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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryLeahy: Gonzales must clarify statements
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales must quickly clarify apparent contradictions in his testimony about warrantless spying or risk a possible perjury investigation, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday. The Illustrated Daily Scribble
The WorldIraqis bask in rare joy after soccer win
BAGHDAD - Tens of thousands of Iraqis from the Shiite south to the Kurdish-dominated north poured into the usually treacherous streets Sunday to celebrate a rare moment of joy and unity when the national team won Asia's most prestigious soccer tournament.
As U.S. rebuilds, Iraqi minister won't take over finished work
Iraq's national government is refusing to take possession of thousands of American-financed reconstruction projects, forcing the United States either to hand them over to local Iraqis, who often lack the proper training and resources to keep the projects running, or commit new money to an effort that has already consumed billions of taxpayer dollars.
U.S.-tribal alliances draw Iraqi ire
(T)he U.S. military command to step up efforts to recruit residents to set up local protection forces, authorizing officers to use emergency cash and other funds to strike contracts with tribal leaders… "They solve one problem by creating another," said Sami Askari, an aide to Prime Minister Nouri Maliki and member of his Islamic Dawa Party. "This is a seed for civil war.
US envoy criticizes Saudi Arabia on Iraq
WASHINGTON - The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Sunday that ally Saudi Arabia was undermining efforts to stabilize Iraq.
What on earth can THAT be about? The administration just approved the sale of a bunch of weapons to the Saudis.—Caro
As Rice and Gates travel to Middle East, air of futility pervades
WASHINGTON — As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates head out Monday on a rare joint trip to the Middle East, it's not clear what they can accomplish… America's credibility in the region has plummeted. The U.S. has failed to stabilize Iraq, destroy al Qaida, pacify Lebanon, isolate Syria or bolster moderate Palestinians. Instead, its policies have fueled Sunni Muslim extremism and emboldened Shiite Iran, which America's moderate Arab allies consider the two greatest threats to their rule.
Palestinians begin to return to Gaza
EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip - More than 100 Palestinians stranded for weeks in Egypt after the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip began returning home Sunday, entering Israel and riding buses to a crossing point into northern Gaza.
Israel backs U.S. arms sale to Saudis
JERUSALEM - In a break from historic Israeli opposition to U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday his country understands Washington's plan to supply state-of-the-art weapons to Riyadh as a counterweight to Iranian influence.
Bhutto won't share power with a uniformed Musharraf
LONDON (AFP) - Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto insisted Sunday she would not strike a power-sharing deal with President Pervez Musharraf so long as he remained the army chief. The NationNEW YORK POLS BLAST DEAL WITH SAUDI ARABIA
July 30, 2007 -- A pair of New York congressmen vowed yesterday to block a possible deal to sell $20 billion of state-of-the-art weapons to Saudi Arabia because they claim it supports international terrorism. "Saudi Arabia is the No. 1 exporter of terrorism today. They even beat Iran for that dubious distinction," Rep. Anthony Weiner said outside the Saudi Consulate in Manhattan… Weiner was joined by fellow Democrat Rep. Jerrold Nadler, who also laid into the Saudi government.
Bush wants terrorism law updated
WASHINGTON - President Bush wants Congress to modernize a law that governs how intelligence agencies monitor the communications of suspected terrorists.
Always (on the) offensive, is our president.—Caro
Mining of Data Prompted Fight Over U.S. Spying
WASHINGTON, July 28 — A 2004 dispute over the National Security Agency’s secret surveillance program that led top Justice Department officials to threaten resignation involved computer searches through massive electronic databases, according to current and former officials briefed on the program. It is not known precisely why searching the databases, or data mining, raised such a furious legal debate. But such databases contain records of the phone calls and e-mail messages of millions of Americans, and their examination by the government would raise privacy issues.
More in GOP want Iraq military limits
WASHINGTON - Republicans increasingly are backing a new approach in the Iraq war that could become the party's mantra come September. It would mean narrowly limited missions for U.S. troops in Iraq but let President Bush decide when troops should leave.
VA Secretary faces wrongful death suit
WASHINGTON - The family of an Iraq war veteran filed suit Thursday accusing Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson of negligence in the suicide death of their son.
