Good Morning! - Morning Headlines

[Caro]

Morning headlines brought to you by

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

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Commentary: The disgraceful treatment of our veterans (by Joseph L. Galloway, McClatchy Newspapers)
One quarter of the homeless people in America are military veterans. That’s one in every four. Is that ragged man huddled on the steam grate in a brutal winter wind a Vietnam vet? Did that younger man panhandling for pocket change on the street corner fight in Kandahar or Fallujah?

Outraged Comics

The World

Led by the military, war-weary US awakens to 'soft power'
WASHINGTON (AFP) - After six hard years of war, the United States is awakening to the idea that "soft power" is a better way to regain influence and clout in a world bubbling with instability.

Iraq's maverick cleric hits the books
BAGHDAD - The leader of Iraq's biggest Shiite militia movement has quietly resumed seminary studies toward attaining the title of ayatollah — a goal that could make firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army an even more formidable power broker in Iraq.

Top Fatah official kidnapped in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Gunmen burst into the home of a top Fatah official in Gaza early Friday and kidnapped him, the man's family said, in the first such abduction of a politician since Hamas forces routed their Fatah rivals and overtook the strip in June.

Assad says alliance with Iran unshakable
DAMASCUS, Syria - President Bashar Assad rejected claims that Syria's alliance with Iran had been weakened by Damascus' participation in last month's U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference, insisting Thursday that ties between the two countries will never be shaken.

EU promises 'robust' action against Iran
European diplomats here promised "robust" action from the European Union on Iran and said the EU will enact its own sanctions if the UN Security Council approves a weak third resolution, despite a US intelligence report saying Iran halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago.

Taliban militants behead 7 police in southern Afghanistan
Taliban militants beheaded seven policemen Friday after overrunning their checkpoints in southern Afghanistan, officials said, while in a separate clash, an Australian soldier and three civilians were killed.

Karzai 'already in talks with allies of former Taliban leader'
The Taliban's former chief spokesman has revealed that top-level talks are being held between the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and key lieutenants of the former Taliban leader Mullah Omar. His disclosure that the Taliban "cabinet in exile" is engaged in negotiations appeared to contradict the statement to Parliament yesterday by Gordon Brown that hardline Taliban leaders would be isolated from talks over the future of Afghanistan.

Pakistan to lift emergency, but critics cautious
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan was poised to lift emergency rule on Saturday, but critics said it might make little difference for an opposition complaining President Pervez Musharraf can still engineer an election win for his allies.

Myanmar deaths higher than U.N. estimate: activists
CANBERRA (Reuters) - The death toll from a democracy crackdown ordered by Myanmar's ruling junta was much greater than U.N. estimates and scores of people were still missing, activists just back from the reclusive country said on Friday.

Australia, U.N. pledge support for E. Timor security
DILI (Reuters) - Australia's prime minister and the United Nations chief on Friday pledged continued support for East Timor to ensure peace and stability in the tiny nation.

Argentine leader riled by US cash charge
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Argentina's new president reacted furiously Thursday to accusations by U.S. prosecutors that an intercepted suitcase full of cash from Venezuela was meant to finance her election campaign, calling the charge "garbage in international politics."

At least 17 dead in Somali unrest
MOGADISHU, Somalia - A radical Islamic group that was driven from power a year ago by a Western-supported offensive is making a significant comeback in Somalia, and the government can do little to stop it, officials said Thursday, as shelling and gunbattles in the capital killed at least 17 people.

The Nation

FBI agent threatened to arrest CIA interrogators in 2002.
Last week, the CIA revealed that it had destroyed videotapes of interrogations of two al Qaeda detainees, including logistics chief Abu Zubaydah. Newsweek reports (Thursday) that methods used in the interrogation of Zubaydah “sparked an internal battle within the U.S. intelligence community” to such an extent that one FBI agent “threatened to arrest the CIA interrogators“.

