Times Square confetti to contain New Year’s wishes
NEW YORK (AP) — Messages and wishes for the new year from people around the world will float down on the New Year’s Eve revelers in Times Square when the confetti is dropped.

Pakistan to delay vote by at least four weeks: officials
ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan’s elections will be delayed by at least four weeks due to mass unrest after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, a cabinet official told AFP.

Opposition Parties Vow to Proceed With Jan. 8 Election
Pakistan’s largest political party picked Benazir Bhutto’s 19-year-old son to succeed her as chairman and vowed to forge ahead with elections next week.

2 killed in Iraq roadside bomb
BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb targeting a patrol near the Iranian border killed two Iraqi soldiers Monday and injured another four, police said, as 2007 neared its end with the country having witnessed a decline in overall violence.

Iraqi tribe calls on bin Laden to end attacks on civilians
Baghdad – An Iraqi US-backed tribal council on Sunday called on the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network Osama bin Laden to order a halt to attacks on Iraqi civilians, according to media reports.

Israel: No peace until militants stopped
JERUSALEM – Furious over the killing of two Israelis hiking in the West Bank, Israel’s prime minister said Sunday that no peace will come until Palestinians crack down on militants, a declaration that clouds a coming visit by President Bush.

Stranded Palestinians set fire to camps
EL-ARISH, Egypt – More than a thousand Palestinian pilgrims set fire on Monday to temporary camps set up by the Egyptian government to house them until a dispute over how they will return to the Gaza Strip is resolved.

Iran nuclear plant to start in summer 2008
Iran on Sunday insisted its first nuclear power station would be launched in the summer of 2008, despite the plant’s Russian constructors saying it will not go on line until the end of the year.

25 police, soldiers killed in Afghanistan: officials
KABUL (AFP) – Twenty-five policemen and soldiers have been killed across insurgency-hit Afghanistan in fresh — mainly Taliban-linked — violence, authorities said.

World outsources pregnancies to India
ANAND, India – Every night in this quiet western Indian city, 15 pregnant women prepare for sleep in the spacious house they share, ascending the stairs in a procession of ballooned bellies, to bedrooms that become a landscape of soft hills.

‘Aussie Taliban’ Hicks a free man, but in hiding
SYDNEY (AFP) – Former Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks was in hiding on Sunday following his release from an Australian prison amid reports the “Aussie Taliban” feared he would be targeted by extremists.

Third drug company says it faces Iraq ‘kickbacks’ probe
LONDON (AFP) – A third pharmaceutical giant said Sunday it is being investigated by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over alleged breaches of the United Nations oil-for-food programme in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

Pope’s exorcist squads will wage war on Satan
The Pope has ordered his bishops to set up exorcism squads to tackle the rise of Satanism. Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult. They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of “Godlessness.” Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession.

Protests in Kenya as leader re-elected
NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya’s opposition leader compared President Mwai Kibaki to a military dictator Monday amid protests and violent clashes over an election marred by allegations that Kibaki stole the vote. Several people were shot as heavily armed police tried to contain demonstrations in Nairobi’s slums.

U.S. Fears Greater Turmoil In Region
President Bush held an emergency meeting of his top foreign policy aides yesterday to discuss the deepening crisis in Pakistan, as administration officials and others explored whether Thursday’s assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto marks the beginning of a new Islamic extremist offensive that could spread beyond Pakistan and undermine the U.S. war effort in neighboring Afghanistan.

2007 deadliest for US troops in Iraq
BAGHDAD – The second half of 2007 saw violence drop dramatically in Iraq, but the progress came at a high price: The year was the deadliest for the U.S. military since the 2003 invasion, with 899 troops killed.

Tapes by C.I.A. Lived and Died to Save Image
[I]nterviews with two dozen current and former officials, most of whom would speak about the classified program only on the condition of anonymity, revealed new details about why the tapes were made and then eliminated. Their accounts show how political and legal considerations competed with intelligence concerns in the handling of the tapes… John C. Gannon, a former C.I.A. deputy director, say it was a tragic mistake for the administration to approve such methods… “To a spectator it would look like torture,” he said. “And torture is wrong.”

Voter ID law heads to Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – The dispute over Indiana’s voter identification law that is headed to the Supreme Court next week is as much a partisan political drama as a legal tussle.

PROJECTION FROM THE FEVER SWAMP…. (by Kevin Drum at Political Animal, The Washington Monthly)
Andrew Sullivan posted this email from a Republican reader today: “A party that is as motivated by revanchist impulse as today’s Democratic Party cannot bring itself to transcend its anger. That is why Hillary will survive the Obama insurgency…” Whatever else you think about the Clinton vs. Obama question, this is almost certainly wrong. Among the activist liberal base … support is way stronger for both Obama and John Edwards than for Hillary Clinton… Conversely, Hillary is the choice of much of the party leadership as well as much of the rank and file, including women, blue collar workers, and moderates who believe (fairly or not) that Obama simply isn’t experienced enough.

New Hampshire Race Tightens as Edwards Surges (Political Wire)
A new American Research Group poll in New Hampshire finds the Democratic presidential race tightening and the Republican race deadlocked. Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton leads with 31% followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 27% and John Edwards at 21%. The poll has a margin of error of 4 points. Key finding: Clinton has dropped 7 points in two weeks while Edwards has gained 6 points and Obama has gained 3 points.

Edwards surges, Huckabee’s bubble bursts
DES MOINES, Iowa — John Edwards has clawed his way into contention to win Iowa’s caucuses on Thursday in the first vote for the Democratic presidential nomination, gaining strength even as rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have lost ground, according to a new McClatchy-MSNBC poll. At the same time, Mitt Romney has regained the lead among Iowa Republicans as Mike Huckabee has lost momentum and support, even among the evangelical Christians who had propelled him into the top spot just weeks ago.

Edwards Pledges Ban on Lobbyists
WASHINGTON, Iowa – John Edwards vowed Saturday that corporate lobbyists would not be allowed to work in his administration, if elected.  “When I am president of the United States, no corporate lobbyists or anyone who has lobbied for a foreign government will work in my White House,” Mr. Edwards said, speaking at a public library.

