From an email just in:
This afternoon Fidel Castro announced on Cuban media he will turn over power "to younger Cubans" shortly.
Wrap...
Monday, December 17, 2007
Arbitration is for suckers....
From The Los Angeles Times via truthout.org :
Bills Aim to Get Consumers Their Day in Court
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121707P.shtml
Richard Simon reports for The Los Angeles Times: "Just a few years ago, Congress, then controlled by Republicans, made it a priority to limit litigation against businesses, expressing concerns about the costly burden it imposed. Now, with Democrats in charge, legislation is advancing that could lead to more court fights between consumers and businesses."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Bills Aim to Get Consumers Their Day in Court
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121707P.shtml
Richard Simon reports for The Los Angeles Times: "Just a few years ago, Congress, then controlled by Republicans, made it a priority to limit litigation against businesses, expressing concerns about the costly burden it imposed. Now, with Democrats in charge, legislation is advancing that could lead to more court fights between consumers and businesses."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Senate FISA debate today....Bush cuts dogs loose...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
The Senate is set to begin debate today on a FISA bill that would overhaul the rules for electronic surveillance. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has elected to bring legislation to the Senate floor that would provide retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the Bush administration's illegal spying efforts. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) will reportedly filibuster the bill. Firedoglake has more.
Saudi King Abdullah has pardoned a teenage gang-rape victim who had been sentenced to 200 lashes and a six-month jail term for "being alone with a man unrelated to her." A Saudi appeals court had punished the rape victim for going to the media with her story.
Pentagon officials are pressuring President Bush to "accelerate a troop drawdown in Iraq and bulk up force levels in Afghanistan. ... Senior administration officials now believe Afghanistan may pose a greater longer-term challenge than Iraq."
"While violence is down in Iraq, Americans continue to die and fall badly wounded, and suffer severe stress and trauma caused by 15-month tours of duty. A remarkable article on Friday in the Army Times is titled: 'Not us. We're not going: Soldiers in 2nd Platoon, Charlie 1-26 stage a mutiny that pulls the unit apart."
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) writes of "the case for impeachment hearings." Along with fellow House Judiciary Committee members Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Wexler is calling for the commencement of impeachment hearings against Vice President Cheney.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, yesterday promised that he will push forward with "a probe into the destruction of CIA videotapes of detainee interrogations, despite a Justice Department request that congressional inquiries be suspended."
The House-Senate conference report on the FY 2008 intelligence authorization bill "is heavily focused on the use of private contractors by intelligence agencies," stating that the intelligence community lacks clear definitions of functions to be performed by contractors and whether contractors are performing tasks "that should be performed by government employees."
And finally: President Bush has "a regular posse of eight to 10 cyclists" who join him on his 90-minute weekend bike rides. Legislative aide Barrett Karr, who often joins the group, said that Bush "usually takes the lead as the group heads out, but at some point will say, 'Let the dogs out' -- and the faster riders will zoom to the front." Another rider, economic adviser Edward P. Lazear, said, "We ride hard. There's no question. We ride really hard."
Wrap...
Think Fast...
The Senate is set to begin debate today on a FISA bill that would overhaul the rules for electronic surveillance. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has elected to bring legislation to the Senate floor that would provide retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies that participated in the Bush administration's illegal spying efforts. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) will reportedly filibuster the bill. Firedoglake has more.
Saudi King Abdullah has pardoned a teenage gang-rape victim who had been sentenced to 200 lashes and a six-month jail term for "being alone with a man unrelated to her." A Saudi appeals court had punished the rape victim for going to the media with her story.
Pentagon officials are pressuring President Bush to "accelerate a troop drawdown in Iraq and bulk up force levels in Afghanistan. ... Senior administration officials now believe Afghanistan may pose a greater longer-term challenge than Iraq."
"While violence is down in Iraq, Americans continue to die and fall badly wounded, and suffer severe stress and trauma caused by 15-month tours of duty. A remarkable article on Friday in the Army Times is titled: 'Not us. We're not going: Soldiers in 2nd Platoon, Charlie 1-26 stage a mutiny that pulls the unit apart."
Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) writes of "the case for impeachment hearings." Along with fellow House Judiciary Committee members Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Wexler is calling for the commencement of impeachment hearings against Vice President Cheney.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, yesterday promised that he will push forward with "a probe into the destruction of CIA videotapes of detainee interrogations, despite a Justice Department request that congressional inquiries be suspended."
The House-Senate conference report on the FY 2008 intelligence authorization bill "is heavily focused on the use of private contractors by intelligence agencies," stating that the intelligence community lacks clear definitions of functions to be performed by contractors and whether contractors are performing tasks "that should be performed by government employees."
And finally: President Bush has "a regular posse of eight to 10 cyclists" who join him on his 90-minute weekend bike rides. Legislative aide Barrett Karr, who often joins the group, said that Bush "usually takes the lead as the group heads out, but at some point will say, 'Let the dogs out' -- and the faster riders will zoom to the front." Another rider, economic adviser Edward P. Lazear, said, "We ride hard. There's no question. We ride really hard."
Wrap...
Bush stubbornly cuts own throat...
From Washington Post via TomPaine:
Bush's Budget Wins May Cost Him
Victories Over Democrats Could Increase Debt and Impede His Own Agenda
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; Page A01
As Congress stumbles toward Christmas, President Bush is scoring victory after victory over his Democratic adversaries. He has beaten back domestic spending increases, thwarted an expansion of children's health insurance coverage, defeated tax hikes, won funding for the war in Iraq and pushed Democrats toward shattering their pledge not to add to the federal deficit with new tax cuts or rises in mandatory spending.
But the cost of those wins could be high, both for the federal debt and for the president's own priorities.
Bush's steadfast stand against Democratic spending, coupled with his equally resolute opposition to tax increases, could raise the federal debt this fiscal year by nearly $240 billion. As Democrats struggle to meet his demands, they are jettisoning renewable-energy and conservation incentives that Bush championed, and they may ax some of his most cherished programs.
Even some Republicans bristle at the president's inflexibility. Bush has pledged never to sign bills with tax increases, even tax increases that he once supported.
"I see the president trying to play catch-up in two years for not vetoing anything in the first six years, and probably regretting that he treated the Republican Congress with softer gloves than he did a Democrat Congress," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the conservative ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "He's kind of waking up to the necessity of having a certain policy that ought to be consistently followed, even if it's irrational."
White House officials -- and virtually every other Republican in Congress -- are not about to apologize. "The Democrats are learning this isn't the early 1970s, when the Republican Party was Gerald Ford and 140 of his friends," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "There are 201 of us, and we will be heard."
In his first six years in office, Bush accepted domestic discretionary spending increases from Republican-controlled Congresses that averaged 7 percent a year, said Brian Riedl, a conservative budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation. In his showdown with the current Democratic Congress, the president is insisting on spending growth of 4 percent at most.
But as he stood his ground, first against $22 billion in additional domestic spending, then against $11 billion, Bush steadfastly opposed Democratic efforts to raise taxes to recoup the cost of a $50 billion measure that would stave off the growth of the alternative minimum tax (AMT). The parallel tax system was created in 1969 to ensure that a few rich Americans could not avoid paying taxes altogether, but because it was not indexed to inflation, it now threatens more than 20 million upper-middle-income households.
