Friday News Bucket

21 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on March 10, 2006 at 7:14 am

   To ban abortion next: ABC news

   The state Senate on Thursday passed a proposal to amend the Tennessee Constitution so that it doesn’t guarantee a woman’s right to an abortion.  The 24-9 vote was the first step of many toward officially amending the state constitution. The measure would go before voters if the General Assembly approves it twice over the next two years…

   …Abortion rights supporters are attacking the measure as a stepping stone to prohibiting all abortions in Tennessee if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark abortion decision in Roe v. Wade.

   The anti-choicers aren’t wasting any time, are they?

   • 

     Militarytracy on March 10, 2006 at 8:08 am

     that has been recently on a list of states that we prochoice activists didn’t need to worry about.

   • 

     maryb2004 on March 10, 2006 at 8:53 am

     I wonder what polling shows on the chances of the TN voters approving it.

     • 

       Second Nature on March 10, 2006 at 9:06 am

       Well it’s a verrrrry red state.  The thing is that between abstinence-only sex ed and banning abortion, those girls will have a long way to travel to end their pregnancies.

2. 

   CabinGirl on March 10, 2006 at 7:18 am

   Bush Orders DHS to Create Center for Faith-Based Aid: WashPo

   President Bush ordered the Department of Homeland Security yesterday to create a center for faith-based and community initiatives within 45 days to eliminate regulatory, contracting and programmatic barriers to providing federal funds to religious groups to deliver social services, the White House announced last night.

   Pressed both by churches that have not received privately raised Hurricane Katrina relief funds as promised and by the outpouring of help of religious groups to Gulf Coast storm victims, Bush also called on the department by September “to identify all existing barriers . . . that unlawfully discriminate against, or otherwise discourage or disadvantage the participation” of such groups in federal programs.

3. 

   CabinGirl on March 10, 2006 at 7:27 am

   another disaster in the making: PBS NewsHour via Think Progress

   Today Dubai Ports World announced it would “transfer fully the U.S. operations…to a United States entity.” This evening on the PBS News Hour, AEI scholar Norm Ornstein said that DP World was considering selling its U.S. operations to Halliburton:

       If this is done now through the backdoor, where D.P. [Dubai Ports World] has any role at all, Congress is going to go ballistic, and it’s going to be a disaster, I think, for the administration.

       They have got a dilemma now, because there simply aren’t American companies that have the know-how and the breadth to do this. Interestingly, and perhaps ironically, what I had heard earlier in the day, as they were looking at those that have the — the kind of resources, Halliburton was a name that came up.

   Another opportunity for Halliburton to rob the US Treasury.

   • 

     Militarytracy on March 10, 2006 at 8:17 am

     My big mouth opinion but they didn’t have the know how or the expertise to be a viable company to give about 80% of the contracts to in Iraq that they were “given”.  It is very expensive having to cover the full costs of the “learning curve” for a company in areas of business too numerous to list.  They’ll set up a couple of ghostlike corporations and subcontract everything to “Dubai” only it won’t be “Dubai” and they sit there like the MOB.  It’s so cute….they will find a way to legally “high jack” a little of the cargo(profits) coming in….a little cash in the pocket and meandering down the road.

4. 

   maryb2004 on March 10, 2006 at 8:19 am

   I feel rather ambivalent about this

5. 

   maryb2004 on March 10, 2006 at 8:32 am

   NyTimes (sub req) is reporting a direct link between an Indian tribe, Abramoff, the white house and Grover Norquist.

   The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff’s direction, according to documents and interviews.

   The payment was made to Americans for Tax Reform, a group run by Grover G. Norquist, one of the Republican Party’s most influential policy strategists. Mr. Norquist was a friend and longtime associate of Mr. Abramoff.

6. 

   maryb2004 on March 10, 2006 at 8:41 am

   NYTimes (sub req) has an analysis of the economic impact of ports deal flap.

   The flap over the ports acquisition alone is unlikely to make a consequential dent in foreign investment flows into the country, most economists agree.

   “I don’t think this is going to have a major effect on capital flows into the United States,” said Ben Stapleton, a partner specializing in mergers and acquisitions at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell in New York. “It will just affect a deal at the margin every once in a while.”

   (Maryb’s take:  It should have a positive impact on the cash flow of lawyers specializing in international transactions. )

7. 

