From American Progress:
Think Fast...
A Department of Veterans Affairs analysis finds that "National Guard and Reserve troops who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan make up more than half of veterans who committed suicide after returning home from those wars." In 2006, the Army's suicide rate was 17.3 per 100,000 troops, "the highest level in 26 years of record-keeping."
According to a Rand Corp. report, the U.S. military is seriously deficient in meeting "the threat of Islamist insurgencies." The report states that "U.S. military intervention and occupation in the Muslim world" is "at best inadequate, at worst counter-productive, and, on the whole, infeasible."
"As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime, credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans, auto loans and credit cards at a quickening pace, according to industry data and economists."
Six major U.S. banks -- Bank of America, Citigroup, Countrywide Financial, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual, and Wells Fargo -- have announced that they will be taking part in "Project Lifeline," which will give homeowners an extra 30 days to renegotiate their mortgage payments.
Two CBS journalists have gone missing in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the network said in statement yesterday. Iraqi police say "the abductees were a reporter and a translator, and that they were taken away in what appeared to be official police vehicles." "All efforts are under way to find them," said CBS in a statement.
Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), who went to jail in 2007 for corruption charges connected to Jack Abramoff, "may soon be moved from his federal prison in Morgantown, W.Va., to a 'halfway house,'" according to his attorney. "Ney's overall projected release date is Aug. 16, 2008."
Due to a backlog of immigration cases, "the Bush administration will grant permanent residency to tens of thousands of legal U.S. immigrants without first completing required background checks against the FBI's investigative files." Only immigrants "whose cases are otherwise complete but whose FBI checks have been pending for more than six months" will be affected.
The king penguin, which "rebounded from near-extinction over the last century, could be wiped out in coming decades due to global warming."
And finally: Don't get in the way of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV). Last week, the 90-year old senator "made quite a scene" as he "made his way from the Senate Chamber to the elevators after a vote." Walking with "two canes and an entourage of staffers," Byrd yelled, "Make way for liberty!" Roll Call reports, "With that, the elevator doors opened, and 'liberty' disappeared."
Wrap...
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Clinton, Obama Interviews...
From ABC.com :
Clinton Accuses Obama of Cutting Deals With Contributor
Democratic Rivals Throw Elbows in Separate Washington TV Interviews
On the issue of superdelegates and the possibility that party insiders might determine the Democratic nominee if pledged delegates end up split after the voting ends, Obama cautioned that the Democratic Party should follow the will of the voters. "We've got to make sure that whomever wins the most votes, the most states, the most delegate, that they are the nominee. I think it would be problematic if either Senator Clinton or myself came in with having won the most support from voters and that was somehow overturned by party insiders," he said.
Obama attributed the huge disparity between him and Clinton among Hispanic voters to a lack of information, refusing to acknowledge there's tension between blacks and Hispanics. "That's been a very damaging myth that's been perpetrated during the course of this campaign," he said. "In mayors' races, in legislature races, you've seen Latinos support African American candidates but they need to know who those candidates are."
Clinton also questioned Senator Obama's dealings with Anthony Rezko. "Our financial situation has probably been more investigated than anyone who has been in public life in America. We still don't have a lot of answers about Senator Obama and his dealings with Mr. Rezko."
Clinton and her campaign have complained in the past that they do not receive the same scrutiny as the Obama campaign does, and she reiterated this complaint Monday. "I find it unfair that we have questions going to the other side as well and I don't think that is happening; we have been on the front line of full disclosure ,we have been examined one side up and the other side down."
Clinton also pointed out that Obama has never had negative ads run against him in the past. However, Clinton herself ran negative radio ads against Obama in South Carolina.
Clinton declined to answer whether or not if she thought it was fair that the results in Michigan be counted, despite her opponent's name not being on the ballot. "Well, Leon, both Michigan and Florida should count because these are two states we have to carry; this is not about so much as the ins and outs of the Democratic National Committee as to whether the Democrats are going to win in the Fall."
In his interview, Obama said it wouldn't be fair to allocate voters based on a non-campaign.
In an unusual moment, Clinton stressed that there will be no new scandals from her husband Bill Clinton but qualified her answer, saying that there's no way to predict the future.
At the end of Clinton's interview she was asked about her affinity towards hot peppers. "I'm so glad we are finally talking about an issue that I have some first hand experience with," Clinton said, after fielding questions about various different topics. Clinton went on to explain the peppers she likes "Jalapeños, banana peppers, any kind of hot pepper, I eat them raw, I eat them cooked, I don't know if it works for everybody but it works for me."
Obama was asked if he's been successful in his effort to quit smoking. "It has been tough but that Nicorette gum sure has worked out," he said smiling.
Wrap...
Clinton Accuses Obama of Cutting Deals With Contributor
Democratic Rivals Throw Elbows in Separate Washington TV Interviews
On the issue of superdelegates and the possibility that party insiders might determine the Democratic nominee if pledged delegates end up split after the voting ends, Obama cautioned that the Democratic Party should follow the will of the voters. "We've got to make sure that whomever wins the most votes, the most states, the most delegate, that they are the nominee. I think it would be problematic if either Senator Clinton or myself came in with having won the most support from voters and that was somehow overturned by party insiders," he said.
Obama attributed the huge disparity between him and Clinton among Hispanic voters to a lack of information, refusing to acknowledge there's tension between blacks and Hispanics. "That's been a very damaging myth that's been perpetrated during the course of this campaign," he said. "In mayors' races, in legislature races, you've seen Latinos support African American candidates but they need to know who those candidates are."
Clinton also questioned Senator Obama's dealings with Anthony Rezko. "Our financial situation has probably been more investigated than anyone who has been in public life in America. We still don't have a lot of answers about Senator Obama and his dealings with Mr. Rezko."
Clinton and her campaign have complained in the past that they do not receive the same scrutiny as the Obama campaign does, and she reiterated this complaint Monday. "I find it unfair that we have questions going to the other side as well and I don't think that is happening; we have been on the front line of full disclosure ,we have been examined one side up and the other side down."
Clinton also pointed out that Obama has never had negative ads run against him in the past. However, Clinton herself ran negative radio ads against Obama in South Carolina.
Clinton declined to answer whether or not if she thought it was fair that the results in Michigan be counted, despite her opponent's name not being on the ballot. "Well, Leon, both Michigan and Florida should count because these are two states we have to carry; this is not about so much as the ins and outs of the Democratic National Committee as to whether the Democrats are going to win in the Fall."
In his interview, Obama said it wouldn't be fair to allocate voters based on a non-campaign.
In an unusual moment, Clinton stressed that there will be no new scandals from her husband Bill Clinton but qualified her answer, saying that there's no way to predict the future.
At the end of Clinton's interview she was asked about her affinity towards hot peppers. "I'm so glad we are finally talking about an issue that I have some first hand experience with," Clinton said, after fielding questions about various different topics. Clinton went on to explain the peppers she likes "Jalapeños, banana peppers, any kind of hot pepper, I eat them raw, I eat them cooked, I don't know if it works for everybody but it works for me."
Obama was asked if he's been successful in his effort to quit smoking. "It has been tough but that Nicorette gum sure has worked out," he said smiling.
Wrap...
Monday, February 11, 2008
BlackBerry phones out...really out....
BlackBerry Service Out in N. America
Last Updated:02-11-08 at 3:08PM
NEW YORK -- BlackBerry smart phones have lost service across the United States, wireless carriers said Monday.
In a statement, AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook said the disruption is affecting all wireless carriers. Cook said the company first learned about the problem from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion about 3:30 p.m. EST.
There was no word on the cause or how widespread the outage was.
And some users reported being able to access their service Monday afternoon.
"This is not an issue with AT&T's wireless network," Cook said. "Customers could experience difficulties using their BlackBerry devices. RIM has not given us an estimated time of when this problem would be fixed."
Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Raney said RIM also confirmed the outage to the company.
Research in Motion did not immediately return a phone call.
Wrap...
Last Updated:02-11-08 at 3:08PM
NEW YORK -- BlackBerry smart phones have lost service across the United States, wireless carriers said Monday.
In a statement, AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook said the disruption is affecting all wireless carriers. Cook said the company first learned about the problem from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion about 3:30 p.m. EST.
There was no word on the cause or how widespread the outage was.
And some users reported being able to access their service Monday afternoon.
"This is not an issue with AT&T's wireless network," Cook said. "Customers could experience difficulties using their BlackBerry devices. RIM has not given us an estimated time of when this problem would be fixed."
Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Raney said RIM also confirmed the outage to the company.
Research in Motion did not immediately return a phone call.
Wrap...
NATO military shrinking....
From The NY Times via truthout.org:
Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021108P.shtml
Geoffrey Wheatcroft reviews James J. Sheehan's "Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? The Transformation of Modern Europe," for The New York Times, writing: "At the time of the World Cup the summer before last, there was a nice cartoon in the papers by Oliphant, with two panels.
One showed 'Soccer as seen by Americans,' a group of dainty chaps prancing lightly across the grass with purses dangling from their limp wrists, and the other, 'American football as seen by Europeans,' a heap of brutally moronic humanoids using severed limbs to batter each others' brains out."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021108P.shtml
Geoffrey Wheatcroft reviews James J. Sheehan's "Where Have All the Soldiers Gone? The Transformation of Modern Europe," for The New York Times, writing: "At the time of the World Cup the summer before last, there was a nice cartoon in the papers by Oliphant, with two panels.
One showed 'Soccer as seen by Americans,' a group of dainty chaps prancing lightly across the grass with purses dangling from their limp wrists, and the other, 'American football as seen by Europeans,' a heap of brutally moronic humanoids using severed limbs to batter each others' brains out."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
From SecDef Gates to CPAC signs....
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
In Baghdad today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates "publicly endorsed the concept of ordering a pause in troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer" after the removal of five brigades returns the number of deployed troops to pre-surge levels. "A brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," said Gates after meeting with Gen. David Petraeus.
The Decider failed to decide. A Rand Corp. study of post-war failures in Iraq -- which the Army attempted to bury -- chided President Bush for failing to make key decisions prior to the war. "Throughout the planning process, tensions between the Defense Department and the State Department were never mediated by the president or his staff," the report said.
Vice President Cheney is trying to "block the release of video depositions by White House aides" in a lawsuit "by a man who was arrested after he allegedly touched Cheney at a Colorado shopping mall in 2006." Cheney's lawyers expressed concern that the videos could "embarrass and even humiliate" the aides if posted to YouTube.
"The media have been barred from covering" Karl Rove's speech to students at Choate Rosemary Hall, a prestigious prep school, today. Rove and the school's headmaster "decided mutually to exclude the media." Rove was originally set to speak at the school's commencement, but his speech was moved to today after student protests.
President Bush will give "Congress a fresh assessment of the troubled economy as he prepares to sign a $168 billion stimulus package into law." Yesterday, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the "U.S.'s economic growth rate is expected to slow in the first half of 2008, but it is likely to recover to an acceptable rate in the second quarter of the year."
Coal utilities and the Bush administration "suffered another setback with a federal appeals court decision," which "slap[ped] down the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to 'delist' mercury from a list of pollutants it is required to control at each power plant."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an "economic war" if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.
"Despite the political minefields that surround the issue," House Democrats are drafting stopgap immigration reform legislation that would likely include "five-year visas for illegal immigrants who pay fines and pass criminal background checks."
And finally: Last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was, as always, "full of colorful characters and even more colorful posters, t-shirts and signs." The DC Examiner photographed the top 10 CPAC signs here.
Wrap...
Think Fast...
In Baghdad today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates "publicly endorsed the concept of ordering a pause in troop withdrawals from Iraq this summer" after the removal of five brigades returns the number of deployed troops to pre-surge levels. "A brief period of consolidation and evaluation probably does make sense," said Gates after meeting with Gen. David Petraeus.
The Decider failed to decide. A Rand Corp. study of post-war failures in Iraq -- which the Army attempted to bury -- chided President Bush for failing to make key decisions prior to the war. "Throughout the planning process, tensions between the Defense Department and the State Department were never mediated by the president or his staff," the report said.
Vice President Cheney is trying to "block the release of video depositions by White House aides" in a lawsuit "by a man who was arrested after he allegedly touched Cheney at a Colorado shopping mall in 2006." Cheney's lawyers expressed concern that the videos could "embarrass and even humiliate" the aides if posted to YouTube.
"The media have been barred from covering" Karl Rove's speech to students at Choate Rosemary Hall, a prestigious prep school, today. Rove and the school's headmaster "decided mutually to exclude the media." Rove was originally set to speak at the school's commencement, but his speech was moved to today after student protests.
President Bush will give "Congress a fresh assessment of the troubled economy as he prepares to sign a $168 billion stimulus package into law." Yesterday, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the "U.S.'s economic growth rate is expected to slow in the first half of 2008, but it is likely to recover to an acceptable rate in the second quarter of the year."
Coal utilities and the Bush administration "suffered another setback with a federal appeals court decision," which "slap[ped] down the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to 'delist' mercury from a list of pollutants it is required to control at each power plant."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an "economic war" if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.
"Despite the political minefields that surround the issue," House Democrats are drafting stopgap immigration reform legislation that would likely include "five-year visas for illegal immigrants who pay fines and pass criminal background checks."
And finally: Last week's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was, as always, "full of colorful characters and even more colorful posters, t-shirts and signs." The DC Examiner photographed the top 10 CPAC signs here.
Wrap...
9/11...hashing it out...
From Secrecy News:
INSIDE THE 9/11 COMMISSION
"Senior investigators on the 9/11 Commission believed their work was being manipulated by the executive director to minimize criticism of the Bush Administration," according to a new book on the Commission. "Investigative staffers at the Commission believe [executive director] Philip Zelikow repeatedly sought to minimize the administration's intelligence failures in the months leading up to 9/11, which had the effect of helping to ensure President Bush's re-election in 2004," no less.
That is the sensational thesis of "The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation" by New York Times reporter Philip Shenon: http://www.thecommissionbook.com
The claim was immediately disputed by the former Commissioners and by former staff.
"The author is mistaken in his criticism of the role of Executive Director Philip Zelikow. The proper standard for judgment is the quality of the report, and there is no basis for the allegations of bias he asserts," according to a February 8 statement issued jointly by the Commissioners (except White House counsel Fred Fielding). http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2008/02/911comm.pdf
Michael Hurley, a Commission staff member who led the team on counterterrorism policy, concurred in an email message to Secrecy News.
"The Shenon book depicts Philip Zelikow as a manager who bullied the 9/11 Commission staff. He didn't bully the staff. Zelikow assembled a stellar group of independent-minded professionals, many of whom had substantial and distinguished careers in their fields. They were not the sort who could be bullied or manipulated," said Mr. Hurley, a former CIA operations officer who served in Afghanistan after September 11.
"No piece of evidence, no matter how damning to Bush, Rice, or Richard Clarke got left on the cutting room floor," he added.
Mr. Shenon's engaging book provides new details on the efforts of former national security adviser Sandy Berger to destroy documents at the National Archive; the discovery of a highly classified Memorandum of Notification authorizing the killing of Osama bin Laden that was signed by President Clinton on December 24, 1998 then modified a few months later for reasons that remain obscure; John Ashcroft's attempt to embarrass Commissioner Jamie Gorelick, which had the unintended effect of unifying the Commission; and lots of interesting, gossipy details about the internal dynamics of the Commission, some of which, as noted, have been disputed.
Last week, Mr. Shenon posted his extensive email exchanges with Mr. Zelikow on the book's web site (www.thecommissionbook.com).
Mr. Zelikow also released almost the identical material, in slightly different format and with a bit of material not included by Mr. Shenon (such as a memo sent to Walter Pincus of the Washington Post regarding a paper by Paul Pillar). The Zelikow release is here: http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2008/02/zelikow.pdf
In either version, Zelikow's detailed messages, which are neither defensive nor vindictive, tend to deflate the more breathless allegations of his critics, and add a dimension of understanding to the Commission report and its public reception.
"One of the most neglected observations in the report was in our section comparing the Millenium period (end 1999) with the 'summer of threat' in 2001," Mr. Zelikow wrote to Mr. Shenon on September 20, 2007 in a passage that was not included in the book.
"We made the point there that the main driver in all the attention in the earlier period was the massive publicity surrounding the Ressam arrest. [Ahmed Ressam was convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999.] We contrasted that with the muffling secrecy of Summer 2001."
"Imagine what might have happened if the Moussaoui arrest had gotten the kind of publicity and extended coverage that accompanied the Ressam arrest. We had evidence from [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed] that, had he known of the Moussaoui arrest, he might have cancelled the operation," Mr.Zelikow wrote.
Wrap...
