Progressive News Digest - Jan 7, 2008
stri...@comcast.net
Date: Mon, January 7, 2008
PROGRESSIVE NEWS DIGEST
The latest news, commentary & event listings
(from slightly left of center)
updated daily on the web at
http://rationalreview.com/pnd
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Published Mondays
Supported by the generous donations of our readersit
The web version updates continuously. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
http://groups.google.com/group/progressive-news
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For more news stories and commentaries, or to donate, visit:
http://rationalreview.com/pnd
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Volume IV, Issue #31 Monday, Jan 07, 2008
Welcome to another edition of Progressive News Digest, still rolling along in
its fourth year (just over the halfway-mark of Year 4, BTW, and with rare
exception this has appeared every week at some point).
Meanwhile, over at the "parent company" (Rational Review News DIgest),
we're engaged in our quarterly fundraising effort, aiming for $5,000 in total
this time (Dec. 23st marked our FIFTH year overall in operation, without
missing a SINGLE non-holiday day in that span!). We are just slightly over
20% of the way to that goal ... and the fundraising will continue until we reach
it!
If the impulse strikes you, we could sure use donations, both here and at the
parent-site:
http://www.rationalreview.com/content/38515
We appreciate your support, in any amount … but subscribing contributors really
do it for us. To support RRND/FND (and by extension, PND) with regular
monthly payment of $2.50, $5.00, $10 or $20, point your browser at:
www.rationalreview.com/rrnd-subscribing-contributor-options/ "
* * * * * * *
I am continuing to publish this now with a contents list, without attempting a
summary of the highlights. It still takes a little time to prepare this, and
then let you do the browsing.
Here you go ... enjoy and see you next week! Check the site for constant
updates each day:
=====
NEWS
01 - GM researching driverless cars
02 - CA: Dellums behaving exactly as he said he would
03 - Blurring of U.S. interrogation policy complicates challenge
04 - SCOTUS takes up death-penalty logjam
05 - MA: Cheating on fire exam is alleged
06 - Woman booted from Army for breast implants
07 - TX: Kucinich sues Democrats over loyalty oath
08 - CA: Zoo visitor saw tiger “victims” teasing lions
09 - Plan for drilling off northern Alaska assailed
10 - TN: Election Commission break-in spurs audit
11 - MySpace poll: Obama, Paul virtual top picks
12 - Model sues jewelers for “lewd” ad
13 - What Palestinians will do with $7.4 billion
14 - Northeast: Emissions down, but lasting efforts may suffer
15 - Global privacy study: Big Brother gets bigger
16 - California sues EPA on greenhouse gas rules
17 - Mexico aims to fix slow trial system
18 - LA: Pair says buffet restaurant banned them
19 - Nicaragua: Opposition resists Chavez-style “revolution”
20 - IA: Anti-war protestors arrested at Huckabee office
21 - NH: Gay couples celebrate, gain status in civil unions
22 - Abbas: Bush must speak out on Israeli settlements
23 - California’s medical marijuana system in “chaos”
24 - Ron Paul: Absolute faith … in free markets & less government
25 - MA: Penalties to rise for shunning health insurance
26 - CA: Over half of voters say economy is poor
27 - FBI dusts off DB Cooper case
28 - FL: Family of 6 arrested over droopy jeans
29 - CA: Court to allow health coverage plan to proceed
30 - Study: Marijuana appears to slow cancer growth
COMMENTARY
31 - Actually, happiness isn’t within
32 - Moving forward in Kenya
33 - The Iowa curse
34 - The real caucus coverage
35 - The race is on: The issues, the candidates, the endgames
36 - EPA should just get out of the way on emissions
37 - Bush, Georgia & Authoritarianism
38 - Tax bads and untax goods with a green tax shift
39 - Because They Can, Springfield edition
40 - Mike and Mitt
41 - Insurance we pay ourselves!
42 - New Hampshire: Hillary finds it tough to dash Obama’s hope
43 - China is our e-waste dumping ground
44 - Mike Huckabee sees the light
45 - The whiskey rebellion
46 - Tortured logic
47 - Technology in wartime
48 - What’s next for FISA?
49 - The unease factor
50 - CA: Too many new ways to become lawbreakers
51 - Voters, officials must end “ATM politics”
52 - Huckabee rise exposes conservative rift
53 - Musharraf must go
54 - Wading into the muck
55 - The drug war gets personal
56 - “I’ll think of something!”
57 - War and peace and Libertarians
58 - John Edwards faces his day of reckoning
59 - The verdict is in: Our voting system is a loser
60 - Jury still out on man’s effect on environment
NEWS
01 - GM researching driverless cars
Raw Story
“Cars that drive themselves — even parking at their destination — could be ready
for sale within a decade, General Motors Corp. executives say. GM, parts
suppliers, university engineers and other automakers all are working on vehicles
that could revolutionize short- and long-distance travel. And Tuesday at the
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner will
devote part of his speech to the driverless vehicles. ‘This is not science
fiction,’ Larry Burns, GM’s vice president for research and development, said in
a recent interview. The most significant obstacles facing the vehicles could be
human rather than technical: government regulation, liability laws, privacy
concerns and people’s passion for the automobile and the control it gives them.”
[editor’s note: If they simply mean being able to program the auto to “go home”
after a party, this might not be a bad thing - SAT] (01/06/08)
=====
02 - CA: Dellums behaving exactly as he said he would
San Francisco Chronicle
“If people had listened closely to Ron Dellums when he announced he was running
for mayor of Oakland, they wouldn’t be surprised by his first year in office.