Resistance is 'Futile' (by David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo)
The White House asserts that the Justice Department will not prosecute a contempt of Congress referral--against White House officials.
Click through to watch the video of the press secretary saying this.—Caro

House votes to outlaw waterboarding by CIA
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted Thursday to prevent the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods that already are banned from use by the U.S. military. The bill, which would fund and set policies for U.S. intelligence agencies, passed 222-199. It next goes to the Senate, where it faces strong Republican opposition.

Senate approves trimmed-back energy bill
WASHINGTON - The Senate passed a trimmed-back energy bill that would bring higher-gas mileage cars and SUVs into showrooms in the coming decade and fill their tanks with ethanol.

Senate kills bids to cut farm payments
WASHINGTON - The Senate rejected two attempts to limit annual payments to farmers Thursday, frustrating lawmakers who had hoped that this year's multibillion-dollar farm bill would scale back the government's massive subsidy programs.

Mistrial for six in Sears Tower conspiracy case
A judge declared a mistrial on Thursday for six men accused of plotting to blow up America's tallest skyscraper, Chicago's Sears Tower, after a jury failed to reach verdicts on them but acquitted one other man.

Democratic '08 hopes vow to rescue economy
JOHNSTON, Iowa (AFP) - Democratic White House hopefuls vowed to end the war in Iraq and rescue the US economy from corporate greed on Thursday, in their final debate before 2008 nominating contest begin.

After the Money’s Gone (by Paul Krugman)
Markets won’t start functioning normally until investors are reasonably sure that they know where the bodies — I mean, the bad debts — are buried. And that probably won’t happen until house prices have finished falling and financial institutions have come clean about all their losses. All of this will probably take years. Meanwhile, anyone who expects the Fed or anyone else to come up with a plan that makes this financial crisis just go away will be sorely disappointed.

Hire an Illegal Worker, Lose Your Business
Arizona's tough new immigration law has companies running scared
They SHOULD be running scared. One of the best ways to cure our wage problem here is to keep employers from hiring illegal aliens.—Caro

Online video helps troubled borrowers spot fraud
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fraudsters are targeting troubled borrowers facing foreclosure in a scheme that could leave homeowners with even more debt than they otherwise would face, a new online video warns.

Media

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Bloggers: A new progressive blog advertising network is forming. Click here for information on how to participate.

Blogs to be Included in Google’s Universal Search (by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins at Mashable)
PC Magazine is reporting that Google is expanding its “Universal Search” initiative next week by officially including blog results in the general search results… Blog results have long been a part of the general search results, and typically favored over other types of content. As such, it is difficult to see this move as very groundbreaking, but it will further thrust the view of New Media journalists into the forefront of the average web surfer, whether they regularly read blogs or not.

Unfettered 'citizen journalism' too risky (by David Hazinski, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
There are literally hundreds of Internet hoaxes and false reports passed off as true stories… It's just a matter of time before something like a faked Rodney King beating video appears on the air somewhere. Journalism organizations should head that off. Citizen reports can be a valuable addition to news and information flow with some protections.
Absolutely. There should be protections against people trying to spread false information. Even if they work for our government, which you mainstreamers have done a poor job of questioning, David.—Caro

Unleashing The Beast (by Digby)
People and societies don't just wake up one morning to find they no longer recognize themselves. It's a process. And we are in the process in this country of "defining deviancy down" in ways I never thought possible. We are legitimizing torture and indefinite detention --- saying that we will only do this to the people who really deserve it. One cannot help but wonder what "really deserves it" will mean in the years to come as we fight our endless war against terror… Once a society unleashes this beast everyone in it is changed and twisted by it --- victim, perpetrator, cheerleader, dissenter and bystander alike.
And it will be easy to find the members of the next group that “really deserves it”, thanks to a client of Rudy Giuliani’s. See below.—Caro

Rudy: All Business
Not long after he stepped down as mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani received an intriguing offer. A group of officials from a Florida company called Seisint Inc. asked him to promote a powerful new database technology capable of tracking potential terrorists and other criminals… Seisint's premier product — MATRIX — … proved controversial. The databases it searched contained personal histories of millions of Americans, their relatives, past addresses, property records and credit ratings. Civil-liberties groups said MATRIX would create detailed data profiles of innocent Americans.

