December 14, 2006

ALERT

UPDATE: Senator Johnson Recovering....Senator Johnson Stable, Family Optimistic.......Sen. Reid: “He Really Looks Good”
http://tinyurl.com/tl4q8

WAR

Insurgents attack Iraqi president's convoy Unknown gunmen opened fire at the convoy of Iraqi President Adel Abdul Mehdi in western Baghdad on Thursday, said an interior ministry official. ((Please continue to tell me, Mr. President, how the security situation in Iraq is "improving".))
http://tinyurl.com/vwbqk

A Way Forward, a Look Back - The abrupt resignation of the Saudi ambassador to the United States and the postponement of George W. Bush's new Iraq policy speech mark a troubling new chapter for a US strategy for the Middle East that continues to spiral toward catastrophe
http://tinyurl.com/ybcxww

THE WHITE HOUSE

White House Seeks New Ruling to Keep Cheney Visitors Secret (October order by US District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina to release two years of White House visitor logs to the Washington Post,- records of visitors to Vice President Cheney's residence and office - researching the access lobbyists and others had on the White House, sought Secret Service records for anyone visiting Cheney, his legal counsel, chief spokesman, and other top aides and advisers.)
http://tinyurl.com/yjqjg7

Bush Administration Uses Subpoenas to Suppress Critics - The subpoena raises the possibility that the Bush administration has found a new tool to stop the dissemination of secrets, one that could avoid the all but absolute constitutional prohibition on prior restraints on publication. The ACLU said the subpoena was an effort to chill speech about the Bush administration.
http://tinyurl.com/yhbthd

Novak: Rove Will Retire From Politics After Bush Term...
http://tinyurl.com/y6forf

Texas Monthly Names Dick Cheney “Bum Steer Of The Year”...
http://tinyurl.com/ymunxc

CABINETS, COMMISSIONS, etc

New Forest Plan Rule Nukes NEPA - The US Forest Service finalized rules Tuesday that will allow forest officials to ignore the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when amending or writing new forest management plans.
http://tinyurl.com/va843

Mint bans melting coins now worth more as liquid than loot Given rising metal prices, the pennies and nickels in your pocket are worth more melted down than their face value -- and that has the government worried.
http://tinyurl.com/vp22s

SCANDAL

Neil Cavuto Giddy That Democrat Tim Johnson Had a Stroke - Can you imagine the uproar that would emanate from the right if a member of the "liberal media" reacted this way just hours after a Republican senator suffered a possible stroke? We'd be hearing about it for weeks. Not only that, but Cavuto was particularly coldhearted given that he has survived cancer and how suffers from multiple sclerosis, which, one would think, would endow him with special empathy for people suffering serious medical emergencies. The right has become so ruthless that it has apparently jettisoned compassion much less good old fashioned manners.
http://tinyurl.com/y7h3k8

LEGAL ITEMS

Judge Rules Gitmo Detainees Have No Rights - agreeing that Guantanamo Bay detainees do not have the right to challenge their imprisonment in US courts. "This is the first time in the history of this country that a court has held that a man may be held by our government in a place where no law applies," said Barbara Olshansky, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has handled many detainee cases.
http://tinyurl.com/ykgrpv

Judge: White House Handling of Katrina Housing "Legal Disaster" - explain a computer system that can neither precisely count evacuees nor provide reasons why they were denied aid.
http://tinyurl.com/wc2dt

ECONOMY

Americans See Widening Rich-Poor Income Gap as Cause for Alarm -
http://tinyurl.com/tkqgt

Kennedys, Bushes and Oil: Public Interest vs. Self Interest
http://tinyurl.com/tmgun

911

An untold story of 9/11 - Former federal terrorism investigators say a piece of luggage hastily checked in at the Portland, Maine, airport by a World Trade Center hijacker on the morning of Sept. 11 provided the Rosetta stone enabling FBI agents to swiftly unravel the mystery of who carried out the suicide attacks and what motivated them. A mix-up in Boston prevented the luggage from connecting with the plane that hijackers crashed into the north tower of the trade center. Seized by FBI agents at Boston's Logan Airport, investigators said, it contained Arab-language papers revealing the identities of all 19 hijackers involved in the four hijackings, as well as information on their plans, backgrounds and motives....How wonderfully convenient that a man planning to commit suicide packs a suitcase full of all the "evidence" needed to point the finger of blame, and how wonderfully lucky we all were that this damning suitcase did not get on the plane with him!
http://tinyurl.com/zpb57

