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Morning headlines brought to you by Carolyn Kay MakeThemAccountable.com Top StoryHelp BlackBoxVoting.org keep any shenanigans to a minimum in the Iowa caucuses tomorrow, January 3, 2008.
This affects every one of you in the 49 states that are "not Iowa" because what happens in Iowa will play a major role in which presidential candidates you get to vote for. Please distribute this to every single person you know in Iowa. Black Box Voting does not have many Iowa members, and needs your help to get this information where it needs to go.
Click through for the information on watching the process in both the Democratic and the Republican caucuses.—Caro VoterGate: The Movie
BlackBoxVoting.org’s Bev Harris is the person primarily responsible for bringing to light the frailties of voting machines. These machines aren’t used in Iowa, but we must never forget how carefully we must guard the counting of our votes.
Click here to see the video.
The WorldPakistan vote delayed until Feb. 18
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani election officials announced Wednesday that they were delaying parliamentary elections for six weeks until Feb. 18 because of the violence and chaos that followed the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Pak govt makes U-turn on cause of Bhutto's death
ISLAMABAD: In a dramatic U-turn, Pakistan government has "apologised" for claiming that former premier Benazir Bhutto died of a skull fracture after hitting the sunroof of her car during a suicide attack. Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz Khan has asked the media and people to "forgive and ignore" comments made by his ministry's spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema which were slammed by her Pakistan People's Party as "lies" and led to an uproar at home and abroad.
Analysis: Military slew Bhutto – sources
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on orders of lower- and middle-level officers of the Pakistani army and air force, according to various intelligence sources, including members of India's counterintelligence service.
A few bad apples, huh? Just like Abu Ghraib? Musharraf never, ever asked anyone to rid him of that meddlesome woman?—Caro
Bhutto report: Musharraf planned to fix elections
NAUDERO, Pakistan — The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday. Bhutto had been due to meet U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to hand over a report charging that the military Inter-Services Intelligence agency was planning to fix the polls in the favor of President Pervez Musharraf.
Bhutto 'blocked from hiring US bodyguards'
Benazir Bhutto was so fearful for her life that she tried to hire British and American security experts to protect her, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. But the plans collapsed because President Pervez Musharraf refused to allow the foreign contractors to operate in Pakistan, according to senior aides.
Lawyer: Police prevented Bhutto autopsy
Rawalpindi's police chief stopped doctors at the hospital where Benazir Bhutto died from conducting an autopsy, according to a lawyer on the hospital's board. It was a violation of Pakistani criminal law and prevented a medical conclusion about what killed the former prime minister, said Athar Minallah, who serves on the board that manages Rawalpindi General Hospital.
Bush Sticks With Musharraf as Pakistan Democracy Push Stumbles
George W. Bush's support for Musharraf hasn't changed, an administration official said, adding that the U.S. sees itself as playing a supporting role as Pakistan decides how to move forward on the path of democracy.
Bhutto tribe patriarch disputes party leadership succession
MIR BHUTTO, Pakistan — The elevation of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's husband and teenaged son to replace her as leaders of Pakistan's largest opposition party is re-opening fissures that have divided the powerful political family for decades. To Mumtaz Bhutto, the septuagenarian patriarch of the 700,000-strong Bhutto tribe, Asif Ali Zardari and his son, Bilawal, are interlopers.
Female suicide bomber kills 10 in Iraq
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A female suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest struck a checkpoint of neighborhood patrol volunteers in Baquba, capital of Iraq's restive Diyala province, killing 10 people and wounding eight on Wednesday, police said.
Iraq suicide bomber kills 32 at funeral
A suicide bomber has killed 32 men and injured another 34 at the funeral of a retired army officer in Baghdad. It is believed a man loaded with explosives walked into a funeral tent outside the home of Nabil Hussein Jassim in the east Baghdad neighborhood of Zayouna.