They Thought They Were Free (Excerpt from pages 166-73 of "They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45" by Milton Mayer, first published in 1955, thanks to Information Clearing House)
"What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security… You see," my colleague went on, "one doesn’t see exactly where or how to move. Believe me, this is true. Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse… (T)he one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes.

"That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D.

"And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jewish swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in—your nation, your people—is not the world you were born in at all.

There’s more to character than being charming (by Gene Lyons)
Pundits and TV anchorcreatures love pronouncing about politicians ’ “character,” when all they’re really talking about is personality… This year’s GOP Prince Charming is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. When it comes to ingratiating himself, few surpass the one-time Baptist preacher. He’s witty, he’s warm, and doggone it, people like him. Character consists of something deeper. That’s why it’s important to know the truth about Wayne DuMond, the serial rapist and murderer Huckabee freed from the Arkansas penitentiary to kill again. Unfortunately, that’s the last thing you’ll hear from the candidate himself.
Click through for the details about the Wayne DuMond case from the journalist who knows Arkansas the best.—Caro

Same News Outlets Who Said Bill Would Be Liability To Hillary Now Say He'll Need To "Rescue" Her (by Greg Sargent at TPM Horse’s Mouth)
As predicted here (Wednesday), the very same news outlets that pushed the idea that Bill Clinton's presence could prove a liability to Hillary's Presidential campaign are...now saying that he'll need to rescue her.
Click through for specific quotes.—Caro

White House Rejects Right-Wing NIE Witch-Hunt: The Intelligence ‘Should Be Supported’ (Think Progress)
Since the Iran NIE was released, conservatives have desperately tried to discredit it. Former Vice President Cheney aide David Wurmser questioned “how much it can really be banked on.” John Bolton called for congressional investigations into the “politicized” intelligence community. Some conservatives in Congress are following these calls… (Thursday), White House Press Secretary Dana Perino rejected the partisan witch-hunt into the intelligence community. “They assessed all of the intelligence,” she declared. “I think that they should be supported”.
They should be supported, but they should be ignored. Bush wants to bomb Iran anyway. Click through to watch the video.—Caro

Conservative Military Journal Slams Giuliani And Mukasey’s ‘Tacit Support For Waterboarding’ (Think Progress)
When asked about the practice of waterboarding at a recent debate, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani declared that he would allow “every method (interrogators) could think of and I would support them in doing it.” Attorney General Mike Mukasey consistently refused to render a legal opinion on the matter. In its December issue, the military magazine Armed Forces Journal chastises Giuliani and Mukasey for “their tacit support for waterboarding”:

Savage: 90% of Nobel board is ‘into child pornography.’ (Think Progress)
On his radio show yesterday, right-wing talker Michael Savage attacked former Vice President Al Gore’s recent Nobel Peace Prize, saying that it was awarded to him by “the socialist perverts in Norway.” “90 percent of the people on the Nobel Committee are into child pornography and molestation,” proclaimed Savage.
Click through to listen to the audio.—Caro

O’Reilly declares victory in war on Christmas.
Celebrating Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) House resolution on the “importance of Christmas and the Christian faith,” Fox News host Bill O’Reilly declared victory in the “war on Christmas” last night. He called his show’s reporting on the issue “one of the most important things we’ve done,” and bragged, “We won” and secular progressives “lost.”
It’s always about somebody winning and somebody losing with these people. They always have to put someone down. Click through to watch the video.—Caro

Technology & Science

Tech aplenty for cheaters, suspicious spouses
Spouses have discovered that snooping isn’t just for Homeland Security, it’s something they can pick up without ever having to leave home. Conversely, those who want to stray outside of marriages and committed relationships have more tools at their disposal than ever before.

Lonely Canadian shocked to get $85,000 phone bill
TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian oil-field worker, stunned to get a C$85,000 ($83,700) cell phone bill, has had the charges reduced to C$3,400, but is still fighting them.

