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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryCheney: I Won't Let You See My Documents
Vice President Dick Cheney's office acknowledged it has documents that "may be responsive" to an investigation into a secret eavesdropping program, although it indicated it would not turn over the papers without a fight. The Radical Fringe
The World14 US troops die in copter crash in Iraq
BAGHDAD - A helicopter crashed in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard, the military said.
Toll Rises Above 500 in Iraq Bombings
The known casualty toll from a series of truck bombs near the Syrian border has soared to more than 500 dead.
Israeli missile strike kills 3
An Israeli missile strike killed three Palestinian militants on Tuesday in the southern Gaza Strip near the border fence with Israel, medical workers and local residents said.
US says Iranian cooperation insufficient
VIENNA, Austria - A senior U.S. envoy dismissed increased Iranian willingness to answer questions about its nuclear program as a smoke screen on Wednesday and said it would not prevent the U.N. Security Council from imposing additional sanctions on Tehran.
Just like the run-up to the Iraq war.—Caro
Russia warns Czechs against U.S. shield
Russia’s military chief told the Czech Republic it would be making a “big mistake” to host a U.S. missile defense shield on its soil and urged Prague on Tuesday to delay a decision until a new U.S. president is elected.
Venezuela Congress OKs Chavez's reforms
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's National Assembly, dominated by allies of President Hugo Chavez, gave unanimous initial approval Tuesday to constitutional reforms that would allow him to run for re-election and possibly govern for decades to come.
Dictatorship is dictatorship, whether it comes from the right or the left.—Caro The NationU.S. ambassador rates Iraq progress as poor
BAGHDAD — The top U.S. diplomat in Iraq on Tuesday called the country's political progress "extremely disappointing" and warned that support for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki is not unlimited. Ambassador Ryan Crocker's remarks to reporters were the harshest criticism yet by a Bush administration official of Maliki's government and may be a prelude to what he'll tell Congress in a report that he and Army Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, will give next month.
CIA missed chances to tackle al-Qaida
WASHINGTON - The CIA's top leaders failed to use their available powers, never developed a comprehensive plan to stop al-Qaida and missed crucial opportunities to thwart two hijackers in the run-up to Sept. 11, the agency's own watchdog concluded in a bruising report released Tuesday. Yet the review team led by Inspector General John Helgerson found neither a "single point of failure nor a silver bullet" that would have stopped the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Of course, it’s all Bill Clinton’s fault. As is every failure of the Bush administration.—Caro
Gov't argues for withholding records
WASHINGTON - Opening a new front in the Bush administration's battle to keep its records confidential, the Justice Department is contending that the White House Office of Administration is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
NIH Agency Suppresses Whistleblowers By Forcing Them To Record All Contact With Congress
For the past several months, House and Senate committees have been investigating David Schwartz, the director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which is a branch of NIH… Under Schwartz, the agency is now requiring all of its employees to fill out a form to document all their contacts with Congress. The form, obtained by ThinkProgress, appears to be an attempt to discourage employees from cooperating with congressional investigators.
White House claims it can keep e-mails secret.
Today in the “the latest effort by the Bush administration to expand the boundaries of government secrecy,” the Justice Department said that “records about missing White House e-mails are not subject to public disclosure. Administration lawyers detailed the legal position in a lawsuit trying to force the White House Office of Administration to reveal what it knows” about the disappearance of at least 5 million White House e-mails.
Wrongly Arrested Bush Protesters Talk About Their $80K Government Settlement On Hardball
On July 4th, 2004, Jeffery and Nicole Rank attended an public Independence Day event in Charleston, WV where President Bush was to speak. Despite the fact that the event was open to the public and was held on public land, the Ranks were arrested for wearing anti-Bush t-shirts. On Monday’s “Hardball” the couple told their astonishing story of being arrested, the charges that were filed against them and eventually dropped and why they decided to sue the United States government — a suit they thankfully won.
Click through to watch the video of the Hardball appearance.—Caro
Pentagon shuts down database that monitored peace rallies.
