Monday News Bucket

13 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on December 17, 2007 at 7:15 am

   the harbinger of our failing economy? NYT

   Sales of women’s clothing, a traditional pillar of the holiday shopping season, are unusually bleak so far this year, according to a major credit card company, an ominous sign for the retail industry.

   From high-end dresses to bargain coats, spending on women’s apparel dropped nearly 6 percent during the first half of the Christmas season, compared with the same period last year, according to MasterCard Advisors, a division of the credit card company.

   Analysts blamed a rough economy, which has discouraged women — and mothers, in particular — from splurging on clothing for themselves and a lack of compelling fashions this winter.

   Is this really a surprise in a world where gas and heating oil have doubled in price in the past 8 years, health insurance premiums have gone up by 30% or more, and grocery prices are soaring?  Puh-lease.

2. 

   CabinGirl on December 17, 2007 at 7:27 am

   Reid is now supposedly bringing BOTH versions of the FISA bill to the floor for a vote, in an effort to act surprised when the bad bill (Intelligence version with immunity) wins: CBS

   On Friday, Reid announced in the Senate that he would be moving the Senate Intelligence Committee (SIC) version of the bill to the floor.

   What followed was a firestorm by Democrats and consumer activists who feared that the immunity provision would succeed in a vote, despite threats of a filibuster by Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.

   “Providing retroactive immunity to companies that may have violated the law will set a dangerous precedent,” said Dodd. “Companies who violated the trust of thousands of their customers will be immune to prosecution and the details of their actions will stay hidden.

   “The President, and his Administration, has consistently used scare tactics in an attempt to force Congress to pass FISA legislation that provides retroactive immunity,” Dodd said.

   Dodd had placed a “hold” on the legislation, which ordinarily blocks a bill from coming to vote, but Reid is apparently ignoring the hold.

   Other Democrats (including those Senators running for President) have said they will support Dodd’s filibuster.

   And earlier this week, 14 Democrats sent a letter to Reid asking that he move the Judiciary Committee’s version (without immunity) forward, because its provision had been debated in open sessions.

   Reid’s office was reportedly inundated with phone calls and messages from citizens who did not want Congress to allow immunity to telecoms, before their actions have even been detailed in a court of law.

   The heat seemed to have stirred Reid, who later in the day indicated that he would actually bring both versions of the FISA bill up for a vote.

   The vote we really need is on whether Harry should be allowed to continue as Senate Majority Leader.

3. 

   CabinGirl on December 17, 2007 at 7:45 am

   as long as you aren’t a woman in Basra, I guess: TimesOnline

   There are two photographs in every police file. One is a long shot of a woman’s discarded body, the other a close-up of her last expression.

   All the women fell foul of the unwritten rules of the new Basra – they dressed wrongly, they left the home to work, or perhaps they were merely rumoured to have a boyfriend.

   Forty-eight manila files have been opened in the past six months. Not one case has been solved. The bare number cannot begin to conjure the horror of these deaths at the hands of Islamic extremists who have the port city in a tightening grip of fear.

   In one folder at the Basra police station, the young woman in the autopsy photograph seems to be straining upward in agony, her eyes popping in terror. She is “female unknown identity, found in Hayer Hussein neighbourhood, behind the electric station.

   In another, a woman’s nose has been crushed. Trails of blood run from her closed right eye like lines of tears. She is “female unknown identity, found in Al-Mishraq al-Jaid neighbourhood, behind the car dealer. 7/11/2007”.

   Their autopsies revealed painful deaths. One woman found in “a red dress” had a 9mm bullet wound in her left hand, three in her right hand, three in her right upper arm, and three in her back. Two of the women were beheaded, one with a saw.

   That’s really some freedom and democracy BushCo brought there.  They should spend the rest of their lives in a prison (maybe in Syria?), after being tried for war crimes.

   • 

     ask on December 17, 2007 at 8:36 am

     That’s an absolutely sickening story.

4. 

   ask on December 17, 2007 at 8:36 am

   Guantanamo detainee asks court to declare that he was tortured

   In a filing made public Friday, lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee have asked a federal court to examine the way he was questioned while in secret CIA custody for three years and decide whether he was tortured.

   If the court takes up the request, it would shift from Congress to the courts the ongoing debate over whether so-called enhanced interrogation techniques authorized by President Bush against al Qaida suspects included illegal torture. Among those techniques was waterboarding, which simulates the sensation of drowning.

5. 

   idredit on December 17, 2007 at 8:48 am

   Breaking News. Actually a confirmation.

   Russia’s Putin agrees to become PM under Medvedev presidency. – Reuters 8.38 am EST.

6. 

   ask on December 17, 2007 at 8:50 am

   This has been pretty much under the radar until the last couple of days.

   OAS seeks to mediate Bolivia’s growing political crisis

   WASHINGTON — A special envoy from the Organization of American States was in Bolivia on Friday to monitor potentially explosive developments in that country’s battle over efforts to rewrite its constitution.

   OAS officials said that Raul Alconada , a senior official of the organization’s political department who arrived in the country late Thursday, hopes to meet with President Evo Morales to discuss OAS involvement in monitoring a yet-to-be-scheduled referendum on the new constitution.