Sex "switch" points way to smarter pest control
LONDON (Reuters) - Turning off a sex "switch" triggered when female insects mate may be a smart and green way of controlling pests in future.

Too Much Fructose Could Leave Dieters Sugar Shocked
(M)any dieters may actually be cutting out the wrong foods altogether, according to findings from a UF paper published recently in the European Journal of Nutrition. Dieters should focus on limiting the amount of fructose they eat instead of cutting out starchy foods such as bread, rice and potatoes, report the researchers, who propose using new dietary guidelines based on fructose to gauge how healthy foods are.

Genetics May Boost Mexican-Americans' Risk for Alcoholism
Scientists zero in on a DNA cluster that may encourage the addiction
I’d say check Irish-Americans, too. We’re prone to alcoholism, as well.—Caro

Transplanted Bone Marrow Cells Aid Nerve Regeneration
Japanese research with stem cells could be a step in developing artificial neurons

Cell 'Addiction' to Growth Factors May Help Spur Cancers
Study in mice shows blocking this dependence could stop disease before it starts

Kidd's Ship Found Off Dominican Island
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A U.S. underwater archaeology team announced Thursday it has likely discovered the shattered remnants of a ship once captained by the notorious buccaneer William Kidd off a tiny Dominican Republic island.

Astronauts deck halls with boughs of nylon
The Christmas tree won't be the only thing that's artificial about astronaut Daniel Tani's holiday. Tani is stuck until early 2008 on the space station, where the clothes and the Christmas spruce are nylon, the water is recycled and much of the food is canned.

Huge Newfound Part of Milky Way Rotates Backward
Our Milky Way Galaxy has two distinct parts in its outer reaches that rotate in opposite directions, astronomers announced (Wednesday)… "By examining the motions and chemical makeup of the stars, we can see that the inner and outer halos are quite different beasts and they probably formed in different ways at different times," said Daniela Carollo, a researcher at Italy's Torino Observatory and the Australian National University.

Environment

Gore Joins Chorus Chiding U.S. at Climate Talks
NUSA DUA, Indonesia — Amid growing frustration with the United States over deadlocked negotiations at a United Nations conference on global warming, the European Union threatened Thursday to boycott separate talks proposed by the Bush administration in Hawaii next month… The escalating bitterness between the European Union and the United States came as former Vice President Al Gore told delegates in a speech that “My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali.”

Bali climate talks draft drop 2020 emissions goal
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - A compromise draft text to launch in Bali two years of negotiations for a global pact to fight climate change has dropped a key ambition of tough 2020 greenhouse emissions cuts for rich countries.

EU-U.S. Climate Impasse Easing
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Europe toned down a clash with the United States over 2020 climate goals on the final day of U.N. talks in Bali on Friday, raising hopes of a deal to start negotiations on a new global warming treaty.

2007 among the warmest years on record
2007 is shaping up to be one of the warmest years on record. The annual temperature for 2007 across the contiguous USA is expected to be the 8th-warmest since records were first begun in 1895.

Scientists: Global warming could kill coral reefs by 2050
Rising carbon emissions might kill off the ocean's coral reefs by 2050, scientists warn in today's edition of the journal Science.

Cities to turn out the lights for climate change: WWF
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) - Major cities around the world will plunge into darkness for an hour in March 2008 to mark their commitment to battling climate change, conservation group WWF said Friday.

Green500 Plan Commits U.K.'s Big Businesses to Carbon Cuts
LONDON, Dec. 14, 2007 -- Ikea, Sky and Chelsea FC are among a host of top London businesses that have signed up to a new program to help large companies cut their carbon emissions.

Solar powered...jewelry?
As a child, did you ever use a magnifying glass to barbeque ants? Sizzle flies? Burn leaves? Don't worry, we won't tell. Someone who may fall into this category has found an ingenious way to harness the sun's power to make jewelry. No, not using the latest thin-film solar innovation. No, they've what appears to be a giant magnifying glass, capable of melting glass into a pliable state, suitable for making quite lovely jewelry.

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