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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top Story Al Gore to Sound Off On Climate Change With Concert Event
Al Gore's next gig: concert promoter. Using popular music to bring attention to his pet issue of global climate change, the former vice president is planning a single-day series of concerts modeled after Live 8. The Gore-promoted event will be held July 7, according to published reports, with seven major concerts on seven continents. Details of the July 7 event have been guarded as closely as a National Intelligence Estimate. The event's official name has not yet been announced (it will be either "Live Earth" or "Save Ourselves," according to Advertising Age), and no performers or host cities have been publicly confirmed. A bare-bones Web site, http://saveourselves.com, offered little beyond the 7/7/07 date and a logo of dots and dashes -- Morse code for "SOS." Monte Wolverton
The WorldIraq adviser: al-Sadr in Iran
BAGHDAD, Iraq - An adviser to Iraq's prime minister said Thursday that radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is in Iran, but denied he fled due to fear of arrest during an escalating security crackdown.
Iraq considering constitutional changes
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Iraq is looking to ethnically diverse and harmonious Malaysia as a possible model for a new Iraqi constitution, an official was reported as saying Thursday.
Olmert urges economic sanctions for Iran
ANKARA, Turkey - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks published Thursday that tougher economic sanctions against Iran would force Tehran to "review" its nuclear program.
Abbas, Haniyeh to meet over crisis
RAMALLAH, West Bank - A dispute over control of powerful internal security forces is touching off a critical first challenge for the rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah's power-sharing agreement, officials said Thursday.
Taliban flee battle using children as shields: NATO
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban fighters used children as human shields to flee heavy fighting this week during an operation by foreign and Afghan forces to clear rebels from around a key hydro-electric dam, NATO said on Wednesday.
U.S. officials said the North Vietnamese used children as shields, too. So take that into consideration when you decide whether to believe this story. —Caro
Moscow official nixes gay rights parade
MOSCOW - A top Moscow official repeated Wednesday that the city will not allow a gay rights parade, echoing the mayor's vocal criticism and saying that homosexuality is bad for your health, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Rights group urges India to address Kashmir disappearances
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India must clean up its act in Jammu and Kashmir, a leading human rights group said, charging that "disappearances" and staged executions were commonplace.
SKorea sets talks with North
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea has agreed to resume high-level talks with North Korea that could restart major aid shipments despite calls for caution over an international deal on Pyongyang's nuclear programmes.
U.S. to build military base in Australia
CANBERRA (Reuters) - The United States is to build a new military satellite communications base in Australia, the government said on Thursday, after three years of secret negotiations between the two allies.
Canada named in Qaeda group's U.S. oil hit list
DUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi wing of al Qaeda called for attacks on suppliers of oil to the United States around the world, saying targets should not be limited to the Middle East and listing Canada, Venezuela and Mexico as under threat.
Brazil, Bolivia reach natural gas deal
BRASILIA, Brazil - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Bolivian President Evo Morales reached a deal late Wednesday on how much Brazil will pay for Bolivian natural gas, apparently resolving an issue that has deeply divided the neighboring nations for a year.
U.N. report says Britain worst place for children
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is the worst country in the industrialized world in which to be a child, closely followed by the United States, the United Nations Children's Fund said on Wednesday.
Africa summit opening in France
CANNES, France - How to tap and protect Africa's natural resources, the continent's role in the world and the information age's impact on African society are pressing themes as a summit of African leaders opens Thursday.
Bombings may signal new Algeria violence
RABAT, Morocco - A deadly and carefully planned series of bomb attacks in Algeria by an al-Qaida affiliate may signal a new escalation in violence that could spread across North Africa and enter Europe, experts say. The NationBush: Iran is source of deadly weapons
WASHINGTON - Challenged on the accuracy of U.S. intelligence, President Bush said Wednesday there is no doubt the Iranian government is providing armor-piercing weapons to kill American soldiers in Iraq. But he backed away from claims the top echelon of Iran's government was responsible.
Got whiplash yet? —Caro
Ex-aide says Rice misled U.S. Congress on Iran
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled the U.S. Congress when she said last week that she had not seen a 2003 Iranian proposal for talks with the United States, a former senior government official said on Wednesday.
Ads featuring wounded mark Iraq debate
WASHINGTON - Army Spc. Tomas Young, shot and partially paralyzed on his fifth day in Iraq, is in the vanguard of a new deployment. War critics are running a million-dollar campaign with ads, rallies and personal appeals to members of Congress by wounded war veterans. "Iraqis want us out of there. A majority of Americans want us out of there," Young said. "Sending more troops is just putting an Ace bandage over a gaping wound.
Democrats to focus on troop funding
WASHINGTON - Democrats, expecting House passage Friday of a resolution opposing President Bush's military buildup in Iraq, are turning their sights on an even loftier target — the Pentagon's multibillion-dollar budget.
Senators oppose policy on U.S. attorneys
WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats and some Republicans are trying to change part of the USA Patriot Act that allows the Bush administration to fire and replace federal prosecutors indefinitely without Senate confirmation.
