Boston Globe

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) Movie Review

By Ty Burr

“The Lives of Others” portrays the only kind of love story that can exist in a police state: Paranoid, one-sided, voyeuristic. A movie of slowly accumulating tension and power, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s drama — a foreign language Oscar nominee, with a good shot at winning — is also a romance between two men, but not the way you think.

The fascination here is of the watcher for the watched: of an East German surveillance expert for the worldly playwright under his microscope…

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Signe Wilkinson

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Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire

July 27, 2007

Republican Support Collapses Among Youth

A new Democracy Corps/Greenberg Quinlan Rosner survey finds young people “profoundly alienated from the Republican party and its perceived values.”

Key finding: “Young people react with hostility to the Republicans on almost every measure and Republicans and younger voters disagree on almost every major issue of the day.”

In the presidential race, “both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lead Rudy Giuliani — the most acceptable of the Republican offerings among youth — by significant margins. The President’s standing is substantially worse, to the degree that is possible, than we find in the broader electorate. Moreover, the disconnect we see between the Republicans and our nation’s youth runs so deep, that it likely will not only outlive the Bush administration, but potentially haunt the Republicans for many years to come.”

The Hill

Anxious Republicans fear another beating

By Jim Snyder
July 27, 2007

Nine months after Republicans were routed in the midterm elections, campaign observers, K Street lobbyists and political experts say there is little evidence the party can rebound in 2008.

The same bad news — the president’s low approval ratings, opposition to the war in Iraq, and the lingering taint of congressional scandal, from the Jack Abramoff investigation to Sen. David Vitter’s (La.) involvement with the alleged “D.C. Madam” — leave observers skeptical that the GOP can dent Democratic majorities, let alone reclaim power in the next election.

“The only thing that has changed is that everything that was bad got worse,” said Bernadette Budde, political director of the Business Industry Political Action Committee. BIPAC supports business-friendly candidates of both parties, though most of the group’s donations go to Republicans.

If the election were held today, “We’d be lucky to hold our own,” one House Republican said…

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Think Progress, Center for American Progress

LaHood: 110th Congress has been successful.

Rep. Ray LaHood (R-IL), who has a reputation for sometimes “tell[ing] the truth, unvarnished,” offered his assessment of the new Congressional leadership:

They’ve had a pretty strong quarter… They can send their members home crowing about their accomplishments, and they’ve done it in a bipartisan way, which is exactly what they promised to do.

LaHood also announced he will not be seeking re-election.

 July 27, 2007

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The Radical Fringe

… Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News:
New York Post

THE LIBERAL EDGE

GOOD-BYE, ’9/11 EFFECT’?

JOHN PODHORETZ

July 27, 2007 — THE turn in the polls against the Republican Party appears to be stunning in its ferocity…

Everybody has a quick answer for this state of affairs: Iraq, or more precisely, the failure to secure a victory there. Democrats think the whole thing was a mistake or worse and that victory is impossible. Republicans are losing hope in the possibility of victory.

All of which raises the crucial competence issue, which now completely obliterates the decades-long Republican advantage when it comes to “leadership.”

But what if what we’re seeing is something larger – something more interesting and more threatening to conservative ideas of governance and GOP ideas of holding onto power?

What if, in fact, we’re seeing a restoration of a secular national trend toward liberalism – a preference among voters and the American populace more generally toward liberal solutions to national problems and to the Democratic Party as the repository for those solutions?…

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Washington Post

Hindu Groups Ask ’08 Hopefuls to Criticize Protest

By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 27, 2007; Page A04

U.S. Hindu organizations are urging presidential candidates to denounce the protesters who disrupted the Senate as the first-ever Hindu opening prayer was being delivered this month.

Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christan Renee Sugar — identified in the Christian media as a couple and their daughter — were removed from the Senate floor and arrested by Capitol Police on July 12 after they began shouting, “This is an abomination,” and asking for forgiveness from God.

