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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

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Cheney, Reid spar over Iraq policy
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democratic leader Harry Reid on Tuesday of personally pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes at home — a charge Reid dismissed as President Bush's "attack dog" lashing out.

The Radical Fringe

The World

U.N.: Baghdad violence has not slowed
Sectarian violence continued to claim the lives of a large number of Iraqi civilians in Sunni Arab and Shiite neighborhoods of Iraq's capital, despite the coalition's new Baghdad security plan, the U.N. said Wednesday.

Israel prepares response to Hamas attack
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called a meeting of military commanders and security advisers Wednesday to discuss how to respond to the first rocket barrage by Hamas militants since the two sides reached a truce in Gaza five months ago.

U.S. quietly increasing back-channel contacts with Iran
The United States has quietly increased its back-channel diplomatic contacts with Iran in recent months, a sign that those who favor engagement with Tehran have strengthened their hand in the Bush administration, according to U.S. officials.

Roadside blast kills 7 Afghan soldiers
KABUL, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb attack on an Afghan military convoy in eastern Afghanistan left seven soldiers dead Wednesday, a day after militants ambushed a police car in the west, killing four officers, officials said.

Mexico City legalizes early-stage abortion
Mexico City's liberal legislative assembly passed a controversial law Tuesday night legalizing abortion during a woman's first 12 weeks of pregnancy, placing the Mexican capital among Cuba and Guyana as the only Latin American and Caribbean locations with unrestricted access to the procedure.

Somali Profiteers Are Quick to Fuel Anarchy
From squatter landlords to teenage gunmen for hire, opportunists who profit from chaos are trying to help bring down the country’s transitional government.

The Nation

Democrats predict they can win Iraq vote
WASHINGTON - House Democratic leaders predict they will have enough votes to pass legislation requiring U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq by Oct. 1 and send it on to President Bush for his promised veto.

Kucinich’s Impeachment Proposal Takes Antiwar Stand to New Lengths
Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich on Tuesday introduced articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney for “high crimes and misdemeanors” related to his participation in the buildup for the war in Iraq — and what the longshot Democratic presidential contender said was belligerent rhetoric toward Iran.

Rove Investigator Himself Under Investigation
Scott J. Bloch, who heads the Office of Special Counsel, told the Los Angeles Times Monday that his office will launch a wide-ranging investigation into Rove's involvement in the firings of eight US attorneys, his behind-the-scenes work to influence elections, and his use of a Republican National Committee email account to conduct official White House business… However, the Los Angeles Times failed to inform its readers that Bloch had been accused of retaliating against employees who disagreed with his policies, and intimidating them before they were questioned about a whistle-blower investigation inside the Office of the Special Counsel.

Rep.: 'Broken' FDA can't keep food safe
The Food and Drug Administration lacks the staff, funding and enforcement authority needed to protect the U.S. food supply in a post-9/11 world, said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., at a hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill. The FDA is "broken," and outbreaks in fresh produce have doubled since 1998, he said at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing.

The Gore Question
One of the key, unanswered questions about the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is whether Al Gore will ultimately throw his hat in the ring. There's a fear among Democrats that their frontrunners–Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards—all have serious and obvious vulnerabilities against a decent GOP candidate.

Equality is good for you
If more women were in paid work, the world would be richer. A study by Kevin Daly of Goldman Sachs has measured the gender employment-rate gap (the male employment rate minus the female one) in several countries. In Spain and Italy it is over 20%, in contrast with Sweden's 4%. Reducing the gap could increase growth by as much as 13% in the euro-zone. And getting more women into work need not reduce fertility rates: in countries with a smaller gap, women tend to have more babies… More important is childcare provision and the tax burden on second earners.

Media

Don’t miss Bill Moyers tonight!

Seeking the truth
On Wedneday at 9 p.m. EDT, PBS stations will air the first in a new season of the "Bill Moyers Journal" that reports how some of the nation’s most influential news organizations failed to challenge the Bush administration’s faulty case for war in Iraq. Moyers’ show highlights, by contrast, the skeptical reporting by journalists from (Knight Ridder, now McClatchy Newspapers) that raised questions about the intelligence relied on by the president to make the argument for war.

The Quotable Brian Williams
On April 4, 2007, Brian Williams gave a talk at NYU's journalism school, which was reported on April 5th by the Washington Square News (talking about his time in Iraq and how he succeeded by being "a hustler") and Patrick Philips' journalism class blog, We Want Media, which reported this now-infamous quote: "You're going to be up against people who have an opinion, a modem, and a bathrobe," said Williams. "All of my life, developing credentials to cover my field of work, and now I'm up against a guy named Vinny in an efficiency apartment in the Bronx who hasn't left the efficiency apartment in two years."
Yet we progressive Vinnies got the selling of the Iraq war right, and Brian Williams got it wrong. —Caro

Pew Survey Finds Most Knowledgeable Americans Watch 'Daily Show' and 'Colbert'-- and Visit Newspaper Sites
Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot -- with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind. Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News.
I’m a bit late in getting this one to you. Sorry about that, but it’s important. —Caro

Jihadist media thriving in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A daily newspaper warns that Jews and Christians are engaged in "genocide" against Muslims. A Web site says children should love guns instead of cricket. A video shows a child beheading a militant accused of betraying his comrades.
Remind you of any news organization here? —Caro

Surprise, MTV's Environmental News Rocks
MTV rediscovers some of the social consciousness that it once proudly displayed.

MySpace to help launch reality TV show
LOS ANGELES - The online social networking site MySpace and reality TV producer Mark Burnett are teaming to launch the search for an independent presidential candidate.

Technology & Science

Researchers break Internet speed records
A group of researchers has broken Internet speed records -- twice in two days. Operators of the high-speed Internet2 network announced Tuesday that the researchers on Dec. 30 sent data at 7.67 gigabits per second. The next day, the team broke the record again by sending data at 9.08 Gbps.

Nokia and telcos join mobile wallet plan
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Nokia (NOK1V.HE), the world's biggest handset maker, and mobile telecoms carriers have solidified a global initiative to turn mobile phones into wallets, a wireless telecoms interest group said on Wednesday.

Cancer-Fighting Drug Found in Dirt
The bark of certain yew trees can yield a medicine that fights cancer. Now scientists find the dirt that yew trees grow in can supply the drug as well, suggesting a new way to commercially harvest the medicine. Scientists originally isolated the drug paclitaxel—now commonly known as Taxol—in 1967 from the bark of Pacific yew trees (Taxus brevifolia) in a forest near the Mount St. Helens in Washington. This yew also yields related compounds known as taxanes that can be converted to paclitaxel.

Potentially habitable planet found
WASHINGTON - For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

Environment

Leaked Canadian Government Plan Includes Promise To Cut Greenhouse Gases, Air Pollution
Canada's Conservative government promises to ban inefficient light bulbs, cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent and dramatically reduce air pollution as part of a national environmental initiative according to a leaked document.

EU Greens Say Monthly Commute by EU Lawmakers Responsible for 20,000 Tons of CO2
The monthly commute by European Union lawmakers from Brussels to its other seat in Strasbourg produces over 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, nearly as much as the entire CO2 output of some small island nations, according to a study published Wednesday.

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I appreciate these threads.

I'm glad that people like to read the headlines.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com