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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryAl Gore's fans make 2008 draft pitch
WASHINGTON - Draftgore.com, which describes itself as a group of grass-roots Democrats, underwrote a full-page open letter to Al Gore in Wednesday's New York Times, imploring the former vice president to enter the presidential campaign.
Advisers: Gore not a candidate, yet
WASHINGTON - They say they love his advocacy for the environment, his intellect and sense of humor. The people urging Al Gore to run for president have not persuaded him to do so — not yet anyway. DraftGore.com (Click through to sign the petition.) 
The WorldIncreased violence continues in Iraq
BAGHDAD — A recent jump in violence across Iraq continued Wednesday, with at least 16 people killed and 45 wounded in various attacks, including seven involving improvised bombs. More than 55 people were killed and more than 110 were wounded on Tuesday.
2 coalition force troops killed in Iraq
BAGHDAD - Two members of the U.S.-led coalition force were killed and 40 others were wounded in an attack at Camp Victory, a sprawling base near Baghdad's airport that houses the headquarters of U.S. forces in Iraq, the military said Thursday.
Iraq insurgent groups form one council
CAIRO, Egypt - Six main Iraqi insurgent groups announced the formation of a "political council" aimed at "liberating" Iraq from U.S. occupation in a video aired Thursday on Al-Jazeera television.
Analyst warns against partitioning Iraq
WASHINGTON - Limiting the power of Iraq's central government and giving more control to ethnically divided regions might lead to large-scale violence and intervention by neighboring countries, an analyst says.
U.N. says prosecute Iraq contractors who commit crimes
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United Nations called on the United States government on Thursday to ensure that any private contractors committing offences in Iraq are prosecuted.
Turkey hits suspected Kurdish rebels
SIRNAK, Turkey (AP) -- Turkish warplanes and helicopter gunships attacked suspected positions of Kurdish rebels near Iraq on Wednesday, a possible prelude to a cross-border operation that would likely raise tensions with Washington.
Report: Saudi Gitmo detainees get gift
The Saudi Arabian government will temporarily release 55 prisoners recently transferred from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and will give each of them about $2,600 to celebrate the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, a newspaper reported Saturday.
U.N. council still short of agreement on Myanmar
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Security Council ambassadors failed to agree on Wednesday on a statement deploring Myanmar's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, and sent it to capitals for a decision on one key phrase.
Zimbabwe police torture women activists: report
Zimbabwean security forces routinely torture and sexually abuse women opposed to President Robert Mugabe's government, a human rights group said on Wednesday. "The women endured various forms of torture, including beatings with a variety of instruments ... baton sticks, booted feet, wooden planks, being slapped, and falanga (beatings on the bottom of the feet," Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) said in a report.
Report: African conflicts cost billions
DAKAR, Senegal - About $18 billion a year has been drained from Africa by nearly two dozen wars in recent decades, a new report states, a price some officials say could've helped solve the AIDS crisis and created stronger economies in the world's poorest region. The NationPoll: public rejects Bush’s spin on the economy.
On Friday, President Bush claimed that the U.S. economy is currently “vibrant and strong,” full of “good news for people here in our country.” But a new AP poll finds that “a growing number of people say the economy is the nation’s top problem, with the less educated among the most worried.”
Bush Says Resolution Would Harm U.S.-Turkey Relations
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush said a congressional resolution calling for the killings of Armenians in Turkey nine decades ago to be designated as genocide ``would do great harm'' to a crucial U.S. alliance.
State Dept. may phase out Blackwater
WASHINGTON - The State Department may phase out or limit the use of private security guards in Iraq, which could mean canceling Blackwater USA's contract or awarding it to another company in line with an Iraqi government demand.
EPA approves new pesticide despite scientists' concerns
Despite the protests of more than 50 scientists, including five Nobel laureates in chemistry, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday approved use of a new, highly toxic fumigant, mainly for strawberry fields.
