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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryIraq and Afghanistan wars may total $2.4 trillion (The Gavel, Speaker Pelosi’s blog)
$2.4 trillion is enough to:
• Provide every college freshman in the country with a free, four year education at a private college or university
• Provide health care coverage to every American for one year
• Pay off 26% of our current national debt Dubya’s World
The WorldIn Iraq, Conflict Simmers on a 2nd Kurdish Front
BAGHDAD, Oct. 22 — Deadly raids into Turkey by Kurdish militants holed up in northern Iraq are the focus of urgent diplomacy, with Turkey threatening invasion of Iraq and the United States begging for restraint while expressing solidarity with Turkish anger. Yet out of the public eye, a chillingly similar battle has been under way on the Iraqi border with Iran. Kurdish guerrillas ambush and kill Iranian forces and retreat to their hide-outs in Iraq. The Americans offer Iran little sympathy.
Report: Images raise nuke suspicions in Syria
Commercial satellite images show construction in Syria that resembles the early stages of a small North Korean-model nuclear reactor, a report said Wednesday, speculating that it was the site hit last month by an Israeli airstrike.
Yes, and you’ll remember that the administration had satellite images that they claimed were bioweapons labs in Iraq.—Caro
Israel power cuts to answer Gaza rockets
JERUSALEM - Israel unveiled a new tactic Wednesday aimed at deterring Palestinians from firing rockets out of the Gaza Strip — it will cut off Gaza's electricity bit by bit as a pressure tactic every time rockets hit Israeli territory.
Politics, not military will improve Afghanistan: British top brass
LONDON (AFP) - Improving security in Afghanistan can only be done by political, rather than military, means, Britain's top military officer said Thursday as NATO offered more troops.
Extremists losing Pakistanis' support
The Taliban and their extremist allies have been winning territory but losing hearts and minds in Pakistan, where they are meeting fresh resistance and polls show the broader population turning against them.
Russia Working to Limit Election Observers
Russia has begun an effort to curtail the activities of election observers in the states of the former Soviet Union.
Chinese economy rises 11.5 pct. in 3Q
BEIJING - China's supercharged economy grew by a stunning 11.5 percent in the third quarter, slowing slightly but staying on track to overtake Germany as the world's third-largest economy within weeks, according to data reported Thursday.
Alberta premier vows "fair" royalties but keeps mum
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Alberta's premier gave no details about his plan to change the Canadian province's oil and gas royalties in a television address on Wednesday, but promised the new system would give residents a "fair share" of rewards from energy development.
Phones and cameras banned in Bulgarian polling booths
SOFIA (Reuters) - Mobile phones and cameras will be banned from polling booths in Bulgaria's local elections on Sunday following reports of vote-buying scams.
U.N. demands Darfur parties attend talks
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council demanded on Wednesday that Sudan's government and Darfur rebels attend peace talks starting over the weekend and threatened action against anyone impeding the negotiations. The Nation$2,400,000,000,000 (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
That’s right. Eleven zeros. New estimates out this week by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office place the cost of the Iraq occupation through 2017 at 2.4 TRILLION dollars, or put another way, $8,000 for every man, woman and child in the US. And that does not include the interest on the foreign loans being used to finance it so that the top 1% can still enjoy their tax cuts. Remember Wolfowitz claiming that the war would pay for itself?
Bush is the biggest spender since LBJ
WASHINGTON — George W. Bush, despite all his recent bravado about being an apostle of small government and budget-slashing, is the biggest spending president since Lyndon B. Johnson. In fact, he's arguably an even bigger spender than LBJ. “He’s a big government guy,” said Stephen Slivinski, the director of budget studies at Cato Institute, a libertarian research group.
$38M system down for a month in Iraq
WASHINGTON - The U.S. spent at least $38 million to give Iraq's government a computerized accounting system — and no one noticed when it was not working for a month, a report said Wednesday.
We already knew that there wasn’t a whole lotta accounting going on in Iraq.—Caro
Firm blamed for Baghdad embassy flaws gains new jobs
WASHINGTON — The Kuwaiti contractor that's building the new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad — behind schedule and plagued by allegations of shoddy construction and safety flaws — is still winning lucrative new contracts to build U.S. diplomatic installations overseas.
