Today’s Headlines

Today’s headlines brought to you by

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

Top Story

Edwards to quit presidential race
DENVER - Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voter's sympathies but never diverted his campaign, The Associated Press has learned.
It’s a sad day for progressives. Clinton is conservative, and Obama is even more conservative.—Caro

All Hat No Cattle

The World

Severed heads and bodies found in Iraq field
Police found nine bodies and 10 severed heads in an abandoned field north of Baghdad on Tuesday, in a region where U.S. and Iraqi forces were pressing ahead with offensives against al Qaeda forces.

Army investigating deaths of 'several' detainees in Iraq
The Army is investigating the deaths of "several" detainees captured in 2007 by the Schweinfurt, Germany-based 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division during its recent deployment to Iraq.

New analysis 'confirms' 1 million+ Iraq casualties
Following responses to ORB’s earlier work, which was based on survey work undertaken in primarily urban locations, we have conducted almost 600 additional interviews in rural communities. By and large the results are in line with the 'urban results' and we now estimate that the death toll between March 2003 and August 2007 is likely to have been of the order of 1,033,000. If one takes into account the margin of error associated with survey data of this nature then the estimated range is between 946,000 and 1,120,000.

Israel court upholds Gaza sanctions
JERUSALEM - The Israeli Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the government's cutoff of fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip, a court spokeswoman said.

Study: Afghanistan could fail as a state
WASHINGTON - Afghanistan risks sliding into a failed state and becoming the "forgotten war" because of deteriorating international support and a growing violent insurgency, according to an independent study.

'Rogue trader' breaks his silence and insists his bosses knew what he was doing
Senior Société Générale officials "closed their eyes" to a culture of cheating on the trading floor, so long as it generated profits, the alleged "rogue trader", Jérôme Kerviel, told investigators. In verbatim extracts from his questioning at the weekend, seen by The Independent, M. Kerviel says that the ruling maxim of SocGen was: "Not seen, not caught. If you are caught, you are hanged."
OF COURSE they knew something was wrong. But whether they did or not, they should all be fired. They either pulled the wool over their own eyes or they were incompetent. Either way, they should never work in the securities industry again.—Caro

Sudan activists call for help in Darfur
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - In a former life, Emmanuel Jal turned a gun against his government as a conscripted rebel soldier in his native Sudan.

US envoy: 'Ethnic cleansing' in Kenya
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - A U.S. envoy said Wednesday that the violence in Kenya's Rift Valley was "clear ethnic cleansing," aimed at chasing out President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu people amid the turmoil over the recent disputed presidential election.

The Nation

White House Shows Signs of Rethinking Cut in Troops
Four months after announcing troop reductions in Iraq, President Bush is now sending signals that the cuts may not continue past this summer, a development likely to infuriate Democrats and renew concerns among military planners about strains on the force.

Bush Issues Signing Statement On Defense Act, Waiving Ban On Permanent Bases In Iraq
President Bush (on Monday) signed the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act… Even though he forced Congress to change its original bill, Bush’s signature … came with a little-noticed signing statement, claiming that provisions in the law “could inhibit the President’s ability to carry out his constitutional obligations.” CQ reports on the provisions Bush plans to disregard: “One such provision … bars funding for permanent bases in Iraq and for any action that exercises U.S. control over Iraq’s oil money.”

Bush to charge lawmakers $200 for budget hard copy
President Bush’s budget proposal has never been popular on Capitol Hill, but this year’s request comes with an added layer of insult: a price tag of $200… Lawmakers may read the budget online without cost. But those accustomed to holding a copy in their hands — or distributing multiple copies to their staffs to pore over the details — are going to have to dig into their own pockets and hand over some cash.
Was there ever a president who showed such open contempt for Congress?—Caro

Bush orders agencies to ignore earmarks
During his final State of the Union address, Bush announced that he would veto all future appropriations bills that do not cut in half the number and cost of earmarks. He also issued an executive order on Tuesday directing federal agencies to ignore all future earmark requests that are placed into committee reports and not brought to a vote. "The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks, special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate," Bush said Monday night.
I actually almost agree with Bush on this. I think earmarks should be banned, especially ones that don’t get a vote from the whole legislative chamber, but I don’t think it’s up to the executive to bar them. Is this his way of getting a line item veto, even though it’s been declared unconstitutional?—Caro

Mukasey Holds Back on Torture Issue
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said yesterday that the interrogation tactic known as waterboarding appears to be clearly prohibited by current law in some circumstances, but said that other circumstances would present "a far closer question."

