Today’s Headlines

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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

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Freedom Rider: Why We Write About Obama (by Margaret Kimberley at the Black Agenda Report)
Caught up and rendered silly by Obamamania, Black progressives who should know better have unilaterally disarmed themselves in surrender to a media-amplified euphoria that most resembles a group drug fest… We … find ourselves reviled by Black erstwhile progressives “based on annoyance that we brought a skunk to the party.” But the stink does not emanate from us – it comes from Obama’s own mouth, when he praises racist Ronald Reagan and the 1990s “ideas” of Newt Gingrich, in a blatant bid to make common cause with those who wish to destroy the last vestiges of a Black Movement, root and branch.

The Heretik

The World

Gunmen kill 8 Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi army checkpoint in central Baghdad Wednesday, killing eight soldiers and wounding two, police said.

Iraq's New Law on Ex-Baathists Could Bring Another Purge
BAGHDAD -- Maj. Gen. Hussein al-Awadi, a former official in Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, became the commander of the Iraqi National Police despite a 2003 law barring the party from government. But now, under new legislation promoted as way to return former Baathists to public life, the 56-year-old and thousands like him could be forced out of jobs they have been allowed to hold, according to Iraqi lawmakers and the government agency that oversees ex-Baathists.

Israel Resumes Fuel Shipments to Gaza
After widespread criticism of its decision to cut off supplies of industrial diesel oil required to run a power station that serves Gaza City and its hospitals, Israel resumed fuel shipments on Tuesday on what it said would be a temporary basis.
Tens of thousands cross downed Gaza wall
RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Tens of thousands of Palestinians poured from the Gaza Strip into Egypt Wednesday after masked gunmen with explosives destroyed most of the seven-mile wall dividing the border town of Rafah.

UN renews pressure on Iran
Iran came under renewed pressure to suspend its uranium enrichment programme (Tuesday) night, when the five permanent members of the UN security council and Germany agreed in principle on a new package of sanctions.
Doing Bush’s bidding.—Caro

EU's Solana to meet Iranian nuclear negotiator Wednesday
BRUSSELS (AFP) - Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said Wednesday that he would meet later in the day with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana to discuss Iran's nuclear programme.

Retired generals tell Musharraf to go
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - An influential group of retired officers from Pakistan's powerful military has urged President Pervez Musharraf to immediately step down, saying his resignation would promote democracy and help combat religious militancy.

Russia bombers to test-fire missiles in Atlantic
Russia on Tuesday sent two long-range bombers to the Bay of Biscay, off the French and Spanish Atlantic coasts, to test-fire missiles in what it billed as its biggest navy exercise in the area since Soviet times.

N. Korea May Be Taken off Terrorism List
North Korea may soon be on its way to being the second country taken off the State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism during the Bush administration's war on of terrorism.

Darfur bandit attacks threaten aid to 2 million: WFP
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Armed robberies and bandit attacks on aid convoys are threatening deliveries of food to more than 2 million people in Darfur, the World Food Program said on Wednesday.

Five mortar shells hit near Somali PM's home: residents
MOGADISHU (AFP) - Five mortar shells landed near the residence of Somalia's prime minister in Mogadishu on Wednesday as he was to hold talks with a senior African Union envoy, residents said.

U.N. Ethiopia/Eritrea force may have to pull back
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. peacekeepers monitoring the disputed border between Ethiopia and Eritrea may have to halt operations within weeks because Eritrea has cut diesel fuel supplies, said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The Nation

Govt' red ink expected to get deeper
WASHINGTON - The latest deficit projections from the Congressional Budget Office forecast a sea of red ink that will only deepen under plans to jump-start the economy with tax cuts and government spending.

US military sees first Iraq fatality in new armoured vehicle
An American soldier killed in a weekend roadside bomb attack in Iraq became the first fatality in a new-style armoured vehicle designed to protect troops, the US military said on Tuesday. "This was the first fatality involving an IED attack on a MRAP anywhere," spokesman Major Winfield Danielson told AFP.

Documents reveal evidence of Afghan prisoner torture
According to newly released documents from a court case brought by human rights groups, a Canadian human rights officer discovered last Nov. 5 an electrical cable and rubber hose alleged to have been used by Afghan jailors in the torture of a prisoner turned over by Canadian forces.

White House Has No Comprehensive E-Mail Archive
President Bush's White House early on scrapped a custom (e-mail) archiving system that the Clinton administration had adopted under a federal court order. From 2001 to 2003, the Bush White House also recorded over computer backup tapes that provided a last line of defense for preserving e-mails, even though a similar practice landed the Clinton administration in legal trouble. As a result, several years' worth of electronic communication may have been lost, potentially including e-mails documenting administration actions in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Assaults on U.S. border agents surge
WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday that the United States and Mexico are working aggressively to track the killers of a 32-year-old Border Patrol agent who was killed over the weekend in what Chertoff described as an extensive surge in violence against federal agents along the Southwest border.