INSIDE THE 9/11 COMMISSION
"Senior investigators on the 9/11 Commission believed their work was being manipulated by the executive director to minimize criticism of the Bush Administration," according to a new book on the Commission. "Investigative staffers at the Commission believe [executive director] Philip Zelikow repeatedly sought to minimize the administration's intelligence failures in the months leading up to 9/11, which had the effect of helping to ensure President Bush's re-election in 2004," no less.
That is the sensational thesis of "The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation" by New York Times reporter Philip Shenon: http://www.thecommissionbook.com
The claim was immediately disputed by the former Commissioners and by former staff.
"The author is mistaken in his criticism of the role of Executive Director Philip Zelikow. The proper standard for judgment is the quality of the report, and there is no basis for the allegations of bias he asserts," according to a February 8 statement issued jointly by the Commissioners (except White House counsel Fred Fielding). http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2008/02/911comm.pdf
Michael Hurley, a Commission staff member who led the team on counterterrorism policy, concurred in an email message to Secrecy News.
"The Shenon book depicts Philip Zelikow as a manager who bullied the 9/11 Commission staff. He didn't bully the staff. Zelikow assembled a stellar group of independent-minded professionals, many of whom had substantial and distinguished careers in their fields. They were not the sort who could be bullied or manipulated," said Mr. Hurley, a former CIA operations officer who served in Afghanistan after September 11.
"No piece of evidence, no matter how damning to Bush, Rice, or Richard Clarke got left on the cutting room floor," he added.
Mr. Shenon's engaging book provides new details on the efforts of former national security adviser Sandy Berger to destroy documents at the National Archive; the discovery of a highly classified Memorandum of Notification authorizing the killing of Osama bin Laden that was signed by President Clinton on December 24, 1998 then modified a few months later for reasons that remain obscure; John Ashcroft's attempt to embarrass Commissioner Jamie Gorelick, which had the unintended effect of unifying the Commission; and lots of interesting, gossipy details about the internal dynamics of the Commission, some of which, as noted, have been disputed.
Last week, Mr. Shenon posted his extensive email exchanges with Mr. Zelikow on the book's web site (www.thecommissionbook.com).
Mr. Zelikow also released almost the identical material, in slightly different format and with a bit of material not included by Mr. Shenon (such as a memo sent to Walter Pincus of the Washington Post regarding a paper by Paul Pillar). The Zelikow release is here: http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2008/02/zelikow.pdf
In either version, Zelikow's detailed messages, which are neither defensive nor vindictive, tend to deflate the more breathless allegations of his critics, and add a dimension of understanding to the Commission report and its public reception.
"One of the most neglected observations in the report was in our section comparing the Millenium period (end 1999) with the 'summer of threat' in 2001," Mr. Zelikow wrote to Mr. Shenon on September 20, 2007 in a passage that was not included in the book.
"We made the point there that the main driver in all the attention in the earlier period was the massive publicity surrounding the Ressam arrest. [Ahmed Ressam was convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999.] We contrasted that with the muffling secrecy of Summer 2001."
"Imagine what might have happened if the Moussaoui arrest had gotten the kind of publicity and extended coverage that accompanied the Ressam arrest. We had evidence from [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed] that, had he known of the Moussaoui arrest, he might have cancelled the operation," Mr.Zelikow wrote.
Wrap...
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Edwards' difficult choice...Obama or Clinton....
From Political Wire.com :
Edwards Ponders Endorsement
John Edwards "met secretly" with Sen. Hillary Clinton and will meet with Sen. Barack Obama about a possible endorsement, FOX News reports.
Edwards has been 'in talks' with Clinton and Barack Obama 'for weeks' about an endorsement but has not yet said who he will endorse or when he will do it...
The former North Carolina senator met with Clinton on Thursday and will meet with Obama on Monday. The campaign official described him as 'very torn' in reaching a decision about which candidate to back."
At a party last night for supporters in Chapel Hill, Edwards gave no indication of who he would prefer -- if anyone.
Wrap...
Edwards Ponders Endorsement
John Edwards "met secretly" with Sen. Hillary Clinton and will meet with Sen. Barack Obama about a possible endorsement, FOX News reports.
Edwards has been 'in talks' with Clinton and Barack Obama 'for weeks' about an endorsement but has not yet said who he will endorse or when he will do it...
The former North Carolina senator met with Clinton on Thursday and will meet with Obama on Monday. The campaign official described him as 'very torn' in reaching a decision about which candidate to back."
At a party last night for supporters in Chapel Hill, Edwards gave no indication of who he would prefer -- if anyone.
Wrap...
Clinton advisors "panic"????
From www.telegraph.co.uk:
Hillary Clinton's advisers 'in a state of panic'
By Tim Shipman in Washington and Philip Sherwell in Chicago
Last Updated: 11:53am GMT 10/02/2008
Hillary Clinton's most senior advisers are in a state of "panic" about her presidential prospects and are plotting to enlist Democrat leaders in Congress to thwart her rival Barack Obama's ambitions.
Update: Obama extends lead over Hillary Clinton
Toby Harnden: Obama "didn't take enough drugs"
Philip Sherwell: Hillary blast over 'pimped out' jibe
The Clinton camp is braced for Mr Obama to win a series of primary elections over the next three weeks, which they fear could hand the Illinois senator unstoppable momentum in the race for the White House.
Hillary Clinton has to win Texas and Ohio
Mr Obama has begun calling those "super delegates" - 795 congressmen and senior party officials who could break a dead heat - who are committed to Mrs Clinton, asking them to change their minds and help him wrap up the nomination.
As of tonight, the two candidates were neck and neck but Mr Obama appeared to be gaining momentum.
"He's saying: 'Hey, I won your state and I won your congressional district, why are you supporting her?'" a Democrat strategist revealed.
The Clinton camp hopes to stop the Obama bandwagon by winning Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, after which Mrs Clinton is planning to call on party grandees including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Harry Reid, the party's leader in the Senate, to persuade Mr Obama to stand down.
advertisement
Clinton aides have privately admitted that Mr Obama would only consider such a move if offered the position of vice presidential running mate, something Mrs Clinton has always been reluctant to consider.
Full US Elections coverage
Trail Mix: Huckabee won't go away
A senior Democrat who has discussed Clinton campaign thinking with a member of her inner circle said: "The Clintons are in a state of panic. She has to win both Texas and Ohio."
But he added that this might prove impossible if Mr Obama maintains his momentum and wins most, or all, of the nine contests which come before that.
Mr Obama won yesterday's primary elections held in Washington state and Nebraska, and is expected to do well in Louisiana.
He is also favourite to sweep Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC, which all vote on Tuesday, as well as Wisconsin and Hawaii, where he once lived, on February 19.
Only in Maine is Mrs Clinton confident, though Virginia and Wisconsin may also go her way.
Asked about the upcoming states, Mr Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod told The Sunday Telegraph: "We feel comfortable with them. What was once inevitable is no longer inevitable. The momentum has switched in this race.
"We closed a 20 point gap in the national polls in the last two weeks. The more people are exposed to his message, the better he does."
Liz Hunt: Hillary Clinton's discovered her F Factor
Questions over Hillary and Bill Clinton's family wealth
In pictures: Michelle Obama
Trail Mix: Chelsea Clinton "pimped out"
But he added: "We are up against the Clinton machine. We are the perpetual underdog and will be throughout this process. We're ready to go all the way to the convention."
Clinton aides believe that if Mr Obama does not deliver a knock-out blow before March 4, the advantage will swing back to her and she will argue for a deal in which uncommitted super-delegates unite behind her, to preserve party unity.
But the prospect of a deal behind closed doors, that could brush aside the views of voters in the primaries, is already creating fury in the party.
Donna Brazile, an African American strategist, said last week: "If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit the Democratic Party."
But the Clinton camp fears that a failure to engineer a deal could lead to bitter battles at the Democrat convention in Denver in late August, which could even end with Al Gore, the former vice president, emerging as a compromise candidate.
"There's a five per cent chance of that happening, but that's five percent too high," the Clinton source said.
Mrs Clinton is also under financial pressure.
Contests to come: Click to enlarge
She claimed that she received $7.5m in donations after admitting lending her campaign $5m last week.
But the source claimed that her campaign is actually in far worse financial trouble than they are letting on.
There will be no proof of how much she raised for three months, when the totals are formally declared to election watchdogs.
The one thing the Clinton and Obama camps can agree on is that John McCain, who is popular with independents and moderate Democrats, is their "worst nightmare".
They now fear that he could pick Colin Powell or former congressman JC Watts, both of whom are African American, as his running mate.