‘Potholes are important, but that’s not why people asked Ron Dellums to run,’ he
said after making his surprise announcement more than two years ago. After 12
months on the job, the mayor is hearing grumbling from residents unhappy not
only with pothole repairs but also with the slow pace of change in the city and
Dellums’ apparent unwillingness to take bold measures to deal with crime and
other city problems.” [editor’s note: Now if he were truly just being an
administrator, and rolling back local government and cutting taxes … he’d he a
hero - SAT] (01/06/08)
=====
03 - Blurring of U.S. interrogation policy complicates challenge
Arizona Republic
“A squad of U.S. soldiers enters a small “Iraqi village” in the southern Arizona
foothills, automatic weapons ready. Their eyes nervously scan the civilians in
Middle Eastern garb, watching for enemy combatants. Later, in a shack near the
center of town, two interrogators question a bearded man caught with a video
camera with footage of missile attacks launched by insurgents. One of the
soldiers peppers the captive with questions to no avail. ‘Can I go?’ the man
finally asks in a thick Arabic accent. ‘Or actually, perhaps you can answer some
questions for me?’ Asked about the images on the camera, he smiles. ‘It is
happenstance, yes?’ he says. ‘Coincidence.’” (01/06/08)
=====
04 - SCOTUS takes up death-penalty logjam
Christian Science Monitor
“Ralph Baze is on Kentucky’s death row because in January 1992 he used an SKS
assault rifle to ambush a sheriff and his deputy when they arrived at his house
to arrest him. He shot the sheriff three times in the back. The deputy returned
fire until he ran out of bullets. When the lawman tried to retreat, Mr. Baze
shot the deputy twice in the back. As the deputy lay on the ground bleeding,
Baze walked up to him and shot him in the back of the head. The facts underlying
Baze’s conviction and death sentence are undisputed. No one claims he’s
innocent. What brings Baze and his lawyers to the US Supreme Court on Monday is
their concern that the lethal injection protocol Kentucky plans to use to
execute Baze might be too painful.” (01/07/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0107/p01s01-usju.html
=====
05 - MA: Cheating on fire exam is alleged
Boston Globe
“State officials are investigating whether a group of Boston firefighters
cheated during a civil service promotional exam in November, taking turns going
to the men’s room, tapping out answers on their cellphones, and sending text
messages to their colleagues in the testing room. The state Human Resources
Division confirmed that it received an anonymous complaint about cheating during
a lieutenant exam taken by 186 firefighters and felt it credible enough to
launch an investigation. If proved true, the allegations could force the agency
to scrap the test results and administer a new test.” (01/06/08)
=====
06 - Woman booted from Army for breast implants
Fox News
“A woman has been kicked out of army training because she has silicone breast
implants. Alessija Dorfmann, 23, said: ‘I am devastated. It has always been my
dream to be a soldier and have a great figure. Now my fake boobs have cost me my
job.’ She has appealed against the ruling by top brass in Hamburg, Germany, who
said implants increased risk of injury.” (01/05/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320494,00.html
=====
07 - TX: Kucinich sues Democrats over loyalty oath
Austin American-Statesman
“A federal judge next week plans to hear a lawsuit brought by U.S. Rep. Dennis
Kucinich and a famous Texas supporter, Willie Nelson, that questions the
legality of a long-standing loyalty pledge required of Democrats running for
president in Texas. Kucinich, of Ohio, is seeking the Democratic presidential
nomination. He applied last week to appear on the state primary ballot March 4
but scratched out a portion of the pledge on the application stating he’d
support the party’s nominee for president, whoever it is. … The suit calls the
refusal to put Kucinich’s name on the ballot a violation of the First and
Fourteenth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.” (01/04/08)
=====
08 - CA: Zoo visitor saw tiger “victims” teasing lions
San Francisco Chronicle
“Two victims [sic] of a lethal Christmas Day tiger attack were harassing the big
cats at the San Francisco Zoo shortly before a 350-pound feline escaped its
enclosure and mauled them, a woman told The Chronicle on Wednesday. The
revelation comes as the zoo reopens today, nine days after a visitor was killed
and two of his friends were injured by the Siberian tiger, later shot dead by
police. Jennifer Miller, who was at the zoo with her husband and two children
that ill-fated Christmas afternoon, said she saw four young men at the big-cat
grottos — and three of them were teasing the lions a short time before the
tiger’s bloody rampage that killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr.” [editor’s note:
Still waiting for PETA to take up this cause … or even comment on it - SAT]
(01/03/08)
=====
09 - Plan for drilling off northern Alaska assailed
Arizona Republic
“Environmental groups teed off Wednesday on the federal decision to open up
nearly 46,000 square miles off Alaska’s northwestern coast to oil and
natural-gas leases, a decision the groups say will harm marine mammals. The
Minerals Management Agency planned the sale in the Chukchi Sea without taking
into account changes in the Arctic brought on by global warming and proposed
insufficient protections for polar bears, walruses, whales and other species
that could be harmed by drilling rigs or spills, according to the groups. The
lease sale was planned without information as basic as the polar bear and walrus
populations, said Pamela A. Miller, Arctic coordinator with Northern Alaska
Environmental Center.” (01/03/08)
=====
10 - TN: Election Commission break-in spurs audit
Nashville City Paper
“After a flurry of meetings, Mayor Karl Dean called for a full-scale data
security audit of every Metro department yesterday after two laptop computers
containing the Social Security numbers of over 300,000 Metro voters were stolen.
He is asking each department to report back Jan. 11. Dean has asked for the
audit following the Dec. 24 break-in at the Davidson County Election Commission
that resulted in the theft of two laptop computers containing complete Social
Security numbers for over 300,000 registered voters. Metro officials said
yesterday there had been numerous internal meetings to discuss the break-in.”