Senate passes defense bill. (Think Progress)
The Senate passed a revised defense policy bill (Tuesday) “that authorizes a 3.5 percent pay raise for troops while sidestepping a veto showdown with President Bush over whether the Iraqi government should compensate victims of state-sponsored abuse during the Saddam Hussein-era. The 91-3 vote sends the $696 billion measure to Bush for his expected signature.”

Republicans: FISA authority in Constitution
Authority to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance comes from the Constitution and is vital to stopping foreign terrorist attacks and spies, says a Republican staff assessment of the revised Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
And up is black, white is down, greed is good.—Caro

House to try for another veto override
WASHINGTON - The struggling economy gives Democratic lawmakers another weapon in their effort to expand a popular children's health insurance program. In the end, however, they appear to have made little headway in overcoming a presidential veto.
Bush signed an extension of the existing law in December, I guess the Democrats are trying again for the expansion that he promised to veto. Why does Bush hate children?—Caro

Attorneys probe deepens
Two inquiries by the House and Senate ethics committees are examining whether several congressional Republicans, including one running for the Senate this year, improperly interfered with investigations… (Justice Department investigators) have been questioning whether senior officials lied to Congress, violated the criminal provisions in the Hatch Act, tampered with witnesses preparing to testify to Congress, obstructed justice, took improper political considerations into account during the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys and created widespread problems in the department’s Civil Rights Division, according to several people familiar with the investigation.

Suit against bankers tied to Enron debacle is tossed
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today dismissed a huge lawsuit growing out of the Enron debacle that sought to hold Wall Street bankers liable for scheming with the executives of the defunct Houston energy trader.
Takin’ care of business.—Caro

Triangulation: The Next Generation (by vastleft at Corrente Wire)
Why is it that Barack Obama’s rhetoric sounds so strangely familiar? Oh, I remember. There was this charming young fellow from Arkansas – what was the name of that town? Anyway, he had this awfully nice idea, about a “third way” alternative to right-left partisanship. I wonder what became of him and that darling wife of his…. Wait, yes, it’s all coming back to me. She’s pursued that third-way agenda herself, in the Senate and in a run for the presidency. And so has the man from Honolulu /Indonesia /The South Side. (If this path doesn’t lead to the White House, it certainly qualifies him for one of those “New Sanfrankota” ads.)

Fed Cuts Rate 0.75 Percentage Point in Emergency Move
The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate in an emergency move for the first time since 2001 after stock markets tumbled from Hong Kong to London and the U.S. economy showed increasing signs that it's headed into a recession.

Media

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Just Six More Months Please (by dday at Hullabaloo)
As Andrew Bacevich said the other day, … the real goal of the surge (was) to keep our troops stuck in Iraq for as long as possible, so the occupation could be passed off to the next President. The idea was to create enough security success in the short-term by flooding the zone with troops to offer a propaganda victory, to allow the neocon wags to sputter "We're winning!" and forestall the inevtiable drawdown… This is just one of the dozens of landmines that Bush is going to put in place to make himself look better and to trip up his successor. He doesn't much care about the future of the country, only saving his own skin.
Are the Democrats preparing for the awful mess that the new Democratic president is going to inherit? It won’t be just a little bit of trash strewn around White House offices and a few “W” keys missing from computer keyboards. And the right-wing media machine will do everything in its power to blame every single mess on Democrats and absolve Republicans of any wrongdoing. That’s why Congressman Wexler’s hearings are so important (see below). We must have accountability, or it will be much easier for the right to rise again.—Caro

Impeachment resolution a matter of accountability (by Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI)
The call to impeach is one I did not take lightly. But as we said in our letter to Chairman Conyers, the issues are too serious to ignore. We simply cannot discount or overlook numerous, credible allegations of abuse of power by the Bush administration that, if proven, may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our Constitution.

