Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

Back To The Beach: Is The Water Safe?

• Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, U.S. Public Interest Research Group and the Natural Resources Defense Council have rated the nation’s beaches for pollution and bacterial contamination.
• The results are pretty dirty. Last year, there were more than 20,000 “Don’t Go In The Water” warnings at the nation’s oceans, bays and Great Lakes. The most since the study began 16 years ago.
• Part of the problem, says the groups, may be White House policies which rolled back protections of the country’s wetlands, which filter beach water. For example, the White House allows the destruction of natural wetlands as long as they’re replaced by artificial ones…like water hazards on golf courses or those fake fountains near condominium complexes. (Not quite the same thing.) [Field & Stream]
• So where should you swim and where should you stay on dry land? If you’re in New Hampshire or, better yet, Delaware, splash to your hearts content. But if you’re in Mississippi or Louisiana, we wouldn’t even bother buying a swimsuit this season. [NRDC]

Remember when the biggest beach hazard we had to worry about was jellyfish?

Everybody Panic: Oilfield Shutdown Spikes Gas Prices

• Awesome news! You know that pain you’re feeling at the pump? It’s about to get a whole lot worse. [AP]
• Yesterday, oil company BP announced that their pipelines in the Purdhoe Bay oil field in Alaska had been seriously corroded. What’s that mean? Oil shipments from the Alaskan field will be shut off, “removing about 8 percent of daily U.S. crude production and driving oil prices sharply higher.”
• Tom Williams, BP’s senior tax and royalty counsel, said he had no idea how long the pipeline would be closed.
• Flashback: in March, BP suffered an oil spill in the same field, losing some 267,000 gallons.. They are currently facing criminal investigations for the catastrophe.
• The price effect: The price of light, sweet crude oil shot up $1.53 to $74.57 a barrel in electronic trading Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It’s expected that once the pipeline is shut down, oil production will decrease by 400,000 barrels a day.
• Experts are saying that the price per barrel could increase by $10, given the current environment.
• BP American chairman Bob Malone said Purdhoe Bay will not reopen until BP and government regulators say that it can effectively operate without threatening the environment.

It may be time to dust off that 10-speed Schwinn, folks.

Government Tries To Block CIA From Testifying In Abuse Trial

• The trial of the contractor accused of abusing a detainee in Afghanistan took a strange turn Monday as the prosecution tried to block CIA employees from testifying. [AP]
• The contractor, David Passaro, is accused of beating a detainee named Abdul Wali during two days of questioning in June 2003. Wali later died.
• Passaro wasn’t charged with murder; he’s on trial for two counds of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault resulting in serious injury. He’s looking at 40 years in prison.
• The government says Passaro acted alone. Passaro claims he was following orders.
• Prosecutors don’t want CIA employees to testify because it could compromise their classified status. Defense attorneys say if they are blocked, it denies Passaro due process.
• Prosecutors last week blocked his access to CIA memos which Passaro says outlined “interrogation techniques” he used. The government said the memos could not be introduced into court because they too were classified. [AP]

More Veteran Data Theft

• You are NOT suffering from déjà vu. Another Veterans Affairs subcontractor lost a computer and 38,000 vets are at risk of identity theft.
• According to VA Sec. Jim Nicholson, a subcontractor working on insurance collections in Pennsylvania reported the missing computer last Thursday. [AP]
• The computer contained “names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, insurance carriers and claims data including medical information” for veterans treated at Pittsburgh and PhiladelphiaVA medical centers.
• This comes after the May 3 theft of data for 26.5 million veterans. (The teens who stole that laptop were arrested this past weekend.)
• There have also been two other cases of lost veteran data in Minneapolis and Indianapolis involving at least 16,000 vets.

Wouldn’t you think after the first big, highly publicized theft, people with access to veterans’ data would, I don’t know, be a little more careful?

People Are Talking: The Middle East

The air waves are buzzing with talk of the crisis in the Middle East. From violence to resolution, here’s what people are saying:

• PJ Crowley, Senior Fellow and Director for National Security and Homeland Defense at the Center for American Progress, on Kudlow and Company : “This is where you’ve gotta have strong diplomacy from the United States. We are the only country in the world that has the ability to play both sides of this conflict, or multiple sides of this conflict. We did it in 1991, Syria you will remember was a part of the Gulf War coalition that went into Kuwait in 1991.”
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• President Bush, from the Newshour: “I understand both parties aren’t gonna agree on all aspects of the resolution, but the intent of the resolution is to strengthen the Lebanese government so Israel has got a partner in peace.”
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• President Bush, from the Newshour: “The first resolution which the security council is now considering calls for a stop of all hostilities.”
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• President Bush, from the Newshour: “A second resoluton which the security council will begin working on as soon as possible will help establish a sustainable and enduring ceasefire and provide a mandate for a robust international force that will help the legitimate government of Lebanon extend its authority over all of Lebanon’s territory.”
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The FBI’S Tactic: Spy on Your Muslim Friends, Or Face Deportation