(01/03/08)
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/news.php?viewStory=58409
=====
11 - MySpace poll: Obama, Paul virtual top picks
Raw Story
“Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Ron Paul were selected by members of the
online MySpace community as their parties’ 2008 presidential candidates, the
site announced Thursday. With the Iowa caucuses looming later in the day,
MySpace’s count of more than 150,000 virtual votes January 1-2 showed Obama on
top with 46 percent of the vote, trailed by Hillary Clinton (31 percent) and
John Edwards (eight percent). MySpace, which dubbed its own exercise ‘the
Nation’s First Presidential Primary,’ said Republicans picked Ron Paul with 37
percent of ballots, followed by Rudy Giuliani (18 percent) and Mike Huckabee (16
percent). Respondents said the economy/jobs, war in Iraq and health care were
their top concerns, the poll said.” (01/03/08)
=====
12 - Model sues jewelers for “lewd” ad
Fox News
“A model who says she has worked hard to maintain a wholesome image has filed a
$5 million lawsuit complaining that a jewelry company’s video advertisement in
which she writhes and moans looks pornographic. The commercial, seen on the
Internet in a clip entitled ‘Rock Her World,’ shows a woman wearing blue lacy
lingerie and a diamond necklace while moaning and stroking her face and neck. It
ends with the Web address for the jewelry company, Szul.com. The 37-year-old
woman claims in her lawsuit that she did not ‘consent to or authorize the use of
her likeness, picture, image or name to simulate a female having an orgasm or
otherwise experiencing sexual pleasure.’” [editor’s note: So what worked well
for Meg Ryan is just “lewd” in this case - SAT] (01/03/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319811,00.html
=====
13 - What Palestinians will do with $7.4 billion
Christian Science Monitor
“When donors met in Paris last month and awarded $7.4 billion in aid to the
Palestinians, a larger-than-expected package to be distributed over the next
three years, many in the international community showed a new readiness to
support the new Israeli-Palestinian peace push and provide a safety net for it
in the form of economic stability. Now Palestinian and foreign observers alike
are keen to see how and where the money is spent, putting senior officials on
the spot with questions of how they intend to avoid the corruption and
mismanagement that characterized the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the past. But
unlike international relief in the past, this aid package … comes with
meticulous oversight mechanisms that make it much more difficult for money to be
siphoned off or embezzled, a senior Palestinian official says.” [editor’s note:
Since 70% of it is already going to “public salaries” who needs to suck off
further graft? - SAT] (01/04/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0104/p06s03-wome.html
=====
14 - Northeast: Emissions down, but lasting efforts may suffer
Boston Globe
“Greenhouse gas emissions from Northeast power plants were about 10 percent
lower than predicted during the last two years, because of milder weather and
increased reliance on natural gas instead of oil. But the decrease may have some
unanticipated consequences for efforts to combat global warming: It could have
the perverse effect of delaying more lasting reductions, by undercutting
incentives intended to spur power plants to invest in cleaner technologies and
energy efficiency. Massachusetts and nine other Northeast states are part of a
landmark pact called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that is designed to
cap power plant emissions in 2009 and then gradually reduce them by 10 percent
over the next decade.” (01/03/08)
=====
15 - Global privacy study: Big Brother gets bigger
CNet
“According to a new international privacy report, governments around the world
are increasingly invading the privacy of citizens with surveillance,
identification systems, and archiving of private data. Driven by concern over
immigration and border control, countries have been quick to implement database,
identity, and fingerprinting systems, according to the 2007 International
Privacy Ranking report.” (01/02/08)
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9838743-7.html?tag=newsmap
=====
16 - California sues EPA on greenhouse gas rules
San Francisco Chronicle
“California led 15 other states and five environmental groups into federal court
Wednesday to challenge the Bush administration’s refusal to let the state limit
vehicle emissions of gases that contribute to global warming. In a lawsuit filed
in San Francisco, the state accused the Environmental Protection Agency of
exceeding its authority when it barred California last month from enforcing
limits on cars and trucks starting with the 2009 model year, the first law of
its kind in the nation. The state needed the EPA’s approval to implement
clean-air standards that are stricter than federal rules.” (01/03/08)
=====
17 - Mexico aims to fix slow trial system
Arizona Republic
“The wheels of justice were grinding slowly at the 38th Criminal Court in Mexico
City. In a courtroom that looked like a police squad room, defense lawyer
Enrique Sepulveda was deposing a robbery witness at a glacial pace. There was no
judge, no jury, no spectators — just a desk, a court clerk and a barred window
where Sepulveda’s client strained to hear what was going on. This is justice in
Mexico: a slow, secretive process that many experts say breeds corruption,
encourages human-rights abuses and undermines Mexicans’ faith in the rule of
law. Now, lawmakers are working on a sweeping overhaul of Mexico’s courts, a
reform that would introduce U.S.-style ‘oral trials,’ guarantee the presumption
of innocence and give new investigative powers to police. The United States is
hoping the changes will help Mexico rein in drug lords and reduce a backlog of
cases that is clogging Mexican prisons.” (01/02/08)
=====
18 - LA: Pair says buffet restaurant banned them
Fox News
“A 6-foot-3, 265-pound man says a restaurant overcharged him for his trips to
the buffet line, then banned him and a relative because they’re ‘hearty eaters.’
A spokesman for the restaurant denies the claim. Ricky Labit, a disabled
offshore worker, said he had been a regular for eight months at the Manchuria
Restaurant in Houma, eating there as often as three times a week. On his most
recent visit, he said, a waitress gave him and his wife’s cousin, 44-year-old
Michael Borrelli, a bill for $46.40, roughly double the buffet price for two
adults. ‘She says, ‘Y’all fat, and y’all eat too much,” Labit said. Labit and
Borrelli said they felt discriminated against because of their size. ‘I ain’t
that fat, I only weigh 277,’ Borrelli said.” (01/02/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319688,00.html
=====
19 - Nicaragua: Opposition resists Chavez-style “revolution”
Christian Science Monitor
“Emboldened by the recent defeat of the constitutional referendum to expand Hugo
Chavez’s ’21st-century socialist revolution’ in Venezuela, the opposition in
Nicaragua has started to organize against what it claims is President Daniel
Ortega’s similar intentions to consolidate power in this country. Mr. Ortega, an
ally of Venezuela’s president, has promised to implement his own version of
‘direct democracy,’ similar to the model of government in Venezuela and Cuba.
