The Nightowl Newswrap

Crossposted from our new home blog,
They gave us a republic...

Yeah, don't be scamming on Medicare: For people with osteoporosis, a painful bone disease, a simple medical device can help. Doctors use it to inject bone filler and repair tiny fractures. The procedure, called kyphoplasty, can be done in about an hour without putting the patient to sleep. But Kyphon, the company that made the device, stood to make a lot more money if patients were admitted to the hospital for expensive overnight stays...As an outpatient procedure, Medicare would pay about $1,000 for kyphoplasty. But as an inpatient procedure, Medicare paid up to $10,000 -- your tax dollars.

But will they disarm? Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered most of his militiamen to disarm but said Friday he will maintain elite fighting units to resist the Americans if a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops is not established. Also Friday, Iraqi police say at least 16 people have been killed and 20 wounded when a car bomb struck a market in the northern city of Tal Afar. A senior police official in the nearby city of Mosul says the car was parked when it exploded by the market, crowded with shoppers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information. The bombing is the latest in a series of deadly attacks by suspected insurgents seeking to chip away at recent security gains. Al-Sadr's statement - read to worshippers during Friday prayers in Baghdad's former militia stronghold of Sadr City - is in line with details revealed earlier this week and appears to be an extension of plans he announced in June aimed at asserting more control over the militia.

It used to be called "shy" before it was called "stalking" but oh well: A microbiologist claims she was stalked for decades by Bruce Ivins, the suspect in the deadly anthrax mailings of 2001 who, according to court documents, was obsessed with the sorority she joined in college. Nancy L. Haigwood and her former husband, Carl J. Scandella, also think Ivins may have wanted to get close to her when he moved in down the street from the couple in the suburbs of Washington in the early 1980s. Ivins, an Army scientist, committed suicide last week as federal authorities prepared to charge him with killing five people by sending anthrax spores in the mail. The letters were dropped in a mailbox near a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority office in Princeton, New Jersey, and prosecutors have suggested Ivins chose that location because of its proximity to the office. Well, case closed!

Did they figure out if he actually wrote the plays, though? The theater where "The Merchant of Venice" and "Romeo and Juliet" likely debuted and where William Shakespeare himself may have trodden the boards has likely been discovered in east London, archaeologists at the Museum of London said. The possible foundations of what is known as simply, The Theatre, were unearthed by builders excavating the site - a vacant garage - for another structure. Museum archaeologists were called to the location to make sure nothing was destroyed, and had a eureka moment. "We were there, scratching our heads, looking into the trenches, thinking, 'this could be it,"' Jo Lyon, a senior museum archaeologist, said Wednesday. "So we did some more research, and then we found the angled walls. And we all went, 'Oh my gosh, this should be it.' " Other theaters of similar vintage also have angled walls, so the discovery was significant. Archaeologists also had known for a long time there was a high probability for The Theatre to be on this particular site. But there are no maps that show its location, no images to show what it might have looked like, and only a vague description of it. "It's in the right place, it's at the right angle to be a polygonal shape," Lyon said. "It's a pretty high possibility."

This probably bodes ill for republicans this fall For the first time since 1966, an incumbent congressman in Tennessee has lost a primary. Freshman republican Representative David Davis lost to the mayor of a small city in the heavily republican TN 01. Challenger Phil Roe defeated the one-term congressman by linking him to big oil. In the final days of the campaign, Roe took to the airwaves with a commercial that accused Davis of selling out to Big Oil by taking money from oil industry PACs and backing legislation favored by oil companies that would allow expanded off-shore drilling. Lets make sure we are clear on this – Tennessee republicans turned out an incumbent with oil ties while the republican minority is engaged in a hyperbolic circle jerk in a closed chamber, insisting on an emergency session to do the bidding of Big Oil. During the final weeks of the campaign, gas prices in the TN 01 hit a record high of $3.94.

Speaking of that hyperbolic circle jerk on the part of the republican minority John Boehner managed to rip himself away from the golf course to return to the floor of the closed House chamber late this morning. He spent Monday through Thursday blustering that the Congress needed to be called back for a special session to do the bidding of Exxon-Mobile…from the golf course. At least one of his tee-times was for a republican fundraiser.

Cheney will address the party faithful on the first night of the republican nominating convention. There is no love lost between Cheney and McCain - in fact, the two men can't stand one another, and association with either of the executives is toxic, so they are both speaking the first night, before McSame even arrives.

As with most addictions, there is a smoking gene Most people react to tobacco (or opiates, or alcohol) in an adverse manner the first time they experience it, but a few people feel waves of pleasure and even euphoria. The people in that group have a genetic predisposition and addiction can happen with the very first cigarette.

Nuptuals by the numbers All over Asia couples were married on 08/08/08 in hasty, individual ceremonies and mass weddings. In Chinese the word for "eight" sounds like the word for "prosperity," and in any language the number has a pleasing symmetry: two circles interlocked like a pair of wedding rings. It also looks like an infinity symbol turned upright, suggesting that the marriage will last forever.

The first gold medal of the Beijing games has been earned by Katrina Emmons of the Czech republic in the 10 meter air rifle competition. She shot a perfect 400 in qualifying and set an Olympic record in the event with 503.5 points. Lioubov Galkina of Russia won the silver. Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took the bronze.


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Remember to update your blogrolls and bookmarks with our new domain,
They gave us a republic...

The Nightowl Newswrap

Crossposted from our new home blog,
They gave us a republic...


Yes, hearings are definitely in order Congressman Gene Green of Houston is mad as hell over recruiters lying, bullying and threatening a high-school student that he could be charged as a deserter - because he changed his mind about enlisting in the Army before he signed the contract and took the oath of service. "That's not what our country's about," Rep. Gene Green told KHOU. "There's a problem with the system in the Army." Green has written a letter to the Pentagon and also intends to ask the House Armed Services Committee to investigate or hold hearings.


Chinese Uighurs issue terrorism threat for Olympics The Turkistan Islamic Party has warned Muslims to avoid being on trains, plains and buses with Chinese citizens during the Olympics. The videotaped warning was purportedly made by the Turkistan Islamic Party, which seeks independence for China's western Xinjiang region, according to an organization that monitors militant grouporganizations. The militants are believed to be based in Pakistan, where security experts say core members have received training from al-Qaida.


Schumer wants Obama to hit McCain harder when he gets personal in his attacks. "I would not be afraid to attack back," he said in an interview with Politico. "When they say, 'He's not one of us,' you don't say, 'Here's our plan on health care.'" (No shit.)


Florida man in custody for threatening Senator Obama A 22 year old wanna-be bail-bondsman is in custody and being held without bond (we are diggin' on the irony here) after threatening the life of the presumptive Democratic nominee. He compounded his woes by telling a Secret Service agent how he would go about it.




McCain campaign reviewing "bundled" donations from Harry Sargeant III, a prominent Florida businessman and finance chair of the Florida GOP. The review comes on the heels of the disclosure that his business partner, a Jordanian national, also may have engaged in fundraising. It is illegal for foreign nationals to contribute to US political campaigns. (We wonder if they will review the donations that probably illegally originated with Hess Oil next?)


Score one for the First Amendment AS Federal Judge in Rhode Island has struck down a law that gave police chiefs the authority to decide which candidates for public office could display their signs on public property. Judge William E. Smith ruled that the law unconstitutionally infringed on the freedom of speech by letting police chiefs decide who can post signs, but not listing criteria chiefs should use in making that decision.


Detroit's mayor is cooling his heels in jail tonight after having his bond revoked. He violated the terms of his conditional release by leaving the country for an official visit to nearby Windsor, Ontario last month without the permission of the court.


Nikki Tinker deserved to lose, and should be mocked mercilessly if she ever attempts to run for any public office ever again the rest of her life. In a crowded primary field, she launched a vile, anti-semitic personal attack against Steve Cohen, the winner of todays primary. The ad drew condemnation from Barack Obama and scorn from all quarters. (Maybe someone should remind Ms. Tinker of the prominent role Jewish Americans played in the civil rights movement the next time she derides someone for participating in a worship service in "our churches" and by the way, since when is the Lord's house anyones exclusive providence? And since I'm on a roll, I wonder if the names Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner mean anything to her hateful ass?)


