Jan 05 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Pakistani governor assassinated in Islamabad

by Khurram Shahzad, AFP

1 hr 2 mins ago

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – The governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province was shot dead near his Islamabad home on Tuesday, in a brazen assassination that threatens to sink the nuclear-armed country ever deeper into chaos.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is facing a fight for survival after losing his parliamentary majority, immediately appealed for calm with memories fresh of riots sparked by previous political killings in Pakistan.

Officials said Salman Taseer, 66, who was appointed governor of Pakistan’s most populous and politically important province in 2008, was killed by one of his bodyguards opposed to his public criticism of controversial blasphemy laws.

2 African powers insist Gbagbo stand down despite talks offer

by Ola Awoniyi, AFP

1 hr 50 mins ago

ABUJA (AFP) – African leaders on Tuesday repeated their demand that Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo stand down, despite his offer of talks without preconditions to resolve the deadly crisis gripping the country.

An aide to Alassane Ouattara, the man the world says won November’s election, accused Gbagbo of playing for time and insisted the embattled leader quit to end the five-week stand-off in which at least 179 people have died.

“All we’re waiting for is for him to go,” Ouattara aide Ali Coulibaly told AFP. “The rest is of no interest to us.”

3 African mediators leave I.Coast without breakthrough

by Christophe Koffi, AFP

Mon Jan 3, 7:54 pm ET

ABIDJAN (AFP) – African mediators left Ivory Coast without a breakthrough in the west African nation’s presidential vote crisis after the man the world says won, Alassane Outtara, said discussions were over.

The four African leaders’ efforts appeared to come to a head as they left Abidjan late Monday after their latest talks with embattled incumbent Laurent Gbagbo, who is facing the threat of military action if he does not stand down.

“For us, the discussions are over,” Ouattara told journalists after meeting three presidents representing the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga for the African Union.

4 Gbagbo agrees to talks to end Ivory Coast crisis: mediators

by Ola Awoniyi, AFP

2 hrs 23 mins ago

ABUJA (AFP) – Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo has agreed to talks without preconditions to resolve the crisis gripping his country and to lift a siege on his rival’s headquarters, mediators said Tuesday.

But an aide to Alassane Ouattara, the man the world says won November’s election, accused Gbagbo of playing for time and insisted the embattled leader step down to end the five-week stand-off in which at least 179 people have died.

“All we’re waiting for is for him to go,” Ouattara aide Ali Coulibaly told AFP. “The rest is of no interest to us.”

5 Ford, Chrysler post major sales gains in 2010

by Mira Oberman, AFP

2 hrs 19 mins ago

CHICAGO (AFP) – US automakers predicted strong sales growth this year after posting solid increases in 2010 sales Tuesday, with Ford up 19 percent, Chrysler up 17 percent and GM up six percent.

Ford said it was the biggest winner in 2010 as it expanded US market share for the second year in a row to over 16 percent with total sales of 1.9 million vehicles.

It was the automaker’s first back-to-back market share increase since 1993 and comes after years of painful restructuring.

6 Coptic pope urges calm after Egypt church blast

by Samer al-Atrush, AFP

Tue Jan 4, 4:45 am ET

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt’s Coptic Pope Shenouda III appealed for calm as Christian protesters clashed with police for a third day in a row after a New Year’s Day bombing killed 21 churchgoers.

The spiritual head of the Middle East’s largest Christian minority also called on the government to address his flock’s grievances.

The unrest came as police went on high alert and tightened church security for Christmas, which Copts celebrate on Friday, as investigators hunted the perpetrators of the Alexandria church bombing.

7 Clouds block first 2011 solar eclipse

AFP

Tue Jan 4, 11:08 am ET

STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Europe was on Tuesday given a front-row seat on the first solar eclipse of 2011 only to find that in many places a thick curtain of cloud marred the spectacle.

In London, Paris and Rome, hopes for a spooky darkening of the winter skies at sunrise were dashed by dense cloud which turned the event into a grey mush.

“Aaah so much hype of an eclipse… all I saw was the usual British cloud!!!” said Twitter contributor Romana Alli in Britain.

8 Auto sales jump, upswing seen for 2011

By David Bailey, Reuters

23 mins ago

DETROIT (Reuters) – Auto sales rose to the highest rate in 16 months in December — topping industry and Wall Street expectations — as major automakers forecast the recovery would gather momentum in 2011.

Auto sales results are one of the first snapshots of U.S. consumer demand and stand as the latest in a string of indicators including unexpectedly strong factory orders for November pointing toward growing confidence in the recovery.

U.S. auto sales rose more than 11 percent in 2010, snapping a four-year slide that forced the Detroit automakers into a wrenching restructuring that included government-directed bankruptcies for GM and Chrysler.

9 BP shares hit 6-month high after Shell bid report

By Tom Bergin, Reuters

Tue Jan 4, 8:57 am ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Shares in oil major BP hit a six-month high on Tuesday after reports rival Royal Dutch Shell considered a takeover bid, and that economic damages from its oil spill will be lower than forecast.

BP shares were up 5.6 percent to 491.7 pence by 1351 GMT (8:51 EST).

The Daily Mail newspaper, citing sources close to the Anglo-Dutch group, reported Shell weighed an opportunistic bid for BP as crude gushed into the Gulf last summer, but was discouraged by the potentially uncapped legal liabilities.

10 Obama eyes ex-Clinton aide as top economic adviser

By Caren Bohan and Glenn Somerville, Reuters

Mon Jan 3, 8:11 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A trusted aide with first-hand experience negotiating with Republicans has emerged as the favorite to become President Barack Obama’s new top economic policy adviser, Democratic sources said on Monday.

Several sources close to the deliberations said Gene Sperling, a Clinton administration veteran, has gained traction in the last few weeks as a potential successor to Larry Summers, who is departing as director of the National Economic Council.

Sperling is seen as having an edge over two other leading contenders, investment banker Roger Altman and Yale University President Richard Levin.

11 Guard kills governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province

By Augustine Anthony, Reuters

Tue Jan 4, 11:20 am ET

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The governor of Pakistan’s central Punjab province, a senior member of the ruling party, was shot dead by one of his bodyguards in Islamabad on Tuesday, plunging the country into a new political crisis.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, citing initial reports, said Salman Taseer was killed because of his opposition to Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

Rights groups say the law is often exploited by religious extremists and ordinary Pakistanis to settle personal scores. Islamist groups have been angered by what they believe are government plans to change or scrap the law.

12 New year, old worry for state budgets

By Lisa Lambert, Reuters

Mon Jan 3, 5:07 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Legislators in U.S. states who are returning to work this month or entering office for the first time expect to spend much of the new year pinching pennies.

According to a survey released on Monday by the National Conference of State Legislatures, most state lawmakers listed balancing the budget at the top of their fiscal agenda.

“Diminishing federal stimulus funds, slow revenue growth and spending pressures have opened new budget gaps totaling $26.7 billion this fiscal year,” the survey found. It added that states already expect a total gap of $82.1 billion for fiscal 2012, which begins for most in July.

13 Navy captain loses command over raunchy videos

By David Morgan, Reuters

3 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The captain of a U.S. aircraft carrier was relieved of his command on Tuesday after producing bawdy videos that featured slurs against homosexuals, simulated masturbation and inane toilet humor.

Captain Owen Honors, who made the videos several years ago while serving as the USS Enterprise’s second-in-command, was removed from the nuclear-powered carrier and reassigned to administrative duties.

Admiral John Harvey, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, said Honors performed “without incident” as captain of the Enterprise but had shown poor judgment over the videos.

14 Republicans may starve financial reform of cash

By Dave Clarke and Roberta Rampton, Reuters

Mon Jan 3, 5:17 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the new Congress could put the budget squeeze on two powerful regulatory agencies to slow President Barack Obama’s crackdown on Wall Street.

A Democratic-controlled Congress pushed through the Dodd-Frank bank reform laws last year and regulators were counting on a big budget boost to police the $600 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market — blamed for much of the excess behind the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

But the last Congress failed to deliver on the funding, and that will be even harder to obtain with Republicans vowing to cut spending as they take control of the House of Representatives and boost their rolls in the Senate.

15 Pakistani governor who opposed blasphemy law slain

By ASIF SHAHZAD and NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press

2 mins ago

ISLAMABAD – The governor of Pakistan’s most dominant province was shot and killed Tuesday by a bodyguard who authorities said was angry about his opposition to blasphemy laws carrying the death sentence for insulting the Muslim faith.

Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer, regarded as a moderate voice in a country increasingly beset by zealotry, was a close ally of U.S.-backed President Asif Ali Zardari. He is the highest-profile Pakistani political figure to be assassinated since former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto three years ago, and his death underscores the growing danger in this country to those who dare challenge the demands of Islamist extremists.

Taseer was riddled by gunshots while walking to his car after an afternoon meal at Kohsar Market, a shopping center in Islamabad popular with Westerners and wealthy Pakistanis.

16 Obama exhorts Republicans to put politics aside

By JULIE PACE, Associated Press

57 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Ending a two-week vacation, President Barack Obama is appealing to newly-empowered Republicans to resist jockeying for the White House in 2012 and work with him to get the economy growing and the jobless back to work.

Facing anything but a political soft landing after his holiday stay in Hawaii, Obama told reporters en route to the capital Tuesday that he understands Republicans, who recaptured the House in last fall’s elections, “are going to play to their base for a certain period of time.”

“But I’m pretty confident that they’re going to recognize that our job is to govern and make sure that we are delivering jobs for the American people and that we are creating a competitive economy for the 21st century,” the president said.