The ex-Marxist leader, whose first Sandinista government battled US-backed
contras in the 1980s, has promised that his government will deepen the country’s
democracy by ’sharing the powers’ of his presidency with the poor people through
the creation of Councils of Citizen Power (CPCs). Opponents, however, claim that
behind the rhetoric of Ortega’s ‘new revolution in peace’ are authoritarian
pretensions similar to those of Chavez.” (01/02/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0103/p07s02-woam.html
=====
20 - IA: Anti-war protestors arrested at Huckabee office
All Headline News
“Police arrested three Iraq war protesters at the Iowa headquarters of former
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Monday after they camped inside and refused to
leave until the Republican presidential candidate personally pledged to end the
war if elected. Shaw, 56, Kathy Kelly, 55, and Robert Braam, 51, were arrested
on charges of criminal trespass. The three were part of a group pursuing a
mission called ‘Seasons of Discontent: A Presidential Occupation Project
(SODaPOP),’ which aims to pressure political leaders through peaceful protests
to immediately end the Iraq war. Holding up a banner written with ‘Who Would
Jesus Bomb?’ singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and reading the names of U.S. soldiers and
Iraqis killed in the war, eight members of the Voices for Creative Nonviolence
gathered outside the Locust Street office of Huckabee to protest his decision
not to reply to a letter the group sent to him two months ago.” (01/02/08)
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7009588884
=====
21 - NH: Gay couples celebrate, gain status in civil unions
Boston Globe
“New Hampshire became the fourth state to allow civil unions of same-sex
couples. Just after midnight, the first 40 or so couples held ceremonies at the
State House. Smaller ceremonies took place in other parts of the state
throughout the day. By the afternoon, 11 couples … were committed at South
Church Unitarian Universalist Church in Portsmouth. The Unitarian church
celebration included members of the congregation, elected leaders, and others
who supported the legislation. Congregants prayed and listened to speeches in
the 184-year-old sanctuary upstairs while Julie Slayton Frank, a church
administrator and justice of the peace, performed two-minute ceremonies in the
small church library downstairs, lit by soft overhead bulbs and three candles.”
(01/02/08)
=====
22 - Abbas: Bush must speak out on Israeli settlements
Raw Story
“Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday that US President George W.
Bush must speak out against Israeli settlements during his visit to the region
next week, because they were making peace talks impossible. ‘When he arrives in
the region President Bush must speak clearly about eliminating all obstacles
which are hindering negotiations and settlement activity is the main obstacle,’
Abbas said. ‘It is impossible for negotiations to continue as long as
settlements continue,’ he said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
in Cairo. Bush is due to begin a regional tour, his first at president, on
January 9.” (01/02/08)
=====
23 - California’s medical marijuana system in “chaos”
Raw Story
“California’s Proposition 215 legalized medical marijuana in that state 11 years
ago as a treatment for pain, the side-effects of chemotherapy, and other
ailments. However, the federal government still views all marijuana use as
illegal, and the Supreme Court has upheld the federal Drug Enforcement Agency’s
right [sic] to go after dispensaries, no matter what state laws allow. In
September, the DEA raided the California Healthcare Collective in Modesto and
arrested the store’s chief financial officer, Luke Scarmazzo. ‘They handcuffed
me and put me on my kitchen table,’ Scarmazzo told 60 Minutes. ‘One of them …
said ‘you knew I’d be coming soon.”” (01/01/08)
=====
24 - Ron Paul: Absolute faith … in free markets & less government
Christian Science Monitor
“Ron Paul still looks surprised when his calls to follow the Constitution and
restore a sound currency set off whoops of approval at a campaign stop. The
10-term GOP congressman from Texas has been making these points for 30 years,
with little to show for it beyond hundreds of House votes on the short end of
434 to 1. Critics called him a crank. But lately, his views and values — the
product of a lifetime of intense, self-directed study — are finding an audience.
His message is basic: freedom and limited government. Repeal the welfare-warfare
state. Get out of Iraq, now. Abolish the income tax. End the war on drugs. Put
the dollar back on a more solid footing.” [editor’s note: Whether or not you
agree with this man, this is an excellent profile article, well worth the read -
SAT] (01/02/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0102/p01s08-uspo.html
=====
25 - MA: Penalties to rise for shunning health insurance
Boston Globe
“Penalties for Massachusetts residents who can afford health insurance but do
not purchase it in 2008 could quadruple compared with the maximum penalty in
2007, according to draft regulations released by the Department of Revenue
yesterday. The maximum penalty for those who flout the law and do not buy health
insurance would be $912 a year, compared to $219 in 2007. The higher penalty is
intended to get those who are on the fence to buy health insurance. For those
wavering, it could make more sense to pay for insurance than to pay the penalty.
The proposed penalties also drive home the full impact of the health reform
law’s personal mandate principle. This approach makes buying health insurance a
responsibility of all residents, similar to the way drivers are required to
purchase auto insurance. The penalty was enacted to spur residents to purchase
insurance rather than rely on the care hospitals are still required to provide
to patients regardless of coverage or ability to pay.” [
editor’s note: Once again, the focus is still on “insurance coverage” instead of
“preparedness to pay for services, by whatever means.” If this requirement were
phrased so that a medical savings account, or other ‘escrow’ process could be
substituted, it would be far more acceptable. (Meanwhile, note that (1)
“required car insurance” deals with liability to others, not self-protection,
and (2) one does not seek reimbursement for oil changes or other maintenance on
a vehicle from one’s auto insurance policy - SAT] (01/01/08)
=====
26 - CA: Over half of voters say economy is poor
San Francisco Chronicle
“It may be the start of a new year, but a good many California voters aren’t
convinced that economic good times are on the way over the next 12 months, a new
Field Poll shows. ‘Voters are a little downcast, which isn’t surprising
considering the bad news on the state budget and the housing market,’ said Mark
DiCamillo, the poll’s director. More than half of the registered voters surveyed
said the state’s economy is in the tank right now, compared with 20 percent who
are convinced times are good. As for 2008, 35 percent say things will get worse
while 25 percent see improvement ahead.” (01/01/08)
=====
27 - FBI dusts off DB Cooper case
Fox News
“The FBI says it has released new information it hopes will jog someone’s memory
and help them determine who the legendary skyjacker Dan Cooper, who bailed out
of a commercial jet over southwest Washington in 1971, really was. The man
calling himself Dan Cooper, also known as D.B. Cooper, boarded a jet in Portland
for Seattle the night of Nov, 24, 1971 and commandeered it, claiming he had
dynamite. In Seattle he demanded and got $200,000 and four parachutes and
demanded to be flown to Mexico. Shortly before reaching the Oregon border, it is
believed, he jumped with two of the chutes, one of which was a trainer and sewn
shut. Agents say they are almost certain he didn’t survive. ‘Diving into the
wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible
conditions, he probably never even got his chute open,’ Seattle-based agent
Larry Carr said. Carr is taking a new look at the decades-old mystery.”