Conyers again demands RNC documents in probe of Justice Department The national party had provided email accounts for members of the administration to assist them in evading the law and engaging in political activities from the White House. Remember, the GOP is, at its very core, a crime syndicate.


McCain trolls will find no bridge here We didn't see the scoop potential a month ago when we noticed the McSame campaign was giving away campaign swag for blog posts and comments, and we started quietly deleting such comments so they couldn't be confirmed. But today both Kevin and Steve posted about it, so we guess it merits mentioning. Anyway trolls, you aren't getting any points to earn a lame t-shirt by spamming our blog.

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The Nightowl Newswrap

Why is that warmongering idiot John Bolton still getting airtime? On Faux Noise today he was at it again, declaring that "diplomacy is finished" (when was it tried???) and declaring that there were two options - targeted military strikes and "regime change" - because that has worked so well in Iraq, you know. We have explained the vast differences between the two countries in the past. Anyone who thinks regime change in Iran is even possible should read this.


21% That is the percentage of those polled who approve of bu$h's handling of the economy, and his overall approval rating is 25% - which begs the question - who are these people in that 25% who will admit, without a trace of shame, to approving of this moron?


Another murder by police Tasered, handcuffed, then brutalized to death by cops who kicked and beat him after he was unconscious. I guess when torture is official national policy that pathology trickles down to the cops on the street, and brutality becomes the norm.


Keep after the lying old creep, Barack! After McCain grudgingly admitted that keeping our tires inflated and our engines tuned up really would save energy, and produce results immediately, not seven years in the future, it was Obama's turn to pounce. “In the coming days it’s going to be interesting watching this debate between John McCain and John McCain” he told an audience in Elkhart, Indiana.



Pawlenty tries a positive tack and praises Obama Potential running mate Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota, praised Barack Obama, "Say what you will about Barack Obama," he told a group of conservatives, "people gravitate when you have something positive to say." That will play well with the average American, but it will make the wingnuts froth and twitch and need seizure medication.


A PUMA ate my unity pony Hillary has accepted the fact that Barack Obama is going to be the nominee. Why can't these jackasses? And don't give me that "popular vote" line of crap, either - the "popular vote" that they cling desperately to doesn't mean a damned thing, any more than it does in the general election, and everyone with a lick of sense knows it. Grow up already.


That's GOP leadership for you While House republicans carry on their idiotic grandstanding circle-jerk in a closed chamber, minority leader John "crybaby" Boehner was back in his district and hitting the links.


Mitt isn't going to be in the number 2 slot with answers like this Asked to name one single legislative accomplishment of John McCain on the energy front, Romney answered "I'm not a historian."


This sounds like a threat Mike Gravel was caught on tape last week encouraging a crowd to harass a federal prosecutor who helped bring criminal contempt charges against a Palestinian activist, Sami Al-Arian. It's one thing to picket a public figures office, but it crosses a very bright line when you encourage people to find out where that persons children go to school.


Austin Bay is a giant colostomy bag You know you are in for 30% extra wingnutty goodness when a column starts with "Victory in war is tough to define" so you shouldn't be surprised when it goes on for 750 words performing editorial fellatio of David Petraeus.


More specious campaign donations to the McCain campaign Members of the Abdullah family maxed out and even exceeded the maximum contribution limit, and many were apparently pressured and lied to by the family patriarch. Some were surprised to learn that the contributions were not tax deductible, and another who initially denied the donation said “He’s like a worse copy than Bush,” and asserted that he certainly wasn't going to vote for him.


Happy Blogiversary One year ago today, Show Me Progress rolled out, and has been making waves in Missouri Democratic circles ever since.

The Nightowl Newswrap

Um...they do take pride in being ignorant The republicans in their current incarnation are the "Know Nothing's" of the 21st century. For four days the McCain campaign and the howler monkeys that desperately back his feeble run for the oval have been gleefully - and ignorantly - mocking Obama's suggestion that we all check our tire pressure to save a bit of energy. Even though the Energy department, auto manufacturers, NASCAR and all sorts of other experts on such matters point out that Obama's suggestion is spot on. "They're lying about what my energy plan is," said Obama. "They're making fun of a step that every expert says would reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant." Way to grasp the obvious there, Barack.


The dumbassery of David Brooks is rivaled only by his banality Someone tell that mo-ron that watching the national polls is a mugs game, since the popular vote doesn't determine the presidency. If you look at the state polls, you will find your landslide. Dumbass.


Memo to Faux Noise...there is no KFC in Fallujah. Wonder if Doocy will retract his assertion?


First he calls her a c*nt, then tries to turn her out topless at a biker rally? Yesterday in a campaign stop at the Sturgis biker rally, McCain offered up Cindy for the Miss Buffalo Chip contest. Something tells me neither of them are quite sure what that particular event entails...Click the link. Josh has all the details. Personally, she's a bit high maintenance for a wet t-shirt contest. Bedhead Barbie is more the catfight kind.

Stealing someone's identity gets more brazen every year: The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it had charged 11 people in connection with the hacking of nine major U.S. retailers and the theft and sale of more than 40 million credit and debit card numbers. It is believed to be the largest hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. The charges include conspiracy, computer intrusion, fraud and identity theft. Three of the defendants are U.S. citizens, while the others are from places such as Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus and China. "So far as we know, this is the single largest and most complex identity theft case ever charged in this country," said Attorney General Michael Mukasey. "It highlights the efforts of the Justice Department to fight this pernicious crime and shows that, with the cooperation of our law enforcement partners around the world, we can identify, charge and apprehend even the most sophisticated international computer hackers."

Another Sunni leader killed along with two US troops: A roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers in a predominantly Shiite area in Baghdad on Monday, the first deadly attack against American troops in the capital in nearly a month, and gunmen killed one of the senior leaders of a U.S.-allied Sunni group fighting militants south of the capital. The U.S. military said another American soldier was wounded when the blast struck a U.S. patrol at about 9:30 a.m. in eastern Baghdad. The area was the site of fierce clashes and frequent roadside bombings blamed on Shiite militiamen before a cease-fire by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The soldiers were the first to be killed in Baghdad since July 8, when a roadside bomb killed Spc. William McMillan III, a 22-year-old Army medic from Lexington, Ky., and wounded five other soldiers in the western neighborhood of Amariyah, a Sunni area. As of Monday, Aug. 4, 2008, at least 4,131 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Tragedy on K2: Limping through ice on frostbitten feet, the last survivor of the mountaineering disaster that killed 11 climbers on K2 reached base camp Tuesday as cloud and snow prevented a helicopter rescue. "Now I really realize that everyone here has died," said Marco Confortola, who was stranded on the world's second highest peak after an ice fall nearly four days ago. "I am happy to be alive," the Italian climber told the Everest-K2-CNR, an Italy-based high-altitude scientific research group, during a phone call from base camp. K2, which straddles Pakistan and China in the Karakoram range, is regarded by mountaineers as far more challenging than Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. K2's knife-edged ridges and icy slopes are steeper and prone to both avalanches and sudden and severe storms.

Iraq asks for doctors to return: The Health Ministry has appealed to Iraqi physicians who fled the country due to violence to return to their jobs because security has improved, an official said Sunday. Dr. Essam Namiq, a deputy minister of health, said more than 165 Iraqi doctors have responded and resumed their work over the past 20 days, and he expected more than 90 percent to return this year. The violence of the past five years, much of which targeted professionals, "had forced the majority of the Iraqi doctors to abandon their hospitals and clinics" Namiq told a press conference in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.

