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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryWatchdog group: Most lobbyists giving to Clinton don't represent 'real people'
The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics, today investigates what it calls the "lobbyist lobs" among Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. "Lobbyists do represent ordinary Americans, as Hillary Clinton claims, but those contributing to her campaign mostly represent big industries," the nonpartisan center reports in its Capital Eye publication… How pure are Edwards and Obama?... Contributions from Washington lobbyists have still managed to seep into both Democrats' coffers." And the Republicans are even worse.
Steve Bradenton Cartoons
The WorldBin Laden: Europeans should end US help
CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden called on Europeans to stop helping the United States in the war in Afghanistan, according to a new tape released Thursday.
U.S. sponsorship of Sunni groups worries Iraq's government
The American campaign to turn Sunni Muslims 'against' Islamic extremists is growing so quickly that Iraq's Shiite Muslim leaders fear that it's out of control and threatens to create a potent armed force that will turn against the government one day.
Return of Iraqi refugees concerns US
BAGHDAD - The U.S. military has expressed concern that Iraq's government is unprepared to deal with a mass return of refugees to Baghdad, a flow that could foster housing and employment tensions in a city that remains insecure despite declining violence.
Israeli court halts Gaza electricity cut
JERUSALEM - The Israeli government can continue cutting fuel supplies to residents of the Gaza Strip but must postpone an electricity cut planned for this weekend, Israel's Supreme Court ruled Friday.
EU-Iran start final nuclear talks
LONDON (AFP) - The EU foreign policy chief and Iran's top nuclear negotiator held last-ditch talks on Tehran's nuclear plans Friday, but hopes of a breakthrough appeared slim amid a growing threat of new sanctions.
Russia signs Europe arms pact suspension into law
MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Friday suspending Russia's participation in a key post-Cold War arms treaty, a move which could allow it to deploy more forces close to western Europe.
China to eliminate WTO-banned subsidies: US
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States announced Thursday that China has agreed to eliminate a dozen WTO-banned subsidies that have given Chinese exports a broad, unfair trade advantage.
Botched Manila coup a warning to would-be plotters
MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine government prepared fresh charges on Friday against the leaders of yet another botched coup and hunted for others as public apathy and a show of force sent a strong message to serial seditionists.
Australia wants Iraq troops home by mid 2008
CANBERRA (Reuters) - About 550 Australian combat troops in Iraq should be withdrawn by about the middle of next year, Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd said on Friday, setting a broad timetable for the soldiers to return home. Australia has about 1,500 troops in and around Iraq, but Rudd won power at the Australia's national election on November 24 with a promise to bring frontline forces home.
Venezuelan students rally against Chavez
CARACAS, Venezuela - As more than 100,000 people flooded the streets to protest constitutional changes that would boost President Hugo Chavez's power, students again showed they are a key force behind the re-energized opposition.
Pope criticizes atheism in encyclical
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI strongly criticized modern-day atheism in a major document released Friday, saying it had led to some of the "greatest forms of cruelty and violations of justice" ever known.
And so has Christianity, Mr. Pope, sir. And so have other religions. See below.—Caro
Calls in Sudan for execution of Briton
KHARTOUM, Sudan - Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad." The NationUS not seeking permanent Iraq bases: White House
The White House denied Thursday that the United States seeks permanent military bases in Iraq, days after the US "war czar" said that would be part of talks next year on long-term security ties.
Bush pushes Democrats to OK war funding
WASHINGTON - President Bush sternly pressed Democrats to approve money to fund the Iraq war "without strings and without delay" before leaving town for the Christmas holidays, something congressional leaders have already indicated they will not do.
Pelosi: Bush and His Republican Allies Are Preventing Extra Funds from Reaching Our Troops (by Office of the Speaker )
Washington, D.C. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement today in response to President Bush’s remarks this afternoon at the Pentagon: “Earlier this month, Congress approved nearly a half trillion dollars for the Department of Defense. Just two weeks ago, House Democrats passed $50 billion in additional funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have provided every penny that is currently necessary to fund Defense Department operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world. It is President Bush and his Republican allies in the Senate who are preventing extra funds from reaching our troops.“
TSA plan to gather more data protested
WASHINGTON — A government proposal to start collecting birth dates and genders of people reserving airline flights is drawing protests from major airlines and travel agencies that say it would be invasive, confusing and "useless."