Lobbyists on Obama’s ’08 payroll
Three political aides on Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) payroll were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations, including Wal-Mart, British Petroleum and Lockheed Martin, while they received payments from his campaign, according to public documents.  The presence of political operatives with long client lists on Obama’s campaign contrasts with his long-held stand of campaigning against the influence of special interests. Obama has even refused to accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees (PACs).

Free to choose — at a price? (by Paul Krugman)
I didn’t watch Russert — I almost never do — but apparently Barack Obama has just floated the idea of imposing some penalty on people who fail to sign up for health insurance. If he’s serious, and the penalty is sufficient to deter free riding, great. I don’t care what you call the measure that makes universal health care work, as long as it gets the job done.

Shake, Rattle and Roil the Grand Ol’ Coalition
[Mike Huckabee’s] success is setting off a debate in his party over whether his success marks the fading of the old Reaganite conservative coalition — social conservatives, antitax activists and advocates of a muscular defense — or, rather, offers a chance for its rejuvenation.

Cadre of Lobbyists Backs McCain
Known for campaign finance reform, presidential candidate finds himself courting wealthy donors.

Romney team approved Planned Parenthood loan (by Chris in Paris at AMERICAblog)
His liberal record went right up until his final days in office as governor. Despite what he has said since leaving office, he was always there, ready to help out to keep abortions safe and legal. His new claim is that he would have blocked it if he had the chance. Of course, Mitt. Of course you would have done that. If only the track record didn’t get in the way of facts.

Huckabee: ‘I Don’t Know’ If People Are ‘Born’ Gay, But It’s A ‘Choice’ To Act Gay (Think Progress)
On NBC’s Meet The Press this morning, host Tim Russert asked former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee if he believed “people are born gay or choose to be gay?” “I don’t know whether people are born that way,” responded Huckabee, “but one thing I know, that the behavior one practices is a choice.” Huckabee conceded that “people who are gay say that they’re born that way,” but added that he believed that “how we behave and how we carry out that behavior” is more important.
Click through to watch the video.

Huckabee Signed ‘USA Today’ Ad Backing Idea of Wife as ‘Servant’
WASHINGTON Mike Huckabee, a Republican relying on support from religious conservatives in Thursday’s hard-fought presidential caucuses, on Sunday stood by a decade-old comment in which he said, “I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ.”

Un-’FairTax’ (Washington Post [!] editorial)
FORMER ARKANSAS governor Mike Huckabee has proposed … what proponents call the “FairTax,” which they say will allow the government to dispense with the Internal Revenue Service… FairTax proponents assert that a 23 percent tax rate would generate sufficient revenue to replace the income, payroll, corporate and estate taxes. But that claim is based on a misleading computation that in turn is based on a series of improbable assumptions. The actual tax rate would have to be far higher to generate the same revenue that the government collects now.

Giuliani’s business fortune looks worse every day (by Chris in Paris at AMERICAblog)
It’s always sickened me that Giuliani has made so much money from poor cities around the world, charging outrageous consulting fees for what they already know. (Yes, this doesn’t say much about the leadership of those cities, but since when have they set the standard?) The Times has an interesting article today on his support for Purdue Pharma and their product OxyContin. Besides working for former cocaine smugglers and environment haters, Giuliani did very well for himself by helping a company that pleaded guilty to felony charges for misbranding a pharmaceutical product that is connected to abuse and hundreds of deaths. And this is what some consider moral leadership?

Thompson: Doesn’t like campaign process, ‘will not be devastated’ if he loses (On Politics, USA Today)
Bill Theobald of Gannett News Service has been following Republican Fred Thompson around Iowa. In a dispatch today from Burlington, Bill quotes the former Tennessee senator as saying he doesn’t like modern campaigning, isn’t that interested in running for president and “will not be devastated” if he doesn’t win.

Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid (by David Broder, The Washington Post)
New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a “government of national unity” to end the gridlock in Washington.

Changing our direction (by William S. Cohen and Sam Nunn, writing in the Boston Globe)
We need to focus on seminal issues that those who seek to be our leaders must address: How do we restore our government’s credibility and competence? How do we rebuild our physical and human capital so that we can face a dynamic world of change with confidence in our ability to compete? How do we promote energy security and reduce our vulnerabilities to the most unstable regions of the world? How do we operate in a complicated world where other nations will not always be “with or against us”? How do we restore America’s international leadership role… If as a nation we begin to ask, debate, and answer these questions and these challenges, we can renew our commitment to community, enable those we elect, and restore an exhilarating sense that, once again, we are all in this together.
See the Media section, below, for blogger reaction to this announcement.  It ain’t purty.

Futures suggest gains on last trading day
NEW YORK (Reuters) – S&P 500 stock index futures pointed to a higher opening on Monday, with stocks attempting to squeeze out some gains on the last trading day of 2007, but data on existing home sales could limit any advance.

Holiday Internet Sales Growth Slows as U.S. Consumers Hold Back Spending
Internet sales by U.S. retailers rose at the slowest pace on record as consumers grappled with $3-a-gallon gasoline and the worst housing slump in 16 years.

Fed Discount-Window Borrowing Rises to 6-Year High Amid Funding Pressures
Direct loans by the Federal Reserve to banks climbed to the highest since September 2001 as lenders turn to the central bank as a source of funding following a jump in borrowing costs.

Where the jobs are in 2008
These industries and companies hold out the best hope for job seekers next year.

And, where the jobs aren’t
Economists expect the labor market to slow in 2008. Here’s who’ll be hit hardest.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Bipartisan Zombies (by digby)
[Sunday] we [had] none other than the centrist drivel king, David Broder, reporting that a group of useless meddlers, most of whom who were last seen repeatedly stabbing Bill Clinton in the back, are rising from their crypts to demand that the candidates all promise to appoint a “unity” government and govern from the … center — or else they will back an independent Bloomberg bid… Isn’t it funny that these people were nowhere to be found when George W. Bush seized office under the most dubious terms in history, having been appointed by a partisan supreme court majority and losing the popular vote?…We can wish for conciliation all we want, but unless the Democrats can do it without any cooperation from the Republicans, it will be just another game of Charlie Brown and the football.