110 US Troops Die in Afghanistan in 2007
U.S. military deaths, suicide bombings and opium production hit record highs in 2007. Taliban militants killed more than 925 Afghan police, and large swaths of the country remain outside government control.
Three killed, 20 hurt in bomb blast in Algeria: interior ministry
ALGIERS (AFP) - Three people were killed and 20 injured on Wednesday in a suicide car bomb blast near a police station in Naciria, 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of the Algerian capital, witnesses said.
Pressure mounts with 275 killed in Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya - International pressure mounted Wednesday on Kenya's leaders to bring an end to postelection violence that has shaken the country and killed more than 275 people, including dozens burned alive as they sought refuge in a church.
US diplomat killed in Sudan shooting
KHARTOUM, Sudan - An American diplomat and his driver were shot to death Tuesday in the Sudanese capital, the U.S. Embassy said, a day after a joint African Union-United Nations force took over peacekeeping in Sudan's Darfur region. The NationStonewalled by the C.I.A. (by Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the 9/11 commission)
As a legal matter, it is not up to us to examine the C.I.A.’s failure to disclose the existence of (the detainee interrogation) tapes. That is for others. What we do know is that government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by Congress and the president, to investigate one the greatest tragedies to confront this country. We call that obstruction.
Bush Issues Signing Statement Undermining Sudan Accountability And Divestment Act (Think Progress)
(Monday), President Bush signed the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act, which makes it easier for “states, local governments and private investors to cut investment ties with Sudan as a way to pressure the Khartoum government into ending violence in the country’s Darfur region.” Both the House and the Senate passed the bill unanimously. (H)is signature on the legislation … was accompanied by a signing statement, in which he reserved the right to “overrule” divestment decisions if they conflict with administration foreign policy.
Bush signs government transparency bill
CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush on Monday signed a bill aimed at giving the public and the media greater access to information about what the government is doing. The new law toughens the Freedom of Information Act, the first such makeover to the signature public-access law in a decade.
And is there a signing statement for this bill, too? This is the most secretive administration ever, and I can’t imagine them just rolling over on this issue.—Caro
Military use of unmanned aircraft soars
The military's reliance on unmanned aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents civilians has soared to more than 500,000 hours in the air, largely in Iraq, The Associated Press has learned.
Privacy groups blast new passport tech
Passport cards for Americans who travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean will be equipped with technology that allows information on the card to be read from a distance. The technology was approved Monday by the State Department and privacy advocates were quick to criticize the department for not doing more to protect information on the card, which can be used by U.S. citizens instead of a passport when traveling to other countries in the western hemisphere.
And could also be used by merchants to record our visits to their stores, which could be matched up to our purchases there, along with our library visits and all sorts of other activities.—Caro
Final 'Iowa Poll:' Obama & Huckabee ahead of rivals (On Politics, USA Today)
"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has widened his lead in Iowa over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards heading into Thursday's nominating caucuses, according to The Des Moines Register's final Iowa Poll before the 2008 nominating contests.
Another Iowa Poll Shows Different Results (Political Wire)
(A) new CNN/Opinion Research poll says Sen. Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are leading (in Iowa).
New Poll: Still a Toss Up in Iowa
Political Wire got an advance look at a new Strategic Vision poll in Iowa that shows Sen. Barack Obama leading the Democratic presidential race with 32% support, followed by John Edwards at 29% and Sen. Hillary Clinton at 27%. On the Republican side, Mitt Romney leads with 30%, followed by Mike Huckabee at 28%; Sen. John McCain at 16% and Fred Thompson at 13%. Like other polls we've seen in the last week, both races are essentially statistical ties.
Second Choices Give Edwards Clear Lead in Iowa (Political Wire)
An InsiderAdvantage tracking poll in Iowa shows a statistical tie between Sen. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in the Democratic presidential race with Sen. Barack Obama starting to lag. Clinton leads with 30%, followed by Edwards at 29%, and Obama at 22%, with 14% committed to other candidates and 5% undecided. The poll has a margin of error of 3.4%. Important finding: Edwards was the second choice of 62% of those who supported other candidates that did not receive the required 15% of the vote. Clinton was the second choice of 21% and Obama of 17%.
