Officers: Ex-CIA chief Tenet a ‘failed’ leader
(CNN) — In a letter written Saturday to former CIA Director George Tenet, six former CIA officers described their former boss as “the Alberto Gonzales of the intelligence community,” and called his book “an admission of failed leadership.” The writers said Tenet has “a moral obligation” to return the Medal of Freedom he received from President Bush. They also called on him to give more than half the royalties he gets from book, “At the Center of the Storm,” to U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq and families of the dead.

The Illustrated Daily Scribble

Suicide car bomb kills 4 in Baghdad
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber struck an Iraqi checkpoint in a predominantly Sunni area in the capital Monday, killing four people and wounding 10, police said.

Uneasy Alliance Is Taming One Insurgent Bastion
RAMADI, Iraq — Anbar Province, long the lawless heartland of the tenacious Sunni Arab resistance, is undergoing a surprising transformation. Violence is ebbing in many areas, shops and schools are reopening, police forces are growing and the insurgency appears to be in retreat… Many Sunni tribal leaders, once openly hostile to the American presence, have formed a united front with American and Iraqi government forces against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. With the tribal leaders’ encouragement, thousands of local residents have joined the police force.
If it’s true, it’s a vindication of those of us who have said negotiation is the way to promote peace.  But we’ve been lied to before.

Hamas leader threatens renewed violence
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The supreme leader of Hamas threatened violence if an international aid embargo isn’t lifted and demanded in an interview published Monday that Israel release top Palestinian leaders in return for a captured soldier.

To slow spread of radical Islam, Saudi Arabia woos detainees
Alarmed to find that detainees are emerging from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp and other U.S. detention centers more devoted than ever to radical Islam, Saudi Arabia is offering counseling, financial aid and even matchmaking to pull young militants away from terrorism.

One million Turks rally against government
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - As many as one million people rallied in a sea of red Turkish flags in Istanbul on Sunday, accusing the government of planning an Islamist state and demanding it withdraw its presidential candidate.

Iran to Attend Regional Talks on Iraq Violence
The stage is set for the first cabinet-level meeting between Iran and the U.S. since the end of 2004.

Coalition claims 136 Taliban deaths in Afghan battles
HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) - US-led coalition forces Monday said troops killed 136 Taliban fighters in several days of clashes in a remote Afghan valley, but angry locals insisted civilians were among the dead.

Report says Australian business benefits from helping Asia’s poor
SYDNEY (AFP) - A report commissioned by some of Australia’s leading companies argues there is a strong business case for private enterprise here to help alleviate poverty in the Asia-Pacific region.

Chavez offers guarantees of oil to allies at 50-percent discount
BARQUISIMETO, Venezuela (AFP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez late Saturday offered guarantees of cheap energy supplies to his leftist allies from Latin American and the Caribbean, saying his country was “putting its oil reserves at the service of Latin America.”

Rice will not comply with House subpoena
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made it clear Sunday that she does not plan to comply with a subpoena that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee authorized this week.

US Democrats raise prospect of Bush’s impeachment over Iraq
A top US congressional Democrat has raised the possibility of George W. Bush’s impeachment in a bid to force the president to accept a compromise that would place conditions on continued US military involvement in Iraq.  Representative John Murtha, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Defense and is close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, made the comment Sunday in response to repeated threats by the president to veto legislation that calls for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of next March.

Retired gen.: Bush should sign Iraq bill
President Bush should sign legislation starting the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq on Oct. 1, retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom said Saturday. “I hope the president seizes this moment for a basic change in course and signs the bill Congress has sent him,” Odom said, delivering the Democrats’ weekly radio address… The general accused Bush of squandering U.S. lives and helping Iran and al-Qaida when he invaded Iraq.

4 GIs Killed, 103 This Month In Iraq
The military says four more American soldiers have been killed in Iraq violence during the weekend, pushing the U.S. death toll for April over 100. Also, a U.S. government report warns Iraqis won’t be able to take over reconstruction any time soon. 

House panel invites former CIA chief to testify
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of a U.S. House of Representatives investigative committee on Friday invited former CIA Director George Tenet to testify about prewar claims that Iraq sought weapons of mass destruction.

Army chief wants to speed up troop hike
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii - The Army’s new chief of staff said Saturday he wants to accelerate by two years a plan to increase the nation’s active duty soldiers by 65,000.

