Tuesday News Bucket

15 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on June 27, 2006 at 8:52 am

   here’s some poll results: USA Today

   In the poll, 57% say Congress should pass a resolution that outlines a plan for withdrawing U.S. troops; 39% say that decision should be left to the president and his advisers.

   I can’t believe anyone would think the pResident and his advisers don’t need some sort of adult supervision at this point. Anyhoo:

   Precisely half support withdrawing all U.S. forces immediately or within 12 months, while 41% say the United States should keep troops there for as many years as needed. Eight percent call for sending more troops.

   Now that appears to be a nearly 50/50 split on the “Should we stay or should we go now?” question.  So how does this all look for the Dems?

   The percentage of Americans who say the president has “a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq” has dropped to 31%, a new low. That’s still higher than the 25% who say congressional Democrats have a clear plan for Iraq…
   …Views on what to do divide sharply along partisan lines. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans support maintaining forces there as long as needed, compared with one-third of Democrats and independents.

   Oy.  Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that only 13 Senate Dems could bring themselves to vote for the plan with a timetable?

   • 

     Nag on June 27, 2006 at 9:12 am

     The Democrats don’t seem to be able to think their way out of a paper bag, do they?

2. 

   ask on June 27, 2006 at 8:54 am

   Here’s a stunner for the morning:

   Hamas ‘agrees to’ two-state plan

   Palestinian militant group Hamas has agreed to a document backing a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel, officials say.

   The initiative, which implicitly recognises Israel, was devised by prisoners from Palestinian factions.

   Hamas’s charter currently calls for Israel’s destruction by force and rules out peace negotiations with it.

   • 

     CabinGirl on June 27, 2006 at 9:00 am

     Wow.

3. 

   CabinGirl on June 27, 2006 at 8:55 am

   speaks his mind about the estate tax: Reuters/Yahoo

   “I would hate to see the estate tax gutted,” Buffett said at a Manhattan news conference with the Gateses about his donation.

   “It’s a very equitable tax,” Buffett said. “It’s in keeping with the idea of equality of opportunity in this country, not giving incredible head starts to certain people who were very selective about the womb from which they emerged.”

   Yep.

   • 

     Nag on June 27, 2006 at 9:11 am

     Which of course, is the reason the law exists.

     • 

       CabinGirl on June 27, 2006 at 9:12 am

       for a silver spoon sociopath like Bush to want to gut that law.

   • 

     Second Nature on June 27, 2006 at 9:32 am

     from Buffett yesterday that goes something like this:

     The rich should leave their children enough money to do anything, but not enough to do nothing.

4. 

   ask on June 27, 2006 at 9:01 am

   Limbaugh held for having Viagra without prescription

   WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — Rush Limbaugh was detained for about 3 1/2 hours at Palm Beach International Airport after authorities said they found a bottle of Viagra in his possession without a prescription.

   How does this sit with the theocons?  A thrice-divorced, currently unmarried man smuggling Viagra.  

5. 

   CabinGirl on June 27, 2006 at 9:09 am

   from Harper Lee: AP/Yahoo

   Harper Lee, author of the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird,” has written a rare published item — a letter for
   Oprah Winfrey’s magazine on how she became a reader as a child in a rural, Depression-era Alabama town…

   …She also writes about the scarcity of books in the 1930s in Monroeville, where she grew up and where she lives part of each year. That deficit, combined with a lack of anything else to do — no movies for kids, no parks for games — made books especially treasured, she writes.

   “Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books,” she writes.

   and JK Rowling: Reuters/Yahoo

   Children’s author
   J.K. Rowling has revealed that at least two characters will die in the seventh and final installment of her bestselling Harry Potter series, but was careful not to say who.

6. 

   Knoxville Progressive on June 27, 2006 at 9:22 am

   Climate Change Roundup:  Data from the tropics indicate Earth’s climate is warming abruptly, the WaPo reports today.  The findings, based on studies of ice from tropical glaciers, indicate humans may not have the luxury of adapting to a slow climate change.  The NYT reports that some prominent scientists are calling on governments and scientific groups to study exotic ways to reduce global warming by “geoenginering”. And the Supreme Court has announced that it will hear a case to decide whether the federal government is required by the Clean Air Act to control vehicle emissions of carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas that scientists have linked to global warming.

   A provocative new paper proposes that too much air conditioning, not enough sleep, and a decrease in the number of smokers (smoking suppresses the appetite) may be contributing factors to the increase in obesity in the US and elsewhere.

