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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoriesThe Great Iraq Swindle
Operation Iraqi Freedom, it turns out, was never a war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It was an invasion of the federal budget, and no occupying force in history has ever been this efficient… In Iraq the lines between essential government services and for-profit enterprises have been blurred to the point of absurdity -- to the point where wounded soldiers have to pay retail prices for fresh underwear, where modern-day chattel are imported from the Third World at slave wages to peel the potatoes we once assigned to grunts in KP, where private companies are guaranteed huge profits no matter how badly they fuck things up.
Not to mention how much danger they create for our troops. See below.—Caro
Iraqi insurgents taking cut of U.S. rebuilding money
BAGHDAD — Iraq's deadly insurgent groups have financed their war against U.S. troops in part with hundreds of thousands of dollars in U.S. rebuilding funds that they've extorted from Iraqi contractors in Anbar province. Dubya’s World
The WorldFor second time, Maliki responses to criticism
BAGHDAD - For the second time in a week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki on Sunday expressed agitation with U.S. politicians who say they are frustrated with his government's lack of political progress, this time targeting two prominent U.S. senators. Maliki's comments came as a Kurdish militia spokesman said U.S. helicopters and fighter jets had mistakenly bombed two police stations near Qara Taba, a village 80 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province. Four policemen were killed and eight others injured.
Iraq Body Count Running at Double Pace
BAGHDAD (AP) -- This year's U.S. troop buildup has succeeded in bringing violence in Baghdad down from peak levels, but the death toll from sectarian attacks around the country is running nearly double the pace from a year ago.
More Iraqis Said to Flee Since Troop Increase
BAGHDAD, Aug. 23 — The number of Iraqis fleeing their homes has soared since the American troop increase began in February, according to data from two humanitarian groups, accelerating the partition of the country into sectarian enclaves.
Iran: Nuclear activities have not halted
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran said Sunday its nuclear activities have not halted or slowed down, rejecting reports that it has not significantly expanded its uranium enrichment program this summer as planned.
Pak test fires nuclear capable missile
Pakistan on Saturday ''successfully'' test fired a new air-launched cruise missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead upto 350 kilometres, the military said… It said that the missile has a low detection probability due to stealth design and materials used in its manufacturing.
Afghan forces strike Taliban inside Pakistan
KABUL (AFP) - US-led and Afghan troops struck Taliban positions inside Pakistan in fresh clashes with the extremist Islamic militia that left at least 19 rebels dead, security forces said Sunday.
NATO: Taliban making false accusations
KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan accused Taliban militants Monday of falsely reporting civilian casualties to discredit Afghan and international forces. Six insurgents and two foreign soldiers, meanwhile, were killed in fresh fighting.
India blames 'terrorists' as blasts kill 42
HYDERABAD, India (AFP) - Indian security forces launched a manhunt Sunday for those behind twin bombings in the southern city of Hyderabad that killed 42 people, with officials pinning the blame on Islamic militants. The NationBush pleads for more patience for Iraq war efforts
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush, faced with growing calls to start withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq, pleaded with Americans on Saturday for patience and cited progress in the past two months.
National Guard troops cheer call for Iraq withdrawal.
Speaking to the National Guard Association general conference yesterday, Puerto Rico’s governor said that the Bush administration has “no new strategy and no signs of success” and called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. His comments earned him a standing ovation from the more than 4,000 current and former Air and Army National Guard officers.
Warner May Back Dems' Bill on Withdrawal
WASHINGTON (AP) - GOP Sen. John Warner, who wants U.S. troops to start coming home from Iraq by Christmas, said Sunday he may support Democratic legislation ordering withdrawals if President Bush refuses to set a return timetable soon. "I'm going to have to evaluate it," Warner said. "I don't say that as a threat, but I say that is an option we all have to consider."
Reckless Abandonment (by Douglas Brinkley)
Two full years after the hurricane, the Big Easy is barely limping along, unable to make truly meaningful reconstruction progress… (W)hat makes the current (Bush administration’s) inaction plan so infuriating is that it's deceptive, offering up this open-armed spin to storm victims: "Come back to New Orleans." Why can't Bush look his fellow citizens in the eye and tell them what seems to be the ugly truth? That as long as he's commander in chief, there won't be an entirely reconstructed levee system.