A showdown looms over children's health insurance
WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled Congress this week will move one step closer to a showdown with President Bush over the future of children's health insurance. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate are expected to vote on bills to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or SCHIP. The 10-year-old program covers children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private health insurance.
Bush Aide Blocked Report
A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.
Democrat charges U.S. justices "duped" Senate
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito "duped" the U.S. Senate into confirming them, a top Democratic lawmaker charged on Friday, days after a key Republican questioned if they had lived up to their promises.
Most vote machines lose test to hackers
State-sanctioned teams of computer hackers were able to break through the security of virtually every model of California's voting machines and change results or take control of some of the systems' electronic functions, according to a University of California study released Friday.
The Under-Taxed Kings of Private Equity
Why do we have a preference for capital gains in the first place? The main argument is that lower taxes on capital gains boost investment. But the evidence on that point is iffy at best, and there are better ways to spur investment, like, say, the investment tax credit. Besides, lower taxes on capital gains reduce the tax bills of the rich relative to the rest of us — after all, they own most of the capital. But in this age of hyper-inequality, shouldn’t we be making the tax code more progressive, not less?
The Hedge Fund Class and the French Revolution (by Ben Stein)
Long ago, I had a European history teacher named Mrs. Enright. She explained to me that one of the causes of the French Revolution was the sad truth that the aristocracy was not taxed at all, while the workers and burghers were taxed highly. Is this our future?
In Opposing Tax Plan, Schumer Breaks With Party
(Senator Charles E. Schumer.) has been busy with hedge fund and private equity managers, an important part of his constituency in New York. He has been reassuring them that he will resist an effort led by members of his own party to single out the industry with a plan that would more than double the taxes on the enormous profits reaped by its executives. He has regularly portrayed himself as a progressive politician who identifies with the struggles of the middle class and is sharply critical of the selfish “plutocrats” who he says control the Republican Party. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
Project for the Old American Century
A Blurry Line Between Propaganda and News
(Norman Solomon’s film) “War Made Easy“, which is narrated by Hollywood actor and peace activist Sean Penn, begins as an anti-war film that decries the Bush administration’s interventionist rationale and misinformation campaigns during the post-9/11 era. Through a montage of video clips from cable news networks, presidential statements, and historical footage from previous U.S. military interventions, it compares the propaganda techniques of the past with the present, and draws striking parallels. Richard Nixon’s “Vietnamization” rhetoric, which expanded the Vietnam War instead of ending it, sounds very similar to President Bush’s declaration that “as the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down.”
Meria Heller
Tuesday, July 31st, the Meria Show begins it's 8TH year on the net! 8 years of fabulous interviews with the best people on the Planet, real news, real views and lots more coming. This anniversary to celebrate 8 yrs of podcasting, Meria will make her special interview available at the free show link (as well as subscription server) for 8 hours - 11am Pacific to 7 pm Pacific. Her special guest is Jeane Palfrey - the "DC Madam"
Conservatives Refuse To Appear On Fox News To Publicly Defend Gonzales
On Fox News Sunday this morning, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) refused to defend Attorney General Alberto Gonzales against accusations that he may have perjured himself before Congress. “It’s very damaging…we badly need an attorney general who is above any question,” said Gingrich.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
A bogus strory
(Saturday)'s UK Telegraph carried a story by Damien McElroy headlined "Iraqi Leader Tells Bush: Get Petraeus Out," in which he alleged that Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki and commander of US forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus had stand-up shouting matches about strategy… Here is what Col. Steven Boylan, chief public affairs officer for Multi-National Force-Iraq told this writer on the record in an e-mail: "Gen Petraeus and the Prime Minister have never had a stand-up shouting match. This is a totally fabricated story.”
MTP: Harwood Likens Hillary’s Cleavage To Barry Bond’s Doping
Never mind that we’re involved in an unwinnable quagmire costing the country thousands of lives and billions of dollars. Never mind that we have an administration that is actively obstructing justice and has politicized nearly every department of government. Never mind that we have millions of people in this country living below the poverty level in the “richest country on Earth”. The thing that is REALLY important is that the female Democratic presidential contender has (*gasp*) BREASTS, and she wore a blouse one day that (*double gasp*) revealed ever-so-slightly that she is in possession of said breasts. Of course, for John Harwood of the Wall Street Journal, Hillary’s blouse was a calculated move…
Strike Up The Band
On the Stephanopoulos bobble head roundtable (Sunday) morning, Cokie Roberts raised the baton and started the drumbeat: the Democrats risk moving waaaaay too far to the left and that is going to be a biiiiig problem for them "just like it was in Vietnam." Yes, she said it out loud. And David Gergen agreed whole heartedly. Does anyone recall these gasbags saying that Bush was moving so far to the right with his monarchic, fundamentalist, shock and awe presidency that it was going to be a biiiig problem for them?