If Not Viable, Kucinich Urges Supporters To Caucus For Obama (Hotline on Call, The National Journal)
That's not a very big 'if' ... But ok, a purely hypothetical IF Dennis Kucinich fails to make the 15 percent viability threshold in Iowa precincts, he wants his supporters to caucus for Barack Obama.
Edwards Calls for Quick Pullout of Troops Training Iraqi Forces
John Edwards says that if elected president he would withdraw the American troops who are training the Iraqi army and police as part of a broader plan to remove virtually all American forces within 10 months.
Obama: Gore, Kerry Alienated "Half the Country" (Spin Cycle, Newsday)
In a speech (Monday) afternoon in central Iowa, Barack Obama seems to have widened his criticism of the politics of the past to encompass not only Hillary Clinton but John Kerry and Nobel Laureate Al Gore. Making an argument for his electability, Obama said, "I don't want to go into the next election starting off with half the country already not wanting to vote for Democrats -- we've done that in 2004, 2000," according to a person at the event.
Hillary: No tea-drinking in Bosnia, Barack (Hot on the Trail, McClatchy)
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton must be peeved by the suggestions that her international experience as First Lady doesn't count for much. Barack Obama said a lot of it amounted to "drinking tea" in fancy surroundings; Chris Dodd said she "witnessed experience."… "We used to have a saying in the White House," Clinton said. "If a place is too dangerous, too small or too poor, send the First Lady." Recalling a tense corkscrew landing at an airport in war-torn Bosnia, she said: "I don't remember anybody offering me tea on the tarmac."… UPDATE: According to Sen. Clinton's autobiography, she was accompanied on the Bosnia trip by the comedian Sinbad and rocker Sheryl Crow, as well as daughter Chelsea.
The cost of living
What better way to celebrate the New Year than to sock it to grandma and grandpa with big prices increases? That may not have been the exact nature of the conversation at the US insurance companies that participate in the Medicare prescription drug plan, but it sure was the outcome, as premiums are scheduled to rise by an average of almost 25% in 2008. The sharp price hikes for 2008 could mark the beginning of the end of the relatively good news in the plan's first two years of existence.
2008 and Beyond: Alan Greenspan's Continuing Legacy (by Robert Reich)
The only aspect of a nation’s economy that remains unique is its people – especially their education, health and the transport and communications systems linking them together. These generate lasting productivity gains. But partly owing to (Alan) Greenspan the libertarian, even if a Democrat were to retake the White House in 2008, the government wouldn’t have nearly enough money to do what is needed.
Click through to read Reich’s history of Greenspan’s actions to help Reagan and the Bushes give away our treasury to the rich, while restricting Clinton’s ability to help ordinary citizens.—Caro MediaPermanent link to MTA daily media news
TV cuts candidates from debates, angering Paul backers
NEW YORK (AP) -- ABC and Fox News Channel are narrowing the field of presidential candidates invited to debates this weekend just before the New Hampshire primary, in Fox's case infuriating supporters of Republican Rep. Ron Paul.
Washington Post's Milbank on Hillary Clinton: "The press will savage her no matter what"
Summary: On CNN's Reliable Sources, The Washington Post's Dana Milbank said of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that "(t)he press will savage her no matter what." Indeed, Milbank himself has smeared Clinton or propagated misinformation about her.