But Mr McCain still has to shore up his conservative base and is actively looking at the Governors of Minnesota, South Carolina, Indiana, Mississippi, Florida and Texas: Tim Pawlenty, Mark Sandford, Mitch Daniels, Haley Barbour, Charlie Crist and Rick Perry.
Allies of President Bush are making the case for Rob Portman, a former White House Budget office director and Ohio congressman.
Wrap...
Hillary Clinton's advisers 'in a state of panic'
By Tim Shipman in Washington and Philip Sherwell in Chicago
Last Updated: 11:53am GMT 10/02/2008
Hillary Clinton's most senior advisers are in a state of "panic" about her presidential prospects and are plotting to enlist Democrat leaders in Congress to thwart her rival Barack Obama's ambitions.
Update: Obama extends lead over Hillary Clinton
Toby Harnden: Obama "didn't take enough drugs"
Philip Sherwell: Hillary blast over 'pimped out' jibe
The Clinton camp is braced for Mr Obama to win a series of primary elections over the next three weeks, which they fear could hand the Illinois senator unstoppable momentum in the race for the White House.
Hillary Clinton has to win Texas and Ohio
Mr Obama has begun calling those "super delegates" - 795 congressmen and senior party officials who could break a dead heat - who are committed to Mrs Clinton, asking them to change their minds and help him wrap up the nomination.
As of tonight, the two candidates were neck and neck but Mr Obama appeared to be gaining momentum.
"He's saying: 'Hey, I won your state and I won your congressional district, why are you supporting her?'" a Democrat strategist revealed.
The Clinton camp hopes to stop the Obama bandwagon by winning Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, after which Mrs Clinton is planning to call on party grandees including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Harry Reid, the party's leader in the Senate, to persuade Mr Obama to stand down.
advertisement
Clinton aides have privately admitted that Mr Obama would only consider such a move if offered the position of vice presidential running mate, something Mrs Clinton has always been reluctant to consider.
Full US Elections coverage
Trail Mix: Huckabee won't go away
A senior Democrat who has discussed Clinton campaign thinking with a member of her inner circle said: "The Clintons are in a state of panic. She has to win both Texas and Ohio."
But he added that this might prove impossible if Mr Obama maintains his momentum and wins most, or all, of the nine contests which come before that.
Mr Obama won yesterday's primary elections held in Washington state and Nebraska, and is expected to do well in Louisiana.
He is also favourite to sweep Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC, which all vote on Tuesday, as well as Wisconsin and Hawaii, where he once lived, on February 19.
Only in Maine is Mrs Clinton confident, though Virginia and Wisconsin may also go her way.
Asked about the upcoming states, Mr Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod told The Sunday Telegraph: "We feel comfortable with them. What was once inevitable is no longer inevitable. The momentum has switched in this race.
"We closed a 20 point gap in the national polls in the last two weeks. The more people are exposed to his message, the better he does."
Liz Hunt: Hillary Clinton's discovered her F Factor
Questions over Hillary and Bill Clinton's family wealth
In pictures: Michelle Obama
Trail Mix: Chelsea Clinton "pimped out"
But he added: "We are up against the Clinton machine. We are the perpetual underdog and will be throughout this process. We're ready to go all the way to the convention."
Clinton aides believe that if Mr Obama does not deliver a knock-out blow before March 4, the advantage will swing back to her and she will argue for a deal in which uncommitted super-delegates unite behind her, to preserve party unity.
But the prospect of a deal behind closed doors, that could brush aside the views of voters in the primaries, is already creating fury in the party.
Donna Brazile, an African American strategist, said last week: "If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit the Democratic Party."
But the Clinton camp fears that a failure to engineer a deal could lead to bitter battles at the Democrat convention in Denver in late August, which could even end with Al Gore, the former vice president, emerging as a compromise candidate.
"There's a five per cent chance of that happening, but that's five percent too high," the Clinton source said.
Mrs Clinton is also under financial pressure.
Contests to come: Click to enlarge
She claimed that she received $7.5m in donations after admitting lending her campaign $5m last week.
But the source claimed that her campaign is actually in far worse financial trouble than they are letting on.
There will be no proof of how much she raised for three months, when the totals are formally declared to election watchdogs.
The one thing the Clinton and Obama camps can agree on is that John McCain, who is popular with independents and moderate Democrats, is their "worst nightmare".
They now fear that he could pick Colin Powell or former congressman JC Watts, both of whom are African American, as his running mate.
But Mr McCain still has to shore up his conservative base and is actively looking at the Governors of Minnesota, South Carolina, Indiana, Mississippi, Florida and Texas: Tim Pawlenty, Mark Sandford, Mitch Daniels, Haley Barbour, Charlie Crist and Rick Perry.
Allies of President Bush are making the case for Rob Portman, a former White House Budget office director and Ohio congressman.
Wrap...
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Writers and writing...A new blog...
For those interested in writing and writers, the Southern California Writers' Conference has now started a blog.
Feel free to visit at http://scwc.wordpress.com/
There are posts from various writers on news, writing workshops, and so forth. Enjoy!
Wrap...
Feel free to visit at http://scwc.wordpress.com/
There are posts from various writers on news, writing workshops, and so forth. Enjoy!
Wrap...
Friday, February 08, 2008
Public can't stand Bush to Obama Girl & ads...
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
The American public "can barely stand the thought of President Bush" anymore. His approval rating is now at just 30 percent, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll, "including an all-time low in his support by Republicans." Congress's approval also dropped to 22 percent.
Military authorities at Guantanamo Bay have lost a year's worth of records detailing the confinement of Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's driver. Hamdan's lawyers say the records would "support their argument that prolonged isolation and harassment at the Guantanamo prison have mentally impaired him."
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said in a statement yesterday that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement head Julie Myers "deserved to be confirmed," but added that he is "concerned about the Department's response to the incident" after the release of controversial photos of Myers.
Yesterday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to answer the question of whether or not he had been instructed by the President not to enforce the subpoenas of Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten.
While John McCain is superior to Bush on climate change, he is still not the type of leader the world requires. "He is a conservative who happens to be on the only intellectually defensible side of the climate change debate," writes Joe Romm, "but he is still a conservative, and the vast majority of the solutions to global warming are progressive in nature -- they require strong government action, including major federal efforts to spur clean technology."
Legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act "is headed toward Senate passage early next week" after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "pushed back key votes." The telecom immunity measure would also "likely be put off until next week."
And finally: "The State Department is defeating terrorism one 'strong, engaging' online video at a time." The State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy is "looking for an extra $36 million in 2009," in order to boost its Video Production Team" and create "strong, engaging web-based video that communicates key U.S. values and counters terrorist ideologies." Want an example of the office's work? Watch its "video report" on Obama Girl and the "Hillary 1984" ad here.
Wrap...
Think Fast...
The American public "can barely stand the thought of President Bush" anymore. His approval rating is now at just 30 percent, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll, "including an all-time low in his support by Republicans." Congress's approval also dropped to 22 percent.
Military authorities at Guantanamo Bay have lost a year's worth of records detailing the confinement of Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden's driver. Hamdan's lawyers say the records would "support their argument that prolonged isolation and harassment at the Guantanamo prison have mentally impaired him."
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) said in a statement yesterday that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement head Julie Myers "deserved to be confirmed," but added that he is "concerned about the Department's response to the incident" after the release of controversial photos of Myers.
Yesterday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to answer the question of whether or not he had been instructed by the President not to enforce the subpoenas of Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten.
While John McCain is superior to Bush on climate change, he is still not the type of leader the world requires. "He is a conservative who happens to be on the only intellectually defensible side of the climate change debate," writes Joe Romm, "but he is still a conservative, and the vast majority of the solutions to global warming are progressive in nature -- they require strong government action, including major federal efforts to spur clean technology."
Legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act "is headed toward Senate passage early next week" after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) "pushed back key votes." The telecom immunity measure would also "likely be put off until next week."
And finally: "The State Department is defeating terrorism one 'strong, engaging' online video at a time." The State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy is "looking for an extra $36 million in 2009," in order to boost its Video Production Team" and create "strong, engaging web-based video that communicates key U.S. values and counters terrorist ideologies." Want an example of the office's work? Watch its "video report" on Obama Girl and the "Hillary 1984" ad here.
Wrap...
Who decides? Delegates or Super Delegates?....
From ABC New Sr Nat'l Correspondent Jake Tapper via email:
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper
(and Other Messes)
February 08, 2008 9:48 AM
Greetings from Seattle. And yes, I'm sleepless.