Bush says Dems’ FISA reform bill is a step backward
President Bush Wednesday wasted little time to criticize a proposed update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), saying the Democratic plan is a step in the wrong direction. The proposal eliminates some of the provisions that were included in the interim measure, and it does not include one key element demanded by Republicans: retroactive immunity for the telecoms that participated in the administration's secret Terrorist Surveillance Program without a warrant.
Gonzales lawyers up for investigations.
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has hired a “high-powered Washington criminal-defense lawyer” (whose) “top concern” is that DoJ Inspector General Glenn Fine may make “a criminal referral to the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department–or even seek the appointment of a special counsel to determine if Gonzales made false statements to Congress.”
Rove Linked to Alabama Case
(Republican lawyer Dana Jill Simpson said) that she heard a close associate of Rove say that the White House political adviser "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Don Siegelman, a former Democratic governor of Alabama, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys. Siegelman was later indicted on 32 counts of corruption, convicted on seven of them, and is currently serving an 88-month sentence in Federal prison.
25,000:
Number of people the U.S. military is holding in its prisons in Iraq, according to Gen. Douglas Stone. Approximately 860 of the detainees are under the age of 16.” The United States has incarcerated “10,000 more detainees compared to this time last year, worsening already serious backlogs in the court system.”
It’s our very own Gulag archipelago.—Caro
Today's Must Read
The $525,000 payment on Duke Cunningham's mortgage, the Sea-Doo Speedsters, the thousands of dollars of meals, the prostitutes, $12,000 worth of furniture... there's an "innocent explanation" for all of this, Brent Wilkes' lawyer Mark Geragos told a jury in his opening statement (Tuesday). Or as he put it himself: "Every single one of these transactions they're alleging is a bribe has an innocent explanation they don't want you to hear."
Investigations of Members on Rise
Federal investigators are hinting that a fresh wave of campaign-related theft and corruption investigations of Members of Congress are moving through the pipeline, signaling that indictments may be on the horizon.
Next year is an election year. The administration has shown its willingness to use the Department of Justice for political purposes. Administration officials have never before backed down from nefarious activities, even after they've been uncovered. I think we can expect to see more investigations of Democrats.—Caro
There May Be an Out for Some Subprime Borrowers (by John M. Berry )
Yes, foreclosures are up, though with timely action by borrowers and financial institutions, many owners potentially in difficulty should be able to hold on to their homes. Based on the details about subprime borrowers the Fed research has unearthed, the bankers and banking organizations with which (Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank) has been meeting should realize there may be an opportunity here to make a buck and do some good in the process.
Coalition to help avoid foreclosures
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration announced a new mortgage industry coalition on Wednesday aimed at helping homeowners avoid being trapped in a rising tide of foreclosures.
Appoint a commission. That’ll solve the problem. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
WITH THEIR PERMISSION: (by Bob Somerby)
Digby (and so many others) are right: It’s amazing to see Rush Limbaugh (and so many others) beating up on a 12-year-old child who has committed only one sin. This 12-year-old child has health insurance—health insurance gained under SCHIP… This lunacy began to root in the soil as soon as Bill Clinton won his way to the White House… And what was most remarkable here? The stone-cold silence of the liberal elites—of liberal journals and major liberal columnists, of E. J. Dionne, Mark Shields, Al Hunt, and the whole long string of bright wall-flowers. Incredible! When Flowers staged those lunatic sessions accusing Hillary Clinton of murder, not a single media reporter or liberal pundit voiced a word of comment or complaint
The Cackle joins The Haircut and The Sigh (by Eric Boehlert)
The media's comical obsession earlier this month with the tone and frequency of Sen. Hillary Clinton's laugh didn't just represent another head-smacking moment in the annals of awful campaign journalism. It also served as a preview of what's likely to come in 2008. Anybody who thinks that if Clinton wins the Democratic nomination that the Cackle narrative won't be revived has not been paying attention in recent years. That's why it's so important to take a moment to understand the press dynamics that allow a story like The Cackle to flourish, and why pointless stories like that -- and John Edwards' Haircut or Al Gore's Sighs during a 2000 presidential debate -- only affect Democrats.