Yes, but could they close the gulf long enough to cause a major world oil shock? Pentagon said Tuesday that any move by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz would be "self-defeating" because its weak economy is so heavily dependent on oil revenues. "Shutting down the Strait, closing down the Persian Gulf, would be sort of a self-defeating exercise," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary. "That doesn't say anything about whether we tolerate such a thing to happen." Morrell's comments came in response to a warning by the new head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards that Iran could easily close the Strait of Hormuz, through which much of the world's oil passes. General Mohammad Ali Jafari announced Monday that Iran has successfully tested an anti-ship missile with a range of 300 kilometers (180 miles.) "And given the equipment our armed forces have, an indefinite blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would be very easy," Jafari said on state television.

Russians warned on South Ossetia: Washington Tuesday urged Moscow to avoid provocation in Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia, after a diplomat said Russia was prepared to defend its citizens living there in case of conflict. "We don't believe that now is the time for any parties to be acting in a provocative way," said US State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos. "We believe that the violence should stop and all parties should begin a discussion so that they can move forward towards settling the situation," he added. Gallegos' statement followed a comment by Moscow's negotiator on South Ossetia, ambassador-at-large Yury Popov, that Russia would intervene in the separatist region if its citizens were in danger. "If events develop in the worst possible way, with the use of force, Russia will not be able to stand by seeing as Russian citizens live in South Ossetia," Popov was quoted as saying by Russia's Interfax news agency. South Ossetia has evacuated hundreds of women and children to Russia over the past few days after six people were killed on Friday by sniper and mortar fire from Georgian positions, the rebel province's government said. Georgia has denied readying for war and said there is no major evacuation. One reason for hope--Secretary Rice appears to not be part of these negotiations, at least, so far...

Is the era of the big commute over? It sure seems like it should be: The "end of the exurbs" trend narrative story has hit the Washington Post front page, with a very good article by Eric ("War on Drivers") Weiss. As we well know, families just aren't moving out to the fringe of the metropolitan area for cheap housing yet grueling commutes; "the days of building giant houses on former soybean fields on the outer fringes of metropolitan areas are over." Weiss not only identifies the trend but delves into the causes, and gets them right: Since the end of World War II, government policy has funded and encouraged the suburban lifestyle, subsidizing highways while starving mass transit... Federal spending is about 4 to 1 in favor of highways over transit. Today, more than 99 percent of the trips taken by U.S. residents are in cars or some other non-transit vehicle, largely as a result of decades of such unbalanced spending. I would never have guessed the number to be as high as 99 percent--that's an outrage.

Finally, from the just plain shut the fuck up and quit being a hypocrite files: John McCain on the recently recessed Congress: Earlier in the day, McCain told a biker rally, “Tell em’ to come back and get to work. When I’m president of the United States, I’m not going to let them go on vacation.” This strikes me as amusing for two reasons: the hypocrisy and the misplaced priorities. On the latter point, McCain hasn’t been “willing” to leave the campaign trail for anything, but all of a sudden, he’s ready to head back to his day job to tackle a coastal drilling bill that wouldn’t do any good anyway. Brad Johnson noted a handful of the bills McCain could have come back to the Hill to vote on, but decided he couldn’t be bothered.

– 4/26/07: Iraq War funding (passed 51-46)
– 6/7/07: Immigration reform (filibustered 34-61)
– 6/11/07: Condemning Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (filibustered 53-38)
– 7/26/07: Homeland Security (passed 85-8)
– 8/3/07: Wiretapping (FISA) authorization (passed 60-28)
– 9/27/07: Children’s health insurance (passed 69-30; vetoed)
– 2/6/08: Stimulus package with support for renewable energy (filibustered by one vote)
– 4/23/08: Fair Pay Act (filibustered 56-42)
– 5/22/08: The 21st-Century GI Bill (passed 75-22)
– 6/6/08: Global warming legislation (filibustered 48-36)

McCain wouldn’t leave the campaign trail for any of these votes, but he is willing to head back for a pointless debate on a pointless drilling initiative. It helps highlight just how serious McCain is about governing — or in this case, not. As always, Steve Benen chronicles the follies.

The Nightowl Newswrap

It's hard to know who to feel sorry for-- Dana Milbank decided to leave his gig with Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and he did so because he didn't react well to having his reporting skills questioned. On the other hand, we've had issues with Olbermann as well. How about we call a Mulligan on this one and react with bemused detachment?

Update on Morgan Freeman: Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman, who is hospitalized in Memphis, Tenn., is expected to be OK after being injured in a car accident in Mississippi on Monday. "He has a broken arm, broken elbow and minor shoulder damage but he is in good spirits," Freeman's rep, Donna Lee, said in a statement Monday afternoon, according to People. "He is going to have surgery this afternoon or tomorrow to correct the damage. He says he'll be OK and is looking forward to a full recovery." In addition, the Associated Press reported that a business partner also said that Freeman suffered a broken arm and other injuries.

Every once in a while, you have to remind yourself that South America is actually a region that matters a great deal. And yet, why doesn't anyone ever pay attention to it? Deep in the northernmost reaches of the Amazon jungle, a land conflict between rice farmers and a handful of Indian tribes has turned so violent that the country's Supreme Court warns it could escalate into civil war. The court is expected to decide in August if the government can keep evicting rice farmers from a 4.2 million acre Indian reservation decreed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2005. The evictions were stopped in April when rice farmers started burning bridges and blockading roads, and justices said they feared a "veritable civil war." The court's decision could help determine the future of the Amazon, whose remaining jungles provide a critical cushion against global warming. It could also redefine Brazil's policy toward its Indians at a time of frequent confrontations, as the country spends billions of dollars opening roads, building dams and promoting agribusiness across the world's largest remaining tropical wilderness. Unlike in most other Latin American countries, where indigenous people are fighting for rights in mainstream society, most of Brazil's Indians continue to live in the jungle and maintain their languages and traditions. These Indians have fought for decades to keep or regain their ancestral lands.

Uh, you need to call them fucking idiots, is what you need to do, because they are idiots for decrying what tire pressure can do to gas mileage: "As Senator McCain knows, Barack Obama has a comprehensive plan to provide real relief to Americans struggling with soaring prices and make the long-term investments we need to break our addiction to oil," the campaign writes in an email with the subject line "more from the low road."..."And while the McCain team may is busy amusing themselves, the fact is that the idea they’re attacking is supported by, among others, top McCain surrogate Joe Lieberman, conference call host Mike Rogers, Governors Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Department of Energy, and NASCAR — all of whom have urged Americans to help save energy by minding tire pressure," the Obama team continued in the email. "But hey, who ever let the facts — or supporters’ positions — get in the way of a political attack? Aboard the Low Road Express, that’s no problem at all."

Goodbye to lenses?Researchers have come up with a microscopic microscope, tiny enough to fit on a fingertip, that can be cheaply mass-produced and used to scan blood and water for pathogens. The high-resolution microscope functions without the large and expensive lenses usually associated with such imaging devices. Instead, it combines the chip technology found in digital cameras with "microfluidics," the science of channeling liquid at scales far smaller than a common droplet. "The whole thing is truly compact -- it could be put in a cell phone -- and it can use just sunlight for illumination, which makes it very appealing for third-world applications," said Changhuei Yang, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology and one of the lead developers of the device. Yang imagines a range of uses for the so-called optofluidic microscope, which measures about the size of George Washington's nose on a quarter and has the magnifying power of a top-quality optical microscope, according to the Caltech research team.

On to the jury: A jury of U.S. military officers began deliberating a verdict Monday for Osama bin Laden's driver in the first American war crimes trial since World War II. The panel of six jurors was reviewing evidence from a two-week trial at the Guantanamo Bay Navy base that has become the first full test of the Bush administration's system for prosecuting alleged terrorists. Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni held here since May 2002, faces a maximum life sentence if convicted of conspiracy and supporting terrorism. In closing arguments, prosecutors said Hamdan's service to the al Qaeda chief over five years in Afghanistan helped him execute terrorist plots including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

How about simply shutting the White House down for the rest of the year A senior White House official says staffers accompanying President Bush to China have been told to leave their BlackBerries at home, reports CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer. The mobile e-mail blackout is the latest sign of U.S. concerns over Chinese cyber-spying. Sensitive presidential communications are always encrypted, but government cyber-security experts are worried about electronic eavesdropping on the BlackBerries, which are difficult to protect from snooping. BlackBerries have been banned on other presidential foreign trips but the order underscores specific concerns about Chinese spying during the Olympics...

