Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

Anthrax Vaccine A No-Go

• The United States canceled its order for 75 million doses of an anthrax vaccine. [AP]
• It’s another giant black eye for the bloated and troubled government undertaking, Project Bioshield.
• Project BioShield is supposed to manufacture and store bioterror vaccines. Instead, mismanagement and carelessness at the top has left the program a financial black hole — $5.6 billion — with nothing to show for it.
• Project BioShield is also known as the biowarfare-protection program that is a “torturous labyrinth of federal fiefdoms into which billions disappear” (according to one congressional observer). [NY Times]
• What happened this time: In 2004, the Department of Health and Human Services had $877 million to spend on developing a new anthrax vaccine. Instead of spreading the cash among different groups of competing scientists (normal operating procedure), they gave the whole shebang to a small company called VaxGen.
• VaxGen has no other major clients besides the governmnet. VaxGen has never made a successful drug or vaccine before. VaxGen was delisted by Nasdaq over “accounting irregularities.” VaxGen has been in trouble over human testing ethics. VaxGen would not have been our first choice, let alone our only one. [Harpers]
• VaxGen was supposed to deliver the first 25 million doses by the end of this year. Number they’ve finished: Zero.
• It turns out the company tried to modify the existing Army vaccine using different ingredients, one of which causes the vaccine to decompose. (That doesn’t work for an emergency stockpile, obviously.)

Project Bioshield? You’re OUT.

More Troops! Go Shopping! It’s A Bush Press Conference! (w/ Audio)

• Bush held a news conference yesterday (we know how much he loves those) in order to clarify his Monday statement that we “aren’t winning in Iraq” and discuss his plans to increase the size of the Army and Navy. Here are the highlights:
• In his opening remarks, Bush announced his intention to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps, acknowledging that the current forces were stressed. Funny story: John Kerry proposed this exact move in 2004 and Bush slammed it then as “unnecessary and counter-productive.” Whoops. [ThinkProgress]
• He also responded to the charge that he had flip flopped on whether we were winning in Iraq (on the campaign trail he had conveniently insisted that we were winning…yesterday, he acknowledged that we were “neither winning nor losing).
• Bush claims that on the trail he meant that he was sure we could win. At the news conference he stumbled then said: “My comments yesterday reflected the fact that we are not succeeding as fast as I wanted when I said it at the time and that conditions are tough in Iraq.”
• He also faced some fire over the Joint Chief’s objection to his “troop surge” plan in Iraq.
• When asked whether he would order a troop surge over the objections of the Chiefs, Bush called the question a “dangerous hypothetical” and dodged it.
• In fact, he claimed he would consult with a whole list of people on whether to surge troop presence, where earlier he had insisted that troop levels would be determined solely by Generals on the ground. War room orwiggle room?
• Finally, Bush called for continued commitment and sacrifice from the American people and our troops. The commitment from our troops is clear, as for what the rest of us can do? Bush seemed only to have one solid piece of advice: “I encourage you all to go shopping more.”

AUDIO

Bush: “I’m inclined to believe we need an increase in the permanent size of the United States Army and the United States Marines. I’ve asked Secretary Gates to determine how such an increase could take place and report back to me as quickly as possible.”

Bush: “My comments yesterday reflected the fact that we are not succeeding as fast as I wanted when I said it at the time and that conditions are tough in Iraq.”

Bush: “That’s a dangerous hypothetical question.”

Bush: “Let me wait and gather all the recommendations from Bob Gates, from our military, from Diplomats on the ground, I’m interested in the Iraqi’s point of view, and then I’ll get back to you and let you know whether I support a surge or not.”

Bush: “And securing this peaceful future will require a sustained commitment from the American people and our military.”

Bush: “And I encourage you all to go shopping more.”

Have you seen accountability and leadership at Best Buy?

Surprise! New Defense Sec. Robert Gates Makes a Surprise Visit to Iraq

• When Gates said he’d visit Iraq “very soon” during his confirmation hearings, he meant it. Yesterday — just two days after taking over the Pentagon — Gates flew to Baghdad with a “mandate from President Bush to help forge a new Iraq war strategy.” No pressure. [AP]
• During his Senate hearings, Gates announced he thought the U.S. was not winning the war in Iraq. The purpose of his trip to Baghdad was to consult with his top military commanders in hopes to devise a new strategy.
• The new Secretary of Defense and General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to meet with U.S. and Iraqi military and political leaders.
• On the agenda for discussion: a possible troop surge in Iraq.
• So far, the war in Iraq has cost the U.S. more than $300 billion and more than 2,940 U.S. lives.
• The latest Pentagon report shows a 22% increase in violence in Iraq since August.
• Back on the homefront, recent polls show that support for the Iraq war has reached an all-time low: only 31%.

Tough gig.