The Pentagon said it will shut down an anti-terror database, known as TALON, that has been criticized for improperly storing information on peace activists and others who posed no threat… The Pentagon said the database is being shut down because “the analytical value had declined,” but expressed it hopes that a new system will replace it in the near future. (Emphasis added.)
Attorney charges Rove with role in her firing.
Elizabeth Reyes, an “attorney fired from the Texas secretary of state’s office for talking publicly about presidential adviser Karl Rove,” has “filed a lawsuit, saying she is the victim of political pressure.” In 2005, Reyes spoke to a Washington Post reporter about voter residency in Texas. Her quotes then showed up in a story about whether Rove was still eligible to vote in the state. Reyes was dismissed after Rove called Secretary of State Roger Williams, a large GOP donor, about her quotes.
Congressional Approval Hits New Low
A new Gallup poll finds that approval of Congress has sunk to a poll-history low of 18%. 76% of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing. The poll also reported Pres. Bush’s current approval rating remains low at only 32% -- a slight improvement from its dismal 29% mark from a few months ago.
Dukakis, Once Burned, Refuses to Be Optimistic About 2008
True to his technocratic roots, (1988 presidential candidate Michael) Dukakis has the idea of replicating, on every street, avenue, and rural route in the country, the kind of personal relationships that once powered big-city political machines—with precinct captains calling on their neighbors every few weeks, asking them about their concerns, talking up their candidate and following up on any questions they might have. Mr. Dukakis’ vision is rooted in good government—making sure, for instance, that a neighbor’s concerns about school vouchers are satisfactorily addressed. That kind of personalized operation early on, Mr. Dukakis believes, can keep voters from believing the worst when the Willie Horton and Swift Boat campaigns begin.
Some of my Chicago friends agree with Dukakis wholeheartedly. It’s how they used to do things here, and it’s still how some aldermen keep their seats.—Caro
Correction: Yesterday’s quote about George Bush being a wastrel, supposedly from the Reagan diaries, turns out to be false. So says Snopes and Global Research. It is, of course, true that George Bush was a wastrel. It’s just that the quote didn’t come from Reagan’s diaries. It’s from a satirical article by Michael Kinsley.
2005 Incomes, on Average, Still Below 2000 Peak
Americans earned a smaller average income in 2005 than in 2000, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make ends meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion, new government data shows… Total income listed on tax returns grew every year after World War II, with a single one-year exception, until 2001… The White House said the fact that average incomes were smaller five years after the Internet bubble burst “should not surprise anyone.”
After years of Bush’s policies of taking from the middle class to give to the rich, the fact that average incomes are smaller shouldn’t surprise anyone.—Caro MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
I will be a guest today on the Tony Trupiano Show, at 1:00 PM ET. Listen to Tony’s show every day between noon and 3:00 PM ET on listener supported RadioPower.org.
Conflating the questions on Iraq
Searching for a story line … the mainstream media is playing up the notion that Democrats have gone soft on the "surge."… Is the "surge" having some success, in some areas, in reducing the levels of violence in Iraq? Yes. Is the overall "strategy" working -- that is, is the Iraqi government using the "breathing space" it's getting to do the things it needs to do? No. While it's certainly in the Bush administration's interests to conflate the questions and confuse the answers, the White House has people on staff paid to do just that. Journalists aren't supposed to be doing it for them.
New York Times Still Falsely Describing September Assessment As "Petraeus-Crocker Report"
The New York Times has repeatedly -- and falsely -- described the forthcoming report as representing the sole word of Petraeus, or that of Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, in the days since we learned that it will represent the last word of the White House.
Let's hear from someone besides the neoconservatives about Iran
Reporters should be seeking out experts who actually understand the Middle East -- because the vast majority of them think that attacking Iran would be a huge mistake. Here's an annotated list of some excellent possible sources.
