GOP-Identification-2007-Lowest-Last-Two-Decades

January 14, 2008
GOP-Identification-2007-Lowest-Last-Two-Decades

PRINCETON, NJ -- The percentage of Americans who identified as Republicans in 2007 is the
lowest of any of the 20 calendar years since 1988 that Gallup has conducted its interviewing
primarily by telephone. An average of 27.7% of Americans identified as Republicans, based on more than 26,000 Gallup interviews in 2007. The previous low in Republican identification was 28.1% in 1999.

Meanwhile, 32.5% of Americans identified as Democrats and 38.6% as political independents last

year. The latter percentage is on the high end of what Gallup has measured in the last two decades, surpassed by only the 39.1% independent identification average from 1995. The high point for Democratic identification came in 1988, when 35.6% said they were Democrats.

Escalating Ice Loss Found in Antarctica

January 14, 2008
Escalating Ice Loss Found in Antarctica

Climatic changes appear to be destabilizing vast ice sheets of western Antarctica that had previously seemed relatively protected from global warming, researchers reported yesterday, raising the prospect of faster sea-level rise than current estimates.

While the overall loss is a tiny fraction of the miles-deep ice that covers much of Antarctica, scientists said the new finding is important because the continent holds about 90 percent of Earth's ice, and until now, large-scale ice loss there had been limited to the peninsula that juts out toward the tip of South America. In addition, researchers found that the rate of ice loss in the affected areas has accelerated over the past 10 years -- as it has on most glaciers and ice sheets around the world.

Joint Chiefs chairman: Close Guantanamo

January 13, 2008
Joint Chiefs chairman: Close Guantanamo

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The chief of the U.S. military said Sunday he favors closing the prison here as soon as possible because he believes negative publicity worldwide about treatment of terrorist suspects has been "pretty damaging" to the image of the United States.

"I'd like to see it shut down," Adm. Mike Mullen said in an interview with three reporters who toured the detention center with him on his first visit since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last October.

Veterans' groups win post-traumatic stress disorder ruling

January 10, 2008
Veterans' groups win post-traumatic stress disorder ruling

A federal judge in San Francisco has cleared the way for a national class-action lawsuit challenging how Department of Veterans Affairs treats Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The federal system for weighing individual veterans' claims "does not provide an adequate alternative remedy for Plaintiffs' claims for several reasons," U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti wrote in a 42-page order rejecting the government's motion to dismiss three of the lawsuit's four claims.

No Quick Fix to Downturn

January 13, 2008
No Quick Fix to Downturn

As leaders in Washington turn their attention to efforts to avert a looming downturn, many economists suggest that it may already be too late to change the course of the economy over the first half of the year, if not longer.

With a wave of negative signs gathering force, economists, policy makers and investors are debating just how much the economy could be damaged in 2008. Huge and complex, the American economy has in recent years been aided by a global web of finance so elaborate that no one seems capable of fully comprehending it. That makes it all but impossible to predict how much the economy can be expected to fall before it stabilizes.

121 veterans linked to killings

January 13, 2008
121 veterans linked to killings

NEW YORK - At least 121 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have committed a killing or been charged in one in the United States after returning from combat, The New York Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper said it also logged 349 homicides involving all active-duty military personnel and new veterans in the six years since military action began in Afghanistan, and later Iraq. That represents an 89-percent increase over the previous six-year period, the newspaper said.

Wiretaps Are Cut Over Unpaid Bills

January 11, 2008
Wiretaps Are Cut Over Unpaid Bills

Telecommunications companies have repeatedly cut off FBI access to wiretaps of alleged terrorists and criminal suspects because the bureau did not pay its phone bills, according to the results of an audit released yesterday.

The report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said that more than half of nearly 1,000 FBI telecommunications bills reviewed by investigators were not paid on time, including one invoice for $66,000 at an unidentified field office.

Iraqi civilian death toll more than 150,000

January 10, 2008

Iraqi civilian death toll more than 150,000

About 151,000 Iraqi civilians were killed in bomb attacks and other violence in Iraq in the first three years after the invasion, according to the most comprehensive study yet into the number of fatalities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) based its estimate on a survey of nearly 10,000 households, conducted jointly with the Iraqi Government. It said that the actual figure of violent deaths between March 2003 and June 2006 could be as high as 223,000 or as low as 104,000.

Many more people have died over the past 18 months, leaving the overall civilian death toll of the war to date unknown.

Ashcroft Deal Brings Scrutiny in Justice Dept.

January 10, 2008
Ashcroft Deal Brings Scrutiny in Justice Dept.