What childishly simplistic person thought they were going to keep their promises? Chinese officials have not lived up to key promises they made to win the right to host the Olympics, including widening press freedoms, cleaning up their capital city's polluted air and respecting human rights. The failures were evident Monday:

A thick pall of smog covered Beijing, raising concerns that endurance events such as long-distance races would have to be moved out of the city. Some still held out hope that emergency measures would clear the city's air by Friday.

Near Tiananmen Square in the heart of the city, police scuffled with protesters who said they were evicted from their homes to make way for Games-related development.

Chinese censors continued to block access to politically sensitive Web sites for thousands of foreign journalists gathered at the Olympic press center.

These failures stand in contrast to the Herculean efforts China has made to prepare for the Olympics, building world-class venues, housing and other infrastructure.

The Evan Bayh bandwagon is starting to roll. More focus on Traumatic Brain Injury, please. This is something that needs to be dealt with, not campaigned on and forgotten: As speculation over the number two slot rises, presidential candidate Barack Obama and potential v.p. contender Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana joined forces Monday, signing a letter with eight other senators that urges Defense Secretary Robert Gates to increase medical coverage and care for Iraq war veterans left with serious brain injuries.

The Nightowl Newswrap

Someone tell Rick Davis...that the salads they sell at McDonald's contain Arugula.


Win, even if you have to mock common sense That seems to be the mantra of the rethugs. Now, apparently, they are against routine car maintenance and, yes, common sense.


Please, please, please let McVanity pick Romney...because it will unleash a torrent of vitriol at the republican ticket. Before he was elected governor of Massachusetts, Romney was a star player in the private equity world where big investors routinely buy struggling companies, overhaul them — often in part through layoffs — and then sell them off for huge profits, and all that matters is the bottom line of the bloodsuckers like Romney. Last year the private equity sector was targeted by Congressional Democrats for insults and tax increases. With a Romney vice presidential nod, those charges would go national. "There's no doubt it will come up," says Mark Mellman, a key strategist for Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John F. Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. "This is an economy where people are on edge about things like downsizing and getting laid off and here's a guy who has wielded that knife."


Details ironed out for Libya to compensate victims of terrorist bombings Before adjourning for the summer break, Congress approved the details of an arrangement that allows Libya to start paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to U.S. victims of bombing attacks that Washington blames on Tripoli.

Amen to that...Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, whose office was a target of the anthrax attacks in 2001, said Sunday the suicide of the government's main suspect does not mean the case is over. Daschle said the FBI has not given him any new updates. He also raised questions about the quality of the investigation, noting that the government recently paid out almost $6 million to a former Army scientist, Steven Hatfill, who accused authorities of unfairly targeting him in the anthrax case. "From the very beginning I've had real concerns about the quality of the investigation," Daschle said in a broadcast interview. "Given the fact that they already paid somebody else $5 million for the mistakes they must have made gives you some indication of the overall caliber and quality of the investigation." Five people died and 17 others were sickened when anthrax-laced letters began showing up at congressional offices, newsrooms and post offices soon after Sept. 11, 2001. The case re-emerged in the news this past week as investigators prepared to charge a government scientist Bruce Ivins in the case. Ivins died Tuesday in what has been ruled a suicide.

Torture, Chilean style...During the darkest years of this country's military dictatorship, Mariana Callejas was an up-and-coming writer and the hostess of the era's most glamorous literary salon. Chile's leading authors trekked up to Callejas' hillside mansion every Thursday night to talk literature, have a few drinks and sometimes dance until the next morning. The salon offered a respite from the fear and violence of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's Chile, in which nearly 3,200 dissidents died or disappeared at the hands of government agents. Writer Carlos Iturra, who attended the meetings, said in an e-mail that he'd always remember those nights for "the good writers who were formed there" amid the "dances, drinks, laughs and debates." Horror lay just below the glittering surface, however, as it often did during the 1973-90 military dictatorship.

What? How are the Beijing Olympics contributing to a worldwide shortage of vitamin C? In their efforts to curb air pollution for the upcoming games, the Chinese shut down manufacturing plants in and around Beijing — including cutbacks at factories producing 80 percent of the world’s ascorbic acid, more commonly known as vitamin C. Experts say the shortage and resulting price increases will not likely spark an outbreak of scurvy, the nemesis of Old World sailors on extended voyages without fresh fruits and vegetables. But ascorbic acid is crucial to modern food and beverage production, and is an important vitamin supplement in the United States and worldwide.

It'll only end in tears you idiots...House Republicans will be back on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again Monday to continue the unprecedented protest that began last Friday, when dozens of Republicans joined hundreds of American citizens on the House floor to protest Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) decision to send Congress home for the rest of the summer without a vote on legislation to lower gas prices and move America toward energy independence. In an urgent memo sent to GOP Members and staff Saturday (“A Call to Action on American Energy”), Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) hailed Friday’s action, which was led by Reps. Mike Pence (R-IN), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Tom Price (R-GA), and others, and encouraged House Republicans to return to the Capitol beginning Monday morning to help keep the historic effort going. “It’s not a request we make lightly. But the American people are suffering,” Boehner and Blunt said in the memo. “The consequences of continued congressional inaction on gas prices are unacceptable. We’ve called on the Speaker to call Congress back into an emergency session this month and schedule a vote on the American Energy Act. We must continue to make a stand until the Speaker complies.” What a bunch of idiots--it's called a recess. Remember when Boehner was running things? And they worked a day and a half per week? What were you doing then about the problems we face now? Answer--even with your quaint ideas about "working," you were doing nothing for Americans, and everything for whoever had a wad of cash. Now quit complaining and take your hardly-earned little vacation.

The Nightowl Newswrap

We agree that the House republians are revolting...but we don't think concern over gas prices has anything to do with it. If they were truly concerned about prices at the pump right now, they would be pressing for the president to release some petrol from the strategic petroleum reserve, and they aren't. Instead, they postured, preened and screeched. Their antics accomplish nothing, other than to make them look like idiots.


About that charge of "political celebrity" McCain tosses around the term now like it;s a bad thing, but anyone who has been paying attention knows that he defined the oeuvre. After his 2000 loss to the preordained bu$h, he became a Hollywood darling. His memoirs were turned into a biopic, he appeared on an episode of "24" and in the movie "Wedding Crashers" and appeared on late-night shows at least 30 times. “[The ad] is a bit ironic given that McCain has been the most pop-culture savvy Republican candidate in quite some time,” said Ted Johnson, managing editor of Variety and editor of the blog Wilshire and Washington, which monitors the intersection of celebrity and politics.


I am cynical enough to believe it Agence France-Presse is reporting that Radovan Karadzic received the protection of the United States until 2000, when a a CIA phone bug caught him breaking the terms of his 'deal', Serb newspaper Blic reported Saturday, Blic quoted a US intelligence source, on condition of anonymity for their article. The Blic source said: "I'm not sure there was a written document confirming so, but I do have Holbrooke's admission of verbal guarantees given to Karadzic from the highest level of the US. During the year 2000, at the time of the (November general) elections in Bosnia, the CIA learned that Karadzic was still leading the SDS (the Serbian Democratic Party, founded by Karadzic), despite their deal that he was not to interfere in political life," the source added, cited by the newspaper. Richard Holbrooke, of course, denies the allegation.


12-year-old NYC girl survives 14 story fall The girl had taken a visiting cousin up to the roof to see the view of the Hudson when she climbed up a ladder on the side of the chimney for a better view, when she tumbled down the flue. She landed in two foot of soot and survived the fall with a broken hip and no internal injuries. The building super is relieved that he didn't know the chimney had been swept.



The Falcon 9 rocket has cleared another hurdle on the way to becoming the transportation method used to delivery of supplies to the International Space Station. Nasa hopes the Falcon 9 can help fill the mission gap that will exist while it develops the Ares/Orion successor to the shuttle. The Shuttle mission is scheduled to end in 2010, but the Ares/Orion won't be ready before 2015.