17 Mikulski to be longest-serving US female senator

By BRIAN WITTE, Associated Press

18 mins ago

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – When Maryland’s Barbara Mikulski was first sworn in as a U.S. senator in 1987, she entered what she described as “a guys’ club,” a chamber where senators socialized in a gym off-limits to her and the only other female senator then, Republican Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas. Mikulski, a Democrat who will become the longest-serving woman in the history of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, says in her characteristically blunt style that she was never much of a jock anyway.

“For us, it’s not about whether we had a locker room,” Mikulski, 74, said in an interview with The Associated Press this week. “It’s whether we had a committee room, and we now have them.”

She added, “We had to work very hard to get on the committees of power.”

18 Texan declared innocent after 30 years in prison

By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press

6 mins ago

DALLAS – A Texas man declared innocent Tuesday after 30 years in prison had at least two chances to make parole and be set free – if only he would admit he was a sex offender. But Cornelius Dupree Jr. refused to do so, doggedly maintaining his innocence in a 1979 rape and robbery, in the process serving more time for a crime he didn’t commit than any other Texas inmate exonerated by DNA evidence.

“Whatever your truth is, you have to stick with it,” Dupree, 51, said Tuesday, minutes after a Dallas judge overturned his conviction.

Nationally, only two others exonerated by DNA evidence spent more time in prison, according to the Innocence Project, a New York legal center that specializes in wrongful conviction cases and represented Dupree. James Bain was wrongly imprisoned for 35 years in Florida, and Lawrence McKinney spent more than 31 years in a Tennessee prison.

19 Jets deem massage therapists’ suit ‘without merit’

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr., AP Sports Writer

23 mins ago

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – The New York Jets say a lawsuit filed against them and Brett Favre by two massage therapists is “completely without merit,” and the team had not been aware of the accusations.

Christina Scavo and Shannon O’Toole contend in a lawsuit filed Monday they were subjected to sexual harassment and job discrimination. They are seeking unspecified damages from Favre, the Jets and a team massage coordinator, saying they lost their part-time jobs after complaining about sexually suggestive text messages from the 41-year-old quarterback while he was with the team in 2008.

“Unfortunately, the plaintiffs never reported the allegations to the Jets, either during or after the conclusion of their work,” the team said in a statement Tuesday. “The case against the Jets is completely without merit, and we look forward to defending the matter in court, where we are confident that the Jets will prevail.”

20 Next Obama chapter: Change coming to White House

By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent

18 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Retooling for a re-election run, President Barack Obama is shaking up his senior leadership team to deal with the new realities of his term: The era of big legislation is over, a massive campaign effort needs energy and people, and the White House is taking a toll on those who run it.

Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, is likely to leave that job, and his interim chief of staff, Pete Rouse, may go, too. Those departures would significantly alter the management of the White House and the way it explains itself to the world.

In the coming days and weeks, Obama is also expected to have a new chief economic adviser, a new senior political counselor, and two new deputy chiefs of staff.

21 New computer chips help PCs compete with tablets

By JORDAN ROBERTSON, AP Technology Writer

32 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO – Semiconductor companies are whipping up a new generation of chips to bring richer video and better battery life to personal computers and help them hold off threats from tablets and increasingly powerful smart phones.

Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., whose processors are the “brains” of PCs, are unveiling significant changes to their chips’ designs at this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Tablet computers and other gadgets have taken on many of the tasks once performed by PCs, and there are already signs that those devices – led by Apple Inc.’s iPad – are eating away at PC sales.

22 US auto sales rise in 2010, but remain below highs

By DEE-ANN DURBIN and TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writers

1 min ago

DETROIT – U.S. auto sales picked up in the final months of 2010 and car companies expect them to keep climbing this year as the economy recovers and buyers grow more confident.

With sales of 11.6 million new cars and trucks, 2010 was still one of the worst years in decades. Buyers returned fitfully following the recession and big bankruptcies at GM and Chrysler. But sales took off in October and November and finished up about 11 percent last month compared with last December.

That has car companies starting to think they may reach the heights they saw in the early 2000s, when credit was cheap, incentives were rampant and sales topped 17 million.

23 Ohio State looks to redeem Big Ten in Big Easy

By PAUL NEWBERRY, AP College Football Writer

Tue Jan 4, 11:57 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – No pressure, Ohio State.

The Big Ten was shut out on New Year’s Day.

Unless the Buckeyes win Tuesday night’s Sugar Bowl against Arkansas, it will be a total wipeout at the hands of the hated Southeastern Conference.

24 Massage therapists sue Favre, Jets over texts

By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 9:30 pm ET

NEW YORK – Two massage therapists sued Brett Favre on Monday, saying they lost their part-time jobs with the New York Jets after complaining about sexually suggestive text messages from the veteran quarterback.

Claiming they were subjected to sexual harassment and job discrimination, Christina Scavo and Shannon O’Toole are seeking unspecified damages from Favre, the Jets and a Jets massage coordinator.

While the women don’t say they received any messages directly from Favre, he referred to Scavo in a message proposing a meeting with her and a third, unidentified massage therapist, the lawsuit says.

25 DNA clears Texas man who spent 30 years in prison

By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 11:35 pm ET

DALLAS – Prosecutors declared a Texas man innocent Monday of a rape and robbery that put him in prison for 30 years, more than any other DNA exoneree in Texas.

DNA test results that came back barely a week after Cornelius Dupree Jr. was paroled in July excluded him as the person who attacked a Dallas woman in 1979, prosecutors said Monday. Dupree was just 20 when he was sentenced to 75 years in prison in 1980.

Now 51, he has spent more time wrongly imprisoned than any DNA exoneree in Texas, which has freed 41 wrongly convicted inmates through DNA since 2001 – more than any other state.

26 Security forces kill 1 in Ivory Coast attack

Associated Press

50 mins ago

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – The head of the U.N.’s human rights office in Ivory Coast says at least one person was killed and as many as 130 arrested during an early morning raid on the headquarters of a party allied with the internationally recognized winner of last month’s presidential election.

U.N. Human Rights Division Director Simon Munzu says he and his staff were barred from entering the building belonging to the party of Henri Konan Bedie on Tuesday hours after the shootout. Witnesses say security forces opened fire with automatic weapons for at least 20 minutes at around 5:30 a.m.

Bedie’s party is allied with Alassane Ouattara, who was recognized as the winner of the election but has been unable to assume power because the incumbent president is refusing to leave.

27 Obama to sign bill to improve nation’s food safety

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

Tue Jan 4, 9:09 am ET

WASHINGTON – When salmonella-laced peanut products sickened hundreds during a recent scare, President Barack Obama said consumers should be able to have confidence that their government will keep peanut butter-eating children safe – and that included his daughter Sasha.

“That’s what Sasha eats for lunch probably three times a week,” Obama said then. “And you know, I don’t want to have to worry about whether she’s going to get sick as a consequence to having her lunch.”

On Tuesday, Obama is getting a chance to allay people’s fears about the safety of their food. He is set to sign a $1.4 billion overhaul of the food safety system, giving Washington new power to increase inspections at food processing facilities and force companies to recall tainted products.

28 Appeals court seeks guidance in gay marriage case

By LISA LEFF, Associated Press

31 mins ago

BERKELEY, Calif. – A federal appeals court said Tuesday it cannot decide if California’s gay marriage ban is constitutional until the state’s highest court weighs in on whether Proposition 8’s sponsors have the authority to defend the measure.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order asking the California Supreme Court to decide if the backers of ballot propositions can step in to defend voter-approved initiatives in court when state officials refuse to do so.

The high court does not have to respond, but legal experts expect it to. The 9th Circuit panel suggested that without the state court’s input, it would have to dismiss the case.

29 Buoys strung on border canal to prevent drownings

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press

1 hr 9 mins ago

CALEXICO, Calif. – A government agency on the front lines of the immigration debate has begun installing lifesaving buoys in a fast-moving canal along the U.S.-Mexico border where migrants drown each year as they sneak into the country illegally.

The debate over the lifelines has long presented authorities with a moral dilemma: Is it acceptable to do nothing when so many immigrants are dying in the water? Or do lifesaving devices lull immigrants into a false sense of security that they can conquer the channel while giving them extra motivation to enter the country illegally?

The agency that manages the canal had waffled on those questions as board members worried aloud that the buoys would encourage illegal immigration. But the Imperial Irrigation District reversed course in August and has been bolting 105 lines across the 82-mile desert canal at a cost of $1.1 million. Crews are also planting 1,414 bilingual signs on canal banks that read, “Warning: Dangerous Water.”

30 New Fla. congressman quietly reported loans in Dec

By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press

1 hr 43 mins ago

MIAMI – U.S. Rep.-elect David Rivera did not report more than $130,000 in loans from a marketing firm involved in a successful effort to expand casino slot-machine gambling until he quietly amended his congressional financial disclosure forms weeks after winning election, according to the filings obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The filing was delivered by hand to the U.S. House of Representatives clerk on Dec. 16, but did not come to public attention until now.

It was filed one day before The Miami Herald published a lengthy article raising questions about Rivera’s financial dealings with the gambling referendum firm, Millennium Marketing Strategies, and reporting the existence of an investigation by the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office.

31 Pope rejects appeal from closed Mass. parishes

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press

Tue Jan 4, 2:35 pm ET

BOSTON – Pope Benedict XVI has rejected an appeal from a group of Boston-area parishioners who asked him to reverse a seven-year-old decision to close their churches, some of which have been occupied since in protest.

The pope’s ruling was relayed in a Dec. 15 letter to Peter Borre, head of the Council of Parishes, which sent the last-ditch appeal in October. Borre said he received the letter at his home Monday.

The letter, written by a top Vatican diplomat, undersecretary of state Archbishop Fernando Filoni, said the pope was informed about the appeal and Filoni’s office had carefully studied it.