Click through to read Somerby’s and Boehlert’s full posts, if you still think the media’s denigration of Democrats has much to do with what Democrats actually say or do. It doesn’t.—Caro
The Frost Story (by Paul McLeary )
(A)s usual when it comes to blogospheric fury, the full truth (about the Frost family) doesn’t always match the charges. At issue here is a piece by blogger and syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin, who almost always manages to get herself in the middle of fights like this, and a story that ran in The New York Times this morning. Looking at the two together is an excellent way to compare straight reporting with the ideological bent given every story by bloggers like Malkin. (For the record, I’m not saying the left doesn’t do this—it does, and it’s something CJR is going to be paying particular attention to during the upcoming election season.)
Examples, please, Paul. I’m really getting sick and tired of equal accusation against right-wing crazies and left-of-center blogs. I don’t see any equivalence at all, when it comes to playing loose with the truth.—Caro
FOXNews Tries To Scare The Base: Claims Air America Is Waging A War Against GOD
Media Matters has put together a mashup of FOXNews’ attacks on Air America Radio and their new show FreeThought Radio, a show aimed at atheists and the growing number of Americans who take issue with organized religion. In what is surely a warm up for FOXNews’ annual War On Christmas crusade, they not only attack atheists, but take their shots at science and evolution.
Click through to watch the mashup video.—Caro
Coulter: "We Christians Want the Jews to Be Perfected"
There must be some kind of rivalry between Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin. Now that Ms. Malkin is getting all the ink and pixels over her raging over a 12-year-old kid, Ms. Coulter feels like she's being overlooked and ignored. What to do? Simple: come up with your own outrage that's guaranteed to attract a lot of attention. Something like saying that one way to achieve her dream of a great America would be by converting all the Jews.
Waxman Discredits Right-Wing Hysteria Over Rumored Congressional Investigation Of Talk Radio
On Monday, the American Spectator posted a story on its website claiming that House Oversight Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) “has asked his investigative staff” to compile “reports” on right-wing radio hosts Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin… The Spectator’s article was quickly picked up by the rest of the conservative media… Waxman’s staff responded today…: “… The American Spectator report is completely false and was written without any documentation or attribution. There is not now nor has there ever been any investigation of this subject.”
Click through to watch a video of the Hannity and Colmes coverage.—Caro
Who knew there was a group monitoring bra-burning stories?
The Tampa Trib's Cloe Cabrera wrote last month that "in the 1960s, feminists burned their bras to make a statement." That bit of history got her in trouble with the activist group Riseup, which says bra-burning is a widely debunked myth. Cabrera writes today that bra-burning "is a myth so pervasive, most of us believe it's true. I know I did."
It’s another one of those right-wing lies that will never, ever die.—Caro
Dan Abrams: Did Democrats Know About Secret Torture Methods Or Not?
On Monday night, host Dan Abrams spoke with Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Pat Buchanan and Air America Radio host Randi Rhodes about the recently revealed Bush DoJ secret 2004 torture memos… Abrams and Buchanan essentially try to turn this around and blame the Democrats, concluding they MUST have known about the torture techniques in the program, labeling them as hypocrites for not speaking out about what they knew.
Is Dan Abrams trying to be the anti-Olbermann? I predict he ain’t gonna make it.—Caro
Why 'Socialism' Evokes No Fear (By Joe Conason)
Once among the most frightening epithets in American political culture, "socialized medicine" seems to have lost its juju… (E)x-Communists are more of a threat to the health of their own societies than to us. Most Americans may also have noticed that corporate bureaucracy and corruption, which figure largely in the present health care system, are not preferable to government bureaucracy… This corporate model is more expensive and less efficient than the government plans that provide care in every other industrialized nation.
The Clintons and Social Security (by Dean Baker)
During the last debate for the Democratic presidential candidates Senator Clinton was asked about Social Security. In her response she made the obviously true statement that the key to dealing with the problem is to maintain a strong economy… (T)his is an interesting (to me) piece of Social Security trivia -- strong growth does improve the solvency of the system, but the improvements in the projections in the late nineties were due to hidden benefit cuts, not strong growth.