State Department Security Chief Resigns
The State Department's security chief announced his resignation on Wednesday in the wake of last month's deadly Blackwater USA shooting incident in Baghdad and growing questions about the use of private contractors in Iraq.
Military may get control of contractors
WASHINGTON - Congress is moving to put all armed contractors operating in combat zones under military control, acting on a Pentagon recommendation that could run into resistance at the State Department.
Rice: Mideast peace plan in jeopardy
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that a "two-state solution" in the Middle East was in jeopardy and described a narrow window of opportunity to push Israel and the Palestinians toward peace.
U.S. mishandled case of Canada's Arar, admits Rice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted on Wednesday the United States had mishandled the case of a Canadian who was deported to Syria and tortured, but she stopped short of an apology.
Being Republican means never having to say you’re sorry.—Caro
Wiretapping At Its Worst
A revolving door between the telecommunications industry and federal government ensures that the doors to your personal privacy are wide open.
Limits don't slow trip perks for U.S. lawmakers
WASHINGTON — Despite new House travel restrictions, lawmakers accepted free trips worth nearly $1.9 million during the first eight months of this year — more than in all of 2006, records show… "There's a realization that these trips and meals are getting extra scrutiny," says Meredith McGehee of the non-partisan Campaign Legal Center, which supported the reforms. "That will last for a while, but we know it won't last forever. The ethos of politics is, 'What can we get away with?' "
Democrats offer stricter children's health insurance bill
WASHINGTON — Ignoring an eleventh-hour overture from the White House, Democratic leaders in House of Representatives late Wednesday crafted an amended bill to expand health coverage for low-income children and scheduled a vote on the measure, hoping to garner enough GOP support to overcome another presidential veto.
California Electoral Vote Initiative Revived
The "all but dead" proposed initiative to change California's method of allocating its electoral votes -- from winner-take-all to Republican-favored by congressional district -- may be coming back to life, according to the Los Angeles Times.
You have to give them points for persistence.—Caro MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
FOX Teams with Palestra for User-Generated News Content
FOX News has partnered with The Palestra, a site for college culture, to present content on the FOX News Channel. This allows college students from participating colleges and universities to submit broadcasts of news stories and cultural segments to FOX News, which will make final approvals, and stream it on FNC and Foxnews.com. This will display in the form of an archived channel under the FOX News network. The partnership between FOX and Palestra is a good way for aspiring students to gain exposure and experience, while working in an online environment. So, the deal works out for everybody.
I brought up a similar idea for progressives years ago, but of course no one listened. I’m not a white male younger than 50 who went to an Ivy League college and lives on a coast, so why would anyone think I have anything important to say? So the right wingers get the jump on us again. I get so tired of being beaten over and over and over again because there are so few people with any kind of vision on our side.—Caro
No, I Can't Help It
So I'm here checking out the Young America's Foundation, conservative group that helps college conservatives bring right-wing speakers to campus. They've got a little widget that helps you select speakers by name, topic, price. It's sort of the VRWC accessible in 8 or 9 different dimensions at once. Anyway, I'm checking out prices people charge, topics they'll yak about and how they describe themselves. So I come across Horowitz. He's a "civil rights activist and author."
This is another idea I had years ago. Campus Progress says they’re doing something like it, but I’ve seen no evidence of it. Today’s college kids tend to be liberal, but given the incentives on the other side we could lose them. Does anybody care? Is anybody listening?—Caro
Brownie, You’ve Got a Heck of a Job
Washington Wire was a little stunned to receive a press release today hawking disgraced former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown as “available for interviews” to discuss the wildfire crisis in Southern California… In a particularly nervy move, the release also draws parallels between the California fires and the 2005 hurricane that devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast — and tagged then-FEMA Director Brown as incompetent and unqualified.
Fox News: Al Qaeda is causing the CA wildfires.
This morning on Fox News, hosts of the show Fox and Friends blamed the wildfires in California on a new culprit: al Qaeda. They pointed to a 2003 FBI memo, which raised the possibility that al Qaeda may try to set wildfires around the western United States. They also noted that men in a “hovering helicopter” saw “a guy starting one of these fires.”
