Thursday News Bucket

28 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on April 6, 2006 at 8:04 am

   Just because I love to pick on her: WashPo

   Not everyone at CBS is celebrating Couric’s pending arrival. Andy Rooney, the curmudgeonly “60 Minutes” commentator, said on the Don Imus radio show: “I’m not enthusiastic about it. I think everybody likes Katie Couric. I mean, how could you not like Katie Couric? But I don’t know anybody at CBS News who is pleased that she’s coming here.”

   Others at CBS News are more welcoming — Walter Cronkite praised Couric’s “great talents” in a CNN interview last night — but there is a significant faction that prizes the recent changes and ratings growth under Schieffer and wishes he could have continued….

   And just in case you’re wondering (ha!) whether she’s up to being a serious news anchor:

   …”The show will reflect her taste, talent, skills and personality,” Rome Hartman, executive producer of the “CBS Evening News,” told the network’s Web site. One idea under consideration is for Couric to interview not just newsmakers near the top of the show but experts or ordinary people for feature stories later in the program.

   Yep.

2. 

   CabinGirl on April 6, 2006 at 8:12 am

   Reporting on TV news stations showing PR clips as news: NYT

   Many television news stations, including some from the nation’s largest markets, are continuing to broadcast reports as news without disclosing that the segments were produced by corporations pitching new products, according to a report to be released today by a group that monitors the news media.

   Television news directors have said that the segments, known as video news releases, are almost never broadcast, but the group assembled television videotape from 69 stations that it said had broadcast fake news segments in the past 10 months.

   The new report was prepared by the Center for Media and Democracy, which is based in Wisconsin and which describes itself as dedicated to “exposing public relations spin and propaganda.”

   The report said none of the stations had disclosed that the segments were produced by publicists representing companies like General Motors, Capital One and Pfizer.

   The center also said that many of the 69 stations took steps to blend the fake segments into their news broadcasts. Some had their news reporters or anchors read scripts supplied by corporations, the report said, and many had altered screen graphics to include the station’s logo.

   I wonder if it’s 69 stations with repeat offenses, or a total of 69 incidents?  Either way, it’s bad, because the article states that these 69 stations reach about half ofthe US population.

   • 

     Nag on April 6, 2006 at 10:26 am

     Center for Media and Democracy PR Watch

     I saw it this morning on RAW and followed the link. Turns out that one of my local stations is on that list. I’ve been busy this morning writing letters to the station manager and everyone I know. I’m pissed. Today I’m an activist. A mean one. With a twitch.

     • 

       CabinGirl on April 6, 2006 at 1:33 pm

       Thanks for the link.

       Did you call Bob Weldon’s office yet?  I did.  What fun.

3. 

   ask on April 6, 2006 at 8:16 am

   Helen and Sylvia, the new face of terrorism

   Two grandmothers from Yorkshire face up to a year in prison after becoming the first people to be arrested under the Government’s latest anti-terror legislation.
   Helen John, 68, and Sylvia Boyes, 62, both veterans of the Greenham Common protests 25 years ago, were arrested on Saturday after deliberately setting out to highlight a change in the law which civil liberties groups say will criminalise free speech and further undermine the right to peaceful demonstration.
   Under the little-noticed legislation, which came into effect last week, protesters who breach any one of 10 military bases across Britain will be treated as potential terrorists and face up to a year in jail or £5,000 fine. The protests are curtailed under the Home Secretary’s Serious Organised Crime and Police Act.

   Now, in a police state near you…

   • 

     CabinGirl on April 6, 2006 at 8:22 am

     From the UK: CNN

     Detectives halted the London-bound flight at Durham Tees Valley Airport in northern England and Harraj Mann, 24, was taken off.

     The taxi driver had become worried on the way to the airport because Mann had been singing along to The Clash’s 1979 anthem “London Calling,” which features the lyrics “Now war is declared — and battle come down” while other lines warn of a “meltdown expected”.

     Apparently, you have to watch what songs you choose to sing along with your iPod to…

4. 

