U.S. Fears Iraq Won't Keep Up Rebuilt Projects

Nov 21, 2009 - BAGHDAD — In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan, the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges. But there are growing concerns among American officials that Iraq will not be able to adequately maintain the facilities once the Americans have left, potentially wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and jeopardizing Iraq’s ability to provide basic services to its people. The projects run the gamut — from a cutting-edge, $270 million water treatment plant in Nasiriya that works at a fraction of its intended capacity because it is too sophisticated for Iraqi workers to operate, to a farmers’ market that farmers cannot decide how to share, to a large American hospital closed immediately after it was handed over to Iraq because the government was unable to supply it with equipment, a medical staff or electricity. - 6 Comments

Anti-Abortion Group to Protest Palin

Nov 18, 2009 - When she was running for governor of Alaska in 2006, Sarah Palin reportedly said that even if her then-14-year-old daughter were raped, she would "choose life" and force her to bear a child. Comments like that that have endeared the fiery Alaskan politician to most pro-life voters, who lionized her for not aborting her Down's Syndrome baby. But Trig isn’t enough to protect Palin from a phalanx of anti-abortion activists who plan to protest her appearance on Thursday to promote her book in the conservative heartland of Indiana. - 12 Comments

Abandoned Under Obama

Nov 11, 2009 - Abandoned Under Obama By Heather Robinson on 11.10.09 @ 6:09AM Earlier this month, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, a self-described "Muslim Zionist," traveled to the U.S. to address audiences in New York City and at Yale University. Publisher of the largest English-language weekly newspaper in Bangladesh, Choudhury has been jailed, beaten, nearly blinded, and is now on trial for his life for his reporting, and for his pro-American, pro-Israeli views. - 9 Comments

Proposed 9/11 Memorial In Kent Causing Stir

Nov 11, 2009 - It is a bright, Indian summer afternoon in the Litchfield Hills, and the downtown streets of this tourist mecca look invitingly peaceful. But the communication lines connecting First Selectwoman Ruth Epstein to the outside world have been anything but peaceful for two weeks as the passions aroused by the 9/11 tragedy have turned Kent into a national lightning rod over terrorism, Islam and the role towns should play in memorializing the dead. Epstein, a former journalist who is stepping down after two terms as first selectwoman, was approached more than a year ago by Peter Gadiel, the father of James Gadiel, a young Kent native who worked as a trader in the World Trade Center and perished in the 2001 terrorist attacks. - 81 Comments

W Australia sea level rising fast

Nov 09, 2009 - New figures have revealed that sea levels along the coast of Western Australia are rising at a rate double that of the world average. Statistics from Australia's National Tidal Centre show levels have increased by 8.6mm a year off the coast of the state capital Perth. That compares to a global average of just over 3mm. - 18 Comments

'Obscure Tea-Bagging Operation'

Nov 06, 2009 - 'Obscure Tea-Bagging Operation' http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2009/11/obscure-tea-bagging-operation The Goldman Sachs-funded business news watchdog blog at the Columbia Journalism Review goes after a fellow non-profit news organization, ProPublica, for a ProPublica article on wasteful stimulus spending. Columbia Journalism Review criticizes ProPublica for using a quotation from a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, which Columbia Journalism Review sneeringly and condescendingly and dismissively and, well, offensively, characterizes as "some obscure tea-bagging operation." Citizens Against Government Waste has been around since 1984, and its 2007 IRS Form 990 indicates it had revenue and expenses of about $4.4 million, more if you include an affiliated 501(c)4 group. - 0 Comments

8 Reasons Fox Is Not a News Organization

Oct 24, 2009 - Even before Barack Obama was elected to the presidency, Rupert Murdoch had declared war on him via the personalities of Fox News Channel, a subsidiary of Murdoch's media conglomerate, News Corp. Since Obama's election, the cable channel's hosts and paid analysts have launched a full frontal assault on the president, smearing his nominees, calling him a racist and suggesting that his administration was trying to persuade disabled veterans to off themselves. Now the fearmongers at Fox are crying foul since the president and his aides declared Fox not to be a news organization. - 5 Comments

Gone too far?

Oct 28, 2009 - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1223617/No-men-OR-women-needed-artificial-sperm-eggs-created-time.html No men OR women needed: Scientists create sperm and eggs from stem cells By Fiona Macrae Human eggs and sperm have been grown in the laboratory in research which could change the face of parenthood. It paves the way for a cure for infertility and could help those left sterile by cancer treatment to have children who are biologically their own. But it raises a number of moral and ethical concerns. - 3 Comments

A National Disgrace- troop funds diverted to pet projects- $2.6 billion taken from guns and ammunition

Oct 15, 2009 - U.S. troop funds diverted to pet projects Study finds $2.6 billion taken from guns and ammunition   By Shaun Waterman THE WASHINGTON TIMES Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis. - 16 Comments