Memo To Bloomberg And Company: The Way To Reduce "Partisan Gridlock" Is To Further Weaken The GOP. (by Greg Sargent at TPM Horse’s Mouth)
By now, you've probably heard that Michael Bloomberg and a bunch of retired politicians are going to hold a summit at the University of Oklahoma this week to talk about how desperately the nation needs a nonpartisan and independent leader like, you know, him to come in and lead the nation out of partisan gridlock… When these bearded elders descend on Oklahoma later this week, will anyone ask them what policies they stand for, beyond "breaking partisan gridlock"? Will anyone ask them where they stand on the issues? Will anyone ask why we're supposed to believe that their actual stances have any chance of creating "bipartisan unity" at all?... Holding out the promise of bipartisan unity without saying why it is that your stances on issues will do anything at all to create that unity -- as Bloomberg and friends are doing here -- is just a sucker's game.
Dan Froomkin's Hard-Edged Polemics Are More Popular Than David Broder's Mushy Centrism (by Greg Sargent at TPM Horse’s Mouth)
Over the weekend The Washington Post published a list of its top ten most popular opinion pieces of 2007, ranked by page views. It was gratifying to note that three of these were written by Dan Froomkin, while exactly none was written by David Broder (or David Ignatius, for that matter). Mushy, platitudinous sermons about centrism just don't get people clicking the way hard-edged, and yes, partisan polemics do, it seems.
A Sliding Scale to Soften Political Polarities (by Barb Iverson at Poynter Online)
Vipul Vyas, recently profiled in India On, is an entrepreneur who thinks he can harness political passion to invent a better news aggregator. His site, Skewz allows registered users to submit news stories (including blog posts), rate ("skew") them on a polarity scale from "strongly liberal" to "strongly conservative," and add comments or their rationale for the rating. Skewz seeks to establish a middle ground between the polarities of not just politics, but how people view the biases and credibility of news organizations.
Resource: Government health findings soon open to all
WASHINGTON — Under an obscure provision of a law that President Bush signed last week, most health researchers backed by federal grants must offer their findings free to the public a year after they're first published commercially.
On-demand publishing offers outlet for aspiring authors
Getting a book published isn't the rarefied literary feat it once was. New printing technologies are making published authors of legions of aspiring writers, a population that once toiled for years on tomes that might not see the light of day.
On-demand publishing offers outlet for aspiring authors
Getting a book published isn't the rarefied literary feat it once was. New printing technologies are making published authors of legions of aspiring writers, a population that once toiled for years on tomes that might not see the light of day.
“The Story Of Stuff ” Challenges American Consumerism
Throughout the 20-minute film, activist Annie Leonard, the film’s narrator and an expert on the materials economy, examines the social, environmental and global costs of extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. Her illustration of a culture driven by stuff allows her to isolate the moment in history where she says the trend of consumption mania began. The “Story of Stuff” examines how economic policies of the post-World War II era ushered in notions of consumerism — and how those notions are still driving much of the U.S. and global economies today.
George Carlin does a great riff (video) on “stuff”—Caro.
Feds share coupons to help TV transition
Millions of $40 government coupons become available Tuesday to help low-tech television owners buy special converter boxes for older TVs that might not work after the switch to digital broadcasting. Beginning Feb. 18, 2009, anyone who does not own a digital set and still gets their programming via over-the-air antennas will no longer receive a picture.
So if you use only cable, as we do, you don’t need THIS converter. But our cable provider is advertising that we’ll need A box, so I’ll have to sort out what that’s about. I have a feeling they’re going to try to make us sign up for their digital service at the same time that broadcast goes digital.—Caro Technology & ScienceOnline Holiday Shopping Celebrates 21% Growth
Still, price cuts and coupons produce mixed results as shopping spending overall was lackluster, according to analysts with ComScore.
Ford's navigation systems take a turn for better
Whether it's finding the cheapest gas or grabbing a quick stock quote, the next generation of automotive navigation systems promises a lot more than maps and directions.
Video game looks into world of wolves
MINNEAPOLIS - The new video game "WolfQuest" allows players to follow the call of the wild in the role of a wolf in Yellowstone National Park.
Parents Show Bias In Sibling Rivalry, Says Study
ScienceDaily (Jan. 2, 2008) — Most parents would hotly deny favouring one child over another but new research suggests they may have little choice in the matter.