Rebuilt Iraq Projects Found Crumbling
In a troubling sign for the American-financed rebuilding program in Iraq, inspectors for a federal oversight agency have found that in a sampling of eight projects that the United States had declared successes, seven were no longer operating as designed because of plumbing and electrical failures, lack of proper maintenance, apparent looting and expensive equipment that lay idle.

82 Inmates Cleared but Still Held at Guantanamo
LONDON — More than a fifth of the approximately 385 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been cleared for release but may have to wait months or years for their freedom because U.S. officials are finding it increasingly difficult to line up places to send them, according to Bush administration officials and defense lawyers.

Lawmakers seek probe of private contractors in Iraq
Four years after the invasion of Iraq, Congress still has been unable to grasp the scope of armed security contractors working in that country. This week, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri and Rep. David Price of North Carolina, both Democrats, asked the Government Accountability Office to provide details on the use of private security contractors in Iraq.

Allegations of wrongdoing plague Bush reading program
When the Kansas City public schools lost federal money for their new reading program, Robert Slavin was plenty distressed. Slavin, who’d designed the program used in Kansas City, had seen the pattern all too often: Local officials try to get government grants to help pay for his scripted Success for All reading program, only to realize that it’s fallen out of bureaucratic favor in Washington.

Students Heckle Gonzales at Harvard
A small group of student protesters, including one wearing a black hood and an orange jumpsuit, heckled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as he posed with old classmates Saturday during their 25-year Harvard Law School reunion.

Post-Katrina Foreign Aid Offers Went Unaccepted
Administration has used only fraction of allies’ pledged donations in hurricane aftermath, which has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $125B to date.

Breyer stresses civil liberties
WASHINGTON - Justice Stephen Breyer on Saturday stressed the role of the Supreme Court in protecting civil liberties in an age of terrorism.

Gore campaign team assembles in secret
Friends of Al Gore have secretly started assembling a campaign team in preparation for the former American vice-president to make a fresh bid for the White House… [A]ware that he may step into the wide open race for the White House, former strategists are sounding out a shadow team that could run his campaign at short notice. In approaching former campaign staff, including political strategists and communications officials, they are making clear they are not acting on formal instructions from Mr Gore, 59, but have not been asked to stop.

States expand children’s health coverage
WASHINGTON - Many states are making more children eligible for government-funded health insurance even as President Bush’s health chief says families are relying too much on public money for the coverage.

Perry’s al-Qaida comments cause stir
AUSTIN — With the Texas House poised to consider a border security bill and state budget writers deciding how much to spend, Gov. Rick Perry told a Pittsburgh newspaper some border-crossers with al-Qaida ties have been apprehended. “The information that we have is that there have been individuals who have crossed, and some that have been apprehended, that have ties back to the al-Qaida network,” Perry told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on a trip to the city to speak at a Boy Scout dinner.
Now governors are doing it.  Pretty soon mayors will start using 9/11 to political advantage.  Oh, right.  One has.

Militia raid targets weapons
Simultaneous raids carried out in four Alabama counties Thursday turned up truckloads of explosives and weapons, including 130 grenades, an improvised rocket launcher and 2,500 rounds of ammunition belonging to the small, but mightily armed, Alabama Free Militia. Six alleged members of the Free Militia also were arrested by federal authorities and are being held without bond.
Thanks to Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars.

Dow Sets Record; Wider Market Flat
NEW YORK - Stocks finished a strong week mostly flat Friday as investors tried to reconcile a weaker-than-expected estimate of first-quarter economic growth with fresh evidence that corporate profits remain robust. A modest advance in the Dow Jones industrials sent the blue chips to their third record close in as many days.

Dollar falls to record low against euro
The dollar fell to a record low against the euro on Friday after data revealed that the US economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the first quarter.

Dollar slumps and this time it’s different
The last time the U.S. dollar slid to a record low against the euro it quickly recovered, but this time may be different. 

Whole Foods promotes local buying
LAKEWOOD, Colo. - The 113-year-old Morning Fresh Dairy Farm didn’t even use barcodes on its bottles when a Whole Foods Market in Fort Collins, Colo. asked about offering the dairy’s all-natural milk.

Media

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

I Drew This

The Future of Media
1. Apple will polish low-budget content… 2. Local broadcast TV will come to the cell phone… 3. HD Radio will get real… Your radio will learn what you like to listen to and feed you that content. There will be content tied to positional information such as GPS systems and in-car navigation. There will be graphics, links to Web content and probably most important of all, coupons. Discounts will be fed on the fly to listeners as they approach, say, a McDonalds.

