Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

As Violence Spirals, The People Of Baghdad Suffer

• Across Iraq, American troops fight amongst Iraqi government troops in the midst of a vicious “mini civil war between competing Shiite groups vying for power.” [Anthony Cordesman]
• In Baghdad, U.S. forces battle in the Sadr city neighborhood, home to political rivals of the Maliki government.” The violence, which erupted last week, has left “117 people dead in the last three days, Iraqi police told the BBC.”
• American troops have imposed a city-wide curfew: “no vehicles at all can move — except for those of the police and military.” [BBC]
• The result: “For Baghdad’s civilians, life grows more miserable by the hour.”
• Schools and most businesses are closed.
• No fresh food is coming into the city, food is rotting in the stalls, and, in the few markets that are open, prices are rising as scared folks stock up.
• Petrol supplies, for cooking and powering generators, are running low.
• As the BBC reports, “Just a week ago, in odd moments, Baghdad felt like something resembling a normal city. Those moments now feel very far away indeed.”

Surge collapse.

Katrina’s New Disaster

• ICF, the private contractor hired by FEMA to help Katrina victims, now says it accidentally gave some homeowners too much money and is demanding families pay them back thousands of dollars. [MSNBC]
• ICF, the private contractor, was hired to run the federal “Road Home” program, which gave Katrina victims money to rebuild their homes and businesses.
• Now they say they gave too much back. ICF today wants to hire its own private contractor to make Katrina victims give them money back. A lot of money.
• From their ad for a company to collect cash from Katrina victims: “The average amount to be collected is estimated to be approximately $35,000, but in some cases may be as high as $100,000 to $150,000.”
• Melanie Ehrlich, co-chair of Citizen’s Road Home Action Team, says she’s not buying it. According to Ehrlich, “the company was more likely using collections as retribution against people who had appealed their award amounts in effort to get the aid they deserved.” Nice.
• Did we mention ICF is also under investigation for some shady money stuff itself?
• As of this week, “one-third of qualified applicants for Road Home help had yet to receive any rebuilding check as of this past week. The program, which has come to symbolize the lurching Katrina recovery effort, has $11 billion in federal funds.”
• Don’t worry, they made their cash. “ICF stands to earn $912 million to run Road Home, a contract that also sweetened its initial public stock offering, helping it buy out four other companies and enter government contracting in sectors including national defense and the environment.”

Heckuva job again, FEMA.

New UN Climate Talks Launch In Bangkok

• You’ve got to give it to the UN: They’ve never passed up an opportunity to address climate change. From the pope addressing the general assembly in New York, to high-profile talks in Bali, there’s no doubt that climate change is on the United Nation’s agenda. [USA Today]
• Today, another important climate change convention launched in Bangkok, Thailand. Governments from 163 countries launched discussions on forging a global warming agreement.
• Unfortunately, the talks are expected to be plagued by disagreements over which countries should take the lead to reduce greenhouse gases by as much as half by 2050.
• The week-long, United Nations climate meeting in Bangkok comes on the heels of a historic agreement reached in December to draft a new accord on global warming by 2009.
• All governments, including the United States, agree emissions need to be reduced to avert an environmental catastrophe. But the major polluters remain far apart over how best to achieve these goals.
• The EU has proposed that industrialized countries slash emissions by 25 to 40% below 1990 levels by 2020. The U.S., which is one of the world’s top polluters, has repeatedly rejected mandatory national reduction targets of the kind agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol a decade ago.
• Adding to the tricky nature of negotiations will be disputes over how best to help poor countries adapt to environmental changes by speeding up the transfer of technology and financial assistance from rich nations. Unfortunately, the United States doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to aiding developing nations. Last year, at the Bali talks, American officials tried to block an agreement that would provide much-needed assistance to nations with emerging economies.
• “(There is a) very cooperative and constructive mood, a great enthusiasm to take this work forward,” said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is hosting the Thailand meeting. However, de Boer also said Sunday it would be “incredibly challenging” to craft such a complex agreement over the next two years.

We’re keeping an eye on this one...

Good News, Bad News

Birth Control For Dudes

Scientists believe a new combination of hormones, including testosterone and progestin, allows “suppresses sperm production faster and more completely than testosterone alone [and] may become a safe, effective and reversible form of male birth control.” Hmmm... [Live Science]

GOOD NEWS

Time to do your share of pill taking, gentlemen.

BAD NEWS

Isn’t this what Mountain Dew is supposed to do?

Quote Of The Day

“First of all, the tail and the horns are retractable.”

—Karl Rove, during a speech at George Washington Uniersity, on his exaggerated villainy [Think Progress]

Speed Round

AL QAEDA’S SAFE HAVEN

CIA Director Michael Hayden says al Qaeda now has safe haven in Pakistan, which presents a “clear and present danger” to the West. [USA Today]

OH, IRELAND

Ireland explained it’s decision to not have its pubs observe Saturday night’s lights-out Earth Hour (designed to raise awareness of Global Warming), explaining they feared the “risk that Saturday night revelers could end up smashing glasses, falling down stairs, or setting themselves on fire with candles.” [MSNBC]

TORTURE

Former terror detainee, Murat Kurnaz, now says he was tortured by the U.S. while imprisoned in Afghanistan, even after interrogators determined he was not actually a terrorist. He says he was shocked by electrical currants, hung from the ceiling for days, and only kept alive by doctors, who told the torturers when to stop and when they could safely start back up. [CBS News]

HOMELAND NIPPLE SECURITY

The Transportation Security Administration now says, fine, keep your nipple rings in when you fly, you hippie. Thousands of Prince Alberts breathe a collective sigh of relief. [CBS News]

RICE’S NEW GIG

According to NewsMax, Secretary of State Condi Rice has a pretty good idea what she wants to do for her next trick: Vice President. “One source told NewsMax that she expressed interest in the possibility when Rudy Giuliani was running for president. Another source said she has more recently let her interest be known discreetly within top Republican circles, presumably including John McCain’s camp.” [Think Progress]

BASICALLY A FAILING GRADE

Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL), on John McCain’s (non-existent) plan to ease the housing crisis: “I would give Senator McCain an incomplete.” [The Page]

TRUCE-ISH

Cleric Muqtada al’Sadr “took a step toward ending six days of intense combat between his militia allies and Iraqi and American forces in Basra and Baghdad, saying in a statement that his followers would lay down their arms providing the Iraqi government met a series of demands.” But still fighting rages. [NY Times]

CALM BEFORE THE...

Everyone on Wall Street holds their breath and hopes the worst is over...but storm clouds gather. [NY Times]

GO, AL, GO

Former Vice President Al Gore is launching a “three-year, $300 million campaign Wednesday aimed at mobilizing Americans to push for aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions...focused on ensuring that the United States enacts a national carbon emission cap and ratifies a new global pact on climate change in the next three years.” [Washington Post]

BABY STEPS

Secretary of State Rice secures a pledge from Israel to “remove about 50 roadblocks in the West Bank as it moves ahead with faltering negotiations aimed at reaching a peace deal with the Palestinians by the end of the year.” [Washington Post]

LASHING OUT

China launched a new offensive against the Dalai Lama. [AP]

3RD WEEK

Disastrous flooding in Arkansas enters into its third week. [AP]

OUCH

President Bush was booed loudly last night as he threw the first pitch at the Nationals’s home opener. [Think Progress]

SCHADENFREUDE

MTV’s vomit-inducing show My Super Sweet 16 has helped the SEC target a sleazy oilman. [NY Times]