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Edited on Wed Oct-24-07 09:57 AM by Caro
Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryRice says Iran an obstacle to U.S. goals
WASHINGTON - Iran is a major obstacle to the U.S. vision of a Middle East in which nations will "trade more, invest more, talk more and work more constructively to solve problems," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says.
Why is Condoleezza Rice now sounding like Dick Cheney and Bill Kristol on Iran?—Caro Seeds of Doubt (via All Hat No Cattle) 
The WorldTurkey masses more troops, raids in Iraq confirmed
CIZRE, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkish warplanes and troops have attacked Kurdish rebels inside Iraq and forces were being built up on the border, but Ankara was holding back from any major strike for now, military sources said on Wednesday.
Iraq, Turkey pledge to suppress Kurdish rebel group
BAGHDAD — Foreign ministers of Iraq and Turkey agreed Tuesday to seek a diplomatic solution to curb a Kurdish rebel group whose assaults into Turkey have led to threats of armed intervention. Turkey is reported to have sent tens of thousands of troops and armor to its border with northern Iraq after a weekend attack by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, left 12 Turkish soldiers dead and eight in rebel hands.
President of Iraqi Kurdish region urges end to rebellion
The president of Iraq's northern Kurdish region on Wednesday urged the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to end its more than two-decade armed struggle against Turkey.
Simultaneous bombings kill 8 in Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Nearly simultaneous bombs struck commuters in a predominantly Shiite area on the southeastern edge of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least eight people and wounding two dozen, police and hospital officials said.
EU's Solana, Iran's new nuclear pointman have 'constructive' talks
ROME (AFP) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's new hardline nuclear pointman Saeed Jalili met for the first time on Tuesday for talks both sides described as "constructive."
NATO chief to float troop rotation idea for Afghanistan
NOORDWIJK, Netherlands (AFP) - NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that he would float the idea of rotating forces in dangerous parts of Afghanistan during talks with allied defence ministers.
Myanmar activists launch day of demos
BANGKOK (AFP) - Myanmar activists protested Wednesday outside China's embassy in Bangkok to demand freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi, kicking off a day of rallies planned worldwide in support of the detained democracy leader.
China launches 1st lunar probe
BEIJING - China launched its first lunar probe Wednesday, an initial step in an ambitious 10-year plan to send a rover to the moon and return it to Earth.
Ecuador wants military base in Miami
NAPLES (Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa … has refused to renew Washington's lease on the Manta air base, set to expire in 2009. U.S. officials say it is vital for counter-narcotics surveillance operations on Pacific drug-running routes. "We'll renew the base on one condition: that they let us put a base in Miami -- an Ecuadorean base," Correa said in an interview during a trip to Italy.
I love this guy.—Caro
Sarkozy announces nuclear cooperation with Morocco
MARRAKESH, Morocco (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Tuesday that France and Morocco had decided to cooperate on civil nuclear energy. The NationBush moving on California wildfires
WASHINGTON - President Bush mobilized federal emergency assistance Tuesday on behalf of Southern California officials struggling with devastating wildfires, and scheduled a visit to the stricken region on Thursday.
But will his words match his actions? They didn’t in New York after 9/11 or in Louisiana after Katrina and Rita.—Caro
Civility Reigns at San Diego Stadium
(A)n almost festive atmosphere reigned at Qualcomm Stadium… Aggressive efforts by disaster-response officials to bring supplies helped ensure civility. A heavy police contingent and National Guard troops with automatic weapons stood by just in case. The New Orleans evacuees had dragged themselves through floodwaters to get to the Louisiana Superdome in 2005, and once there endured horrific conditions without food, sanitation or law enforcement.
Katrina missteps still haunting Bush
WASHINGTON - Hurricane Katrina has many legacies for the Bush White House, none pleasant. One is the guarantee that as soon as disaster strikes in the United States, President Bush's every move is closely scrutinized to gauge the speed and tone of his response to the suffering.
White House Edits CDC Climate Testimony
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House severely edited congressional testimony given Tuesday by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the impact of climate change on health, removing specific scientific references to potential health risks, according to two sources familiar with the documents.
Bush To Veto Employment Non-Discrimination Act
(T)he Employment Non- Discrimination Act (ENDA) … would make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, or fail to promote employees simply based on sexual orientation… (Tuesday) the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy making clear that despite the exemption compromise (to exempt small businesses and others, that the White House itself brokered), “senior advisors” will still recommend that President Bush veto the bill.
Senate reverses Bush’s budget cuts.
In a 75-19 vote, the Senate today “reversed President Bush’s cuts to education, health research and grants to local communities as they gird for Bush’s first-ever veto of a regular appropriations bill.”
Democrats unyielding on health plan cost
WASHINGTON - House Democrats, convinced that President Bush blundered by vetoing an expansion of a children's health care program, plan to approve a very similar bill this week even as the administration offered new concessions Tuesday.