The three, from Davidson, N.C., were arrested and charged with disrupting Congress, a misdemeanor…

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Posted on Thu, Jul. 26, 2007

Bush’s stand on insurance plan contradicts words of compassion

John J. DiIulio Jr.

[P]overty rates have risen in many cities. In 2005, Washington fiddled while New Orleans flooded, and the White House has vacillated in its support for the region’s recovery and rebuilding process. Most urban religious nonprofit organizations that provide social services in low-income communities still get no public support whatsoever…

Last week, Bush threatened to veto a bipartisan Senate plan that would add $35 billion over five years to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The decade-old program insures children in families that are not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid but are too poor to afford private insurance…

For compassion’s sake, the president should compromise on SCHIP – say, $5 billion a year more – and work to leave no child uninsured…

Chuck Baldwin Live

Corporate America: Freedom’s Greatest Threat
by Chuck Baldwin
July 27, 2007

Most of us who believe in the free enterprise system have been taught that business interests normally work to the betterment of America’s overall health, both commercially and politically. While there might have been a time when this was true, it is definitely not true today. Not only has Big Business become unfriendly to the principles of freedom, it has also become freedom’s greatest threat…

Corporate America has morphed into an international juggernaut that threatens our safety and security, as well as our liberty and independence in a way that foreign terrorists could only dream about. The American people need to start seeing these giant corporations for what they really are: freedom’s greatest threat.

Judge’s Opinion

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Vox (thanks to Economist’s View)

Gender equality legislation: will it work?

Manuel F. Bagues   Berta Esteve-Volart
27 July 2007

… Our findings suggest that replacing male decision-makers with female decision-makers will not increase the number of women in second-tier top positions.

One of the main difficulties for female professionals lies in balancing family and career…

In a recent Vox column, Juan José Dolado (2007) reminds us of the negative relationship between public subsidies to families and gaps in labour participation by gender, suggesting that countries where the government spends more on family support enjoy higher female labour participation. Spain is the second-to-last among European countries when it comes to such spending (subsidies are only lower in Greece). While increasing public expenditure (e.g. child care provision) might be more expensive than most measures that have been put forward in the Equality Law, it could prove more effective.

[If society determines that helping families raise their children is a public good, then we have every right to demand that our government provide that help.  Then we measure the results.  If what we’re doing isn’t working, we stop doing that and try something else.  Ideological blindness keeps even the discussion of such options from taking place. Someday, even businesses will recognize the long-term benefit these kinds of policies can provide. —Caro]

… for all decision making, on matters small to gigantic.
The New York Times

Disclosing Bias Doesn’t Cancel Its Effects

By M.P. DUNLEAVEY
Published: July 28, 2007

… We ordinary folks have to gauge, sometimes on the spot, whether a specialist’s opinion is worth the price, and whether that person stands to gain because you are not sure what they are talking about…

In a study published in 2005 in The Journal of Legal Studies, 147 subjects were asked to assume either the role of an adviser or of someone depending on advice. The researchers set up two experimental conditions. In both, there was a conflict of interest: the advisers stood to gain financially if the clients followed their biased advice.

In the first condition, in which the advisers did not disclose their conflict of interest, they knowingly gave misleading advice. In the experiment, the clients lost money because they followed the advisers’ suggestions.

In the second condition, the advisers disclosed their conflict of interest: they conceded they would benefit if the clients heeded the advice. But coming clean didn’t have the expected result. Although the clients, now aware that their advisers were biased, were more skeptical about taking the advice, “they didn’t discount it enough,” said George Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and a co-author of the study, which was conducted at the university.

And the advisers, still determined to make more money, exaggerated their claims. “The advisers ended up making even more money than in the first condition, which is exactly the opposite of what you would hope for or expect,” he said…

Asking for a second opinion or requesting more information seems to get more difficult the more you have at stake, which is all the more reason to ignore your first instinct to submit to the other person’s wisdom and to make “trust but verify” your motto. ..

