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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

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Senate backs troop withdrawal from Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Tuesday endorsed a March 31, 2008, target date for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq, prompting the White House to threaten a veto and moving Congress a step closer to a showdown with President George W. Bush over the war.

The Radical Fringe

The World

War games begin in Persian Gulf
ABOARD THE USS JOHN C. STENNIS — American warplanes screamed off two aircraft carriers Tuesday as the U.S. Navy staged its largest show of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, launching a mammoth exercise meant as a message to the Iranians. The maneuvers involve 15 warships and more than 100 aircraft.

Officials: Policemen go on killing spree
BAGHDAD - Off-duty Shiite policemen enraged by massive bombings in the northern town of Tal Afar went on a revenge spree against Sunni residents there on Wednesday, killing at least 45 men, police and hospital officials said.

China urges ban on space weapons
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has called for a treaty to stop the spread of weapons in outer space, state media reported on Wednesday, two months after it blew up an aging weather satellite, prompting fears about its own space plans.

UN says NKorea wants more food aid
BEIJING (AFP) - Unable to feed millions of its own people, North Korea has made an abrupt about-face and asked the World Food Programme to increase its aid, an official with the United Nations agency said Wednesday.

The Nation

McCaffrey Paints Gloomy Picture of Iraq
An influential retired Army general released a dire assessment of the situation in Iraq, based on a recent round of meetings there with Gen. David H. Petraeus and 16 other senior U.S. commanders. "The population is in despair," retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey wrote in an eight-page document compiled in his capacity as a professor at West Point. "Life in many of the urban areas is now desperate."

Torture lawsuit against Rumsfeld dropped
Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cannot be tried on allegations of torture in overseas military prisons, a federal judge said Tuesday in a case he described as "lamentable."… No matter how appealing it might seem to use the courts to correct allegations of severe abuses of power, Hogan wrote, government officials are immune from such lawsuits. Additionally, foreigners held overseas are not normally afforded U.S. constitutional rights.

Clinton Aids Vilsack With Campaign Debt
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton has agreed to help one-time candidate Tom Vilsack, who endorsed her on Monday, as he seeks to retire a campaign debt of more than $400,000.
Ugh! It doesn’t have to be illegal to be disgusting. —Caro

Texas signs new self-defense by gun law
DALLAS (Reuters) - Criminals in Texas beware: if you threaten someone in their car or office, the citizens of this state where guns are ubiquitous have the right to shoot you dead.

Media

Come join us for our Big Birthday Bash! April 15th
Nova M Phoenix is celebrating our first birthday on Sunday, April 15th- and you’re invited! We’re throwing a huge birthday bash at Axis Radius in Scottsdale! We’ll have live music, drinks, food and you can meet and shake hands with very special guests Thom Hartmann, Stephanie Miller, and Mike Malloy.

Drudge flagged Obama hit piece on Politico -- which presented admittedly "trivial" inconsistencies -- apparently one hour before it was posted
In an article appearing in The Politico's March 27 print edition, Politico chief political correspondent Mike Allen wrote that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has "shown a tendency toward seemingly minor contradictions and rhetorical slips," characterized Obama's alleged inconsistencies as "trivial," and wrote that "the senator's rhetorical miscues have been more curiosities than obvious political blunders." Nonetheless, Allen stretched these alleged "trivial" inconsistencies into a 1,200-word article headlined, "Rookie Mistakes Plague Obama," which appeared on the front page of the print edition. The Drudge Report flagged the article by posting its headline verbatim approximately one hour before The Politico posted the article on its website on the evening of March 26, according to Google News.

Citing none, NY Times' Healy claimed "(s)ome uniformed officers" said Clintons are "more associated with a '60s culture than the military"
In a March 27 New York Times article on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) relationship with the military, reporter Patrick Healy wrote: "Some uniformed officers, too, said that the Clintons were more associated with a '60s culture than a military one, and that only time would tell if Mrs. Clinton's appreciation of the military would go beyond niceties and expressions of concern." However, Healy did not cite any "uniformed officers" who expressed this view -- either by name or anonymously -- and, in fact, every military figure quoted or paraphrased in the article made positive comments about Sen. Clinton.

The Rise and Fall of Political Media
American political media have turned into insiders talking to insiders, oppo researchers debating oppo researchers, partisan talking points debating partisan talking points, all masquerading as news, opinion or original content… Imagine a story or column that read like this: “New questions were raised by the opposition research staff of Candidate A about Candidate B.” Or: “In an oppo research handout from the Republican National Committee, it was proven that Senator X made contradictory statements. Contacted by this paper, the talking-points writer for the Democratic Committee replied …”

Technology & Science

ATT makes US mobile phone banking alliance
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Telecommunications giant ATT announced Tuesday that it formed an alliance to enable people in the United States to use mobile telephones like cash, checks or credit cards.

$5 billion wasted?
WASHINGTON - Federal law enforcement's plan to develop a $5 billion secure wireless communication system that would allow agents to share information across government agencies is at "high risk of failure," a Justice Department audit concluded Monday. Almost six years in development at a cost of nearly $200 million, the Integrated Wireless Network (IWN), designed to replace antiquated systems at the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other key agencies, is "not on the path that was envisioned," the audit concluded.

Stem cell treatment saves liver cancer patients
Patients treated for advanced liver cancer have grown new liver cells after being injected with stem cells taken from their hips. Six out of eight patients are still alive two years later with fully functioning livers. The treatment, given in Germany, brings hope for liver patients.

Docs fix hearts with stem cell injections
NEW ORLEANS (AFP) - Doctors have rejuvenated post-heart attack patients by injecting them with stem cells, said two studies released Sunday.

Environment

Cities at risk of rising sea levels
LONDON - More than two-thirds of the world's large cities are in areas vulnerable to global warming and rising sea levels, and millions of people are at risk of being swamped by flooding and intense storms, according to a new study released Wednesday.

Senators look to boost biofuel use five-fold
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Energy Committee on Tuesday unveiled legislation to boost U.S. biofuels use more than five-fold by 2022, about five years later than the target set by the Bush administration.

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