Your Daily Digby: Bipartisan Zombies (by John Amato at Crooks and Liars)
[See Digby’s comments above.] Matt Stoller has a great post up: Here’s Your Bipartisanship, America. As Chris Bowers and Matthew Yglesias among many others have pointed out, what this bipartisanship is really about is undermining the public’s ability to participate in policy-making.  Partisanship in other words would mean a progressive country responsive to the public, and bipartisanship means an authoritarian country where the public is cut out.
Click through for links.  Krugman weighs in below.

AWWMNUUBM (by Paul Krugman)
That’s Aging Wealthy White Men for National Unity Under Billionaire Media Moguls. I like it. Seriously, why does anyone think this makes sense? I read a lot of polls, and they suggest that the center of public opinion on the issues is, if anything, left of the center of the Democratic Party. This seems to be a solution in search of a problem.

The Great Divide (by Paul Krugman)
Yesterday The Times published a highly informative chart laying out the positions of the presidential candidates on major issues. It was, I’d argue, a useful reality check for those who believe that the next president can somehow usher in a new era of bipartisan cooperation. For what the chart made clear was the extent to which Democrats and Republicans live in separate moral and intellectual universes.
The chart is here, and it’s a very useful link to send to people who want to know how ALL the candidates stand on the most important issues.

Kenneth Starr: Open to the public (by Jim Newton, Los Angeles Times)
To meet Kenneth Starr is to question the anger of his most partisan critics and the ardor of his most ideological admirers. As few have forgotten, Starr’s pursuit of President Clinton endeared him to Clinton’s enemies but also made him, for some, a modern Inspector Javert… And yet, here Starr is, atop the law school at Pepperdine University, cheerfully imagining a culture of engaged and conscientious young lawyers, wistfully harking to a time when the nation was less divided and acrimonious.
Kenneth Starr wrote the book on divisiveness and acrimony, and now he’s worried about the situation he worked so diligently to create?  This man should never get a pass on what he did in pursuit of President Clinton.  Not ever.

Media Insiders Shaft Biden, Richardson, Dodd, Kucinich and America (by Brent Budowsky, writing at The Huffington Post)
Immediately after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the front page story in the Washington Post about Pakistan and the presidential campaign did not even mention Joe Biden, the only candidate who seriously distinguished himself on the Pakistan crisis… [T]he Washington Post editorial page, which has supported Bush on the Iraq war as Pravda supported Leonid Brezhnev, followed up with a lead editorial on candidates and Pakistan, [and] did not even acknowledge … Joe Biden. Here is why the major media, including the daily newspapers, has lost such credibility with the American people and in the case of insider print media, so many subscribers who moved their business to internet sites.

Don’t Cry For Me Iowa Caucus (by digby)
“I always thought the problem with Hillary was, her notion of government was, ‘I am Evita, I am the one who gives gifts to the little people and then they come and bring me flowers and they worship at me because I am the great Evita. And I give things to people. I give them universal health care; I give them an energy program. I give gifts to the little people.’”… If you guessed [the speaker to be] delusional gasbag Chris Matthews of the new “liberal MSNBC,” talking with his “liberal MSNBC” colleague Joe Scarborough, you’d be right. Thank goodness we have salt-o-the-earth, regular-Joe multimillionaire TV celebrities speaking out on behalf of us “little people” who resent elites thinking they’re better than us.

Noonan defines ‘reasonable’ (by Steve Benen at Crooks and Liars)
The WSJ’s Peggy Noonan [argued Saturday] that her top characteristic when evaluating presidential candidates is “reasonableness.”… Here’s her take on the former senator from North Carolina: “John Edwards is not reasonable. All the Democrats would raise taxes as president, but Mr. Edwards’s populism is the worst of both worlds, both intemperate and insincere. Also we can’t have a president who spent two minutes on YouTube staring in a mirror and poofing his hair. Really, we just can’t.”… Noonan’s looking for a candidate with a “prudent understanding of the world.” I’m looking for a columnist with the same attribute.

This Week: Edwards Scares The Punditocracy… (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
 …otherwise, why would they spend so much time trying so hard to dismiss him?… [A]s the discussion moved to the upcoming Iowa primary and whose message was resonating most, again, Edwards’ message of populism was brought up.   David Brooks immediately pulls a Noonan and discounts how “tough” Edwards can be, and George Will then subverts the whole definition of populism to pull as many conservative scare tactics as possible… Why does George & Co. feel the need to dismiss Edwards?  Could it be that in head-to-head match ups, Edwards is the candidate who fares the best?
Click through to watch the video.

Obama’s Health Care Ads Fail Scrutiny and Honesty Tests (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
Obama’s new health care commercial, running in Iowa, “misrepresents some newspaper assessments of the Illinois Democrat’s proposal,” reveals a careful analysis in the WaPo, “Incomplete Picture in New Obama Health Care Ad.”… Worse, Obama has resorted to robocalling with an ethically iffy, factually dishonest script.

Paul: Fox News is ’scared of me’
PLAISTOW, N.H. — Ron Paul said the decision to exclude him from a debate on Fox News Sunday the weekend before the New Hampshire Primary is proof that the network “is scared” of him. “They are scared of me and don’t want my message to get out, but it will,” Paul said in an interview at a diner here. “They are propagandists for this war and I challenge them on the notion that they are conservative.”
WorldNutDaily is reporting that the debate in question has been canceled, and in fact was canceled several weeks ago.

Correction: On Saturday, I posted a link to a Truthdig article, “Romney’s Firm to Buy Clear Channel”, quoting Lew Rockwell that Mitt Romney had just bought conservative media giant Clear Channel Communications.  The deal between Clear Channel and two private equity firms, one of which was founded by Romney, was actually announced in November of 2006.  Liberal Talk Radio has reported (scroll down) that Romney “cashed out” of the firm in 2001, but according to the Los Angeles Times on December 17, 2007, Romney “retains a profit share in Bain Capital until 2009, as well as investments in more than 30 Bain funds.”

