House and Senate leaders Thursday announced a new effort to overhaul U.S. wiretapping laws that appears likely to let telecommunications companies escape lawsuits over the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program.The measure could be brought to the floor of the House of Representatives as early as Friday, breaking a four-month impasse between the Bush administration and Congress over whether to protect companies that took part in a program critics say was illegal.
DKK
CNN
At a press availability in Michigan, I asked Obama if Zebari had expressed any concern to him that his plans to withdrawal U.S. troops as president would undo any security advances."No, he did not express that," Obama said. "He did emphasize his belief that we've made real progress and I think was eager to see political accommodations between the factions follow up in the wake of this progress.
…And so my sense is that we should be able to execute a withdrawal and set a timeframe - a timetable that continues to allow US forces to support Iraqi forces in going after terrorists, that continues to train the Iraqi police and military as long as we're not training militias that are turning on each other.
Mr. Zebari said he told Mr. Obama that "Iraq is not an island." In other words, an American withdrawal that destabilized the country would also roil the region around it and embolden U.S. adversaries such as al-Qaeda and Iran. "We have a deadly enemy," Mr. Zebari said. "When he sees that you commit yourself to a certain timetable, he will use this to increase pressure and attacks, to make it look as though he is forcing you out. We have many actors who would love to take advantage of that opportunity." Mr. Zebari says he believes U.S. forces can and should be drawn down. His point is that reductions should be made gradually, as the Iraqi army becomes stronger.The foreign minister said "my message" to Mr. Obama "was very clear. . . . Really, we are making progress. I hope any actions you will take will not endanger this progress." He said he was reassured by the candidate's response, which caused him to think that Mr. Obama might not differ all that much from Mr. McCain.
So lets see, not only Does Senator Obama get history wrong, his campaign gets lessons of Winnie the Pooh wrong, but he can't even properly relay the contents of a conversation with an important ally.
Obama is a one man game of Telephone!Osama bin Laden is still free because of Republican "failed strategies." Perhaps. But that is no different than saying he was both free and able to attack the United States in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2001 because of Democatic "failed strategies."
And you thought their PR on this subject couldn’t get any worse. Must be nice to have an exemption from the same federal fair use statute every other content provider in America is governed by.
The AP’s disharmony with bloggers may have only just begun, as the alternative it’s now offering to being served with takedown notices involves paying an up-front sum for excerpting online articles — as few as five words…
The pricing scale for excerpting AP content begins at $12.50 for 5-25 words and goes as high as $100 for 251 words and up. Nonprofit organizations and educational institutions enjoy a discounted rate.
This scale is likely only a temporary solution, as it raises a truckload of questions. For instance: Suppose a news source holds a press conference, and makes a statement to several attendees including an AP correspondent. Does the citation of that quote count as an excerpt of an AP story? What if Reuters cited the same quote? Or worse, what if Reuters cited the quote differently, and a blogger noticed the difference and excerpted both for comparison? If the AP citation turned out to be in error, would the blogger still owe?
Bloggers like Ace are now summarizing and refusing to link to news they can't find elsewhere.
Bob Lutz has come out and said it again: "I would say there's almost no reasonable doubt in our minds anymore that this is going to work." And that isn't just that the Chevy Volt will work -- it's that it will work on time and as promised. In spite of the difficulties GM has had getting Volt technology up-to-speed within its timeframes, the man upstairs is apparently as confident as ever.
The eight year campaign by Senate Democrats to prevent President Bush's judicial nominees from receiving up-or-down votes has been characterized by nearly every form of intellectual and factual dishonesty imaginable. At this late date, one wouldn't have expected any recently developed obstructionist arguments to stand out for cynicism.
Nonetheless, as this Examiner editorial notes, my two Senators (Barbara Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin) seem to have broken new ground.
Gitmo Lawyers Say Detainee Was Not Read His Rights-- Therefore He Must Be Set Free
Representative Donald Manzullo should get behind this and get this out to the local press. As the election approaches he has got to get far more specific then his 12 point plan released earlier this year. This bill would do that!With oil prices shaping up as the dominant issue of this campaign season, evidence is growing that Republicans can win in November if they get behind a program of aggressive energy development. Our friend Michele Bachmann showed how it's done yesterday, with a proposal that she (and the House Republicans) estimate could cut gas prices in half at the pump:
Gas prices could be slashed in half if Congress would open up the country's Arctic slope, deep-sea reserves and oil shale fields for exploration and drilling, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann said Monday. ***The plan, contained in a half-dozen bills that Bachmann has cosponsored, also includes opening new oil refineries (three of them at closed military bases) and incentives to invest in alternative energy sources such as wind, nuclear energy and clean coal-to-liquid technology.
The paper contacted Bachmann's Democratic opponent for a comment; it's striking how lame and whiny his response was. In truth, though, it's about as good as the Democrats are going to do.
Poll data indicate that the American people are anxious to start drilling. This Rasmussen survey, which came out today, says that by an overwhelming 67% to 18% margin, respondents favor offshore drilling. Even a plurality of liberals are in favor. Other poll data yield the same conclusions.
The Democrats are boxed in between the rock of environmental extremism and the hard place of hate for companies that make money, so they will be endlessly wrong-footed on the issue.
DKK
President George W. Bush will call on Congress to lift the ban on offshore drilling tomorrow!
--Via FOX News.
General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. will send nearly $2 billion worth of vehicles, parts and machinery to China during the next few years, part of a package of 30 deals between American businesses and China announced Monday before trade talks.
In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.”A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.
DKK
John McCain and Barack Obama both made news today. McCain announced his support for lifting the moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf drilling.
(...)UPDATE: When it comes to drilling, we have a ways to go to catch up with the Brazilians. Fausta notes another mammoth Brazilian offshore strike.
Personally, I'd like to see the United States remain the number one economic power in the Western Hemisphere, but this is not foreordained. If Brazil's Congress is smarter than ours, as it certainly is at the moment, we are at a huge disadvantage.
