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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryGore: No plans to run for presidency despite Nobel
OSLO (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore says he has no plans to join the presidential race despite encouragement from thousands of supporters since he won the Nobel Peace Prize for campaigning against climate change. Pollyticks
The WorldParliament in Turkey Approves Iraq Incursion
ISTANBUL, Oct. 17 — Turkey’s parliament voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to authorize sending troops into northern Iraq to confront Kurdish rebels in hideouts there. The NATO country made clear it would not act immediately but that it wanted to send a warning to the Baghdad government and its Washington sponsor.
Kurds in Iraq protest Turkey's decision
IRBIL, Iraq - Thousands of Kurds and supporters took to the streets in northern Iraq Thursday to protest the Turkish parliament's decision to authorize the government to send troops across the border to root out Kurdish rebels who have been conducting raids into Turkey.
Iraqi Contracts With Iran and China Concern U.S.
BAGHDAD, Oct. 17 — Iraq has agreed to award $1.1 billion in contracts to Iranian and Chinese companies to build a pair of enormous power plants, the Iraqi electricity minister said Tuesday. Word of the project prompted serious concerns among American military officials, who fear that Iranian commercial investments can mask military activities at a time of heightened tension with Iran.
Not to mention our mad that they didn’t choose G.E.—Caro
Palestinian infighting in Gaza kills 4
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A clash between Hamas security forces and members of a large Gaza clan affiliated with the rival Fatah party left four people dead on Wednesday, a Hamas official said.
Egypt protests EU nuclear vote
VIENNA, Austria - Egypt has sent a high-level protest to dozens of European nations expressing "astonishment and regret" at their refusal to endorse Cairo's call for a Middle East nuclear free zone at a conference last month.
I’m astonished too, Egypt.—Caro
Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan
KARACHI, Pakistan - Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan on Thursday, ending eight years of exile and launching what she hopes will be a remarkable political comeback.
9 troops wounded in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban used heavy machine guns and rocket propelled grenades to ambush a U.S.-led coalition patrol in southern Afghanistan that wounded nine troops, a coalition statement said Thursday.
Putin criticizes US campaign in Iraq
MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin, in his latest jab at Washington, suggested Thursday that the U.S. military campaign in Iraq was a "pointless" battle against the Iraqi people, aimed in part at seizing the country's oil reserves.
China summons U.S. envoy over Dalai Lama award
BEIJING (Reuters) - China slammed the United States on Thursday for awarding the Dalai Lama one of its highest honours and summoned the honorsU.S. ambassador in Beijing to complain.
U.S.-brokered truce in southern Sudan is collapsing
NAIROBI, Kenya — One of the Bush administration’s key foreign policy successes — brokering an end to a 21-year war between northern and southern Sudan — is coming apart even as U.N. and African diplomats step up peace efforts in Sudan’s other crisis, the conflict in the western Darfur region. The NationVoters unhappy with Bush and Congress
Bush's job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month's record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month's record low.
Pentagon to alert 8 Guard units for duty
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is preparing to alert eight National Guard units that they should be ready to go to Iraq or Afghanistan beginning late next summer, The Associated Press has learned.
McCaffrey - 'defense strategy' unbalanced, incoherent and underfunded (by Joseph L. Galloway)
One of America’s more thoughtful military strategists, retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey, a veteran of ground combat in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, says that our “defense strategy is unbalanced, incoherent and underfunded.” McCaffrey made his comments and recommendations in a six-page analysis addressed to professors at West Point, where he's an adjunct professor of international relations.
Will he now have to resign from West Point? See below.—Caro
Days After Claiming U.S. Less Safe Due To Iraq War, Counterterrorism Chief Suddenly Resigns
Retired Vice Admiral Scott Redd, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told NBC News this weekend that the U.S. is not “tactically” safer as a result of the Iraq war. That message defied the official line from White House counterterrorism adviser Fran Townsend, who said the “threat level would have been worse” had we not attacked Iraq… Today, Redd announced his sudden resignation from the NTC.
Going Against Bush, NIH Director Urges Expanded Stem Cell Research
In a magazine arriving in mailboxes this week, National Institutes of Health Director Elias A. Zerhouni suggests that embryonic stem cell research should be expanded. "All avenues of research need to be pursued," Zerhouni says in the newest edition of Medline Plus, a journal published jointly by the NIH and Friends of the National Library of Medicine. He adds: "We must continue the research at all levels, or there will be no progress." Those views put Zerhouni, who serves at the pleasure of President Bush, at odds with his boss.