Washington Post – Managed by slightly trained chimpanzees? (by Chris in Paris at AMERICAblog)
[The Washington Post wants us] to believe that Bush really cares about global warming. Moreover, he “bristles” when he hears that people like us think he doesn’t care… A legacy of trashing the environment for years and then talk of change at the end, but without any real change[?]… Bush wants to have it both ways and the friendly scribes from the Post comply… If Bush wants to work on his legacy, fine, that’s his business. There’s no need to confuse a real story with an image makeover by political consultants. That’s what this article is all about.

David Shuster smacks The Scar over his trying to pump “Bush’s foreign policy” as successful (by John Amato at Crooks and Liars)
The Scar says that Republicans are suddenly very pleased with George Bush’s performance as the Decider including his….cough…cough….foreign policy. David Shuster wouldn’t let him get off with painting a bright and shiny picture of the Bush Doctrine … “Joe, I don’t even know where to begin….If the US had taken care of business in Afghanistan along the Pakistan border, had taken care of al-Qaeda, had sent 150,000 troops there instead of to Iraq which had nothing to so with the al-Qaeda attacks on 9/11, then al-Qaeda and the Taliban, they wouldn’t have the influence, the destabilizing influence they have over Pakistan today.”
Click through to watch the video.

Sky Is Blue…Joe Klein Lies Again…News At 11 (by David Sirota at Campaign for America’s Future)
Joe Klein … lays another egg: “NAFTA has been a wash, creating as many jobs as have been lost.” According to government data, NAFTA has cost America at least 1 million jobs. This is not new information – but it still never ceases to amaze me that a high-paid journalist at any publication is allowed to simply lie without as much as a nod to the actual facts.

Kristol Clear: It’s Official –’NYT’ Explains Hiring New ‘Op-Ed’ Wag
A day after the Huffington Post first reported it, The New York Times has announced that it has indeed hired conservative pundit, and Fox News analyst, Bill Kristol, as a new regular op-ed columnist.

Kristol: The New York Times ‘Should Be Prosecuted,’ ‘It Isn’t A First-Rate Newspaper’ (Think Progress)
For years, Bill Kristol has been at the forefront of a vitriolic right-wing crusade against the New York Times. Sadly, the Times has chosen to reward him for it. After the New York Times in 2006 disclosed a secret Bush administration program to monitor international banking transactions, right-wing pundit Bill Kristol said this: “I think it is an open question whether the Times itself should be prosecuted for this totally gratuitous revealing of an ongoing secret classified program that is part of the war on terror.” [Fox News, 7/2/06]
Click through for more examples of Bill Kristol’s (former?) opinion of The New York Times.

Germans say “Nein” to television
MUNICH (Hollywood Reporter) – For the first time in recent memory, Germans spent less time in front of their TVs in 2007 than they did the year before, according to a new survey.

Internet opens elite college materials to all
Top universities have finally joined the world of online education. And mostly, they are giving it away.
Now we’ll see how all these free trade perfessers  feel about giving away their work for free.

Aspiring radio talkers take to the Web
Anyone with dreams of being a talk radio star can play host on their own show, right on the Web.

Radio’s Challenge: Counting the Young
The electronic audience measurement tool, the “people meter,” has so far produced odd results.

Study: Young Adults Heavy Library Users
NEW YORK (AP) – Young adults are the heaviest users of public libraries despite the ease with which they can access a wealth of information over the Internet from the comforts of their homes, according to a new study.

N. J. law restricts some sex offenders on Web
Convicted sex offenders who used the Internet to help them commit their crimes will be banned from using the Internet under a measure signed into law Thursday.

Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use
Despite more than 20,000 lawsuits filed against music fans in the years since they started finding free tunes online rather than buying CDs from record companies, the recording industry has utterly failed to halt the decline of the record album or the rise of digital music sharing… Now, in … legal documents in its federal case against Jeffrey Howell, a Scottsdale, Ariz., man who kept a collection of about 2,000 music recordings on his personal computer, the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

Music biz lawyers wary of labels’ new grab
NEW YORK (Billboard) – Like it or not, major record companies are expected to continue drafting their artist contracts so that labels share a piece of most — if not all — of the artists’ rights in all types of revenue streams, not just record sales, but also concert tickets and t-shirts.

Love, others may follow Radiohead’s no-label lead
DENVER (Billboard) – Rock band Radiohead’s decision to release its new album “In Rainbows” by itself — online, without a record label’s help and at any price the user chose — rocked the industry last fall.

Fledgling Web sites help indie musicians
NEW YORK (Billboard) – The next Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube: There are millions of dot-coms out there, all claiming to be the next bonanza.

Wikia search to launch Jan. 7
San Francisco – Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has set Jan. 7 as the launch date for an open-source search project that eventually hopes to challenge Google and other established players.

Mobile on mobile (by Jeff Jarvis)
Andy Carvin tweets that we can listen to his NPR report on mobile blogging from our phones. Just call: 202-683-7002. This is, indeed, where content and communication merge: We can listen to whatever we want whenever we want as if we’re just phoning up content. We can create and interact with content that way. Phone? What’s a phone?

What’s That Catchy Tune? A Song for Car Insurance Makes the Charts
“From Where You Are,” a song written for an Allstate commercial, is the first jingle in years to make the charts.

AOL to End Support for Netscape Browser
Once the dominant Web browser, AOL has discontinued development and active support for the Netscape browser.

Mapmaking For The Masses: User-generated Content Can Profoundly Impact Geographic Information Systems
ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2007) — Websites such as Wikimapia  and OpenStreetMap are empowering citizens to create a global patchwork of geographic information while Google Earth is encouraging individuals to develop appplications using their own data.

Wireless Hitches a Ride on the Subway
[M]etropolitan subway systems are joining forces with technology providers to come up with a reliable method for delivering wireless services to their customers. Boston commuters, for example, now have the ability to use cellular phones and other wireless devices as they travel through some of Boston’s busiest subway stations.

Baggage ban on batteries begins
WASHINGTON – To help reduce the risk of fires, air travelers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage beginning Jan. 1, the Transportation Department said Friday.