(01/01/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319387,00.html
=====
28 - FL: Family of 6 arrested over droopy jeans
Local6.com [FL]
“Five family members, who got involved in the arrest process of a relative
because of his droopy jeans, spent New Year’s Eve behind bars, according to
police. Deputies said Florida State University student Franz Leger was banned
from a mall last summer for wearing saggy jeans. But when Leger returned Monday,
police arrested him for trespassing. When the student’s family heard what was
happening, Leger’s father, mother, sister and two cousins got involved. All were
handcuffed and taken to jail. Police said they did everything by the book, but
the Leger family claims they were treated unfairly.” (01/01/08)
http://www.local6.com/news/14957504/detail.html
=====
29 - CA: Court to allow health coverage plan to proceed
San Francisco Chronicle
“San Francisco asked a federal appeals court this morning to let the city extend
health coverage to all uninsured adult residents next week, despite a federal
judge’s ruling that struck down a key provision requiring employers to pay part
of the cost. City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s office and a group of labor unions
are seeking an emergency stay from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
San Francisco that would allow the expanded healthcare ordinance, including the
challenged employer fee, to take effect next Tuesday as scheduled while the city
appeals the ruling. ‘Without this stay, tens of thousands of San Francisco
residents and workers will be deprived of critically necessary healthcare
services,’ Deputy City Attorney Vince Chhabria said in papers filed with the
court.” [editor’s note: NO, they will merely be deprived of taxpayer-funded
COVERAGE for the costs of such potential services, if they are indeed needed at
all. This one should be fun to watch - SAT] (12/27/07)
=====
30 - Study: Marijuana appears to slow cancer growth
Fox News
“Certain marijuana components may suppress the tumors of highly invasive
cancers, a new study finds. In laboratory tests, cannabinoids, the active
components in marijuana, were found to slow the spread of lung and cervical
cancer tumors, according to researchers Robert Ramer and Burkhard Hinz of the
University of Rostock in Germany. Proponents of medical marijuana believe that
cannabinoids reduce the side effects of cancer treatment, such as pain, weight
loss and vomiting. The study, published in the Jan. 2 issue of the Journal of
the National Cancer Institute, finds that the compounds may also have an
anticancer effect; however, more research is needed to determine whether the
laboratory results will hold true in humans, the authors wrote.” (12/27/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,318526,00.html
COMMENTARY
31 - Actually, happiness isn’t within
Christian Science Monitor
Eric Weiner
“The self-help industry has it wrong. Social scientists studying happiness (or
subjective well-being, to use the academic term) have found that external
factors — quality of government, social interactions and, to an extent, money —
determine our happiness more than anything else. In other words, happiness does
not reside inside of you. Happiness is out there. Which particular ‘out there’
makes a huge difference in your happiness level. National levels of contentment
vary widely, from the morose Moldavians to the chronically cheerful Danes.
Happiness, it turns out, is like oil. Some countries are awash in it; others are
bone dry.” [editor’s note: This begins with an apparent slamdance on the “Law of
Attraction” folks, but ends up with a pretty serious analysis of
government/society-type as a foundation for personal well-being and optimism.
(Hint: it has something to do with being FREE!) - SAT] (01/07/08)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0107/p09s01-coop.html
=====
32 - Moving forward in Kenya
Boston Globe
Warigia Bowman
“The recent presidential election in Kenya has declined into a bloodbath with
the deaths of more than 300 people, jeopardizing the nation and the stability
and democracy in East Africa as a whole. Both the government and the opposition
must authorize and support an independently directed recount of votes and begin
a process of national reconciliation. The election, the most competitive in the
country’s history, began peacefully on Dec. 27. The Commonwealth Observer Group
commended the Election Commission of Kenya for its professionalism. Early
returns on Dec. 29 gave opposition leader Raila Odinga a lead of nearly a
million votes. Vote counting was stopped by the election commission that day
with 189 of 210 constituencies reporting. On Dec. 30, the election commission
announced that in a mysterious overnight switch incumbent Mwai Kibaki had won by
231,728 votes.” (01/06/08)
=====
33 - The Iowa curse
Fox News
Susan Estrich
“Call it the curse of Iowa. If you don’t believe me, go back 40 years and name a
Democrat who has actually won in Iowa and gone on to be elected president.
There’s only one, and no, it’s not Jimmy Carter. Actually, he finished second in
Iowa, behind uncommitted. The right answer is Bill Clinton, and it was in 1996,
when he ran unopposed, not in 1992, when he lost the state, ceding it to its
favorite son, Tom Harkin, and then lost New Hampshire as well before going on to
win the presidency. On the Republican side, the right answer is one, as well:
George W. Bush, in 2000, who did win Iowa, but then lost in New Hampshire before
winning the nomination.” (01/06/08)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320533,00.html
=====
34 - The real caucus coverage
The American Prospect
Dana Goldstein
“The Iowa caucuses will break your heart — when they’re not making you tear your
hair out. There’s no doubt last night’s results indicate a real dose of positive
change: Iowans turned out in record numbers and for the first time supported an
African American in a statewide election. Youth participation was up 5 percent
from 2004. But at individual caucus sites, where few national journalists tread,
the view wasn’t quite so rosy. At Des Moines’ 23rd Precinct, for example, just
three miles from Barack Obama’s triumphant victory party, organizers failed to
adequately explain the caucus process, voters publicly protested the
participation of two immigrant women, and Spanish translations were unavailable.
And while in theory, the process of ‘convincing’ one’s neighbors to caucus for a
certain candidate sounds like grown-up debate club, in practice, it looks more
like junior high school clique formation, replete with peer pressure.”