78 delegates are up for grabs here in tomorrow's Washington State Caucus as are 19 SUPER-DELEGATES.
Read more about that -- as well as Clinton's insinuation that Obama's rhetoric is meaningless -- HERE.
Could it be that this race comes down to the roughly 800 party insiders anointed as "super-delegates"?
They comprise roughly 20% of the delegate total, and if Obama and Clinton continue to split the vote count roughly 50-50, how they vote could be crucial -- which is why Chelsea and Bill Clinton, and reps for Obama, are calling them and wooing them.
Super-delegates were created after the insurgent outsider campaigns of then Sen. George McGovern, D-SD, and former Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia, secured the Democratic party nominations in 1972 and 1976, respectively. The idea was to return some power to party officials. Political scientist Rhodes Cook has said super-delegates were created as a "firewall to blunt any party outsider that built up a head of steam in the primaries."
With her vast institutional advantages, Clinton took a lead in super-delegates long ago.
Here in Washington she has Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell -- though ABC News has learned that Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire will endorse Obama.
Obama this week warned Super-delegates to vote the way their states have voted, "if this contest comes down to super-delegates, we are going to be able to say we have more pledged delegates, which means the Democratic voters have spoken. Those super-delegates, those party insiders would have to think long and hard how they would approach the nomination." Obama suggested "the argument we would be making to super-delegates is, if we come into the convention with more pledged delegates then I think we can make a very strong argument that our constituencies have spoken and I think that's going to be pretty important when it comes to the general election."
Does that mean his super-delegates in Massachusetts -- Sens. Kerry and Kennedy, Gov Patrick -- should defect to Clinton?
Said Super-delegate Donna Brazile to CNN, "If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit the Democratic Party. I feel very strongly about this."
Wrap....
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper
(and Other Messes)
February 08, 2008 9:48 AM
Greetings from Seattle. And yes, I'm sleepless.
78 delegates are up for grabs here in tomorrow's Washington State Caucus as are 19 SUPER-DELEGATES.
Read more about that -- as well as Clinton's insinuation that Obama's rhetoric is meaningless -- HERE.
Could it be that this race comes down to the roughly 800 party insiders anointed as "super-delegates"?
They comprise roughly 20% of the delegate total, and if Obama and Clinton continue to split the vote count roughly 50-50, how they vote could be crucial -- which is why Chelsea and Bill Clinton, and reps for Obama, are calling them and wooing them.
Super-delegates were created after the insurgent outsider campaigns of then Sen. George McGovern, D-SD, and former Gov. Jimmy Carter of Georgia, secured the Democratic party nominations in 1972 and 1976, respectively. The idea was to return some power to party officials. Political scientist Rhodes Cook has said super-delegates were created as a "firewall to blunt any party outsider that built up a head of steam in the primaries."
With her vast institutional advantages, Clinton took a lead in super-delegates long ago.
Here in Washington she has Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell -- though ABC News has learned that Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire will endorse Obama.
Obama this week warned Super-delegates to vote the way their states have voted, "if this contest comes down to super-delegates, we are going to be able to say we have more pledged delegates, which means the Democratic voters have spoken. Those super-delegates, those party insiders would have to think long and hard how they would approach the nomination." Obama suggested "the argument we would be making to super-delegates is, if we come into the convention with more pledged delegates then I think we can make a very strong argument that our constituencies have spoken and I think that's going to be pretty important when it comes to the general election."
Does that mean his super-delegates in Massachusetts -- Sens. Kerry and Kennedy, Gov Patrick -- should defect to Clinton?
Said Super-delegate Donna Brazile to CNN, "If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit the Democratic Party. I feel very strongly about this."
Wrap....
Thursday, February 07, 2008
al-Sadr's 6 mo. ceasefire & Patriots' "Spygate"....
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mahdi Army "to maintain its six-month ceasefire as members of the militia clashed with U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad." "Some members of Sadr's bloc are pressuring him not to extend" the ceasefire, "which expires later this month and has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq."
Top Pentagon officials yesterday testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee "that the Bush administration's plan to withdraw some 20,000 U.S. troops from Iraq this summer will do little to relieve the stress on the Army and Marine Corps."$170 billion: Cost of the Iraq war in fiscal year 2009, according to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Gates added that the price tag "will inevitably be wrong, and perhaps significantly so."
The U.S. Forest Service "has approved a permit allowing a British mining company to explore for uranium just outside" the Grand Canyon. "If the exploration finds rich uranium deposits, it could lead to the first mines near the canyon" in nearly two decades.
"U.S. drivers could enjoy a drop of up to 50 cents per gallon in gasoline prices by this spring as high fuel prices and the threat of a recession force them to conserve, experts said on Wednesday."
"The crime wave that hit New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina shows little sign of abating, more than two years after city officials said taming the outbreak was among their top priorities."
And finally: "Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-PA) one-senator war against the New England Patriots has a big problem: The three-time Super Bowl-winning team has its own Senate patron in Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy." Specter has been pushing an investigation of "Spygate," the Patriots' "surreptitious videotaping of opponents' signals on the field." Leahy, a die-hard Patriots fan, so far doesn't seem to be "giving much credence" to the probe, but promises to "do whatever is correct regardless."
Wrap...
Think Fast...
Influential Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has ordered his Mahdi Army "to maintain its six-month ceasefire as members of the militia clashed with U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad." "Some members of Sadr's bloc are pressuring him not to extend" the ceasefire, "which expires later this month and has been vital to cutting violence in Iraq."
Top Pentagon officials yesterday testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee "that the Bush administration's plan to withdraw some 20,000 U.S. troops from Iraq this summer will do little to relieve the stress on the Army and Marine Corps."$170 billion: Cost of the Iraq war in fiscal year 2009, according to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Gates added that the price tag "will inevitably be wrong, and perhaps significantly so."
The U.S. Forest Service "has approved a permit allowing a British mining company to explore for uranium just outside" the Grand Canyon. "If the exploration finds rich uranium deposits, it could lead to the first mines near the canyon" in nearly two decades.
"U.S. drivers could enjoy a drop of up to 50 cents per gallon in gasoline prices by this spring as high fuel prices and the threat of a recession force them to conserve, experts said on Wednesday."
"The crime wave that hit New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina shows little sign of abating, more than two years after city officials said taming the outbreak was among their top priorities."
And finally: "Sen. Arlen Specter's (R-PA) one-senator war against the New England Patriots has a big problem: The three-time Super Bowl-winning team has its own Senate patron in Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy." Specter has been pushing an investigation of "Spygate," the Patriots' "surreptitious videotaping of opponents' signals on the field." Leahy, a die-hard Patriots fan, so far doesn't seem to be "giving much credence" to the probe, but promises to "do whatever is correct regardless."
Wrap...
Knowledge gained in war...
From Reuters via truthout.org :
US Soldiers Help in War Against Rebels in Colombia
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020708O.shtml
Reuters reports: "when spies spotted a guerrilla chief camped on a jungle riverbank one afternoon late last year, Colombia's army quickly turned to US soldiers to help plan his capture.
Fresh from Afghanistan and Iraq and versed in the latest counter-insurgency tactics, the Americans said they analyzed everything from enemy troop strength to river levels and the moon cycle to forecast visibility."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
US Soldiers Help in War Against Rebels in Colombia
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020708O.shtml
Reuters reports: "when spies spotted a guerrilla chief camped on a jungle riverbank one afternoon late last year, Colombia's army quickly turned to US soldiers to help plan his capture.
Fresh from Afghanistan and Iraq and versed in the latest counter-insurgency tactics, the Americans said they analyzed everything from enemy troop strength to river levels and the moon cycle to forecast visibility."
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Torture survivors living in San Diego...
From Voice of San Diego.com:
Surviving:
Eleven years ago, Survivors of Torture, International opened its doors. At that time, people were always surprised to find out there was a need for such services. Torture seemed like such a medieval and faraway concept -- a horrific act that occurred in the dungeons of European castles.
Our staff spent a lot of time explaining that yes, torture is a reality -- politically motivated torture is practiced in at least 100 countries and yes, survivors live here. The federal government estimates that at least 400,000 survivors of torture live in the United States. We estimate that there are at least 11,000 just here in San Diego County.
Now, the idea of torture is much more prevalent in the media, probably due to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, but its portrayal remains less than accurate. The organization Human Rights First found that there were 123 scenes of torture on primetime network television in 2005. Pre 9/11 in 2000, there were just 42. These scenes usually depict the victims as worthless bad guys -- serious criminals or people who have top-secret, life-threatening plans that they’re hiding.