North Dakotans take pretty much everything in stride in my experience so it really doesn't come as any big surprise that they aren't setting their locks alight over a missile booster in a ditch where an Air Force transport overturned while transporting the thing from Minot AFB to a launch site. The truck and booster rocket for a Minuteman III ICBM, which is 66 feet long and weighs 75,000 pounds, were still sitting along the road Saturday, under armed guard. "The scene is still in the assessment phase," said Maj. Laurie A. Arellano, an Air Force spokeswoman. "It's still on its side in the ditch. It has to be 100 percent stable for movement. It's not a quick process — we have to make sure everything is stable first." She said the wreck would stay there for a least a few more days. (Now you understand why we put these things in the middle of nowhere, don't you?)


U.S. HIV rate much higher than previously estimated The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released information claiming that 56,000 people had become infected with the virus that causes Aids in 2006. Previously the estimate had been 40,000. The agency was quick to point out that the increase is due to improved detection methods rather than actual increases in rates of transmission of the virus.


Why is everything framed in militant language with the right wing??? It was surreal enough to hear the term "culture war" the first time, and I admit that I find the language unsettling - raising armies of believers, putting soldiers in the streets - but referring to California's Proposition 8, the referendum on gay marriage, as "the Armageddon of the culture war" is a little over the top even for Watergate burglar and definitive right-wing lunatic Chuck Colson.


Nuclear submarine leaked radiation Water with trace amounts of radiation may have been leaking for months from th reactor core of the U.S.S. Houston as it cruised the Pacific. The problem was noticed when she put into port in Hawaii for routine repairs, and the Navy informed the Japanese government of the problem because the vessel had put into port there, even though the amount of radiation leaked was "virtually undetectable."


Josh Marshall is right Everyone should stop what they are doing right this minute and go read the brilliant analysis of this campaign by John Heilemann in New York magazine. The only way for McCain to win is to take the Rovian low road. So far, he seems right at home there.


Food security, fighting terrorism key topics at South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, but efforts to enhance cooperation among the eight member nations remain hampered by tensions between India and Pakistan, and the prime ministers of both nations met on the sidelines, grabbing headlines with talks that sought to ease a crisis in their peace process.

We have a cabinet suggestion for President Obama - We want Pat Lang for DNI, and if you know anything about the intel world and can couple that knowledge with so much as a lick of sense, you understand why.


I absolutely love the smell of roast wingnut! And the gang at Sadly, No! does it oh so well, and in succinct fashion, too. The Confederate Yankee, one of those right-wing bloggers that defines dumbassery, dipshittery and douchebaggery - all at once! - walked out on a limb, turned around, and started sawing when a whole bunch of Blogger blogs were flagged as spam and shut down. He leaped to the conclusion that it was a vast left-wing conspiracy, and fulminated at length in a screed with the ominous title Obama's Netroots Supporters Continue "Blog Burning" - ever the clever one, he even included a graphic of Nazis at a book burning! He jumped so fast that he sprained an ankle on the landing and will be on the injured reserve list for four to six seeks. (No, we are not linking that mo-ron. Ever.)

The Nightowl Newswrap

Rumor has it that the Hilton's aren't the only ones pissed off. Britney may be considering legal action for the unauthorized use of her image in the McCain "Celebrity" ad.


Speaking of that stupid ad... The McCain campaign is busy scrubbing their website for all past references to McSame as a "political celebrity" but they weren't quite quick enough for the folks at Crooks and Liars, who snagged a screen shot.


Would you like to see Wesley Clark as Obama's running mate? If so, click the link and sign the petition.


Unemployment rate climbs to 5.7% as 51,000 jobs vanished last month. So far in 2008, nearly 500,000 jobs have been lost.



Since we can't have a firing squad, put them in the general population and tell everyone why they are there A fourteen year old disabled girl is dead because everyone failed her - her parents, the rest of her family, family friends, even the social service system. Everyone let her down and as a result, she died a horrible death. May they all burn in hell.


“Well,it’s about time.” That was the words of a Polk County, IA judge when four defendants, charged with trespassing for attempting to make a citizens arrest on Karl Rove during an appearance in Des Moines last Friday, made their preliminary appearances before him yesterday. A jury trial has been set for August 20.


Another bank closure Federal regulators in Florida closed First Priority Bank today. It is the eighth bank closure this year.


Charges coming against CitiBank NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced charges are imminent for the alleged fraudulent marketing and sale of troubled auction-rate securities to everyday investors. Cuomo's office alleges that the nation's largest bank "has repeatedly and persistently committed fraud by material misrepresentations and omissions" in the underwriting, distribution and sale of auction rate securities, touting them as safe, cash-equivalent investments.


GM reported a staggering $15.5 billion dollar second quarter loss as car sales decline, plants close and the trucks and sport utility vehicles sitting on dealers lots lose value without moving a mile.


About that bit of political theater today...Boehner should get hammered with it back in his district. Two days ago, he strongarmed 13 republicans into changing their votes on a piece of legislation that would have granted actual relief at the pump for his constituents so it wouldn't pass, because he wanted to have the opportunity to orchestrate todays stunt. That's right, Ohio - he purposefully kept relief legislation from passing so he could stage todays installment of the theater of the absurd.


Crap like this is why we haven't set foot in a Walmart in years The company is scared shitless that a President Obama, coupled with expanded majorities in both the House and the Senate will put an end to the days that they can keep a boot on the necks of their employees and keep unions out of their stores. In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized. In the past they have met the union threat by closing departments, and even whole stores.


Rep. Kucinich introduces legislation that would bar U.S. oil companies from doing business in Iraq “Iraq needs oil revenue now more than ever as they try to rebuild their country,” Kucinich said Thursday, unveiling the Oil for Iraq Liberation Act. "The invasion of Iraq was about oil, but it didn’t result in more oil or cheaper gas," Kucinich said on the House Floor. "It resulted in war profiteering by oil companies who benefited by keeping Iraqi oil off the market."

The Nightowl Newswrap

Ron Paul supporters could spell T-R-O-U-B-L-E for McCain Especially in the west, where his supporters are pledging a fight at the convention. Although their numbers are small by eastern-states standards, in the sparsely populated western states, they could tilt the electoral map. "In Nevada, there's absolutely enough to have an effect on the election," said Chuck Muth, a leading conservative activist in a state in which early polls show McCain and Democratic candidate Barack Obama in a statistical tie. "I think that you will see not just Libertarians who always vote for the Libertarian candidate but conservative Republicans saying we've had it, we've had enough and they're going to go ahead and vote Libertarian."


The 'elitist' shoe is on the other foot, now and it is an exquisite Ferragamo loafer - that sells for $520 a pair - and it is on McCain's foot at every campaign stop he makes.


Blackwater is now in the private intelligence gathering business, marketing their services to foreign governments as well as Fortune 500 companies. "Blackwater started a private intelligence company, a private CIA essentially, called Total Intelligence Solutions. And the man running Total Intelligence Solutions is J. Cofer Black. He's a thirty-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency. He also was the guy who ran the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, the government-sanctioned kidnap-and-torture program. His thirty-year CIA career, his network of contacts, his knowledge that was gained through his work in the most sensitive areas of the United States government is now on the open market for hire," explained Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army.


Larry Craig will get his day in court on September 10. That is the date set to hear arguments in his request to withdraw his guilty plea for soliciting sex in a mens room at the Minneapolis airport. Craig pleaded guilty, but later said that was a mistake. A Hennepin County judge refused to allow Craig to withdraw his plea last year, and now a three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals will consider the Republican's case.



Ross Douthat is officially batshit-crazy I mean really...Barack Hitler Obama???


Of course they had a "Plan B" As you well know, the McSame campaign launched a scurrilous attack on Barack Obama, accusing him of snubbing wounded troops, even thought that was not case. Now it is coming out that the campaign had an ad ready to go if he had made the visit - that was set to accuse him of using wounded troops as political props.


