Australian PM Howard’s Party Bans Members
From Gore’s Global Warming Speeches

post from Think Progress on 19 September 2007 04:32:00 PM. © Think Progress

Al Gore is currently in Australia speaking on climate change, where he has launched a “passionate attack on the climate policies of Prime Minister John Howard and US President George Bush.” Yesterday, he spoke to a sold-out crowd of more than 700 people, and tomorrow’s event is anticipated to have similar attendance. From his speech yesterday:

I said it in Australia before and I will say it again, if Australia ratifies Kyoto, it is like Australia and the United States are Bonnie and Clyde in the world of environment.
And if Clyde is isolated and Bonnie has gone straight, Clyde won’t really be able to resist any more.

But according to the event organizer, Max Markson, Prime Minister John Howard’s Liberal Party have prohibited its members from attending the events:

Event organiser Markson says while he sent invitations to Liberals from the Prime Minister down, only one accepted and then promptly cancelled.
“There is absolutely an official boycott in place. We had one NSW Liberal MP [agree to come] and he had to ring back and apologise and say he wasn’t allowed to come,” says Markson.

Howard has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the truth of global warming. When Gore visited Australia in 2006 to promote his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, Howard refused to meet with him. Though he did eventually view the film, he dismissed it as “alright” and said, “I don’t take policy advice from films.”

Not surprisingly, Howard is a steadfast Bush ally. Earlier this month, he stated, “We have no closer alliance with any country in the world than we have with the United States.” Howard, whom Bush has called his “mate of steel,” joined Bush in refusing to sign the Kyoto protocol on climate change. They remain the only major industrialized nations to stay out of the international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Howard is facing strong disapproval from the Australian public, the majority of whom view climate change as the number one external threat to the country. They are also increasingly frustrated with Howard’s unwavering support for Bush’s war in Iraq, with 57 percent wanting the war to end.

One poll previewing the upcoming parliamentary elections showed Howard losing his own seat by seven points, and overall, his Liberal Party is losing 43-57 to the opposition Labor party.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/19/howard-bans-gore/

Digg this

Id Suggest Pearls and An Hermes Scarf To Go With
That War, Dan

post from Firedoglake on 19 September 2007 04:30:56 PM. © Firedoglake

Over at My Left Nutmeg, we find that the Man Who Named Himself Dangerstein has advice for the anti-war movement:To most war opponents, the blame increasingly lies with the Democratic leadership in Congress, for not taking a hard enough line with[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/09/19/id-suggest-pearls-and-an-hermes-scarf-to-go
-with-that-war-dan/

Digg this

Hillary and Health Care

post from Open Left - Front Page on 19 September 2007 04:27:37 PM. © Open Left - Front Page

Since I was still in Iowa on Monday morning, I went to Hillary's speech on health care. It was a[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/158702142/showDiary.do

Digg this

Senate Republicans Block Vote on Indefinite
Detentions

post from BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash on 19 September 2007 04:24:17 PM. © BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT

People for the American Way

Today, Senate Republicans blocked a vote on the restoration of habeas corpus for certain foreign nationals held at Guantanamo Bay and on American soil, allowing the President to continue asserting that he has the right to imprison those suspected of being "enemy combatants" indefinitely, without any means to challenge their detention.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

buzzflash |

delicious | digg

digg |

technorati

Technorati Tags: Alerts PFAW Guantanamo habeas corpus indefinite detentions Senate Republicans

Read The Full Article:
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/alerts/285

Digg this

After Petreaus - They Tell Us The Bad News

post from The Newshoggers on 19 September 2007 04:22:00 PM. © The Newshoggers

By Cernig

The Pentagon's report to Congress on progress and problems in Iraq has figures on Iraqi violence which are significantly at odds with figures contained in already dubiously accurate charts General Petreaus presented to Congress.

And there's more bad news too.

In another sign of U.S. struggles in Iraq, the target date for putting Iraqi authorities in charge of security in all 18 provinces has slipped yet again, to at least next July.

...It is the second time this year the target date for completing what is known as "Provincial Iraqi Control" has been pushed back. The Pentagon report submitted to Congress on Monday hinted at the possibility of further delays.