Unfortunately the survivors are not just characters on television but real people like the individuals we serve in our office. They endured some of the most terrifying experiences imaginable and have come to San Diego for safety from this persecution. SURVIVORS’ clients have come from more than 50 countries, including Sudan, Somalia, Mexico and El Salvador.
Repressive governments often use torture as a tool against democracy by targeting teachers, journalists, community leaders, or members of certain religious or ethnic groups.
To save their lives, survivors often have no choice but to flee and continue their lives in a new country -- even if it means that they have to leave their family, friends, careers, and homes behind.
I’m grateful when voiceofsandiego.org and other news outlets give our organization the opportunity to raise awareness about this invisible population that lives in our community. I’m happy to answer any questions you have about the work we do.
-- KATHI ANDERSON
Wednesday, February 6 -- 7:00 pm
Wrap...
Surviving:
Eleven years ago, Survivors of Torture, International opened its doors. At that time, people were always surprised to find out there was a need for such services. Torture seemed like such a medieval and faraway concept -- a horrific act that occurred in the dungeons of European castles.
Our staff spent a lot of time explaining that yes, torture is a reality -- politically motivated torture is practiced in at least 100 countries and yes, survivors live here. The federal government estimates that at least 400,000 survivors of torture live in the United States. We estimate that there are at least 11,000 just here in San Diego County.
Now, the idea of torture is much more prevalent in the media, probably due to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, but its portrayal remains less than accurate. The organization Human Rights First found that there were 123 scenes of torture on primetime network television in 2005. Pre 9/11 in 2000, there were just 42. These scenes usually depict the victims as worthless bad guys -- serious criminals or people who have top-secret, life-threatening plans that they’re hiding.
Unfortunately the survivors are not just characters on television but real people like the individuals we serve in our office. They endured some of the most terrifying experiences imaginable and have come to San Diego for safety from this persecution. SURVIVORS’ clients have come from more than 50 countries, including Sudan, Somalia, Mexico and El Salvador.
Repressive governments often use torture as a tool against democracy by targeting teachers, journalists, community leaders, or members of certain religious or ethnic groups.
To save their lives, survivors often have no choice but to flee and continue their lives in a new country -- even if it means that they have to leave their family, friends, careers, and homes behind.
I’m grateful when voiceofsandiego.org and other news outlets give our organization the opportunity to raise awareness about this invisible population that lives in our community. I’m happy to answer any questions you have about the work we do.
-- KATHI ANDERSON
Wednesday, February 6 -- 7:00 pm
Wrap...
Undersea cable cutting is an act of war....
From Information Clearing House:
Connecting The Many Undersea Cut Cable Dots :
The last week has seen a spate of unexplained, cut, undersea communications cables that has severely disrupted communications in many countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
As I shall show, the total numbers of cut cables remain in question, but likely number as many as eight, and maybe nine or more.
http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/ConnectingTheDots.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
Connecting The Many Undersea Cut Cable Dots :
The last week has seen a spate of unexplained, cut, undersea communications cables that has severely disrupted communications in many countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.
As I shall show, the total numbers of cut cables remain in question, but likely number as many as eight, and maybe nine or more.
http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/ConnectingTheDots.htm
[Use link above to continue reading]
Wrap...
An Unusual Mix of Books....
From Publishers Lunch Weekly:
FICTION/DEBUT:
Eugenia Kim's NAJIN, following a young woman through the turbulent years of Korea's subjugation by the Japanese and its emergence into the modern world in the first half of the 20th century, to Helen Atsma at Holt, in a very nice deal, for publication in April 2009, by Judith Weber at Sobel Weber Associates (NA).
THRILLER:
Mark Sullivan's TRIPLE CROSS, in which world political and financial stability is threatened when an exclusive Montana ski resort and gated community for the super-rich is attacked and taken hostage on New Year's Eve, to Keith Kahla at St. Martin's, in a two-book deal, by David Hale Smith at DHS Literary (NA).German rights to Fischer Verlag, by Danny Baror at Baror International, on behalf of DHS Literary.barorint@aol.comdavid@dhsliterary.com
GENERAL/OTHER:
Carter Beats the Devil author Glen David Gold's SUNNYSIDE, in which Charlie Chaplin and Co. collide with World War I in an epic about the rise of Hollywood, celebrity and the American empire, to Sonny Mehta at Knopf, by Susan Golomb at the Susan Golomb Agency.
Poet Bernardine Evaristo's BLONDE ROOTS, turning the history of the transatlantic slave trade on its head, to Megan Lynch at Riverhead, in a pre-empt, by Kate Lee at ICM (NA).UK rights: Simon Prosser at Hamish Hamilton
NON-FICTION
BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:
Stanford University professor Byron Reeves and venture capitalist Leighton Read's GAMES@WORK, how virtual reality and sophisticated computer games will transform the workplace and fundamentally change the way we work, to Jacqueline Murphy at Harvard Business School Press, in a good deal, by Penny Nelson at Manus & Associates (world).
COOKING:
Dylan Lauren's DYLAN'S CANDY BAR BOOK, a goody bag in book form that celebrates sweets, offering games and ways to entertain with candy; recipes for sugary and chocolate treats; coverage of rare, beloved, and celebrity-favorite candies; and more, to Aliza Fogelson at Clarkson Potter, at auction, by Andy McNicol at William Morris Agency (world).
MEMOIR:
Justine van der Leun's GOODBYE, COLLELUNGO, about leaving her job with a major NY-based magazine to move to Collelungo, Italy, population: 200, where she sets up house with a handsome Italian gardener she'd met on vacation and discovers that village life and love are radically different than anything she might have imagined, to Shannon Welch at Modern Times, by Patricia van der Leun (World).Amanda Pressner, Jennifer Baggett and Holly Corbett's THE
LOST GIRLS, about three 20-something women who quit their Manhattan media jobs and traveled around the world with backpacks and on a budget in search of answers, inspiration and enlightenment, to Serena Jones at Collins, in a pre-empt, by Kenneth Wright at Writers House (NA).
NARRATIVE:
Ilana Ozernoy's ON PATRIARCHS' PONDS, a chronicle of the interior lives of ordinary Russians in the Putin era intertwined with the author's personal story as the daughter of Soviet dissidents, presenting a portrait of modern Russia - a country that has tasted and lost new freedoms, but that wants to reclaim its status as a world superpower and may be willing to sacrifice personal freedom in order to do so, to Supurna Banerjee at Holt, by Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic (NA). claire.mckinney@hholt.com
Washington Post South America bureau chief Monte Reel's THE LAST OF THE TRIBE, a non-fiction account of the race by Indiana Jones-like cultural anthropologists in Brazil to save an indigenous Indian, the last living member of his tribe, before he's murdered by ranchers, exploring the conflict between preservation and development, the cultural and environmental impact of deforestation, and the mystery and allure of one man surviving alone on the brink of extinction, to Samantha Martin at Scribner, by Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary (World English).
Today Show Travel editor and NYT bestselling author of THE COMPLETE TRAVEL DETECTIVE BIBLE Peter Greenberg's DON'T GO THERE: A Must Miss Guide to the World, offering guidance on where not to go, when and why, essential reading for those who don't want their next dream vacation to become their worst nightmare, again to Leigh Haber at Rodale, for publication in October 2008, by Amy Rennert at the Amy Rennert Agency.
REFERENCE:
NYT deputy editor Francis Flaherty's THE ELEMENTS OF STORY, a Strunk & White-like manual/memoir for writing narrative, rather than for grammar and usage, that lays out 50-odd insightful principles, along with illuminating examples derived from the author's years of work as the paper's "story doctor," to guide today's writer and anyone who loves the written word, to Serena Jones at Collins, in a pre-empt, by Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary (NA).
SCIENCE:
Co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace prize as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and professor emeritus at University of Michigan, Dr. Henry Pollack's MELTDOWN: A World Without Ice, a book about ice and people on Earth, revealing the importance of ice to our planet and population through time; explaining the science of the current meltdown; and imagining future scenarios resulting from its disappearance; with a foreword by Al Gore, to Jeff Galas at Avery, at auction, by Gillian MacKenzie at the Gillian MacKenzie Agency (NA).gmackenzie@gillianmackenzieagency.com
Wrap...