[Except for the trust part.—Caro]

Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Frederick of Hollywood and the Tiny Silicone Penis
[From "The Wimp Factor" by Stephen J Doucat:] “By far the most compelling confirmation of the phallic meaning of the president’s aircraft-carrier cakewalk was found on the hot-selling ‘George W. Bush Top Gun action figure’… The studly twelve-inch flyboy not only comes with a helmet and visor, goggles and oxygen mask, but underneath his flight suit is a full ‘basket’ — a genuine fake penis, apparently constructed with lifelike silicone.”

Why McCain’s Collapse Matters
His campaign’s sorry state isn’t just a setback for the candidate. It’s a sign that the country won’t listen to a military man running for president—at a time when it matters most.
Sorry, Michael Hirsh, you’re wrong.  McCain’s collapse is about Americans not wanting to listen to THIS military man.

Was Tillman Murdered? AP Gets New Documents
Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman’s forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player’s death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Russert’s Son on MSNBC: ‘Starbucks Are Legalized Opium Dens, and I Agree With That’
Nepotism alert! Tim Russert’s college-age son Luke – yes, the youngster with the XM satellite radio sports show with James Carville – was sitting in as one of the wise-cracking sidekicks on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday, and Joe Scarborough was mocking him and his “New Age parents” for drinking green tea from Starbucks.

Lowe’s pulls advertising from O’Reilly show
A reader emailed Lowes about their ads on O’Reilly’s show. They got this response: “… Lowe’s constantly reviews advertising buys to make certain they are consistent with its policy guidelines.  The O’Reilly Factor does not meet Lowe’s advertising guidelines, and the company’s advertising will no longer appear during the program.”

Home Depot wants you to shut up
Here is the letter Home Depot is sending its customers: “… Unfortunately campaigns like this one cause us to take time away from our sustainability goals and address a variance of political views.” Get it? If you complain about Home Depot sponsoring Bill O’Reilly’s hate, then YOU are hurting the environment because you’re wasting their precious time. Somebody in corporate communications is going to get fired.

Novak’s heaven: A ‘place where there are no blogs.’
“I’m 76 years old, and pretty soon I’m going to a place where there are no blogs,” said conservative pundit Robert Novak at an American Spectator breakfast on Thursday morning. Speaking of the land beyond, Novak added, “All presidents look better after they’re dead, and George W. Bush can count on that.”

Graphic on Limbaugh’s website identified bin Laden as a Democrat
A graphic on the front page of radio host Rush Limbaugh’s website depicted a screen shot of C-SPAN’s Washington Journal doctored to show Osama bin Laden appearing as a guest identified as “Mr. Osama bin Laden, D-Afghanistan.”

White House runs conference call on executive privilege for right-wing bloggers
“The White House hosted a blogger conference call to discuss the issues surrounding the Bush administration’s use of executive privilege in the probe of the firings of eight federal prosecutors,” wrote Ed Morrissey, who produces the blog Captains Quarters. “The White House arranged the call based on a recommendation by this blog, in order to familiarize the blogosphere with the legal and political arguments on which the administration will rely to prevail in the upcoming fight regarding the contempt citations Congress seems likely to approve.”

PR Watch: Hamas’ marketing campaign for Gaza: ‘Safe, clean and green’
One month after seizing the Gaza Strip in a military rout that shattered brittle Palestinian unity, Hamas is embarking on a radical marketing campaign to promote what it calls “the new face of Gaza.” They call it the “Gaza Riviera.”

Wash. Times report contradicted by another Wash. Times article
A July 27 Washington Times article on President Bush’s speech in Philadelphia the day before  … falsely reported that “the Senate has yet to pass one of the annual 12 spending bills.” In fact, as The Washington Times itself reported in a separate article published in the same day’s edition, the Senate passed the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for 2008 at 10:49 p.m. ET on July 26. That bill is one of the 12 annual spending bills for fiscal year 2008.

