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Another Top Story:
- Bob Woodward: U.S. Spied on Iraqi Leaders and Bush outside troop surge decision loop --- Commanding General in Iraq says Bush does not understand Iraq War.
| In response to a question about how the White House settled on a troop surge of five brigades after the military leadership in Washington had reluctantly said it could provide two, Bush said: "Okay, I don't know this. I'm not in these meetings, you'll be happy to hear, because I got other things to do."
Meanwhile, Woodward reports that Casey, the president's commanding general in Iraq from 2004 to 2007, came to believe that Bush did not understand the nature of the Iraq war, that the president focused too much on body counts as a measure of progress.
"Casey had long concluded that one big problem with the war was the president himself," Woodward writes. "He later told a colleague in private that he had the impression that Bush reflected the 'radical wing of the Republican Party that kept saying, "Kill the bastards! Kill the bastards! And you'll succeed." ' " |
Campaign News
- Troopergate Investigation into Palin Now on Fast Track: Alaskan Senator French is moving up release date of his investigation from Oct 31 by 3 weeks earlier to avoid the McTwin stalling tactics to delay this report.
| "It's likely to be damaging to the Governor's administration," said Senator Hollis French, a Democrat, appointed the project manager for a bi-partisan State Senate Legislative Counsel Committee investigation. |
Governor is stonewalling the Troopergate investigation: Palin wants the legislative investigation dropped so that she can file ethics complaint against herself and have a state Personnel Board investigate...probably after the election.
Palin subpoenas taken off the table in trooper-gate: Even if she refuses to testify voluntarily, no subpoena because that would be "disrespectful," "inappropriate conduct" and "bad form" for a vice-presidential candidate.
Alaska legislature to subpoena Palin aides in 'troopergate' after 7 key witnesses, all Palin administration members, canceled appointments this week for interviews.
- Troopers' union angry about Palin's accusations, claim Palin is using State Troopers as "whipping boy" to cover up her misdeeds: Palin's lawyer accused troopers of "turning a blind eye to an alleged rogue officer, who was Palin's ex-BIL.
| Cyr added that his organization was filing an ethics complaint against the governor and her staff regarding the disclosure of Wooten's private personnel information. |
- Rep. King (R-IA) questions Obama's patriotism.
| U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Thursday that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s upbringing was devoid of patriotism or the principles that make the United States a great country.
"There is no part of that that I would subject a child, a young man or woman to. I don’t think that there’s a nurture there that shows a thread of patriotism or a sense of appreciation of free market capitalism or the destiny of America or what has made this country great," he said. |
- Lieberman is one of the Experts Helping Palin Brush Up on Foreign Policy for Biden debate.
- Palin inspires 56% of women polled to vote for Democrats: "Six in 10 women voters see McCain's choice of a female running mate as a calculated political decision rather than one based on Palin's experience and qualities."
- In July, McCain Promised His VP Pick Would Appear On Larry King Live shortly after VP announcement. (video at link to refresh McTwin's recollection.)
- Media has to earn access to McTwin. (video at link)
| Davis insisted that "there are no strings attached" to media access to McCain. Yet just this week, McCain abruptly canceled an interview with Larry King as punishment for a tough CNN interview with one of his spokesmen. What’s more, top McCain aide Mark Salter said that "only the good reporters" would get the best seats in the new campaign plane. "You have to earn it," he said. |
Why is McTwin so pissed at press? The media is not complying with HIS dictates. Here is video of McTwin telling media that when HE says no comment, time to bow to him.
- GOP orchestrated delegates' comments on Palin by issuing talking points: Politicians often try to control message, but "during the second Bush administration, however, the Republican Party has raised "message discipline" to a high art, issuing daily "talking points" and cutting the legs out from under any official — even Army generals — who got "off message."
- Palin: the real scandal is her barbaric, inhumane, toxic environmental policies.
| The woman who could soon be a 72-year-old's heartbeat away from the United States presidency has an environmental policy so toxic it would make the incumbent, George Bush, blush.