WASHINGTON — When the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey needed to find an outside lawyer to monitor a large corporation willing to settle criminal charges out of court last fall, he turned to former Attorney General John Ashcroft, his onetime boss. With no public notice and no bidding, the company awarded Mr. Ashcroft an 18-month contract worth $28 million to $52 million.

That contract, which Justice Department officials in Washington learned about only several weeks ago, has prompted an internal inquiry into the department's procedures for selecting outside monitors to police settlements with large companies.

Shortages hurting Army health care

January 12, 2008
Shortages hurting Army health care

Injured in a roadside blast in Iraq, Sgt. Gerald Cassidy was assigned to a new medical unit at Fort Knox, Ky., devoted to healing the wounds of war.

But instead of getting better, the brain-injured soldier from Westfield, Ind., was found dead in his barracks on Sept. 21. Preliminary reports show he may have been unconscious for days and dead for hours before someone checked on him.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., linked his death in part to inadequate staffing at the medical unit. Only about half of the positions in the unit were filled when Cassidy died. The Army is investigating the death and its cause, and three people have lost their jobs.

"By all indications, the enemy could not kill him, but our own government did," Bayh told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Not intentionally, to be sure, but the end result apparently was the same."

Americans Cut Back Sharply on Spending

January 14, 2008
Americans Cut Back Sharply on Spending

Strong evidence is emerging that consumer spending, a bulwark against recession over the last year even as energy prices surged and the housing market sputtered, has begun to slow sharply at every level of the American economy, from the working class to the wealthy.

The abrupt pullback raises the possibility that the country may be experiencing a rare decline in personal consumption, not just a slower rate of growth. Such a decline would be the first since 1991, and it would almost certainly push the entire economy into a recession in the middle of an election year.

Merrill Lynch: $15 Billion Loss

January 11, 2008

Merrill Lynch: $15 Billion Loss

Merrill Lynch is expected to suffer $15 billion in losses stemming from soured mortgage investments, almost double its original estimate, prompting the firm to raise additional capital from an outside investor.

Merrill, the nation's largest brokerage firm, is expected to disclose the huge write-down when it reports earnings next week, according to people who have been briefed on its plans. The loss far exceeds the $12 billion hit many Wall Street analysts had forecast.

Immunity Off-Limits

January 12, 2008
Immunity Off-Limits

Mr. Rodriguez has been subpoenaed to appear before the House intelligence committee next week, and Mr. Bennett has said he won't allow his client to testify without immunity -- as any lawyer worth his salt would do, especially when the Justice Department has already launched its own investigation. Generally, when a witness testifies before Congress under a grant of immunity, prosecutors are not allowed to use the testimony unless they can prove they obtained the same information independently. This is a difficult hurdle to clear and a major reason that courts threw out the criminal case against Iran-contra defendant Oliver L. North.

There is no indication that the committee is poised to grant Mr. Rodriguez immunity, and we urge the committee to stand its ground and rebuff Mr. Bennett's request.

Army Investigates War Crimes

January 14, 2008
Army Investigates War Crimes

FORT CARSON, Colo. — The Army is investigating possible war crimes after a Fort Carson soldier facing first-degree murder charges in the slayings of two Iraq war veterans told investigators he and another soldier randomly fired at Iraqi civilians.

Pfc. Bruce Bastien Jr. and two former soldiers face charges in the December shooting death of Spc. Kevin Shields, while Bastien and one of those former soldiers face charges in the Aug. 4 shooting death of Pfc. Robert James.

Fort Carson spokeswoman Dee McNutt confirmed the Army investigation detailed in a motion filed by prosecutors Tuesday seeking to combine the two slayings into one case.

Merrill Lynch: Recession 'has arrived'

January 8, 2008
Merrill Lynch: Recession 'has arrived'

The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch.

It said that Friday's employment report, which sent shares tumbling worldwide, confirmed that the US is in the first month of a recession.

Its view is controversial, with banks such as Lehman Brothers disagreeing.

Survey: Diplomats oppose Iraq policy

January 8, 2008
Survey: Diplomats oppose Iraq policy

WASHINGTON - Nearly half of U.S. diplomats unwilling to volunteer to work in Iraq say one reason for their refusal is they don't agree with Bush administration's policies in the country, according to a survey released Tuesday.

Security concerns and separation from family ranked as the top reasons for not wanting to serve in Iraq. But 48 percent cited "disagreement" with administration policy as a factor in their opposition, said the survey conducted by the American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents U.S. diplomats.

France best, U.S. worst in preventable death ranking

January 8, 2008
France best, U.S. worst in preventable death ranking

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.