32 Quinoa’s popularity boon to Bolivians

By CARLOS VALDEZ and FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press

Tue Jan 4, 12:55 pm ET

CARACOLLO, Bolivia – It’s as inhospitable as climates come for crop cultivation, the dry and rocky soils of Bolivia’s semiarid altiplain. Miguel Choque can see his breath as surveys his fields of quinoa, the Andean “supergrain.”

In late March or April, the flowering plants will paint the rugged landscape yellow, green and red. Their diminutive seed, which powered Inca armies only to be elbowed aside by the wheat preferred by colonizing Spaniards, is unmatched in nutritional value.

Quinoa’s rising popularity among First World foodies – the wholesale price has jumped sevenfold since 2000 as global demand climbed – has been a boon to the poor farmers here in the semiarid highlands where most of it grows.

33 CAPITAL CULTURE: DC full of do-not-enter entrances

By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press

Tue Jan 4, 7:49 am ET

WASHINGTON – The capital is a city of magnificent front entrances that people can’t enter.

On Constitution Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol Hill, sweeping marble staircases, sculptures, manicured gardens and ornate doors beckoned citizens of the past. Now most stand empty and sealed.

The Supreme Court has become the latest to shoo people from its front steps, to the displeasure of several justices who think it’s wrong for an open society to close its most majestic portals.

34 AP source: Obama may name William Daley to top job

By JULIE PACE, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 9:37 pm ET

HONOLULU – President Barack Obama is considering naming former Commerce Secretary William Daley to a top White House job, possibly chief of staff, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. The development comes as Obama eyes a broader reorganization of his senior staff heading into the next phase of his presidency.

Daley, an executive at JPMorgan Chase, has extensive private sector experience, an attractive profile for a White House trying to counter the notion that the president is antibusiness. Obama aides have been discussing naming an executive to a top job as a way to give the business community more of a voice in the administration.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

35 Jerry Brown returns to lead a troubled California

By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 9:33 pm ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Democrat Jerry Brown was sworn in Monday as California’s 39th governor, returning to the office he left 28 years ago but inheriting a much different and more troubled state than the one he led then.

The man who once was California’s most famous bachelor took the oath of office after being introduced by his wife of five years, former Gap Inc. executive Anne Gust Brown, inside Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.

As California Supreme Court Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye administered the oath, Gust Brown held a Bible that had belonged to her grandfather and was used during her wedding with Brown.

36 THE INFLUENCE GAME: Safety, trade interests clash

JOAN LOWY, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 5:24 pm ET

WASHINGTON – An Obama administration proposal aimed at preventing air shipments of lithium batteries from causing fires in flight is drawing fierce opposition from some of the United States’ top trading partners, who say it would disrupt international shipping and drive up the cost of countless products.

The European Union, China, Japan, South Korea and Israel are lobbying against requiring air shipments of lithium batteries and products containing them to meet hazardous cargo regulations, diplomatic and industry officials told The Associated Press.

At a minimum the proposal could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and disrupt the flow of products such as cellphones, laptops, medical devices, water meters and electric car batteries, among others, these governments say.

Jan 04 2011

Punting the Pundits

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

Robert Reich: The Big Lie

Republicans are telling Americans a big lie, and Obama and the Democrats are letting them. The Big Lie is that our economic problems are due to a government that’s too large, and therefore the solution is to shrink it.

The truth is our economic problems stem from the biggest concentration of income and wealth at the top since 1928, combined with stagnant incomes for most of the rest of us. The result: Americans no longer have the purchasing power to keep the economy going at full capacity. Since the debt bubble burst, most Americans have had to reduce their spending; they need to repay their debts, can’t borrow as before, and must save for retirement.

Joseph E. Stiglitz: Common Sense, Not Austerity, in 2011

New Year’s Hope against Hope

The time has come for New Year’s resolutions, a moment of reflection. When the last year hasn’t gone so well, it is a time for hope that the next year will be better.

For Europe and the United States, 2010 was a year of disappointment. It’s been three years since the bubble broke, and more than two since Lehman Brothers’ collapse. In 2009, we were pulled back from the brink of depression, and 2010 was supposed to be the year of transition: as the economy got back on its feet, stimulus spending could smoothly be brought down.

Growth, it was thought, might slow slightly in 2011, but it would be a minor bump on the way to robust recovery. We could then look back at the Great Recession as a bad dream; the market economy – supported by prudent government action – would have shown its resilience.

In fact, 2010 was a nightmare. The crises in Ireland and Greece called into question the euro’s viability and raised the prospect of a debt default. On both sides of the Atlantic, unemployment remained stubbornly high, at around 10%. Even though 10% of US households with mortgages had already lost their homes, the pace of foreclosures appeared to be increasing – or would have, were not it not for legal snafus that raised doubts about America’s vaunted “rule of law.”

Paul Krugman: Deep Hole Economics

If there’s one piece of economic wisdom I hope people will grasp this year, it’s this: Even though we may finally have stopped digging, we’re still near the bottom of a very deep hole.  

Why do I need to point this out? Because I’ve noticed many people overreacting to recent good economic news. What particularly concerns me is the risk of self-denying optimism – that is, I worry that policy makers will look at a few favorable economic indicators, decide that they no longer need to promote recovery, and take steps that send us sliding right back to the bottom.

So, about that good news: various economic indicators, ranging from relatively good holiday sales to new claims for unemployment insurance (which have finally fallen below 400,000 a week), suggest that the great post-bubble retrenchment may finally be ending.

Dean Baker: Hugh Jidette Goes to Washington

By this point, many people have come across the name “Hugh Jidette,” the fictional presidential candidate created by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to advance its agenda of cutting Social Security and Medicare. In the more realistic version of this story we would have Hugh Janus, the Wall Street lobbyist who is constantly plotting ways to take away the benefits that tens of millions of retired workers depend upon.

Apologies for the descent into fourth-grade humor, but that is now the level of the public debate on budget and economic issues in Washington. Every chapter of this debate seems more corrupt and further removed from reality than the last one.

Lincoln Mitchell: Issa’s Investigations

In an alternate universe in which Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the new Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee were a rational person with his country’s best interests at heart, the news that he was going to aggressively pursue investigations would be welcome. Issa is interested in investigating a range of issues including corruption in the war in Afghanistan, WikiLeaks, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Food and Drug Administration. The American people deserve to know whether or to what extent corruption has become a problem in the war in Afghanistan, how a security lapse allowed WikiLeaks to get the documents it recently leaked and just how government agencies contributed to the mortgage and economic crises. This kind of accountability in essential to the functioning of a democracy; and investigations of this kind can be an important means of ensuring that accountability.

Katrina vanden Heuvel:

Passage of the New START treaty at the end of the 111th Congress should have been what Ploughshares Fund president and nuclear weapons expert Joseph Cirincione called a “no-brainer.” It is, after all, a renewal of a treaty originally negotiated by President Reagan and it will make America safer.

Yet the fact that herculean effort was required to win Senate ratification of a modest arms reduction treaty is a stark reminder of how tough it will be to strike needed, more far-reaching agreements – for example, slashing tactical nuclear weapons and ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

The cynical Republican leadership mounted a ferocious and often mendacious opposition campaign to ratification of START. It was striking during the debate just how far this extremist GOP has strayed from common sense or rational thinking on national security. In its misguided determination to weaken the President and score political points, Senators Kyl, DeMint and McConnell, to name just a few, chose to repudiate urgent calls from scores of high level military and bipartisan political leaders, including the current and eight former commanders of the Strategic Command, the Defense Secretary, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the head of the Missile Defense Agency, who all urged swift approval of the treaty.

In the end, only 13 Republicans voted to support the treaty; the majority chose retrograde party ideology over commonsense security.

Laura Flanders: Public Workers Getting Snowed

The snow is mostly melted after a near-record storm immobilized much of New York for nearly four days last week. But before non-New Yorkers gloat — beware — the Big Apple’s storm offers just a taste of a crop of problems that are likely to be coming your way.

Nationally, billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been the toast of town for cutting budgets — and resisting raising any kind of taxes on Wall Street. He proposed to that snowed-in folks enjoy the snow day by taking in a Broadway show, but residents of Brooklyn and Queens weren’t lazing about, they were digging themselves out, or waiting for help — that didn’t come. And that wasn’t just the fault of the polar weather but their mayor’s priorities.

John Nichols: An Answer to 2011’s Austerity Arguments: ‘We Won’t Pay For Their Crisis’

First, Washington squandered our tax dollars enriching the corporate contractors that profiteer upon unnecessary  and seemingly endless wars. The cost figure just for the Iraq imbroglio is now far in excess of $3 trillion, according to The Washington Post.

Next, Washington bailed out the big banks and the multinational corporations that got so greedy they wrecked themselves and the U.S. economy. How much dod that cost? In addition to the initial $800 billion shifted their way by President Bush and the Congress in 2008, there’s the little matter of the Federal Reserve’s “backdoor bailout”: low-interest loans and other deals doled out to the largest banks and corporatuions. According to data obtained by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, the 21,000 transactions from December 2007 through July 2010 that totaled more than $3 trillion.

Three trillion here, three trillion there… sooner or later, we’re talking about real money.

And a real big hole in the federal budget.

Jan 04 2011

On This Day in History January 4

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

January 4 is the fourth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 361 days remaining until the end of the year (362 in leap years).

On this day in 1987, Spanish guitar great Andres Segovia arrives in the United States for his final American tour. He died four months later in Madrid at the age of 94.