If, as expected, Congress passes a bill without making up the lost revenue, the cost to the Treasury would swamp the savings from Bush's spending fight.
The president also has taken to the White House's bully pulpit week after week to demand nearly $200 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, without tax increases or spending cuts. If the president prevails on all three fronts, he will end up adding about $239 billion to the federal deficit this fiscal year.
"I have difficulty seeing how $11 billion or $22 billion in discretionary spending on the domestic side of the equation is so fiscally irresponsible when juxtaposed against these major AMT provisions of $50 billion, or certainly against the $70-plus billion they want for the global war on terror, Iraq and Afghanistan," said G. William Hoagland, a Republican budget adviser to former Senate majority leader Bill Frist (Tenn.). "It doesn't pass the sensible man's test."
As Democrats shuffle funds to meet Bush's bottom line, the White House also is likely to lose half of the $3 billion the president requested for his Millennium Challenge Corp., an effort to increase development assistance to some poor nations. Bush's program to resume the reprocessing of nuclear waste will be cut dramatically. A $579 million increase for math and science instruction under the No Child Left Behind initiative will be cut, and the Reading First program will be reduced, Democratic aides said Friday.
Bush's victory against much of the Democrats' energy bill also came at a price. A comprehensive bill will be signed into law, but the president defeated $21 billion in revenue increases that would have paid for tax incentives to support renewable energy, conservation and other programs that he has vocally supported.
"It's ridiculous," Grassley fumed. "He has compromised his own position."
The biggest revenue-raiser would have done away with a tax incentive that the five largest oil companies have enjoyed for three years. That break came about as Congress was considering tax incentives to spur manufacturing exports; the oil companies -- among the largest importers in the country -- successfully lobbied to be declared manufacturers, making them eligible for a new tax break.
At the time, Bush opposed more tax incentives. "I will tell you, with $55 oil, we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore," he told a gathering of newspaper editors. "There are plenty of incentives." Grassley said Bush personally reiterated that position to him in 2006, during a private White House session on taxes.
This time around, Bush and Republican leaders declared that a repeal of such incentives would amount to a "massive" tax increase.
"What is clear is that raising taxes on oil producers will not lower the price of gasoline," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "And raising the price of gasoline is not what Americans need today. . . . We do not need a tax increase."
Bush's aversion to any tax increase -- no matter the size or the target -- has led directly to the death of a number of measures. Bush opposed a Democratic plan to pay for the AMT "patch" largely by forcing wealthy managers of hedge and private-equity funds to pay ordinary income tax rates on their earnings. Currently that income is classified as capital gains and taxed at 15 percent.
When that measure fell to a filibuster, House Democrats tried again, this time paying for the AMT bill by preventing hedge fund managers from putting compensation in offshore tax havens. Again, Bush opposed it.
Fratto called such proposals "very typical of tax policy based on populism and class warfare, rather than sound economic policy."
Democrats said Bush was not nearly so averse in the past to using tax increases to deal with losses from the AMT. In 2005, he empaneled a tax reform commission, entrusting it to, among other things, repeal the AMT without costing the Treasury any revenue.
That would have meant eliminating a tax that brings in $1 trillion over 10 years and making up the lost revenue with tax increases somewhere, said Tom Kahn, Democratic staff director of the House Budget Committee.
Wrap...
Bush's Budget Wins May Cost Him
Victories Over Democrats Could Increase Debt and Impede His Own Agenda
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; Page A01
As Congress stumbles toward Christmas, President Bush is scoring victory after victory over his Democratic adversaries. He has beaten back domestic spending increases, thwarted an expansion of children's health insurance coverage, defeated tax hikes, won funding for the war in Iraq and pushed Democrats toward shattering their pledge not to add to the federal deficit with new tax cuts or rises in mandatory spending.
But the cost of those wins could be high, both for the federal debt and for the president's own priorities.
Bush's steadfast stand against Democratic spending, coupled with his equally resolute opposition to tax increases, could raise the federal debt this fiscal year by nearly $240 billion. As Democrats struggle to meet his demands, they are jettisoning renewable-energy and conservation incentives that Bush championed, and they may ax some of his most cherished programs.
Even some Republicans bristle at the president's inflexibility. Bush has pledged never to sign bills with tax increases, even tax increases that he once supported.
"I see the president trying to play catch-up in two years for not vetoing anything in the first six years, and probably regretting that he treated the Republican Congress with softer gloves than he did a Democrat Congress," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the conservative ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. "He's kind of waking up to the necessity of having a certain policy that ought to be consistently followed, even if it's irrational."
White House officials -- and virtually every other Republican in Congress -- are not about to apologize. "The Democrats are learning this isn't the early 1970s, when the Republican Party was Gerald Ford and 140 of his friends," said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "There are 201 of us, and we will be heard."
In his first six years in office, Bush accepted domestic discretionary spending increases from Republican-controlled Congresses that averaged 7 percent a year, said Brian Riedl, a conservative budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation. In his showdown with the current Democratic Congress, the president is insisting on spending growth of 4 percent at most.
But as he stood his ground, first against $22 billion in additional domestic spending, then against $11 billion, Bush steadfastly opposed Democratic efforts to raise taxes to recoup the cost of a $50 billion measure that would stave off the growth of the alternative minimum tax (AMT). The parallel tax system was created in 1969 to ensure that a few rich Americans could not avoid paying taxes altogether, but because it was not indexed to inflation, it now threatens more than 20 million upper-middle-income households.
If, as expected, Congress passes a bill without making up the lost revenue, the cost to the Treasury would swamp the savings from Bush's spending fight.
The president also has taken to the White House's bully pulpit week after week to demand nearly $200 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, without tax increases or spending cuts. If the president prevails on all three fronts, he will end up adding about $239 billion to the federal deficit this fiscal year.
"I have difficulty seeing how $11 billion or $22 billion in discretionary spending on the domestic side of the equation is so fiscally irresponsible when juxtaposed against these major AMT provisions of $50 billion, or certainly against the $70-plus billion they want for the global war on terror, Iraq and Afghanistan," said G. William Hoagland, a Republican budget adviser to former Senate majority leader Bill Frist (Tenn.). "It doesn't pass the sensible man's test."
As Democrats shuffle funds to meet Bush's bottom line, the White House also is likely to lose half of the $3 billion the president requested for his Millennium Challenge Corp., an effort to increase development assistance to some poor nations. Bush's program to resume the reprocessing of nuclear waste will be cut dramatically. A $579 million increase for math and science instruction under the No Child Left Behind initiative will be cut, and the Reading First program will be reduced, Democratic aides said Friday.
Bush's victory against much of the Democrats' energy bill also came at a price. A comprehensive bill will be signed into law, but the president defeated $21 billion in revenue increases that would have paid for tax incentives to support renewable energy, conservation and other programs that he has vocally supported.
"It's ridiculous," Grassley fumed. "He has compromised his own position."
