Friday, May 06, 2005
Synopsis: Blair continues, but lessened vote means he won’t complete his term, fierce fighting in Afghanistan, North Korea prepares for a nuke test (or pretends to be prepping). And,
Air America Grows. Clutching my Air America coffee cup, I’m happy to note:
Chicago’s Newsweb Radio Group today said it will launch a new local radio station for “progressive talk” at 850 on the AM band.
WCPT, Chicago’s Progressive Talk, will begin broadcasting Thursday at 8 a.m. with programming that will include talk shows, news on the hour and traffic and weather reports. Among the personalities with shows to air on the station are Jerry Springer, Al Franken, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Ed Schultz. WCPT will also air a show called Morning Sedition. http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=16371
#3 al-Qaeda arrested. This reminds me of the world of boxing- really- when a champion is matched up with an unknown who is declared a “#1 challenger”. Al Liby was not posted by the FBI as being on the “most wanted” list. Now, he’s the #3, a major victory, etc. “Grade inflation”, was what one terrorist analyst termed it.
Pakistani security forces have arrested the al-Qa'eda mastermind who "planned assassination attempts" against Pervez Musharraf, the president.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, information minister, said Abu Faraj Farj al Liby had been arrested but gave no further details. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/04/upakistan.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/05/04/ixportaltop.html
Al-Qaeda Morale low? Another ‘development’ to boost U.S. morale? A note found by the U.S. military purports to be an al-Qaeda fella sharing his concern w/ leader Zarqawi.
The clashes in the west, and continuing car bombings and ambushes in central Iraq, came as the U.S. military released a letter it said showed morale was low among followers of Zarqawi, despite an onslaught of deadly attacks by insurgents this month.
"The situation has changed dramatically, and that is not acceptable to God," declared the letter, which the military said was addressed to Zarqawi, a Jordanian. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/03/AR2005050301616_pf.html
Meanwhile, riots at the University
Masar Sarhan, a popular student leader at Baghdad University, threw a party on campus this week to celebrate the Shiite Muslim leaders of Iraq's new government. Religious songs blared and students read poetry congratulating the Shiites for taking power.
Four hours later, three gunmen followed 24-year-old Sarhan and shot him to death blocks from his home in the capital.
The campus, already simmering with sectarian tension, exploded with violent demonstrations that continued on Wednesday. Enraged Shiite students stormed the cafeteria, overturning tables and breaking windows. They accused Sunni students and professors of supporting Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, which they blamed for Sarhan's death. Police fired shots in the air to stop the riots. The dean fled the campus and classes were canceled indefinitely.
"It wasn't a demonstration - it was a riot," said Lina Majed, 22, a Russian studies student who was in the cafeteria during the violence. "I won't come back to college until everything settles down. This is scary."
Sarhan's murder was a disaster for Baghdad University officials who'd been trying to quell sectarian problems among students since the January elections. Shiites and Kurds dominate Iraq's first elected government. Sunni Arabs mostly boycotted the vote or stayed away out of fear of attack from Iraq's Sunni insurgency. http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11563939.htm
And, looking for some of the missing $…
The U.S. government has opened a criminal inquiry into suspected embezzlement by officials who failed to account for almost $100 million they disbursed for Iraqi reconstruction projects, federal investigators said Wednesday.
Auditors have been unable to fully document how the money was allocated to Iraqi workers by a small group of officials working from a U.S. outpost in Hillah, according to an audit report released Wednesday by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-fraud5may05,0,6994435,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Paging Clarence Darrow…
Six years after Kansas ignited a national debate over the teaching of evolution, the state is poised to push through new science standards this summer requiring that Darwin's theory be challenged in the classroom.
In the first of three daylong hearings being referred to here as a direct descendant of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee, a parade of Ph.D.'s testified Thursday about the flaws they saw in mainstream science's explanation of the origins of life. It was one part biology lesson, one part political theater, and the biggest stage yet for the emerging movement known as intelligent design, which posits that life's complexity cannot be explained without a supernatural creator. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/education/06evolution.html?pagewanted=print
Americana Low-lite: GM / Ford reach ‘junk’ status How far they’ve fallen…
General Motors and Ford Motor lost their investment grade ratings Thursday, pushing two of corporate America's biggest borrowers into the ranks of junk bonds and rattling the financial markets with the message that the collective fortunes of the remaining two domestically owned automakers have sunk to their lowest points yet.