Last year, Mrs Palin proposed offering a bounty of $150 per wolf, as long as the hunter provided the wolf's foreleg as proof of the kill. The measure did not pass. She even spent $400,000 on a state-funded campaign to block attempts to end the hunt. |
- Palin believes she is on mission from God and that Iraq is God's will.
| Her religious beliefs extend to a conviction that the Iraq war is God's will. When she returned to Wasilla in June to pray with her old congregation, she said of the troops being posted to Iraq, including her own son, Track: "Our national leaders are sending them out on a task from God. We have to pray there is a plan and that it's God's plan." |
- Palin Pentecostal until 6 years ago: Palin "identifies herself simply as Christian," but has "deep roots in Pentecostalism," and was "baptized in a Pentecostal Assemblies of God church as a teen and attended that church until six years ago."
| Palin identifies herself only as Christian in her biography on the National Governors' Association Web site. In an Aug. 14 interview with Time magazine, she once again described herself as Christian. When pressed, she said she attended a "nondenominational Bible church." |
Environmental News
- The world's first complete demonstration of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology will begin next week at a coal-fired power station in Germany: "German project will burn coal in an atmosphere of pure oxygen – producing CO2 waste which can be buried – creating enough electricity to power 1,000 homes."
- Has the shift in disease patterns linked with climate change already started?
| A 1997 federal Environmental Protection Agency report on Texas and climate change noted, "Warming and other climate changes may expand the habitat and infectivity of disease-carrying insects, thus increasing the potential for transmission of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.
This summer, an outbreak of typhus has left 16 Travis County residents with the flea-borne illness; 14 others are suspected of having the disease. In recent years, whooping cough and West Nile virus have also plagued Central Texas." |
- Asian pollution could create warming hot spots in US:
| Unlike the long-lived greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, the particle and gas pollution cited in this report only stays in the air for a few days or weeks but its warming effect on the climate half a world away could last for decades, the scientists said. |
- Deforestation Escalates in Brazilian Amazon: In past year, 8,147 square kilometers of Brazilian Amazon cleared, a 69% increase over last year, or an area more than twice the size of Rhode Island.
- Climate change could stop corals fixing themselves.
| Climate change is depriving coral reefs across the globe of the building materials used to make their shells. Current plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions may not be enough to fix the problem, according to new research. |
- California 'drought water bank' in the works: The "state's reserves are quickly disappearing, prompting officials on Thursday to announce the revival of a dormant 17-year-old water bank program in case this winter brings a third year of skimpy precipitation."
- More homeowners, especially in drought areas, harvesting rainwater by collecting in barrels or ponds to use for nonpotable purposes: "A fixture of building design in the Roman empire and in outposts along the American frontier, rainwater harvesting is making a comeback in states including Texas, North Carolina, and California."
- Soaring temperatures have led to the collapse of several huge ice shelves in the Canadian Arctic over the past few weeks: The significance of this year's sea ice decline is that it "means the long-term trend of ice loss is going down much faster than expected."
- Legendary endangered Komodo dragon disappearing from natural habitat due to habitat destruction and hunting of their prey -- low numbers indicate close to or on way to extinction.
Scientists still don't know how Komodo dragon kills its prey with one bite. (graphic video – I had to stop watching....)
Political News
War News
- U.S. may step up raids in Pakistan: Bushie calls it a very sanitized "raids" that are supposed to be based on "hot pursuit" of terrorists or militants, but this is expanding the war battlefield, and killing civilians.
| A U.S. official suggested that the raid was conducted in response to border attacks, and that no high-ranking militant leader was captured or killed.
"There are targets other than formally designated high-value targets," the official said. |
- Pentagon recommends holding US troops levels in Iraq steady until February: "Proposed February troop reduction would coincide with increase in troops sent to Afghanistan."
National News
- U.S. Must Buy Assets to Prevent 'Financial Tsunami,' Gross Says.
| The U.S. government needs to start buying assets to stem a bourgeoning "financial tsunami,'' according to Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund.
A process of "delevering,'' where banks are shrinking and cutting off lending, is sapping demand for loans, bonds, stocks and commodities, driving down prices of assets of even "impeccable quality,'' Gross said. The decline may continue until the government steps in as a buyer, he said. |
Human Rights News
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