but not without complaint. Bush lambasted the Democrats who control Congress for sending him the stopgap measure while they continue to work on more than a dozen spending bills funding the day-to-day operations of 15 Cabinet departments.
Testimony in Court-Martial Describes a Sniper Squad Pressed to Raise Body Count
Sergeant Vela, a member of an elite sniper scout platoon with the First Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, quietly described how his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, cut off the man’s handcuffs, wrestled him to his feet and ordered Sergeant Vela, standing a few feet away, to fire the 9-millimeter service pistol into the detainee’s head.
Wounded vets also suffer financial woes
More than in past wars, many wounded troops are coming home alive from the Middle East… But they often return hobbled by prolonged physical and mental injuries from homemade bombs and the unremitting anxiety of fighting a hidden enemy along blurred battle lines… These troops are just starting to seek help in large numbers, more than 185,000 so far. But the cost of their benefits is already testing resources set aside by government and threatening the future of these wounded veterans for decades to come, say economists and veterans' groups.
Life sentence
WHAT if America launched a new New Deal and no one noticed? And what if, instead of lifting the unemployed out of poverty, this multibillion-dollar project steadily drove poor communities further and further out of the American mainstream? That's how America should think about its growing prison system, some leading social scientists are saying, in research that suggests prisons have a far deeper impact on the nation than simply punishing criminals.
The religious right's political power ebbs
Today, (Christian conservatives’) nearly three-decade-long ascendance in the Republican Party is over. Their loyalties and priorities are in flux, the organizations that gave them political muscle are in disarray, the high-profile preachers who led them to influence through the 1980s and 1990s are being replaced by a new generation that's less interested in their agenda and their hold on politics and the 2008 Republican presidential nomination is in doubt.
Thank God!—Caro
Enron’s Second Coming? (by Paul Krugman)
In late 2006, even as Countrywide began using shareholders’ money to buy back its own stock … (chairman and C.E.O. Angelo) Mozilo was selling… (D)uring the months before investors fully realized the extent to which his company would be hurt by the subprime mortgage crisis — he unloaded $138 million worth of Countrywide’s stock… (H)ow can it be that so soon after Enron, WorldCom and other scandals rocked the business world, we’re once again hearing about executives cashing in just before their companies are revealed as less successful than advertised? The answer, of course, is that we never dealt properly with those scandals. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
Backpacker turns Myanmar activist via Facebook
BANGKOK (Reuters) - A chance encounter in a Myanmar coffee shop turned teenage backpacker Alex Bookbinder into a political activist at the forefront of an Internet campaign that has attracted tens of thousands of supporters.
Two headlines to contemplate on a Sunday morning (by Joe Sudbay at AMERICAblog)
Two headlines on the AP wire caught my attention this morning. The juxtaposition says so much about the U.S. Headline 1: Jenna Bush Begins National Book Tour. Headline 2: Wounded Vets Also Suffer Financial Woes.
Does Money Influence Economic Policy Debates? (by Dean Baker)
BTP usually does not deal with comments in book reviews, but an NYT review of Naomi Klein’s new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capital, demands some attention. The review concludes by dismissing an assertion by Klein that progressive ideas have not lost out in a battle of ideas, but rather in large part they have lost out because the right-wing could finance think tanks that promulgated right-wing views, thereby drowning out those on the left. This may not be the whole story of U.S. politics in the last three decades, but it is a big part of it.
DIGBY’S LAMENT: (by Bob Somerby)
We thought Digby was quite eloquent in (a) recent, maddening post. We were struck by her frustration with the types of “hissy kabuki” which make up so much of our public discourse. Our view: This bad-faith discourse will prevail any time a middle-class democracy hands the reins of its public discourse to corporate-picked multimillionaires. Simply put: You simply can’t run a middle-class democracy with a millionaire press corps.
Everyone but Bush Supports SCHIP (by Ruy Teixeira)
The Bush administration is remarkably indifferent to the overwhelming public will to reauthorize and expand health coverage for poor children.
To See or Not To See Violence
Preserving a record of history, especially during times of conflict, also means keeping the scenes of violence that the mainstream media whitewashes over.
Big Coffers and Rising Voice at Conservative Group
Next month, Freedom’s Watch will sponsor a private forum of 20 experts on radical Islam that is expected to make the case that Iran poses a direct threat to the security of the United States, according to several benefactors of the group… Last week, a Freedom’s Watch newspaper advertisement called President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran “a terrorist.” The group is considering a national advertising campaign focused on Iran, a senior benefactor said.