Segovia was hailed for bringing the Spanish guitar from relative obscurity to classical status. Born in Spain’s southern region of Andalusia–the original home of the guitar–Segovia studied the piano and cello as a child but soon became captivated with the guitar. Knowing of no advanced teachers of an instrument that was generally banished to the cafes, he taught himself and in 1909 gave his first public performance at the age of 15. To successfully render classical material, Segovia invented countless new techniques for the guitar, and by his first appearance in Paris in 1924, he was a virtuoso. His American debut came four years later in New York City.

 46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.

871 – Battle of Reading: Ethelred of Wessex fights, and is defeated by, a Danish invasion army.

1490 – Anna of Brittany announces that all those who would ally with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of lèse-majesté.

1642 – King Charles I of England sends soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, commencing England’s slide into civil war.

1649 – English Civil War: The Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial.

1717 – The Netherlands, Great Britain, and France sign the Triple Alliance.

1762 – Great Britain declares war on Spain and Naples.

1847 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government.

1854 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.

1863 – The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany.

1865 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street in New York City.

1878 – Sofia is emancipated from Ottoman rule.

1884 – The Fabian Society is founded in London.

1885 – The first successful appendectomy is performed by William W. Grant on Mary Gartside.

1896 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.

1903 – Topsy, an elephant, is electrocuted by Thomas Edison during the War of Currents campaign.

1912 – The Scout Association is incorporated throughout the British Commonwealth by Royal Charter.

1944 – World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.

1948 – Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1951 – Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul.

1958 – Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit.

1959 – Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.

1962 – New York City introduces a train that operates without a crew on-board.

1965 – United States President Lyndon B. Johnson proclaims his “Great Society” during his State of the Union address.

1966 – A military coup takes place in Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso), dissolving the National Parliament and leading to a new national constitution.

1967 – Donald Campbell is killed on Coniston Water while attempting to break the world water speed record.

1972 – Rose Heilbron becomes the first female judge to sit at the Old Bailey in London.

1974 – United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.

1975 – Elizabeth Ann Seton becomes the first American-born saint.

1976 – The Reavey and O’Dowd killings take place (part of The Troubles in Northern Ireland)

1987 – The Chase, Maryland rail wreck: An Amtrak train en route to Boston, Massachusetts from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people.

1989 – Second Gulf of Sidra incident: a pair of Libyan MiG-23 “Floggers” are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation.

1998 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are killed in three remote villages.

1998 – A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction.

1999 – Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota.

1999 – Gunmen open fire on Shiite Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque, killing 16 people and injuring 25.

2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.

2006 – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

2007 – The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.

2010 – The Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building is officially opened.

2010 – Per a ruling by the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States removes a ban on persons with HIV from entering the country.

Holidays and observances

   Chona-hajimeshiki at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu. (Kamakura, Japan)

   Christian Feast Day:

       Elizabeth Ann Seton

       January 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

   Day of the Fallen against the Colonial Repression (Angola)

   Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Myanmar from the United Kingdom in 1948.

   Ogoni Day (Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People)

   The eleventh day of Christmas. (Western Christianity)

Jan 04 2011

Six In The Morning

Texas Where Even The Innocent Are Guilty  



Texas man who spent 30 years in prison likely to have conviction quashed

An exoneration hearing for Cornelius Dupree Jr. is scheduled for Tuesday in Dallas. If his conviction is overturned, he would have spent more time wrongly imprisoned than any other DNA exoneree in Texas.

The district attorney’s office said on Monday it supports Dupree’s innocence claim.

Dupree was charged in 1979 with raping and robbing a 26-year-old woman and sentenced in 1980 to 75 years in prison for aggravated robbery.

He was released on parole in July. DNA test results came back 10 days after his release, excluding him as the rapist.

Thanks To Senator Tom Coburn No American Government Aid Has Reached Haiti    

 

A Year Later, Haiti Struggles Back

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – In 2010, Daphne Joseph, a slim, shy teenager, took a pounding from life.

She watched with horror as her mother’s mangled body was carted off in a wheelbarrow after the Jan. 12 earthquake. She fell in with a ragtag group of orphans taken under the wing of a well-meaning but ill-equipped community group. She left them unwillingly when a self-proclaimed relative took her away to use her as a servant.

And then last fall, not long before her 15th birthday, Daphne found herself in an actual home, reunited with the other orphans stranded after the disaster they all call “goudou-goudou” for the terrible sound of the ground shaking. She wore a party dress; she blew out candles; she smiled.

What Are Republican’s Good For? Absolutely Nothing! Say It Again    



Republicans set for fresh assault on Obama’s healthcare reforms

Riding back into town as the new majority party in the House of Representatives, gleeful Republicans will this week waste no time in asserting their agenda on Capitol Hill, introducing as a first step a bill to repeal the most hard-fought achievement of President Barack Obama in his first two years in office: the healthcare reform law.

The new 241-194 Republican majority in the lower chamber of Congress that emerged from the midterm elections of November will mean stiffer headwinds for Mr Obama as he returns from his Christmas break in Hawaii and embarks on the second half of his first term as President with more than half an eye fixed on re-election next year.

Who needs a Free Press certainly not Hungry    



EU questions Hungary as presidency opens  

HUNGARY IS on the defensive just days into its six-month EU presidency, after Brussels queried its controversial “crisis taxes” and a tough new media law.

Since taking power last spring, prime minister Viktor Orban and his ruling Fidesz party have used their two-thirds majority in parliament to place allies at the head of most key institutions, strip powers from the constitutional court and tinker with the constitution. They have also abolished an independent budgetary council that monitored state spending.

The government has pushed through windfall taxes of hundreds of millions of euros on the financial, energy, telecommunications and retail sectors, in a bid to plug holes in Hungary’s budget without raising income tax.

Art literally on the move  

 

Truckloads of art a visual feast on roads of Pakistan

IT IS the portrait of Benazir Bhutto, her loosely veiled head set against what looks like a flaming halo, that Anil likes best. The image of Pakistan’s former prime minister, almost Warholesque in its execution, adorns the back of his truck. “I’m from Sindh and so was Benazir,” says Anil. “I wanted to show how proud I am of my home.”

Every surface of his lorry is painted with scenes of snow- capped mountains – far removed from the flat, dusty plains of Sindh – soaring eagles and garlands of fat, pink roses. In between are lines of Urdu poetry and verses from the Koran.

There are few better places to observe what is increasingly considered an important branch of Pakistani folk art than on the busy roads that lead from Karachi, the country’s biggest city and main port.

An important vote  



Nearly four million Sudanese to vote in referendum

The electoral body is “100% prepared” for the vote and it will be held on time, said Justice Chan Reec Madut. Some observers had worried that South Sudan’s poor infrastructure and political issues might delay the polls.

Most people expect the oil-rich, mainly Christian south will vote for independence from the mainly Muslim north. The two sides fought a bloody civil war that stretched over two decades. Sunday’s vote is the culmination of a peace deal that ended the conflict in 2005.

Just over 3,93-million people have registered to vote, said Madut. Polls will be held in both northern and southern Sudan. Diaspora voting is also taking place in eight countries.

Jan 04 2011

Tags

Today is the six month anniversary of The Stars Hollow Gazette and while it’s not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things we could be doing worse.  We have an impressive array of Twitter followers (Facebook?  Pfui!) and a fair number of visits and page hits (not as grand as some, but better than others) and a panoply of content I’d compare to anyone’s.

Mostly favorably.

Anyway, I’ve personally posted some pieces that didn’t revolt me in retrospect and some which may merit future revisiting just to flaunt in my face how wrong and misguided I’ve been.

I’d like to make that as easy as possible without a kick ass search engine like jotter’s and so, since I haven’t written meta in a while, I’d like to talk to you today about Tags.

It gets Geeky below the fold.

Soapblox, despite it’s many virtues, doesn’t have a useful search function and if you try to use Google you can get inconsistent and confusing results.  You’ll generally have to remember an exact title or quote and author.

As an author who writes on a variety of topics, but also contributes anchor diaries on a regular basis, I find my User Page gets noisy with all the usual suspects, so I’ve taken to using ek Politics as a Tag to identify everything else.

I’m not perfect and I’ve only been able to crank through about the first 2 months of my own output, but you can see the results of the vanity tagging technique in the Daily and Regular Features buttons on the right side of the blog.

Thought that was pretty snappy myself.

Now I hope mishima doesn’t mind my picking on him, but he recently changed the format and title of his morning news digest from Morning Shinbun (it means newspaper, get your filthy minds out of the gutter) to Six In The Morning.

I want to stop at this point and say I have the greatest admiration for mishima.  Both here and at DocuDharma he has displayed daily excellence on a deadline for over 3 years.  Unless you’ve seen the elephant it’s hard to understand the commitment.

But I have a dilemma regarding the tagging that introduces two important concepts.

The first things you want to achieve are Continuity and Universality.  When I dip in this bucket I’m going to see everything there ever was.

On the other hand you also need to have Granularity.  I’m focused on this specific thing and not much interested in anything else.

So really the solution is a new Tag like ‘mishima morning news’ to unite it all (not that I’m suggesting or requiring that mishima go through his back catalog and update, that’s my job).

Should you be tempted to review your own work or make a resolution to perform better in the future I have an important tip- My browser has an auto fill feature that supplies suggestions based on the initial letters.  This includes the Tag box when you’re posting a diary.  It’s very easy to junk up that list so I suggest that you limit yourself to a few initial Tags and then add/edit additional Tags after the diary is posted using the button rather than the diary edit mode which junks up your list.

Told you this was Geeky.

My final point is this-

My activist brother tells me I’m intimidating and has shown me several drafts I’ve thought really interesting.  As proof of his good taste I offer August 6, 2001, I a mere typist.

But the thing is that while not every brain child is a gem, there’s no point in denying them a test drive if they represent your thoughts and feelings.  We could be running much faster than we do and my standards are not that high.  If it bleeds it leads, three sentences is a paragraph, three paragraphs an article.