Study: False statements on Iraq by Bush, others
A study by two non-profit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
We MUST leave a clear record for history, not just of the abuses, but also of unambiguous condemnation of the abuses.—Caro

Freedom’s Watch and its quarter-billion dollar budget (by Steve Benen at Crooks and Liars)
Freedom’s Watch has loudly announced that there will be no limits to what it might do…. While initial reports suggested a budget of $200 million, people who have talked to the group in recent weeks say the figure is closer to $250 million, more than double the amount spent by the largest independent liberal groups in the 2004 election cycle. The “no limits” phrase probably wasn’t intended this way, but it has two meanings. First, with a quarter-billion dollars, Freedom’s Watch will be able to do what it pleases. Second, driven by contemporary Republican norms, the range of Freedom’s Watch attacks with know “no limits,” because they’re unlikely to be concerned about pesky details (like decency and accuracy).
And where’s the organization to counter the upcoming indecencies and inaccuracies? Nonexistent. Progressives, big donors and small donors alike apparently don’t think it’s important to counter right-wing lies. Those of us who do think it’s important are severely underfunded.—Caro

Debunking the coulda-shoulda-woulda myth of online news (Ryan Sholin, thanks to Poynter Online)
"Here's the deal: Putting the news behind a paywall as early as, say, AOL's heyday -- or earlier if you prefer -- would have actually served to accelerate the rise of blogs, citizen media, and flight away from news-on-paper."
I still think people are willing to pay, they just don’t want to pay for lots of different subscriptions. The first person to come up with a creative way to bundle subscriptions is going to have a lot of say over how news is gathered and presented to the public.—Caro

BLOGS AND THE NARRATIVE.... (by Kevin Drum at Political Animal, the Washington Monthly)
Of the three basic types of campaign coverage — horserace/process stories; "outrage of the day" hyperventilating; and actual policy coverage — I'd peg the blogosphere's overall percentages at about 40/50/10… (W)e've ended up pretty narrative driven ourselves, haven't we?
But sometimes the outrage of the day coverage can bring about real change. See below. —Caro

The blog swarm Chris Matthews never saw coming (by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters)
When Chris Matthews' long-winded monologue at the opening of the January 17 Hardball program eventually touched down with an apology to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) for the way the cable talker had been treating the candidate on the air, the moment represented an unmistakable victory for the liberal blogosphere. By not only getting Matthews to apologize, but by also forcing the rest of the press -- post-New Hampshire -- to back off its, at-times, overtly sexist coverage of a prominent Democratic contender, the blogs have already had more impact on how the traditional press covers this presidential campaign than they did during the entire 2004 White House run.
Eric gives us a most interesting blow by blow. Click through to read the whole article.—Caro

CNN readers respond angrily to 'race or gender' story
(CNN) -- Within minutes of posting a story on CNN's homepage called "Gender or race: Black women voters face tough choices in South Carolina," readers reacted quickly and angrily. Many took umbrage at the story's suggestion that black women voters face "a unique, and most unexpected dilemma" about voting their race or their gender.

Viewership of Debate Sets Record
CNN said Monday’s Democratic debate averaged 4.9 million viewers, easily exceeding all previous debates shown on cable.

CNN’s Undecided Voters: Edwards Won Debate - Some will Vote Obama (by Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars)
CNN’s post-debate coverage from last night’s Democratic presidential debate included a focus group of undecided South Carolina voters. The group was asked to rate the candidates throughout the debate and gauge what worked and what didn’t work, and who was the group’s favorite. In the final analysis, the undecideds thought John Edwards did the best job of the three candidates — but that some 50% said that if they voted with their heads instead of their hearts, they would vote for Obama because they felt he has the best chance to win.
How is that using your head? I think it’s pretty stupid to vote for someone (or donate to someone) just because you think he or she can win, rather than because the person has the best policies.—Caro

What Did They Talk About? (Political Wire)
Sen. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards "met privately backstage following a very contentious Democratic presidential debate in this coastal city," sources with both campaigns confirm to CNN. "The meeting took place in the Edwards campaign green room."

Big Question Of The Day (by Greg Sargent at TPM Horse’s Mouth)
How many of the same pundits who had been predicting that Bill Clinton's out-of-control outbursts of rage would damage Hillary's candidacy will start saying -- now that Hillary is winning again -- that his displays of anger are faked and purely calculated to help her? Worth keeping an eye on.

No Questions On Global Warming Asked At CNN’s Coal Industry-Sponsored Presidential Debates (Think Progress)
In Democratic presidential debate (Monday) night, CNN once again failed to ask any questions about global warming. Perhaps not surprisingly, last night’s debate was sponsored by the coal front group Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC)… ABEC also co-sponsored November’s CNN/YouTube debates in Nevada and Florida, at which no questions about global warming were asked. These debate sponsorships are part of the coal industry’s aggressive “$35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change.”