William “The Bloody” Kristol Proves He Has No Soul: Bush’s “Heartless Assault” On Kids “A Good Thing”
We’ve joked that Weekly Standard Editor/PNAC signatory/Fox News Contributer William “The Bloody” Kristol is a soulless vampire, but he obviously wants to leave no doubt in our mind. Listen to him on the subject of the SCHIP Amendment: “… KRISTOL: ...I’m happy that the President’s willing to do something bad for the kids.”
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
Fox Business Network to Launch Teaser Site Oct. 1
News Corp.’s Fox Business Network said it will launch a “personality-driven” microsite Oct. 1 at FoxBusiness.com – two weeks before the 24-hour network’s debut – to provide a sneak peek at FBN’s anchors and reporters.
Nickelodeon Blacks Out to Send Kids Out to Play
Kellogg Steps Up to Back 'Go Healthy Challenge' Technology & ScienceHow Virginia Teaches Kids Online Safety
So many children today are so computer savvy that Virginia now requires every public school student get lessons in online safety, starting in kindergarten.
Cell phones double as electronic wallets
SAN MIGUEL, Philippines - It's Thursday, so 18-year-old Dennis Tiangco is off to a bank to collect his weekly allowance, zapped by his mother — who's working in Hong Kong — to his electronic wallet: his cell phone.
Sony to launch new ultra-thin TV
TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp (6758.T) will launch an ultra-thin flat TV based on the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology on December 1 in Japan, bringing a new contender to a $82 billion market dominated by LCD and plasma TVs.
GAO: Smithsonian facilities in decline
WASHINGTON - The Smithsonian Institution's maintenance backlog has grown to $2.5 billion as the museum complex faces problems such as corrosion of historic airplanes and leaky pools at the National Zoo, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Friday.
Smoking is a turn-on for some genes: study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Smoking may turn on some genes in the body in a permanent and harmful way, scientists said on Thursday in a study that may help explain why the risk of cancer remains high even after smokers quit.
Weight Loss Can Control Hypertension
A 6-month diet restored normal blood pressure, study finds
Secrets of 1957 Sputnik Launch Revealed
(T)he first artificial satellite in space was a spur-of-the-moment gamble driven by the dream of one scientist, whose team scrounged a rocket, slapped together a satellite and persuaded a dubious Kremlin to open the space age.
Commentary: The Value of Human Spaceflight
NASA has numerous examples of "spinoffs" from the space program, such as kidney dialysis machines, fetal heart monitors, programmable heart pacemakers, to name just a few that help Americans every day. Additionally, the International Space Station operations enable NASA to learn valuable scientific information about the long term effect of spaceflight on the human body, and how best to help humans adapt themselves for long trips, either in interplanetary space, or enroute to planets such as Mars. While these are all important, they don't compare to the effect these achievements have on the human spirit. EnvironmentEnvironmental radical guilty in Calif.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - A federal jury found a 29-year-old environmental activist guilty Thursday of conspiring to burn down or blow up a northern California dam, a genetics lab, cell phone towers and other targets.
Good. Violence cannot be excused, except in self defense, no matter how noble the goal.—Caro
Critics Say Bush Climate Speech Is Hot Air
President Bush's appeal to the world to cut greenhouse gases through voluntary measures rather than by legally-mandated reductions fell flat with Europeans and environmentalists who say U.N.-mandated cuts in emissions are what is needed.
Gov. Spitzer Picks Activists to Make State a Bit Greener
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has drawn from the top echelons of the environmental movement in New York in assembling his administration.
Lake Superior Sets Record for Low Water
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Drought and mild temperatures have pushed Lake Superior's water level to its lowest point on record for this time of year, continuing a downward spiral across the Great Lakes.
Ethanol’s Boom Stalling as Glut Depresses Price
An oversupply of ethanol is suddenly plaguing farmers, in part because distribution of the fuel has not kept pace with new distilleries.
A Nuclear Power Surge Is Coming
In the next 15 months, U.S. regulators expect applications for up to 28 new nuclear power plants. But such projects are financially risky and take a long time, and the industry needs federal loan guarantees to proceed.
Harnessing The Wind To Fuel India's Growth
Naysayers claim wind power's reputation is on the fringe - an expensive technology more to do with environmentalist dreams than with electricity production. Yet India is proving it to be a viable energy source, even in the developing world.
DuPont Explores Bio-Plastics
WILMINGTON, N.C., Oct. 1, 2007 -- DuPont will team with an Australian company to develop and sell starch-cased polymers for items such as cosmetics, personal care and food packaging trays, caps and containers. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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