Tell people what you are going to say.  Say it.  Tell people what you said.

And I’ll not promote it unless I think it’s representative of the best this site has to offer (though this is a low and disreputable place).  I reserve my rights to malicious and random promotion, but more often I’m motivated by topical and interesting.

It’s ok to contribute and crosspost.

I look forward in the new year to encouraging that behavior among some of the more port blogs of my acquaintance because I think activity of content generates viewership, interest, and influence.

Jan 04 2011

IOKIYAR: Providing Material Support for Terrorism

(10 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

If a Democratic delegation did this, do you think that these right winger would be quiet? Would there be virtual crickets from the media? “Off with their heads!!!” would be the cry.

Glen Greenwald: Leading conservatives openly support a Terrorist group

Imagine if a group of leading American liberals met on foreign soil with — and expressed vocal support for — supporters of a terrorist group that had (a) a long history of hateful anti-American rhetoric, (b) an active role in both the takeover of a U.S. embassy and Saddam Hussein’s brutal 1991 repression of Iraqi Shiites, (c) extensive financial and military support from Saddam, (d) multiple acts of violence aimed at civilians, and (e) years of being designated a “Terrorist organization” by the U.S. under Presidents of both parties, a designation which is ongoing? The ensuing uproar and orgies of denunciation would be deafening.

But on December 23, a group of leading conservatives — including Rudy Giuliani and former Bush officials Michael Mukasey, Tom Ridge, and Fran Townsend — [Imagine if a group of leading American liberals met on foreign soil with — and expressed vocal support for — supporters of a terrorist group that had (a) a long history of hateful anti-American rhetoric, (b) an active role in both the takeover of a U.S. embassy and Saddam Hussein’s brutal 1991 repression of Iraqi Shiites, (c) extensive financial and military support from Saddam, (d) multiple acts of violence aimed at civilians, and (e) years of being designated a “Terrorist organization” by the U.S. under Presidents of both parties, a designation which is ongoing? The ensuing uproar and orgies of denunciation would be deafening.

But on December 23, a group of leading conservatives — including Rudy Giuliani and former Bush officials Michael Mukasey, Tom Ridge, and Fran Townsend — did exactly that. In Paris, of all places, they appeared at a forum organized by supporters of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) — a group declared by the U.S. since 1997 to be “terrorist organization” — and expressed wholesale support for that group. Worse — on foreign soil — they vehemently criticized their own country’s opposition to these Terrorists and specifically “demanded that Obama instead take the group off the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations and incorporate it into efforts to overturn the mullah-led government in Tehran.” In other words, they are calling on the U.S. to embrace this Saddam-supported, U.S.-hating Terrorist group and recruit them to help overthrow the government of Iran. To a foreign audience, Mukasey denounced his own country’s opposition to these Terrorists as “nothing less than an embarrassment.” did exactly that]. In Paris, of all places, they appeared at a forum organized by supporters of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) — a group declared by the U.S. since 1997 to be “terrorist organization” — and expressed wholesale support for that group. Worse — on foreign soil — they vehemently criticized their own country’s opposition to these Terrorists and specifically “demanded that Obama instead take the [] group off the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations and incorporate it into efforts to overturn the mullah-led government in Tehran.” In other words, they are calling on the U.S. to embrace this Saddam-supported, U.S.-hating Terrorist group and recruit them to help overthrow the government of Iran. To a foreign audience, Mukasey denounced his own country’s opposition to these Terrorists as “nothing less than an embarrassment”

(emphasis mine)

The “richest” part of this is Fran Townsend’s involvement

Amazingly, Fran Townsend, on CNN, hailed the Supreme Court’s decision in Humanitarian Law — the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the DOJ’s view that one can be guilty of “material support for terrorism” simply by talking to or advocating for a Terrorist group — and enthusiastically agreed when Wolf Blitzer said, while interviewing her: “If you’re thinking about even voicing support for a terrorist group, don’t do it because the government can come down hard on you and the Supreme Court said the government has every right to do so.” Yet “voicing support for a terrorist group” is exactly what Townsend is now doing — and it makes her a criminal under the very Supreme Court ruling that she so gleefully praised.

(author’s emphasis)

Not that the Obama administration DOJ will notice. Look the other way

Jan 04 2011

Prime Time

Lots of premiers on Broadcast, none worth watching other than Robert E. Lee on American Experience.  LoDo is back (unfortunately).  So are Jon and Stephen (and there was much rejoicing).

You start running a respectable business and I won’t have to come in here and hassle you every night. You know what I mean? And I want the rest of you cowboys to know something, there’s a new sheriff in town. And his name is Reggie Hammond. So y’all be cool. Right on.

Later-

Dave hosts Brian Williams (ugh) and Paula Abdul.  Jon has Paul Giamatti, Stephen Ed Rendell.  Alton does Porterhouse and Pork Tenderloin.  Conan in repeats from 11/22.

You know what I am? I’m your worst fuckin’ nightmare, man. I’m a nigger with a badge which means I got permission to kick your fuckin’ ass whenever I feel like it!

Zap2it TV Listings, Yahoo TV Listings

Jan 04 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Mediators shuttle between I.Coast presidents to end crisis

by Christophe Koffi, AFP

56 mins ago

ABIDJAN (AFP) – African mediators Monday held “useful” talks with Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo, who is facing the threat of military action if he does not stand down in favour of his rival after disputed polls.

“We will return,” said Benin President Boni Yayi, standing alongside a smiling Gbagbo after around two hours of talks aimed at ending his deadly stand-off with the man the world says is president, Alassane Ouattara.

Yayi and the presidents of Sierra Leone and Cape Verde were in Ivory Coast’s commercial capital Abidjan as mediators for the regional bloc ECOWAS for the second time in a week in a bid to end the bitter crisis.

2 African leaders pressure Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo to quit

by Charles Onians, AFP

Mon Jan 3, 1:47 pm ET

ABIDJAN (AFP) – African mediators on Monday offered Ivory Coast’s embattled leader Laurent Gbagbo incentives to stand down after disputed polls, brandishing the threat of military action as the only alternative.

A smiling Gbagbo welcomed Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the African Union’s envoy, and three regional presidents tasked with ending his deadly standoff with the man the world says is president, Alassane Ouattara.

Presidents Ernest Koroma of Sierra Leone, Boni Yayi of Benin and Pedro Pires of Cape Verde are representing the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which has said it is prepared to send troops into Ivory Coast.

3 African leaders to offer inducements to I.Coast leader

by Charles Onians, AFP

Mon Jan 3, 9:57 am ET

ABIDJAN (AFP) – African mediators flew into Ivory Coast on Monday armed with inducements but vowing no compromise in their bid to get incumbent Laurent Gbagbo to stand down following disputed polls.

Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the African Union’s envoy, was in Abidjan alongside three regional presidents also tasked with ending a stand-off between Gbagbo and the man the world says is president, Alassane Ouattara.

“It is necessary to give Mr Gbagbo the necessary sweets to make it easy for him to step down,” said Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, the information minister of Sierra Leone, whose leader is a member of the West African presidential troika.

4 Coptic pope urges calm after Egypt church blast

by Samer al-Atrush, AFP

10 mins ago

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt’s Coptic Pope Shenouda III appealed for calm on Monday as Christian protesters clashed with police for a third day in a row after a New Year’s Day bombing killed 21 churchgoers.

The unrest came as police in Egypt went on high alert and beefed up church security for Christmas, which Copts celebrate on January 7, as investigators hunted the perpetrators of the Alexandria church bombing.

Tensions spilled over again late on Monday as protesters in a northern Cairo neighbourhood threw rocks at police who tried to block a march by thousands of Copts.

5 Egypt on high alert ahead of Coptic Christmas

by Samer al-Atrush, AFP

1 hr 43 mins ago

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt went on high alert on Monday ahead of Coptic Christmas in the wake of a New Year’s Day church bombing as investigators hunted the perpetrators of the attack which cost 21 lives.

Police in France and the Austria, meanwhile, beefed up security for Coptic churches in their countries after threats.

Egyptian security cancelled leave for senior officers and tightened surveillance of airports and ports to prevent suspects from leaving the country, as new checkpoints were set up across the nation.

6 Blood test for cancer gets US boost

by Kerry Sheridan, AFP

28 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson said Monday it is partnering with US doctors to improve a blood test for cancer that could do away with biopsies and transform the field of cancer treatment.

The Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) microchip technology, which inventors describe as a “liquid biopsy,” has been touted as a revolutionary approach to diagnosing cancer since it was first developed several years ago by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital.

It works by detecting cancer cells that have detached from a tumor and are circulating at very low levels in the blood.

7 Facebook finds powerful ‘friend’ in Goldman: report

by Charlotte Raab, AFP

1 hr 58 mins ago

NEW YORK (AFP) – Social-networking giant Facebook could flex its growing might after reportedly raising 500 million dollars from Goldman Sachs and a Russian firm in a deal valuing the website at 50 billion dollars.

The New York Times, citing sources familiar with the deal, reported Monday that Goldman had invested 450 million dollars in Facebook and Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment firm that has already sunk about half a billion dollars into Facebook, invested 50 million dollars.

Facebook and Goldman, one of Wall Street’s most prestigious investment banks, declined to comment on the report.

8 Macau gaming revenue hits record in 2010

by Peter Brieger, AFP

Mon Jan 3, 6:21 am ET

HONG KONG (AFP) – Casinos in Macau cashed in a record 23.5 billion US dollars last year, according to official figures Monday which analysts said trumped the Las Vegas Strip by about four times.

The revenue figure was a 57.8 percent increase over 2009, cementing the former Portuguese colony as the world’s biggest gaming hub, thanks largely to the millions of mainland Chinese punters who descend on it each year.