Malkin's Burning Lies
Today, Michelle "Just Make stuff up" Malkin explains how the left is to blame for the fires in California: “Environmentalists blame global warming for the problem, but guess who’s standing in the way of a solution? Litigious environmentalists.”
Well, Al Qaeda, environmentalists, same-same? And don’t forget the homos!—Caro
James Hartline: San Diego is on fire because of the homos (by Pam Spaulding at Pandagon)
Hartline, a fundamentalist, recloseted gay man with AIDS (he contracted HIV from years of unsafe sex in bathhouses) today sees himself as battling dark forces in San Diego's “homosexual stronghold of Hillcrest,” says the fires are God's wrath on the Homosexual Agenda.
O’Reilly: J.K. Rowling Is A ‘Provocateur’ For ‘The Gay Agenda’ Of ‘Indoctrination’
Last Friday, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealed that one of the central characters in the series, Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, was gay. Though Rowling says her books are a “prolonged argument for tolerance,” some conservatives attacked the revelation… On his Fox News show last night, Bill O’Reilly joined in the fray, asking if Dumbledore’s outing was part of the “gay agenda” of “indoctrination” of “children.” O’Reilly claimed that by dropping “the gay bomb,” Rowling is a “provocateur” who is “going to let all hell break loose”.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro
George Carlin On Countdown - True Comic Standing
Comedian George Carlin sat down with Keith Olbermann on Tuesday’s Countdown and confesses that he’s seen every show and calls it the best news show ever. Never at a loss for words, Carlin gives his take on politics, (including) the outrage from the right over the earth shattering Dumbledore controversy; “Carlin: ‘Don’t these professional Christians have something to do during the day? I mean, isn’t there - didn’t Jesus leave instructions on how to plan your day with something constructive?’”
As a matter of fact, Jesus left some great instructions, and you don’t have to be a believer to see the wisdom in them. These right-wing busybodies don’t come anywhere close to following Jesus’ instructions. Click through to watch the video.—Caro
The thesis of (Conscience of a Liberal) (by Paul Krugman)
What (movement conservatism) is about is economics: the core goal is, as Heritage says in its fundraising letters, to roll back the New Deal and the Great Society — or as Grover Norquist puts it, to get things back to the way they were “up until Teddy Roosevelt, when the socialists took over.” Race and other distractions aren’t the goal, they’re a tactic — they’re how an anti-populist movement wins elections.
The Art Of The Hissy Fit (by Digby)
The political cost to progressives and liberals for their inability to properly deal with (the hissy fit) tactic is greater than they realize. Just as Newt Gingrich was not truly offended by Bill Clinton's behavior (which mirrored his own) neither were conservative congressmen and Rush Limbaugh truly upset by the Move On ad --- and everyone knew it, which was the point. It is a potent demonstration of pure power to force others to insincerely condemn or apologize for something, particularly when the person who is forcing it is also insincerely outraged. For a political party that suffers from a reputation for weakness, it is extremely damaging to be so publicly cowed over and over again. It separates them from their most ardent supporters and makes them appear guilty and unprincipled to the public at large.
Would that Democratic politicians were as strong as the Frost family. See below.—Caro
Md. Mom Aids Bid For Health Coverage
A Maryland family caught in the partisan crossfire over a children's health-care bill in Congress is now stepping back into the divisive debate, advocating this time for state legislation that would expand coverage for adults.
The way to fight the hissy prone is to do what this family has done—quietly and confidently continue to insist on the rightness of your position. That’s how honorable people act.—Caro
Pelosi to launch PR blitz to beat ’08 media frenzy
Nearly one year after recapturing control of Congress, House Democratic leaders will embark on a publicity blitz starting in November to combat a dismal 25 percent approval rating.