The biggest revenue-raiser would have done away with a tax incentive that the five largest oil companies have enjoyed for three years. That break came about as Congress was considering tax incentives to spur manufacturing exports; the oil companies -- among the largest importers in the country -- successfully lobbied to be declared manufacturers, making them eligible for a new tax break.
At the time, Bush opposed more tax incentives. "I will tell you, with $55 oil, we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore," he told a gathering of newspaper editors. "There are plenty of incentives." Grassley said Bush personally reiterated that position to him in 2006, during a private White House session on taxes.
This time around, Bush and Republican leaders declared that a repeal of such incentives would amount to a "massive" tax increase.
"What is clear is that raising taxes on oil producers will not lower the price of gasoline," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "And raising the price of gasoline is not what Americans need today. . . . We do not need a tax increase."
Bush's aversion to any tax increase -- no matter the size or the target -- has led directly to the death of a number of measures. Bush opposed a Democratic plan to pay for the AMT "patch" largely by forcing wealthy managers of hedge and private-equity funds to pay ordinary income tax rates on their earnings. Currently that income is classified as capital gains and taxed at 15 percent.
When that measure fell to a filibuster, House Democrats tried again, this time paying for the AMT bill by preventing hedge fund managers from putting compensation in offshore tax havens. Again, Bush opposed it.
Fratto called such proposals "very typical of tax policy based on populism and class warfare, rather than sound economic policy."
Democrats said Bush was not nearly so averse in the past to using tax increases to deal with losses from the AMT. In 2005, he empaneled a tax reform commission, entrusting it to, among other things, repeal the AMT without costing the Treasury any revenue.
That would have meant eliminating a tax that brings in $1 trillion over 10 years and making up the lost revenue with tax increases somewhere, said Tom Kahn, Democratic staff director of the House Budget Committee.
Wrap...
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Good luck with that!
From Information Clearing House:
Destruction of Evidence Raises a Presumption of Guilt
By William Sumner Scott, J.D.
A permanent record of the Bush and Cheney misdeeds and lies must be made in Congress. Additionally, evidence of the torture, wrongful detentions, and surveillance committed by them must be collected and preserved. Ideally, this exercise will result in their removal from office.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18893.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Destruction of Evidence Raises a Presumption of Guilt
By William Sumner Scott, J.D.
A permanent record of the Bush and Cheney misdeeds and lies must be made in Congress. Additionally, evidence of the torture, wrongful detentions, and surveillance committed by them must be collected and preserved. Ideally, this exercise will result in their removal from office.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18893.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Friday, December 14, 2007
What "Private Equity" really does...
From David Sirota:
When Barbarians Take Hostages
By David Sirota
Creators Syndicate, 12/14/07
As a central villain in the famous book "Barbarians at the Gate,"
Henry Kravis has become one of the world's richest mavens of private
equity-the Wall Street sector that buys up companies, breaks them
apart and sells their assets. In 2006, Kravis made $450 million, or
more per hour ($51,000) than the average American household makes in
a year. Incredibly, his wealth puts him right within the average for
executives in this largely unregulated industry that oversees about
$400 billion in annual business.
Brutes like Kravis haven't amassed such treasure by playing nice.
During their takeover rampages, they often crush workers and leave
communities for dead. And now, as we've seen over the last month,
when the tax man comes calling, these barbarians start taking
hostages.
To read the full nationally syndicated newspaper column, go to:
http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota/when-barbarians-take-hostages.html
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
When Barbarians Take Hostages
By David Sirota
Creators Syndicate, 12/14/07
As a central villain in the famous book "Barbarians at the Gate,"
Henry Kravis has become one of the world's richest mavens of private
equity-the Wall Street sector that buys up companies, breaks them
apart and sells their assets. In 2006, Kravis made $450 million, or
more per hour ($51,000) than the average American household makes in
a year. Incredibly, his wealth puts him right within the average for
executives in this largely unregulated industry that oversees about
$400 billion in annual business.
Brutes like Kravis haven't amassed such treasure by playing nice.
During their takeover rampages, they often crush workers and leave
communities for dead. And now, as we've seen over the last month,
when the tax man comes calling, these barbarians start taking
hostages.
To read the full nationally syndicated newspaper column, go to:
http://www.creators.com/opinion/david-sirota/when-barbarians-take-hostages.html
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Will Pelosi & Conyers stop call for Cheney impeachment?
From Information Clearing House:
House Judiciary Trio Calls for Impeach Cheney Hearings
By John Nichols
12/14/07 "The Nation" -- -- Three senior members of the House Judiciary Committee have called for the immediate opening of impeachment hearings for Vice President Richard Cheney.
Democrats Robert Wexler of Florida, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin on Friday distributed a statement, “A Case for Hearings,” that declares, “The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution. The charges against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens.”
In particular, the Judiciary Committee members cite the recent revelation by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan that the Vice President and his staff purposefully gave him false information about the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert agent as part of a White House campaign to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson. On the basis of McClellan’s statements, Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin say, “it is even more important for Congress to investigate what may have been an intentional obstruction of justice.” The three House members argue that, “Congress should call Mr. McClellan to testify about what he described as being asked to ‘unknowingly [pass] along false information.’”
Adding to the sense of urgency, the members note that “recent revelations have shown that the Administration including Vice President Cheney may have again manipulated and exaggerated evidence about weapons of mass destruction — this time about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”
Although Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin are close to Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers, getting the Michigan Democrat to open hearings on impeachment will not necessarily be easy. Though Conyers was a leader in suggesting during the last Congress that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney had committed impeachable offenses, he has been under immense pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, to keep Constitutional remedies for executive excesses “off the table” in this Congress.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18888.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
House Judiciary Trio Calls for Impeach Cheney Hearings
By John Nichols
12/14/07 "The Nation" -- -- Three senior members of the House Judiciary Committee have called for the immediate opening of impeachment hearings for Vice President Richard Cheney.
Democrats Robert Wexler of Florida, Luis Gutierrez of Illinois and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin on Friday distributed a statement, “A Case for Hearings,” that declares, “The issues at hand are too serious to ignore, including credible allegations of abuse of power that if proven may well constitute high crimes and misdemeanors under our constitution. The charges against Vice President Cheney relate to his deceptive actions leading up to the Iraq war, the revelation of the identity of a covert agent for political retaliation, and the illegal wiretapping of American citizens.”
In particular, the Judiciary Committee members cite the recent revelation by former White House press secretary Scott McClellan that the Vice President and his staff purposefully gave him false information about the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson as a covert agent as part of a White House campaign to discredit her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson. On the basis of McClellan’s statements, Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin say, “it is even more important for Congress to investigate what may have been an intentional obstruction of justice.” The three House members argue that, “Congress should call Mr. McClellan to testify about what he described as being asked to ‘unknowingly [pass] along false information.’”
Adding to the sense of urgency, the members note that “recent revelations have shown that the Administration including Vice President Cheney may have again manipulated and exaggerated evidence about weapons of mass destruction — this time about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.”
Although Wexler, Gutierrez and Baldwin are close to Judiciary Committee chair John Conyers, getting the Michigan Democrat to open hearings on impeachment will not necessarily be easy. Though Conyers was a leader in suggesting during the last Congress that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney had committed impeachable offenses, he has been under immense pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, to keep Constitutional remedies for executive excesses “off the table” in this Congress.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18888.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
FCC's Martin tries to screw Hispanics....