Are Zerhouni’s days numbered, too?—Caro
Bush warns of World War III with Iran.
Asked about Iran’s nuclear ambitions at his press conference (Wednesday), President Bush warned for the first time in public of the risk of “World War III” if Iran gets nuclear weapons. “I’ve told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III,” said the President. “It seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”
Bush: I veto bills to ‘ensure that I am relevant.’
(Wednesday) in his press conference, President Bush attempted to justify his recent veto of an SCHIP expansion by explaining that he needs to issue vetoes in order to prove to people that he’s still the Decider: “That’s why the president has a veto… That’s one way to ensure that I’m in the process. And I intend to use the veto.”
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
Eight Democrats face pressure to override SCHIP veto
WASHINGTON — Under pressure to help override President Bush's veto, at least five of the eight House Democrats who voted initially against expanding a popular children's health insurance program now say they'll switch sides.
RESTORE Act vote postponed.
CongressDaily reports (sub. req.): “House Democratic leaders postponed a vote this afternoon on legislation that would limit the Bush administration’s spying activities…” Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) had today planned on introducing an amendment clarifying that nothing in the bill “shall be construed to prohibit the intelligence community from conducting surveillance needed to prevent Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, or any other foreign terrorist organization…from attacking the United States or any United States person.”
Which would make the bill meaningless.—Caro
Mukasey disavows torture memo
WASHINGTON - Attorney General-designate Michael Mukasey said Wednesday the president doesn't have the authority to use torture techniques against terrorism suspects, a stance not taken by predecessor Alberto Gonzales and considered key to the nominee's confirmation.
He’s anti-torture, or at least that’s what he says now, but he’s also anti-habeas. See below.—Caro
Mukasey: ‘I Would Not Advise’ Granting Habeas Rights ‘Beyond Those That Detainees Already Have’
In the confirmation hearing of Attorney General nominee Mike Mukasey, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — who previously threatened to filibuster the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act — asked Mukasey whether he would restore habeas corpus to “unlawful enemy combatants” held in U.S. detention centers. Mukasey said he would not support granting habeas corpus rights to detained prisoners at Gitmo.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
Contraception Foe Named to Contraception Post
The Department of Health and Human Services appointed Susan Orr — who has spoken out against contraception — to a post responsible for U.S. contraception programs… Prior to joining the Bush administration, Orr was senior director for marriage and family at the Family Research Council, a conservative group that favors abstinence-only education and opposes federal money for contraception.
Lawmaker wants to ban Hill line standers
WASHINGTON - A Missouri senator wants to forbid lobbyists from paying people to wait in line for them outside hearing rooms, saying the practice reinforces the culture of buying access to Congress.
That will clear up all the corruption.—Caro
IMF says overvalued dollar is poised for further fall
The dollar is vulnerable to more falls in spite of its recent sharp decline, the International Monetary Fund signalled yesterday… Simon Johnson, chief economist, said the weakening dollar was part of a normal process of economic rebalancing and was positive for the global economy provided that other currencies also adjust. Mr Johnson said the dollar's fall had been anticipated by the IMF for some time. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
The logic of Taxing the Rich, and Why Dems are Afraid to Use It
Taxing the super-rich is not about class envy, as conservatives charge. It’s about the nation having enough money to pay for national defense and homeland security, good schools and a crumbling infrastructure… If the rich and super-rich don’t pay their fair share of this tab, the middle class will get socked with the bill. But the middle class can’t possibly pay it.
I once met Bill Gates, Sr. at a meeting where he spoke on behalf of the Responsible Wealth Project. After the panel discussion, I asked if we might consider that the wealthy should pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes because they use a greater share of government services such as infrastructure, police, the courts, and even education. All of the businesses they own take advantage of those services. Mr. Gates came up to me after the meeting and said that maybe we should call the progressive tax a “proportional” tax instead.—Caro
"Maybe, Baby" (by Eric Alterman)
When the founders of this country drafted the First Amendment, they did not do so to help liberals but because they knew that powerful individuals inevitably abuse that power. As news organizations continue to scrimp on actual journalism, public-minded individuals and institutions need to step forward and ensure that the democratic function of journalism continues to be fulfilled, regardless of whether it improves the bottom line. Herb and Marion Sandler have done just that (in funding the new investigative journalism outlet, ProPublica). And to ensure the trustworthiness of their operation, they picked one of the most respected and, insofar as journalistic values go, conservative, titans of the business. For their trouble, they are greeted the next day with a column that impugns their motives under the word "perhaps" and instructs the nation's editorial writers to "call upon Herbert Sandler to provide ProPublica with 10 years of funding ($100 million), and then resign from his post as the organization's chairman…" I agree. Sandler should immediately resign ... as soon as Rupert Murdoch, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Donald Graham, the entire boards of GE, Disney, Viacom, and of course, Bill Gates, do.