A return to 12 month tours Now that the game of Three Card Monte known as the Surge™ is over, the U.S. Army is returning to 12 month deployments.


5 That is the number of Americans who lost their lives in Iraq this month. It is the lowest number of casualties that the US has recorded since the war started in March 2003.


Washington Governor turned away from bar for not having photo ID Governor Christine Gregoire, her staff, and her state patrol escorts attempted to go to a bar after spending the day at a community event - but the 61-year-old governor was turned away. She wasn't carrying her wallet, and therefore had no ID, and the 23-year-old bouncer wouldn't budge. No ID, you aren't getting past him.


Savage continues to feel the heat Maybe Savage did whack the wrong hornets nest when he said autism was a fraud. Now he has been dropped from the air in LA, the second largest radio market in the country.


With a stroke of his pen... Arnold Schwartzenegger eliminated the jobs of about 22,000 temporary workers and reduced the salaries of about 200,000 state employees to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour. The Republican Governor says he intends to reverse those moves once lawmakers reach a budget compromise, meaning the state would rehire temporary workers and give employees their entire back pay. The governor's order also imposes a strict hiring freeze and eliminates overtime but exempts workers in health and safety fields. Schwarzenegger said he understands that the action will affect families that are already struggling financially. "I want to apologize to all the state employees for having to do this," he said. The state budget is now 31 days late as legislators remain divided over how to bridge a $15.2 billion shortfall in a $101 billion general fund budget.


It's Tippy Turtle's MO to get some hammerhead in trouble, you know An Eastern Box Turtle that roams over about 50 acres of the Rock Creek Park that bisects DC was sunning herself in a pot patch when Ken Ferebee, a National Park Service researcher, has been monitoring Turtle No. 72 for seven years dropped in on her. "I was walking in the woods, following the signal with my receiver, trying to find the turtle, and I walked into an area where some large trees had fallen down," he recalled yesterday. "So there's a big hole in the tree canopy, so there's a lot of light getting down to the ground, and there's a lot of vegetation growing there. But as I'm walking, I could see a patch of bare soil that didn't look quite right. And when I got closer, I could tell it had been cleared and some plants had been planted. They looked like they'd been grown somewhere else and then actually replanted in the park. I could tell they were marijuana plants," said Ferebee, 46. "I've seen pictures of the leaves before. I've actually seen marijuana plants before, too. . . . And I was a little surprised to see them right there. They've been found in the park before, but it's been a long time. I called the police to come see, because I knew they'd be interested in that." The park police staked out the pot patch and waited. When the undercover gardener, a college student from Chevy Chase, MD returned to tend his crop, he was arrested for possession with intent to distrubute.

The Nightowl Newswrap

This we want to see! If Lieberman does make an appearance at the republican convention next month, a group of Connecticut Democrats plan to greet him with a gigantic (30 ft.) inflatable rat.


Now they want the challenges kept secret In a scant-noticed brief filed with the FISA court near the close of business on Tuesday, the DoJ audaciously requests that any review of the warrantless wiretapping law passed earlier this year by Congress be kept secret. It was also requested that the court refuse to accept legal briefs from anyone other than the Justice Department itself.


Obama promises to review aWol's executive orders On Tuesday, Barack Obama told a group of House Democrats that he would order his Attorney General to pore over bu$h's executive orders and expunge any that "trample on liberty," according to members who were in attendance.


The big winners in Ted Stevens indictment? Charities! Poltroons who received contributions from Ted Stevens' "Northern Lights PAC" are tripping over themselves in a rush to get rid of the money, and charities are the beneficiaries.




FDA finds another contaminated pepper Food-safety investigators announced to a House of Representatives subcommittee that they'd found salmonella traces on serrano peppers and irrigation water at a ranch in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. "Now we have a smoking gun, it appears," Dr. Lonnie King of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the House Horticulture and Organic Agriculture Subcommittee.


'Twas worthy of 'Reefer Madness' Coke fiends and stoners have never been "in cahoots" - for one thing there is no legitimate movement afoot to legalize the destructive and deadly blow - but it strikes us more than a little bit absurd that the cocaine-addled weasel's DEA went to the trouble to crash and hijack a press conference by Barney Frank, who favors decriminalization, even though everyone knows that the legislation offered by Frank is not going to move forward until these twitchy fuckers are out of office.


Where we come from, they call this "suborning perjury" Attorneys for State Farm insurance company made the suggestion in a sworn deposition that former GOP Senator Trent Lott encouraged witnesses to give false information in a Hurricane Katrina lawsuit, according to court records. The implication was made last week during a deposition with Lott's nephew, Zach Scruggs, who represented the former Mississippi Republican senator after his Pascagoula home was destroyed by the 2005 storm. Zach Scruggs is the son and law partner of disgraced former attorney Richard ''Dickie'' Scruggs, Lott's brother-in-law...''Has it been your custom and habit in prosecuting litigation to have Senator Lott contact and encourage witnesses to give false information?'' State Farm Fire & Casualty Cos. attorney Jim Robie asked, according to a transcript of the deposition...''I invoke my Fifth Amendment rights in response to that question,'' Zach Scruggs responded.


Where we come from, they call this sort of blatant bullshit a lie Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman went on Fox News today to stump for off-shore drilling, but he took it over the line when he said that it is so safe that no oil spilled as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. That claim is bullshit. The truth is, the two hurricanes caused 124 offshore spills for a total of 743,700 gallons, including six spills of 42,000 gallons or greater.


Olmert is outta there Beleaguered Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will step down once his Kadima party elects a new leader.


An obscure, overlooked email is getting some scrutiny On May 17, 2005, the White House’s political affairs office sent an e-mail message to agencies throughout the executive branch directing them to find jobs for 108 people on a list of “priority candidates” who had “loyally served the president.”...“We simply want to place as many of our Bush loyalists as possible,” the White House emphasized in a follow-up message, according to a little-noticed passage of a Justice Department report released Monday about politicization in the department’s hiring of civil-service prosecutors and immigration officials.


Huh. "W" Doesn't stand for "Women" after all! If the Congress has the audacity to send the Paycheck Fairness Act to his desk, aWol says he will veto it.


Former McCain adviser John Weaver calls McCain's "Celebrity" ad "childish" For months, Weaver has held his tongue in check as McCain's campaign has spiraled into surreal territory, but with todays release of the "Celebrity" ad, he has had all he can stand. He called the ad "childish" and had this to say about McCain himself: "John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," Weaver said. "Whatever that means. And I recall Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush going overseas and all those waving American flags." The strategy of driving up Obama's negatives "reduces McCain on the stage," Weaver said..."For McCain to win in such troubled times, he needs to begin telling the American people how he intends to lead us. That McCain exists. He can inspire the country to greatness."...He added: "There is legitimate mockery of a political campaign now, and it isn't at Obama's. For McCain's sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop."


No fanfare, and no Democrats Bush signed the mortgage relief act into law today, but he did so unceremoniously, and out of public view. Maybe because until recently he was threatening a veto?

The Nightowl Newswrap

Arrest made in slaying of Fort Bragg soldier: Police arrested a soldier Tuesday evening in the death of a Fort Bragg soldier who was found in a Fayetteville motel room over a month ago, Fayetteville police Chief Tom Bergamine said. Edgar Patino, 27, of 374 Lairgate Lane in Hope Mills, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Spc. Megan Touma, police said. They withheld details about how he knew Touma. Patino was being held Tuesday evening in the Cumberland County Jail without bond. Police were releasing few details about him, saying they planned a press conference Wednesday at 11 a.m. Touma's body was found at the Fairfield Inn at Cross Creek Mall on June 21 after a motel employee responded to guests' complaints about an odor coming from Touma's room. Her body was discovered in the bathtub, and police said she had been there for a few days. A "Do Not Disturb" sign had been hung outside the door since Touma checked in on June 17, so no motel employee had entered the room during that time, police said.