From Hispanic Link News Service via truthout.org:
Janet Murguia | FCC Gives Lump of Coal to Hispanics for Christmas
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121407LA.shtml
Janet Murguia, Hispanic Link News Service, writes, "Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is trying to overhaul the nation's media ownership rules, and he's in a hurry. He's pushing for a vote by December 18 to end the longstanding ban on one company owning both the daily newspaper and a radio or TV station in the same town - regardless of the certain harm it will cause to the already fragile state of minority media ownership."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Janet Murguia | FCC Gives Lump of Coal to Hispanics for Christmas
http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/121407LA.shtml
Janet Murguia, Hispanic Link News Service, writes, "Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is trying to overhaul the nation's media ownership rules, and he's in a hurry. He's pushing for a vote by December 18 to end the longstanding ban on one company owning both the daily newspaper and a radio or TV station in the same town - regardless of the certain harm it will cause to the already fragile state of minority media ownership."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Shining a light on National Secrets....
From Secrecy News:
OBAMA: NEW WEB SITE WILL HELP CHALLENGE "NATION OF SECRETS"
Senator Barack Obama praised the launch of a new government website
yesterday that tracks federal contract awards.
The new website -- USAspending.gov -- constitutes "an important
milestone on the path to greater openness and transparency in the
Federal Government," he said.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2007/obama121307.html
"I have been very troubled by the extent to which America has become a
nation of government secrets," said Senator Obama. "More and more
information is kept secret or made intolerably complicated and
inaccessible. More and more decisions are made behind closed doors with
access limited to insiders and lobbyists."
"USAspending.gov along with watchdog groups will give us all tools to
help buck that trend," he said.
The new website resulted from legislation enacted last year, the
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, that was sponsored
by Sen. Obama and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).
The Office of Management and Budget developed the website with
technical support from the non-profit OMB Watch, along with advocacy
support from the Sunlight Foundation and other organizations.
The web site does not include information on classified spending and
contracting.
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
OBAMA: NEW WEB SITE WILL HELP CHALLENGE "NATION OF SECRETS"
Senator Barack Obama praised the launch of a new government website
yesterday that tracks federal contract awards.
The new website -- USAspending.gov -- constitutes "an important
milestone on the path to greater openness and transparency in the
Federal Government," he said.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2007/obama121307.html
"I have been very troubled by the extent to which America has become a
nation of government secrets," said Senator Obama. "More and more
information is kept secret or made intolerably complicated and
inaccessible. More and more decisions are made behind closed doors with
access limited to insiders and lobbyists."
"USAspending.gov along with watchdog groups will give us all tools to
help buck that trend," he said.
The new website resulted from legislation enacted last year, the
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, that was sponsored
by Sen. Obama and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK).
The Office of Management and Budget developed the website with
technical support from the non-profit OMB Watch, along with advocacy
support from the Sunlight Foundation and other organizations.
The web site does not include information on classified spending and
contracting.
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Want to flunk a test? Try this one....
Rec'd in email...
Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , KS , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
8th Grade Final Exam:
Salina, KS, 1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie", "play", and "run."
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time, 65 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt
U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus .
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States .
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas .
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.
Orthography (Time, one hour) (Do we even know what this is???)
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication.
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocal, diphthong, cognate letters, and lingual.
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi-, dis-, mis-, pre-, semi-, post-, non-, inter-, mono-, and sup-.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco .
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of: Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? This also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers
Wrap...
Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , KS , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
8th Grade Final Exam:
Salina, KS, 1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of "lie", "play", and "run."
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time, 65 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per meter?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt
U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus .
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States .
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas .
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, and 1865.
Orthography (Time, one hour) (Do we even know what this is???)
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, and syllabication.
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, sub vocal, diphthong, cognate letters, and lingual.
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi-, dis-, mis-, pre-, semi-, post-, non-, inter-, mono-, and sup-.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco .
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of: Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete. Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? This also shows you how poor our education system has become... and, NO! I don't have the answers
Wrap...
Thursday, December 13, 2007
From Bali on boycott to DC Smackdown game...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
European nations at the U.N. conference in Bali, yesterday "threatened to boycott U.S.-led climate talks next month unless Washington accepts" a draft document 'suggesting that industrialized nations consider cutting emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020."
Twenty-eight retired generals and admirals wrote to the House and Senate intelligence committees yesterday, "urging them to require the CIA to abandon harsh interrogation techniques. Among the signers were two retired Army generals who investigated the Abu Ghraib detainee abuses in Iraq, Gen. Paul J. Kern and Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba."
In 2002, Marine Col. Ralph H. Kohlmann, who is now the chief judge of the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, "wrote a paper on the Bush administration's plan to use military commissions to try Guantanamo suspects, concluding that "even a good military tribunal is a bad idea."
"Diplomatic posts at the State Department and U.S. embassies worldwide will be cut by 10 percent next year because of heavy staffing demands in Iraq and Afghanistan, Director General Harry Thomas informed the foreign service yesterday."
109: The record number of soldiers who "have killed themselves this year, according to Army statistics showing confirmed or suspected suicides."
A new report by the American Institute of Philanthropy says that "eight veterans charities, including some of the nation's largest, gave less than a third of the money raised to the causes they champion, far below the recommended standard."
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Mark Agrast urges Congress to support the conference report on the FY2008 Intelligence Authorization bill, which would outlaw CIA interrogation methods that are not authorized by the Army Field Manual.
And finally: The new video game "DC Smackdown" pokes "evenhanded fun" at public figures with 17 figures, including Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, and Jesse Jackson. The final two levels of the game involve "combat between former Vice President Al Gore and President George W. Bush. Gore has a 'CO2 fart attack,' while Bush has a Karl Rove attack. Dressed like the grim reaper, Rove passes through and steals the opponent's soul."
Wrap...
Think Fast...
European nations at the U.N. conference in Bali, yesterday "threatened to boycott U.S.-led climate talks next month unless Washington accepts" a draft document 'suggesting that industrialized nations consider cutting emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent by 2020."
Twenty-eight retired generals and admirals wrote to the House and Senate intelligence committees yesterday, "urging them to require the CIA to abandon harsh interrogation techniques. Among the signers were two retired Army generals who investigated the Abu Ghraib detainee abuses in Iraq, Gen. Paul J. Kern and Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba."
In 2002, Marine Col. Ralph H. Kohlmann, who is now the chief judge of the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, "wrote a paper on the Bush administration's plan to use military commissions to try Guantanamo suspects, concluding that "even a good military tribunal is a bad idea."
"Diplomatic posts at the State Department and U.S. embassies worldwide will be cut by 10 percent next year because of heavy staffing demands in Iraq and Afghanistan, Director General Harry Thomas informed the foreign service yesterday."
109: The record number of soldiers who "have killed themselves this year, according to Army statistics showing confirmed or suspected suicides."
A new report by the American Institute of Philanthropy says that "eight veterans charities, including some of the nation's largest, gave less than a third of the money raised to the causes they champion, far below the recommended standard."