• Meet Yassine Ouassif. He is a 24-year old permanent resident from Morocco who moved to California in 2001. [LA Times]
• Recently, he was approached by an FBI agent, who told him that if he signed on as an informant in the government’s war on terrorism, all his problems would disappear. But if he declined, he would almost certainly be deported. Fair, no?
• This case reveals a lesser-known aspect of the war on terror: the federal government’s high-stakes, and very coercive, tactics to recruit Muslim collaborators.
• The version for dummies: you’re a terror suspect, even if you have no ties to terrorism, until you decide to spy on other Muslims.
• Well this guy must have been dangerous, yea? Ouassif said he never advocated violence and believes that those who commit terror against nonbelievers are “distorting Islam.”
• After he declined the spying job, Ouassif was told that he would be taken to a detention facility in Arizona. There, he could fight deportation…but was also assured he would fail.
• This is not an isolated case: lawyers and local Islamic leaders in California cite at least a dozen recent cases of clients who were aggressively encouraged to become informants in similar ways.

How’s that whole “liberty and justice for all” thing working out for everyone?

The Heat Wave In Iraq

• As if roadside bombs and getting shot at weren’t enough, U.S. troops also dealing with 125 degree heat in Iraq. Temperatures remain above 100 degrees even at night. [AP]
• Soldiers report hallucinating in the heat, sweating through their boots, collapsing.
• One soldier interviewed said he grew so hot, he hallucinated a Wal-Mart.
• The heat is affecting performance. Many soldiers say they patrol less during the really hot hours. (The good news, though, is the insurgents stay indoors then, too.)
• It could also affect safety; soldiers in danger from roadside bombs have to wear more armor and flame-retardant clothing, which is really, really hot.
• Quote You Can’t Get Out Of Your Head After Reading: “I feel like I’m in someone’s mouth,” said a medic.

Just something to remember the next time you complain about it being hot.

Good News, Bad News

Have the stresses of modern life got you down? Feel like you’re going to explode if one more person bumps into you on the subway? If that’s the case, China just may have the answer for you. In Nanjing, the new Rising Sun Anger Release Bar lets customers smash glasses, rant and even hit specially trained workers. Let’s check out the pros and cons. [BBC]

GOOD NEWS

Bad day at the office? Feel guilt-free about unloading your anger on that pesky bar keep who gave you vodka instead of gin.

BAD NEWS

You’re the bar keep.

Quote Of The Day

“Sir, I believe we do have the possibility of that devolving to a civil war.”

- General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking at a Senate hearing last week.

“You know, I hear people say, Well, civil war this, civil war that. The Iraqi people decided against civil war when they went to the ballot box.”

- President Bush, speaking Monday at a press conference. [Think Progress]

Speed Round

AUDIO — SYRIA

President Bush, from the Newshour: “The problem with us telling Syria what’s on our mind, which is to stop harboring terror, and to, you know help the Iraqi democracy evolve, they know exactly what our position is. The problem is, their response hasn’t been very positive.”

AUDIO — MINIMUM WAGE

Conservative talker Neal Boortz, from Media Matters: “If you are a grown adult in this country who is not suffering from some hideous physical or mental disability, and you are trying to raise children on the minimum wage, then you are a 100 percent pure unadulterated loser.”

AUDIO — RUMSFELD

Major General John Batiste on Rumsfeld, from Hardball: “Donald Rumsfeld has so much baggage, bad judgment, dismal leadership, decision-making over a period of over three and a half years, where quite frankly I don’t know how he can continue to serve the great people of this country and our President. He’s become irrelevant.”

and

Major General John Batiste, again on Rumsfeld: “I think much of what he says is disingenuous. It’s been that way for a long time.”

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Boston city council totally melts down over how to spell their titles. [Boston Globe]

GAMBLING

Kentucky kicks off Responsible Gambling Week with plastic lotto scratchers and pens bearing the slogan, “Play responsibly.” Problem gamblers promptly use to scratch off lotto cards or fill out racetrack forms. [Courier Journal]

ENERGY

Drive a hybrid in Texas, park for free. [Dallas Morning News]

SEC

Free Martha! Domestic powerhouse Martha Stewart settles with the SEC over insider trading, must pay $195K. [AP]

OIL

Department of Energy announces it’s ready to tap into nation’s “we’re-in-deep-trouble” oil supply. [AP]

FAKE PHOTOGRAPHER DAY

Point. Click. Alter. Reuters sacks a freelance photographer after altering pictures of a bomb blast in Beirut. [Guardian]

SCANDAL

Amidst accusations of corruption, Rep. Bob Ney abandons his re-election campaign. He was linked with former superstar lobbyist Jack Abramoff. [AP]

POLLS

Youth consensus. The President’s approval rating among Americans 18 to 24 is an impressive 20%. [Bloomberg]

MEDICINE

Well. This should cut down on the fighting, at least. Doctors begin operation on conjoined four-year-old twin sisters. [AP]

ENERGY

Pointing fingers: Governors criticize national energy policy. [AP]

AIRPORTS

Always comforting: landing system failure delays planes at LAX. [AP]

MEDICINE

Not good for baby: new study suggests ultrasound can affect fetal brain development. [AP]