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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryViolence ebbing in Iraq, figures show
BAGHDAD - Violent deaths of U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians appear to have fallen sharply in Iraq in October, according to the latest Associated Press tally.
But don’t forget that the GAO says most of the reduction in violence is due to ethnic cleansing in the neighborhoods. There’s no one left to murder.—Caro Get Your War On
The WorldIraq Asks for Iran’s Help in Calming Kurdish Crisis
Tensions between Iraq and Turkey over Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq threaten to overshadow other topics at a regional meeting that starts Thursday in Istanbul.
Iraqi Dam Seen In Danger of Deadly Collapse
AT THE MOSUL DAM, Iraq -- The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country, according to new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials.
Israel says Hezbollah can hit Tel Aviv
UNITED NATIONS - Israel alleges that Hezbollah militants in Lebanon have rearmed with new long-range rockets capable of hitting Tel Aviv and tripled their arsenal of land-to-sea missiles since last summer's war, the United Nations secretary-general said in a report Wednesday.
2 children die in US raid in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan - A nighttime raid in eastern Afghanistan by U.S. and Afghan troops sparked a gunbattle that killed three people, including two children, and the military said Thursday it is investigating the deaths.
8 Air Force employees killed in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed into a Pakistan Air Force bus on Thursday, killing at least eight men and wounding about 40, the latest in a wave of attacks against the military, officials said.
China says lunar exploration not for military use
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's lunar exploration is to drive scientific and technological innovation, and not for military purposes, space officials said on Thursday, giving a glowing report on the country's moon-bound orbiter.
Canadian's lawyer says barred from Guantanamo trial
MIAMI (Reuters) - A civilian lawyer for the only Canadian terrorism suspect held at Guantanamo said on Wednesday he had been barred from his client's hearing at the U.S. base next week because of a dispute with military defense lawyers.
21 convicted of Madrid train bombing; alleged planner acquitted
Three lead defendants in the 2004 Madrid train bombings were found guilty of mass murder and other charges Wednesday but four other top suspects were convicted on lesser charges and an accused ringleader was completely acquitted.
United Nations to expand police force
UNITED NATIONS - With the world facing new security threats, the U.N. is planning for an unprecedented expansion of its police missions. U.N. officials say a shift in the nature of conflicts requires revamped peacekeeping operations.
New land surfaces in Arctic tug-of-war
A rocky outrcrop found off the northern coast of Greenland could open up a new front in the looming battle for control of the Arctic and the North Pole. The NationCommentary: Inexorable march toward war with Iran? (by Joseph L. Galloway, McClatchy Newspapers)
There were some things far more frightening this week than Halloween's small ghouls and goblins — and the scariest of all is the Bush administration's seemingly inexorable march toward military confrontation with Iran… No one in their right mind would believe that attacking Iran now makes any sense at all. But that doesn't mean that Bush and Cheney won't do it.
Petraeus Personally Introduces Disgraced Ahmed Chalabi To U.S. Troops In Iraq
On Sunday, McClatchy reported that disgraced Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi had “re-emerged as a central figure” in the U.S. strategy for Iraq. His latest job: to press Iraq’s government to “deliver better electricity, health, education and local security services to Baghdad,” as “the next phase” of the escalation. Today, Blackanthem.com reports that Petraeus has been trumpeting his new alliance with Chalabi, introducing him to U.S. troops serving in Iraq.
Diplomatic Call Up Riles State Department
State Department Foreign Service Officers are up in arms after being notified they could be ordered to serve in Iraq, something they consider extremely dangerous
To Implement Policy, Bush to Turn to Administrative Orders
The White House plans to try implementing as much new policy as it can by administrative order while stepping up its confrontational rhetoric with Congress after concluding that President Bush cannot do much business with the Democratic leadership, administration officials said.
Immunity deals 'routine' for contractors
Limited immunity has been routinely offered to private security contractors involved in shootings in Iraq, State Department officials said Tuesday, denying such actions jeopardized criminal prosecution of Blackwater USA guards accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians.
Army needs more contracting personnel
WASHINGTON - The demands of supplying soldiers in combat require an additional 1,400 military and civilian personnel with the authority to sign contracts, a new report finds.
We need to hire more people to help throw our money away.—Caro
Durbin and Whitehouse will oppose Mukasey’s nomination.
In an impassioned speech on the Senate floor (Wednesday), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he “will oppose” the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General because of his refusal to explicitly say that waterboarding is torture. Another member of the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), also said today that he would oppose Mukasey’s nomination.