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Mark Agrast urges Congress to support the conference report on the FY2008 Intelligence Authorization bill, which would outlaw CIA interrogation methods that are not authorized by the Army Field Manual.
And finally: The new video game "DC Smackdown" pokes "evenhanded fun" at public figures with 17 figures, including Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, and Jesse Jackson. The final two levels of the game involve "combat between former Vice President Al Gore and President George W. Bush. Gore has a 'CO2 fart attack,' while Bush has a Karl Rove attack. Dressed like the grim reaper, Rove passes through and steals the opponent's soul."
Wrap...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
From CIA evidence to Colbert wears own portrait...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
Days after the CIA admitted it destroyed interrogation tapes, a U.S. appeals court ordered the Bush administration "to preserve any evidence relevant" to the case involving Majid Khan, a U.S. national held at Guantanamo Bay who alleges he was tortured while in CIA hands.
According to NASA scientists, "Through the first 11 months, 2007 is the second warmest year in the period of instrumental data, behind the record warmth of 2005."
"Forty people were killed and more than 125 wounded when three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the Shi'ite city of Amara in southern Iraq on Wednesday." The attacks "were among the deadliest this year in southern Iraq and came as tensions ran high across the region."
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers (D-MI) and committee member Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) struck a deal "on a piece of housing legislation that would give bankruptcy-court judges more flexibility to alter the terms of certain mortgages." A markup of the bill will be held today.
Attempting to break a congressional impasse on appropriations legislation, Rep. David Obey (D-WI) advocated eliminating all congressional earmarks. While Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she was open to the idea, the plan "ran into deeply skeptical senators from both parties."
Yesterday, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) wrote to Attorney General Mike Mukasey requesting that he "immediately appoint an independent counsel to investigate the circumstances surrounding" the destruction of interrogation tapes by the CIA.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously yesterday to reduce the large disparity between punishments for crack and powder cocaine offenders, giving approximately 20,000 federal inmates incarcerated for crack offenses a chance to reduce their sentences. The Bush administration strongly opposed the vote, arguing "it will make thousands of dangerous prisoners, many of them violent gang members, eligible for immediate release."
"Our main focus, militarily, in the region and in the world right now is rightly and firmly in Iraq," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen testified yesterday. "It is simply a matter of resources, of capacity. In Afghanistan, we do what we can. In Iraq, we do what we must."
"President Bush hailed a decade-long decline in teen drug use as proof that his administration's drug interdiction efforts are working. ... Bush said he wanted to 'celebrate progress' while acknowledging that there is still work to be done on curbing teen drug use."
And finally: Colbert is getting bored. "With his show in reruns while the writers continue to strike, Stephen Colbert needs something to do." The comedian was spotted walking across the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday "with a large portrait of himself on his back."
Wrap...
Think Fast...
Days after the CIA admitted it destroyed interrogation tapes, a U.S. appeals court ordered the Bush administration "to preserve any evidence relevant" to the case involving Majid Khan, a U.S. national held at Guantanamo Bay who alleges he was tortured while in CIA hands.
According to NASA scientists, "Through the first 11 months, 2007 is the second warmest year in the period of instrumental data, behind the record warmth of 2005."
"Forty people were killed and more than 125 wounded when three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the Shi'ite city of Amara in southern Iraq on Wednesday." The attacks "were among the deadliest this year in southern Iraq and came as tensions ran high across the region."
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers (D-MI) and committee member Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) struck a deal "on a piece of housing legislation that would give bankruptcy-court judges more flexibility to alter the terms of certain mortgages." A markup of the bill will be held today.
Attempting to break a congressional impasse on appropriations legislation, Rep. David Obey (D-WI) advocated eliminating all congressional earmarks. While Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said she was open to the idea, the plan "ran into deeply skeptical senators from both parties."
Yesterday, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) wrote to Attorney General Mike Mukasey requesting that he "immediately appoint an independent counsel to investigate the circumstances surrounding" the destruction of interrogation tapes by the CIA.
The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously yesterday to reduce the large disparity between punishments for crack and powder cocaine offenders, giving approximately 20,000 federal inmates incarcerated for crack offenses a chance to reduce their sentences. The Bush administration strongly opposed the vote, arguing "it will make thousands of dangerous prisoners, many of them violent gang members, eligible for immediate release."
"Our main focus, militarily, in the region and in the world right now is rightly and firmly in Iraq," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen testified yesterday. "It is simply a matter of resources, of capacity. In Afghanistan, we do what we can. In Iraq, we do what we must."
"President Bush hailed a decade-long decline in teen drug use as proof that his administration's drug interdiction efforts are working. ... Bush said he wanted to 'celebrate progress' while acknowledging that there is still work to be done on curbing teen drug use."
And finally: Colbert is getting bored. "With his show in reruns while the writers continue to strike, Stephen Colbert needs something to do." The comedian was spotted walking across the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday "with a large portrait of himself on his back."
Wrap...
Might be the surge...then again...
From Mother Jones via truthout.org :
Douglas Macgregor | Will Iraq's Great Awakening Lead to a Nightmare?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121207E.shtml
Retired Army Colonel, Douglas Macgregor, writes from Mother Jones: "American casualties in Iraq have declined dramatically over the last 90 days to levels not seen since 2006, and the White House has attributed the decline to the surge of 35-40,000 U.S. combat troops. But a closer look suggests a different explanation."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Douglas Macgregor | Will Iraq's Great Awakening Lead to a Nightmare?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121207E.shtml
Retired Army Colonel, Douglas Macgregor, writes from Mother Jones: "American casualties in Iraq have declined dramatically over the last 90 days to levels not seen since 2006, and the White House has attributed the decline to the surge of 35-40,000 U.S. combat troops. But a closer look suggests a different explanation."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
A strange mix of books....
From Publishers Lunch Weekly:
FICTION/DEBUT:
First time novelist Patrick DeWitt's ABLUTIONS, a dark, literary novel about a nameless bar back's descent into Hollywood's underbelly, to Tina Pohlman at Harcourt, in a very nice deal, in a pre-empt, by Peter McGuigan at Foundry Literary + Media (NA).
pmcguigan@foundrymedia.com
Rights: Stephanie Abou sabou@foundrymedia.com
MYSTERY/CRIME:
Stephanie Bond's fifth and sixth books in her BODY MOVERS series, featuring an Atlanta retail maven who works for Neiman Marcus by day and helps her brother move bodies from crime scenes by night, to Margaret Marbury at Mira, to allow for back to back publication of books 4, 5, and 6 in 2009, by Kimberly Whalen at Trident Media Group.
Film/TV rights with Andy Cohen at Grade-A Entertainment.
GENERAL/OTHER:
Mark Childress's GEORGIA BOTTOMS, about a genteel Southern lady who is sleeping, in rotation, with six of the town's leading citizens; she takes a break on Sundays, to Asya Muchnick at Little, Brown, by Henry Dunow at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner (NA).