A genuine political sea change?
[In a comment from one of Glenn Greenwald’s readers:] I’m watching Moyers’ Journal, and Jon Stewart is the guest, with Josh Marshall from TPM to follow. It’s caused me to reflect on the fairly recent past, and I am getting an almost cellular sense that something very profound is beginning to bud… An undeniable intellectual and social confluence is rapidly gaining momentum and solidarity. This solidarity is amazingly organic, not hierarchical — its only guide is the sixth sense of skepticism, outrage, and, yes, reason. It transcends party. It is oceanic, atmospheric. An intellectual, moral, societal, and psychological gestalt as ancient as humanity itself, kept underfoot by a long winter, but indelibly germinating once again with the thaw.
Click through to read this entire post, which may give you some hope for a better and more sane future.

You can watch online Bill Moyers’ Jon Stewart interview and also that with Josh Marshall.  The video of the entire special, “Buying The War” is also available now.

Bill Moyers Rocks, But…
“…could he have interviewed at least one woman or person of color for his much-lauded documentary Buying the War that aired on PBS?” It’s hard to believe that Moyers and the other producers didn’t realize that they were talking only to white men for their nearly 90-minute documentary.

Michael Ware On The Surge
Michael Ware joined Anderson Cooper on Thursday night’s “AC 360″ to discuss the surge in Iraq.  Ware had just returned to the United States after being embedded with US forces in Iraq and was clearly disturbed by what he was hearing from General Patraeus and politicians, pointing out the vast differences between the “almost delusional nature of the debate that’s underway” in our country and the realities he witnessed on the ground.
Click the title to watch the video.

Senator Feingold Corrects John Roberts’ Misinformation
On April 15th CNN’s John Roberts falsely implied on “Late Edition” that the proposed Feingold-Reid bill would “cut off the funds in the middle of a war” for “troops in the field.” In response, Senator Feingold sent Roberts a letter  correcting the record and appeared on “American Morning” yesterday to confront him about his misleading characterization.
It is absolutely wonderful to see Democrats standing up for themselves.  Click through to watch the American Morning video.

Washington Post Scrapes Bottom Of Barrel To Find People Who Think War Isn’t “Lost”
The other day, an editor of The Washington Post’s outlook section sent out an email soliciting opinions from a variety of experts on the question of whether Harry Reid was right in saying that the Iraq War was “lost.” They promised to publish replies on the Op-ed page today. Well, the piece is now up, and guess what? The Post article publishes the names of only three people who answer the question with an outright “No.”

Might as well rename AP the Associated Pravda
Why does the media insist on repeating as truth whatever crap the Bush administration tells them? Yes, AP just published a story saying that military leaders now claim, magically, that the budget impasse over Iraq will hurt our troops right now… Too bad that we already know this to be a total lie. And too bad that AP reporter Lolita Baldor didn’t even bother putting in her story the fact that we already know DOD has enough money to last it a good several months.

Psycho-Babble on the Right: David Brooks and Twisting Science
David Brooks, Op-Ed columnist at the NEW YORK TIMES, persistently promotes the idea that not only the grand schemes but also the details of human behavior are derived from Darwinian natural selection… The politically conservative line of Brooks and others is that if you oppose these ideas you must be anti-biology, anti-evolution, and a Creationist. Well, I’m a professional neuroscientist, biophysicist, and psychologist, and I’m pro-biology, pro-evolutionary biology, and definitely not a Creationist — and I think these ideas of David Brooks and his crowd are dangerous poppycock and need to be argued against and countered with science and reason any time the public is exposed to them.

MSNBC Democratic debate coverage rife with sexist stereotypes
Sexist references abounded during MSNBC’s April 26 coverage of the first Democratic presidential candidates debate in the context of discussions about the only female candidate, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY). MSNBC host Chris Matthews focused obsessively on the appearances of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) wife, Michelle, to the point that NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell reminded him that they are Yale and Harvard-educated lawyers, respectively. MSNBC host Tucker Carlson asked a Clinton campaign spokesman whether Clinton had an “unfair advantage because of her sex.”

ABC offered no evidence in suggesting Democrats engaging in corrupt practices they denounced
In an April 25 ABC News report titled “Politics As Usual; Democrats Just Like the Republicans,” chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross reported that, although Democrats “criticiz[ed] the Republicans for turning Congress in to what [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] called an auction house for sale to the highest bidder” while in the minority, they are now “taking full advantage of the system that they called pay for play” in their fundraising from lobbyists and others. However, Pelosi’s statement did not declare that Democrats would not do any fundraising if they became the majority party, and Ross, while discussing several fundraising events, provided no evidence that any of those events involved legal or ethical wrongdoing. By contrast, three Republican congressmen — former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), Bob Ney (R-OH), and Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA) — have been indicted, and two — Ney and Cunningham — pleaded guilty to offenses during the 109th Congress.

