Friday’s news and open thread…

1. The Los Angeles Times reports Court rejects EPA’s scheme to allow excessive mercury emissions. “A federal appeals court today struck down a market-based effort by the Bush administration to regulate emissions of mercury from coal- and oil-fired power plants, agreeing with critics that the Environmental Protection Agency had violated the Clean Air Act when it established the rule… The EPA had planned to establish a mandatory national cap on mercury emissions and then allow power plants that fail to meet their targets to buy credits from less-polluting plants. Environmentalists have criticized this approach because mercury tends to accumulate near its source, rather than dispersing like other pollutants that have been regulated under so-called cap-and-trade mechanisms.”

2. Via TPMmuckraker, the Wall Street Journal reports Contractors likely involved in waterboarding. “The CIA’s secret interrogation program has made extensive use of outside contractors, whose role likely included the waterboarding of terrorist suspects, according to testimony yesterday from the CIA director and two other people familiar with the program. Many of the contractors involved aren’t large corporate entities but rather individuals who are often former agency or military officers. However, large corporations also are involved, current and former officials said. Their identities couldn’t be learned… Using nongovernment employees also helped maintain a low profile, they said.” Is your next door neighbor a freelance mercenary torturer for the CIA?

3. Reuters reports Nebraska Supreme Court rules electric chair unconstitutional.

   The Nebraska Supreme Court struck down the state’s reliance on the electric chair for executions on Friday as “cruel and unusual” punishment, leaving no alternative method in its place.

   “We recognize the temptation to make the prisoner suffer, just as the prisoner made an innocent victim suffer,” the court wrote. “But it is the hallmark of a civilized society that we punish cruelty without practicing it.”

   In its 6-1 ruling, the court said evidence proves that unconsciousness and death are not instantaneous for many prisoners and they could experience intense pain and “agonizing suffering.”

   Nebraska is the only U.S. state that uses the electric chair as its only means of execution, though a few others still allow prisoners to choose it as an alternative to lethal injection.

   Governor Dave Heineman is “appalled” by ruling. “‘I am appalled by (the court’s) decision,’ the governor said in a statement. ‘…the court has asserted itself improperly as a policymaker. Once again, this activist court has ignored its own precedent and the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court to continue its assault on the Nebraska death penalty.'” The Nebraska Republican has a self-described “pro-life administration“.

4. A mysterious shipwreck has been revealed by winter storms in Oregon. The Oregonian has the story, A ship in the sands of time. “A massive wooden ship that disappeared on the southern Oregon coast decades and decades ago is emerging from a sand dune eroded by wild winter storms. On a remote beach of Coos Bay’s North Spit, the seas are revealing the bow of a mystery ship. Thirty feet of its thick, wooden bow protrudes from the dune. Forty feet wide at its broadest point, the hull sits dug into the dune, pointed toward the sea. Its iron supports are rusted and bent, its deck supports exposed, its portholes deep and square. The ship was built from massive timbers and likely dates to the late 19th or early 20th century… Between 1852 and 1953, 58 ships wrecked in a span of about five miles off Coos Bay”.

A bonus story about the Enchantress is below the fold…

Today, Attorney General Michael Mukasey is appearing before the House Judiciary Committee chaired by John Conyers. In his testimony today, the Washington Post reports Mukasey rejects a criminal probe into waterboarding.

“Waterboarding, because it was authorized to be part of a program … cannot possibly be the subject of a Justice Department investigation,” Mukasey said…

“That would mean that the same department that authorized the program would now prosecute someone for taking part” in it, he said.

1. Mukasey Rejects Criminal Probe Into Waterboarding

   The Washington Post reports:

   Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said this morning that waterboarding was deemed legal by the Justice Department at the time it was used by the CIA on three al-Qaeda captives, and as a result the Justice Department “cannot possibly” investigate whether a crime occurred.

   In testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Mukasey said that because waterboarding was part of a program approved by Justice lawyers, there is no way the department can open a criminal investigation into the practice.

   “Waterboarding, because it was authorized to be part of a program … cannot possibly be the subject of a Justice Department investigation,” Mukasey said in response to questions from panel Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.). “That would mean that the same department that authorized the program would now prosecute someone for taking part” in it, he said.

   Mukasey’s remarks were a direct rebuff to demands from many leading Democrats this week that the Justice Department open a criminal probe into the CIA’s use of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning in an attempt to force information from a prisoner.

   The statements also appear to conflict with his testimony in the Senate last week, when Mukasey said on several occasions that a special U.S. attorney’s probe into the CIA’s destruction of videotapes could be expanded to include a probe of interrogation tactics shown on the tapes.

