Tuesday News Bucket

14 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on September 11, 2007 at 8:00 am

   is what the NYT editorial page is calling the arrests of the Petraeus protestors yesterday:

   General Petraeus admitted success in Iraq would be neither quick nor easy. Mr. Crocker claimed that success is attainable, but made no guarantee. With that much wiggle room in the prognosis, one would think American leaders would start looking at serious alternative strategies — like the early, prudent withdrawal of troops that we favor. The American people deserve more than what the general and the diplomat offered them yesterday.

   For that matter, they deserve more than what was offered by Representative Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. When protesters interrupted the hearing, Mr. Skelton ordered them removed from the room, which is understandable. But then he said that they would be prosecuted. That seemed like an unnecessarily authoritarian response to people who just wanted to be heard.

2. 

   ask on September 11, 2007 at 8:15 am

   Flooding leaves 3.5 million people homeless in India

   By Biswajyoti Das

   GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) – Soldiers in motor boats rescued thousands of marooned people and helicopters air-dropped food as the number of people made homeless after some of the worst flooding in years in India’s northeast rose to 3.5 million.

   About 10 million people out of the 27 million population of Assam state have been affected by flooding after rains in the past few days. More than 2,000 villages have been completely submerged.

   The second spell of flooding in less than a month has also spread across parts of Bangladesh, forcing around a million from their homes and leaving thousands stranded. About 850 people have died in floods there since late July.

   “The situation is grim,” the chief minister of tea- and oil-rich Assam state, Tarun Gogoi, told Reuters on Tuesday.

   About 3 million people in Assam are living in temporary shelters, government buildings and schools, officials said.

   Around 400,000 hectares (one million acres) of farmland have been flooded.

   • 

     CabinGirl on September 11, 2007 at 8:30 am

     Just remember, there’s no such thing as climate change.</snark&gt

3. 

   CabinGirl on September 11, 2007 at 8:23 am

   that McClatchy news seems to be doing the only real reporting these days?  Everyone else seems to be falling all over themselves to catapult the Petraeus propaganda.

   • 

     rba on September 11, 2007 at 12:45 pm

     Because underneath the new skin lies many of the reporters who worked for Knight-Ridder.

4. 

   CabinGirl on September 11, 2007 at 8:28 am

   a sign of the times?

   While feminists have long vilified Mattel’s iconic creation as a destructive role model for girls — because of her anatomically incorrect dimensions — I believe Barbie is a useful tool to teach kids about how the global economy penetrates into every aspect of our everyday lives. Want to talk about how dependent we are on the labor of foreign hands? Just pick up a Barbie. Want to know where Mommy’s and/or Daddy’s job disappeared to? Chances are it migrated to the same country welcoming a new Barbie factory.

   How times have changed. My mother never imagined that her Third World country would ever pose an economic threat to the U.S. “I used to envy American workers; the dollar was worth so much,” she said. Who knew that, 40 years later, cheap labor would be energizing China’s booming economy, and the U.S. would be struggling under a huge budget deficit and a weak dollar?

   Who knows which country will appear next on Barbie’s butt? Would it be irony to find it saying “Made in USA”?

   Yep.

5. 

   CabinGirl on September 11, 2007 at 10:38 am

   The GOP wants to waste legislation time condemning MoveOn ads? The Hill

   House Republican leaders introduced a resolution Monday condemning a full-page newspaper ad from MoveOn.org that criticizes the character of Gen. David Petraeus, the commanding general of U.S. troops in Iraq.

   The resolution, authored by Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio),  is cosponsored by 11 Republicans, including Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs panel.

   “The despicable attack MoveOn.org launched against General Petraeus today should be condemned by all Members of Congress, including the Democratic leadership,” Boehner said. “I urge Members on both sides of the aisle to join in support of this resolution so the House speaks with one voice rejecting the character assassination tactics employed by this extremist group.”

   How about we start paassing resolutions outlawing Fox “News” propaganda instead?  Or, I dunno, maybe actually start doing something about getting out of Iraq rather than trying to leave it for the next administration?

6. 

   CabinGirl on September 11, 2007 at 11:33 am

   were great together; here they talk about the Jena 6:

7. 

   dada on September 11, 2007 at 12:17 pm

   for those who are tv/cable impaired like me, there’s a very good Frontline program now available on the PBS site: Spying on the Home Front.

   it’s broken into 5 parts so it’s not too bad for those on dial up.

   recommended

   lTMF’sA

   

8. 

   dada on September 11, 2007 at 12:33 pm

   Pelosi takes contempt ‘off the table’

   House Democratic leaders have decided to postpone a vote on a criminal contempt resolution against White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers for several weeks, and possibly longer, according to top lawmakers and aides.

   The decision delays any constitutional showdown, at least for the moment, between Congress and President Bush over the extent of executive privilege and the president’s ability to fend off congressional investigations.

   But the slowdown, approved by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her top lieutenants, is also stirring objections among Democrats.

   Democrats had vowed to take up the issue when Congress returned from its August break, with Democratic leaders declaring that any failure to do so would undermine the ability of Congress to conduct its constitutionally mandated oversight role.

   […]

   “Congress will act to preserve and protect our criminal justice system and to ensure appropriate congressional oversight in all areas essential to the well-being of the American people,” Pelosi said back then.

   via the politico

   of course Rahm Emanuel is right in the middle of it, and Conyer’s is pissed.

   way to go dems…jezeus!

   • 

     CabinGirl on September 11, 2007 at 1:05 pm

     How cool.  Now the Dems can bill themselves as the co-dependent enablers of GOP corruption in the next elections.

   • 

     hens teeth on September 11, 2007 at 3:50 pm

     Time for contempt of responsibility, or maybe dereliction of duty charges.

     Is she trying to start a rebellion?

     • 

       dada on September 11, 2007 at 4:12 pm

       anyone who still holds onto any hope that the democrats are going to rein in this administration, domestically or otherwise, is deluded.

       they all consider themselves above the law, unaccountable to the people. they’ll continue to dance with them that brung ’em.

       damn! l miss Molly.

       to paraphrase bob dylan:

       And Nancy says come see her
       In her honky-tonk lagoon,
       Where we can watch her waltz for free
       ‘Neath her Pandering moon.
       An’ I say, “Aw come on now,
       You must know about my debutante.”
       An’ she says, “Your debutante just knows what you need
       But I know what you want.”

       Now the bodies lay on Pennsylvania Avenue
       Where the neocon madmen climb.
       They all fall there so perfectly,
       It all seems so well timed.
       An’ here I sit so patiently
       Waiting to find out what price
       You have to pay to get out of
       Going through all these things twice.
       Oh, Mama, can this really be the end…

       the system’s broken, there’s no longer any room for doubt.

       lTMF’sA

       

9. 

   CabinGirl on September 11, 2007 at 2:28 pm

   NYT

   United Nations officials reported an outbreak of Ebola virus in central Congo today and were rushing supplies and doctors into the region to contain the outbreak. But they said they did not know if Ebola was the cause of a mystery illness that has killed more than 100 people in the same area.

   According to Gregory Hartl, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, five samples taken from sick people in the area have tested positive for Ebola, but another disease may be involved because other patients have been responding to antibiotic medicine, which would not work on a virus like Ebola.

   “It wouldn’t be surprising if something else was going on,” Mr. Hartl said. “But because Ebola is involved, we have to be on high alert.”

   Ebola is fast-acting and highly contagious, and is one of the deadliest diseases on the planet, killing more than half the people who become infected. In severe cases, victims hemorrhage all over their body and bleed from their orifices before dying.

   It appears that the other disease involved is shigella, which responds to ciprofloxacin.