John Grisham's brother Mark Grisham and David Donaldson's BEDLAM SOUTH, a historical novel of the Civil War and the events at Wingate Asylum (Bedlam South) under the command of a sadistic captain, revealing an often neglected aspect of the War as related to the characters in the plot, to Tom Dwyer at Borders Group, for publication in 2008, by James Schiavone at Schiavone Literary Agency (world).
profschia@aol.com
NON-FICTION: ADVICE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Gaily Sheehy's THE CARING PASSAGE, about the stages of family caregiving, ranging from shock and mobilization to reclaiming one's own life, to Mary Ellen O'Neill at Collins, for publication in 2009, by Richard Pine at Inkwell Management.
BIOGRAPHY:
Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael D'Antonio's THE O'MALLEY: The Man Who Broke Brooklyn's Heart, Won LA's Love, and Changed Baseball Forever, A biography of Walter O'Malley, the owner who moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles, based in part on access to never-before-used documents and letters, to Geoff Kloske at Riverhead, in a pre-empt, for publication in early 2009, by David McCormick of McCormick & Williams Literary Agency.
BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:
The GREAT BOOM AHEAD and THE ROARING 2000s author Harry Dent's THE GREAT CRASH OF 2010, outlining the coming twelve-year depression he predicted as long ago as 1988 -- countered by recommendations to profit from the greatest sale of financial assets in history, to Dominick Anfuso at Free Press, by Susan Golomb at the Susan Golomb Agency (NA).
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:
Investigative journalist Ethan Brown's THE GODDESS AND THE SUICIDE KING, chronicling the life of Zackery Bowen and his unlikely love story with Addie Hall as the couple thrived in the French Quarter through Katrina and its aftermath (for which they were featured on the front page of the New York Times) until Bowen, a well-liked veteran from the first company to invade Iraq, committed a shocking murder-suicide, to David Patterson at Holt, at auction, by Ryan Fischer-Harbage at the Fischer-Harbage Agency (NA).
claire.mckinney@hholt.com
Laura Snyder's THE PHILOSOPHICAL BREAKFAST CLUB: Four Remarkable Men Who Transformed Science and Changed the World, the story of a pivotal moment in the history of science, set in the Victorian period, to Gerry Howard at Doubleday, in a very nice deal, by Howard Morhaim at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency (NA).
MEMOIR:
Janna Cawrse's THE MOTION OF THE OCEAN: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and the World's Longest Honeymoon, the strange and humorous love story of an on again/off again couple and their extreme transition from "first date" to "first mate" -- leaving friends and family behind for an 813-day jaunt across the Pacific in a leaky sailboat, to Michelle Howry at Touchstone Fireside, in a very nice deal, at auction, by Rebecca Oliver at Endeavor (NA).
The Clash's THE CLASH, the seminal band tells their story in their own words, including hundreds of photos, many never-before-seen, and unique memorabilia from the band's own collection, to Ben Greenberg at Grand Central, for publication in October 2008, by Valerie Duff at Atlantic UK (NA). benjamin.greenberg@hbgusa.com
SPORTS:
Sports Illustrated editor Mark Bechtel's untitled book on NASCAR in the 1970s -- a seminal time in the history of the sport -- featuring the Allison brothers, the Pettys, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, and Dale Earnhardt, to Junie Dahn at Little, Brown, by Scott Waxman of the Waxman Literary Agency.
Wrap...
FICTION/DEBUT:
First time novelist Patrick DeWitt's ABLUTIONS, a dark, literary novel about a nameless bar back's descent into Hollywood's underbelly, to Tina Pohlman at Harcourt, in a very nice deal, in a pre-empt, by Peter McGuigan at Foundry Literary + Media (NA).
pmcguigan@foundrymedia.com
Rights: Stephanie Abou sabou@foundrymedia.com
MYSTERY/CRIME:
Stephanie Bond's fifth and sixth books in her BODY MOVERS series, featuring an Atlanta retail maven who works for Neiman Marcus by day and helps her brother move bodies from crime scenes by night, to Margaret Marbury at Mira, to allow for back to back publication of books 4, 5, and 6 in 2009, by Kimberly Whalen at Trident Media Group.
Film/TV rights with Andy Cohen at Grade-A Entertainment.
GENERAL/OTHER:
Mark Childress's GEORGIA BOTTOMS, about a genteel Southern lady who is sleeping, in rotation, with six of the town's leading citizens; she takes a break on Sundays, to Asya Muchnick at Little, Brown, by Henry Dunow at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner (NA).
John Grisham's brother Mark Grisham and David Donaldson's BEDLAM SOUTH, a historical novel of the Civil War and the events at Wingate Asylum (Bedlam South) under the command of a sadistic captain, revealing an often neglected aspect of the War as related to the characters in the plot, to Tom Dwyer at Borders Group, for publication in 2008, by James Schiavone at Schiavone Literary Agency (world).
profschia@aol.com
NON-FICTION: ADVICE/RELATIONSHIPS:
Gaily Sheehy's THE CARING PASSAGE, about the stages of family caregiving, ranging from shock and mobilization to reclaiming one's own life, to Mary Ellen O'Neill at Collins, for publication in 2009, by Richard Pine at Inkwell Management.
BIOGRAPHY:
Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael D'Antonio's THE O'MALLEY: The Man Who Broke Brooklyn's Heart, Won LA's Love, and Changed Baseball Forever, A biography of Walter O'Malley, the owner who moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles, based in part on access to never-before-used documents and letters, to Geoff Kloske at Riverhead, in a pre-empt, for publication in early 2009, by David McCormick of McCormick & Williams Literary Agency.
BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:
The GREAT BOOM AHEAD and THE ROARING 2000s author Harry Dent's THE GREAT CRASH OF 2010, outlining the coming twelve-year depression he predicted as long ago as 1988 -- countered by recommendations to profit from the greatest sale of financial assets in history, to Dominick Anfuso at Free Press, by Susan Golomb at the Susan Golomb Agency (NA).
HISTORY/POLITICS/CURRENT AFFAIRS:
Investigative journalist Ethan Brown's THE GODDESS AND THE SUICIDE KING, chronicling the life of Zackery Bowen and his unlikely love story with Addie Hall as the couple thrived in the French Quarter through Katrina and its aftermath (for which they were featured on the front page of the New York Times) until Bowen, a well-liked veteran from the first company to invade Iraq, committed a shocking murder-suicide, to David Patterson at Holt, at auction, by Ryan Fischer-Harbage at the Fischer-Harbage Agency (NA).
claire.mckinney@hholt.com
Laura Snyder's THE PHILOSOPHICAL BREAKFAST CLUB: Four Remarkable Men Who Transformed Science and Changed the World, the story of a pivotal moment in the history of science, set in the Victorian period, to Gerry Howard at Doubleday, in a very nice deal, by Howard Morhaim at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency (NA).
MEMOIR:
Janna Cawrse's THE MOTION OF THE OCEAN: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and the World's Longest Honeymoon, the strange and humorous love story of an on again/off again couple and their extreme transition from "first date" to "first mate" -- leaving friends and family behind for an 813-day jaunt across the Pacific in a leaky sailboat, to Michelle Howry at Touchstone Fireside, in a very nice deal, at auction, by Rebecca Oliver at Endeavor (NA).