(01/05/08)
=====
35 - The race is on: The issues, the candidates, the endgames
Orange County Register
Alan W. Bock
“The headlines for the next week or so will be all about Iowa and New Hampshire,
two relatively small states that are far from representative of the nation as a
whole — not a really large city, a distinctive slum or even a sprawling suburb
between them, let alone more than a tiny fraction of minority voters. … Keep in
mind, too, that all that held true about voters and issues in Iowa will be
completely different in New Hampshire. … Iowa leans evangelical Christian — a
condition that favored Mike Huckabee — while New Hampshire, with a reputation
for independence, could see a Ron Paul surge. On the Democratic side, Hillary
Rodham Clinton long ago lost the aura of inevitability that initially made her
campaign look more like a royal procession than a down-in-the-mud political
scrum, and that proved itself in Iowa.” (01/06/08)
=====
36 - EPA should just get out of the way on emissions
Tennessean
Jonathan Harwell
“Listen closely to the descriptions of cars given away on The Price Is Right,
and you’ll hear “California emissions” listed among the options. This is good
news for Golden State contestants who can breathe easier knowing they can drive
their new car home to the O.C. because it won’t just meet federal emissions
standards but California’s more stringent laws, as well. You see, throughout
most of the 44 years since the Clean Air Act was passed, California has exceeded
national emissions guidelines, thanks to more than 50 waiver requests granted by
the Environmental Protection Agency, but the state’s ability to lead the charge
toward cleaner air has now been hampered by the very agency that should be
cheering it on.” [editor’s note: Fascinating to see a “progressive” opposing
Fedgov agency intervention, and supporting “states rights”! - SAT] (01/06/08)
=====
37 - Bush, Georgia & Authoritarianism
Consortium News
Nat Parry
“Today’s election in the former Soviet republic of Georgia is shaping up as a
test for the durability of democratic reforms in central Asia — and whether
George W. Bush’s double standards on democratic principles at home will undercut
his “democracy promotion” abroad.” (01/05/08)
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/010408a.html
=====
38 - Tax bads and untax goods with a green tax shift
Question Earthority!
Fred E. Foldvary
“A complete green-tax shift would abolish taxes on wages, interest, dividends,
transactions, and buildings, and replace these with charges for pollution, tolls
on congested roads and streets, and the public collection of land rent. The
pollution levy would also replace regulations and pollution permits. The economy
would prosper from the elimination of the deadweight losses from both taxation
and regulation. Advocates of free markets should enthusiastically support the
green tax shift, as this enhances liberty along with greater prosperity.”
(01/06/08)
http://www.isil.org/channels/archives/12665
=====
39 - Because They Can, Springfield edition
Kn@ppster
Thomas L. Knapp
“The military put the building up for auction, and there were few bids. My
recollection is that it sold for around $5,000 … and that’s when the problems
started, with wailing and gnashing of teeth about how historic it was and how it
needed to be ‘preserved.’ In politicalese, of course, this usually means
something else. We’ll talk about what in a minute. The building was resold in
2003 to Tamara Finocchiaro and M. J. Page, who wanted to put it back to its
historical uses: It had a ballroom that they wanted to operate as a ballroom. It
had a theatre that they wanted to operate as a theatre. And they were not just
willing, but intent upon, restoring it structurally and aesthetically, to its
former glory. Four years later, the new owners are still bogged down in the
swamp that is Springfield, Missouri’s city government.” (01/04/08)
=====
40 - Mike and Mitt
Slate
John Dickerson
“Wherever it is that the Republican establishment meets, someone has just called
for another case of scotch. Mike Huckabee, the insurgent candidate with his
populist message, radical tax-overhaul plan, and light foreign-policy
experience, has won the Iowa caucus. Now the Republican campaign heads to New
Hampshire, where another insurgent, John McCain, is leading the polls. When the
GOP’s two top candidates are targets for Rush Limbaugh, the party is not in a
happy place.” (01/03/08)
http://www.slate.com/id/2181273
=====
41 - Insurance we pay ourselves!
Unqualified Offerings
Jim Henley
“The defense budget is a wealth transfer to investors, managers and employees of
military contractors. Since so much of the country is in on the take, at least
geographically, you might wonder how that works — it recalls the miracle of the
loaves and fishes. That’s where deficit spending comes in. Today’s taxpayers
take a hit, and tomorrow’s do too. The other thing that makes defense spending
more salable to taxpayers as insurance than, say, spending on climate-change
prevention, is hiding inside Cowen’s ‘a.’ The salespeople — appropriators;
Presidents; contractors — don’t have to wait around for ‘periodic conflict and
invasions,’ and indeed they don’t. They can go out and start them. And indeed
they do.” (01/06/08)
http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2008/01/06/7686
=====
42 - New Hampshire: Hillary finds it tough to dash Obama’s hope
Mother Jones
David Corn
“The battle of New Hampshire — on the Democratic side — opened Friday morning
with an obvious question: what, if anything, would Hillary Clinton do
differently? Her 8-point loss to Barack Obama in Iowa was a clear indicator that
what she had been doing until then was not working. And when it comes to the
sort of voters who contributed to Obama’s impressive win on Thursday night —
including independent, young, and upscale voters — New Hampshire is a better
hunting ground for Obama than Iowa. So reporters and politicos were wondering
how Clinton would recalibrate in response to the thumpin’ she had received.