   Pale swirls on the surface of the Moon have been puzzling researchers for decades. Fresh clues are in the offing as NASA prepares a new round of lunar exploration.  They may be related to the trailing part of earth’s magnetic field contacting the moon, or residual magnetism in the moon itself from earlier in its history.

   The Asian Development Bank said Monday it approved an 80 million-dollar loan to help clean up one of China’s most polluted rivers. It covers about half the cost of reducing pollution in the Hai river basin of Shandong province in China’s industrial belt, the Philippines-based lender said in a statement.

   Previous research had revealed the more older brothers a man has, the more likely he is to be gay, but the reason for this phenomenon was unknown. But a Canadian study has shown that the effect is most likely due to biological rather than social factors.  Researchers theorize that during pregnancy a mother’s immune system identifies a male child growing in her as “foreign” (because of the baby’s Y chromosome), and a residual effect from this carries over to subsequent male pregnancies, potentially affecting nervous system development.  The current study separated effects of “nature versus nurture” that previous studies left unanswered, but while the correlation seems real, the mechanism of causation remains to be fully determined.

   On July 3rd, asteroid 2004 XP14 will fly past Earth barely farther away than the Moon.  There’s no danger of a collision, just a great photo-op for experienced amateur astronomers.  The space rock is big enough (600 meters wide) and bright enough (11th magnitude) to see and photograph through backyard telescopes.  Observing tips, a sky map and ephemerides are available at
   SpaceWeather.com.

   Something is killing New England’s salt marshes, and scientists are trying to figure out how large the problem is, and how to stop it. Parts of the marshes, normally teeming with cord grass, fish and birds have turned mud brown and bare of life except for fiddler crabs.  “No one recalls seeing anything like this,” Ron Rozsa, coastal ecologist with Connecticut’s Department of Environmental Protection, told the Day of New London as he surveyed a section of the Oyster River salt marsh in Old Saybrook. “We’re talking about a crime scene investigation some forensic ecology, if you will.” Scientists are calling the mysterious phenomenon sudden wetlands dieback.

   • 

     Nag on June 27, 2006 at 9:32 am

     Air conditioning makes you fat? Oh, hell… kill me right now.

     Glad to see that China is finally cleaning up its act. There is a lot of civil turmoil in China over pollution that we don’t hear about.

     The decline of New England’s salt marshes is incredibly worrisome. Who knows what nasty containers are rotting open at the bottom of the North Atlantic.

7. 

   Nag on June 27, 2006 at 9:23 am

   Link

   Wars force Army equipment costs to triple

   The annual cost of replacing, repairing and upgrading Army equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan is expected to more than triple next year to more than $17 billion, according to Army documents obtained by the Associated Press.

   From 2002 to 2006, the Army spent an average of $4 billion a year in annual equipment costs. But as the war takes a harder toll on the military, that number is projected to balloon to more than $12 billion for the federal budget year that starts next Oct. 1, the documents show.

   The $17 billion also includes an additional $5 billion in equipment expenses that the Army requested in previous years but has not yet been provided.

   I’d bet my mortgage that $17 billion doesn’t include replacing all the equipment left in Iraq by National Guard units.

8. 

   ask on June 27, 2006 at 12:18 pm

   Iraqis Push to Prosecute Rape in War Crime Trials

   (WOMENSENEWS)–A prominent women’s group in Iraq, along with advocates of international law in the United States, are beginning to demand justice for thousands of Iraqi women who suffered under the regime of Saddam Hussein.

   They are working with and lobbying the Iraqi High Tribunal–the temporary court now trying the crimes of Hussein’s Baathist regime–to prosecute and punish perpetrators of gender-based violence, including allegations of women being raped in prison and politically motivated public beheadings.

   The group in Iraq, whose members request anonymity, formed in 2003 as a network of expatriate women, some of whom have returned to the country. They are supported in part by a grant from the New York-based Open Society Institute.

9. 

   ask on June 27, 2006 at 12:20 pm

   Court to hear case on federal regulation of ‘greenhouse gases’

   WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear its first case focused on global warming, accepting an appeal from a dozen states that are seeking federal regulation of gases emitted from new cars and trucks.

   That case and another Clean Air Act dispute the court has agreed to hear are likely to make the annual term that begins in October a major test of environmental law. Rulings in the disputes could have a far-reaching impact on the chemicals that vehicles, factories and power plants pour into the nation’s air.

   The cases also could help define how the court, led by new Chief Justice John Roberts, will approach environmental regulation.