Mukasey: Waterboarding Can Be Used Again If Requested By W. H.
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said Tuesday that the harsh C.I.A. interrogation technique known as waterboarding was not clearly illegal, and suggested that it could be used against terrorism suspects once again if requested by the White House.

Watchdog says Gonzales probe stymied
The government agency that enforces one of the principal laws aimed at keeping politics out of the civil service has accused the Justice Department of blocking its investigation into alleged politicizing of the department under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Scott Bloch, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, wrote Attorney General Michael Mukasey last week that the department had repeatedly "impeded" his investigation by refusing to share documents and provide answers to written questions, according to a copy of Bloch's letter.

F.B.I. Opens Subprime Inquiry
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened criminal inquiries into 14 companies as part of a wide-ranging investigation of the troubled mortgage industry, F.B.I. officials said Tuesday. The F.B.I. said it was looking into possible accounting fraud, insider trading or other violations in connection with loans made to borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit.

McCain beats Romney to win Fla. primary
MIAMI - Sen. John McCain won a breakthrough triumph in the Florida primary Tuesday night, seizing the upper hand in the Republican presidential race ahead of next week's coast-to-coast contests and lining up a quick endorsement from soon-to-be dropout Rudy Giuliani.

Clinton wins primary but no delegates
DAVIE, Fla. - Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Florida Democratic primary Tuesday night, an event that drew no campaigning by any of her presidential rivals and awarded no delegates to the winner.

Obama gives away money tied to donor
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama is giving to charity more than $70,000 in contributions linked to an indicted Chicago businessman whose past connections to the Democratic presidential candidate have created a distraction and raised questions about his judgment.

Can McCain Control His Temper? (Investor’s Business Daily)
McCain admits he's rubbed some senators the wrong way. But he explains that what they really don't like is his tough stand against farm subsidies and "pork barrel" spending. If that were the case, we'd say more power to him. But it seems McCain goes ballistic on anyone who disagrees with him. And he's not just verbally abusive, but physically threatening.

Media

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

A tale of two headlines: Associated Press, “Clinton wins primary but no delegates”; Associated Press, “Clinton claims win in Florida primary”
Every single mention of Hillary Clinton has to diminish her in some way?

Spinning Florida (by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo)
For the Democrats, the big question tonight was how the press would play Hillary Clinton's 'win' in Florida, or how successfully she could spin the result to count as a landslide victory on a par with Obama's big win in South Carolina. The final number seems to be Hillary 50%, Obama 33%, Edwards 14% which, in numerical terms, is a trouncing, even (if) it doesn't match the spread in South Carolina. Just judging from the cable news we watched this evening and how the major newspapers are playing it on their websites, it doesn't look like they get much of a pop.

Silly Voters (by digby)
(D)oes anyone think it's a good idea for MSNBC to be rude, snide and dismissive about more than a million and a half Democratic voters in Florida (more than double the turnout from 2004)?… (T)he Florida Democratic party actually worked to get their people out to the polls even if there wasn't a presidential campaign down there and they deserve at least a little bit of credit for getting so many people out under those circumstances. It's not the news media's job to make a judgment about whether they were right to do so… The contempt these elites hold for the people of this country is unparalleled. They are smirking and laughing and practically rolling their eyes, even as they report that more than a million Florida citizens cast their votes today. Who do they think they are?

Notes from the Underground (by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo)
We're getting late word on the subterranean Dem campaign going on in the last few days in Florida. A mailer went out from the Hillary-backing AFSCME. And a Clinton surrogate, Rep. Corrine Brown, did a robocall run for a state initiative that happens to mention that she's going to be supporting Hillary. Meanwhile, Obama's allies are in the mix too. Unite, an Obama-backing union, has also sent out a pro-Obama mailer.