On Chris Matthews Show, Borger falsely suggested Democratic Iraq proposals involve "withdraw(ing)" all troops "overnight"
(U.S. News & World Report columnist Gloria) Borger offered no examples of a leading Democrat who wants to immediately withdraw all troops from Iraq. To the contrary, the withdrawal proposal recently supported by Senate Democrats would have reduced troop levels in Iraq over the next nine months and would have retained residual forces in Iraq to conduct limited operations.
MSNBC graphic, report conflated "Al Qaeda" and "Al Qaeda in Iraq"
(I)n asserting that the U.S. military in Iraq is fighting Al Qaeda and uncritically quoting Petreaus making the same claim, MSNBC conflated the Sunni insurgent group "Al Qaeda in Iraq" with the group responsible for the 9-11 attacks, as the Bush administration has repeatedly done.
Jesuits say take word of God to Second Life
ROME (Reuters) - Catholic missionaries have always trekked to dangerous parts of the Earth to spread the word of God -- now they are being encouraged to go into the virtual realm of Second Life to save virtual souls.
I’m speechless.—Caro
Web site archives the dead of MySpace
Somewhere deep in cyberspace, where reality blurs into fiction and the living greet the dead, there are ghosts. They live in a virtual graveyard without tombstones or flowers. They drift among the shadows of the people they used to be, and the pieces they left behind.
I may remain speechless forever.—Caro Technology & ScienceRobots clear waterways of deadly mines
As it slowly moves in the shallow water along a beach, the robot splashes its fins like a small child playing in the surf. But the prototype device has a serious mission: destroying mines that could kill Marines and Navy SEALs as they come on shore.
Grandparents.com Connecting Generations
Grandparents.com is a new site for the “modern-day” grandparent. The service has not yet launched, but is scheduled to go live later this fall. The site will aim to be a meeting ground for grandparents and their grandchildren, and will feature information about activities to do with the youngsters, some travel and gift ideas, and connect with grandchildren with the site’s interactive tools.
Can pets sense illness?
A cat has apparently "predicted" the deaths of 25 residents in a nursing home in the US… Animal behaviour experts in the US say Oscar is probably smelling a chemical given off by the body… Dogs with an acute sense of smell and awareness are known to detect cancer and predict epileptic seizures… But it is not just in health that the heightened senses of animals have proved to be more advanced than humans'. Scientists remarked at how few wild animals died in the Asian tsunami in 2004, because they were able to sense the disaster and move to higher ground.
We can learn a lot from animals.—Caro
Key to Successful Marriage: Say 'Thank You'
A successful relationship depends not just on how partners divvy up the household chores, but also on how they express gratitude.
Study Offers Hope for Faster-Acting Antidepressant
Medication ketamine shows promise as rapid-action booster, researchers say
Hercules to appear in the sky
As the sky grows dark on very clear evenings this week, an ancient star pattern can be found almost directly overhead: Hercules, the mighty strong man and hero of many legends. EnvironmentU.S. Environment Chief Draws Fire on Global Warming
The Bush administration's environment chief drew fire Thursday from Democratic senators for delaying a decision on whether to let California regulate global warming emissions from cars and light trucks.
More Hurricanes Forming Today than Century Ago
More hurricanes are forming in the Atlantic now than a century ago, most likely because of warmer ocean temperatures and changing wind patterns associated with global warming, a new study finds.
Study: Renewable Energy Not Green
Renewable energy could wreck the environment, according to a study that examined how much land it would take to generate the renewable resources that would make a difference in the global energy system.
Texas Leads List of Dirtiest U.S. Power Plants
Texas has the most entries on a list of the dirtiest U.S. power plants, while New England and the Pacific Coast make less carbon dioxide because they have fewer coal-burning plants, an environmental group said on Thursday. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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