UPI, Chicago Tribune fail to identify disgraced ex-governor, lobbyist as Republicans
In an August 21 article on the rejection of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's appeal for a new trial on fraud and corruption charges, United Press International and the Chicago Tribune failed to identify Ryan as a Republican.
Wall Street Welfare Queens Keep Whining
That should have been the headline of the NYT piece reporting that the Wall Street crew are complaining that the Fed has not done enough to help them out… The reporting should make clear what is going on here. People who earn tens and hundreds of millions of dollars a year because of theiir alleged skills are now facing a financial disaster. Rather than be willing to live with market outcomes, they are trying to use their political power to force the Fed and Congress to rescue them.
Book Chief: Conservatives Want Slogans
WASHINGTON (AP) - Liberals read more books than conservatives. The head of the book publishing industry's trade group says she knows why - and there's little flattering about conservative readers in her explanation. "The Karl Roves of the world have built a generation that just wants a couple slogans."
Liberals read more than conservatives and there are more liberals than conservatives. Yet liberals still have difficulty getting a book published.—Caro
Google CEO says mobile auction bid still probable
ASPEN, Colorado (Reuters) - Google Inc. is leaning toward bidding in upcoming U.S. mobile phone airwave auctions, despite a partial setback last month from Washington regulators, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday.
YouTube videos to have 'overlay' ads
NEW YORK - Video advertising is coming to YouTube, but it won't be the type common at sites elsewhere. Starting Wednesday, the popular video-sharing site plans to feature semitransparent "overlay" ads at the bottom of selected video clips. Technology & ScienceOpen source: Innovation through recombination
San Francisco (InfoWorld) - Today's software business model isn't about writing software; it's about the enablement and servicing of software. And that just happens to be what the open source movement is all about.
Tots getting Internet identity at birth
NEW YORK - Besides leaving the hospital with a birth certificate and a clean bill of health, baby Mila Belle Howells got something she won't likely use herself for several years: her very own Internet domain name.
Scientists hail ‘frozen smoke’ as material that will change world
A MIRACLE material for the 21st century could protect your home against bomb blasts, mop up oil spillages and even help man to fly to Mars. Aerogel, one of the world’s lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast of 1kg of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1,300C.
Scientists Develop 'Natural' Protection for Stored Foods
Biodegradable polymers infused with herbal extracts could extend product shelf life
Virus Could Help Drive Obesity
Ad-36 bug pushes stem cells to become fat cells, study finds
Greatest Mysteries: Is There a Theory of Everything?
If a theory can be designed to withstand the incredible energies of the early universe as well as incorporate gravity, (Mark Jackson, a theoretical physicist at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois) said, then a universal theory of physics could become a reality.
Space shuttle Endeavour lands safely in Florida
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour ended a 13-day spaceflight on Tuesday, apparently unscathed during its supersonic descent through the atmosphere despite a small tear in its heat shield.
Google Earth to launch new service for stargazers
LONDON (Reuters) - Popular mapping service Google Earth will launch a new feature called Sky, a "virtual telescope" that the search engine hopes will turn millions of Internet users into stargazers. EnvironmentNew Report Lists “Top Ten” Threats to Oceans and Coasts in South America
The Nature Conservancy released an unprecedented study highlighting the top ten threats to marine conservation in South America. Citing over-fishing as the number one threat, compounded by intense development pressures and numerous environmental challenges.
Organic Farmers Suffer Extensive Crop Damage after Flooding in Wisconsin, Minnesota
The damage from this week's floods could push some of Wisconsin's organic farmers out of business and affect the price of organic products nationwide. Only California has more certified organic farms than Wisconsin, and more than a third of the Badger State's 994 organic farms are in the five counties where rivers and streams overflowed.
Momentum is blowing in the wind
Aug. 21- Danish wind-turbine maker Vestas reports second-quarter operating earnings above market consensus amid continued strong demand.
Co-operative Bank to Sponsor Green Building Program
LONDON, Aug. 21, 2007 -- The Co-operative Bank has announced a plan to lend its financial muscle to a company which offers affordable, environmentally sound housing. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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