friday news dump: monday edition

15 Comments

1. 

   dada on October 22, 2007 at 12:43 pm

   major cities face threat from rising sea levels by 2015

   Rising Sea Levels and Other Climate-Related Disasters Threaten 21 Mega-Cities Across World
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   Of the 33 cities predicted to have at least 8 million people by 2015, at least 21 are highly vulnerable, says the Worldwatch Institute

       Dhaka, Bangladesh
       Buenos Aires, Argentina
       Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
       Shanghai and Tianjin in China
       Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt
       Mumbai and Kolkata in India
       Jakarta, Indonesia
       Tokyo and Osaka-Kobe in Japan
       Lagos, Nigeria
       Karachi, Pakistan
       Bangkok, Thailand
       New York and Los Angeles, United States

   Source: AP News

   and this isn’t counting the smaller cities, from new orleans to galveston, most of florida and the gulf coast, and a huge swath of the southeastern seaboard.

   lTMF’sA

   

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     cruz del sur on October 22, 2007 at 4:44 pm

     Tornados are a thing of the northen hemisphere. Until now. Here is a photo of one that happen in Argentina, and it is the first one that i have ever heard off in my 50 years.

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     cruz del sur on October 22, 2007 at 4:48 pm

      Here is another one

2. 

   dada on October 22, 2007 at 12:45 pm

   of criminal prosecution… abu?!…whodathunk:

   rumours continue to surround abu’s sudden change of heart and resignation to spend more time with his family…it’s beginning to look as if he’ll be spending a lot of time with his lawyer instead:

   Gonzales could be prosecuted, McKay says

   The U.S. Inspector General may recommend criminal prosecution of departed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the conclusion of an investigation, possibly as early as next month, the fired former U.S. attorney for Western Washington told a Spokane audience Friday.
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   It was reported last week that Gonzales has now retained a high-profile defense lawyer, and apparently is refusing to answer questions from the Inspector General, which could signify the investigation is nearly complete, McKay said.

   link

   and emptywheel [marcy wheeler] has more at the the next hurrah:

   What remains unclear from McKay’s comments is something that Isikoff didn’t divulge in his piece pre-emptively revealing that AGAG had lawyered up: when AGAG lawyered up. And McKay’s version adds in another question: when did OIG request AGAG’s cooperation, only to be spurned? There are a couple of possibilities, it seems to me:

       [Get asked questions, lawyer up, resign] It’s possible that as soon as OIG started asking Gonzales to clarify his statements, he lawyered up and Terwilliger told AGAG what he should have been told months earlier: shut up! Stop lying under oath!! If so, he’d likely be forced to resign, as Monica was, particularly because it’d be pretty damning for Bush if his AGAG was refusing to testify.
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   link

   expect an out-the-door pardon, one among many l presume, 20 jan 2009.

   lTMF’sA

   

3. 

   dada on October 22, 2007 at 12:49 pm

   strike again:

   Bush administration politicizes prosecutions — Pentagon edition

   …it turns out the Bush administration’s shenanigans aren’t limited to the Justice Department.

   Politically motivated officials at the Pentagon have pushed for convictions of high-profile detainees ahead of the 2008 elections, the former lead prosecutor for terrorism trials at Guantanamo Bay said last night, adding that the pressure played a part in his decision to resign earlier this month.

   Senior defense officials discussed in a September 2006 meeting the “strategic political value” of putting some prominent detainees on trial, said Air Force Col. Morris Davis. He said that he felt pressure to pursue cases that were deemed “sexy” over those that prosecutors believed were the most solid or were ready to go.

   Davis said his resignation was also prompted by newly appointed senior officials seeking to use classified evidence in what would be closed sessions of court, and by almost all elements of the military commissions process being put under the Defense Department general counsel’s command, something he believes could present serious conflicts of interest.

   “There was a big concern that the election of 2008 is coming up,” Davis said. “People wanted to get the cases going. There was a rush to get high-interest cases into court at the expense of openness.”

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   Politics dictates every decision this administration makes. Every decision.

   the carpetbagger report

   more here from wapo: Pressure Alleged in Detainees’ Hearings

   karl may be gone, but he’s not forgotten.

   lTMF’sA

   

4. 

   dada on October 22, 2007 at 12:50 pm

   it’s probably of to forget poland now:

   Polish Premier Is Routed, Polls Show

   The prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, conceded defeat as two major exit polls showed his Law and Justice Party trailing Civic Platform by double-digit margins. His brother, Lech, will remain president and retain veto power over the presumptive new government’s legislation.