Kurtz's "scoop" about Rather was published two years ago
Howard Kurtz's "Reality Show" tidbit about Dan Rather threatening to release a document to the New York Times if his National Guard story didn't run on "60 Minutes" is being touted as a scoop. Actually, the anecdote was in David Blum's book two years ago. || "I was completely unaware of that," says Kurtz. Technology & ScienceNew scanner may replace metal detectors
WASHINGTON - The federal government will begin testing a body-scanning machine that could eventually be used instead of the metal detectors passengers walk through at airports.
Car insurers' devices track teen drivers
CHICAGO - When 17-year-old Anna Kinderman takes a turn too fast in her parents' sedan or jams the brakes too hard, she apologizes aloud even when no one else is in the car. "Sorry, Dad," she says, looking up at the camera mounted on the rear-view mirror.
Pricey Running Shoes Not Worth It: Study
Expensive or not, sneakers performed equally in high-tech tests.
U.S. children often lack quality medical care
WASHINGTON — In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that America's children received appropriate medical care only 46 percent of the time when they visit health professionals, faring even worse than adults and raising serious questions about the quality of care delivered by the world's most expensive health system… Failure to provide proper care makes it harder to reverse illnesses and increases the chance that youngsters will carry health problems into adulthood.
So, not only are we allowing unnecessary suffering now, we’re setting the stage for additional huge expenditures later. When will we learn that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?—Caro
Antibody Helps Repair MS Nerve Damage
Promising results in mice need to be repeated in humans, experts say
Tea Helps Toughen Older Women's Hips
Those who drink it daily lose less bone, study finds
Deep Rocks Yield First Look Inside San Andreas Fault
Washington - For the first time, geologists have extracted intact rock samples from 2 miles beneath the surface of the San Andreas Fault, the infamous rupture that runs 800 miles along the length of California.
Stretching the Search for Signs of Life
When the Allen Telescope Array, as it is known, is complete, it will consist of 350 antennas, each 20 feet in diameter… The array will help search for new phenomena like black holes eating each other and so-called dark galaxies without stars, as well as extend the search for extraterrestrial radio signals a thousandfold, to include a million nearby stars over the next two decades.
Hypertime -- why we need 2 dimensions of time
One thing (Itzhak) Bars’s extra time dimension (appears) to reveal is the existence of deep and unexpected connections between disparate systems, such as atoms and the expanding universe. Such connections could point the way to a “theory of everything” that unites all the physical laws of the universe into one. Even better, Bars claims his theory has true predictive power and can be tested in upcoming particle physics experiments.
Strange Molecule Found in Venus's Atmosphere
A strange gaseous molecule has been discovered lurking in the atmospheres of both Mars and Venus, scientists announced today, adding that it could affect Venus's hyperactive greenhouse effect. EnvironmentConsumers' Green Fatigue Due to Lack of Awareness, Economic Worries: Survey
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Oct. 10, 2007 -- The slowing U.S. economy is dragging down several green industries, including demand for green homes, energy-efficient home products and renewable energy, according to the 2007 Energy Pulse survey.
Ancient Fossils Point to Carbon Dioxide As a Driver of Global Warming
PASADENA, Calif - A team of American and Canadian scientists has devised a new way to study Earth's past climate by analyzing the chemical composition of ancient marine fossils. The first published tests with the method further support the view that atmospheric CO2 has contributed to dramatic climate variations in the past, and strengthen projections that human CO2 emissions could cause global warming.
Study: Rise in humidity caused by humans
WASHINGTON - With global warming, the world isn't just getting hotter — it's getting stickier, due to humidity. And people are to blame, according to a study based on computer models published Thursday.
U.S. ethanol rush may harm water supplies: report
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. ethanol rush could drain drinking water supplies in parts of the country because corn -- a key source of the country's alternative fuel -- requires vast quantities of water for irrigation, the National Research Council reported on Wednesday. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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