Senators introduce bill to restrict use of cluster munitions
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic senators introduced legislation that would bar US use of cluster bombs in or near civilian areas or that have a "dud rate" of one percent or greater.
Cheney urges firms to lobby free trade
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday urged the nation's manufacturers to lobby Congress in what he said would be a difficult battle to extend President Bush's special trade authority.
Unionizing bill advances; Cheney threatens veto
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bill to allow workers to form unions by signing up, instead of voting, advanced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday as the Bush administration threatened to veto it.
In case you had doubts about who’s really running this administration. —Caro
Study Reveals U.S. Firefighters Face Critical Equipment and Training Shortages
A recent study from the U.S. Fire Administration, a division of the Department of Homeland Security, reveals that many firehouses across the U.S. lack adequate funding for some of the most essential firefighting tools.
U.S. Mint to circulate new $1 coins
WASHINGTON - George Washington's birthday celebration will have a golden tinge this year. Millions of new gold-colored dollar coins bearing the first president's likeness are being introduced in time for the festivities.
Lobbyist, fed lawyer share vacation home
WASHINGTON - Nine months before agreeing to let ConocoPhillips delay a half-billion-dollar pollution cleanup, the government's top environmental prosecutor bought a $1 million vacation home with the company's top lobbyist.
Libby ends abbreviated defense testimony
WASHINGTON - The testimony phase of the long-anticipated trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby ended with a whimper rather than the bang of testimony from high-profile defense witnesses like Vice President Dick Cheney and Libby himself.
Why Al Gore Won’t Let the Rumors Die
The recent buzz about a possible Gore campaign in 2008 doesn’t seem to be spontaneously generated. According to one influential Democratic insider, close associates of the former Vice President have communicated to him and other prominent fund-raisers who are uncommitted to the other ’08 candidates that Mr. Gore will consider entering the race—if an opening presents itself—in September. Economy & BusinessDow ends at record on Fed chief's view and earnings
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rallied on Wednesday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average to a record close, as investors were relieved by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments that inflation is poised to ease while the economy grows moderately.
Retail sales are flat in January
WASHINGTON - Retail sales, hurt by a big drop in auto purchases, slowed at the start of the year and business inventories turned in the poorest showing in 17 months.
Chrysler cutting 13,000 jobs
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - The next step for Chrysler in its quest to shed 13,000 workers and shrink its factory capacity is talks with the United Auto Workers union, where relations already are a bit strained. MediaHouse GOPers: Media Is "Liberal" Because It Reports Facts About Iraq
Look at what these two leading Republicans told their GOP troops about the media: “Thanks to the liberal mainstream media, Americans fully understand the consequences of continuing our efforts in Iraq -- both in American lives and dollars.” The problem with the liberal media, according to these two top Republicans, is that it's enabling Americans to understand the consequences of the war. But the media's bias is preventing it from reporting the "consequences" of not doing what the President wants.
Fool me twice? -- NY Times, CBS, NBC report Bush allegations about Iran without context, skepticism
In reporting on the Bush administration's allegations about Iran's role in Iraq, media outlets have covered the matter in a muddled, incomplete manner, omitting any skeptical or critical analysis of these allegations, which suggests, in the words of washingtonpost.com's Dan Froomkin, that "the lessons we should have learned from Iraq may not have been learned at all."
Sock Puppet Redux
The SavetheInternet.com Coalition receives no support from Google, Amazon, eBay, Microsoft or other corporations. Industry shills (like coin-operated wunderkind Scott Cleland) and others have leveled this accusation in an attempt to discredit the Coalition's genuine grassroots efforts. Most of these accusations come from people who are on the phone and cable company payroll with the explicit intention to undermine the concept of Net Neutrality and smear its supporters.
Google Touts AT&T Merger Rules in Push for Neutrality
Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc., owner of the Web's biggest search engine, is using conditions regulators placed on AT&T Inc. as ammunition in its fight for rules that would bar Internet providers from charging new fees for priority access. The ``network-neutrality'' concessions that helped persuade the Federal Communications Commission to approve AT&T's $86 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. Dec. 29 could help the new Democrat-led Congress to write an industrywide law, said Alan Davidson, Google's chief Washington lobbyist.
MySpace teen suit dismissed by Texas court
NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp.'s MySpace said on Wednesday a federal court dismissed a negligence lawsuit filed by the family of a teenage girl who was sexually assaulted by someone she met on the popular Internet social network.
Al Franken enters Minnesota Senate race
MINNEAPOLIS - Al Franken announced Wednesday that he will run for the Senate in 2008, making it clear that the comedian and author of "Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot" wants to be taken seriously as a political figure.
Ed Schultz Blasts Air America Radio
If you caught the second hour of Ed Schultz’ radio show yesterday, you got to hear from Chris Dodd, one of the candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination. However, if you caught the first hour of the show you got to experience an outrageous display of "liberals eating their own" as big Eddie lashed out against Air America Radio, several of the hosts, one ex-host, Schultz’ own syndication company, and even the new expected owners of the liberal talk network.
