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.