All the President’s Press
It’s our country’s bitter fortune that while David Halberstam is gone, too many Joe Alsops still hold sway. Take the current dean of the Washington press corps, David Broder, who is leading the charge in ridiculing Harry Reid for saying the obvious — that “this war is lost” (as it is militarily, unless we stay in perpetuity and draft many more troops). In February, Mr. Broder handed down another gem of Beltway conventional wisdom, suggesting that “at the very moment the House of Representatives is repudiating his policy in Iraq, President Bush is poised for a political comeback.”

BBCer: US news orgs have lost the will to do investigations
Jack Anderson-style investigative reporting in the US is dying, says Greg Palast, an American doing investigations in London for the BBC. “One of the biggest disincentives to doing investigative journalism is that it jeopardizes future access to politicians and corporate elite,” he writes. “Expose the critters and the door is slammed. That’s not a price many American journalists are willing to pay.”

Zell hands Tribune staffers the chance to make a bundle
“But unless they find ways to solve problems that have confounded the industry for years they could easily be left holding the bag,” writes Michael Oneal. He says Tribune employees stand to reap returns of about 40% annually over the next 10 years, assuming that the company’s shares are valued at about 8 times cash flow by the end of that period.

Fast Search sides with newspapers in Web sales war
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Norwegian company that supplies search technology to business users is looking to help newspaper publishers make more money from online advertising without sharing it with big Internet services.

GE Shares Rally on Citigroup’s Push for Unit Spinoffs
April 27 (Bloomberg) — General Electric Co. shares staged their biggest rally in more than four months after Citigroup Inc. analysts said the company should spin off NBC Universal, GE Money and the real-estate division… Nicholas Heymann of Prudential Equity Group Inc. in New York said a company such as Google Inc. may be interested in buying NBC Universal as part of its effort to add to its mix of media offerings including YouTube.

Fox Looks to Update Ads Through TV Set-Top Boxes
News Corp. says it hopes to patent a technology that will allow for the digital insertion of ads and promos on Fox network and cable programs that people watch days later on a digital video recorder.. The technology would allow the network to update the ads. Jon Nesvig, president of sales for Fox Broadcasting, says the network is exploring a partnership with TiVo to use the new technology. Media buyers believe the idea could prove attractive to advertisers.

Yahoo to Buy Ad Company in Bid to Compete With Google
Yahoo plans to acquire Right Media, a privately held company that runs an advertising marketplace, in part to bolster its position as a seller and broker of ads.

Vonage: Away from the Edge, for Now
The Web-calling service provider can seek subscribers until its appeal hearing on the patent infringement case brought against it by Verizon

New toys read brain waves
Engineers at NeuroSky Inc. have big plans for brain wave-reading toys and video games. They say the simple Darth Vader game — a relatively crude biofeedback device cloaked in gimmicky garb — portends the coming of more sophisticated devices that could revolutionize the way people play.

Study: School Culture Affects Student Violence
Along with personality and peer relationships, a school’s culture also influences whether a child resolves an issue peacefully or goes off the deep end and resorts to violence, a new study finds… Though it’s no magic solution , the research could help ensure and direct intervention in middle schools where students need it most, the scientists say.

Memory loss caused by brain damage is reversible: study
PARIS (AFP) - Degenerative brain diseases, including Alzheimers, could one day be treated with drugs that can reverse distressing loss of memory, according to a study released Sunday.

Scar-free surgery procedures explored
It’s a startling concept and a little unpleasant to contemplate. But researchers are exploring new ways to do surgery using slender instruments through the body’s natural openings, avoiding cutting through the skin and muscle. Doctors say it holds the promise of providing a faster recovery with less pain and no visible scars. And in the brain, it can avoid a need for manipulating tissue that could disturb brain and eye function.

US snubs Russian request for joint moon exploration: space chief
MOSCOW (AFP) - The head of Russia’s space agency Sunday said the US has rebuffed an offer from Moscow to jointly explore the moon, while announcing a separate contract with NASA for nearly one billion dollars for the International Space Station.

Top scientists eye masterplan on climate change
The world’s leading climate change experts gathered in Bangkok on Monday to thrash out a masterplan on limiting the worst impacts of global warming, but amid deep divisions over how to go about it.