Senate to vote on whether to take up limited immigration bill
WASHINGTON — The Senate faces another contentious showdown on immigration Wednesday when it considers legislation designed to put thousands of undocumented immigrant students on track to U.S. citizenship. Though far more limited than a comprehensive immigration bill that collapsed in the Senate in late June, the debate on the proposed DREAM Act will nevertheless resurrect the same warring sides from the earlier immigration battle.
Tancredo calls immigration police on participants of congressional staff meeting
Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who runs his long-shot presidential campaign on a platform of a tough immigration policy, alerted federal officials Tuesday to an event that he said would be attended by “several illegal aliens.”
Dems Give Mukasey a Waterboarding Primer
In response to Michael Mukasey's professed ignorance as to what waterboarding is, all eight Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have sent Mukasey a detailed primer on the centuries-old torture technique. It includes some surprising historical details: did you know, for instance, that during the occupation of Japan, the U.S. prosecuted Japanese soldiers who waterboarded U.S. POWs?
Siegelman probe accelerated after DC meeting.
Alabama GOP operative Dana Jill Simpson recently charged that Karl Rove and his allies pushed the Justice Department into prosecuting former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman (D) prior to a major election. In a hearing today, former federal prosecutor Doug Jones added further weight to Simpson’s claims, saying the investigation was “renewed” after prosecutors met with “Washington officials” in late 2004.
Stark Apologizes After Censure Bid Fails
The House just failed by a 196-173 margin to censure Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) for his remarks last week that Bush was sending American troops to Iraq to have their "heads blown off for the president's amusement." The resolution stated that Stark “by his despicable conduct, has dishonored himself and brought discredit to the House and merits the censure of the House for the same.” Moments after the vote, an emotional Stark apologized for his comments.
STOP APOLOGIZING, DEMOCRATS, DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!—Caro MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
Technology's pipeline is lifeline
Technology is proving crucial as Southern California residents fight raging wildfires. They're using text messages, video, blogs, Google maps and databases to describe the chaos, find missing people and share strategies.
PBS Station Invokes Google Maps To Help San Diego Residents Flee Fires
The station also has 588 people signed up to receive Twitter broadcasts, where the updates are pushed to recipients' BlackBerry devices and cell phones.
Poll: Republicans know Clinton and Obama, but not their own candidates
Who are the best-known candidates in the 2008 presdential election? Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, according to a new survey. More surprising: That's true even among Republicans, half of whom could not name one presidential candidate from their party.
Good going, Republicans, this is the result of your negative campaigning.—Caro
Hardball: Is President Bush Holding Democrats Hostage?
On Tuesday’s Hardball, CBS contributor Nancy Giles… thinks the Democrats suffer from a kind of battered politician syndrome and are just taking baby steps, but (the NYT’s Paul) Krugman says that while it’s unforgivable, some party members say they don’t need to worry about not ending the war immediately because Democratic voters will never vote for Republicans who want to expand the disaster in Iraq into Iran.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
AEI’s Muravchik: ‘I Don’t Mind If We Bomb Iran Next Month Or The Month After’
AEI scholar Joshua Muravchik has consistently pushed for war with Iran. In Nov. 2006, for example, Muravchik wrote an LA Times op-ed called simply, “Bomb Iran.” But as his appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball yesterday demonstrated, Muravchik’s calls for war with Iran aren’t based on any real evidence.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
Horowitz Inflates Number Of Schools Participating In His Divisive ‘Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week’
On college campuses across America this week, conservatives are gathering together to listen to right-wing luminaries such as Ann Coulter and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) as part of David Horowitz’s Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. Horowitz is claiming that it will be “the biggest conservative campus protest ever” and “a wake-up call for Americans on 200 university and college campuses” about “the enemy.” But on CSPAN’s Washington Journal this weekend, Kareem Shora, the Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, said that Horowitz was dramatically overstating the number of participating schools.
Stalin, Mao And … Ahmadinejad? (by Fareed Zakaria)
Here is the reality. Iran has an economy the size of Finland's and an annual defense budget of around $4.8 billion. It has not invaded a country since the late 18th century. The United States has a GDP that is 68 times larger and defense expenditures that are 110 times greater. Israel and every Arab country (except Syria and Iraq) are quietly or actively allied against Iran. And yet we are to believe that Tehran is about to overturn the international system and replace it with an Islamo-fascist order? What planet are we on?
The devil Drudge (by Jeff Jarvis)
Maybe I’m more aware of this because I’m a Hillary supporter, but it does seem as if the New York Times is taking any opportunity to swipe at her. Yesterday’s page one carried a story that was shocked — shocked, I tell you — that the Clinton campaign might actually be feeding stories to the dreaded Drudge Report… Would they be equally shocked if Rudy Giuliani or John McCain tried to get good publicity from, oh, the New York Times?
Valerie Plame Wilson and the Ultimate Betrayal (by Larry Johnson)
Valerie’s problem is her decency and humanity. She has reasons most Americans don’t know to be really angry with George Bush and George Tenet but she has contained her rage. In a new tasty nugget in her book, Fair Game, she gives some details on the 2004 Al Qaeda threat to kill her. The response of the Administration, or more accurately, the lack of any response, is enough to make the Pope curse. What the Bush Administration failed to do and what George Tenet, CIA Director, failed to do, goes beyond cowardice.