The Birchers
The blogosphere seems astounded that Glenn Beck fluffed a John Bircher. In fact, it really should surpise no one. There is no ideological difference of any importance between modern conservatives and the John Birch Society

Hardball: Watergate Redux
When you have Tony Snow spinning wild accusations against Democrats to distract from the news that Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee has requested a Special Prosecutor to look into Alberto Gonzales’s conflicting testimony before Congress, who else better to have on than a former Reagan official?

Kathyrn Jean Lopez: Gay Sex Is Like Bestiality
National Review’s Kathryn Jean Lopez has a Rick Santorum moment and says the reason a bestiality case happened in Massachusetts is because of gay marriage. Conservatism and bigotry, their status as synonyms just hasn’t been officially recognized yet. By the way, Lopez is Mitt Romney’s biggest supporter at National Review, any surprise?

UPDATE: More Surprises in DowJones/Murdoch Saga
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Denver outpost of the Bancroft family, Dow Jones & Co.’s controlling shareholder, “is to vote against accepting News Corp.’s $60 a share offer, putting pressure on News Corp. to raise its offer, according to a person familiar with the situation.” But another voter has switched sides.

Publisher Murdoch’s U.S. Track Record
His bold bid for the Wall Street Journal has focused attention on Rupert Murdoch’s stewardship of the New York Post. But starting back in the early 70’s the global media magnate began investing in a series of American newspapers. How did those publications do? Here’s a scorecard.

Preemptive Strike on GDP Report: More Evidence of Productivity Slowdown
The big story with [Friday]‘s GDP report is with the revisions to prior year’s data. GDP growth for both 2005 and 2006 was revised down slightly… The other noteworthy revision is a large downward revision to proifts for 2006… This means that the redistribution from wages to profits was not the main cause of wage stagnation for most workers in recent years, rather the cause was the redistribution from lower and middle income workers to those at the top, fund managers, CEOs, and doctors and lawyers.

Americans’ Budget Priorities
[T]he domestic spending increases that Bush is proposing to veto are in precisely those areas—education, alternative energy, job training, medical research, and veterans’ benefits—where the public would most like to see spending increases… Indeed, it’s uncanny how Bush’s veto will hit each and every one of the public’s top areas for increased spending.

Resource:  White House for Sale
This Web site allows you to follow the money trail of campaign bundlers – or people who funnel money to campaigns – as they collect thousands, and sometimes even millions, of dollars from other people for the 2008 presidential candidates.

Video Game Matches to Be Televised on CBS
CBS, the august home of the Masters and March Madness, will become the first broadcast network in the United States to cover a video game tournament as a sporting event.

Fortune will interview you for the bargain price of $3,995
It usually costs $6,995 to be a guest on “FORTUNE In-Flight Radio.” Steven D. Levitt calls this “another great example of how blurry the lines have become between reporting and advertising.” He was invited to pay to be interviewed, but says “the only way you are going to hear my voice on an American Airlines flight … is if you and I happen to be on the same flight, and you are sitting in the row in front of me, and I apologize for the fact that my kids have been kicking the back of your seat for the last three hours straight.”

For YouTube, a System to Halt Copyright-Infringing Videos
New technology would allow owners of videos to provide a digital fingerprint to automatically remove any video that infringes copyrights.

The Hill’s Pundits Blog

July 27, 2007

Neoconservatism Is Dead

Brent Budowsky

Charles Krauthammer, not content with having been proven deadly wrong in his worldview of many years, learning nothing from the bloody disasters of the policies he so aggressively promoted, now attacks Barack Obama for suggesting America should talk with enemies as well as friends.

Our first and last neoconservative president, George W. Bush, is the lead witness for the prosecution in the case whose verdict is the death of neoconservatism.

Never has any philosophy been proven so wrong, so fatal, so disastrous for our country and so deadly for our troops as the views expounded by neoconservative theoreticians.