But the governments of China and its special region of Macau are growing worried about the vast sums of money flowing into the city’s economy and have already imposed several restrictions to try and cap its runaway growth.

9 BofA settles sour mortgages with Fannie Mae, Freddie

By Joe Rauch, Reuters

44 mins ago

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp agreed to pay $2.8 billion to mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims over soured mortgages, signaling the bank may be closer to containing its out-sized housing losses.

The settlement was far less costly to Bank of America than many analysts had feared. Investors have been pressing banks to buy back bad mortgages, in a battle over who will bear the brunt of losses from the mortgage crisis.

But if Bank of America is paying Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac less than many had expected, that means the taxpayer-supported mortgage finance companies are receiving less money than expected, which could further hurt their weak balance sheets.

Another AIG Bailout- “‘This is a gift to Bank of America,’ said Christopher Whalen, senior vice president and managing director at research firm Institutional Risk Analytics.”.

10 Judge denies bail for insider trading defendant

By Dan Levine and Matthew Goldstein, Reuters

35 mins ago

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A federal magistrate refused to grant bail on Monday to a California woman charged with leaking inside information about technology companies.

Prosecutors accuse Winifred Jiau of selling inside information about publicly traded companies, including computer chipmakers Marvell Technology Group Ltd and Nvidia Corp to hedge funds, including the founder of a New York fund that prosecutors did not identify.

Federal prosecutors in New York are also involved in talks that could lead to a possible “disposition” of charges filed against a former executive with expert network firm Primary Global Research.

11 Pakistani president vows support for embattled PM

By Kamran Haider and Augustine Anthony, Reuters

Mon Jan 3, 12:16 pm ET

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari expressed full confidence Monday in the country’s beleaguered prime minister, who is scrambling to prevent his government from falling after a key coalition partner quit.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s U.S.-backed government lost its majority in parliament Sunday when the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) bolted to the opposition due to government fuel price policies it said were “unbearable” for Pakistanis.

Gilani’s government could fall if the divided opposition decides to pursue a no-confidence vote. Zardari’s backing on Monday suggested that president would not bow to any opposition pressure and push Gilani to seek a vote in parliament himself.

12 Special Report: California or bust

By Nichola Groom, Reuters

2 hrs 56 mins ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Erich Kwek’s new office is awash in sunlight and impeccably ordered, with enough space for a desk, small sitting area and a conference table. If you didn’t know better, you might mistake it for a corner office at a successful corporation.

But the long whiteboard on the opposite wall is a reminder that this room was never meant to be an office at all.

A year ago, Kwek’s office was a classroom filled with first graders. Today, the superintendent of South Whittier School District looks out of his windows into an empty schoolyard.

13 U.S. jobs trickle in. Whither workers?

By Emily Kaiser, Reuters

Mon Jan 3, 11:02 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. private employers have recorded 11 consecutive months of job gains, yet the number of people who are so discouraged that they have given up searching for work stands at an all-time high.

Friday’s employment report is expected to show the pace of payroll growth accelerated last month after a disappointing showing in November. However, consumers’ assessment of the job market deteriorated in December, according to the Conference Board’s latest consumer confidence survey.

This disconnect is symptomatic of the state of the labor market. Yes, it is recovering, but at a pace that can hardly keep up with population growth, let alone quickly bring down the 9.8 percent unemployment rate.

14 Obama aide: Debt limit fight could be "catastrophic"

By Caren Bohan, Reuters

Mon Jan 3, 4:45 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A fight over the budget loomed on Sunday as a top aide to President Barack Obama warned of catastrophic consequences if Republicans follow through on threats to reject an increase in the nation’s borrowing limit.

Republicans, who will take control of the House of Representatives this week, are demanding spending cuts to curb the $1.3 trillion budget deficit and several have said they would oppose a higher debt ceiling if Obama does not agree to a range of painful cuts.

White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee accused Republicans of “playing chicken” with the nation’s financial credibility.

15 Taking Brazil’s helm, Rousseff nods to Wall Street

By Brian Winter, Reuters

Mon Jan 3, 11:37 am ET

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – President Dilma Rousseff kicked off her government on Monday with a series of market-friendly signals, including a fresh commitment to budget cuts and a report that she will turn to the private sector to help solve one of Brazil’s biggest infrastructure bottlenecks.

Rousseff, 63, wasted no time in addressing several issues that could threaten Brazil’s remarkable run of prosperity, including a recent burst of government spending that has, in turn, fueled a potentially dangerous rise in inflation.

Planning Minister Miriam Belchior vowed that Rousseff would “listen carefully to the market’s concerns” on spending and then “take whatever measures we consider appropriate.”

16 Afghan violence in 2010 kills thousands: government

Reuters

Mon Jan 3, 3:31 am ET

KABUL (Reuters) – The number of Afghan police killed during 2010 fell about seven percent to 1,292, the government said on Monday, despite violence spreading across the country as the war entered its tenth year.

Foreign military and civilian casualties are at record levels despite the presence of about 150,000 NATO-led troops, with 2010 the bloodiest year on record since the Taliban were ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001.

Ministry of the Interior spokesman Zemari Bashary said 2,447 Afghan police were wounded, while 5,225 insurgents were killed and 949 wounded. He said the government did not have a toll of insurgent casualties for 2009.

17 Coptics protesting bombing clash with Egypt police

By Sarah Mikhail and Sherine El Madany, Reuters

Sun Jan 2, 11:10 pm ET

CAIRO (Reuters) – Angry Coptic Christians clashed with police on Sunday as they demanded more protection for Egypt’s Christians following a New Year’s Day church bombing that killed 21 of their brethren.

Hundreds of members of Egypt’s large Christian minority protested in Cairo and Alexandria, the northern city where the presumed suicide bomber detonated a device outside a church during a midnight service.

A security source said Egypt was holding seven people for questioning over Saturday’s bombing, which also wounded 97 people, and had released 10 others.

18 House GOP sending Obama a message on health repeal

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

9 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Eager to show who’s now in charge, the House’s new Republican majority plans to vote to repeal President Barack Obama’s landmark health care overhaul before he even shows up in their chamber to give his State of the Union address.

Though full repeal is a longshot – the House vote would be just the first, easiest step – they’ll follow up with dozens of attempts to hack away at what they derisively call “Obamacare.”

The strategy is not risk-free for the Republicans, who won’t have a replacement plan of their own ready by the time of the repeal vote. But they say there’s no time to lose.

19 Interior allows some suspended drilling to resume

By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

10 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Thirteen companies whose deepwater drilling activities were suspended last year may be able to resume drilling without detailed environmental reviews, the Obama administration said Monday.

The companies – they include Chevron USA Inc. and Shell Offshore Inc. – will be allowed to resume work at previously drilled wells, as long as they meet new policies and regulations, officials said.

“For those companies that were in the midst of operations at the time of the deepwater suspensions (last spring), today’s notification is a significant step toward resuming their permitted activity,” said Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

20 Racy videos raise questions about Navy culture

By DENA POTTER and STEVE SZKOTAK, Associated Press

4 mins ago

NORFOLK, Va. – Raunchy comedy videos made by a high-ranking Navy commander and shown to the crew of an aircraft carrier three or four years ago have suddenly proved an embarrassment to the Pentagon that could blight the officer’s career.

The videos, released Sunday by a newspaper in this Navy port city, feature Capt. Owen Honors using gay slurs, pantomiming masturbation and staging suggestive shower scenes. They were played on the shipwide television system during weekly movie night when Honors was executive officer, or second in command, of the USS Enterprise. Honors has since become commander of the ship.

Over the weekend, the Navy at first downplayed the videos as “humorous skits,” then called them “not acceptable” and said they are under investigation.

21 Jerry Brown returns to lead a troubled California

By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press

13 mins ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Democrat Jerry Brown was sworn in Monday as California’s 39th governor, returning to the office he left 28 years ago but inheriting a much different and more troubled state than the one he led then.

The man who once was California’s most famous bachelor took the oath of office after being introduced by his wife of five years, former Gap Inc. executive Anne Gust Brown, inside Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.

She held a Bible that was her grandfather’s and was used during her wedding with Brown.

22 Report: Facebook nets $500 million investment

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer

14 mins ago

NEW YORK – A reported investment by Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor of $500 million in Facebook is a further sign that the social networking behemoth is becoming a powerful force even outside tech circles, even as the company tries to push off going public as long as possible.

The investment implies that the company is worth $50 billion, according to the report – more than twice the market valuation of Yahoo Inc., though still well below its famous Silicon Valley rival, Google Inc.

The New York Times reported the investment over the weekend, citing unnamed people involved with the deal. Facebook and Goldman Sachs declined to comment Monday.

23 Labs seek clues after 3,000 birds die in Arkansas

By JEANNIE NUSS, Associated Press

15 mins ago

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Wildlife experts are trying to solve a mystery that evoked images of the apocalypse: Why did more than 3,000 red-winged blackbirds tumble from the Arkansas sky shortly before midnight on New Year’s Eve?

Scientists are investigating whether bad weather, fireworks or poison might have forced the birds out of the sky, or if a disoriented bird simply led the flock into the ground.

“We have a lot more questions,” said Karen Rowe, an ornithologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. She said there are documented cases of birds becoming confused and plunging to earth.

24 Troubled Pakistan faces ruling coalition collapse

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT, Associated Press

1 hr 28 mins ago

ISLAMABAD – The collapse of Pakistan’s ruling coalition after a key party’s defection complicates efforts to tackle problems facing this nuclear-armed nation already grappling with widespread poverty and insurgent attacks.