I didn’t realize that the funders of ProPublica are liberals, and have also funded the Center for American Progress.—Caro
Plan Would Ease F.C.C. Restriction on Media Owners
The plan would relax decades-old media ownership rules, including a rule that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television station in the same city.
Put Down Your Shoe, Join The Fight Against Murdoch's Junk Media
Free Press just launched "Whack-a-Murdoch," a Web game that let's you hit back at the big companies that air bad programming.
Media Suckery. Again. (by Melissa McEwan)
Reuters reports the Big News: … (“)Gore rules out presidential bid despite Nobel(“). But if you read the actual news item, it's the same quote he's been giving all along: "I don't have plans to be a candidate again … I'm involved in a different kind of campaign, it's a global campaign. It's a campaign to change the way people think about the climate crisis." And if you look at Reuters' own site, the story is simply headlined Gore says no plans to run for presidency. Yay for accuracy.
Revealed: the man behind court attack on Gore film (thanks to skippy)
The school governor who challenged the screening of Al Gore's climate change documentary in secondary schools was funded by a Scottish quarrying magnate who established a controversial lobbying group to attack environmentalists' claims about global warming.
I wondered. That announcement was just too well timed not to have been planned.—Caro
Mythbuster: Feminists Have More Fun
Feminism boosts sexual satisfaction for both men and women, a new study suggests. Busting stereotypes that peg feminists as ugly lesbians, a new study shows that having a feminist partner is linked with healthier, more romantic heterosexual relationships.
Take THAT, Mr. Rush “feminists are ugly sex haters” Limbaugh!—Caro
Right Wing Pundit On Hillary: “At Least Call Her A Vaginal-American” (by Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars)
Right wing pundit Cliff May and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson were talking (with Tucker Carlson) about Senator Hillary Clinton and whether or not it should matter that some women may vote for her based on her gender… May, who is as whacked out as they come in the GOP, tells Tucker he doesn’t think people should vote for a candidate based on their race, religion or gender — then burps this beauty across the table which is sure to have the ladies lining up to join the Republican Party: “May: ‘At least call her a Vaginal-American.’”
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
Hello? (by digby)
The people who had taken to the floor of the congress just a few years before calling FBI agents "jack booted thugs" forced (Sen. Dick) Durbin to grovel and even cry. What else could he do? The right wing slime machine and the political establishment were all over him like a bunch of rabid dogs… So, what are we going to do about this?... “(Attorney General candidate Michael) Mukasey … said torture violates U.S. laws and pointed to the role of American troops in liberating Nazi concentration camps during World War II. ‘We didn't do that so we could then duplicate it ourselves,’ he said.” Anybody?
Feeding The Beast (by digby)
(A)fter watching them for the past two decades very closely, I think it's obvious that what interests the media more than anything is access and gossip and vicious little smears piled one atop the other… Why we see so little of the same kind of feeding frenzies on the other side isn't hard to fathom. Nobody is spoon-feeding them to the press with just the kind of cutesy meanness they prefer. (And frankly, the press is scared of the Republicans, probably for good reason.) In fact, the very nastiness of the Frost smear may have been its original selling point.
Remember the article excerpt I posted yesterday describing a study that shows people prefer gossip to truth, even when they know what the truth is. We’ve embraced that tendency, instead of trying to overcome it.—Caro
Colbert says he's running for president: Can he take the heat?
We'll say it before you do: Is there room for another comedian in the presidential race? Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert says yes there is! Colbert announced he's a candidate (Tuesday) night. Now he just has to decide whether he'll run as a Republican, Democrat -- or both.
Dartmouth researchers confirm the power of altruism in Wikipedia
Dartmouth researchers looked at the online encyclopedia Wikipedia to determine if the anonymous, infrequent contributors, the Good Samaritans, are as reliable as the people who update constantly and have a reputation to maintain. The answer is, surprisingly, yes… “This finding was both novel and unexpected,” says Denise Anthony, associate professor of sociology… “It took a real-life situation for us to recognize and appreciate the contributions of Good Samaritans to web content.”
