Good Morning! - Morning Headlines

[Caro]

Morning headlines brought to you by

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Top Story

Democrats move to limit Bush's authority
WASHINGTON - Four years ago, Congress passed legislation authorizing President Bush to go to war in Iraq. Now Senate Democrats want to take it back.

Lieberman Says War Vote Could Prompt Party Switch
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut told the Politico on Thursday that he has no immediate plans to switch parties but suggested that Democratic opposition to funding the war in Iraq might change his mind.
Connecticut voters, you want an end to the war as much as the rest of us do. Why on earth did you return this man to the Senate? He can now stop any limitations on Bush’s unbridled war powers by threatening to switch parties. —Caro

The Radical Fringe

The World

Insurgent bomb factory found in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military warned Thursday that insurgents are adopting new tactics in a campaign to spread panic after troops uncovered a car bomb factory with propane tanks and chlorine cylinders — possible ingredients for more chemical attacks following three explosions involving chlorine.

North Of Baghdad, War Getting Worse
Buritz is part of Baqouba, an ethnically mixed city 35 miles north of Baghdad. It's one of several villages U.S. and Iraqi troops are in the process of clearing. American commanders believe securing these communities is crucial to the goal of handing over control of the Diyala province to Iraqi security forces in the coming months. But the operations have grown deadlier, complicated by what may be an influx of Sunni and Shiite fighters flushed out of Baghdad by the stepped-up security operations there.

Diplomats to work on new Iran resolution
UNITED NATIONS - Iran is "thumbing its nose" at the international community by expanding its uranium program, a top U.S. official said, setting the stage for difficult negotiations on new U.N. sanctions, with the U.S. likely to push for tougher measures.

Syria said boosting arsenal since war
JERUSALEM - Syria has embarked on an "unprecedented" effort to bolster its armed forces with Iranian and Russian help, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported Thursday.

Pakistan successfully test-fires new version of long-range nuclear-capable missile
Pakistan successfully test-fired a new version of its long-range nuclear-capable missile on Friday, the military said. The Hatf VI (Shaheen II) ballistic missile, launched from an undisclosed location has a range of 1,245 miles.

Muslim nations to hold Mideast talks in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - The foreign ministers of seven key Muslim nations will meet in Pakistan this weekend to discuss a joint strategy to end the worsening turmoil in the Middle East, officials said Friday.

Security pros gloomy on terror outlook
The international terrorist threat is increasing as more recruits become radicalized, even though police and intelligence agencies are getting better at disrupting militant plots.

Security Council extends, expands UN Timor mission
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The UN Security Council gave a UN security mission in troubled East Timor another year and added 140 police officers to boost security ahead of April 9 presidential elections.

Chavez: U.S. trying to sabotage economy
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez warned that the U.S. government, allegedly frustrated by failed assassination plots against him, was now planning to sabotage the oil-producing country's economy.

Nations seek to ban cluster bombs
OSLO, Norway - Representatives from 48 nations launched on Thursday a global effort to ban the use, production and stockpiling of cluster bombs by the end of next year despite the opposition of several major military powers.

Italy's Prodi set to head back to prime minister's office
ROME (AFP) - Romano Prodi looked set Friday to be renamed as Italy's prime minister after securing the backing of his fractious ruling coalition with the threat of a new election.

The Nation

Cheney criticizes China's arms buildup
SYDNEY, Australia - China's recent anti-satellite weapons test and its continued military buildup are "not consistent" with its stated aim of a peaceful rise as a global power, Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday.
Talk about your chutzpah! China has us by the gonads because they own so much of our debt, and here is our vice president telling them they can’t do something we ourselves are doing! —Caro

U.S. hunted al Qaeda suspects from Ethiopia: report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military used bases inside Ethiopia last month in a quiet campaign to capture or kill top al Qaeda leaders in the Horn of Africa, The New York Times reported on its Web site on Thursday, citing U.S. officials.
Murder squads are being operated by our government. —Caro

Doctors call Padilla unfit for terrorism trial
MIAMI (Reuters) - Former "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla is mentally unfit to stand trial on terrorism charges and physically unable to tell his lawyers what happened to him in a U.S. military prison, doctors who examined him for the defense said in court on Thursday.

Soldier gets 100 years in prison for rape, killing of 14-year-old Iraqi girl
A U.S. soldier was sentenced to 100 years in prison Thursday for the gang rape and murder of an Iraqi girl and the killing of her family last year.