   Steven D on April 6, 2006 at 8:17 am

   Never let it be said I ignore the “good news” from Iraq:

   The prime suspect in last year’s abduction of an Italian journalist in Iraq is in custody, the U.S. military said on Thursday.

   Mohammed Hila Hammad Obeidi, also known as Abu Ayman was arrested on March 7 in Baghdad, a military statement said. The announcement of his capture was delayed so DNA tests could confirm his identity

   The statement also said Abu Ayman is believed to have led the Secret Islamic Army in Babel province south of Baghdad. He is also thought to be associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of “al-Qaeda in Iraq.”

   Zarqawi and his group have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Iraq.

   In Saddam Hussein’s regime, Abu Ayman was a high ranking intelligence officer, the statement said.

   He is accused of being behind the February 2005 kidnapping of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who was in Iraq working for a leftist Italian newspaper.

   I wonder how soon they will be referring to him as the Number 2 leader of Al Qaida in Iraq?

   • 

     CabinGirl on April 6, 2006 at 8:23 am

     I give it 15 minutes, how about you?

     • 

       Steven D on April 6, 2006 at 8:36 am

       Link

       Iraqi forces had captured Muhammad al-Ubaydi, a former senior intelligence official under the regime of Saddam Hussein and also a top aide to the al-Qaida leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the U.S. military said in a statement.

       A twofer!  Both a former follower of Saddam and a top aide to Zarquawi!  How much better gan it get?

       • 

         DuctapeFatwa on April 6, 2006 at 9:01 am

         I’ll bet you several cute baby animal pics he will.

       • 

         Nag on April 6, 2006 at 12:32 pm

         Oh, he’s now the mastermind of Segrena’s kidnapping. They’re checking his pants for the Lindburgh baby now.

5. 

   rba on April 6, 2006 at 8:22 am

   Check out the latest in Brother Ray’s NIMBY NOLA.  Can’t put the trailers next to the “big house” now, can ya?

   • 

     CabinGirl on April 6, 2006 at 8:30 am

     Gawd forbid the wealthy show any compassion for people who have lost everything…

   • 

     stormkite on April 6, 2006 at 5:47 pm

     Hey, if GOD ™(r)(c) had wanted THOSE people here, he wouldn’t have sent a huricane to get rid of them.

     </snark&gt

6. 

   ask on April 6, 2006 at 9:05 am

   Indo-US Nuclear Deal Takes Flak, No Eject Option

   NEW DELHI, Apr 6 (IPS) – As the United States senate foreign relations committee (SFRC) began hearing on Washington’s controversial nuclear technology and supplies agreement with India, starting with the testimony of secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, the deal appeared to be in deep trouble.
   A special legislation introduced in the U.S. congress to implement the deal by allowing India-specific waivers to U.S. non-proliferation laws has met with a frosty reception from key members of the SFRC and their counterparts in the house of representatives international relations committee (HRIC).
   If the deal fails to go through the congress, the emerging intimate India-U.S. relationship will be grievously affected. Indian policy-makers consider the nuclear agreement all-important. They view the larger India-U.S. bilateral relationship through the `prism of this agreement’ and have no soft fall options if the deal collapses.

   Another stupid deal brokered by this administration.

7. 

   Knoxville Progressive on April 6, 2006 at 9:24 am

   Planets may form from material spewed from the explosive death of a star, US astronomers said on Thursday.  Using NASA’s infrared Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers detected a telltale disk of what could be early planetary debris encircling a pulsar, the remnant of a supernova.  The cloud of gas and particles, which orbits the pulsar at 1.6 million kilometers (one million miles), may eventually stick together by gravitational force to form a planet that could be the size of the Earth, the astronomers suggested.  This discovery helps explain the 1992 discovery of three planets, two of them Earth-sized, orbiting a pulsar named PSR B1257+12.

   The United States and Indonesia launched negotiations Tuesday for a landmark agreement that they hope would help combat illegal logging in Indonesia, which is believed to be conducted mostly by firms linked to China.