Early in the morning, in a cold airport hangar in Nashua, in front of a couple
of hundred people (including Arkansans and AFSCME union workers who were bussed
in), Clinton provided the answer: not much.” (01/04/08)
=====
43 - China is our e-waste dumping ground
AlterNet
Terry J. Allen
“The highway of poisoned products that runs from China to the United States is
not a one-way street. America ships China up to 80 percent of U.S. electronic
waste — discarded computers, cell phones, TVs, etc. Last year alone, the United
States exported enough e-waste to cover a football field and rise a mile into
the sky. So while the media ride their new lead-painted hobbyhorse — the danger
of Chinese wares — spare a thought for Chinese workers dying to dispose of
millions of tons of our toxic crap.” (01/05/08)
http://www.alternet.org/story/72529/
=====
44 - Mike Huckabee sees the light
Salon
Mike Madden
“Outspent by nearly 20 to 1, and hammered constantly on TV and in the mail,
Huckabee marched ahead of a ragtag army of Christian conservatives and
Republican populists (if such a thing still exists) to a victory in the first
test of the 2008 presidential campaign. Coupled with Barack Obama’s win on the
Democratic side, it’s tempting to imagine you could hear Iowans speaking en
masse to repudiate the entire political system. ‘Tonight what we have seen is a
new day in American politics,’ Huckabee told roaring supporters at his victory
party Thursday night. ‘A new day is needed in American politics, just like a new
day is needed in American government.’ But finding a lasting lesson in
Huckabee’s victory may not prove as easy as that — just as Huckabee may not find
it so easy to carry his momentum to New Hampshire and beyond.” (01/04/08)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/04/iowa_gop/
=====
45 - The whiskey rebellion
Slate
Jack Shafer
“I don’t claim to have uncovered a conspiracy to neuter rebellion in the top
flights of newspaper management, but I do sense a pattern. The humiliation of
urine tests, now endured by most new hires at dailies, surely does more injury
to the psyches of journalists who fill the beakers than it does good for
newspapers. It wasn’t that long ago that alcoholics were celebrated or at least
regaled in newsrooms for their heroic immoderation. Today, praise goes to the
‘courageous’ newsroom alcoholic or druggie who enters a company-financed rehab
program. Today’s newspaper will fire you for taking mood-altering drugs in the
workplace unless, of course, they’re prescription antidepressants paid for by
the company health plan. And in the old days, great status was bestowed upon the
foulest mouth in the newsroom. Today, that sort of talk will earn you a write-up
from HR for creating a climate of sexual harassment. Paradoxically, the language
and subjects now banned as inappropriate inside the
newsroom are routinely found inside the pages of the newspaper.” (01/02/08)
http://www.slate.com/id/2181183
=====
46 - Tortured logic
Mother Jones
Mark Fiore
Cartoon. [Flash format] (01/03/08)
=====
47 - Technology in wartime
AlterNet
Annalee Newitz
“War changes everything, including technology. In the United States we are
roughly six years into what the Bush Administration calls the ‘war on terror,’
and what hundreds of thousands of soldiers know as the occupation of Iraq.
Gizmos that a decade ago would have been viewed entirely as communications tools
and toys are now potential surveillance and killing machines. Don’t believe me?
Consider how much the Web has changed. Referred to naively ten years ago by Bill
Clinton and Co. as the friendly, welcoming ‘information superhighway,’ the Web
is now the NSA’s surveillance playground.” (01/03/08)
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/72523/
=====
48 - What’s next for FISA?
In These Times
Brian Beutler
“The first year of the 110th Congress closed with a great deal of spilled blood,
and few victories for liberals. In just the last weeks of the past session,
Democrats fought a series of gladiator battles over issues like energy, the Iraq
war, and government spending — and lost every one of them in the Senate. But on
the one issue that Democrats had by-and-large decided to cede to their
opponents, they were … still unable to get very far. That issue was the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. And the Democrats’ failure was actually great
news to civil libertarians, who widely agree that the bill that nearly passed
the Senate last month would have sold out Americans’ constitutional rights for
illusory security gains and the protection of telecommunications firms that
knowingly broke the law. Now, as Congress prepares to reconvene, it’s anybody’s
guess what the next chapter in FISA’s troubled saga will be.” (01/03/08)
=====
49 - The unease factor
The American Prospect
Paul Waldman
“It seemed like this day would never come: Americans are about to actually start
voting in the presidential primaries. And as the clock wound down, the policy
differences, small as they were to begin with, receded into the background. …
When Clinton says she’ll work really hard and bring her experience to bear, what
exactly does that mean? When John Edwards says he’ll ‘fight’ the insurance
companies, what sort of fight is he talking about, with what kinds of weapons?
When Barack Obama says he’ll bring people together to solve problems, how is he
going to overcome the opposition of people who simply don’t want to go along? No
one knows. And they don’t seem to want to tell us.” (01/03/08)
=====
50 - CA: Too many new ways to become lawbreakers
Orange County Register
staff
“It has been said that the more laws on the books, the more lawbreakers. If so,
the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger created countless new lawbreakers
beginning New Year’s Day. The governor signed 750 new laws last year, but it
could have been worse. The Legislature passed a whopping 964 bills, ever
striving to improve things by outlawing things. Most new laws became effective
Jan. 1. Some kick in midyear. If you want to put your cell phone to your ear
while driving, do it now. On July 1 it will be against the law. If you won’t be
18 years of age by July 1, you will be banned from talking on any kind of cell
phone — hands-free or hand-held — while driving. It seems the real-life
consequences of traffic accidents caused by inattention are no longer adequate
disincentive. Welcome to the Nanny State.” (01/03/08)
=====
51 - Voters, officials must end “ATM politics”
Tennessean
US Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN)
“Congress should stop earmarks. When senators can get $500 million of taxpayer
funds to grease their re-election bids, and even freshman congressmen can get
$50 million, our government is terribly broken. Let me be clear: I play today’s
political game so that the Nashville area will not be disadvantaged. But I still
fight to change the rules of this awful game by publicizing all my requests
(’sunshine is the best disinfectant’) and voting against every earmark I see (’I
don’t care who’s twisting my arm’). This doesn’t make me popular with my
colleagues, but it’s the right thing to do. Earmarks proliferated in the 1990s
after Republicans took control of Congress. This is not a partisan statement;
earmarks were relatively rare during the previous 40 years of Democratic
majorities. Sadly, many Democrats are now addicted to this political drug. They
agree with Republicans that it increases their career longevity. Politicians of
both parties love earmarks because they opened a back door
into the federal treasury.” (01/03/08)
=====
52 - Huckabee rise exposes conservative rift
Fox News
Mark Joseph
“The stunning and rapid ascendence of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has
shocked prominent old-guard Washington Republicans and conservatives, leaving
them shaking their heads, wondering how a social conservative with a fairly
liberal record on issues like immigration, education, taxes and spending can
possibly be commanding the allegiance of so many Christian conservative voters.