FICTION/DEBUT:
Eugenia Kim's NAJIN, following a young woman through the turbulent years of Korea's subjugation by the Japanese and its emergence into the modern world in the first half of the 20th century, to Helen Atsma at Holt, in a very nice deal, for publication in April 2009, by Judith Weber at Sobel Weber Associates (NA).
THRILLER:
Mark Sullivan's TRIPLE CROSS, in which world political and financial stability is threatened when an exclusive Montana ski resort and gated community for the super-rich is attacked and taken hostage on New Year's Eve, to Keith Kahla at St. Martin's, in a two-book deal, by David Hale Smith at DHS Literary (NA).German rights to Fischer Verlag, by Danny Baror at Baror International, on behalf of DHS Literary.barorint@aol.comdavid@dhsliterary.com
GENERAL/OTHER:
Carter Beats the Devil author Glen David Gold's SUNNYSIDE, in which Charlie Chaplin and Co. collide with World War I in an epic about the rise of Hollywood, celebrity and the American empire, to Sonny Mehta at Knopf, by Susan Golomb at the Susan Golomb Agency.
Poet Bernardine Evaristo's BLONDE ROOTS, turning the history of the transatlantic slave trade on its head, to Megan Lynch at Riverhead, in a pre-empt, by Kate Lee at ICM (NA).UK rights: Simon Prosser at Hamish Hamilton
NON-FICTION
BUSINESS/INVESTING/FINANCE:
Stanford University professor Byron Reeves and venture capitalist Leighton Read's GAMES@WORK, how virtual reality and sophisticated computer games will transform the workplace and fundamentally change the way we work, to Jacqueline Murphy at Harvard Business School Press, in a good deal, by Penny Nelson at Manus & Associates (world).
COOKING:
Dylan Lauren's DYLAN'S CANDY BAR BOOK, a goody bag in book form that celebrates sweets, offering games and ways to entertain with candy; recipes for sugary and chocolate treats; coverage of rare, beloved, and celebrity-favorite candies; and more, to Aliza Fogelson at Clarkson Potter, at auction, by Andy McNicol at William Morris Agency (world).
MEMOIR:
Justine van der Leun's GOODBYE, COLLELUNGO, about leaving her job with a major NY-based magazine to move to Collelungo, Italy, population: 200, where she sets up house with a handsome Italian gardener she'd met on vacation and discovers that village life and love are radically different than anything she might have imagined, to Shannon Welch at Modern Times, by Patricia van der Leun (World).Amanda Pressner, Jennifer Baggett and Holly Corbett's THE
LOST GIRLS, about three 20-something women who quit their Manhattan media jobs and traveled around the world with backpacks and on a budget in search of answers, inspiration and enlightenment, to Serena Jones at Collins, in a pre-empt, by Kenneth Wright at Writers House (NA).
NARRATIVE:
Ilana Ozernoy's ON PATRIARCHS' PONDS, a chronicle of the interior lives of ordinary Russians in the Putin era intertwined with the author's personal story as the daughter of Soviet dissidents, presenting a portrait of modern Russia - a country that has tasted and lost new freedoms, but that wants to reclaim its status as a world superpower and may be willing to sacrifice personal freedom in order to do so, to Supurna Banerjee at Holt, by Robert Guinsler at Sterling Lord Literistic (NA). claire.mckinney@hholt.com
Washington Post South America bureau chief Monte Reel's THE LAST OF THE TRIBE, a non-fiction account of the race by Indiana Jones-like cultural anthropologists in Brazil to save an indigenous Indian, the last living member of his tribe, before he's murdered by ranchers, exploring the conflict between preservation and development, the cultural and environmental impact of deforestation, and the mystery and allure of one man surviving alone on the brink of extinction, to Samantha Martin at Scribner, by Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary (World English).
Today Show Travel editor and NYT bestselling author of THE COMPLETE TRAVEL DETECTIVE BIBLE Peter Greenberg's DON'T GO THERE: A Must Miss Guide to the World, offering guidance on where not to go, when and why, essential reading for those who don't want their next dream vacation to become their worst nightmare, again to Leigh Haber at Rodale, for publication in October 2008, by Amy Rennert at the Amy Rennert Agency.
REFERENCE:
NYT deputy editor Francis Flaherty's THE ELEMENTS OF STORY, a Strunk & White-like manual/memoir for writing narrative, rather than for grammar and usage, that lays out 50-odd insightful principles, along with illuminating examples derived from the author's years of work as the paper's "story doctor," to guide today's writer and anyone who loves the written word, to Serena Jones at Collins, in a pre-empt, by Larry Weissman at Larry Weissman Literary (NA).
SCIENCE:
Co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace prize as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and professor emeritus at University of Michigan, Dr. Henry Pollack's MELTDOWN: A World Without Ice, a book about ice and people on Earth, revealing the importance of ice to our planet and population through time; explaining the science of the current meltdown; and imagining future scenarios resulting from its disappearance; with a foreword by Al Gore, to Jeff Galas at Avery, at auction, by Gillian MacKenzie at the Gillian MacKenzie Agency (NA).gmackenzie@gillianmackenzieagency.com
Wrap...
Who won Tues? to Olbermann vs Beck....
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
In the "biggest day of U.S. presidential voting before the November 4 election to succeed President George W. Bush," Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) won 13 states and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) took eight. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "won nine contests, including victories in California and the Northeast, to take a commanding lead in the Republican race." See the results here.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell testified yesterday that a failure to provide legal immunity in FISA legislation to telecom companies "will have far-reaching consequences" and "severely degrade the capabilities" of intelligence agencies to protect the country.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said yesterday that "Al Qaeda is gaining in strength from its refuge in Pakistan and is steadily improving its ability to recruit, train and position operatives capable of carrying out attacks inside the United States."
In prepared testimony, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "says U.S. forces are "significantly stressed' by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan." "The pace of ongoing operations," says Mullen, "impacts our ability to be ready to counter future threats."
Facing a "draconian" budget that would "cut in half the $400 million allocated in advance by Congress for fiscal year 2009 and cut $220 million from the $420 million already planned for 2010," public broadcasters are "scrambling" to secure federal funding for their programs.
The subprime crisis has brought "boarded-up homes and broken dreams to thousands of minority families inner cities." Reuters reports that urban renewal will need to be at the top of the next president's "to do" list.
Cases of racial harassment filed with the EEOC increased 24 percent last year, "a time of racial turmoil that included the Jena Six controversy and an outbreak of noose displays." The number of filings increased from 5,646 in 2006 to 6,977 in 2007 while "the annual figure has more than doubled since 1991."
The AFL-CIO has filed a lawsuit against Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, claiming that new Labor Department disclosure rules "should be held unlawful and set aside." In a report last year, Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Scott Lilly described how the new rules are part of an effort "to undermine the reputation of the labor union movement."
Republican leaders continue to squabble about how to deal with earmarks. The Hill notes that Reps. John Boehner (R-OH), Adam Putnam (R-FL) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) are "the only Republican leaders who have voted for more than half of the anti-earmark amendments offered on the House floor since the 2006 election."
And finally: Right-wing pundit Glenn Beck took a shot at Keith Olbermann, stating, "If I saw Olbermann standing on the subway [platform], I might think for a moment about pushing him, but I wouldn't." Olbermann responded: "The subway remark summarizes who Glenn is. If he (or anybody else) fell in front of a train, I hope I'd have the courage to emulate Wesley Autry and try to save him."
Wrap...
Think Fast...
In the "biggest day of U.S. presidential voting before the November 4 election to succeed President George W. Bush," Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) won 13 states and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) took eight. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "won nine contests, including victories in California and the Northeast, to take a commanding lead in the Republican race." See the results here.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell testified yesterday that a failure to provide legal immunity in FISA legislation to telecom companies "will have far-reaching consequences" and "severely degrade the capabilities" of intelligence agencies to protect the country.
Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said yesterday that "Al Qaeda is gaining in strength from its refuge in Pakistan and is steadily improving its ability to recruit, train and position operatives capable of carrying out attacks inside the United States."
In prepared testimony, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "says U.S. forces are "significantly stressed' by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan." "The pace of ongoing operations," says Mullen, "impacts our ability to be ready to counter future threats."
Facing a "draconian" budget that would "cut in half the $400 million allocated in advance by Congress for fiscal year 2009 and cut $220 million from the $420 million already planned for 2010," public broadcasters are "scrambling" to secure federal funding for their programs.
The subprime crisis has brought "boarded-up homes and broken dreams to thousands of minority families inner cities." Reuters reports that urban renewal will need to be at the top of the next president's "to do" list.
