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[Caro]

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Top Stories

Hussein’s ties to al-Qaida discounted
Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaida before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to a declassified Defense Department report released Thursday.

Cheney reasserts al-Qaida-Saddam link
Vice President Dick Cheney repeated his assertions of al-Qaida links to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq on Thursday as the Defense Department released a report citing more evidence that the prewar government did not cooperate with the terrorist group.

How does he know? The Easter Bunny told him so.
The Illustrated Daily Scribble

The World

US revs up pressure on Iran after release of Britons
The United States Thursday shrugged off Iran's release of 15 captured British sailors and warned it faced tougher sanctions if it does not bow to UN demands to halt its uranium enrichment operations. Refusing to accept the idea that the return of the Britons 12 days after they were seized showed Tehran's readiness to engage the international community, the White House reminded Tehran of the UN Security Council's demands on its nuclear program.
Back to bullying. Apparently, it’s all this administration knows how to do. —Caro

Basra Police: EFP bomb killed Britons
BAGHDAD - The Basra police commander on Friday said the roadside bomb used in an attack that killed four British soldiers had not been used in southern Iraq before, and his description of the deadly weapon indicated it was a feared Iranian-designed explosively formed projectile.
It’s a miracle. Just when George Bush was made to look a fool by the Iranians, the Iraqi police find a deadly explosive device to have been made by Iranians. —Caro

Suicide car bomber kills 20 in Ramadi
A suicide car bomber hit a police checkpoint Friday in western Ramadi, killing at least 20 people — two of them policemen — and wounding as many as 20, police in the Anbar provincial capital.

Pelosi Asks Saudis: Where Are The Women?
After defying the White House by meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, where she says she raised the issue of the kingdom's lack of female politicians.

Ugandan court scraps adultery law
KAMPALA, Uganda - A Ugandan court scrapped the nation's adultery law Thursday, saying it was unconstitutional and favored men.

Eritrea bans female circumcision
NAIROBI, Kenya - Eritrea's government said it has abolished the practice of female circumcision, describing it as a threat to the lives of women.

The Nation

Cheney: Pelosi’s Syria visit constitutes ‘bad behavior’
Vice President Dick Cheney weighed in on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) trip to Syria Thursday, calling her statement about peace talks with Israel “nonsensical,” and the visit an example of “bad behavior.”
You know you’re doing something right when Dick Cheney criticizes you. —Caro

Iraq Escalation May Get Bigger
Several National Guard brigades are expected to be notified soon that they could be sent to Iraq within a year, a senior Defense Department official said. It would be the first time full Guard combat brigades were sent back to Iraq for a second tour.

Dems call for review of Bush appointment
WASHINGTON - Democrats called for an investigation Thursday into whether President Bush acted illegally in appointing Sam Fox ambassador to Belgium.

Abramoff probe zeroes in on new target
WASHINGTON — The head of a Republican environmental advocacy group has been told officially by federal investigators that she is a target for criminal prosecution in the Jack Abramoff corruption probe. Italia Federici, who co-founded the group with former Interior Secretary Gale Norton and conservative GOP activist Grover Norquist, was told by the Justice Department she faces up to five charges in the influence-peddling scandal that has produced convictions against one lawmaker, two senior Bush administration officials and several congressional aides.

Federal Official in Student Loans Held Loan Stock
A senior official at the federal Education Department sold more than $100,000 in shares in a student loan company even as he was helping oversee lenders in the federal student loan program. The official, Matteo Fontana, now general manager in a unit of the Office of Federal Student Aid, was identified yesterday from government documents as a stakeholder in the parent company of Student Loan Xpress who sold shares in 2003.

Iglesias talking to special counsel
WASHINGTON - New Mexico's former U.S. attorney, David Iglesias, is talking with the government's independent counsel about whether Justice Department officials violated federal law when they fired him late last year.

Media

Wash. Post editorial omitted key facts from Post news report that undermine its attack on Pelosi
In an April 5 editorial, The Washington Post left out the full content of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) statements to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, as reported by the Post itself, which would have undermined the editorial's attack on Pelosi for telling Assad that Israel was ready to negotiate.