   Cali Scribe on March 10, 2006 at 8:46 am

   but wanted to get the word out on a new site I came across.

   From the folks who bring you AMERICAblog, it’s PoliticsTV!

   Streaming video covering politics, including satire (the current 3/7 show featuring a piece on Rick Santorum was excellent).

   Caveat: I have trouble getting sites with video to run in Firefox for the Mac, but this site runs fine in both Safari and Netscape; YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)…

8. 

   maryb2004 on March 10, 2006 at 8:48 am

   Sometimes the state Democrats do the right thing.

   Glenn Miller Jr., whose self-described “pro-white” newsletter has sparked anger and concern in southwest Missouri, will not run as a Democrat for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt after all. The Missouri Democratic Party has refused his $100 filing fee, which disqualifies him as a candidate for the party, a spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s Office said Thursday.

9. 

   CabinGirl on March 10, 2006 at 9:10 am

   moving forward: FirstWord

   GlaxoSmithKline reported Thursday that it filed its experimental human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Cervarix, which protects against cervical cancer, for approval by the EMEA.

   Andrew Witty, Glaxo’s president of pharmaceuticals in Europe, said he believes the EMEA could rule in 12 months about whether to approve Cervarix. Merck & Co. submitted its investigational HPV vaccine Gardasil to EU regulators in December, and Witty indicated that “it’s going to be a very close race in Europe. We feel we’re submitting extremely strong data, so there is a good chance of it going quickly,” as reported in Forbes.

   Witty added cross protection against virus types, rather than timing, will become a more important differentiator in the success of Cervarix and Gardasil, the same source reports. Glaxo is also expected to file for approval of Cervarix in Australia, parts of Asia and Latin America starting this month, and in the US by the end of this year.

   • 

     Second Nature on March 10, 2006 at 9:23 am

     But of course many Republicans, their balls tightly held in the fists of the religious right, will and have voiced their opposition to this vaccine, saying it will only encourage girls and women to engage in promiscuous sex.

     • 

       CabinGirl on March 10, 2006 at 9:31 am

       Gawd forbid we prevent women from dying of cervical cancer…it’s more important to punish women for having sex.  Never mind that promiscuous men help pass HPV along…

10. 

    growthrate on March 10, 2006 at 10:11 am

    February employment report is decent, I guess:

    Hiring gained ground in February with employers adding 243,000 jobs, the most in three months. Brighter job prospects sent people streaming into the labor market, however, pushing the unemployment rate up marginally to 4.8 percent.

    The employment report issued Friday by the Labor Department showed that job gains were fairly broad based and suggested the jobs climate is gaining momentum.

    Construction companies, retailers, financial services all other industries posted payroll increases. That blunted weakness in manufacturing, reflecting job losses in the automotive sector.

    So the good news is that there are more jobs, and wages seem to be firming (up 0.3% for the month, a little further down the report).  Here’s the bad news:  The mix still tilts away from manufacturing, and to construction, retail, and financial servcies.  Unemployment actually ticked up to 4.8%, reflecting the inclusion (either through statistical manipulation or self-selection) of job seekers that were previously counted as having given up on looking for work (those that have given up aren’t counted as unemployed).  And Wall Street, which has been worried about interest rates for, oh, let’s call it two weeks, is ambivalent about the report, since job growth sometimes leads to inflation.  So the stock market is mixed in early trading, and interest rates have ticked up a bit this morning.

11. 

    Second Nature on March 10, 2006 at 10:37 am

    This makes me very happy.

    More and more people, particularly Republicans, disapprove of President Bush’s performance, question his character and no longer consider him a strong leader against terrorism, according to an AP-Ipsos poll documenting one of the bleakest points of his presidency.

    • 

      CabinGirl on March 10, 2006 at 10:40 am

      Makes me smile too.  🙂

    • 

      idredit on March 10, 2006 at 10:58 am

      Guess he’s spent all that fresh stolen capital and now can be declared bankrupt. His legacy? Like a drunken sailor.

12. 

    idredit on March 10, 2006 at 11:14 am

    Molly Ivins is thrilled. She read Donny Rum’s hunky-dory, tickety-boo, consistitently accurate assessment of the Iraq war…his beef with the media. No Horsepoop?

13. 

    Cali Scribe on March 10, 2006 at 11:42 am

    blog entry about Bill Napoli — including a definition of the verb “napoli”…