Cases of racial harassment filed with the EEOC increased 24 percent last year, "a time of racial turmoil that included the Jena Six controversy and an outbreak of noose displays." The number of filings increased from 5,646 in 2006 to 6,977 in 2007 while "the annual figure has more than doubled since 1991."
The AFL-CIO has filed a lawsuit against Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, claiming that new Labor Department disclosure rules "should be held unlawful and set aside." In a report last year, Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Scott Lilly described how the new rules are part of an effort "to undermine the reputation of the labor union movement."
Republican leaders continue to squabble about how to deal with earmarks. The Hill notes that Reps. John Boehner (R-OH), Adam Putnam (R-FL) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) are "the only Republican leaders who have voted for more than half of the anti-earmark amendments offered on the House floor since the 2006 election."
And finally: Right-wing pundit Glenn Beck took a shot at Keith Olbermann, stating, "If I saw Olbermann standing on the subway [platform], I might think for a moment about pushing him, but I wouldn't." Olbermann responded: "The subway remark summarizes who Glenn is. If he (or anybody else) fell in front of a train, I hope I'd have the courage to emulate Wesley Autry and try to save him."
Wrap...
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Gathering the intel secrets....
From Secrecy News:
OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE ADVANCES
The DNI Open Source Center, which gathers, translates, analyzes, and distributes unclassified open source intelligence from around the world, is steadily growing in capability and impact, according to Doug Naquin, the Center's Director.
The Open Source Center, which replaced the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service, is doing more analysis and outreach than its predecessor and is also exploring new media, said Mr. Naquin in a recent speech. "We're looking now at YouTube, which carries some unique and honest-to-goodness intelligence," he said. "We have groups looking at what they call 'Citizens Media': people taking pictures with their cell phones and posting them on the Internet. Then there's Social Media, phenomena like MySpace and blogs....
A couple years back we identified Iranian blogs as a phenomenon worthy of more attention, about six months ahead of anybody else." "But we still have an education problem ... both with the folks who are proponents of open source but perhaps don't know exactly why, and folks internally who are still wondering why I am sitting at the same table they are."
"All of us have heard the statement by [intelligence community] leaders at one time or another that 'Our business is stealing secrets.' Or 'Our business is espionage.' While I deeply respect that, and I understand where that's coming from, from my Open Source perspective, I'm thinking that's like a football coach saying, 'Our mission is to pass the ball.' Or 'Our mission is to run the ball.' Well, not exactly. It's to win football games."
Mr. Naquin addressed the Central Intelligence Retirees' Association on October 3, 2007. The text of his remarks is available here: http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/naquin.pdf
While the Open Source Center may be thriving, its net value to the general public has actually declined. That is because only a small fraction of its product is normally made publicly available (for a substantial subscription fee), while alternative means of public access to international information sources continue to multiply.
Wrap...
OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE ADVANCES
The DNI Open Source Center, which gathers, translates, analyzes, and distributes unclassified open source intelligence from around the world, is steadily growing in capability and impact, according to Doug Naquin, the Center's Director.
The Open Source Center, which replaced the CIA's Foreign Broadcast Information Service, is doing more analysis and outreach than its predecessor and is also exploring new media, said Mr. Naquin in a recent speech. "We're looking now at YouTube, which carries some unique and honest-to-goodness intelligence," he said. "We have groups looking at what they call 'Citizens Media': people taking pictures with their cell phones and posting them on the Internet. Then there's Social Media, phenomena like MySpace and blogs....
A couple years back we identified Iranian blogs as a phenomenon worthy of more attention, about six months ahead of anybody else." "But we still have an education problem ... both with the folks who are proponents of open source but perhaps don't know exactly why, and folks internally who are still wondering why I am sitting at the same table they are."
"All of us have heard the statement by [intelligence community] leaders at one time or another that 'Our business is stealing secrets.' Or 'Our business is espionage.' While I deeply respect that, and I understand where that's coming from, from my Open Source perspective, I'm thinking that's like a football coach saying, 'Our mission is to pass the ball.' Or 'Our mission is to run the ball.' Well, not exactly. It's to win football games."
Mr. Naquin addressed the Central Intelligence Retirees' Association on October 3, 2007. The text of his remarks is available here: http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/naquin.pdf
While the Open Source Center may be thriving, its net value to the general public has actually declined. That is because only a small fraction of its product is normally made publicly available (for a substantial subscription fee), while alternative means of public access to international information sources continue to multiply.
Wrap...
Monday, February 04, 2008
Sun Shows need asterisks & Super Bowl ad....
From American Progress:
Think Fast...
The New York Times writes that the Sunday morning public affairs shows "are careless about bias." Their "experts are supposed to be impartial, but it is left to viewers to parse their complicated pedigrees and entwined political obligations. It's not that they have nothing to say, it's that what they say is not accompanied by an asterisk."
60 percent: Americans who "think the economy's already in a recession," while "two-thirds doubt that a government stimulus package will soften the blow," according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. In total, 81 percent believe the economy is in bad shape, the most since 1993."
The White House will release its FY 2009 budget today. CQ reports that the document is "expected to project a deficit in the $400 billion range for fiscal 2008 and 2009. That would be more than double the $163 billion in red ink from fiscal 2007."
"The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined could rise to just under $900 billion by next spring and could near the $1 trillion mark by the end of 2009." Congress has authorized $691 billion in war spending since 2001.
Speaking to a crowd in Florida over the weekend, Karl Rove admitted that he was a "bit of a hothead" while working for President Bush. Rove also compared Bush to President Lincoln in his ability to "get to the nub of the thing."
Three of Wall Street's biggest investment banks -- Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley -- will announce today that they are "imposing new environmental standards that will make it harder for companies to get financing to build coal-fired power plants in the U.S."
Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson allegedly retaliated against the Philadelphia Housing Authority after it refused to "transfer a $2 million public property to a developer" who is a business friend of Jacksons "at a substantial discount." The authoritys director says he received "dozens" of "menacing" threats from Jackson's aides over an 11-month period.
American forces "accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians and wounded three" in a strike aimed at Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. The attack "appeared to be one of the deadliest cases of mistaken identity in recent weeks." Some victims had "contracted with the American military to fight Al Qaeda."
And finally: Yesterday, the "Patriots' streak was broken, but Anheuser-Busch's was not." It "aired the best-liked Super Bowl ad for a record 10th-consecutive year," with a commercial featuring a Dalmatian training a Clydesdale to make the beer wagon team. (Watch the ad here.)
Wrap...
Think Fast...
The New York Times writes that the Sunday morning public affairs shows "are careless about bias." Their "experts are supposed to be impartial, but it is left to viewers to parse their complicated pedigrees and entwined political obligations. It's not that they have nothing to say, it's that what they say is not accompanied by an asterisk."
60 percent: Americans who "think the economy's already in a recession," while "two-thirds doubt that a government stimulus package will soften the blow," according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll. In total, 81 percent believe the economy is in bad shape, the most since 1993."
The White House will release its FY 2009 budget today. CQ reports that the document is "expected to project a deficit in the $400 billion range for fiscal 2008 and 2009. That would be more than double the $163 billion in red ink from fiscal 2007."
"The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined could rise to just under $900 billion by next spring and could near the $1 trillion mark by the end of 2009." Congress has authorized $691 billion in war spending since 2001.
Speaking to a crowd in Florida over the weekend, Karl Rove admitted that he was a "bit of a hothead" while working for President Bush. Rove also compared Bush to President Lincoln in his ability to "get to the nub of the thing."
Three of Wall Street's biggest investment banks -- Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley -- will announce today that they are "imposing new environmental standards that will make it harder for companies to get financing to build coal-fired power plants in the U.S."
Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson allegedly retaliated against the Philadelphia Housing Authority after it refused to "transfer a $2 million public property to a developer" who is a business friend of Jacksons "at a substantial discount." The authoritys director says he received "dozens" of "menacing" threats from Jackson's aides over an 11-month period.
American forces "accidentally killed nine Iraqi civilians and wounded three" in a strike aimed at Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. The attack "appeared to be one of the deadliest cases of mistaken identity in recent weeks." Some victims had "contracted with the American military to fight Al Qaeda."
And finally: Yesterday, the "Patriots' streak was broken, but Anheuser-Busch's was not." It "aired the best-liked Super Bowl ad for a record 10th-consecutive year," with a commercial featuring a Dalmatian training a Clydesdale to make the beer wagon team. (Watch the ad here.)
Wrap...
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