MSNBC's Corke claimed "the White House has remained consistent" in criticizing both parties for going to Syria
In an April 4 report on the White House's criticism of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) decision to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, MSNBC correspondent Kevin Corke claimed that "the White House has been fairly consistent on this particular issue."… But, contrary to Corke's claim, the White House's public statements have been entirely inconsistent -- initially chiding Pelosi while remaining silent about a Republican-led delegation to Damascus on April 1, and only recently denouncing these trips in general terms without singling out any Republican members of Congress who went on them.

Media quoted criticism of Pelosi for wearing headscarf in Middle East without noting that Rice, Laura Bush have also done so
News reports in the Associated Press and the New York Post, and an editorial in Investor's Business Daily, quoted Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticizing House Speaker Pelosi by saying that "being seen in a head scarf and so forth is sending the wrong signal to the people of Syria and to the people of the Middle East," without noting that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and first lady Laura Bush have both done the same when visiting the Middle East.
And so have reporters such as Christiane Amanpour and Jill Carroll. —Caro

Nolan: It's time to put an end to annual Washington dinners
The White House Correspondents Association dinner and similar bashes are public spectacles that, fairly or not, come to exemplify the public perception of a duplicitous, do-nothing media in the nation's capital, says Hamilton Nolan. "With so much effort being put into minimizing 'the appearance of conflict,' the media should take the logical step of abandoning these events to history."

http://www.mediachannel.org/out.php?url=http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/04/05/judge-urges-hatfill-to-compel-outing-of-sources/">Judge Urges Hatfill To Compel Outing Of Sources
A federal judge is prodding lawyers for a scientist investigated in connection with the anthrax attacks in 2001, Steven Hatfill, to escalate a battle with the press by insisting that reporters identify anonymous government sources who linked Mr. Hatfill to the probe.

New Talk Show Targets Hispanic Market
(A) new daily radio show, which will be launching early next week, is going to challenge the conventional wisdom that Hispanic’s just don’t do talk radio. The Mario Solis-Marich Show will be debuting on two of the most heavily penetrated U.S. Hispanic markets – El Paso and McAllen-Brownsville… But Solis-Marich's show will not be in Spanish. It will be in English and directed as much to the general market as to the Hispanic market.

Technology & Science

FCC wants more accuracy in cell phone locating
Aiming to improve the accuracy with which emergancy responders are able to locate callers in distress, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said that he will propose significant changes in the 911 system.

Top 5 video game heroines
Though video games used to be a man’s domain. Thankfully, things have changed. Today, you can find many strong female characters saving the day - not waiting to be saved.

Mystery of Greek Amphitheater's Amazing Sound Finally Solved
Cut the chatter! The ancient mystery surrounding the great acoustics of the theater at Epidaurus in Greece has been solved… (R)esearchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered that the limestone material of the seats provide a filtering effect, suppressing low frequencies of voices, thus minimizing background crowd noise. Further, the rows of limestone seats reflect high-frequencies back towards the audience, enhancing the effect.

Disease Underlies Hatfield-McCoy Feud
The most infamous feud in American folklore, the long-running battle between the Hatfields and McCoys, may be partly explained by a rare, inherited disease that can lead to hair-trigger rage and violent outbursts. Dozens of McCoy descendants apparently have the disease, which causes high blood pressure, racing hearts, severe headaches and too much adrenaline and other “fight or flight'' stress hormones.
We seem to have a lot of people in this country with this disease. Maybe that’s why we have so many right-wing crazies who are afraid of their shadows, and want us all to be afraid, too. —Caro

Environment

Experts warn warming will damage society
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Top climate experts warned on Friday that global warming will cause faster and wider damage than previously forecast, ranging from hunger in Africa and Asia to extinctions and rising ocean levels.

Southwest Forecast: Expect 90 Years of Drought
Human-induced change in Earth's atmosphere will leave the American Southwest in perpetual drought for the next 90 years, a new study finds. Conditions in the southwestern states and portions of northern Mexico will be similar to those seen during a severe multiyear drought in the southwest during the 1950s and the drought that turned the Great Plains into the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.

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