On the Road, Hope for a Zero-Pollution Car
Scientists and engineers are searching for ways to reduce the cost and improve the practicality of hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Indonesia’s Aceh, Papua Pledge To Protect Forests
Governors from three Indonesian provinces which are home to most of the country’s rainforests pledged on Thursday to conserve them as part of efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Indian project shows solar power affordable - U.N.
OSLO (Reuters) - A solar power project in India supplying electricity to 100,000 people will be widened to other developing nations after showing that clean energy can be cheaper than fossil fuels, a U.N. report said on Sunday.

Study Shows Australia To Exceed Kyoto Targets
Australia, already the world’s biggest polluter per capita and a Kyoto climate pact hold-out, will exceed its greenhouse gas targets within three years, an independent study said on Friday.

Gore blasts Canada’s greenhouse-gas plan
MONTREAL (AFP) - Environmental crusader and former US vice president Al Gore on Saturday accused the Canadian government of preparing a fraudulent emissions cutback plan, drawing a sharp response from Ottawa.

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Quote of the Day

It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.
 – Alfred Adler

Freeway Blogger

… in prior years, also due to Bush’s incompetence.
McClatchy Newspapers

Posted on Fri, Apr. 27, 2007

Annual terrorism report will show 29% rise in attacks

By Warren P. Strobel and Jonathan S. Landay
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - A State Department report on terrorism due out next week will show a nearly 30 percent increase in terrorist attacks worldwide in 2006 to more than 14,000, almost all of the boost due to growing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Friday.

The annual report’s release comes amid a bitter feud between the White House and Congress over funding for U.S. troops in Iraq and a deadline favored by Democrats to begin a U.S. troop withdrawal.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her top aides earlier this week had considered postponing or downplaying the release of this year’s edition of the terrorism report, officials in several agencies and on Capitol Hill said.

Ultimately, they decided to issue the report on or near the congressionally mandated deadline of Monday, the officials said…

… he’s not a dictator.
Agence France Presse

Bush to Democrats: do not ‘test my will’ on Iraq
28/04/2007 06h02

CAMP DAVID, United States (AFP) - Despite growing criticism of US policy in Iraq, President George W. Bush has warned Democrats not to “test my will” after he vetoes a bill withdrawing US troops from Iraq.

Bush invited Democrats and leaders of his Republican Party to discuss a way out of their standoff soon after he strikes down the bill, approved by Congress this week, which ties 124 billion dollars in war funds to a troop withdrawal that would start on October 1.

But he pledged to strike down any subsequent attempt by the Democratic-led Congress to set a deadline for a pullout.

“If the Congress wants to test my will as to whether or not I’ll accept the timetable for withdrawal, I won’t accept one,” he told a news conference at his retreat in Camp David, Maryland, Friday.

A little bit of theater goes a long way.
Think Progress, Center for American Progress

Bush to receive Iraq bill on ‘Mission Accomplished’ day.

CNN has confirmed that Congress’ Iraq withdrawal legislation will be delivered to President Bush on Tuesday, making it highly likely that Bush will veto the bill on the four year anniversary of his infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech:

DANA BASH: They now plan to send this bill to the White House on Tuesday. Not only that, they are considering, Democrats are considering holding a ceremony to send this bill off. The idea there: shining the spotlight one more time on Democrats before that veto, to make the case, just like they did today, that from Democrats’ perspective, the President is ignoring public opinion against his Iraq strategy.

April 27, 2007

All Hat No Cattle

Americablog

Surprise! Top US Commander in Iraq says things may get worse in Iraq before they get better
by John Aravosis (DC) · 4/26/2007 11:12:00 AM ET

You think? And how many years do we have to hear this? It’s been 4 years of things getting worse so that they could get better. They’re not getting better. Though it is interesting that our top military commander in Iraq just flat-out contradicted George Bush and John McCain’s assertions that things were getting better. Now we hear that they’re not getting better, and can’t get better until they get worse first. So which one is it, are they getting better or worse?

It’s Terri Schiavo all over again. We are having an ongoing debate about saving a patient who is already dead. It’s over. George Bush and the Republicans gambled and lost. It’s over. Iraq is lost. It ain’t pretty. It’s a blow to our national ego. But guess what? We have a president who is an idiot, and he just lost us a major war.

We’re screwed, folks. And the Democrats are the only politicians willing to tell the American public the truth. You want four more years of war? Keep listening to the Republicans.