Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

Bush Gears Up For Climate Change Distractions...er...Talks

• In case you’re just tuning in, here’s the news from earlier this week: On Monday of this week, the UN held a meeting to discuss climate technology that was attended by representatives from 150 nations. The discussions were aimed at outlining conditions for a new international pact that could replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. President Bush — who rejected the Kyoto Protocol — did not attend the meetings. [USA Today]
• Instead, today the President will host talks between 16 nations at the State Department in Washington. The 16 nations taking part are Australia, Britain, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the United States, which together account for more than 90 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
• Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — who will spearhead the discussions — says that the US talks will be geared towards adding to the UN’s goals, and that the US is ready to take a leading role in the fight against global warming.
• Additionally, Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said, “It’s our philosophy that each nation has the sovereign capacity to decide for itself what its own portfolio of policies should be.”
• Outside of the White House, though, experts aren’t so sure. Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said Bush’s meeting was a distraction designed to give the appearance that his administration was working to solve the issue. “There’s a lot of motion to give the appearance of action, but there’s no action on the horizon,” he said.
• Specifically, it’s feared that Bush is using his separate initiative to drive forward an agenda for voluntary, technology-driven measures, thus subverting the global process under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). [AFP]
• And finally, an oh, snap: The AFP reports that “[a]pparently seeking to deny Bush too much limelight, some countries are sending only junior ministers or even merely senior officials, diplomats said.

Fun fact: 70 million tons of global warming pollution are dumped into the atmosphere every 24 hours.

College Gets Cheaper

• Overcoming his own reluctance, Bush signed a bill that would make college cheaper for “students from poor and middle class families.” [AP]
• Here’s what the bill does: [AP]
• Increases the maximum Pell Grant amount for low income students from $4,310 a year to $5,400
• Cuts the interest rate on federal student loans in half from 6.8% to 3.4%
• Caps maximum annual loan repayment to a percentage of income after college so grads don’t have to use an excessive part of their salaries paying back loans
• Gives public service workers, like nurses and firefighters, loan forgiveness after 10 years of service and payments
• The bill is mostly paid for by eliminating subsidies for private lenders.
• Bush, who has just asked Congress for almost $135 billion to keep troops mired in a civil war in Iraq, said he was concerned that the education bill had “spending commitments that aren’t paid for yet.” [Washington Post]
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “We have delivered on our promise to make college more affordable.”

Thanks, Nancy.

Senate Passes Historic Hate Crime Legislation

• Snaps for the Senate: Yesterday, the “Senate voted to expand the hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation, or disability of the victims.” [AP] [Think Progress]
• The bill — which will pass as an attachment to the defense authorization bill — slid by with the 60 votes necessary to avoid a filibuster.
• So says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: “Our troops are on the front lines in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere fighting against evil and hate. We owe it to them to uphold those same principles here at home.” [Democrats.Senate.Gov]
• Upon the bill’s passage, the Human Right’s Campaign Joe Solmonese released this statement: “For over a decade our community has worked tirelessly to ensure protections to combat violence motivated by hate and today we are the closest we have ever been to seeing that become a reality. Congress has taken an historic step forward and moved our country closer to the realization that all Americans, including the GLBT community, are part of the fabric of our nation. The new leadership in Congress fully understands that for too long our community has been terrorized by hate violence. And today, the US Senate has sent a clear message to every corner of our country that we will no longer turn a blind eye to anti-gay violence in America.” [Human Rights Campaign]
• Opponents of the bill, however, are sure of its eventual failure. They say that either negotiations in the House or a presidential veto will send the legislation to its grave. ‘The president is not going to agree to this social legislation on the defense authorization bill’ said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. ‘This bill will get vetoed.’” [AP]

How’s this for hypocrisy: Senator Larry Craig (of foot-tapping, bathroom fame) voted against the hate crime legislation.

Someone Finally Cares Your Flight Was 13 Hours Late. Kinda.

• President Bush, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and acting Federal Aviation Administrator Bobby Sturgell met yesterday to talk about out-of-control flight delays. [NY Times]
• The three had a big press conference after to announce…well, not much at all. But it’s a start, right?
• The Problem: ” Some aviation experts, lawmakers and regulators blame airline overscheduling for delays while others say the government has failed to upgrade the aging air traffic system to handle the millions of arrivals and departures each year.”
• First Focus: New York, flight hub of the country. Peters will travel to the Big Apple to meet with the heads of the major airlines to discuss possible solutions. Rumor has it she’s taking Amtrak so she makes the meeting on time. [USA Today]
• The government is also thinking about raising compensation for “bumped passengers” to $624 from $200.
• The government may raise landing fees during peak times to encourage planes to land during off times. Because passengers adore flying during off times.(And “under existing law, experts say, the changes in fees would probably be small, since fees are based on airport costs, and total airport revenue would probably not be allowed to change.)
• And they will review whether the complaint desk at the Transportation Department is working well enough.
• Sen. Chuck Schumer: “It is good to see the Administration and the F.A.A. finally realizes a truth that the traveling public has endured for years.”