Healthy Monday: Resolutions, A Week At A Time
NEW YORK – Sobering fact: 63-percent of all New Years resolutions fail after two months. In an effort to dramatically improve upon the high number of failed New Year’s resolutions, the Healthy Monday initiative, an organization that dedicates Monday as a day to increasing health awareness and action, suggests a unique New Year’s idea to all Americans.

New Research Promises Personalized Dietary Guidelines
ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2007) — Better diets for fighting diabetes, obesity and heart disease may soon be only a finger-prick away. By analyzing the unique metabolic changes in an individual’s body, researchers hope to develop more personalized dietary guidelines for improving health, according to an article scheduled for the Dec. 10 issue of Chemical & Engineering News.

Overeating And Obesity Triggered By Lack Of One Gene
ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2007) — According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close to one-third of the population in the United States is obese and another third is overweight. Excessive weight gain is elicited by alterations in energy balance, the finely modulated equilibrium between caloric intake and expenditure. But what are the factors that determine how much food is consumed?

Which Intervention Would Do The Most To Improve The Health Of The Extreme Poor?
ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2007) — For PLoS Medicine’s special issue on poverty and health, the journal asked thirty commentators, including some of the world’s most respected global health experts, to name the one intervention that would improve the health of those living on less than $1 a day. The collected responses–from health researchers and activists, journalists, academics, and communities living in poverty–highlight effective, low tech, and remarkably cheap ways to make a profound difference to the lives of the poorest people on the planet.

First all-natural baking sweetener has 40% less calories than sugar
Natur Research Foods Inc., a Los Angeles-based natural sweetener company, Friday said it has developed and is now distributing the first all-natural sugar substitute for baking. Natur Baker’s Blend Natural Sweetener has 40 percent fewer calories than sugar, the company said, and has been tested as low-glycemic.

Toward A Rosetta Stone For Microbes’ Secret Language
ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2007) — Scientists are on the verge of decoding the special chemical language that bacteria use to “talk” to each other, British researchers report. That achievement could lead to new treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including so-called superbugs that infect more than 90,000 people in the United States each year, they note.

Breast Cancer Genes Pose Risks to Men, Too
Male relatives of breast-cancer patients might want to be tested
I have a male cousin who had breast cancer.

SKoreans claim to create cloned pigs through stem cells
SEOUL (AFP) – South Korean scientists said Thursday that they had developed a more efficient way to produce cloned pigs suitable for organ transplants for humans.

Smugglers Making Desert Research Risky
Across the southwestern U.S. border and in northern Mexico, scientists say their work is increasingly threatened by smugglers as tighter border security pushes trafficking into the areas where botanists, zoologists and geologists do their research.

Beer brewed long ago by Native Americans
Ancient Pueblo Indians brewed their own brand of corn beer, a new study suggests, contradicting claims that they remained dry until their first meeting with the Europeans.

Chance of Asteroid Hit on Mars Increases
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The chance of a football field-sized asteroid plowing into Mars next month has been increased to 4 percent, scientists said Friday after analyzing archival data. Though still a long shot, some researchers are hoping for a cosmic smash.

Jets Spiral in ‘Reverse Whirlpool’ from Star
Astronomers have observed for the first time a jet of matter spiraling outward from an infant star, as if a lengthy strand of curly pasta.

Stranger that fiction: parallel universes beguile science
PARIS (AFP) – Is the universe — correction: “our” universe — no more than a speck of cosmic dust amid an infinite number of parallel worlds?

“Green” Ball To Drop At Times Square
For its 100th anniversary, the iconic Times Square New Year’s Eve ball is being decked out in a new style; green. The old bulbs have been replaced with low-energy LEDs that promise maximum sparkle, and all with less wattage than a dozen toasters.

2007 a year of weather records in U.S.
WASHINGTON – When the calendar turned to 2007, the heat went on and the weather just got weirder. January was the warmest first month on record worldwide — 1.53 degrees above normal. It was the first time since record-keeping began in 1880 that the globe’s average temperature has been so far above the norm for any month of the year.

YEARENDER: US drought spans coast to coast; dancing for rain
Leesburg, Virginia – Surveying some of the 3,240 hectares he farms in a semi-rural area outside Washington, Chris Tranchitella looks out on empty fields that produced a harvest much lower than he had hoped.

Rain saves Atlanta from drought record
ATLANTA – This year was almost one for the record books, but then it rained. A lot.

IDC Serves Up Top 10 Storage Predictions for 2008
IT managers looking to boost storage efficiency will embrace online storage services and adopt solid-state disk drives to help fuel hardware consolidation strategies and green initiatives.

Cisco Green Plan Looks Beyond Routers
Cisco Systems wants to turn the enterprise data network into an electricity meter.

Chicken manure fuels German biogas plant
Berlin – A biogas plant fueled largely by chicken manure was launched at a poultry farm south of Berlin on Friday.

Solar energy ‘revolution’ brings green power closer
Thousands of mass-produced wafer-thin solar cells rolled off production line in California

Hypercar: The car that pays you to drive it
The car of the future is not only going to come standard with a hybrid powered engine; rather, the whole concept of a car from the ground up will be an entirely redeveloped mobility machine… It can actually pay you to drive the car, imagine receiving a check at the end of each month just for driving a smart vehicle. The performance is poised to match current automobiles through comparable saftety, amenities and affordability.

Colombian ethanol fuel programme has Indian roots
Bogota, Dec 30 – Colombia’s flourishing green fuel programme, which is set to become even greener, has Indian roots. Pune-based Praj Industries has outfitted all the five sugar mills that produce the country’s ethanol that is then blended with gasoline.

Biofuels, the Biggest Scam Going
Where is agriculture headed? Can we feed a growing population and meet the demand for biofuels in the Industrialized North? Supporters of biofuel agriculture, (grain and chemical companies, Wall St. investors, politicians and most University researchers) avoid mentioning the cost of inputs, the fossil fuels, the environmental damage, the physical toll on animals and humans, and the growing problem of hunger that will accompany the switch from food to energy crop production. They want us to believe the switch to energy crops will be so easy and so practical.

Greener Gadget Design Competition Opens
OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 31, 2007 — The promoters behind the upcoming Greener Gadgets Conference kicked off a design competition last week seeking innovations in greener electronics.