Full court access urged for detainees
WASHINGTON - Twenty retired federal judges, two rear admirals and a Marine general joined 383 current or former members of the European and British parliaments on Friday in urging the Supreme Court to grant detainees at Guantanamo Bay full access to the U.S. court system.
What Else Does Mueller Know?
The domestic snooping story doesn't end with the White House's bullying of a sick John Ashcroft. The FBI chief must still answer grave questions about the administration's suspected abuse of national security letters.
Maybe Trading Up Soon at Justice
The buzz among top Bushies is that beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally plans to depart and will be replaced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Why Chertoff? Officials say he's got fans on Capitol Hill, is untouched by the Justice prosecutor scandal, and has more experience than Gonzales did, having served as a federal judge and assistant attorney general.
Whistleblowers on Fraud Facing Penalties
Congress gave more than $30 billion to rebuild Iraq, and at least $8.8 billion of it has disappeared, according to a government reconstruction audit. Despite this staggering mess, there are no noble outcomes for those who have blown the whistle… They have been fired or demoted, shunned by colleagues, and denied government support in whistleblower lawsuits filed against contracting firms.
Executive agencies' trips paid by firms
WASHINGTON — At a time when Congress has moved to ban most lobbyist-funded travel, executive- branch officials are routinely accepting trips from companies and trade associations with a stake in their agencies' decisions, according to a USA TODAY review of public records.
From equity to equality
(T)he 1990 Trust, OBV and other organisations have joined forces with Rev Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Push coalition to form Equanomics, a project that will focus on racial justice through economic equality… Our central and positive argument will be that for the private sector to ignore the deluge of talent within black communities is simply not good business. When many more people in society can fulfil their employment potential everybody wins. But as consumers and shareholders, if gentle persuasion makes not one jot, we have the right to choose where we spend our money. MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
Now we’ve lost Bob Geiger and Max Speak. When are we going to wake up and join forces to create more paid slots for progressive commentary?
In case you missed it
A website run by the neocon thinktank the Center for Security Policy (members include Frank Gaffney, Richard Perle and Doug Feith) has published (then removed) a piece calling for Bush to use his military powers to become “the first permanent president of America” and “ruler of the world”. Along the way he suggests that the population of Iraq should have been wiped out.
Click through for a link to the preserved document.—Caro
Politifact Chops Stump Speeches into Lincoln Logs
This week Congressional Quarterly and the St. Petersburg Times launched Politifact, a refreshing approach to campaign coverage that pulls the rhetoric apart into components that can be examined, analyzed, and compared.
Why Democrats should never, ever say something that even comes close to showing approval of one of the Bush administration’s many misguided efforts: “Union Leader editorial falsely claimed Clinton said ‘troop surge in Iraq is working’”, “Krauthammer falsely claimed that Clinton ‘concedes that the surge “is working”’”.
LA Times' McGough guessed "President Gore" might have allowed warrantless wiretapping, but didn't note Gore's public criticisms
In a column, Los Angeles Times senior editorial writer Michael McGough asserted that … Gore "might well have followed suit after 9/11 with his own versions of the Patriot Act and the Terrorist Surveillance Program." However, McGough did not mention Gore's strong criticism of the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program or that Gore has called for the repeal of the Patriot Act.
Bin Laden wanted US to invade Iraq, author says
As coalition troops continue to die on Iraqi soil and the US Government's military spending on the war bleeds into billions of dollars, a new book says that not only could this have been avoided, but it was all predictable, as long as you had read the Al Qaeda manual.
MSNBC Thought Fake Al Sharpton was Real
Everyone’s a faker these days: in addition to Fake Steve Jobs, the blog parodying the Apple boss, there’s a whole network of blog fakers at NewsGroper. Unfortunately, MSNBC didn’t get the memo, and actually quoted the Fake Al Sharpton, believing (a) post to be the real deal… MSNBC, having missed the title of the NewsGroper site (”Fake parody blogs, Political humor, Celebrity Satire, Funny Commentary”) was later forced to retract the quote.