Make That New Year's Fitness Resolution Stick
Find an exercise that you love and seek out support from friends, experts advise
Gain a Foothold on Winter Walking Safety
Tread carefully in slush and ice, and use caution when exiting transportation
Children Who Sleep Less Weigh More
Kids' sleep patterns also vary by season, day, researchers report
Lack of deep sleep may increase risk of type 2 diabetes
Chicago - Suppression of slow-wave sleep in healthy young adults significantly decreases their ability to regulate blood-sugar levels and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, report researchers.
Resolve to Get Enough Zzzzs This Year
Experts offer tips on spotting problems and achieving better, longer sleep
Kidney Donation After Cardiac Death May Expand Donor Pool, Research Shows
ScienceDaily (Jan. 2, 2008) — New research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center suggests that transplanting kidneys from donors who died after cardiac arrest -- which used to be considered taboo -- offers a promising approach to increase the donor pool.
How about livers? And corneas? And… And…—Caro
Archaeologists discover remains of 2500-year-old advanced civilization in Russia
Moscow, Dec 28 (ANI): Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 2500-year-old advanced civilization at the bottom of Lake Issyk Kul in the Kyrgyz mountains in Russia… The discovery consisted of formidable walls, some stretching for 500 meters-traces of a large city with an area of several square kilometers. Other findings included Scythian burial mounds, eroded by waves over the centuries, and numerous well preserved artifacts-bronze battleaxes, arrowheads, self-sharpening daggers, objects discarded by smiths, casting molds, and a faceted gold bar, which was a monetary unit of the time.
The Enduring Mysteries of the Outer Solar System
The farthest reaches of our solar system remain the most mysterious areas around the sun. Solving the mysteries of the outer solar system could shed light on how the whole thing emerged — as well as how life on Earth was born. EnvironmentGlobal Warming Insurance Policy Is Worth Premium (by Gene Sperling, writing at Bloomberg)
How high a probability … must one have that global warming might lead to major environmental, refugee, and water and food-supply crises to see some value in taking preventative measures now? From this perspective, even congressional skeptics who don't believe that global warming is caused by humans might be persuaded to support a carbon cap-and-trade system just on the chance that the scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are right and the skeptics are wrong. They could see it as simply taking out a little Earth insurance.
I didn’t think of the insurance comparison, but I’ve said for years that the potential cost of not acting so far outweighs the cost of acting that acting is an imperative. Has Gene Sperling been reading MakeThemAccountable?—Caro
Orangutan Plan To Curb Carbon Emissions
ScienceDaily (Jan. 2, 2008) — Indonesia’s new 10 year action plan for conserving orangutans will have important benefits in mitigating climate change, according to WWF.
Beijing introduces cleaner fuel standards
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has introduced cleaner fuel standards in its capital Beijing, its latest effort to curb the city's notorious pollution ahead of the Olympic Games in August.
New Energy Uses for Asphalt
SCHARWOUDE, Netherlands (AP) - If you've ever blistered your bare feet on a hot road you know that asphalt absorbs the sun's energy. A Dutch company is now siphoning heat from roads and parking lots to heat homes and offices.
Bike-Sharing Is Caring
Bike-sharing programs that provide cheap access to inner-city bicycles are popular all over Europe, and Beijing, and even American cities are catching on
And, of course, there’s car sharing. We’re members of a car sharing network. We don’t even own a car any more.—Caro
Housewives are more ecologically aware and recycle more than university students
University of Granada - According to a new study, a high awareness of the environment does not necessarily entail the practice of ecologically responsible behaviour… The research … reveals that housewives are more willing to separate glass from other garbage than students.
‘Grease cars’ — the answer to high gas prices?
The latest do-it-yourself auto trend for eco-conscious drivers: "Grease cars" are diesel vehicles converted to also burn leftover food-grade vegetable oil.
Web swap program turns trash into treasure
Since starting in May 2003, Freecycle has become a global recycling phenomenon. For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com.
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