The renewed political turmoil bodes ill for military action against Muslim extremists that the U.S. believes is key to success in neighboring Afghanistan, analysts said. Pakistan’s powerful army could use the lack of political consensus to avoid operations that clash with its perceived strategic interests.

The crisis also all but guarantees that lawmakers will not make progress anytime soon on fixing Pakistan’s deep-seated problems in areas like education, health care and infrastructure that have contributed to economic decline and rising militancy.

25 Pa. allows dumping of tainted waters from gas boom

By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press

2 hrs 51 mins ago

The natural gas boom gripping parts of the U.S. has a nasty byproduct: wastewater so salty, and so polluted with metals like barium and strontium, that most states require drillers to get rid of the stuff by injecting it down shafts thousands of feet deep.

Not in Pennsylvania, one of the states at the center of the gas rush.

There, the liquid that gushes from gas wells is only partially treated for substances that could be environmentally harmful, then dumped into rivers and streams from which communities get their drinking water.

26 New Year’s resolutions? Brain can sabotage success

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer

Mon Jan 3, 2:15 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Uh-oh, the new year’s just begun and already you’re finding it hard to keep those resolutions to junk the junk food, get off the couch or kick smoking. There’s a biological reason a lot of our bad habits are so hard to break – they get wired into our brains.

That’s not an excuse to give up. Understanding how unhealthy behaviors become ingrained has scientists learning some tricks that may help good habits replace the bad.

“Why are bad habits stronger? You’re fighting against the power of an immediate reward,” says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and an authority on the brain’s pleasure pathway.

27 Blood test to spot cancer gets big boost from J&J

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

Mon Jan 3, 12:56 pm ET

BOSTON – A blood test so sensitive that it can spot a single cancer cell lurking among a billion healthy ones is moving one step closer to being available at your doctor’s office.

Boston scientists who invented the test and health care giant Johnson & Johnson will announce Monday that they are joining forces to bring it to market. Four big cancer centers also will start studies using the experimental test this year.

Stray cancer cells in the blood mean that a tumor has spread or is likely to, many doctors believe. A test that can capture such cells has the potential to transform care for many types of cancer, especially breast, prostate, colon and lung.

28 GOP agenda may mean more in 2012 than now

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 7:26 am ET

WASHINGTON – Even if the next two years end in congressional gridlock, Republicans hope to build a record that demonstrates to voters in 2012 that they can get it right.

The GOP is promising to use the new Congress that convenes Wednesday to cut spending, roll back President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and prevent unelected bureaucrats from expanding the government’s role in society through regulations that tell people what they must or can’t do.

Passing their top priorities may be easier in the House, where Republicans hold a 241-194 majority. It will be harder in the Senate where Democrats still hold an edge, though smaller than the one Obama had during his first two years in the White House. But if the GOP agenda fails to change the lives of Americans, it could still prove to have a greater impact on next year’s elections.

29 Obama to increase engagement with Africa in 2011

By JULIE PACE, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 11:49 am ET

HONOLULU – President Barack Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests.

Expectations in Africa spiked after the election of an American president with a Kenyan father. But midway through his term, Obama’s agenda for Africa has taken a backseat to other foreign policy goals, such as winding down the Iraq war, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and resetting relations with Russia.

Obama aides believe those issues are now on more solid footing, allowing the president to expand his international agenda. He will focus in Africa on good governance and supporting nations with strong democratic institutions.

30 Seahawks, Colts, Falcons and Steelers win titles

By The Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 7:30 am ET

Yep, those were championship hats the Seattle Seahawks were wearing.

Nope, they aren’t ashamed one bit.

The Seahawks became the first NFL division winner with a losing record – that dates to 1933, folks – when they beat St. Louis 16-6 on Sunday night. At 7-9, they are NFC West champions, while two 10-6 clubs (Tampa Bay and the New York Giants) are out of the postseason.

31 Africa heads offer amnesty to Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, Associated Press

1 hr 56 mins ago

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – African leaders on Monday were offering Laurent Gbagbo an amnesty deal on condition he cedes the presidency peacefully to the internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast’s elections, an official said Monday.

The African heads of state traveled to Ivory Coast to give persuasion another chance before resorting to military intervention.

The presidents of Benin, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde also visited last week without result, and this time they were being joined by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. No developments were immediately announced.

32 End of the line? Brett Favre says it is

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI and NOAH TRISTER, AP Sports Writers

Mon Jan 3, 4:59 am ET

Brett Favre was the NFL’s ultimate iron man for 19 years, inspiring coaches and teammates with extraordinary toughness and thrilling fans with a daredevil’s verve and a showman’s sense of the moment.

Yet the once-irrepressible Favre never looked older or more fragile than in year No. 20. The magic of last season, and most of his brilliant career, never seemed farther away.

It had to end some time. And Favre says that time is now.

33 THE INFLUENCE GAME: Safety, trade interests clash

JOAN LOWY, Associated Press

23 mins ago

WASHINGTON – An Obama administration proposal aimed at preventing air shipments of lithium batteries from causing fires in flight is drawing fierce opposition from some of the United States’ top trading partners, who say it would disrupt international shipping and drive up the cost of countless products.

The European Union, China, Japan, South Korea and Israel are lobbying against requiring air shipments of lithium batteries and products containing them to meet hazardous cargo regulations, diplomatic and industry officials told The Associated Press.

At a minimum the proposal could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and disrupt the flow of products such as cellphones, laptops, medical devices, water meters and electric car batteries, among others, these governments say.

34 Cuba’s tobacco company sues Mich. shop over name

By ED WHITE, Associated Press

40 mins ago

PLYMOUTH, Mich. – A cigar lounge in suburban Detroit is decorated with paintings and photos of famous people with a stogie: John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, even the 1950s Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.

“We have only one thing in common,” said owner Ismail Houmani, a U.S. war veteran, pointing at a cigar in the fingers of Guevara, a Marxist rebel.

Cuba, however, believes the shop has too much common with its own famous cigar business. Cuba’s government-owned tobacco company is suing Houmani in federal court in Detroit, claiming the name of his four shops, La Casa De La Habana, is illegal because it’s too similar to its own franchised shops, known around the world as La Casa del Habano.

35 DNA clears Texas man who spent 30 years in prison

By JEFF CARLTON, Associated Press

52 mins ago

DALLAS – Prosecutors declared a Texas man innocent Monday of a rape and robbery that put him in prison for 30 years, more than any other DNA exoneree in Texas.

DNA test results that came back barely a week after Cornelius Dupree Jr. was paroled in July excluded him as the person who attacked a Dallas woman in 1979, prosecutors said Monday. Dupree was just 20 when he was sentenced to 75 years in prison in 1980.

Now 51, he has spent more time wrongly imprisoned than any DNA exoneree in Texas, which has freed 41 wrongly convicted inmates through DNA since 2001 – more than any other state.

36 Obama prepares to face emboldened GOP

By JULIE PACE, Associated Press

1 hr 23 mins ago

HONOLULU – President Barack Obama got what he wanted from his Hawaiian vacation: nearly two weeks away from the spotlight. The peaceful lull ends Tuesday when he returns to Washington to face emboldened Republicans eager to challenge his spending priorities and attempt to repeal his historic health care overhaul.

The first weeks of the new year will be an early test of how the president will deal with a divided Congress, and whether he can build on the victories he secured during the final days of the lame-duck legislative session. And with a host of Republicans readying to run for his job, the administration will simultaneously be laying the groundwork for Obama’s re-election bid, which will be run out of Chicago.

Senior adviser David Axelrod plans to head to Chicago this month, with Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, taking his place at the White House. More staff will follow Axelrod to Chicago, though aides have not yet been asked to commit to making the move.

37 Why do kids dress for June when it’s January?

By BETH J. HARPAZ, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 1:59 pm ET

NEW YORK – Among the great spectacles of winter, along with the northern lights and frozen lakes, are coatless kids.

No coat, no gloves? No prob!

These teens and tweens are chillin’ out, literally and figuratively, in their sweatshirts and kicks. Maybe a boy will accessorize with a baseball cap, and a girl might choose stylish boots – but nothing weatherproof, please! Some boys even wear shorts year-round, and many parents say they’ve given up the fight.

38 Restaurants uploading menus on iPads for diners

By CARYN ROUSSEAU, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 10:53 am ET

CHICAGO – The bar is buzzing on a busy night at Chicago Cut steakhouse as regulars Keith and Peg Bragg sit at a high table scanning the wine list.

Within seconds, they have all bottles under $40 at their fingertips using an iPad supplied by their server.

“You can very quickly look through to see the price per bottle,” said Keith, a finance executive, as he scrolled through rows of selections. “You can read the wine tasting note, how long it has been aged.”

39 A last generation cries, laughs, laments over Cuba

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 8:51 am ET

MIAMI – They hold court in the back of the Versailles restaurant in Miami’s Little Havana, a group of old Cuban men whose raspy, impassioned voices fill the room.

Presidents and political candidates have passed through, hoping to lure the Cuban-American vote. Journalists come with cameras and microphones, looking for an aging exile to comment on the latest news about the island’s communist government. Legendary singers and artists stop in for Cuban coffee.

Miami is the de facto capital of Cuban exiles, and Versailles is their prime meeting spot. The old men call themselves La Pena del Versailles. The Club of Versailles.

40 Cleaner tractors get cool reception from farmers

By DINESH RAMDE, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 3:18 am ET

MILWAUKEE – Farm equipment manufacturers are rolling out cleaner tractors to meet stricter new federal air regulations, but many in the industry say the challenge will be getting farmers to put the high-priced models into fields during hard economic times.

The rules that went into effect Saturday apply to tractors, construction vehicles and other so-called nonroad equipment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the vehicles are major sources of particulate-matter emissions – the stuff that makes smoke black and air difficult to breathe.