It’s hard to do satire nowadays.—Caro
Democratic Mob Censures Bush In Effigy
Although some members of the crowd initially incited a metaphorical impeachment of the president, a majority felt that would be far too harsh a symbolic action to take. After agreeing on the censure, the decorous riffraff whipped themselves into a relative frenzy and clamored single file to the National Mall with the meticulously crafted Bush effigy… Democratic leaders were quick to distance themselves from the subdued riot out of fear that condoning even a meta-symbolic political rebuke would alienate some of their more mild-mannered constituents… Top Republicans loudly denounced the censure.
See what I mean? Satire is now so close to reality as to be indistinguishable from it. (Thanks to Thoreau at Unqualified Offerings.)—Caro
Suggested 2008 slogan for Democrats: Vote for us because we’re nice. We only offend our base.
Paul Krugman: A Socialist Plot
(T)here’s no difference in principle between saying that every American child is entitled to an education and saying that every American child is entitled to adequate health care. It’s just a matter of historical accident that we think of access to free K-12 education as a basic right, but consider having the government pay children’s medical bills “welfare,“ with all the negative connotations that go with that term. Technology & ScienceTeen 'unlocks' iPhone from AT&T network
NEW YORK - Armed with a soldering iron and a large supply of energy drinks, a slight, curly haired teenager has developed a way to make the iPhone, arguably the gadget of the year, available to a much wider audience.
Australian teen disables government's porn filter
SYDNEY (AFP) - The Australian government Monday admitted no Internet child safeguards were foolproof after a teenager claimed he was able to break through its multi-million dollar pornography filter in minutes.
China 'gravely concerned' by Germany hacking reports
BEIJING (AFP) - China's Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday expressed "grave concern" over reports that Chinese army hackers had penetrated German government computers systems and he vowed to crack down on such activity.
Maybe Germany should hire a few of its teenagers to make its computers hack proof.—Caro
Human stem cells heal the hearts of rats
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A nutritious cocktail helped human embryonic stem cells thrive and repair the damaged hearts of rats, U.S. researchers reported on Sunday.
Sugary Sodas High in Diabetes-Linked Compound
Sodas sweetened with high fructose corn syrup contain high levels of a potentially dangerous compound often found in the blood of diabetics, a new study concludes. It could be cause for concern, experts say, because the "reactive carbonyls" in these sugary drinks could bump up diabetes risk, particularly in children.
Colorful Carpet of Cool Sea Creatures Discovered 2 Miles Deep
A submerged mountain ridge beneath the North Atlantic Ocean has revealed a new crustacean species and oodles of other life forms, ranging from polka-dotted glass squid resembling beach balls to grim viperfish with teeth like ice-picks.
Total Lunar Eclipse Early Tuesday
DENVER (AP) - The Earth's shadow will creep across the moon's surface early Tuesday, slowly eclipsing it and turning it to shades of orange and red. The total lunar eclipse, the second this year, will be visible in North and South America, especially in the West.
2000-Year-Old Meteors to Rain Down on August 31, 2007
The meteors that are about to rain down in the early morning of September 1 date from around 4 A.D., the latest calculations show. EnvironmentFrom Socially Responsible Investing to Sustainable Investing
If the SRI world is to reach its full potential, it is critically important to make the shift to sustainable investing, which has the potential to be a transformative investment strategy that revolutionizes the very nature of investing.
U.N. climate talks focus on business end
VIENNA, Austria - It's the business end of climate change: ensuring that the $20 trillion the world will spend on energy over the next two decades is as environmentally friendly as possible.
Putting CO2 to Good Use
The gas is the major contributor to global warning. Now major energy companies are looking for ways to capture and sell it
New Tool Helps Companies Green Their Business Air Travel
LONDON, Aug. 27, 2007 -- Icarus, a new toolkit developed by a group of nine universities and the Institute of Travel Management, aims to encourage greener business travel.
Jatropha Plant Gains Steam In Global Race for Biofuels
(U)nlike other biodiesel crops, jatropha can be grown almost anywhere -- including deserts, trash dumps, and rock piles. It doesn't need much water or fertilizer, and it isn't edible. That means environmentalists and policy makers don't have to worry about whether jatropha diverts resources away from crops that could be used to feed people.
‘Rock snot’ arrives in New England
It looks like a clump of soiled sheep's wool, a cottony green or white mass that's turning up on rocks and river bottoms, snarling waterways. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com. |
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