   Conservative governors in the country’s eastern half have rejected the draft constitution and are poised to seek referendums of their own that would transfer to their provinces rights to levy taxes and set up police forces that traditionally have belonged only to Bolivia’s central government.

7. 

   ask on December 17, 2007 at 8:57 am

   Survey: Many Iraqis in Syria fled during U.S. troop buildup

   CAIRO, Egypt — One in five Iraqi refugees in Syria has been tortured or suffered from other violence, and more than a third fled their homeland between July and October, at the height of the U.S. troop buildup that was intended to quell sectarian violence in Baghdad, preliminary data from a new United Nations study show.

   The survey also found that the refugee population is highly educated– nearly a third have university degrees, including master’s and doctorates– and that many refugees are only weeks away from exhausting their savings.

   The survey, which the IPSOS market research firm conducted in October and November, is the most comprehensive study to date of the 1.5 million Iraqis who’ve sought safety in Syria from the sectarian violence at home. The results are based on interviews with 754 refugees, who were asked detailed questions that ranged from whether they’d been hit by grenades to how they treat their children’s illnesses. Full results are expected in early January.

   (my bold)

8. 

   Oui on December 17, 2007 at 11:38 am

   .
   No official statement from the Saudi government yet, the pardon was reported in the Saudi Al-Jazirah newspaper.

   Saudi king reportedly pardons rape victim

   RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has pardoned a woman who was gang raped and then sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes for being alone with a man who was not related to her in a case that sparked rare criticism from the United States, the kingdom’s top ally.

   In past weeks, Saudi officials have bristled at the criticism of what they consider an internal affair — but also appeared wary not to hurt their image in the United States.

   Justice Minister Abdullah bin Mohammed al-Sheik said the pardon does not mean the king doubted the country’s judges, but that he was acting in the “interests of the people.”

   “The king always looks into alleviating the suffering of the citizens when he becomes sure that these verdicts will leave psychological effects on the convicted people, though he is convinced and sure that the verdicts were fair,” al-Sheik said, the Al-Jazirah newspaper reported Monday.

   The victim in the case — known only as the “Girl of Qatif” after her hometown in eastern Saudi Arabia — was in a car with a man in 2006 when they were attacked and raped by seven men.

   ‘Qatif Girl’ Lawyer May Get License Back …  

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

9. 

   dada on December 17, 2007 at 12:49 pm

   the recent nie has pretty well destroyed whatever credibility Bu$hC0™ had left over the iranian nucular issue, and putin and co. have decided it’s time to move ahead:

   Russia delivers first nuclear fuel to Iran

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has delivered the first shipment of nuclear fuel to Iran’s Bushehr atomic power station, a step Western powers worried by Tehran’s nuclear ambitions had urged Moscow not to take.

   Anticipating a diplomatic storm over the announcement, Russia said on Monday that Tehran had given it assurances the fuel sent to Bushehr would not be used for other purposes, and it urged Tehran to drop its own uranium enrichment program.

   […]

   In a statement issued early on Monday, Russia’s foreign ministry said the project was back on track. “On December 16 the delivery of fuel began from Russia to the Iranian atomic power station in Bushehr,” the foreign ministry said.

   […]

   “The delivery of fuel will continue and the whole amount of fuel will be delivered to Iran as scheduled,” he said.

   The first shipment — uranium 235 stored in modules of several fuel rods — is now being stored at Bushehr in southern Iran and the rest will be delivered within the next two months. After that, the plant can start operating within 6 months.

   The United States and allies, which suspect Iran of harboring ambitions to acquire a nuclear weapon, had called on Moscow not to dispatch the fuel. Iran says its intentions are purely peaceful.

   link

   a tersely worded letter will no doubt follow, as soon as they find the chimperor’s favorite box of crayolas™.

   lTMF’sA

   • 

     CabinGirl on December 17, 2007 at 3:43 pm

     And he’ll use the red crayon and capital letters to show how mad he is at them…

10. 

    dada on December 17, 2007 at 12:54 pm

    having trouble keeping up, here’s a quick reference guide; the latest issue of Hugh’s List of Bush Scandals.

    up to 289, by his count.

    lTMF’sA

11. 

    CabinGirl on December 17, 2007 at 7:30 pm

    Penn to replace student loans with grant money to make tuition more affordable: Yahoo News

    The University of Pennsylvania on Monday joined Harvard and other elite private colleges in announcing loan-free financial aid packages aimed at middle- and upper-middle-class students.

    All financially eligible undergraduates will receive grants instead of loans beginning in fall 2009, Penn officials said.

    “Our aim is to send a signal out to every family who would not otherwise believe they could afford our tuition and fees that we’re affordable to students from every economic background,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said.

    Penn costs about $46,000 a year for tuition and room and board. The school must continue charging such fees to those who can afford it in order to offer financial aid to less affluent students, Gutmann said.

    Apparently Harvard and Swarthmore have similar programs in the works.  I almost choked when I saw how much Penn costs…