The downgrading by Standard & Poor's, the credit agency, reflects the inability of G.M. and Ford to make enough cars that people will buy without $5,000 rebates and other sales incentives, as well as worries that the two automakers may not emerge anytime soon from their troubles, starting with eroding earnings and sliding sales. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/automobiles/06auto.html
Many investors knew it was coming, but they did not expect that two of the nation's biggest issuers of bonds would be reduced to junk status so soon.
As a result, Standard & Poor's announcement at midday yesterday that it was cutting its credit ratings for both General Motors and the Ford Motor Company set off a selling spree in the corporate bond market. The rating cut to below investment grade begins a process of adjustment that could ripple through, and roil, the fixed-income markets for weeks. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/automobiles/06bond.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Lautenberg-Kerry bill follow-up: Embracing the Principles. While awaiting possible action on their bill, the Senate vote to stop further use of phony videos passing off as news.
Congressional negotiators have agreed to bar government agencies for one year from issuing video news releases that do not clearly identify themselves as the source, Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd said on Tuesday.
Senate and House negotiators agreed to include the measure in an emergency spending bill banning the use of taxpayer dollars for producing the releases, which often resemble news segments, unless they include a written or audible notice.
“It is simply not right for administration departments and agencies to try to snooker the American people, producing propaganda and passing it off as legitimate news,” the West Virginia lawmaker said in a statement. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=8378804
Stop that Dissent: Feds warn AFL-CIO not to oppose Social Security change
The Bush administration has warned the nation's biggest labor federation that union-run pension funds may be breaking the law in opposing President Bush's Social Security proposals.
In a letter on Tuesday to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Department of Labor said it was "very concerned" that pension plans might be spending workers' money to "advocate a particular result in the current Social Security debate."
The Labor Department also warned the federation that pension plans could be violating their fiduciary responsibilities by suggesting that they might take their investment business away from Wall Street firms that support Mr. Bush's plans.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/05/politics/05social.html?pagewanted=print
-R
Air America Grows. Clutching my Air America coffee cup, I’m happy to note:
Chicago’s Newsweb Radio Group today said it will launch a new local radio station for “progressive talk” at 850 on the AM band.
WCPT, Chicago’s Progressive Talk, will begin broadcasting Thursday at 8 a.m. with programming that will include talk shows, news on the hour and traffic and weather reports. Among the personalities with shows to air on the station are Jerry Springer, Al Franken, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Ed Schultz. WCPT will also air a show called Morning Sedition. http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=16371
#3 al-Qaeda arrested. This reminds me of the world of boxing- really- when a champion is matched up with an unknown who is declared a “#1 challenger”. Al Liby was not posted by the FBI as being on the “most wanted” list. Now, he’s the #3, a major victory, etc. “Grade inflation”, was what one terrorist analyst termed it.
Pakistani security forces have arrested the al-Qa'eda mastermind who "planned assassination attempts" against Pervez Musharraf, the president.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, information minister, said Abu Faraj Farj al Liby had been arrested but gave no further details. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/05/04/upakistan.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/05/04/ixportaltop.html
Al-Qaeda Morale low? Another ‘development’ to boost U.S. morale? A note found by the U.S. military purports to be an al-Qaeda fella sharing his concern w/ leader Zarqawi.
The clashes in the west, and continuing car bombings and ambushes in central Iraq, came as the U.S. military released a letter it said showed morale was low among followers of Zarqawi, despite an onslaught of deadly attacks by insurgents this month.
"The situation has changed dramatically, and that is not acceptable to God," declared the letter, which the military said was addressed to Zarqawi, a Jordanian. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/03/AR2005050301616_pf.html
Meanwhile, riots at the University
Masar Sarhan, a popular student leader at Baghdad University, threw a party on campus this week to celebrate the Shiite Muslim leaders of Iraq's new government. Religious songs blared and students read poetry congratulating the Shiites for taking power.
Four hours later, three gunmen followed 24-year-old Sarhan and shot him to death blocks from his home in the capital.