But we live in a PR universe. Nobody tries to do the right thing, they only spend time and money trying to CONVINCE people they’re doing the right thing. And they’ll certainly need a blitz if their strategy is what Emmanuel says it is. See below.—Caro
Don't Make Trouble (by digby)
I just saw Rahm Emmanuel on Hardball saying that because some people in the industrial midwest have economic insecurity nobody in the country cares more about the war. Neither apparently, do they care about the fact that the Democrats look like a bunch of bumbling fools every single day as the Republicans punk them over and over again with savvy political tactics. Good to know. It reminds me of the very successful 2002 campaign in which it was decided that the "smart" thing to do was vote for the war so we could get back to the kitchen table issues that people really care about.
The Matt Drudge primary (by Toby Harnden)
Most of the commentary portrays Drudge as a sinister Right-wing loony whose courting by campaigns somehow subverts the political process. Well, the truth is simpler and less of a conspiracy than that - Drudge often spots the real story that the reporter has buried in the 17th paragraph. He's entertaining, populist and cuts to the chase - which is probably why so many British papers (including the Telegraph and occasionally my own pieces) are linked to. It's classic on-line democracy really. Technology & ScienceIntel Opening New Chip Plant in Arizona
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In the latest display of its manufacturing might, Intel Corp. is opening a new $3 billion factory in Arizona, widening its lead over rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in the industry's switch to a new chip-making technique.
Good for you, Intel. You’re helping to ensure that you’ll continue to have a market here in the U.S. Too many companies take jobs offshore, which reduces the buying power here. These companies are fowling their own nest.—Caro
Cell phone message warns train gropers
TOKYO - Did you just grope me? Shall we head to the police? That's the message women are flashing on their cell phones with a popular program designed to ward off wandering hands in Japan's congested commuter trains.
Good. Groping has to be more of a power turn on than a sexual one. It has happened to me, and I felt really violated.—Caro
Scientists Envision Growing Human Eyeballs
A genetic switch that gives tadpoles three eyes could allow stem-cell scientists to eventually grow human eyeballs or at least create replacement parts needed for repair jobs.
Survery: Housing Crisis Stress a Major Health Problem in the U.S.
One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress and nearly half of Americans (48 percent) believe that their stress has increased over the past five years. Stress is taking a toll on people -- contributing to health problems, poor relationships and lost productivity at work, according to a new national survey released today by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Scientists Narrow Optimism Area in Brain
WASHINGTON (AP) - A person's optimism in the future seems to be controlled by a small front part of the mid-brain, according to a study that used brain imaging. That area deep behind the eyes activates when people think good thoughts about what might happen in the future.
Body's Clock Never Adjusts to Daylight Savings Time
You can't fool Mother Nature, experts say
Space Shuttle Gets Clean Bill Of Health
Preliminary in-orbit scans found no obvious damage from the launch to the nose cap or the leading-edge panels on the wings. The inspection is a now-standard exercise for post-Columbia crews. Discovery should reach the space station Thursday.
Obscure Comet Brightens Suddenly
A small and very faint comet has surprised observers around the world by overnight becoming bright enough to see with the unaided eye. EnvironmentWinds wane as 18 wildfires burn in California
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Dying winds gave California firefighters their first big break on Wednesday after four days battling wildfires, but San Diego faced more calamity as blazes there burned out of control and kept more than half a million evacuees from returning home.
Global warming creating public health woes, Senate panel told
WASHINGTON — From algae blooms in the Chesapeake Bay to heat waves, drought and fires consuming the West, global warming is stirring up public health problems that are likely to worsen, witnesses told a Senate committee Tuesday.
Satellite Video Shows Struggling Seas
NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) has constantly measured ocean color as an indicator of sea life productivity since the satellite reached orbit in 1997. Combined with ocean temperature data, the observations suggest climate change is playing a big role in negatively altering ocean ecosystems. A new video made from the decade of data illustrates how blooms of phytoplankton, which form the base of the oceanic food chain, are gradually thinning.
Solution to Energy and Climate Crises? A Game of Leapfrog
The Amsterdam-based InterAcademy Council—a group that represents 150 national scientific and engineering academies—released a report this week detailing how countries can shift from burning coal and other greenhouse-gas emitting fuels to cleaner energy while also introducing modern forms of energy to the billions worldwide who rely on charcoal, firewood or even dung as their fuel. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com.
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