Their ascent to power meant tragedy, failure and death. Their arrogance and their imperial grandeur has alienated what Jefferson called the decent opinion of mankind. Their tactics have been pursued with contempt for alternate views, corruption of our democratic system, and condescension toward those who know far more about military affairs than they do.

In fact, one of the great specialties of the neoconservative movement is that so many who so ostentatiously failed to serve in the military, when their time came, so sneeringly question the patriotism of others, including those awarded medals for valor in combat…

Neoconservatives champion the politics of fear, desperately seeking to frighten the people to justify their attacks on freedoms guaranteed by statute and constitution.

Neoconservatives embody the politics of profiteering, masterminding and organizing the most corrupt occupation in world history, staffed by ideological partisans, rewarding their campaign contributors, mismanaging tens of billions of lost and stolen dollars, under the imperial arrogance of a proconsul awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom.

Neoconservatives know better than generals with their contempt for the Geneva Convention and their actions that civilized people call torture…

While they cover up their dirty laundry, and plan their next wars, and hire their criminal attorneys, and lobby for their pardons, the clock is ticking, the day is coming, when a grateful nation will celebrate their removal from the high councils of government, once and for all.

Neoconservatism is dumb, discredited and dead.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and to Bill Alexander, then-chief deputy whip of the House. He is a contributing editor to Fighting Dems News Service. He can be read on The Hill’s Pundits Blog and reached at brentbbi@webtv.net.

[Click the title, above, to read more and to post a comment that may be read by your congressman and senators!—Caro]

Call Out the Cops–It’s Time to Reopen the Capitol Jail
The Capitol Visitor Center is regularly in the news for its dizzying cost overruns, driven in major part by all the alterations in plans made by both Members of Congress and the Architect of the Capitol. I am afraid we need one more change in those plans: the addition of a new and spacious Capitol jail to house those arrested by the Capitol Police for showing contempt of Congress.

The Heretik

Iraq: Troops clash with Shiite militia
BAGHDAD – Shiite militiamen battled with U.S. and Iraqi troops Friday in the holy city of Karbala, and the fighting left nine people dead and nearly two dozen wounded, local officials said.

The United States Finds Few Non-Iraqis Among Insurgents
As President Bush continues to stress al Qaeda as the chief threat to Iraq’s stability–a reprised effort to establish a link between al Qaeda in Iraq and the 9/11 attackers–U.S. military forces on the ground in Iraq are fighting a complex war in regions with vast networks of overlapping loyalties–and few foreign fighters. Most members of al Qaeda in Iraq, say commanders on the ground, are local Iraqi outcasts.

Olmert ally: Pull out of West Bank
JERUSALEM – A key ally of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Friday that Israel should withdraw from most of the West Bank in a deal with the Palestinians.

Pakistan test fires nuclear-capable missile
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) — Pakistan successfully tested on Thursday a cruise missile capable of carrying a variety of warheads, including nuclear, the military said.

Pakistan Islamists retake mosque, paint walls red
ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Islamists occupied Pakistan’s Red Mosque and began repainting its walls in their original colour after it reopened following this month’s bloody army raid, an AFP reporter and police said.

Court: Russia to pay Chechens
BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Court of Human Rights ordered the Russian government to pay damages of $196,000 to the family members of 11 Chechen civilians killed by Russian soldiers in 2000.

Nepal starts work on ‘truth and reconciliation’ rights panel
KATHMANDU (AFP) – Nepal has started work on a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation committee, a key part of a peace deal that ended an often brutal 10-year civil war, an official was quoted as saying Friday.

UK terror charges dropped against doctor
BRISBANE, Australia – An Indian doctor was freed from custody after Australia’s chief prosecutor said Friday that a charge linking him to failed terrorist bombings in Britain was a mistake.

