Tonight on Countdown
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Dick Cheney may be a taciturn man, writes author
Stephen F. Hayes, but the vice president can become
animated discussing doomsday scenarios. In his new biography,
"Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful
and Controversial Vice President". The vice president
has become a kind of modern-day prophet of doom. He is
seen by many Americans as slightly creepy, if not
sinister. Of course, he could be right: Al Qaeda may well
be, as recent intelligence reports suggest, gearing
up for another and possibly more catastrophic attack.
But what makes Cheney so dire, so animated by gloom?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19886673/site/newsweek/The nation's spy chief on Sunday would not identify
what CIA interrogators are allowed to do in getting
information from terror suspects, but tried to assure
critics that torture is not condoned or used. National
Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, in a rare
broadcast interview, defended a new order from President Bush
that broadly outlines the limits of how suspects may
be questioned in the CIA's terror interrogation
program.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_CIA_Interrogation.htmlCountdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm
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Ahead in New Hampshire polls, former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney has turned his sights away from his GOP
rivals and onto Democratic front-runners, blasting
Sen. Barack Obama for backing kindergarten sex education
and comparing Sen. Hillary Clinton to communist Karl
Marx. "I don't think America's going to take a left
turn. I don't think we're going to follow Hillary
Clinton, John Edwards or Barack Obama," Romney said at a GOP
luncheon.
http://news.bostonherald.com/politics/view.bg?articleid=1012871A spacewalking astronaut tossed two large chunks of
junk off the international space station Monday, hurling
the old equipment into orbit. Clayton Anderson, a
sportsman who enjoys officiating basketball games back
on Earth, heaved a 1,400-pound, refrigerator-size
ammonia tank away from the station. His first toss was a
200-pound camera mounting. Mission Control declared the
tank throw great and "right down the middle."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19910584/The seventh and final volume in the Harry Potter
series has become the fastest selling book in history,
publishers said on Monday, with more than 11 million
copies sold during the first 24 hours in three markets
alone. U.S. sales of the eagerly awaited "Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows" hit 8.3 million, comfortably
beating the previous Potter installment, which posted
sales of 6.9 million copies in the first day, U.S.
publisher Scholastic announced.
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2007-07-23T165051Z_01_L20656053_RTRIDST_0_ENTERTAINMENT-ARTS-POTTER-COL.XMLTom Cruise has found himself being compared to the
Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels in an outspoken
attack from Germany's Protestant Church. The Hollywood
star was accused of producing "propaganda for
Scientology" as he began work on a film about an attempt to
assassinate Adolf Hitler. Cruise has already been
barred from filming at military sites for the movie
because of his membership of the Scientologists, who are
regarded as a cult by the German authorities.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/23/wcruise123.xmlThat's some of what we're planning for tonight.
-- Carey Fox