Click through to watch the video of Whitehouse’s speech. TPM Election Central is keeping a chart.—Caro
House panel trims bill to fix US bridges
WASHINGTON - The House Transportation Committee approved scaled-back bridge safety legislation Wednesday, offered grudgingly by the chairman after his plan to pay for repairs with a gas tax increase fell flat.
Panel chair demands Abramoff documents
WASHINGTON - A House committee chairman (Henry Waxman, of course) on Wednesday demanded that the White House turn over hundreds of pages of material about Jack Abramoff, the latest attempt by Congress to compel the Bush administration to detail its contacts with the disgraced lobbyist.
Cunningham-linked contractor paying big campaign finance fine
Defense contractor Mitchell Wade, who pleaded guilty to bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, is now paying the second-largest campaign finance penalty in the history of the Federal Election Commission. The FEC announced the $1 million penalty on Wednesday. Wade and his former company MZM Inc. are acknowledging violating campaign finance laws by funneling $78,000 in corporate contributions to GOP House members Virgil Goode (GOO-d) of Virginia and Katherine Harris of Florida.
Church, Phelps family must pay $2.9 million for funeral protest
BALTIMORE — Members of the Westboro Baptist Church caused emotional distress to the father of a Maryland Marine killed in Iraq by picketing his funeral and must pay $2.9 million in damages, a jury found Wednesday. The federal jury sided with Albert Snyder, who claimed he sank into a depression after church members protested at the funeral of his 20-year-old son, Matthew, in March 2006.
I should pay more tax, says US billionaire Warren Buffett
The United States' second-richest man has delivered a blunt message to the Bush administration: he wants to pay more tax. Warren Buffett, the famous investor known as the "Sage of Omaha", has complained that he pays a lower rate of tax than any of his staff - including his receptionist. Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52bn (£25bn), said: "The taxation system has tilted towards the rich and away from the middle class in the last 10 years. It's dramatic; I don't think it's appreciated and I think it should be addressed."
Buffett has said this many, many times.—Caro MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
"Free is More Complicated Than You'd Think" (by Mark Thoma at Economist’s View)
Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) seems puzzled that those who helped to make the bread might want a piece of it when it's done: “I spend about a third of my workday blogging… Over time, I noticed something unexpected and wonderful was happening with the blog. I had an army of volunteer editors, and they never slept. The readers were changing the course of my writing in real time… At some point I realized we were collectively writing a book, or at least the guts of one. I compiled the most popular (mostly the funniest) posts and pitched it to a publisher. I got a six-figure advance… As part of the book deal, my publisher asked me to delete the parts of my blog archive that would be included in the book… A surprising number of my readers were personally offended that I would remove material from the Internet that had once been free, even after they read it.”
One of the commenters said, “Some people think the ends ALWAYS justify the means.” My comment was: “Maybe Adams wasn't thinking that the ends justify the means, just that he wasn't thinking at all. Like Arianna, he's the only one who's SUPPOSED to make money. They're entitled, and the rest of us unwashed masses are not.” The only way we’re going to change this dynamic, friends, is to work together.—Caro
Americans oppose media market concentration: survey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than half of Americans surveyed said it should be illegal for a company to own both a newspaper and a television station in the same market, a coalition of consumer and telecommunications advocacy groups said on Wednesday.
Can the media and the bar get too close for ethical comfort? (by Randall Bezanson and Gilbert Cranberg, writing at Neiman Watchdog)
Dan Rather’s suit against CBS is unusual in that his law firm is one of more than 200 that have agreed not to sue news media groups or individuals for libel. Such a policy, write Randall Bezanson and Gilbert Cranberg, is highly questionable. Rather’s lawyers got around it by not couching the suit in terms of libel. But what about the policy itself?
FAIR Action Alert: NPR Gives Torture Credibility
Good journalists don't base their stories on highly dubious "facts." And they try to avoid reports that will encourage violence. Unfortunately, a recent segment on NPR's Morning Edition (10/26/07) violated both rules.
Giuliani vows to lie with impunity (by Steve Benen at Crooks and Liars)
The Giuliani campaign unveiled a radio ad this week with a bogus claim about healthcare. They lied. They know they lied. And they know they got caught lying. Are they going to backpedal? Not even a little… (B)ecause the Giuliani gang assumes they’ll get away with it. Paul Krugman challenged political reporters covering the campaigns to take this as seriously as, say, haircuts and cackles. But therein lies the point: Giuliani and his team are pretty confident that’ll never happen.