THE AGE GAP.... (by Kevin Drum at Political Animal, the Washington Monthly)
A few weeks ago I noted that in New Hampshire Hillary Clinton had lost to Barack Obama among 18-24 year olds and 30-39 year olds, but oddly, had won in the middle group of 25-29 year olds. I wrote it off as a statistical fluke, but guess what? The same thing happened in Florida. Once might be a fluke, but not twice. So what's going on? Why would Hillary do 10 points better among a small donut hole of 25-29 year olds compared to the two age groups surrounding it? FWIW, this cohort is the one that turned 18 during the four years of Bill Clinton's second term. Was that a period when Hillary was especially appealing to young voters, who have stuck with her ever since?
Click through to see a chart.—Caro

Clinton in bid to calm angry racial debate
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is scrambling to shore up support among black voters and tamp down charges that her presidential campaign has been playing the race card. Following her thumping defeat by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the South Carolina primary, the former first lady secured an important endorsement Tuesday from Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and a leader of the Out of Iraq Caucus.
It’s starting to look as though Clinton is the uniter and Obama is the divider. Waters’ endorsement is important, but it gets little play in comparison to the Teddy and Caroline Kennedy endorsements. And why is there no talk of Camelot with Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton.—Caro

THE REBUTTAL.... (by Kevin Drum at Political Animal, the Washington Monthly)
Dana Goldstein didn't think much of the Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union address: “I had been excited about Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' official Democratic rejoinder, but her speech left me cold. It relied on feel-good platitudes over any real, specific critique of President Bush…” Unless I miss my guess, Sebelius was trying to sound like Barack Obama, talking about unity, bipartisanship, ending the rancor in DC, etc. But guess what? Unless you've got the gift for it, that kind of stuff just sounds weak and mushy.
And then Sebelius endorsed Obama right after the speech. How did the Obama campaign arrange for her to be the one to give the SOTU rebuttal, so that her endorsement could have the greatest impact? I’m telling you, Obama isn’t the political naïf that so many people think he is.—Caro

Arlo Guthrie endorses Ron Paul
Arlo Guthrie -- of Alice's Restaurant fame and son of folk legend Woody Guthrie -- has endorsed Republican Rep. Ron Paul's bid for the White House.
Hang down your heads and cry, children of the 60s.—Caro

Scarborough: McCain’s Platform Is ‘Less Jobs And More Wars’
During the coverage of (Tuesday) evening’s Florida primary results, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough discussed the impact of John McCain’s victory with Pat Buchanan. The Republican establishment will rally around McCain and say “he’s the guy,” Buchanan said, but he cautioned that McCain’s vision for America was foreboding. “What does he say? The jobs are never coming back, the illegals are never going home, but we’re gonna have a lot more wars,” Buchanan said of McCain. Scarborough remarked that McCain’s “inviting” presidential platform for the fall consists of “less jobs and more wars”.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro

Chris Matthews to McCain: “You’re In My Heart” (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
Chris Matthews is really, really starting to creep me out. He reminds me of an older relative of mine who has no filters on anything he says and so consequently says some very inappropriate things without realizing it. We’ve heard before that John McCain is very popular with the press corps simply because he’s always been very accessible to them, but this is simply taking things a little too far: “There he is! Senator McCain! You know you’re in my heart. “
Click through to watch the video.—Caro

Fox News is in for a very rough 2008 (by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters)
Bottom line is that Fox News is in for a very rough 2008. And the umbrella reason for that is quite simple: Eight years ago the all-news cable channel went all-in on the presidency of George Bush and became a broadcast partner with the White House… Fox News years ago made an obvious decision to appeal almost exclusively to Republican viewers. The good news then for Fox News was that it succeeded. The bad news now for Fox News is that it succeeded. Meaning, when the GOP catches a cold, everybody at Fox News gets sick.

Bolton: ‘The Mullahs In Tehran’ Want A Democrat To Win The Presidency In 2008
Voicing his support for the major Republican presidential candidates — who have supported attacking Iran — (Tuesday) on Fox News, Bolton said Iran’s “mullahs” want a Democratic president elected in 2008 in order to ensure that they can continue to pursue building a nuclear weapon… Bolton’s fearmongering on Iran mirrors the conservative strategy around the 2006 elections. At the time, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Dick Cheney, and the White House all suggested al Qaeda was hoping for a Democratic Congress.
Click through to watch the video.—Caro

Technology & Science

New Robotics Will Soon Revolutionize Industry And Services World
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2008) — In the past few years industrial processes have monopolised practically all robotic developments and applications. However, the current tendency is marked by new robotics which will have a great impact in various spheres – from the industrial to services and including entertainment and care assistance for persons, amongst other applications.