White House brings in Nixon-era lawyer
WASHINGTON - In his first job at the White House, Fred Fielding, barely in his 30s, broke the news to President Nixon's top lawyer about the Watergate break-in.
Getting ready for congressional investigations! —Caro

Nevada "mushroom cloud" blast plan abandoned
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon has abandoned plans for a massive test explosion in the Nevada desert, the first time a mushroom cloud would have been seen near Las Vegas since a nuclear test in the 1960s, officials said on Thursday.

Grades rise, but reading skills fall, data suggest
High school seniors are taking more challenging classes and earning higher grades than ever, but their reading skills have actually worsened since 1992, data released Thursday by the U.S. Education Department suggest.

Salmonella outbreak widens to 41 states
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An outbreak of salmonella food poisoning linked to peanut butter has widened to 329 people in 41 states, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday.

New inspections to start in April at food plants vulnerable to bacteria
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday a new "risk-based" inspection plan designed to focus more attention on facilities that produce foods vulnerable to bacterial and viral infections. Plants producing foods such as ground chicken and beef will be more intensively inspected.

New York Man Sentenced for Role in Connection With Corruption in Oil-for-Food Program
Tongsun Park, 71, a citizen of the Republic of Korea, was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for his role in connection with corruption of the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program.
Tongsun Park! I had no idea he was still around. In the 70s, he was doing illegal rice deals in Louisiana. —Caro

Economy & Business

Dow down as oil nears $61
NEW YORK, Feb b22 (Reuters) - U.S. blue-chip stocks declined on Thursday as a jump in oil prices added to worries about inflation, but a rally in chip makers' stocks helped the Nasdaq advance late in the session to end at a six-year high.

Leading economic index up for second straight month
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A key forecasting gauge for the U.S. economy rose for the second straight month, but at a smaller-than-expected 0.1 percent in January, a report from a private research group said on Wednesday.

No. 1 Milk Company Says 'No' to Clones
WASHINGTON (AP) - Milk from cloned cows is no longer welcome at the nation's biggest milk company. Although the government has approved meat and milk from cloned animals while it conducts further studies, Dean Foods Co. of Dallas said Thursday that its customers and consumers don't want milk from cloned animals.

Jury orders Microsoft to pay $1.52B
SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. must pay $1.52 billion in damages to telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA for violating two patents related to digital music, a federal jury ruled Thursday.

Media

MakeThemAccountable.com: That Librul Media Is at It Again
Charting 6,329 words, so far, in "the Washington Post's campaign to absolve Scooter Libby," while counting only 176 "total words against coddling those who endanger covert operatives"—in the form of a Letter to the Editor criticizing an opinion piece of "Victoria Toensing’s irrelevant opinings."
Thank you, FAIR! —Caro

Newspapers no different than any other business, says Zell
Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, who reportedly would like to buy a stake in Tribune, says despite the public service role of journalism, "there is no difference" between running a newspaper and managing any other for-profit business.
Can Zell name another business mentioned in the Constitution? —Caro

Rightie Pundit Who Published Faked Lincoln Quote Is Back -- But Lincoln Expert Smacks Him Down
You remember . He's the prominent conservative Washington Times columnist who got roundly pilloried for publishing an infamously fake Lincoln quote last week in his Times column. Now Gaffney's "back in the ring to take another swing," as the venerable ACDC lyric has it. In his latest column, Gaffney apologizes for the quote. But then he goes right ahead and continues suggesting that Lincoln's war conduct still nonetheless shows that current war opponents should be "held accountable" for their "dissent." So I called up Harold Holzer, a Lincoln expert who's the author, most recently, of the book "Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President." Holzer's take? Gaffney's historically anology doesn't hold up. At all. It's wrong, wrong, wrong.

Spinonymous sources: Wash. Post granted Bush admin. officials anonymity to denounce "cheap shots" over British troop withdrawal
In a February 22 Washington Post article analyzing the political repercussions of British Prime Minster Tony Blair's decision to begin withdrawing British troops from Iraq, staff writers Jonathan Weisman and Peter Baker granted anonymity to a Bush administration official who denounced "domestic opponents" who, in the official's opinion, will use news of the withdrawal to "take cheap shots." The article stated that the official was granted anonymity to "talk candidly about political strategy":

Malkin Blog-ish ShowTo Follow '1/2 Hour News Hour'
After this Sunday's second showing of the controversial 'Half Hour News Hour', Fox News Channel will launch 'It's Out There', a news show in which Michelle Malkin along with Kirsten Powers "will take on political and cultural issues enflaming the blogosphere," such as the nonsense that Michelle Malkin writes on her blog and says on dumb Fox News shows. The premiere episode reportedly features a segment about Edwards campaigning on Second Life and other virtual politicking.