Sarkozy Says Trust Arab States with Nuclear Power
After agreeing to nuclear cooperation with Libya, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the West should trust Arab states to develop such technology for peaceful purposes or risk a war of civilisations.

As U.S. Army closes bases, Germans bid sad farewell
BUEDINGEN, Germany — Sixty-two years after they arrived in this medieval village — and 17 years after it ceased to be the front line in the Cold War — U.S. troops are leaving and preparing to hand their base back to the town.

De Klerk denies apartheid crimes
CAPE TOWN, South Africa – F.W. De Klerk, South Africa’s last white president and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, insisted Thursday that he knew nothing about any atrocities committed during his leadership.

Blasts kill 5 in Somali capital
MOGADISHU, Somalia – Two separate explosions killed at least five civilians in the Somali capital, where the government is struggling to contain a lethal insurgency, witnesses said Friday.

Eritrea sending missiles, arms to Somalia, U.N. says
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Hugh quantities of arms are reaching Islamic insurgents in Somalia such as surface-to-air missiles from Eritrea, according to a U.N. monitoring group on consistent violations of an arms embargo.

No development, no peace
[T]he new United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) report Sudan: Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment … is much more. It is a vivid study of how the natural environment, poverty, and population growth can interact to provoke terrible human-made disasters like the violence in Darfur.

Mueller Contradicts Gonzales Testimony, Confirms NSA Program Was Subject Of Hospital Visit
Speaking with the House Judiciary Committee today, FBI director Robert S. Mueller contradicted Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ sworn Senate testimony from Tuesday, confirming that the “terrorist surveillance program” run by the National Security Agency (NSA) was the subject of discussion during Gonzales’ controversial visit to former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s hospital bed. Gonzales had testified that it was about “other intelligence activities”.
Click through to watch the video.

Democrats subpoena Rove, seek perjury investigation of Gonzales
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats escalated their investigations of the Justice Department on Thursday, subpoenaing President Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, and seeking the appointment of a special counsel to consider whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has committed perjury.

Chairman Waxman Asks About the White House Counsel’s Knowledge of Potential Presidential Records Act Violations
In two separate letters, Chairman Waxman asks when the White House Counsel’s office learned about White House officials’ use of nongovernmental e-mail accounts for official purposes, and what steps, if any, it took to preserve these records and prevent violations of the Presidential Records Act. A staff report issued by the committee’s majority staff in June found that the White House Counsel’s office under Alberto Gonzales may have known about officials’ use of these accounts as early as 2001 and done nothing to prevent continued use of the accounts for official business.

Intelligence Official Contradicts Bush: ‘Primary’ Terrorist Threat Is From ‘South Asia,’ Not Iraq
On Tuesday, President Bush delivered an address claiming that al Qaeda in Iraq is the central terror threat to the United States… Top U.S. intelligence officials testifying before the House yesterday explained that Bush’s monolithic conception of al Qaeda does not represent their views. As NPR reported, “none of the officials testifying would put it quite the way President Bush has.” In rare testimony, Edward Gistaro, “a principal author” of the recent National Intelligence Estimate, said the “primary concern” today comes from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Gates expresses regret for aide’s attack on Clinton.
In a new letter to Sen. Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates apologizes for Under Secretary of Defense Eric Edelman’s recent attacks on her. He writes, “I emphatically assure you that [the Defense Department does] not claim, suggest, or otherwise believe that congressional oversight emboldens our enemies, nor do we question anyone’s motives in this regard.”

There’s no vacation for our troops in Iraq
We’re hard upon the dog days of August. Members of the U.S. Congress and the Iraqi parliament will soon slither away to the shade of cooler rocks, and President Bush will no doubt head off to Crawford to take his frustrations out on some brush with a chainsaw. Meanwhile, in Iraq, the 60,000 American combat troops who daily patrol the most dangerous streets and roads in the world will carry on fighting, dying and bleeding in the broiling sun where temperatures nudge the 130-degree mark and 40 pounds of body armor and Kevlar helmet plus weapon and ammunition weigh more with every step an Infantryman takes.