Which is also a lesson for fighting the “greed is good” crowd. I’d write a book about it if I could find a publisher.—Caro Technology & ScienceRadar Device to Spot Enemies Through Walls
LifeReader, a wireless radar technology developed by Kai Sensor, has been given a first phase contract worth $850,000 by the U.S. Army. The intent is to develop military applications for the device, which can effectively "see through" walls to find people inside.
Amazon’s One-Click Patent Finally Rejected
The United States Patent office has rejected Amazon’s One-Click patent…The patent was originally filed in Fall of 1997, granted on September 28, 1999, and mere weeks later was used to file suit on rival online bookseller at the, BarnesAndNoble.com. A preliminary injunction against Barnes And Noble was granted in December of 1999, forcing them to remove the “Express Lane” feature from its site.
Good for you, Patent Office. This was definitely the right decision. No one should be able to patent a process itself, only a particular implementation of a process.—Caro
Google Docs Introduces Mobile Version
While speculation continues over the “GPhone” and when a device with Google’s rumored mobile operating system will arrive, one thing is clear: Google is making a ton of announcements in the wireless space. The latest is a mobile version of Google Docs that just went live, featuring a display of your documents and spreadsheets optimized for mobile screens.
Senator goes after cell phone fees, contracts
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some cell phone companies charge their users $100 to $200 to end a contract no matter what the reason and disguise their own charges as taxes on bills, witnesses told a congressional panel on Wednesday.
Genes Might Help Drive Overeating
DNA-based brain chemical changes mean more food is needed, study suggests
Acupuncture Cuts Need for Post-Op Painkillers
It also eases nausea linked to these drugs, research shows
Water Workouts Work for Arthritis Patients
Sessions relieve pain and help improve daily function, researchers say
UK museum cancels scientist's lecture
LONDON - A Nobel prize-winning scientist who reportedly claimed Africans and Europeans had different levels of intelligence is no longer welcome to deliver a lecture at London's Science Museum, the museum said Wednesday. James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for co-discovering DNA, drew widespread outrage when he told The Sunday Times that Africans and Europeans did not share the same brain power.
I wonder how Watson feels about the brain power of women? It was once the common wisdom that women have lower intelligence than men. And the question is especially relevant to Watson’s most famous scientific discovery, which some people believe was stolen from a woman researcher.—Caro
Early seafood, makeup found in S. Africa
In one of the earliest hints of "modern" living, humans 164,000 years ago put on primitive makeup and hit the seashore for steaming mussels, new archaeological finds show. Call it a beach party for early man. But it's a beach party thrown by people who weren't supposed to be advanced enough for this type of behavior. What was found in a cave in South Africa may change how scientists believe Homo sapiens marched into modernity.
The fish that can survive for months in a tree
It's one of the golden rules of the natural world – birds live in trees, fish live in water. The trouble is, no one bothered to tell the mangrove killifish. Scientists have discovered that it spends several months of every year out of the water and living inside trees.
Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks Sunday Morning
The annual Orionid meteor shower peaks early Sunday morning and could put on a delightful display for skywatchers with clear, dark skies. The Orionids are created by tiny bits of debris thought to be left in space by Halley's Comet as it orbits the sun. Each year, Earth passes through the debris trail, and the material lights up as it vaporizes in our atmosphere, creating "shooting stars." In the countryside away from light pollution, the Orionids typically serve up around 20 meteors per hour during the peak.
Monster black hole busts theory
A stellar black hole much more massive than theory predicts is possible has astronomers puzzled. EnvironmentClimate change reshaping Arctic
WASHINGTON - The Arctic is under increasing stress from warming temperatures as shrubs colonize the tundra, changing wildlife habitat and local climate conditions, researchers said Wednesday.
Ancient Fossil Evidence Supports Carbon Dioxide As Driver Of Global Warming
Science Daily — A team of American and Canadian scientists has devised a new way to study Earth's past climate by analyzing the chemical composition of ancient marine fossils. The first published tests with the method further support the view that atmospheric CO2 has contributed to dramatic climate variations in the past, and strengthen projections that human CO2 emissions could cause global warming.
Delay Now, Pay Dearly Later
The costs of inaction on climate change on U.S. infrastructure, and its agricultural, manufacturing and public service sectors, will far outweigh the costs involved in making the needed reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, according to the report, "The U.S. Economic Impacts of Climate Change and the Costs of Inaction", released Tuesday.
Not to mention that finding ways to address the problems will create an economic boom.—Caro
Working for the Earth: Green Companies and Green Jobs Attract Employees
New research shows that employees want to work at green companies and are happiest at companies with solid corporate social responsibility programs in place. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com.
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