Good for the stock market, good for you? Wall Street shot higher Tuesday, gaining back the previous session's sharp losses and then some, after a drop in oil prices and a rise in consumer confidence gave investors some hope for a letup in Americans' financial woes. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 266 points. Crude oil prices sank $2.54 to $122.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, extending their two-week-long retreat from record highs above $147. The prospect of lower energy costs for U.S. consumers, along with a modest uptick in the Conference Board's July index of consumer confidence to 51.9 from 51 in June, came as welcome news. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity. "The thinking is that oil prices are heading lower, and that's obviously a positive for the market," said Richard E. Cripps, chief market strategist for Stifel Nicolaus. The American consumer is driving this, by not driving. As Americans stop driving, the price of gas will drop. Will it last?

The South American balloon priests' body was found: Authorities say DNA from a body found earlier this month off Brazil's coast matches a priest who disappeared while flying over the Atlantic attached to hundreds of brightly colored party balloons. Rev. Adelir Antonio de Carli set off from the Brazilian port city of Paranagua on April 20 strapped to 1,000 helium-filled balloons in an attempt to raise money to build a rest stop and worship center for truckers. When de Carli, took off that fateful day he was wearing a helmet, aluminum thermal flight suit, water proof coveralls and parachute and was seeking to break a record for the longest time in-flight with party balloons. The experienced skydiver, who had survival and wilderness training, was also carrying a GPS tracker and a radio so he could report his position to the Brazilian Navy and air traffic control. He planned to use the money raised in his attempt to break the 19-hour record to fund a "spiritual" rest stop in Paranagua, home to Brazil's largest grain port.

Short term loans are just another way to prey on people who are desperate: Today there are 24,000 payday lending stores in America - more than Starbucks and McDonald's combined. They provide 19 million American households a quick way to make ends meet. "Please borrow only what you feel comfortable paying back," says a video by the lending industry. A typical customer takes out about eight payday loans a year - in essence, an advance on their paycheck - with rates as high as 20 percent, Keteyian reports. For lower- and middle-class families with few financial options, such loans - even at that price - are a godsend. It's time to regulate and stop these "stores." which are selling nothing more than bullshit.

Crossing a grim threshold: Nearly twice as many U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan than in Iraq so far this month, marking the lowest death toll of any month since the U.S. invaded Iraq and putting July on course to be the first month in which the American military suffered more casualties in Afghanistan than in Iraq. As of Tuesday, 11 U.S. service members had been killed in Iraq and 20 in Afghanistan in July, according to icasualties.org, which tracks coalition casualties in both wars. If the July statistics hold for the next two days, they'll mark the lowest American military death toll in Iraq since February 2004, when 20 service members were killed, and the second highest toll in Afghanistan, after June, when 27 U.S. troops were killed there and 29 Americans were killed in Iraq. In all, 29 NATO and U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan this month. The American military is debating shifting more troops from Iraq to Afghanistan and expanding its counterinsurgency strategy there. Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that the military can't send more troops to Afghanistan unless it draws down more in Iraq, despite the surge of violence around Kabul and southern Afghanistan.

Using "green" to defraud: State regulators Tuesday terminated a Florida Power & Light voluntary green energy program because three-fourths of the money customers were donating went to marketing and administrative costs, not to the purchase of energy from renewable sources. By a unanimous vote, the Public Service Commission ended FPL's Sunshine Energy Program in which 39,000 customers have voluntarily added $9.75 to their monthly electric bill so that FPL could purchase renewable energy. FPL in turn contracted with a Texas company, Green Mountain Energy, to carry out the program. PSC staff have been trying for months to find out where the money went, but all it could learn was that only 24 percent was going to purchase renewable energy. Commissioner Nathan Skop, who once worked for an FPL sister company promoting renewables, said about $9 million in customers' money had gone "into a black hole where there is no transparency. . . . Clearly this is not right.'' Skop said the program was "a lot of marketing hype but very little of substance.''

Fires: A fire charring forest land west of Yosemite National Forest and threatening communities in Mariposa County continues to spread fast. The Telegraph fire, which is burning in the Merced River Drainage on both sides of the river, has scorched 29,600 acres and remains only 10 percent contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire is burning with "a rapid rate of spread in multiple directions" in steep, rocky terrain that is challenging firefighters, Cal Fire states. Erratic fire behavior also is attributed to plentiful fuel provided by vegetation in an area that has not burned in 100 years. and Earthquakes: The strongest earthquake to strike a populated area of Southern California since the 1994 Northridge quake rocked the region from Los Angeles to San Diego on Tuesday but caused only limited damage and a few injuries. Strongly felt but considered moderate, the magnitude-5.4 jolt struck at 11:42 a.m. and centered 29 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles near the San Bernardino County city of Chino Hills. It was felt as far east as Las Vegas.

Tragedy: The commander of the 3rd Wing at Elmendorf Air Force Base died of what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sunday night, Air Force Col. Richard Walberg said Monday. Brig. Gen. Thomas L. Tinsley, 45, appears to have shot himself in the chest with a handgun in his base house, Walberg said. It was unclear whether the shot was an accident or a suicide. He did not leave a note, Walberg said. His wife and daughter were home at the time.

Duh...they never should have been awarded the Olympics in the first place: China has failed to improve its human rights record in the run-up to next month's Olympics, with the government intensifying its crackdown on activists in recent years, Amnesty International charged in a report released Tuesday. The report entitled "The Olympics Countdown - Broken Promises," which accuses Chinese authorities of "tarnishing the legacy of the Games," came as the International Olympic Committee clarified that many Web sites will be blocked under controls applied by the communist government. The clarification followed months of promises to journalists that China would allow unfettered access to the Internet during the Olympics, which begin Aug. 8. Amnesty said that the Games, touted by Chinese and Olympic officials alike as a way to help expand freedoms in the authoritarian country, have instead led the government to muzzle critics in hopes of presenting an image of harmony and stability to the outside world. I'm telling you right now--the first Chinese athelete who flubs and blows their chance at a gold medal is going to be pilloried and abused in spectacular fashion before they can towel themselves off...

Really? But aren't they all up on our side? A top Central Intelligence Agency official traveled secretly to Islamabad this month to confront Pakistan’s most senior officials with new information about ties between the country’s powerful spy service and militants operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas, according to American military and intelligence officials. The C.I.A. emissary presented evidence showing that members of the spy service had deepened their ties with some militant groups that were responsible for a surge of violence in Afghanistan, possibly including the suicide bombing this month of the Indian Embassy in Kabul, the officials said. The decision to confront Pakistan with what the officials described as a new C.I.A. assessment of the spy service’s activities seemed to be the bluntest American warning to Pakistan since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks about the ties between the spy service and Islamic militants.

Interesting...Due to a "scheduling problem," PolitickerMD.com has learned that Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine will not attend tomorrow night's Unity '08 Fundraiser for the Maryland Democratic State Central Committee as previously planned. The State Democratic Party learned of Kaine's cancellation earlier today. Kaine's appearance at the Baltimore event was announced on July 11, just as speculation over his vice presidential prospects were ramping up. Some believed he would be in a secret meeting with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama earlier today, but Kaine has insisted otherwise.

The Nightowl Newswrap

Some legacy...The U.S. budget deficit will widen to a record of about $490 billion next year, an administration official said, leaving a deep budget hole that will constrain the next president's tax and spending plans. The projected deficit for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 is higher than the $407 billion forecast by President George W. Bush in February. The bigger shortfall reflects dwindling tax receipts because of the U.S. economic slowdown, the cost of a $168 billion economic stimulus package and spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. ``We've already seen a pretty sharp cooling in tax receipts, and it's just going to continue into next fiscal year,'' Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Capital Markets, said in a telephone interview. The deficit projection will burden either Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, the presumptive presidential nominees of the major political parties, with a constricted budget that has little room for cutting taxes or increasing spending. The next president also will inherit the deepest housing recession in a generation, fears of a crisis in the banking industry, a falling dollar and high energy prices. Bloomberg is hilarious, by the way--McCain won't be "burdened" by something he doesn't understand, and that is, the deficit. He's a Reagan man, and deficits don't matter, you see, and besides--Dick Cheney will simply wave his hand and make it all disappear.