   Official results are not expected until Tuesday. They could determine whether Civic Platform achieves an outright majority or, as is more likely, needs to form a coalition with the centrist Polish Peasants Party. Though the results were still unofficial, Mr. Kaczynski congratulated his opponent after what appeared to be a significant defeat.
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   Leaders across Europe were likely to be relieved at the ascension of Civic Platform, a pro-Europe party. Under the Kaczynskis, Poland has earned a reputation as a consensus-breaking troublemaker.

   On the other hand, the Kaczynskis have been the staunchest of allies of the United States. Mr. Tusk said during the campaign that he would have driven a harder bargain over support of plans to place missile interceptors on Polish soil and that, if elected, he would try to bring home the 900 Polish troops in Iraq.
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   nyt

   the coalition of the

   willing

   coerced is getting as thin as the neocon’s grasp of reality.

   lTMF’sA

   

   • 

     Chris on October 22, 2007 at 7:48 pm

     Oh, shit. I forgot about Poland.

5. 

   dada on October 22, 2007 at 12:54 pm

   steven cobert pimps timmeh on press the meat

   chris floyd of empire burlesque fills in this week for glenn greenwald at salon. if you’re unfamiliar with chris, l highly recommend you check it out. he is a scathing critic of BushCo™.

   IT’S ROCKTOBER

   the world series starts wednesday night and it’s BoSox…sorry Tribe fans, l was rooting for your guys…against the Rockies.

   
   clik to enlarge

   GO ROCKS!

   CG: hope l didn’t mash any toes, l had the time this morning.

   lTMF’sA

   

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     CabinGirl on October 22, 2007 at 1:05 pm

     I’m delighted that you put this up – I have a pinched nerve in my neck (which I think is finally starting to go away), and wasn’t feeling up to it when I got up today.

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       Man Eegee on October 22, 2007 at 1:32 pm

       feel better, CG!

       dada, your pix crack me up every time.

6. 

   Man Eegee on October 22, 2007 at 9:07 pm

   follow up to my diary last week.  Unfortunately, more bad news…

   Plans for two miles of border fencing in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area are moving forward following Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s decision Monday to invoke a waiver that allows the agency to bypass certain laws. – linkage

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     dada on October 22, 2007 at 10:05 pm

     l think everybody saw that one coming. not that it makes it any easier to swallow.

     lTMF’sA

     

7. 

   nalbar on October 22, 2007 at 10:17 pm

   http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/breakingnews/

   Right now the fires are to the south and east of me. I can see the smoke going miles out to sea. We are safe, but THOUSANDS are fleeing for their lives, and when they return there will be NOTHING left to pick through. At this time the fires are actually IN suburbs, burning whole neighborhoods.

   What San Diego has learned from bitter experience is that when it gets this bad you can expect no help, the firefighters are spread to thin. The fires will burn all the way to the sea tomorrow, and to get there they will go through thousands of houses.

   What’s funny is when I go outside it is the most beautiful night you can imagine, not a lick of wind with a cool breeze coming off the ocean. Yet not three miles to the south winds hot west bound winds are at 40 mph.

   nalbar

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     dada on October 22, 2007 at 11:02 pm

     be safe out there nalbar, one of our good friends is in the malibu hills and hasn’t been heard from since sunday morning.

     hope the weather and winds break, it’s an ugly one, l’m sure.

     lTMF’sA

     

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       nalbar on October 22, 2007 at 11:45 pm

       Thanks dada, we are quite safe so no worries here. I suppose I could be accused of being overly dramatic by some, but when the smoke clears a LOT of people will have nothing. I certainly hope your friends in Malibu are fine. Malibu always seems to get hit hard.

       The media coverage is quite frustrating. They always tell people to get out. Yet when people leave there is usually NO ONE to try to save their home. People who stay to try to save their home get a lot of criticism. Yet three years ago a LOT of homes were saved that way. Yet there is never a discussion about that conflict. The firefighters do an AMAZING job, but they simply cannot be everywhere.

       The winds are dying down. But the damage will be done.

       nalbar