Boston Air Traffic Controller Says 9/11 An Inside Job - This is the reason why, as Hordon stated, that we don't have complete access to flight data recorders and FAA tapes, which in the case of a conversation between six New York Air Route Traffic Control Center controllers was ordered to be shredded, because if studies of that evidence were undertaken it would become very clear as to who was really behind the attack.
http://tinyurl.com/ycy5cp

CONGRESS

Democrats Say They're Inheriting a Financial Mess
http://tinyurl.com/y8kbmq

Dems Plan to Cut Rates on College Loans
http://tinyurl.com/tsz94

Senator Wants Universal Health Care Plan
http://tinyurl.com/yf55s2

DOMESTIC

DuPont Still Hiding Teflon Hazard Study - Now unions have joined in pressuring DuPont to release the study and other information on the health effects of a chemical used to make Teflon that the Environmental Protection Agency says is potentially harmful to humans.
http://tinyurl.com/ykp93u

United States imprisons more people than China, Russia or any other nation, experts say:
http://tinyurl.com/y94ohy

RELIGIOUS ITEMS

NJ Approves Civil Unions...
http://tinyurl.com/ygnhyu

ENVIRONMENT

Canadian farmer on hunger strike to protest government raid; freedom of choice violation:
http://tinyurl.com/ujcrw

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Google to "consider" removing "offensive material" from Google Earth
http://tinyurl.com/y685fl

US Scientists Reject Interference - 10,000 US researchers have signed a statement protesting political interference in the scientific process. The statement, which includes the backing of 52 Nobel Laureates, demands a restoration of scientific integrity in government policy. According to the American Union of Concerned Scientists, data is being misrepresented for political reasons. It claims scientists working for federal agencies have been asked to change data to fit policy initiatives.
http://tinyurl.com/yn2l54

Lithium polymer batteries likely replacement for dangerous lithium ion in laptops, says Sony:
http://tinyurl.com/yy64jp

HP knocks out boardroom spying case in $14.5m settlement - HP will pay $14.5 million to settle the alleged spying case that resulted in the computer giant's chair Patricia Dunn's resignation, in addition to vowing to adopt certain reforms as part of a five-year programme.
(Link unavailable)

MILITARY

Soldiers Sue Military Over Mandatory Anthrax Inoculations - military service members and Pentagon civilian contractors are going to federal court to block the controversial vaccine's forced use once again.
http://tinyurl.com/y5vryn

HEALTH

Health Officials Back Circumcision in AIDS Fight - Circumcising adult men is an effective way to limit transmission of the virus that causes AIDS.
http://tinyurl.com/ynx4df

Communities Near Coal Plants Need to Know Health Threat
http://tinyurl.com/y98ap3

U.S. Breast Cancer Rates Fall
http://tinyurl.com/wgmhy

The system of botanical medicine in Peru is quite astounding. In today's feature article, we report on the research of ethnobotanists who documented the medicinal uses of 510 plant species from the region:
http://tinyurl.com/y4a5pb

Doctors prescribing antidepressants, antipsychotic medications to infants under the age of one, says psychiatrist:
http://tinyurl.com/yy7ymo

Health officials call for access to unpublished studies during drugs trials:
http://tinyurl.com/y6r4vj

Chemical companies had prominent British cancer researcher on their payroll, historical documents reveal:
http://tinyurl.com/y6czh2

HUMAN RIGHTS

Canadian farmer on hunger strike to protest government raid; freedom of choice violation:
http://tinyurl.com/ujcrw

Gender Equality and Well-Being of Children Inextricably Linked - Millions of children across the world will continue to suffer from lack of food, health care and education as long as their mothers are forced to live with abusive conditions at home and discrimination in the workplace.
http://tinyurl.com/sr6xr