Judge: Feds must release telecom records
SAN FRANCISCO - An electronic privacy group challenging President Bush's domestic spying program scored a minor victory after a judge ordered the federal government to release information about lobbying efforts by telecommunications companies to protect them from prosecution.
Leahy Starts Formal Process that Could Lead to a Contempt Citation for Karl Rove and Others (by Jonathan Turley)
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has formally determined that Karl Rove, John Bolten, former White House political director Sara Taylor and her deputy, J. Scott Jennings, are in violation of the Senate subpoenas and must comply “immediately” or face legal consequences… This ruling would allow the matter to go to the Senate.Notably, Leahy found that Bush was not involved in the firing of U.S. Attorneys. This helped undermine the claim of executive privilege.
A New Beginning for American Families: The Dodd Plan for Fair, Practical Bankruptcy Reform (thanks to Space Cowboy at Shakesville – click through for a wonderful picture of Banker Cat turning down ur loan)
In a Dodd Administration, hardworking people who have fallen on hard times will be afforded a new beginning that re-establishes a safety net and helps families get back on their feet. As President, he will:
- Modify the means test to ensure families have sufficient resources to live on
- Protect children, not creditors
- Ensure all medical debts are dischargeable
- Permit bankruptcy courts to restructure mortgages so families can stay in their homes
- Allow private student loans to be dischargeable
Too bad Dodd can’t get more traction. I like his defense of the Constitution, too.—Caro
Giuliani Denies Obscuring Mayoral Expenses
New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson told ABC News that Giuliani's administration billed obscure city agencies for his security detail's travel expenses during his visits to the Hamptons… Thompson said this about the Mayor's explanation, "That's not the way that we operate these days, and it would not be the preferred way of doing business," Thompson said. "In the end, it's a very convoluted way of getting things done."
Light Amidst the Shag (by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo)
I fear … that we are only rubbing the surface of the true Shag Fund in this incipient probe. Clearly there's the travel money -- billed to whatever NYC office -- used for trips and security for Rudy out at the Hamptons shags. But we also know now that while Rudy was conducting an extramarital affair with Judi he gave her her own NYPD car and driver to be squired around the city with. Where'd the money for that come from?
Rudy's Ties to a Terror Sheikh
Giuliani's business contracts tie him to the man who let 9/11's mastermind escape the FBI
White House lowers '08 economic forecast
WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday lowered its forecast for economic growth for next year and said unemployment would rise as the housing slump and tight credit weigh on national economic activity.
US Foreclosure Filings Nearly Double
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- More U.S. homeowners fell behind on mortgage payments or even lost their homes last month compared to a year ago, with Nevada, California, Florida and Ohio posting the highest foreclosure rates, a mortgage research company said Thursday. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
FAIR Action Alert: Bill Clinton, Anti-War?
The New York Times and Washington Post (11/28/07) both failed to adequately challenge the dishonesty of former President Bill Clinton's declaration that he had been opposed to the Iraq War "from the beginning." Clinton, in fact, was a supporter of the war, both before the invasion and in the first year or so of the fighting.
What I recall is that the right wingers had a field day with Bill Clinton’s statements affirming the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.—Caro
You Say That As If It's a Bad Thing (by Chet Scoville at Shakesville)
The Weekly Standard on (Thursday) night's Republican debate: “America got to see a vaguely threatening parade of gun fetishists, flat worlders, Mars Explorers, Confederate flag lovers and zombie-eyed-Bible-wavers as well as various one issue activists hammering their pet causes.” What's wrong with a little truth in advertising?
Rove refuses to answer McClellan’s claims on Plame.
Following a speech in South Texas (Wednesday), Karl Rove responded to former White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s claim that Rove, along with “Libby, the vice President, the President’s chief of staff, and the president himself” were responsible for McClellan “unknowingly” passing “along false information” about the outing of Valerie Plame. Rove dodged the question, stating that McClellan said it “had all gotten carried out of proportion“.
Rep. Hoekstra Was Source Of Joe Klein’s FISA Lies, Decries ‘Paranoid,’ ‘Self-Absorbed’ ‘Far-Left Critics’ (Think Progress, Center for American Progress)
In Time Magazine last week, columnist Joe Klein baselessly claimed that Democrats’ proposal fix to FISA would require “every foreign-terrorist target’s calls to be approved by the FISA court.” (Thursday), House Intelligence Committee member and “Bush loyalist” Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) revealed that he was a “source” for Klein’s error-filled column… Klein ignorantly claimed the RESTORE Act “would give terrorists the same legal protections as Americans.” Hoekstra adds that Klein’s assertions are a “demonstratable fact.” Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), a chief author of the RESTORE Act, countered that the legislation does exactly the opposite.