2nd Edwards Blogger Quits
The other shoe, er, keyboard, drops. Melissa McEwan, a blogger at Shakespeare’s Sister, who came under fire from a conservative Catholic group, along with Amanda Marcotte, of Pandagon, once both were hired onto John Edwards’s presidential campaign staff, has also decided to quit.
Donohue used "gook joke" in debate about purported anti-Catholicism
In the last week, Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, one of the most vocal critics of the hiring by John Edwards' presidential campaign of two bloggers who Donohue characterized as "anti-Catholic vulgar trash-talking bigots," has been quoted by The New York Times and the Associated Press, and interviewed by MSNBC and CNN over the controversy. But as Media Matters for America noted, Donohue's history of controversial comments and inconsistent outrage was largely ignored in the coverage of the controversy.
New PBS Doc Misses the Media/War Story
Purporting to analyze the media's cozy relationship to those in power, PBS's new documentary series misses the boat.
Tribune expected to reject offers and try a "self-help" plan
The plan will likely involve spinning off Tribune's broadcast division and borrowing money to pay out a one-time cash dividend to shareholders, report Sarah Ellison and Dennis K. Berman. They write: " would highlight the limited choices for newspaper companies facing restive shareholders and difficult business conditions, with readers and advertisers defecting from print to online media."
Google Loses Copyright Case, Drops Belgian Links
Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- A Brussels court said Google Inc. violated copyright laws by publishing links to Belgian newspapers without permission and ordered the company to remove them, setting a precedent for future cases in Europe.
NYT has made itself into the dominant paper on the Web
"It has gotten there by trial and error -- and the trials and the errors are both ongoing -- but the basic premise has held: It is the paper, only without paper," writes Tom Scocca. "It's not that nytimes.com is immune to fads or bad ideas. There are tepid blogs and cornball videos and if-you-insist podcasts strewn around the site." He says they'll likely go away.
Fox News Channel bombs with comedy show
Fox News Channel does not know how to do slashing comical commentary. The channel debuts "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" at 10 p.m. Sunday and repeats it at 10 p.m. Feb. 25. This show was meant to be a conservative version of "The Daily Show." It is a botch. "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" does not comment on what is happening; it simply takes swipes at people. Laughter, of an awfully canned variety, greets all the gags. Nothing happening on screen justifies these outbursts.
Restless Viewers Over NBC Restless Leg 'Story'
Anchor Brian Williams introduced a January 31 NBC Nightly News segment by openly admitting it was "motivated by a commercial by one of our own sponsors." Correspondent Josh Mankiewicz proceeded to report that "the television ads for restless legs syndrome show you the problem, and the solution.... Until recently, most people—even many physicians—had never heard of it. The drug company GlaxoSmithKline changed that."
Nielsen, DirecTV Join Forces on Interactive Study
February 14, 2007 - Two days after The Nielsen Co. announced the creation of DigitalPlus. DirecTV hopes the project will lead to a better understanding of how its customers use its interactive services. Technology & ScienceMicrosoft settles Iowa antitrust case
San Francisco (IDGNS) - Microsoft has agreed to settle a multimillion dollar lawsuit brought by thousands of Iowa consumers and businesses who say the company's anticompetitive practices forced them to pay inflated prices for software including Microsoft's Windows, Word and Excel.
IBM says new technology can triple data storage-report
NEW YORK (Reuters) - IBM says it is developing new circuitry that could triple the data stored on a typical microprocessor, and thereby double the performance of computers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Steer Clear of Windows Vista Basic
No one's computing needs will be fulfilled by this cut-rate version.
Toons to make wisecrack ringtones
NEW YORK (Reuters) - You might ignore your mobile phone if your ringtone is Beethoven's "Fur Elise," but what if it's a gruff voice that yells "Pick up the damn phone?"
Why Men Ignore Their Wives
When a man fails to help out around the house, his poor performance might be related to a subconscious tendency to resist doing anything his wife wants, a new study suggests. Psychologists have long known about "reactance," the tendency to do the exact opposite of what's requested by a loved one or boss. The new study aimed to find out whether the phenomenon might occur at a subconscious level.
Women Settle for Mediocre Sex, Scientist Finds
Women have high expectations for nearly every area of their lives, but when it comes to sex, they settle for less. Climate ChangeStudy: Burying Greenhouse Gas Could Work
Storing carbon dioxide underground to reduce the amount of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere may be a safer method than previously thought.
Study Questions Prospects for Much Lower Emissions
Some in the utility industry are arguing that it will take decades of investments and innovation to get substantial reductions in their emissions of greenhouse gases.
Canadas House Backs Steep Emission Cuts
A bill is intended to force the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to achieve the steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions required by the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Offshore Wind Farm Could Blow Away Energy Needs
Wind power could supply all the energy needs of much of the East Coast and then some, if a phalanx of wind turbines running from Massachusetts to North Carolina were installed offshore, a new study concludes. Though local residents often object to wind farms intruding on their landscape and views, wind power has become an increasingly attractive option for generating clean energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions for several countries. Offshore wind farms in Denmark and the United Kingdom are now used to generate electricity, with Denmark drawing 20 percent of its energy from wind power. |
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