"Jurassic journalist" has had it with complaints about MSM
The Washington Post's Walter Reed investigation is "a magnificent example of what journalism does best," says Al Eisele. "Citizen journalism is fine, and it's great that vigilant readers are keeping journalist, and politicians, on their toes. But when's the last time it prodded the bureaucracy into action to fix a problem or correct an injustice?" Eisele says the Mainstream Media (MSM) is still an essential part of the brave new world of journalism in the Internet age.
How long has citizen journalism been around? And how desperately is it fought by the MSM? Could those be factors in how much influence we’ve had so far? —Caro

Hearst Tests Microsoft Program to Download Newspapers
Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Hearst Corp.'s Seattle Post- Intelligencer plans to test software developed with Microsoft Corp. to let readers download an entire newspaper onto laptop computers and portable devices running Windows software. Once the content is received, readers can view the material without being connected to the Web, New York-based Hearst said today in a statement. Hearst said it may use the software to provide downloads of its other newspapers and magazines.
Download at home or the office, and read on the commute—but only if you’re not driving! —Caro

Dem-Gazette's new weekly targets nontraditional readers
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's new weekly is "intended for readers that want less info and more abbreviated stories," says general manager Paul Smith. "And that's been done in quite a few locations around the country with some success."

Mail & Guardian Goes Web 2.0 in Pictures
On Feb. 8, South Africa's Mail & Guardian launched a special News in Photos mini-site that goes beyond what most news organizations' online photo galleries provide. In particular, it offers features more commonly found on social media sites.
Would this be the comic book of journalism? —Caro

Professional content to boost new media sales: IBM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sales of media on the Internet and on cell phones are expected to rise 23 percent over the next four years, driven by TV networks and film studios putting more of content online, according to a new IBM study. IBM researchers estimated new media sales to grow at nearly five times the rate of traditional media, with the biggest surge coming from the Internet syndication of professionally produced programming, which is expected to jump 33 percent to $25 billion.

News Corp. buys Web ad company
San Francisco (IDGNS) - News Corp. aims to increase ad revenue from its online division by completing the acquisition of Internet ad placement company Strategic Data Corp. on Thursday.

Local TV Creates First Open Electronic Trading System
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Television Bureau of Advertising, an industry advocate for local TV, is set to build a multimillion-dollar electronic system to enable media agencies to buy airtime without the need for smudgy faxes and file cabinets full of paper invoices.

Technology & Science

Avaya to add VoIP to Google Apps
San Francisco (InfoWorld) - Avaya said on Thursday that it will develop communications solutions for small business that combine Google's updated Apps Premier Edition suite of Web applications with its own IP telephony technology.
Will we be doing our spreadsheet work by cell phone, or will our computers access the internet over a cell phone network? —Caro

Mystery Cell Phone Charges
Cell phone customers are increasingly complaining--and suing--over mysterious, hard-to-cancel charges on their monthly bills.

Geometry meets arts in medieval Islamic tile
A Harvard University researcher argues that more than 500 years ago, medieval Islamic math whizzes met up with the artists and began creating far more complex tile patterns that culminated in "quasi-crystalline designs." Quasicrystal patterns weren't demonstrated by mathematicians in the West until the 1970s.

Spear-Hunter Chimpanzees?
A team of researchers says it's documented 22 cases of chimpanzees using spear-like tools to hunt for dinner. The primates are known to use tools, but very rarely to hunt for food. Adolescent females were the most frequent spear-hunters.

Ants 'Hate Each Other' But Work Together
Different ant species can coexist because, as the saying goes, where one is weak another is strong. In what researchers describe as “un-peaceful coexistence,” multiple ant species stake out the same territory and compete for the same food, but no single species wins out since some are better at finding resources and others better at guarding them. The take-away message is … about understanding the natural limits of organisms: No single species wins every time, because it is impossible to be well adapted to do everything.

Live Bacteria Could Reduce Earthquake Damage
When earthquakes strike in sandy soil, the ground can turn to a liquid-like state that proves disastrous for buildings. The phenomenon, called liquefaction, is common around bays and near the sea. It destroyed several buildings in low-lying areas in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco. Now scientists hope to turn such sandy soils into solid rock by injecting live bacteria into the ground.

First American Settlers Not Who We Thought
The Clovis People, a prehistoric group of mastodon hunters distinguished by their unique spear points and once thought to be the first Americans, likely populated North America after other humans had already arrived, a new study concludes.

Lightning Strikes from the Mouths of Volcanoes
Radio receivers give scientists their first direct look at volcanic lightning.

Model: Merging stars hatched nebula rings
Three mysterious debris rings surrounding Supernova 1987A were formed during an ancient two-star merger that eventually led to an enormous stellar explosion, a new computer model suggests.