Republican operative's wife attacks MoveOn.org. Oh, she's also CNN's new anchor Campbell Brown (by Joe Sudbay at AMERICAblog)
The wife of Dan Senor, who served as a spokesperson for Bush in Iraq, is now working for CNN… Last night, in her first week on the job, (Campbell Brown) attacked MoveOn: “… ‘General David Petraeus made his reputation taking on insurgents in Iraq. But when he came to Capitol Hill in September, he was confronted by American insurgents, a liberal anti-war group called MoveOn.org.’”… Actually, Campbell, if you want to know what real insurgents are, ask your husband and his colleagues who let the insurgency grow in Iraq under their watch. He even still has his White House web page touting that gig.
CNN’s Irresponsible Debate Coverage Undermines Its Claim As The ‘Most Trusted Name In News’
CNN bills itself as the “Most Trusted Name in News.” It has already hosted five presidential debates in the 2008 primary season, with another four scheduled. While many in the media credited the network with bringing “originality and spontaneity” to the debate process by partnering with YouTube, its debates have more often been characterized by sloppy preparation, a lack of transparency, and theatrics that undermine the intelligence of the American public.
Click through for some lowlights.—Caro
YouTube-CNN Republican Debate Reflects Poorly on New Media (by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins at Mashable)
Wednesday night, CNN and YouTube played host to a Republican debate that, as it turns out, has stirred up a bit of controversy… Michelle Malkin has been the blogger most closely advancing the research on exactly who asked the questions at the debate, and at present count, nearly 30% of all questions asked were from planted questioners. That is to say, the various Democratic Presidential campaigns put out questions to the Republican candidates, and instead of picking questions from the constituency of the Republican base, CNN decided to wave through folks into the debate who would never vote for any of the candidates in an effort to shape their image in what they hoped would be an embarrassing way.
Well, if 30% of the questions were from the opposition, doesn’t that mean that 70% were not? How does that constitute a liberal bias?—Caro
CNN ratings down in November
Despite scoring the highest-rated presidential primary debate in cable news history this month, CNN's overall ratings fell in November, while Fox News Channel and MSNBC showed increases in primetime. CNN showed some improvement so far in this month's move of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" to 7 p.m., but it has seen a sharp decline with its "American Morning." Meanwhile, MSNBC beat CNN in November for second place in what the business calls "sales prime," between 7 p.m.-2 a.m. ET -- primetime on both coasts.
So, whatever your strategy is, CNN, it ain’t workin’.—Caro
WaPo Reporter Responds To All The Criticism Of Front-Page Obama Muslim Piece (by Greg Sargent at TPM Horse’s Mouth)
Okay, the Washington Post reporter who wrote (Thursday’s) front page article on the rumors that Obama is a Muslim has now responded to all the criticism of the piece… “I think the story makes clear, including in the candidate's own words, he is a Christian.”… (T)he problem here is that WaPo, and not just Obama, should have "denied the accuracy" of the Obama-is-a-Muslim nonsense. The Obama Muslim smear is based on lies, not "rumors."… That's what everyone is yelling about.
Mandates and Mudslinging (by Paul Krugman)
(U)nder the (Barack) Obama (health care) plan, … people who did the right thing and bought insurance when they were healthy would end up subsidizing those who didn’t sign up for insurance until or unless they needed medical care… Mr. Obama, then, is wrong on policy. Worse yet, the words he uses to defend his position make him sound like Rudy Giuliani inveighing against “socialized medicine”: he doesn’t want the government to “force” people to have insurance, to “penalize” people who don’t participate. I recently castigated Mr. Obama for adopting right-wing talking points about a Social Security “crisis.” Now he’s echoing right-wing talking points on health care.
Here’s a lesson for you, mainstream media. THIS is the kind of insight and coverage of political issues that we the public need, to be good citizens—no matter what you THINK we want.—Caro
Appeals Court Voids Agreement to Pay Freelancers for Work Published on the Web
A federal appeals court yesterday threw out a hard-fought agreement between publishers and freelance writers to pay the writers for electronic reproduction of their work. In a 2-to-1 decision, an appellate panel ruled that the courts had no jurisdiction over the copyright dispute and that a lower court erred in accepting the writers’ lawsuit and approving the settlement… “The decision is an outrage, and I hope it’s appealable to the Supreme Court,” said Gerard Colby, president of the National Writers Union, and a plaintiff.