House Passes Lee Bill to Ban Permanent Bases in Iraq
WASHINGTON – JULY 25 – – Today, by a vote of 399-24, the House passed legislation introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) to prevent permanent military bases in Iraq and bar U.S. control over Iraqi oil resources.

New Details on Tillman’s Death
Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman’s forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player’s death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Federal audit rips Iraqi reconstruction work
A new federal audit released Wednesday, however, found that a big chunk of Bechtel’s reconstruction work for USAID, the federal agency that issued the contract, was never achieved… Auditors checked the 24 jobs Bechtel was supposed to complete.

Slave labor used to contruct U.S. Embassy In Baghdad.
During testimony before the House Oversight Committee today, Rory Mayberry, a former subcontract employee of the firm responsible for the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said he believes that at least 52 Filipino nationals had been kidnapped to work on the embassy project.
Click through to watch the video.

Former Judiciary Chair Calls For Probe into Roberts, Alito
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), who chaired the committee hearings on Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, said yesterday that he intends to investigate whether the Court’s newest Justices “lived up” to their promises during those hearings to respect stare decisis.
They lied.  They said they wouldn’t overturn precedent, and they’ve done almost nothing BUT that.

House panel OKs expanding insurance program to cover wind damage
WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee voted Thursday to make a dramatic change in federal disaster insurance by expanding the national flood insurance program to cover wind damage. The 38-29 vote, largely along party lines, was spurred by a pledge that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., made after Hurricane Katrina to the coastal communities of Mississippi and Louisiana.
Just as with health insurance,  soon we’ll be able to leave the insurance companies out of this kind of coverage altogether.  They don’t want to insure.  They just want to collect premiums and not pay out.

Democrats Push Parcel of Bills That Could Split Republicans
House and Senate negotiators reached accord yesterday on legislation to implement most of the recommendations of the bipartisan commission that studied the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The deal could be enacted as early as this week. Agreement on a package of lobbying and ethics rules changes should be done by early next week. And congressional leaders hope to pass a significant expansion of the 10-year-old program to provide health insurance for children of the working poor.

GOP senators offer plan for universal health care
WASHINGTON — A group of conservative Republican senators put forth a plan Thursday [to encourage] families to find their own health coverage and offers refundable tax credits of up to $5,400 per family. But advocates for the uninsured say the proposal could jeopardize low-income families and chronically ill patients, as well as the employment-based health-care system, which now covers 65 percent of Americans.

Experts urge candidates to focus on chronic-disease prevention
WASHINGTON — While calls for universal health care are beginning to be heard in the 2008 presidential campaign, some prominent medical experts and their supporters are trying to focus attention on what they say is the real source of runaway health spending — chronic diseases.

Alaska Senator to sell back riverfront property
Murkowski, R-Alaska, announced the giveback a day after a Washington watchdog group filed a 15-page Senate ethics complaint against her, alleging that Anchorage businessman Bob Penney sold the property well below market value. The transaction amounted to an illegal gift worth between $70,000 and $170,000, depending on how the property was valued, according to the complaint by the National Legal and Policy Center.

Conservatives call for Bush to emphasize ‘leaving Iraq’
Some conservative activist leaders, fearing voter anger with the Iraq war, want President Bush and GOP leaders to begin emphasizing that U.S. troops will be “leaving Iraq” to give Republicans cover as they head into a tough political landscape in 2008… Some conservative activist leaders, fearing voter anger with the Iraq war, want President Bush and GOP leaders to begin emphasizing that U.S. troops will be “leaving Iraq” to give Republicans cover as they head into a tough political landscape in 2008.
Notice that they’re not asking Bush to do the right thing.  They’re asking him to do the political thing.

