Countdown Newsletter -- 02/09/06: Plots Foiled? And The Politics of Fear

[Patsy Stone]

Enjoy your vacation, Carey!

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Tonight on Countdown
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President Bush said Thursday that the U.S.-led global war on terror has "weakened and fractured" al-Qaida and allied groups, outlining as proof new details about the multinational cooperation that foiled purported terrorist plans to fly a commercial airplane into the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast. "The terrorists are weakened and fractured, yet they're still lethal," the president said in a speech at the National Guard Memorial Building. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11254053/

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday accused Republicans of "playing the fear card" of terrorism to win elections and said Democrats cannot keep quiet if they want to win in November. She said a speech by presidential adviser Karl Rove two weeks ago showed the GOP election message is: "All we've got is fear and we're going to keep playing the fear card." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020801511.html

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is working up a resolution calling for the "full investigation, impeachment or resignation" of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. San Francisco's ever-left-leaning Supervisor Chris Daly placed the resolution on the board's consent calendar Tuesday -- but the matter was sent to committee at the request of Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, who opposes the resolution. That ensures a roll-call vote when it eventually comes back to full board. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/08/BAG5JH4R4S1.DTL

Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims transformed a religious ceremony in Lebanon on Thursday into an emotional but peaceful protest against cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. "Defending the prophet should continue worldwide," Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, told the crowd. "Let (U.S. Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice, (President) Bush and all the tyrants shut up: We are a nation that can't forgive, be silent or ease up when they insult our prophet and our sacred values." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11251690/

Neil Entwistle, a British citizen whose American wife and infant daughter were found shot to death in their suburban Boston home, has been arrested in Britain in connection with their deaths, the Middlesex District Attorney's office said Thursday. Investigators believe Entwistle used his father-in-law's handgun to shoot his wife and daughter on the morning of Jan. 20, Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley told reporters. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11252372/

He's one of the most famous hockey players ever, Wayne Gretzky. She's his sexy movie star wife turned mom. Now Janet Jones is back in the center of some serious drama. She's being tied to a sports gambling ring that could stretch from coast to coast. The Great One's wife could be in a great deal of trouble. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/08/sportsline/main1294502.shtml

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,

BOSTON -- A former strip club waitress mailed condoms filled with a potentially explosive mixture to a television station, strip clubs and other places, saying she was tired of being mistreated by men, according to court documents. In FBI documents unsealed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston, Kimberly Lynn Dasilva, 40, said she "couldn't take it anymore." None of the condoms exploded. They each contained a mixture of ingredients which could explode when combined, authorities said. Dasilva told investigators she did not think they would explode. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/STRIPPER_EXPLOSIVES?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME

Hey, I'm off for a few days...
The newsletter will be back Wednesday.
'See you' then!

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

More:
A suicide bombing ripped through a Shiite Muslim procession Thursday in northwestern Pakistan, sparking riots during the Muslim sect's most important holiday. At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured in the violence, officials said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11247934/

An American team has found what appears to be an intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, the first found in the valley since that of Tutankhamun in 1922, one of the archaeologists said on Thursday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11252094/

President Bush signed a measure Wednesday that trims Medicaid and Medicare spending over the next five years, but he said Congress must make bigger changes as baby boomers retire. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11237564/

House Majority Leader John Boehner rents a basement apartment from a lobbyist whose clients had an interest in legislation overseen or sponsored by Boehner, according to lobbying records. Boehner, R-Ohio, pays $1,600 a month rent for the apartment owned by lobbyist John Milne and his wife, Debra Anderson, Boehner spokesman Don Seymour Jr. said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11237538/

A White House aide who was once chief of staff to House Majority Leader John Boehner helped plan a 1996 trip to the Northern Mariana Islands that was organized by fallen lobbyist Jack Abramoff, billing records from Abramoff's firm show. Barry Jackson, now chief deputy to White House adviser Karl Rove, accepted an invitation to travel to the island of Saipan in April 1996 but later decided not to go, White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said Tuesday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11233367/

Oprah Winfrey has signed a three-year, $55 million deal with XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. to launch a new radio channel beginning in September, Winfrey and XM announced Thursday. The new channel, "Oprah & Friends," will air programming on fitness, health and self-improvement topics with personalities that appear on Winfrey's TV program, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," as well as in O, The Oprah Magazine. It will also feature a weekly radio show with Winfrey and Gayle King, a frequent guest on her TV show. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11252743/from/RS.5/

The rock gods snatched Grammy history from the comeback queen Wednesday, as perennial favorites U2 took home five trophies while Mariah Carey had to settle for three. U2 won the 20th Grammy of its career, including album of the year for "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" - the same disc that earned them three awards last year. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11242449/