This is the tactic that is being used by right-wing activist judges to negate agreements, legislation, and even court decisions they don’t like. They just claim that they side they don’t want to win has no standing. They don’t even have to rule on the questions of law.—Caro
Jesus loves 'His Dark Materials' (by Mark Morford)
Oh my God yes, they are protesting. They are pamphleting. The Catholic League and Focus on the Family and evangelical/fundamentalist Christian blogs from here to Colorado Springs, they are calling on their trembling armies to boycott (the first movie made from Philip Pullman's astonishing "His Dark Materials" trilogy, "The Golden Compass,") because they believe that Pullman's brilliant books … are not only aggressively anti-Christian, they ultimately describe, as their grand finale, nothing less than the death of God… (But) the nefarious thing the books aim to kill is, well, religious authority. It's about the destruction of dogma. It's about power, about who wants to control and manipulate life on Earth; it is about blind, ignorant, even violent adherence to insidiously narrow codes of thought and belief and behavior, sex and desire and love.
No wonder they’re protesting. People can’t be allowed to decide for themselves when and how to have sex. It would destroy the universe, everyone knows that!—Caro Technology & ScienceTesters see Windows XP passing Vista
SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system is about to get faster and Windows Vista isn't, according to a report that caused a stir online this week as industry watchers speculated that a zippier XP could keep customers from upgrading to Vista.
Tech giants target older buyers and their cash
"Today's older generation is primed to buy and consume new technologies like no previous group of seniors," says David Kelly, president of technology research company Upside Research.
Duke scientists map 'silenced genes'
WASHINGTON - Remember biology class where you learned that children inherit one copy of a gene from mom and a second from dad? There's a twist: Some of those genes arrive switched off, so there is no backup if the other copy goes bad, making you more vulnerable to disorders from obesity to cancer.
Sticky molecule may hold key to nerve disorders
LONDON (Reuters) - A sticky molecule previously linked to inflammation also helps seal vital insulation around peripheral nerves, making it a potential target for new drugs against nerve disorders, scientists said on Thursday.
More Young Americans Are Contracting HIV
On eve of World AIDS Day, U.S. experts wonder what has gone wrong
Cancer Patients Gain From Reporting Symptoms Online
It's an effective way of connecting with doctors in real time, speeding care, study finds
Gene Tweak Reverses Aging in Mouse Skin Cells
It's a long way from this to a human 'fountain of youth,’ however
Male ancestor was slow to grow up
LONDON (Reuters) - One of our closest ancestors had more in common with gorillas than previously thought, with males of the species taking far longer to reach maturity than females, scientists said on Thursday.
Pre-human dating scene was a real jungle
Humans basically court each other one-on-one today, but 2 million-year-old skulls found in South African caves suggest that our ancient male relatives dated troops of females.
Dinosaur tracks discovered in Utah
KANAB, Utah - Tracks from half a dozen species of dinosaurs turned up in a southern Utah area popular with ATV riders. An area the size of a football field was closed to protect thousands of three-toed and other tracks. EnvironmentClimate Change, ethics and the economics of the global deal (by Sir Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government, London School of Economics – thanks to Economist’s View)
The problem of climate change involves a fundamental failure of markets: those who damage others by emitting greenhouse gases generally do not pay. Climate change is a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen.
Study Details How U.S. Could Cut 28% of Greenhouse Gases
A new report says the country is brimming with opportunities to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, while saving money at the same time.
Congress Called Near Compromise on Fuel Economy Bill
A deal in Congress to set significantly higher fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks could come this week, say those following the negotiations.
Competition Will Net $200K for Clean Energy Entrepreneurs
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 30, 2007 -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and utility company NSTAR, unveiled a new competition aimed at encouraging innovative new clean energy technologies.
Retailers keep "green" behind the scenes
COLUMBIA, Maryland (Reuters) - Retailers may be touting their environmental-friendliness this year, but just about the only "green" in evidence for the holidays is in the usual Christmas decorations. Thick catalogs continue to clog mailboxes, store personnel keep handing out free gift boxes, and plastic bags are everywhere.
WWF-UK Gives Luxury Companies Poor Grades
UNITED KINGDOM, Nov. 30, 2007 -- In a new report, the WWF-UK takes a close look at the environmental and social records of luxury brands, finding little good to write about. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com.
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