Conservationists sue gov’t for records
WASHINGTON – A conservation group sued the Interior Department on Thursday seeking documents about decisions on endangered species the group alleges were tainted by political pressure from a former high-ranking Interior official.

Unique Kenyan game park under human threat
KITENGELA, Kenya (Reuters) – A short distance from the slums and skyscrapers of Nairobi, Naanyu Ntirrisa pulls thorn bushes around her Maasai village to keep out marauding lions that have killed a cow and two sheep.

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Bush rejects defense bill by pocket veto
CRAWFORD, Texas – President Bush on Friday used a “pocket veto” to reject a sweeping defense bill because he dislikes a provision that would expose the Iraqi government to expensive lawsuits seeking damages from the Saddam Hussein era.

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What Now Cartoons

Militants, Bhutto aides allege cover-up
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – An Islamic militant group said Saturday it had no link to Benazir Bhutto’s killing and the opposition leader’s aides accused the government of a cover-up, disputing the official account of her death.

Pakistan government skips autopsy, shifts story on how Bhutto died
LARKANA, Pakistan — Violence and recriminations grew Friday over the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, as Pakistan’s government changed its account of how she died while her supporters charged that the government withheld personal protection she’d requested.
There’s only one reason to refuse to perform an autopsy on a person who was murdered.

Bhutto Buried as Government Orders Virtual Lockdown
As Benazir Bhutto was laid to rest on Friday, Pakistan’s government recast its version of events and announced that it had obtained an intelligence intercept pinning the attack on a militant leader linked to Al Qaeda.

Poland to boost Afghanistan troops in wake of Bhutto assassination
Poland will boost its forces in Afghanistan by 400 troops to a total of 1,600 after the assassination of Pakistan’s opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said Friday.

Bloody year in Iraq ends with hopes of growing calm
WASHINGTON — Two statistics sum up the last year in Iraq: 2007 will end as the deadliest for American troops since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, with more than 900 dead. At the same time, December — with just 16 hostile-fire deaths as of Friday — very likely will be the month with the second fewest American deaths of the war so far. Those numbers bookend a year in which violence against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians began a dramatic, breathtaking decline after years of steady increases.

IRAQ: Saddam Provided More Food Than the U.S.
BAQUBA, Dec 27 (IPS) – The Iraqi government announcement that monthly food rations will be cut by half has left many Iraqis asking how they can survive. The government also wants to reduce the number of people depending on the rationing system by five million by June 2008.

Israelis, Palestinians try for peace
JERUSALEM – In the afterglow of a high-profile peace conference, Israeli and Palestinian leaders will try in the coming year to resolve issues that have defied solutions for decades.

Priests brawl at Bethlehem birthplace of Jesus
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) – Seven people were injured on Thursday when Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests came to blows in a dispute over how to clean the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Turkey ready to stage new raids against PKK in northern Iraq
Turkey said Friday it would continue its military operations against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, after several attacks this month against members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Activists attack China ruling on Hong Kong democracy
HONG KONG (AFP) – China said Saturday it may allow Hong Kong’s leader to be directly elected within 10 years at the earliest, but activists seeking quicker democratic reform in the territory criticised the decision.

Australian Guantanamo convict released
David Hicks, an Australian who is the only person convicted on terrorism charges at a U.S. military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, walked free Saturday after more than six years behind bars. The 32-year-old was released from prison in his home town of Adelaide in southern Australia after completing a nine-month sentence struck under a plea deal that followed more than five years’ detention without a trial at Guantanamo.

Mexico to track migrations over border
MEXICO CITY – Mexico plans to use cards with electronic chips to better track the movements of Central Americans who regularly cross the southern border to work or visit.
[!]

Britain Drops ‘War on Terror’ Label
The words “war on terror” will no longer be used by the British government to describe attacks on the public, the country’s chief prosecutor said Dec. 27.

Kenya election foes neck-and-neck
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s presidential rivals were neck-and-neck on Saturday with nearly 90 percent of official results counted as accusations of rigging ignited ethnic violence across the east African nation.

Wrong-footed Bush forced to rethink policy on Pakistan
American plans for Musharraf-Bhutto coalition thrown into disarray

Bush OKs child health bill
CRAWFORD, Texas – President Bush on Saturday signed legislation that extends a popular children’s health insurance program after twice vetoing attempts to expand it.
So the previous vetoes were just for contrariness?  Or does this prove that if you send a popular measure back to Bush over and over and over again, he has to give in and sign it?

US military deaths in Iraq at 3,901
As of Friday, Dec. 28, 2007, at least 3,901 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,175 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers.

Navy JAG Resigns Over Torture Issue
“It was with sadness that I signed my name this grey morning to a letter resigning my commission in the U.S. Navy,” wrote Gig Harbor, Wash., resident and attorney-at-law Andrew Williams in a letter to The Peninsula Gateway last week. Williams’ resignation stems from the recent CIA videotape scandal in which tapes showing secret interrogations of two ‘Al Qaeda’ operatives were destroyed.

Federal Court Overturns Verdict Against Holy Land Foundation: Parents Must Show Link Between Fund-Raising and Terrorist Attack that Killed Son (by Jonathan Turley)
In an important ruling, the Seventh Circuit overturned a $156 million award against the Holy Land Foundation charity for their alleged involvement in the terrorist death of 17-year-old David Boim, an American teenager killed in the West Bank. The court found that the trial judge had failed to require the showing of a causal link between the charity and the attack.

Presidential candidates debate about Pakistan
DES MOINES, Iowa — The presidential campaign erupted Friday into a full-blown debate over how best to stabilize Pakistan as candidates vied in the few days before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses to show who was best prepared to lead the war on terror.

Huckabee Clueless After Bhutto’s Death, Says Pakistan Has ‘Eastern Borders’ With Afghanistan (Think Progress)
Forced to respond to the tragic assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has spent the last 24 hours constantly fumbling and apologizing for his cluelessness and incompetence on a key foreign policy issue.  This morning on MSNBC, Huckabee said that Musharraf was unable to control Pakistan’s “eastern borders” with Afghanistan.
Click through to watch the video.