The Clash's THE CLASH, the seminal band tells their story in their own words, including hundreds of photos, many never-before-seen, and unique memorabilia from the band's own collection, to Ben Greenberg at Grand Central, for publication in October 2008, by Valerie Duff at Atlantic UK (NA). benjamin.greenberg@hbgusa.com
SPORTS:
Sports Illustrated editor Mark Bechtel's untitled book on NASCAR in the 1970s -- a seminal time in the history of the sport -- featuring the Allison brothers, the Pettys, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, and Dale Earnhardt, to Junie Dahn at Little, Brown, by Scott Waxman of the Waxman Literary Agency.
Wrap...
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Almost more oil than Saudi Arabia....
From The Independent via truthout.org:
"The Biggest Environmental Crime in History"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121107G.shtml
Cahal Milmo, reporting for The Independent, writes that BP, the multinational oil and gas producer, "is facing a head-on confrontation with the green lobby in the pristine forests of North America after Greenpeace pledged a direct action campaign against BP following its decision to reverse a long-standing policy and invest heavily in extracting so-called 'oil sands' that lie beneath the Canadian province of Alberta and form the world's second-largest proven oil reserves after Saudi Arabia."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
"The Biggest Environmental Crime in History"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121107G.shtml
Cahal Milmo, reporting for The Independent, writes that BP, the multinational oil and gas producer, "is facing a head-on confrontation with the green lobby in the pristine forests of North America after Greenpeace pledged a direct action campaign against BP following its decision to reverse a long-standing policy and invest heavily in extracting so-called 'oil sands' that lie beneath the Canadian province of Alberta and form the world's second-largest proven oil reserves after Saudi Arabia."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Patriot Act unconstitutional....
From Fresno Bee via truthout.org :
Appeals Court Says Some Patriot Act Provisions Unconstitutional
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121107B.shtml
Keith St. Clair, reporting for The Fresno Bee, writes, "A federal appeals court ruled Monday that some portions of the US Patriot Act that govern dealings with foreign terrorist organizations are unconstitutional because the language is too vague to be understood by a person of ordinary intelligence."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Appeals Court Says Some Patriot Act Provisions Unconstitutional
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/121107B.shtml
Keith St. Clair, reporting for The Fresno Bee, writes, "A federal appeals court ruled Monday that some portions of the US Patriot Act that govern dealings with foreign terrorist organizations are unconstitutional because the language is too vague to be understood by a person of ordinary intelligence."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Vice Pres...No oversight....
From Secrecy News:
VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE IS NOT AN AGENCY, ISOO TOLD
The Office of the Vice President is not an "agency" for purposes of the
executive order on classification and therefore its classification and
declassification activity no longer need be reported to the Information
Security Oversight Office, the Justice Department finally informed ISOO
Director Bill Leonard in a newly disclosed letter.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/files/28/files//2007/12/eos-7-20-07-doj-to-leonard.pdf
In a January 9, 2007 letter to the Attorney General, Director Leonard
had questioned the OVP's refusal since 2003 to submit to normal
oversight. He was following up on a complaint filed with ISOO by the
Federation of American Scientists, which was also forwarded to the
Attorney General.
The OVP's position is not consistent with a "plain text reading" of the
executive order, Mr. Leonard wrote to the Attorney General at that time.
Be that as it may, the President's intention is that the Office of Vice
President should not be considered an "agency" for purposes of
oversight, Steven G. Bradbury of the Justice Department Office of Legal
Counsel wrote to Mr. Leonard on July 20, 2007 on behalf of the Attorney
General. He cited another letter to that effect from White House
counsel Fred Fielding.
The Bradbury letter to ISOO was obtained by blogger Marcy Wheeler, who
disclosed it today on her blog EmptyWheel:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/
The Bush Administration's evident willingness to reinterpret -- not
revise -- the executive order and to deviate from what is commonly
understood as the order's "plain text" meaning illustrates the
unreliability of executive orders as a safeguard of public rights, Ms.
Wheeler stressed.
The move gave new resonance to a statement presented on the Senate
floor last week by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) who described an
Office of Legal Counsel opinion which he said concludes as follows:
"An Executive order cannot limit a President. There is no
constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new Executive
order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous
Executive order. Rather than violate an Executive order, the President
has instead modified or waived it."
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_cr/fisa120707.html
What the President is claiming, Sen. Whitehouse said, is that "I don't
have to follow my own rules, and if I break them, I don't have to tell
you that I am breaking them."
[Use links above to continue reading]
Wrap...
VICE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE IS NOT AN AGENCY, ISOO TOLD
The Office of the Vice President is not an "agency" for purposes of the
executive order on classification and therefore its classification and
declassification activity no longer need be reported to the Information
Security Oversight Office, the Justice Department finally informed ISOO
Director Bill Leonard in a newly disclosed letter.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/files/28/files//2007/12/eos-7-20-07-doj-to-leonard.pdf
In a January 9, 2007 letter to the Attorney General, Director Leonard
had questioned the OVP's refusal since 2003 to submit to normal
oversight. He was following up on a complaint filed with ISOO by the
Federation of American Scientists, which was also forwarded to the
Attorney General.
The OVP's position is not consistent with a "plain text reading" of the
executive order, Mr. Leonard wrote to the Attorney General at that time.
Be that as it may, the President's intention is that the Office of Vice
President should not be considered an "agency" for purposes of
oversight, Steven G. Bradbury of the Justice Department Office of Legal
Counsel wrote to Mr. Leonard on July 20, 2007 on behalf of the Attorney
General. He cited another letter to that effect from White House
counsel Fred Fielding.
The Bradbury letter to ISOO was obtained by blogger Marcy Wheeler, who
disclosed it today on her blog EmptyWheel:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/
The Bush Administration's evident willingness to reinterpret -- not
revise -- the executive order and to deviate from what is commonly
understood as the order's "plain text" meaning illustrates the
unreliability of executive orders as a safeguard of public rights, Ms.
Wheeler stressed.
The move gave new resonance to a statement presented on the Senate
floor last week by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) who described an
Office of Legal Counsel opinion which he said concludes as follows:
"An Executive order cannot limit a President. There is no
constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new Executive
order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous
Executive order. Rather than violate an Executive order, the President
has instead modified or waived it."
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_cr/fisa120707.html
What the President is claiming, Sen. Whitehouse said, is that "I don't
have to follow my own rules, and if I break them, I don't have to tell
you that I am breaking them."
[Use links above to continue reading]
Wrap...
CIA's Hayden testifies & Cheney's $400 Arabic coat...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
CIA Director Michael Hayden begins two days of testimony today about the agency's destruction of videotaped interrogations of terrorist suspects. Hayden will answer questions today from the Senate Intelligence Committee "and Wednesday from its House counterpart. Both are closed sessions."
"Lawyers within the clandestine branch of the" CIA "gave written approval in advance to the destruction" of hundreds of hours of videotapes documenting interrogations. The revelation of "written documents" is expected to "widen the scope of the inquiries into the matter."
Last week on ABC's The View, Whoopi Goldberg called the estate tax "horrible." Anti-tax groups such as Americans For Tax Reform and the American Family Business Institute are already using her words in their campaigns as an "anti-Buffett" tool. "Her statement is all we need," said John Kartch, a spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform.