This year, an average 28% of all flights were late, cancelled or diverted.

What’s Wrong With This Picture: More Blacks and Latinos Live In Jail Cells Than In Dorm Rooms

• Here’s a statistic to make you scratch your head and say, What is *wrong* with this country?! Ready?
• According to new Census numbers, more than three times as many African Americans live in prison cells than in college dorms. [ABC News]
• For Hispanics, there are 2.7 inmates for every one person living on a campus.
• For Whites, there are twice as many people living in a college dorm than in prison.
• The racial makeup of our prisons doesn’t match the racial makeup of our society, not by a long shot: About 46% of inmates are white, 41% are black and 19% are Hispanic.
• The number of Americans locked up in 2006 was double the prison population of 1990. [NY Times]
• It wasn’t always like this. In 1980, the number of black Americans in jail was equal to the number of black Americans in dorms. And in 1980, more Hispanics lived on college campuses than in prison cells.
• Why? Experts like Marc Morial, president of the Urban League, blame the education system: “It’s one of the great social and economic tragedies of our time. It points to the signature failure in our education system and how we’ve been raising our children.”
• Students who don’t finish high school are more likely to go to jail; nearly 40% of inmates lack a high school diploma.

And think about how much more it costs to keep someone in jail than it does to improve early education. This makes no sense, people!

Good News, Bad News

This may seem counter-intuitive, but just go with us for a second: A new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience contests that low to moderate alcohol consumption may actually enhance memory. Think of how a glass of wine protects against heart disease; the concept is the same, however the mechanism is different. [Scientific American]

GOOD NEWS

An excuse to buy a six-pack on your way home for work.

BAD NEWS

Not an excuse to drink the whole thing.

Quote Of The Day

CALLER 2: No, it’s not, and what’s really funny is, they never talk to real soldiers. They like to pull these soldiers that come up out of the blue and talk to the media.

LIMBAUGH: The phony soldiers.

CALLER 2: The phony soldiers. If you talk to a real soldier, they are proud to serve. They want to be over in Iraq. They understand their sacrifice, and they’re willing to sacrifice for their country.

LIMBAUGH: They joined to be in Iraq

— Rush Limbaugh calls soldiers who support withdrawal “phony soldiers.” And Media Matters was there. [Media Matters]

Speed Round

AUDIO: GOP SNUBS AMERICANS OF COLOR

None of the GOP frontrunners were at last night’s forum before journalists of color. Moderator Tavis Smiley is not too pleased.

AUDIO: WHITE HOUSE ON BURMA

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino offers this message: “I urge the Burmese soldiers and police not to use force on their fellow citizens. I call on those who embrace the values of human rights and freedom to support the legitimate demands of the Burmese people.”

DICK CHENEY IN 1992

“How many additional American lives is Saddam Hussein worth? The answer: not very damn many.” [Think Progress]

NADER?

“Nader Presidential Campaign Committee” recruitment ads are popping up on Craigslist. Could it be? [Slate]

WAR WITH IRAN?

A Cheney aide says that the report that the vice president urged Israel to strike Iranian nuclear targets last year to spark a conflict with Iran is “a conspiracy...unrecognizable to anything I have ever seen or heard or done.” [New York Sun]

BURMA UPDATE

At least nine people are killed as security forces open fire into a pro-democracy crowd in Burma. [AP]

THEY’RE NUMBER ONE!

Blackwater has been involved in twice as many shootings in Iraq than the other top security contractors. [NY Times]

SLAMMER NEWS

The federal Bureau of Prisons has agreed to allow religious texts back into prison libraries. Stay Tuned: The agency is currently compiling a list of “accepted” religious books and “unaccepted” ones. First Amendment, Shmirst Amendment. [NY Times]

READ YOUR EDITORIALS

The New York Times warns against IAEA chief weapons inspector Mohamed El Baradei’s recent side deals with Iran, explaining, “we want to make sure what he calls the “crazies” don’t start a war with Iran. We fear his do-it-yourself diplomacy is playing right into the crazies’ hands — in Washington and Tehran.” [NY Times]

VERY SCARY

The Government Accountability Office reports that, six years after 9/11, “In three out of four locations on the U.S.-Canada border, investigators crossed into the United States from Canada … to simulate the cross-border movement of radioactive materials.” [ABC News]

DICK CHENEY

The Vice President and the Conference that dare not speak its name: Dick Cheney will speak to the uber-right-wing Council for National Policy, “a group so private even its members are encouraged not to mention the name.” [Salt Lake Tribune]

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

NASA proves that Lisa Nowak’s not the only one who can live on the wild side, launches a spacecraft into the heart of an asteroid belt. [AP]

GOING OVERBOARD?

Citing an age of terrorism as its reasoning, Huntsville, AL opens up the most extensive network of fallout-shelters seen since the Cold War. [AP]

HEAD IN THE CLOUDS

President Bush looks to fix airline delays, his reputation. [AP]

SPEAKING OUT

At the Clinton Global Initiative, leaders from African nations voice woes of how the brunt of global warming is being felt on their continent. [Reuters]