   Fossil animals found in Arctic Canada provide a snapshot of fish evolving into land animals, scientists say.  The 383 million-year-old specimens are described as crocodile-like animals with fins instead of limbs that probably lived in shallow water.

   Government officials in Germany have reported what appears to be the first health-related recall of a nanotechnology product.  At least 77 people reported severe respiratory problems over a one-week period at the end of March — including six who were hospitalized with pulmonary edema, or fluid in the lungs — after using a “Magic Nano” bathroom cleansing spray product, according to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Berlin.

   On Wednesday, the environmental group Greenpeace called on Nestle to withdraw a patent for a genetically-modified coffee plant and other GM foodstuffs, saying the risks were “unacceptable”.

   Stone age people in Pakistan were using dental drills made of flint 9,000 years ago, according to researchers.  Story and tooth photos here.

   Not as capitalistic as presumed?  China has suspended approval of, or rejected, proposed industrial plants worth billions of dollars because they could threaten the environment, an environmental chief said Wednesday.

   Chemists have found that the seeds of the sweetgum fruit — also called “gumballs” — contain significant amounts of shikimic acid, the starting material used to produce the main antiviral drug for use against bird flu, Tamiflu® or oseltamivir.

   The Aral Sea, once drained of 75 percent of its water, has this year taken on millions of cubic feet of new water years ahead of schedule, surpassing predictions made when a new dam was completed last summer.

   More on White House censorship of science they don’t like: Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it hard for them to speak forthrightly to the public about global warming; in today’s Washington Post.

   Large quantities of Saharan dust are helping to fertilize the massive plankton blooms that occur in the tropical eastern Atlantic, a research project has confirmed.

   Studies continue to support the premise that dietary intake of cruciferous vegetables may be protective against the risk of various types of cancer,  and fish oil may help protect against retinal degenerative diseases like retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.  But don’t overeat: people who are overweight or obese in their 40s have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life.  

   Most Americans are pessimistic about the state of the environment and want action taken to improve its health, according to a new national survey conducted by Stanford University’s Woods Institute for the Environment.  Fifty-five percent of Americans surveyed said they expect the world’s natural environment to be in worse shape in 10 years than it is now, and an additional 5 percent said the environment is currently in “poor” or “very poor” shape and will not improve, according to the survey.

   This pessimistic group of 60 percent of Americans closely resembles the overall American public in terms of gender, race, education and whether they live in an urban, suburban or rural setting, researchers added.  When it comes to party affiliation, 67 percent of Democrats are pessimistic compared to 48 percent of Republicans. However, even a majority of Republicans share discontent about the health of the environment and human stewardship of it, researchers found. A striking 86 percent of those surveyed want President Bush, Congress, American businesses and/or the American public to do “a great deal” or “a lot” to improve the health of the environment during the next year. This call to action is bipartisan, with 94 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans urging environmental improvements. The proportion of people wanting a great deal or a lot of effort did not vary according to gender, age, race, education or residence in an urban, suburban or rural place.

   Only 21 percent of Americans approve of the way President Bush is handling environmental issues, while 53 percent disapprove and 25 percent neither approve nor disapprove. As expected, approval is much lower–a mere 5 percent–among Democrats, while 47 percent of Republicans approve of the president’s performance. Approval of Congress and U.S. businesses is no higher–15 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Overall blame for poor and declining environmental conditions is frequently placed on American businesses and to a lesser degree on President Bush’s policies, according to the survey.

   So WHY does the timorous Democratic party “leadership” keep ignoring this issue?!?

   • 

     maryb2004 on April 6, 2006 at 10:25 am

     Is the sweetgum fruit the little prickly ball that falls from the sweetgum tree all winter long and makes a mess and when found on sidewalks in the dark may cause people to take a tumble …

     Because if it is, it’s about time somebody found a use for them.

     If it’s the fruit of another tree … nevermind.

     • 

       Knoxville Progressive on April 6, 2006 at 11:44 am

       That’s the one.  Maybe in a few years we’ll be able to collect them up and mail them to a pharmaceutical company for some cash, like kids collecting fireflies used to do.