Iraq will never allow permanent U.S. military bases on its soil, a top government official said yesterday. "I say one thing, permanent forces or bases in Iraq for any foreign forces is a red line that cannot be accepted by any nationalist Iraqi," said Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "said a plan is in the works for him to visit Iraq, although he did not reveal a timetable for a trip. 'I am hoping to do that,' Ahmadinejad said. 'We are negotiating to arrange a program.'"
Five years ago, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee concluded that the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba was bad for businesses. "Now that he's a top-tier candidate for president, Huckabee has decided he favors the embargo -- so much so that he vowed Monday to outdo even President Bush in strangling the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro and punishing those who do business there."
President Bush intends to name conservative commentator James Glassman "to lead the State Department's struggling efforts to improve the U.S.'s image abroad" and replace Karen Hughes. Glassman is a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington and publisher of the group's magazine, The American.
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Scott Lilly examines the little-known Office of Labor-Management Services, which under the Bush administration, has worked to "undermine the reputation of the labor union movement through a classic political misinformation campaign." A Labor Department spokesman simply responded that the OLMS "serves a vital purpose in protecting rank-and-file union members."
And finally: According to the State Department, White House officials -- including President Bush -- "received thousands of dollars worth of gifts from foreign leaders and friends last year." For example, former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave Bush the CD "Junichiro Koizumi Presents: My Favorite Elvis Songs," valued at $50. Vice President Cheney received a "fur-lined cashmere Arabic coat" from Saudi King Abdullah, valued at $400.
Wrap...
Think Fast...
CIA Director Michael Hayden begins two days of testimony today about the agency's destruction of videotaped interrogations of terrorist suspects. Hayden will answer questions today from the Senate Intelligence Committee "and Wednesday from its House counterpart. Both are closed sessions."
"Lawyers within the clandestine branch of the" CIA "gave written approval in advance to the destruction" of hundreds of hours of videotapes documenting interrogations. The revelation of "written documents" is expected to "widen the scope of the inquiries into the matter."
Last week on ABC's The View, Whoopi Goldberg called the estate tax "horrible." Anti-tax groups such as Americans For Tax Reform and the American Family Business Institute are already using her words in their campaigns as an "anti-Buffett" tool. "Her statement is all we need," said John Kartch, a spokesman for Americans for Tax Reform.
Iraq will never allow permanent U.S. military bases on its soil, a top government official said yesterday. "I say one thing, permanent forces or bases in Iraq for any foreign forces is a red line that cannot be accepted by any nationalist Iraqi," said Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "said a plan is in the works for him to visit Iraq, although he did not reveal a timetable for a trip. 'I am hoping to do that,' Ahmadinejad said. 'We are negotiating to arrange a program.'"
Five years ago, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee concluded that the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba was bad for businesses. "Now that he's a top-tier candidate for president, Huckabee has decided he favors the embargo -- so much so that he vowed Monday to outdo even President Bush in strangling the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro and punishing those who do business there."
President Bush intends to name conservative commentator James Glassman "to lead the State Department's struggling efforts to improve the U.S.'s image abroad" and replace Karen Hughes. Glassman is a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington and publisher of the group's magazine, The American.
Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Scott Lilly examines the little-known Office of Labor-Management Services, which under the Bush administration, has worked to "undermine the reputation of the labor union movement through a classic political misinformation campaign." A Labor Department spokesman simply responded that the OLMS "serves a vital purpose in protecting rank-and-file union members."
And finally: According to the State Department, White House officials -- including President Bush -- "received thousands of dollars worth of gifts from foreign leaders and friends last year." For example, former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi gave Bush the CD "Junichiro Koizumi Presents: My Favorite Elvis Songs," valued at $50. Vice President Cheney received a "fur-lined cashmere Arabic coat" from Saudi King Abdullah, valued at $400.
Wrap...
Monday, December 10, 2007
Kucinich: Funding is IMMORAL....
From AfterDowningStreet.org:
Kucinich: Iraq War Funding Deal Is Immoral
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2007-12-10 21:42. Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 10, 2007) — Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) released the following statement before Congress takes up yet another Iraq war funding bill this week:
“It is immoral for Congress to make a deal to keep this war going. It is immoral to keep a war going that is based on lies. And it is immoral to make a deal to claim legislative victories unrelated to the war while at the same time spending money to keep the war going,” Kucinich said.
The House is expected to bring up an omnibus spending package this week. The mechanism and timing for inclusion of Iraq war funding in the bill is not yet decided. One option is for the Senate to amend a House-passed version of the bill to reflect the back room deal on domestic spending. It would reportedly not include Iraq war funding. The Senate would add funding for the Iraq war and send it back to the House.
“In politics, you can make a deal where one party gets its way and the other party gets its way and that’s okay when people don’t die,” Kucinich said.
“This war funding plan shows a distressing lack of concern about the situation of our troops. It shows a disregard for the Democrats’ promise to the American people to end the war.”
“We do not have to fund the war. We have the money to bring the troops home. It does not require a vote. It requires determination and truth.
“This is yet another example of leadership becoming increasingly unwilling to end this war,” Kucinich concluded.
Wrap...
Kucinich: Iraq War Funding Deal Is Immoral
Submitted by davidswanson on Mon, 2007-12-10 21:42. Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 10, 2007) — Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) released the following statement before Congress takes up yet another Iraq war funding bill this week:
“It is immoral for Congress to make a deal to keep this war going. It is immoral to keep a war going that is based on lies. And it is immoral to make a deal to claim legislative victories unrelated to the war while at the same time spending money to keep the war going,” Kucinich said.
The House is expected to bring up an omnibus spending package this week. The mechanism and timing for inclusion of Iraq war funding in the bill is not yet decided. One option is for the Senate to amend a House-passed version of the bill to reflect the back room deal on domestic spending. It would reportedly not include Iraq war funding. The Senate would add funding for the Iraq war and send it back to the House.
“In politics, you can make a deal where one party gets its way and the other party gets its way and that’s okay when people don’t die,” Kucinich said.
“This war funding plan shows a distressing lack of concern about the situation of our troops. It shows a disregard for the Democrats’ promise to the American people to end the war.”
“We do not have to fund the war. We have the money to bring the troops home. It does not require a vote. It requires determination and truth.
“This is yet another example of leadership becoming increasingly unwilling to end this war,” Kucinich concluded.
Wrap...
Amateur hour at the White House....
From Information Clearing House:
White House, Press Spinning Iran's Centrifuges
By Ray McGovern
Those who know about the centrifuges used to refine uranium tell me they must spin at an almost unrivaled velocity-almost unrivaled, because Bush administration statements are being spun at equivalent speed by White House and corporate media spiders. Without Spinmeister Karl Rove and former spokesman Tony Snow, it is amateur hour at the White House.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18859.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
White House, Press Spinning Iran's Centrifuges
By Ray McGovern
Those who know about the centrifuges used to refine uranium tell me they must spin at an almost unrivaled velocity-almost unrivaled, because Bush administration statements are being spun at equivalent speed by White House and corporate media spiders. Without Spinmeister Karl Rove and former spokesman Tony Snow, it is amateur hour at the White House.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18859.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
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