If things are so great, why are the recruiters having to stoop to threats?...Irving Gonzalez signed a non-binding contract that left him free to change his mind about joining the Army up to the moment he reported for basic training - which is exactly what he did. "I'd rather just stay here," he said. "Go to college." But listen to what his recruiter, Sgt. Glenn Marquette, told him would happen. "As soon as you get pulled over for a speeding ticket, they're gonna see you're a deserter. They're gonna apprehend you, take you to jail. So guess what, all that lovey-dovey 'I wanna go to college' and all that? Guess what? You just threw it out the window 'cause you just screwed your life," Marquette said on tape. Not only is none of that true, but it also violates regulations that prohibit the threatening of potential recruits. Seventeen-year-old Eric Martinez says he was told the same thing when he changed his mind. "You can go to jail, put out a warrant for you and spend your time in jail instead of in the Army," he said they told him. Scratch one recruiter--and let's hope he gets a relief for cause NCOER for that crap.

The numbers swell--and this means we have a crisis on our hands: More than 55,000 people - including about 22,000 who identified themselves as veterans - have called the Department of Veterans Affairs’ suicide hotline during its first year in operation and CBS News has learned that many of the calls, in recent months, have come from the mid to south central part of the country. According to the VA’s own count, during a three month time period between March and May of this year, the regions where the highest number of calls originated include the states of Texas, Tennessee, Illinois and Florida among other surrounding areas. (California and Florida have the nation's largest veteran populations.) Other data, obtained by CBS News, shows that during the first six months of the hotline’s operation, the state of Texas had more callers than any other state with 2,102 out of 21,439 calls. California came in second with 2,088 calls, then Florida (1,250 calls) and Massachusetts (1,051 calls.) As demonstrated though, you cannot trust the VA to self-regulate or self-identify anything accurately. We need oversight and compliance and we need to have a massive effort to reach out to Veterans in need.

Negotiations stop in Zimbabwe: Power-sharing talks between Zimbabwe's opposition and negotiators for President Robert Mugabe broke off on Monday and the longtime leader's representatives flew home, two officials close to the talks said. One of them, in Zimbabwe, said the two negotiators - Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche - might be going home to consult Mugabe about their mandate. He said it was not clear whether the talks were in recess or had broken down. All the officials insisted on anonymity because the parties agreed to a media blackout during the talks in South Africa. A third official in Zimbabwe said opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai left Zimbabwe Monday and was driving to the South African capital, Pretoria, to consult with his negotiators. The talks between Zimbabwe's ruling and opposition parties began Thursday. One of the officials said the talks stalled over Mugabe's insistence that he remain president.

Every time someone says the war is over and won, this shit happens. Shut up already! Three suicide bombers and a roadside bomb struck Shiite pilgrims taking part in a massive religious procession in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 28 people and wounding 92, police said. The attacks occurred in quick succession as tens of thousands of Shiite worshippers streamed toward a shrine in northern Baghdad for an annual event marking the death of an eighth-century saint. The event climaxes on Tuesday. Meanwhile, officials said at least 15 people had been killed and 54 wounded when a suicide bomber struck a Kurdish rally in the disputed city of Kirkuk in Iraq's north. Police and hospital officials said the attack occurred as demonstrators gathered to protest a draft provincial elections law that is being debated in parliament. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

Yeah--shut up already! The Environmental Protection Agency is warning its pollution enforcement officials not to talk directly to congressional investigators, reporters and even the agency's own inspector general, according to an internal e-mail provided to The Associated Press. The June 16 e-mail tells 11 managers in the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, the branch of the agency charged with making sure environmental laws are followed, to remind staff to keep quiet. "If you are contacted directly by the IG's office or GAO requesting information of any kind ... please do not respond to questions or make any statements," reads the e-mail sent by Robbi Farrell, the division's chief of staff. Instead, staff should forward inquires to a designated representative. Here's to the whistle blowers--hopefully, someone will start talking soon. The head of the EPA needs to go, by the way--Stephen Johnson is a disgrace.

Fighting terrorism with one hand tied behind your back means having to kiss Musharraf's ass--and here's to a whole lot less of that: A U.S. missile strike that's believed to have killed a senior al Qaida operative in Pakistan's tribal area roiled talks Monday between President Bush and Pakistani Prime Minister Sayed Yousaf Gilani, who reproached Bush for acting unilaterally and failing to share intelligence with Pakistani authorities. A U.S. official defended the missile strike as a message that Washington will no longer abide Pakistan's failure to deny al Qaida and the Taliban refuge at a time of surging cross-border attacks on U.S., NATO and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. "If they (Pakistan) aren't doing anything, then we are," said the official, who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the issue publicly. Pakistan, however, considers U.S. strikes on its territory violations of its sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs. Gilani, appearing on CNN, said he told Bush, "This action should not be taken by the United States" and, "It's our job because we are fighting the war for ourselves."

More companies should do this--and a tax break for doing so wouldn't be unreasonable public policy, either: While other companies are shying away from the considerable costs involved, Coca-Cola announced Monday it is rolling out 10 heavy-duty hybrid trucks in South Florida, part of a national campaign to put 142 of these so-called green trucks on the road in North America in the next several weeks. Many companies — from utilities to architectural firms — are rushing to jump on the green bandwagon, and the soft-drink industry is no exception. Coke's new trucks are estimated to lower fuel consumption by 37 percent and emissions by 32 percent — solid figures to impress the growing number of people who are demanding a reduction in greenhouse gases. But heavy-duty hybrid trucks aren't cheap. Coca-Cola estimates the special engines add about $35,000 to the cost, making the total about $85,000 per truck.

No, extracting oil from oil shale isn't exactly the best option: Oil shale in the American West might contain three times the oil of Saudi Arabia, but getting it out of the ground would require much more energy than drilling for conventional oil does, and the result would be more greenhouse-gas emissions. Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced proposed regulations last week to start a commercial oil-shale program on public lands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. He said that with gasoline around $4 a gallon, "we need to be doing more to develop our own energy here at home, through resources such as oil shale." President Bush started speaking about the prospects for oil shale in June, when he said that Congress shouldn't block regulations that would allow exploration to proceed. Congress last year blocked final regulations through September. Bush "wasn't speaking to emissions. He was just talking about expanding more American energy," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said. The amount of emissions would depend on what kinds of energy are used to obtain fuel from the shale, he said. Whatever, dude. Finding a cleaner way to use that stuff--hey, subsidize that, too.

This explains so goddamned much, I can't think straight right now contemplating how accurate this really is: A milder type of mental decline that often precedes Alzheimer's disease is alarmingly more common than has been believed, and in men more than women, doctors reported Monday. Nearly a million older Americans slide from normal memory into mild impairment each year, researchers estimate, based on a Mayo Clinic study of Minnesota residents. That's on top of the half million Americans who develop full-blown Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia - a problem sure to grow as baby boomers age. The oldest boomers turn 62 this year. "We're seeing that in fact there's a much larger burgeoning problem out there" of people at risk of developing dementia, said Dr. Ronald Petersen, the Mayo scientist who led the study.

When we see posts and bloggers like this, we know we're in good company and we strive to be better: For some reason, every time we hear about an incident like this, and a skipper gets replaced, it leaves a bad taste in our mouth. The skipper of the dock landing ship Pearl Harbor was fired Sunday after running aground July 21 while in the Persian Gulf, according to the Navy.

Cmdr. Xavier F. Valverde, a Bronze Star recipient who started his career as an enlisted sailor, was relieved by Rear Adm. Kendall Card, commander of the Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group.

“Following a preliminary inquiry after a recent grounding incident in the Arabian Gulf, Rear Adm. Card expressed his loss of confidence in Valverde’s ability to command,” said a statement released by Naval Surface Forces in Coronado, Calif. “No injuries or damage occurred as a result of the incident.”

Last year every time a ship ran aground, a CO was replaced, it was like clockwork. While it is entirely possible that the CO did something worth being replaced (in every situation), and we just don't have all the details, we keep thinking this policy carries with it mixed signals that may not be good for the Navy.