Federal air standards have been tightening since the mid-1990s. The 2011 regulations are the latest step, requiring that diesel engines built starting this year produce even fewer of the nitrous oxides that can cause acid rain.

41 Gov. Schwarzenegger issues last day commutations

By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press

Mon Jan 3, 1:28 am ET

SAN DIEGO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday commuted the manslaughter sentence of the son of California’s former Assembly speaker, drawing criticism from the victim’s family.

The outgoing governor also granted clemency to a woman who killed her former pimp in a motel room when she was 16.

The moves come just hours before Schwarzenegger is scheduled to leave office on Monday.

42 Specter: A Democrat, and in between, a Republican

By MARC LEVY, Associated Press

Sun Jan 2, 11:19 pm ET

WASHINGTON – As Arlen Specter leaves the Senate after 30 years, the one-time corruption-busting Philadelphia prosecutor and architect of the “single-bullet theory” of the John F. Kennedy assassination says he wouldn’t change a thing about his zig-zag-zig political path.

Specter began and ended – for now – his political life as a Democrat and spent the intervening four decades as a Republican. But he sees himself as an independent who often bucked party leadership – ultimately ending his career.

“I have always agreed with Kennedy that sometimes party asks too much,” Specter said in his last news media interview in his Washington office on Dec. 23. “My tenure in the Senate was really as an independent and whichever, regardless of party label.”

43 Scents latest weapons in fight against sea lamprey

By JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer

Sun Jan 2, 3:31 pm ET

HURON BEACH, Mich. – In the never-ending battle to prevent blood-sucking sea lamprey from wiping out some of the most popular fish species in the Great Lakes, biologists are developing new weapons that exploit three certainties in the eel-like parasites’ lives: birth, sex and death.

Researchers are beginning the third and final year of testing lab-refined mating pheromones – scents emitted by male lampreys to attract females. They’re also working on a mixture with the stench of rotting lamprey flesh, which live ones detest, and another that smells of baby lampreys, which adults love. If proven effective, the chemicals will be deployed across the region to steer the aquatic vermin to where they can be trapped or killed.

Early results appear promising. Yet no one expects the lures and repellents to finally rid the lakes of the despised invader and enable fisheries managers in the U.S. and Canada to end a battle that has cost more than $400 million over five decades. Especially when a single spawning female lays up to 60,000 eggs.

Jan 03 2011

Playing Chicken with the Insane

Some of the more radical Republican Congress-critters are feeling their new “power” and threatening to not raise the debt ceiling. President Obama’s top economic advisor, Austan Goolsbee, called this threat “insanity”, laying out the implications of the first default in history and the damage that it would do to the credit of the United States.

“Well, look, it pains me that we would even be talking about this,” he told co-host Jake Tapper. “This is not a game. You know, the debt ceiling is not something to toy with. If we hit the debt ceiling, that’s essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history. The impact on the economy would be catastrophic. That would be a worse financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008.”

“As I say that’s not a game,” Goolsbee went on. “I don’t see why anybody’s talking about playing chicken with the debt ceiling. If we get to the point where you’ve damaged the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity. There would be no reason for us to default other than that would be some kind of game. We shouldn’t even be discussing that. People will get the wrong idea. The United States is not in danger of default. We do not have problems with that. This would be lumping us in with a series of countries throughout history that i don’t think we would want to be lumped in with.”

The good news for Goolsbee and the president is that House GOP leadership does seem to see the deficit ceiling debate a bit differently than their incoming Tea Party brethren — as does the intellectual establishment of the Republican Party, including George Will, who, following Goolsbee on ABC, criticized the idea of defaulting simply for symbolic reasons

Goolsbee to Tea Party: ‘Playing Chicken’ With Debt Ceiling Vote is ‘Insanity’

Forcing Country into Default Would Create ‘Financial Economic Crisis’ Worse Than 2008

Then there are those who are holding grandmom’s purse and Medicare card hostage

Jan 03 2011

Punting the Pundits

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

E.J. Dionne, Jr.: Celebrating the New GOP Majority

Welcome to the Republicans who take over the House of Representatives this week. Since it is a new year, let us be optimistic about what this development means for our nation.

There is already a standard line of advice to Speaker-to-be John Boehner and his colleagues that goes like this: Democrats overreached in the last Congress by doing too much and ignoring “the center.” Republicans should be careful not to make the same mistake, lest they lose their majority too.

This counsel is wrong, partly because the premise is faulty. Democrats did not overreach in the last Congress. On the contrary, they compromised regularly. Compromise made the health care bill far more complicated than it had to be and the original stimulus bill too small. Democrats would have been better off getting more done more quickly, and more coherently.

New York Times Editorial: Reform and the Filibuster

The new Senate will face one of its most momentous decisions in its opening hours on Wednesday: a vote on whether to change its rules to prohibit the widespread abuse of the filibuster. Americans are fed up with Washington gridlock. The Senate should seize the opportunity.

A filibuster – the catchall term for delaying or blocking a majority vote on a bill by lengthy debate or other procedures – remains a valuable tool for ensuring that a minority of senators cannot be steamrollered into silence. No one is talking about ending the practice.

Every returning Democratic senator, though, has signed a letter demanding an end to the almost automatic way the filibuster has been used in recent years. By simply raising an anonymous objection, senators can trigger a 60-vote supermajority for virtually every piece of legislation. The time has come to make senators work for their filibusters, and justify them to the public.

Zbigniew Brzezinski: How to Stay Friends With China

The visit by President Hu Jintao of China to Washington this month will be the most important top-level United States-Chinese encounter since Deng Xiaoping’s historic trip more than 30 years ago. It should therefore yield more than the usual boilerplate professions of mutual esteem. It should aim for a definition of the relationship between the two countries that does justice to the global promise of constructive cooperation between them.

I remember Deng’s visit well, as I was national security adviser at the time. It took place in an era of Soviet expansionism, and crystallized United States-Chinese efforts to oppose it. It also marked the beginning of China’s three-decades-long economic transformation – one facilitated by its new diplomatic ties to the United States.

Chris Hedges: ‘The Left Has Nowhere to Go’

Ralph Nader in a CNN poll a few days before the 2008 presidential election had an estimated 3 percent of the electorate, or about 4 million people, behind his candidacy. But once the votes were counted, his support dwindled to a little over 700,000. Nader believes that many of his supporters entered the polling booth and could not bring themselves to challenge the Democrats and Barack Obama. I suspect Nader is right. And this retreat is another example of the lack of nerve we must overcome if we are going to battle back against the corporate state. A vote for Nader or Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney in 2008 was an act of defiance. A vote for Obama and the Democrats was an act of submission. We cannot afford to be submissive anymore.

“The more outrageous the Republicans become, the weaker the left becomes,” Nader said when I reached him at his home in Connecticut on Sunday. “The more outrageous they become, the more the left has to accept the slightly less outrageous corporate Democrats.”

David Cole: Chewing Gum for Terrorists

Did former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Tom Ridge, a former homeland security secretary, and Frances Townsend, a former national security adviser, all commit a federal crime last month in Paris when they spoke in support of the Mujahedeen Khalq at a conference organized by the Iranian opposition group’s advocates? Free speech, right? Not necessarily.

The problem is that the United States government has labeled the Mujahedeen Khalq a “foreign terrorist organization,” making it a crime to provide it, directly or indirectly, with any material support. And, according to the Justice Department under Mr. Mukasey himself, as well as under the current attorney general, Eric Holder, material support includes not only cash and other tangible aid, but also speech coordinated with a “foreign terrorist organization” for its benefit. It is therefore a felony, the government has argued, to file an amicus brief on behalf of a “terrorist” group, to engage in public advocacy to challenge a group’s “terrorist” designation or even to encourage peaceful avenues for redress of grievances.

Gary Hart: Will the Commons Become Tragic?

It is quite possible that the greatest human challenge in this century will be how or whether we humans can fairly share what belongs to all. Aristotle stated the issue: “… what is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it. Everyone thinks chiefly of his own, hardly at all of the common interest.” Garrett Hardin summarized this issue for the present age: “Ruin is the destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons.”

Our economic system is built on the proposition that markets allocate resources best. But what is true of private resources may not also be true of public resources, those we hold in common. The conservative response to this is, of course, privatize all public resources. 20 years ago this was accomplished in Russia, and about a dozen and a half oligarchs ended up with most of the public assets.

In the industrial age we let private interests allocate our most precious public resources, our air and water, and we see how that worked out. In this century we are now competing with the rest of the world as to how and whether together we can prevent carbonization of our very climate from fundamentally altering life on earth

Robert Fisk: Bombs Make No Moral Distinctions Where They Fall

To Mannheim for its annual film festival and I am gripped by Armadillo, a documentary on a Danish NATO unit in Afghanistan, real bullets whizzing past one of the bravest directors of photography in the world, real soldiers falling wounded, one with a Wilfred Owen pallour of death on his face.

But he survives. Others don’t. After storming a Taliban position, the Danes find at least three Afghans, apparently still alive. There is a crack of gunfire and they are dead. “We eliminated them in the most humane way possible,” one of the Danes says afterwards, right there on the soundtrack.

I am stunned. The words “war crimes” are in my mind. Then I stumble out into the cold afternoon to walk back to my hotel past the back of the 19th-century Kunstalle and there are shrapnel gashes up the red stone walls, deep wounds in the brickwork of the school next door, a slash in the basement window casing. Was this from the British fire raid of 1940, or the first attempt to raze the city on 16 April 1943, or the American raids of 1944? Well protected with underground bunkers, only 1,700 Germans were killed here, a mere 0.6 per cent of its residents. War crimes?

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