Toxic New Rules At The EPA

• The Environmental Protection Agency just changed the rules on how much of a toxic chemical companies can dump before they have to tell anyone. [Christian Science Monitor]
• Old Rule: If a company dumps more than 500 lbs of a toxic chemical into the air, water or land, it must report what the chemical was and how much of it was dumped.
• The New Rule: Companies will fill out a “simplified” regulation form, underwhich they can dump up to 2,000 lbs. of any given toxic chemical without having to reveal how much.
• The new rules make it nearly impossible for neighborhoods to calculate how much of a given toxin is being dumped in their areas.
• That’s good news for companies like the Ashland Distribution facility, a division of the Fortune 500 company Ashland. In 2004, the company released 4,405 lbs. of toxic chemicals into the air/water/land. Under the new rules, since each of the 7 toxins the company released came in under 2,000 lbs each, they won’t have to release any pollution details at all.
• This is very bad news for people who like air, water or land.
• This reminds us of March 2005, when the EPA passed new rules to make it easier for industrial plants to release deadly mercury into the air. In fact, the EPA got busted letting the industrial plants write the mercury regulations themselves! The Washington Post found that, in a side-by-side comparison of the rules and the power-plant memo, at least “a dozen paragraphs were lifted, sometimes verbatim, from the industry suggestions.” [Washington Post] [Progress Report on Mercury]

Guess someone forgot the “P” in “EPA” stands for “protection.”

War is Hell: Repeat Tours in Iraq Raise Risk of Stress Disorders

• The Army’s first-ever survey looking at how multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers’ health found that U.S. troops serving repeated stays in Iraq are more than 50% more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders than soldiers who have served a single tour.
• Of the 650,000 soliders who have been sent to Afghanistan or Iraq since 2001, more than 170,000 in the Army have served multiple tours.
• Previous studies done by the Army have shown that up to 30% of troops sent to Iraq suffer from depression.
• And can you blame them? 76% of the soldiers surveyed said they know someone who has been seriously injured or killed. Nearly 55% have experienced a roadside bombing.
• So how does the Pentagon show that it cares about America’s troops? By doing nothing. In fact, many soliders who return from combat showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder are kicked out of the service without receiving the medical help they need to improve their mental health. [Mic Check]

Even more troubling: the rate of suicide among soldiers who serve in the Iraq war doubled between 2004 and 2005.

Good News, Bad News

Announcement! Announcement! The Grateful Dead, the Doors and Joan Baez will all receive Lifetime Achievement awards at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards on February 11, 2007.

GOOD NEWS

Forty-three minute jam solos make it the longest awards ceremony in history!

BAD NEWS

If you were at Woodstock, you’re officially old.

Quote Of The Day

Round up Joy Behar, round up Matt Damon, who last night on MSNBC attacked George Bush and Dick Cheney. Round up Olbermann, take the whole bunch of them and put them in a detention camp until this war is over because they’re a bunch of traitors.

— Right-wing radio host Mike Gallagher on Fox News. Merry Christmas. [Newshounds] via [ThinkProgress]

Speed Round

AUDIO: MOUNT HOOD TRAGEDY

Hood River Sheriff: “It’s a hard decision to make, but I’ve been with the search and rescue teams throughout this whole operation from day one. I know that these guys have put in 110 percent...to help locate the climbers. They put in extraordinary effort in the past 11 days. So as of now, we have temporarily suspended the search.”

POLITICS

Rep. Chris VanHollen (D., MD) takes over the DCCC fund-raising machine. [CNN]

THE GAP

According to a new study, “Nearly one in five Hispanics lacks sufficient access to nutritious food and one in 20 regularly goes hungry, posing serious health and economic risks to the nation’s largest and fastest-growing minority group.” [Washington Post]

MONEY

$110 billion: Price we’ve paid for the Iraq war this year, according to the White House budget office.

...AND THEY WANT MORE

Pentagon wants $99.7B more for wars. [AP]

DEAD MAN WALKING

Following the lead of Florida and California, an appeals court in Maryland halts executions in the state until a review board studies lethal injections. [AP]

IRAQ

Prominent Iraqi Shiite Cleric, Al-Sistani, supports moderate government coalition against Shiite extremists. [NY Times]

SYRIA

The Bush administration might start supporting opposition forces in Syria, undermining efforts at dialogue between the U.S. and Syria on Iraq. [Time] via [ThinkProgress]

DARFUR

The UN Security Council gives unanimous backing to a UN-African Union force for Darfur to help stop the spiraling genocide. [AP]

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MONEYBAGS

Goldman Sachs CEO gets a $53.4 million bonus (highest ever paid to a Wall Street executive). After all, he’s got a family to support. [NY Times]

32

Number of journalists killed in Iraq in 2006. [Washington Post]

VANDALISM

Vandals trash a California memorial to those men and women killed in Iraq. Authorities suspect the memorial, which reads “In Memory of 2,867 Troops Killed in Iraq,” was vandalized by pro-war supporters who viewed the commemoration as a protest. (Ed. Note: Who *are* these people? Who trashes a war memorial??) [San Francisco Chronicle]

THE NEWS

Iraq voted the top news story of 2006. Americans, meanwhile, google Britney Spears. [AP]

THE WEATHER

It’s beginning to look a lot like (a freezing, white-out, oh-my-God-buy-canned-goods) Christmas: Denver gets pounded with a blizzard. [AP]