The campus, already simmering with sectarian tension, exploded with violent demonstrations that continued on Wednesday. Enraged Shiite students stormed the cafeteria, overturning tables and breaking windows. They accused Sunni students and professors of supporting Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, which they blamed for Sarhan's death. Police fired shots in the air to stop the riots. The dean fled the campus and classes were canceled indefinitely.
"It wasn't a demonstration - it was a riot," said Lina Majed, 22, a Russian studies student who was in the cafeteria during the violence. "I won't come back to college until everything settles down. This is scary."
Sarhan's murder was a disaster for Baghdad University officials who'd been trying to quell sectarian problems among students since the January elections. Shiites and Kurds dominate Iraq's first elected government. Sunni Arabs mostly boycotted the vote or stayed away out of fear of attack from Iraq's Sunni insurgency. http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11563939.htm
And, looking for some of the missing $…
The U.S. government has opened a criminal inquiry into suspected embezzlement by officials who failed to account for almost $100 million they disbursed for Iraqi reconstruction projects, federal investigators said Wednesday.
Auditors have been unable to fully document how the money was allocated to Iraqi workers by a small group of officials working from a U.S. outpost in Hillah, according to an audit report released Wednesday by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-fraud5may05,0,6994435,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Paging Clarence Darrow…
Six years after Kansas ignited a national debate over the teaching of evolution, the state is poised to push through new science standards this summer requiring that Darwin's theory be challenged in the classroom.
In the first of three daylong hearings being referred to here as a direct descendant of the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee, a parade of Ph.D.'s testified Thursday about the flaws they saw in mainstream science's explanation of the origins of life. It was one part biology lesson, one part political theater, and the biggest stage yet for the emerging movement known as intelligent design, which posits that life's complexity cannot be explained without a supernatural creator. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/education/06evolution.html?pagewanted=print
Americana Low-lite: GM / Ford reach ‘junk’ status How far they’ve fallen…
General Motors and Ford Motor lost their investment grade ratings Thursday, pushing two of corporate America's biggest borrowers into the ranks of junk bonds and rattling the financial markets with the message that the collective fortunes of the remaining two domestically owned automakers have sunk to their lowest points yet.
The downgrading by Standard & Poor's, the credit agency, reflects the inability of G.M. and Ford to make enough cars that people will buy without $5,000 rebates and other sales incentives, as well as worries that the two automakers may not emerge anytime soon from their troubles, starting with eroding earnings and sliding sales. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/automobiles/06auto.html
Many investors knew it was coming, but they did not expect that two of the nation's biggest issuers of bonds would be reduced to junk status so soon.
As a result, Standard & Poor's announcement at midday yesterday that it was cutting its credit ratings for both General Motors and the Ford Motor Company set off a selling spree in the corporate bond market. The rating cut to below investment grade begins a process of adjustment that could ripple through, and roil, the fixed-income markets for weeks. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/automobiles/06bond.html?pagewanted=print&position=
Lautenberg-Kerry bill follow-up: Embracing the Principles. While awaiting possible action on their bill, the Senate vote to stop further use of phony videos passing off as news.
Congressional negotiators have agreed to bar government agencies for one year from issuing video news releases that do not clearly identify themselves as the source, Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd said on Tuesday.
Senate and House negotiators agreed to include the measure in an emergency spending bill banning the use of taxpayer dollars for producing the releases, which often resemble news segments, unless they include a written or audible notice.
“It is simply not right for administration departments and agencies to try to snooker the American people, producing propaganda and passing it off as legitimate news,” the West Virginia lawmaker said in a statement. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=8378804
Stop that Dissent: Feds warn AFL-CIO not to oppose Social Security change
The Bush administration has warned the nation's biggest labor federation that union-run pension funds may be breaking the law in opposing President Bush's Social Security proposals.
In a letter on Tuesday to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the Department of Labor said it was "very concerned" that pension plans might be spending workers' money to "advocate a particular result in the current Social Security debate."
The Labor Department also warned the federation that pension plans could be violating their fiduciary responsibilities by suggesting that they might take their investment business away from Wall Street firms that support Mr. Bush's plans.http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/05/politics/05social.html?pagewanted=print
-R