..."If, for example, violence worsened significantly in any of the provinces yet to transition to (Iraqi control) the likely dates for transition of those provinces would be re-evaluated," the report said. It said the main reason for the delays so far is a "lack of capability in the Iraqi police services."

The Pentagon report cited a litany of problems with the police. For example, it said as few as 40 percent of those trained by coalition troops in recent years are still on the job. Also, due to combat loss, theft, attrition and poor maintenance, a "significant portion" of U.S.-issued equipment is now unusable.

It's inconceivable that petreaus didn't already know this when he appeared in front of Congress, so why wasn't it an integral part of his original testimony?

The most likely answer is that Petreaus is a political hack in uniform. Even if he himself had to be ordered to use the massaged figures he did and leave out some significant bad news, he should have refused the order if he was to maintain the integrity and honor expected of a senior officer. If he was willingly complicit in these deliberate misrepresentations, then he needs to be cashiered.

Read The Full Article:
http://cernigsnewshog.blogspot.com/2007/09/after-petreaus-they-tell-us-bad-news.h
tml

Digg this

"Gunga Dan" Lawyers Up

post from The Liberal Doomsayer on 19 September 2007 04:20:00 PM. © The Liberal Doomsayer

Holy cow, as the late Phil Rizutto of the Yankees would say - a backgrounder on the whole "Dubya/Burkett/Texas National Guard" story appears here.

And here's Dan talking to Bill Maher about the news business again on "Real TIme" from earlier this year.

Read The Full Article:
http://liberaldoomsayer.blogspot.com/2007/09/gunga-dan-lawyers-up.html

Digg this

Facebook bans photo of woman breastfeeding her
kid, yet okay with groups promoting anorexia

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 19 September 2007 04:15:00 PM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

You see, a woman can only post a photo of herself breastfeeding her child if the entire breast isn't visible in the photo. 99% of the breast is okay, but a full breast is apparently highly offensive to the folks at Facebook. Apparently the mommy-bloggers are none too happy about this. I tend to agree. Oh, and just to make things more interesting, Facebook has no problem playing host to 350 pro-Anorexia groups that not only encourage anorexia, but actually provide tips on how young girls can starve themselves to death.

Facebook is fine with providing a how-to guide to anorexia, but not okay with moms breastfeeding their kids. How long until this story hits the national news? More from my friend David who is dogging this fight. The previous link has David's back and forth with Facebook on this issue. And this link is his earlier post giving you more background on the story.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/158776977/facebook-bans-photo-of-wo
man.html

Digg this

Reporting on Giuliani ad attacking Clinton, media
don't note he blamed troops for missing weapons

Reporting on Republican presidential candidate RudyGiuliani's recent campaign advertisement criticizing Sen. Hillary RodhamClinton's (D-NY) stance on the Iraq war, numerous media outlets -- including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The NewYork Post, MSNBC, and ABC -- quoted from or aired a segment of thevideo in which the narrator in the ad says: "[J]ust when our troops need allour support to finish the job, Hillary Clinton is turning her back on them."Yet none of these[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://mediamatters.org/items/rss/200709190005

Digg this

The Trap

I had a bit of an allergic reaction to Daniel Brook's much-hyped book, The Trap. Far too often, it seemed to be begging public policy to orient itself more towards helping Ezra Klein -- and other white, educated, ambitious do-gooder-types...[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2007/09/the-trap.html

Digg this

Gates: ‘I don’t know’ whether
Iraq war was a ‘good idea.’

In an interview with New York Times columnist David Brooks published today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was hesitant to endorse several cornerstones of President Bush’s foreign policy:

“I don’t think you invade Iraq to bring liberty. You do it to eliminate an unstable regime and because sanctions are breaking down and you get liberty as a byproduct,” he continued.
I asked him whether invading Iraq was a good idea, knowing what we know now. He looked at me for a bit and said, “I don’t know.” […]
I asked if the military could perform this sort of nation-building, as it is in Iraq. “That’s very short-term stuff. Hooking up water mains. That’s not job creation or institution-building.”
I asked if it was a mistake to put the Pentagon in charge of postwar reconstruction in Iraq instead of the State Department. He thought for a long time but didn’t say anything.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/19/gates-i-dont-know-whether-iraq-war-was-a-good
-idea/

Digg this