Scandal-plagued Vitter to ‘rebrand’ conservatives.
Speaking at a policy lunch on Tuesday, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who recently admitted to frequenting a prostitution service run by the “DC Madam,” told his colleagues that Senate conservatives should “rebrand” themselves “by reclaiming the fiscal conservative mantle.” According to The Hill, “This time, his colleagues held the applause.” 

But Don’t Ask Him on YouTube…
Four days after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C,. more than 400 questions directed to the GOP presidential field have been uploaded on YouTube — targeted at Republicans scheduled to get their turn at videopopulism on Sept. 17. But so far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) have agreed to participate in the debate, co-hosted by Republican Party of Florida in St. Petersburg.

Edwards tax plan: Tax breaks and savings help for low-income workers, higher taxes for the wealthy
Democrat John Edwards today unveiled a plan he said would “rewrite our tax code to make sure it is fair and that hard-working families can succeed.”

Focus Group Says Edwards Won Debate
Of the 12 focus group members, four thought Edwards won the debate, three thought Obama prevailed and two picked Clinton. In particular, the focus group thought Edwards was the most “genuine” of the candidates.

Citizens group launches website to identify “bundlers” who collect money for candidates
Public Citizen today launched a new website that identifies “bundlers” for the 18 presidential candidates, USA TODAY’s Martha Moore reports. Bundlers are people who use their personal or professional connections to collect money for a candidate. Now many of their names are posted at White House for Sale.

New study explores impact of voting rights act on election of nonwhite officials in the US
Washington, DC — New research by political scientists examines the significance of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) for the political representation of people of color and documents “a substantial relationship between the VRA and the election of nonwhite officials at the national, state, and local levels.”… At the national level, despite the increase of nonwhite elected officials in recent decades, “nonwhites are still severely underrepresented in Congress,” state the authors.

US judge refuses to stop states from probing domestic spying
A US judge Tuesday refused pleas by federal lawyers to stop officials in five states from investigating what roles telecommunications firms played in anti-terror domestic spying.

Judge: FBI helped frame 4 men for murder
The FBI helped frame four men for a 1965 murder and withheld information that could have cleared them, a federal judge ruled Thursday in ordering the government to pay $101.7 million for the decades they spent in prison.

NASA probes sabotage
NASA is investigating sabotage of a noncritical computer due to be flown to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Endeavour, which was cleared to lift off on August 7, the U.S. space agency said on Thursday. NASA revealed the sabotage a day ahead of releasing studies that the publication Aviation Week reported had found astronauts were allowed to fly on at least two occasions despite warnings they were so drunk they posed a flight risk.

New Home Sales Fall Much More Than Expected In June
(RTTNews) – The Department of Commerce released its report on new home sales in the month of June on Thursday, showing that sales came in well below analyst estimates. The decrease added to recent concerns about the strength of the housing market.

Fear reigns on Wall Street, could herald worse news ahead
WASHINGTON — It’s too early to know whether Wall Street’s plunge Thursday signals a coming recession, but the market’s recent volatility makes two things clear: Investors think that financial problems in the housing market may extend far beyond the weakest borrowers, and easy credit is going to be much harder to get for consumers and corporations.

Where is Alan Greenspan now?
What an absolute fraud. The man who never saw a problem with the stock market bubble or who never saw a housing bubble is amazingly silent these days as the stock market tanks because of a complete lack of traditional oversight during his tenure at the Fed.

Food in botulism recall still being sold
WASHINGTON – Stores nationwide are continuing to sell recalled canned chili, stew, hash and other foods potentially contaminated with poisonous bacteria even after repeated warnings the products could kill.

Truly Elite: U.S. Airlines’ Secret Million-Mile Awards
Some U.S. airlines have special mileage-point bonus programs for only their most elite frequent flyers — the travelers who reach 1 million mileage points or more.

Wasting time at work? You’re not alone: survey
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Americans who feel bored and underpaid do work hard — at surfing the Internet and catching up on gossip, according to a survey that found U.S. workers waste about 20 percent of their working day.