But to those with a memory of the political scene that predates Ronald Reagan,
the answer to the mystery is simple: Mike Huckabee is the political equivalent
of a World War II conscript who emerges from hiding in a Philippine jungle with
no memory of the last 50 years. For Huckabee is an unreconstructed and
unapologetic pre-1980 Republican who has more in common with William Jennings
Bryan than Ronald Reagan and whose views expose the deep rift that has always
existed between social and economic conservatives.” [editor’s note: Yep, we even
saw the “cross of silver” in the backdrop of his last campaign
ad - SAT] (12/31/07)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319317,00.html
=====
53 - Musharraf must go
Boston Globe
Bill Richardson
“President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan must go. Rather than waging the
‘unstinted’ war against Al Qaeda that he promised, he has become a source of
instability that terrorists are exploiting. Pakistan urgently needs a new
government, and the United States should suspend all nonterrorism-related
military aid until Musharraf steps aside. Some in Washington say we should stick
with the dictator, because they fear chaos might follow his departure. But the
risk of chaos is far greater if Musharraf remains. Only a new government, with
broader support than Musharraf has, can restore order to Pakistan and reengage
an effective fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Last week’s murder of
Benazir Bhutto and the rioting that spread across the country, show that
Musharraf cannot maintain order. He could not provide security for Bhutto, and
he cannot provide security for Pakistan.” (01/03/08)
=====
54 - Wading into the muck
Disloyal Opposition
JD Tuccille
“[D]emocracy means people get a bit of a say in who cracks the whip, but there’s
no doubt that the whip will continue to be cracked. So, if I have such a dim
view of government, why do I take any interest in the trite popularity contest
now being staged by the two major political parties to pick their candidates for
president of these over-governed states? If the ultimate winner is nothing more
than a prettied-up tribal chieftain who will use political power to shed blood
and crush freedom, why bother to pick a favorite? Well … because if you know
that somebody will be cracking the whip, it really does matter who has the whip
hand.” (01/02/08)
http://www.tuccille.com/blog/2008/01/wading-into-muck.html
=====
55 - The drug war gets personal
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Alison Myrden
“Hi everyone. Seeing as this is Christmas and the coming New Year, I thought I
would tell heart-warming story of an American trustee and his courageous wife
who know the magic of cannabis as medicine and recognize the value of legalizing
and regulating all drugs. This week I would like to introduce you to this
gentleman and his wife, whom I would love to meet one day. I will let him do
most of my speaking, as he seems to be ready to take on the country and possibly
more with this battle we all call the War on Drugs.” (01/02/08)
=====
56 - “I’ll think of something!”
Rebirth of Reason
Tibor R. Machan
“Often when some unexpected challenge faces a person, someone asks, ‘What are
you going to do about this?’ The answer, frequently delivered with casual
confidence, tends to be: ‘I’ll think of something.’ No answer and attitude
better characterizes how to think about problem solving in a free society.
Unlike the attitude in the Nanny State, which requires massive bureaucracies to
plan for endless and often completely unanticipated ’solutions,’ in a free
society problem solving is left to citizens who individually or cooperatively
volunteer to address the challenges, great or small, that face them. And this
approach is most likely to bear better fruit than does the bureaucratic approach
for a number of reasons, including the fact that local knowledge is often far
more useful and important than what far away bureaucrats have at their disposal,
with their loose, general theories as to what people in society need and want.”
(01/02/08)
=====
57 - War and peace and Libertarians
Liberty For All
Kevin Joseph Tull
“There are several different views among Libertarians about the current war on
terrorism. It’s not really surprising considering Libertarians are just like any
other person. Libertarians are rich, poor, handsome, pretty, ugly, homely,
hardworking, lazy, generous, stingy, and we have jobs such as CEO, janitor,
graphic artist, computer operator, plumber, teacher, day care worker,
electrician, foster parent, soldier, butcher, baker, and candlestick maker. Of
course, the previous statement is not meant to deny or disparage any attitudes
or occupations retained by the people whom are Libertarians.” (01/02/08)
http://www.libertyforall.net/?p=1103
=====
58 - John Edwards faces his day of reckoning
Salon
Walter Shapiro
“Four years ago in the final days before the caucuses, Edwards was an
electrifying candidate, the kind who inspired voters to try to touch him
physically, as he raced across the state with his final-argument speech about
the ‘Two Americas.’ This time around, the former trial lawyer cannot win a
let’s-make-history contest against the first woman and the first
African-American to wage front-running campaigns for president. Instead, Edwards
is campaigning as the unyielding champion of hard-pressed Americans as he wages
battle against ‘corporate greed.’ Despite the cheap-shot claims that a candidate
who built a gargantuan house in North Carolina and briefly worked for a hedge
fund cannot be sincere in his passion for the poor, there is an underappreciated
core of consistency to Edwards.” (01/03/08)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/01/03/edwards/
=====
59 - The verdict is in: Our voting system is a loser
Mother Jones
Michael Mechanic
“It’s heartening to know, as primary season begins, that ours may be the worst
of all the voting systems in common use. That’s the takeaway from Gaming the
Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair (and What We Can Do About It), the latest of
eleven books by William Poundstone, a professional skeptic who studied physics
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before he began pumping out
nonfiction in 1982. … Poundstone became interested in voting theory after
reading about Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem, a 59-year-old paradox wherein
economist Kenneth Arrow, now a professor emeritus at Stanford University,
identified what he perceived as a fundamental flaw in our democracy: Put simply,
he argued that devising a perfectly fair voting system is mathematically
impossible.” (01/02/07)
=====
60 - Jury still out on man’s effect on environment
Tennessean
Kevin Edwards
“Whether or not you agree with his opinions on climate change, it’s difficult to
take Al Gore seriously. He lives in a huge energy-consuming house in Nashville,
travels the world by private jet, refuses to debate skeptical scientists about
man’s contribution to global warming, and calls those who disagree with him
‘deniers.’ His promotion of carbon offsets, by which one can pay a ‘green
company’ to produce energy or plant a tree to balance out a person’s use of
fossil fuels, is reminiscent of the selling of indulgences by the Church
centuries ago. Each is an effort to soothe a guilty conscience without changing
one’s lifestyle and each is an attempt to make money from the faithful.”
(01/02/08)
Until next week ...
Peace, Love and Liberty
Steve Trinward, Editor