Underplayed Story of the Day: Rudy Giuliani’s Two Americas (by Karen Tumulty at Swampland, Time.com)
In an interview with the Tampa Tribune editorial board, the presidential candidate who recently turned around his chartered jet to seek emergency medical treatment was asked why Republican candidates aren’t talking about health care, and he explained:  “’I suspect that our Democratic colleagues would get that question more often in a Democratic audience than we get in a Republican audience,’ he said. ‘Maybe more Democrats are concerned about their health care than Republicans, maybe because Republicans have health care or maybe Republicans generally like the idea of private solutions.’” That must be it.

Giuliani Campaign Official: Rudy Is The Only Candidate Who Can Chase “The Muslims”…”Back Into Their Caves” (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
Winning hearts and minds the world over… John Deady, Co-Chair for New Hampshire’s Veterans for Rudy: “…(Rudy Giuliani has) the knowledge and judgment to attack one of the most difficult problems in current history. And that is the rise of the Muslims. And make no mistake about it, this hasn’t happened for a thousand years. These people are very, very dedicated. They’re also very smart, in their own way. And we need to keep the feet to the fire and keep pressing these people ‘til we defeat them or chase them back to their caves, or in other words, get rid of them.”
Click through to watch the video.

Vermont Town Seeks Bush, Cheney Arrests for War Crimes
President Bush and Vice President Cheney may soon have a new reason to avoid Vermont: In one town, activists want them subject to arrest for war crimes. A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on the Town Meeting agenda in March that would make Bush – who’s been to every state except Vermont as president – and Vice President Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont town.

Lacking lawyers, justice is denied
In 1975, California enacted legislation capping malpractice payments after an outcry from doctors and insurers that oversized awards and skyrocketing insurance rates were driving physicians out of the state… Critics say [the law] is increasingly preventing victims and their families from getting their day in court, especially low-income workers, children and the elderly. Their reasoning: The cap on pain and suffering has never been raised nor tied to inflation. Meanwhile, the costs of putting on trials are often paid by attorneys and continue to rise each year.
I captured some of the arguments regarding malpractice caps at “Myths Debunked: Rising Cost of Medical Malpractice Insurance Is Due to High Jury Awards”.  The right wing has campaigned very successfully over the last 35-plus years to reduce regulation on the front end, to starve regulatory agencies so that they can’t enforce the few regulations that survive, and then to stop us from getting compensation when we’re harmed by that very lack of regulation and enforcement.  As Granny Bee would say, “They’re gittin’ us a-comin’ and they’re gittin’ us a-goin’”.

New Face of Lawsuit Abuse Looks A Lot Like the Old One (thanks to scarce at Crooks and Liars)
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is apparently gearing up for a new round of legislative fights over the nation’s civil justice system. The Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform has unveiled a slick new PR campaign to convince Americans that the little guy, and not, say, the enormous corporations that fund the campaign, is at risk of personal disaster at the hands of a greedy trial lawyer. Not surprisingly, the campaign is headlined by the now-famous Chungs, the owners of a D.C. dry cleaners sued for $54 million for losing a man’s pants. The Chamber raised more than $70,000 for the Chungs’ legal bills, and has turned them into the poster children that corporate America has been waiting years to find.
Doesn’t it mean something that it took them YEARS to find a little guy who was hurt by the system?

Economy & Finance

Bush tries to assure families on economy
CRAWFORD, Texas – President Bush tried Saturday to assure many families that he knows they are struggling to pay bills, even as he again defended the economy’s strength.
Sure, Americans, you’re just imagining that your cost of living is skyrocketing while your income is stagnating.  It’s all in your head.  Now, don’t you feel better?

Stocks end mixed after housing data
NEW YORK – Wall Street finished an erratic week narrowly mixed Friday after a government report of a steep decline in new home sales stirred concerns that weakness in housing will continue to dog the economy. The major indexes lost ground for the week.

Home sales plunge, feed recession fears
WASHINGTON – The housing market plunged deeper into despair last month, with sales of new homes plummeting to their lowest level in more than 12 years.

Home Price Plunge in 2008 May Prompt Bankruptcies, Barron Says
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) — Homebuilders including Beazer Homes USA Inc., Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. and TOUSA Inc. may face bankruptcy in 2008 as U.S. house prices drop to levels not seen since 2002, said Alex Barron, an analyst for Agency Trading Group. “It is our view that 2008 is probably going to be a very drastic year for the group,” Barron, a senior research analyst at the Wayzata, Minnesota-based brokerage, said in an interview on Bloomberg Radio. “We expect a number of builders are going to file bankruptcy or come close to that.”

Autos likely to see weak December
DETROIT – Industry analysts are predicting a lackluster end to an already dismal year for automakers, likely the worst in nearly a decade.

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Here’s a great independent ad for John Edwards:
Bridge to Nowhere (video)

What’s at Stake in Iowa (by E.J. Dionne, writing at Truthdig.com)
The Bhutto assassination came as a brutal reminder of the gravity of the decision Iowa’s voters will make Thursday. Its impact may be felt most powerfully by Democrats who have been thinking less about issues than about the candidates’ styles and leadership qualities.
Yes, well, if the voters WANT to think about issues other than styles and qualities, WHERE WILL THEY GO, E.J.?  To the Washington Post Style section?

Looking Down the Barrel of Caucus Day (by Jose Antonio Vargas at The Trail, The Washington Post)
OSCEOLA, Iowa–Early-rising and gut-toting Mike Huckabee literally fired the first round in this final stretch of campaigning here in Iowa, where the caucuses are eight days away. Around 9:30 a.m., before the rest of the candidates were set to spend the day crisscrossing the Hawkeye State, Huckabee took an hour and a half to hunt pheasant in Osceola, about an hour’s drive from Des Moines… In the first 30 minutes, Huckabee, Saltzman and a friend shot three birds. Their last shot flew over the heads of reporters, one of whom cried out: “Oh my God! Oh my God! Don’t shoot. This is traumatizing.”

Romney’s Firm to Buy Clear Channel
It’s a big week for big media:  First, Dow Jones & Co. officially approved Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of The Wall Street Journal, and now Lew Rockwell is reporting that Mitt Romney’s private equity firm is buying radio behemoth Clear Channel.