Memo To Pundits And News Orgs: New Poll Suggests That American People Don't Crave Independent Third Party Run (by Greg Sargent at TPM Horse’s Mouth)
(T)he big news orgs have been lavishing tons of coverage on Michael Bloomberg's flirtation with an independent run for president. Reporters have given a great deal of ink to Bloomberg's argument that the major candidates in both parties aren't offering real solutions to our problems. And pundits such as David Broder have repeatedly argued that the public shares such sentiments and would be receptive to an independent run… (But according to a new Gallup poll,) "The American public does not appear to believe it is important or necessary for an independent candidate outside of the traditional two major parties to step into the race in order to save the nation."

Technology & Science

Project Aims to Map DNA of 1,000 People
WASHINGTON (AP) - Any two people may be roughly 99 percent identical at the genetic level. But the small differences are what tantalize scientists, and now they plan to map the DNA of 1,000 people worldwide to examine human genetic variation.

Study: Bisexuality Not Just an Experimental Phase
Bisexuality in women could be a lifelong sexual orientation, not a phase, a new study suggests. The finding runs counter to the idea that bisexuality is an experimental or transitional period for women who, for instance, are uncertain or have fear of commitment. In addition to debunking stereotypes about bisexuality, the research sheds light on the complex nature of sexual orientation in women.

Gastric Lap-Band Surgery Can Send Diabetes Into Remission
It helps patients shed more pounds than dieting and exercise do, study shows.

Another Study Links Western Diet to Heart, Health Risks
But it also found that diet soda doesn't protect against metabolic syndrome

A Little Regular Exercise Extends Men's Lives
Brisk 30-minute walk a few days a week cut death risk in half, study found.

Missing Link Between Belly Fat And Heart Disease?
A team of University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center scientists reports direct evidence of a link between inflammation around the cells of visceral fat deposits, and the artery-hardening process of atherosclerosis. The researchers also show that a medication often given to people with diabetes can be used to calm that inflammation, and protect against further artery damage.

New Evolution in Mice May Explain Infertility Problems in Humans
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that field mice have evolved a unique way of ensuring faster fertilisation, a phenomenon which could explain some cases of infertility in humans.

A Good Fight May Keep You And Your Marriage Healthy
ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2008) — A good fight with your spouse may be good for your health, research suggests. Couples in which both the husband and wife suppress their anger when one attacks the other die earlier than members of couples where one or both partners express their anger and resolve the conflict, according to preliminary results of a University of Michigan study.

Ancient Maya scarified boys not virgin girls
The victims of human sacrifice by Mexico's ancient Mayans, who threw children into water-filled caverns, were likely boys and young men not virgin girls as previously believed, archeologists said on Tuesday.

China hails "greatest discovery since Peking Man"
BEIJING (Reuters) - An almost complete human skull fossil that could date back 100,000 years has been unearthed in China, state media said on Wednesday, hailing it as the greatest discovery since Peking Man.

New Russian space base to send manned flights by 2018
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia, whose space programme relies heavily on a base in neighbouring Kazakhstan, is to build its own launch site for manned flights by 2018, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying Wednesday.

A Whole New View: Hubble Overhaul to Boost Telescope's Reach
When astronauts overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope this summer, they will leave behind a vastly more powerful orbital observatory to scan the universe.

Environment

U.S. Given Poor Marks on the Environment
The U.S. ranks at the bottom of the Group of 8 industrialized nations in the analysis conducted by researchers at Yale and Columbia Universities.

Californa's Warming Climate Caused by Humans
Recent research … shows that California temperatures have jumped statewide by more than 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit between 1915 and 2000. This warming is likely related to human activities.

Utah Scientist: Dust Shortening Winters
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Western winters are getting shorter because of dust kicked up by urban and agricultural development, a University of Utah researcher said.

EU plan sets out cuts for CO2 emissions
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union's plan for tackling climate change calls for imposing emissions cuts on member states, building more windmills and making it costlier for major polluters, according to documents to be unveiled Wednesday.

Wind Energy Grows 45% in 2007
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reported last week record growth in wind power generation with 5,244 megawatts of capacity installed in 2007 — a 45% increase reflecting $9 billion in investment and 30% of all new power generating capacity in 2007. 2008, however, will likely show growing pains as there is a current shortage of wind turbines, a situation that the AWEA sees as a big opportunity for manufacturers and entrepreneurs wishing to get in on a growing market.

Iceland's hydrogen ship heralds fossil-free future
At first glance, the red ship hardly looks like a herald of the future. Even its owner admits the hull needs a coat of paint and the interior some spit and polish. But in a few weeks, the Elding -- Icelandic for "Lightning" -- will be transformed into the world's first hydrogen-equipped commercial vessel, the latest sign that Iceland is pushing hard to become the first nation to break free from the constraints of fossil fuel.

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CaRO