News may fill network schedules
A writers strike could mean boom time for the network's news divisions as they ratchet up production to fill holes in primetime. While no directive has been given from above, ABC News' longform unit is stockpiling series under the "Primetime Live" banner as potential fill-in programming and is preparing as if the newsmagazine could return to the schedule.
How wouuld Google compete with Google? (by Jeff Jarvis)
(H)ow should we compete with Google or at least challenge its monopoly? Openness. I’ve argued for sometime that we need an open-source ad infrastructure. If the rest of the world other than Google — that is, those who have the other half of advertising Google doesn’t yet have — can gather together and create standards, then Google would be faced with the same decision Facebook is now faced with: whether to use those standards. What organized Facebook’s foes? Ironically, it was Google. Who could organize the nonGoogle ad universe? I see no one on the horizon. That’s why Google keeps growing. We’re letting them.
Online Marketers Joining Internet Privacy Efforts
Since 2004, companies have more than doubled the amount they spend on ads on the Internet, shifting that money away from more traditional outlets like television, radio and print publications. Companies will spend $20 billion this year on Internet ads, the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group of Web publishers, estimates. The growth has been fueled in part by technologies that enable advertisers to use data about consumers on the Internet in ways that were not possible in older media. Technology & ScienceOnline data backup can save music, photos from disaster
LOS ANGELES - You saw it in the footage of Californians fleeing their homes from horrific wildfires. They grabbed a few priceless photos and ran. What if you're not lucky enough to get to the photo albums?
Shell station customers 'pay by touch'
NEW YORK - Chicago drivers have a new way to pay for gasoline: with their fingertips. Ten Shell gas stations in the Windy City are testing biometric systems that let consumers walk up to the pump, scan their fingertips on a device and fill up their vehicles.
We’ve had this capability in the grocery store for more than a year.—Caro
Scientists decode most of Mo. cat's DNA
NEW YORK - An Abyssinian cat from Missouri, named Cinnamon, has just made scientific history. Researchers have largely decoded her DNA, a step that may aid the search for treatments for both feline and human diseases.
Parental involvement has disparities
Parents are getting more involved in raising their children, but there are still significant disparities, depending on family income and education levels, the government reported Wednesday.
Brain MRIs Find Hidden Neurological Problems
Blocked blood vessels most common discovery, researchers report.
Stem Cells Restore Memory in Mice
Experiments point to ways to treat injury, stroke and even Alzheimer's, experts say
Right Dose of Pot Can Ease Pain
But too much can actually boost discomfort, study finds
Bulging Brits losing battle with bangers
The "fat American" used to be the joke in Europe. The "fat Brit" could soon be getting laughs, too.
Chimpanzee who knew sign language dies
Washoe, a female chimpanzee said to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept. Washoe, who first learned a bit of American Sign Language in a research project in Nevada, had been living on Central Washington University's Ellensburg campus since 1980. Her keepers said she had a vocabulary of about 250 words, although critics contended Washoe and some other primates learned to imitate sign language, but did not develop true language skills.
Mother Nature has many fields of study for citizen scientists
Claire Trombley, 12, of Starksboro, Vt., climbed out of bed at 5 one recent October morning and was at her station by sunrise. Within three hours she had helped attach aluminum leg bands to 67 tiny songbirds trapped in fine mesh nets on the banks of marshy Dead Creek. EnvironmentWildfires Release as Much CO2 as Cars
Large wildfires in the Western United States can pump as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in just a few weeks as cars do in those areas in an entire year, a new study suggests. As forest fires devour trees and other plants, they release the carbon stored in the vegetation into the atmosphere.
Nordic nations sound alarm over melting Arctic
OSLO (Reuters) - Nordic nations sounded the alarm on Wednesday about a quickening melt of Arctic ice and said the thaw might soon prove irreversible because of global warming.
Solar energy boom may help world's poorest
LONDON (Reuters) - A surge in investment in solar power is bringing down costs of the alternative energy source, but affordability problems still dog hopes for the 1.6 billion people worldwide without electricity.
Religious leaders act on climate change
WASHINGTON - A coalition of religious leaders urged Congress on Wednesday to ensure that the poor and most vulnerable are protected from the effects of climate change.
Chevron Looks to Algae for Tomorrow's Fuel
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 1, 2007 -- Chevron Corp. will partner with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to research ways of turning algae into transportation fuel, such as jet fuel.
La Nina seen persisting into 2008
A "La Nina" cooling of sea temperatures is under way in the Pacific Ocean and the phenomenon is likely to persist into next year, the United Nations weather agency said on Wednesday. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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