Bill Kristol to Become New York Times Columnist In 2008
The Huffington Post has learned that, in a move bound to create controversy, the New York Times is set to announce that Bill Kristol will become a weekly columnist in 2008.
He’ll join David Brooks and Tom Friedman as NY Times columnists who are always wrong.  See Crooks and Liars for a compendium of Kristol wrongness.

RE: Bush to Veto Pentagon Funds Over Iraq Provision
Is the PR campaign ready, to pound into Americans’ skulls that Bush is refusing to fund the troops in order to protect the assets of the corrupt current Iraqi government from the claims of Saddam Hussein’s victims?  If you don’t pounce, Democrats, the Republicans will claim, through all the channels of their giant media megaphone, that YOU are the ones refusing to fund the troops.

Military Paper Challenges Defense Dept.
WASHINGTON — Top editors at the military newspaper Stars and Stripes are asking for full disclosure of the paper’s relationship with a Department of Defense publicity program, called America Supports You, after disclosures that money for the program was funneled through the newspaper… “This is not how an editorially independent newspaper should conduct itself,” the executive editor … said in a Dec. 8 letter.
And I submit that a news gathering and reporting organization that depends solely on advertisements from corporate America cannot conduct itself with editorial independence, either.

Letterman Makes Deal With Writers
David Letterman has secured a deal with the striking Writers Guild of America that will allow him to resume his late-night show on CBS next Wednesday with his team of writers on board, executives of several late-night shows said today. Most of television’s late-night shows are scheduled to return to the air that night after being off for two months due to the strike, but it is likely that only Mr. Letterman, and the show that follows him on CBS hosted by Craig Ferguson, will be supported by material from writers. The reason is that Mr. Letterman’s company World Wide Pants, owns both those shows.

EXCLUSIVE: Attempt Fails To Restart WGA-AMPTP Talks; Outlook Very Grim (by Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily, thanks to dday at Hullabaloo)
[Hollywood] CEOs are deeply entrenched in their desire to punish the WGA for daring to defy them by striking and to bully the writers into submission on every issue, and that the moguls consider the writers are sadly misguided to believe they have any leverage left. I’m told the CEOs are determined to write off not just the rest of this TV season (including the Back 9 of scripted series), but also pilot season and the 2008/2009 schedule as well. Indeed, network orders for reality TV shows are pouring into the agencies right now. The studios and networks also are intent on changing the way they do TV development so they can stop spending hundreds of millions of dollars in order to see just a few new shows succeed. As for advertising, the CEOs seem determined to do away with the upfront business and instead make their money from the scatter market.

Writers threaten internet breakaway
Hollywood studio and TV network model about to be turned upside down by writers’ strike

Most Literate U.S. Cities: Minneapolis and Seattle
Residents of Minneapolis and Seattle are the most bookish and well-read, according to results from a new survey released today of the most literate American cities.

Digital Media Use Increases 50% for Consumers. Time for New Ad Strategy? (by Kristen Nicole at Mashable)
[O]ne goal for this survey is to provide useful data to advertisers, as they need to go where the consumers are. So when Deloitte & Touche asked their consumers what type of ads were most effective, an 85% majority found television ads to work best on their buying habits but Internet ads were second best. 65% of the surveyed consumers felt that Internet ads have the most impact, beating out magazine ads, at 63%.
A capability of internet ads that television at the moment has little of and print media will never have, is the relative immediacy of gratification.  You’re just a click away from more information and the ability to order the product.

A chance for non-wired journos to win $100 (and become wired)
Howard Owens is offering a $100 Amazon gift certificate to one journalist who does these ten things: learn to twitter, create a Google Map mashup, start using RSS, use social bookmarking, join a social networking site, watch YouTube videos, start text messaging, post digital camera photos, make three videos, and become a blogger.

Going Digital Native: Expanding Howard Owens’ Challenge (by Amy Gahran at Poynter Online)
A $100 Amazon gift certificate may not sound like much of a reward — but how about ensuring that you’ll be able to keep doing journalism that matters beyond the next few years? Even if mainstream news organizations as we have come to know them start collapsing en masse? Yeah, I’d say that matters a lot… Look at the statistics for how upcoming generations (read: markets) are using media — especially their strong preference for ongoing interactive conversations and updates rather than hierarchical, packaged-story-focused publications… Look also at the abysmal job most news orgs are doing at adapting their business models and staffs to get ahead of the next wave of media… Personally, I doubt that more than a handful of mainstream news outlets will survive beyond a skeletal presence 7-10 years hence.

Time Warner May End Reign As Largest Media Company
Jeffrey Bewkes, who takes over as chief executive officer of Time Warner Inc. next week, may be measured by how quickly he can dismantle the world’s largest media company.

Men Dominate Newsrooms, Says Survey
The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for equality and published the research, said the media was missing out on a “huge pool” of female talent.
Sadly, the same dominance exists in progressive media, too.

Pirates on the Open Airwaves
Grassroots voices are increasingly being denied legal access to radio space.

The Hill’s Pundits Blog

December 28, 2007

What Gore, Clinton and Democrats Can Learn from Benazir Bhutto

Brent Budowsky

Benazir Bhutto was no angel, but she was a believer in democracy who gave her life for her country, retuning to Pakistan knowing she would probably give her life for her country.

By contrast, Democrats in Washington have a life crisis, consult an army of pollsters, and have trouble taking clear leadership stands on war and peace because members of a Congress with record unpopularity might lose another point or two in the polls.

Our discredited politics in America has become a sad Kabuki dance of insiders congratulating and protecting each other, of pollsters and pundits uttering sweet nothings into the ears of politicians too fearful and self-indulgent to take even minimal risks for the higher values of our country.

Benazir Bhutto gives her life. Democrats in Washington cannot risk a point in the polls. Republicans in Washington cannot summon the courage to speak out against a president and war that many of them privately, silently, believe is a disaster for our country.

(more…)

U.S. Brokered Bhutto’s Return to Pakistan
For Benazir Bhutto, the decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October. The call culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy.
Has this administration done ANYTHING right?