Fear Factor (by Jonathan Chait)
(O)ne of the oddities of the entitlement hysterics is that they are far more obsessed with the minor problems of Social Security than with the massive problems of Medicare. Indeed, if you look closely at their dire proclamations, they inevitably follow the same pattern: They begin with an ominous summation about entitlements--thus lumping together Medicare with Social Security--then swiftly proceed to demand that Social Security be shored up forthwith.
Intelligent Design’s Persecution Complex (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
Billo brings on Ben Stein to discuss his new movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, and how unfair it is that these mean, close-minded, atheist Darwinists don’t want Creationism to be considered on par with other “scientific” theories.
Why is Ben Stein pushing Creationism? When I first read about his support, I thought it must be a joke. He is, after all, a comedian economist. But it looks like he’s serious about this. Click through to watch the video.—Caro
Amazon: Another Success of Welfare as We Should Know It (by Dean Baker)
While most stores must charge customers state sales tax, Amazon and other Internet retailers enjoy a special subsidy. They need not charge sales tax except in the states where they have a physical presence. (I believe that list is Washington and Utah.) That's great news for Amazon, if we assume that state sales taxes would average 4 percent on annual sales of $15 billion a year, then taxpayers are subsidizing Amazon to the tune of $600 million a year, more than its annual profits. It would be nice if this subsidy was occasionally discussed in news reports on Amazon. Technology & ScienceMany online retailers offer free holiday shipping
The majority of online retailers hope to entice shoppers this holiday season by offering free shipping, and almost half will offer it without conditions, a National Retail Federation study out Wednesday shows.
Early Adopters Pay for Bragging Rights
In the wake of Apple's swift--and steep--iPhone price cuts, early adopters may have to live with shorter windows of joy.
Laptop foundation production delay means shortage
BOSTON (Reuters) - A non-profit group developing a low-cost laptop for poor children said that a production delay would cause a shortage of computers available in the United States and Canada as part of a holiday giving program.
The Math of Teenage Sex (by Christopher Wanjek at LiveScience)
A girl "sophisticated" enough to seek oral contraception at a health clinic likely has a boyfriend, often older, pressuring her to have sex without a condom, or she is already sexually experienced. Either way, the odds are against her remaining disease free. Alas, American teenagers don't like math. They like sex.
Well, it would be nice to have a study instead of your assumption about older partners, Christopher. And it would be nice to have some information about how the rampant pregnancies and STDs you describe are related to the abysmal state of sex education in the schools.—Caro
Many at Risk for HIV Not Being Tested
Screening should be part of routine medical care, researchers suggest
Experts Sound Off on Workout Grunting
Some gym members object, but these noises may boost fitness.
Marital Stress Linked to Heart Disease
Couples with troubled relationships have hardening of the coronary arteries, research says
Dementia in More Educated Hits Later But Harder
More schooling delayed disease onset, but decline was more rapid afterward, study finds
Near-Earth Space Bubbles Mapped
Enormous bubbles of plasma trapped within Earth's magnetic fields have been fully mapped for the first time.
Weather cooperates for on-time shuttle launch
Space shuttle Discovery and a crew of seven rocketed away Tuesday in pursuit of the international space station, where a formidable construction job awaits them. EnvironmentSanta Ana Winds, Frequent and Troublesome
Those often furious, sometimes deadly Santa Ana winds contributing to the Southern California wildfires are a phenomenon of geography as well as meteorology.
'Carbon sinks' lose ability to soak up emissions
A dramatic decline in the ability of the Earth to soak up man-made emissions of carbon dioxide, and a corresponding acceleration in the rate of increase of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, have been detected for the first time by scientists… (Scientists) fear that a much-anticipated "feedback" in the global climate – when increases in carbon dioxide in the air trigger further increases in atmospheric concentrations of the gas – has already begun to occur decades before many predicted.
Geologists: Collier Glacier Is Shrinking
BEND, Ore. (AP) - Between the North Sister and Middle Sister in Oregon's Cascade Range, Collier Glacier has advanced and receded for hundreds of thousands of years. But like many glaciers, it is headed in one direction these days: backward.
Extinctions Linked to Hotter Temperatures
WASHINGTON (AP) - Whenever the world's tropical seas warm several degrees, Earth has experienced mass extinctions over millions of years, according to a first-of-its-kind statistical study of fossil records. And scientists fear it may be about to happen again - but in a matter of several decades.
How to Cool the Globe
One idea is to counteract warming by tossing small particles into the stratosphere (above where jets fly). This strategy may sound far-fetched, but it has the potential to cool the earth within months.
This would simulate the great cooling, perhaps caused by a giant asteroid hitting the earth and scattering dust into the atmosphere, that killed the dinosaurs. I guess it would be a good idea to be careful with this idea.—Caro
Global Water Initiative Created in Response to World Water Crisis
A new partnership has been launched to address the declining state of the world’s fresh water supply and the lack of access to clean water services by the world’s poorest people. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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