Home Control Products Finally Come of Age
On the way home you could use your cell phone to adjust the thermostat. As you park in the driveway, you might push a button to turn on appliances indoors. Inside, you might use a universal remote to turn lights on and off, and bring up images from a security camera to check a suspicious noise.

Ditching Vista: How To Downgrade To Windows XP
If sluggish performance and numerous bugs in your shiny new PC running Windows Vista have got you down, you can downgrade -- at no additional cost -- to Windows XP. It's not hard. Here's how.

Concussion Raises PTSD Risk for Iraq Vets
Study found loss of consciousness increased chances of trauma the most.

New Method Exploits Ancient Mechanism To Switch Genes On And Off At Will
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2008) — Since our ancestors first harnessed fire, we’ve used heat to cook burgers, forge steel and power rockets. Now, Rockefeller University researchers are using heat for another purpose: turning genes on and off at will. By exploiting the heat shock response, an ancient mechanism that protects cells from dangerously high temperatures, researchers have developed a new method to introduce foreign genes, called transgenes, into an organism and control when and where these transgenes are expressed.

Stem Cell Therapy Studies For Stroke, Cerebral Palsy Prepare For Clinical Trials
ScienceDaily (Jan. 30, 2008) — Finding answers about optimal dosage and timing for stem cell therapy in adults with strokes and newborns with ischemic injuries is a goal of two new federally funded studies.

Study debunks personality link to breast cancer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The idea that a woman's personality traits can make her more prone to breast cancer appears nothing more than a myth, according to a Dutch study.

Ruins of 7,000-year-old city found in Egypt oasis
CAIRO (AFP) - A team of US archaeologists has discovered the ruins of a city dating back to the period of the first farmers 7,000 years ago in Egypt's Fayyum oasis, the supreme council of antiquities said on Tuesday.

Remembering When U.S. Finally (and Really) Joined the Space Race
Fifty years ago this week, Explorer took the United States into space.

Astronauts Start Risky Repairs in Space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The space station's two American astronauts went out on a riskier-than-usual spacewalk Wednesday to fix one of two equipment failures that have crippled their power system and threatened to stall construction.

Environment

Beijing has some success with rain prevention: official
BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has successfully managed to stop light rainfall in experiments aimed at guaranteeing a dry opening ceremony at August's Olympic Games, officials said on Wednesday.

The State of Green Business in 2008: Are We Swimming, Treading or Sinking?
OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 30, 2008 -- The newly released, first annual State of Green Business report takes a close look at the reality behind all the green claims to find out just how well U.S. are businesses doing in their quest to be greener and more environmentally responsible.

Europe thinks alternatively in quest to go 'green'
Businesses and individuals are trying ways large, small and controversial to wean the Continent off expensive oil, gas and coal — and to combat climate change.

Nuclear clean-up bill £12bn higher than predicted
Decommissioning Britain's growing radioactive waste mountain is likely to cost the taxpayer £12bn more than previous highest estimates, raising fresh questions about the expense of the new generation of nuclear power stations.
The cost of nuclear power is more than just the cost of building and operating the plant. Way more.—Caro

Hydrogen-Burning Hypersonic Airplane: Going Green at Mach-5
The concept hypersonic jet has been developed by Reaction Engine and it is aptly called the A2. It is a Mach-5 (3,400 mph) wicked aircraft capable of holding 300 passengers and produces, get this, ZERO emissions!

AAMCO Aims for Zero-Waste, Increased Efficiency With New Initiative
HORSHAM, Penn., Jan. 30, 2008 -- The automotive service center's ambitious new AAMCO Eco-Green certification program helps both franchise owners and customers boost their performance and reduce their impact by implementing energy-efficiency measures, promoting alternative fuels and closing the loop on service centers' waste streams.

For more headlines, visit MakeThemAccountable.com.

I'm too sad to post a funny picture this morning. :(

k&r tho. :hug:

:kick:

... even the one who can't handle the truth.

Caro