       • 

         maryb2004 on April 6, 2006 at 6:15 pm

         No collecting off the ground — the kids will have to learn to climb the trees:

         In the mature tree, the fruit emerges as a green seedpod that later dries into a brown, spiny husk, which releases an abundance of tiny, grain-like seeds. To optimize shikimic acid extraction, the gumballs need to be harvested when they are still green and before the seeds have been dispersed, Poon says. Each tree can hold hundreds, if not thousands, of seedpods.

         hundreds, if not thousands?  

         I think they meant hundreds of thousands.

8. 

   BrendaStewart on April 6, 2006 at 9:54 am

   A critic of scottie (baghdad bob) in vanity fair.  Just as interesting as most of his deliverable rhetoric babbles, comes the truth to why he is there in all of his glory. So he is, a relibalbe bag of feces after all, for the administration, and for this we spend our tax dollors for the nitcompoop.  nay, nay……Interesting analysis.

   just a little humor to wake us up this morning

   • 

     BrendaStewart on April 6, 2006 at 9:55 am

     well, would help if I could spell this early of the morning.  sorry for the errors.  I think you get the jest, tho.

   • 

     BrendaStewart on April 6, 2006 at 10:13 am

     Then to get a little serious on the media, there is this from the Austin Chronicle.  lets chew the fat a while

     Things like this is almost to hard to pass up.  So you see, I can see where blogs are gonna one day be the best thing next to early morning coffee, if not already!!!!  :O)

   • 

     Shalimar on April 6, 2006 at 10:31 am

     I had MSNBC on a few mornings ago as I was waking up and Imus referred to Graydon Carter as “evil”.  I’m don’t remember what story he was ranting about, maybe this was it, though I think it was something else.  All I can recall is that it was a bizarre overreaction.

9. 

   idredit on April 6, 2006 at 3:48 pm

   This is too rich. Great catch over at Thinkprogress “Bush Event Goes Off Script”

   Do Watch the Video

   Bush gets a smack down from Joe Q. Mr. Henry Taylor

   [w]hen a man named Harry Taylor took the microphone:

   “`I feel like despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration,’ [Harry] Taylor said, standing in a balcony seat and looking down at Bush on stage. `And I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and grace to be ashamed of yourself.

   Read link here for the full exchange:

   Q You never stop talking about freedom, and I appreciate that. But while I listen to you talk about freedom, I see you assert your right to tap my telephone, to arrest me and hold me without charges, to try to preclude me from breathing clean air and drinking clean water and eating safe food. If I were a woman, you’d like to restrict my opportunity to make a choice and decision about whether I can abort a pregnancy on my own behalf. You are –

   THE PRESIDENT: I’m not your favorite guy. Go ahead. (Laughter and applause.) Go on, what’s your question?[..]

   • 

     CabinGirl on April 6, 2006 at 4:05 pm

     Nice to see that once in a while the emperor is confronted with a teensy bit of the reality outside his bubble.  I wish it woould happen more often.

     • 

       idredit on April 6, 2006 at 6:06 pm

       Amen.

       I noticed Steven D made a front page on the event.

10. 

    Man Eegee on April 6, 2006 at 4:01 pm

    I love a good fight, especially when it involves Madame Election-Subverter.

    Republican Gov. Jeb Bush on Thursday complained that Katherine Harris has made the Senate campaign about herself instead of the record of the Democratic incumbent.

    “I am the party leader. I’ve got concerns,” the governor said in response to a reporter’s question. “The campaign can’t be about her. It has to be about Bill Nelson and the future of our state and so far, she asked my advice and I gave her that exact advice and it’s gotten worse since.”

    linkage

11. 

    stormkite on April 6, 2006 at 5:57 pm

    Details here and here

    Looks like the D’s won’t have to “keep DeLay in the hot seat until November.”  His own personal SA will do it for them…  

    Since they weren’t wearing their brown shirts can we call them spies?