   So, Mukasey admits the Bush administration cannot investigate itself. I think there must now be called a special prosecutor.

2. The Guardian reports Polar bears threatened by new drilling rights. “The sale of licences to drill for oil and gas rights in Alaska will threaten the future of the region’s polar bears, conservationists warned today. The oil and gas rights to drill in 29.4m acres in the Chukchi sea, which were made available by the US government’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) yesterday, have attracted record bids of $2.66bn from the likes of Shell and ConocoPhillips. The MMS believes that up to 15bn barrels of recoverable oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves lie beneath the Chukchi Sea, which lies between Alaska and Siberia. But environmentalists say too little is known about the possible impact of drilling on populations of polar bears and walrus in the area.”

   The Washington Post adds “Companies made 667 bids for 448 tracts in the 29 million-acre area north of Point Barrow. The winning bids included a record-breaking $105.3 million offer by Shell Oil for one three-by-three-mile leasehold, almost twice as much as the previous high bid for a single offshore U.S. tract.” All for the right to kill polar bears to feed our oil habit.

3. A story in The New York Times reports that In many communities, it’s not easy going green.

   Constraints on budgets, legal restrictions by states, and people’s unwillingness to change sometimes put brakes on ambitious plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions…

   When Providence officials pushed for new police cars with four cylinders instead of six, to save gasoline, there was pushback – unsuccessful – from police officers who preferred more powerful engines to pursue speeders or criminals. Cleveland’s plans to retrofit a local hot-water plant, produce new electricity and save tons of greenhouse gas emissions, molder in a file. It would cost $200 million, and there is no money – the tax base, left ragged by the loss of population and industry over the last two decades, has been hit hard again by the subprime mortgage crisis…

   County governments are also finding that homeowners’ associations can be troublesome. Carbondale, Colo., would welcome people like Adam and Rachel Connor, who bought a lot in a subdivision outside town and made plans for a house with solar panels. But the homeowners’ association vetoed the proposal on aesthetic grounds. Such associations have rejected solar projects from Southern California to the Chicago suburbs to Phoenix, prompting at least two states to pass laws prohibiting such vetoes.

4. Another train story today from The Star-Ledger in New Jersey: “The 100-year-old locomotive known as ‘Old No. 385’ [has a] new home, the Whippany Railway Museum in Hanover Township, where it will serve as the symbol of a historic transportation age New Jersey helped shape a century ago… Old No. 385 is one of only four steam engines known to be located in New Jersey, and one of three considered historic. It was built at the Eddystone plant of Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia and first served as a fast freight engine traveling the South. During the 1960s and 1970s, it was an excursion locomotive on the Morris County Central line”. “Yesterday, a crane lifted the 75-ton engine off the truck, carried it 15 feet in the air, then lowered it onto a nearby train track.”

1. In what may be a portent of changes to come, The New York Times reports At least 48 dead in storms across 4 states. “A wide swath of thunderstorms packing tornadoes, high winds and hail swept through the South Tuesday night and Wednesday morning killing at least 48 people, injuring at least 100 more and leaving authorities searching for others who may be trapped in rubble… Forecasters said the unusual winter tornadoes were triggered by unusually warm temperatures in the region. But cold weather, possibly with snow and sleet, was expected to follow the line of thunderstorms.” No one could have predicted “extreme and unpredictable weather“.

2. The Washington Post reports Dust storms overseas carry contaminants to U.S.. “Scientists know that great billowing clouds of dust waft over the oceans in the upper atmosphere, arriving in North America from deserts in Africa and Asia. Researchers have also found that the dust clouds contain not only harmful minerals and industrial pollutants, but also living organisms: bacteria, fungus and viruses that may transmit diseases to humans. Some say an alarming increase in asthma in children in the Caribbean is the consequence of dust blown from Africa, and predict they will find similar connections in the Southeast and Northwest United States. Scientists are beginning to look at these dust clouds as possible suspects in transcontinental movement of diseases such as influenza and SARS in humans, or foot-and-mouth disease in livestock… Authorities in Los Angeles estimate that on some days, one-quarter of the city’s smog comes from China.” The pollution that is causing climate change is a global problem. Economic arguments for doing nothing are made only by fools.

3. In perhaps a hopeful sign of changing attitudes, the Star Tribune reports in the Twin Cities, Among suburban commuters … Catching the bus is catching on. “Commuters are finding it’s a cheaper — and pleasant — ride. Meanwhile, ridership has risen so much that transit authorities are having trouble keeping up with demand… The high cost of gas and parking are helping wrench a vast army of suburbanites from behind their steering wheels — so much so that riders complain they often have to stand, and transit officials are warning that they are bumping up against capacity… Although the big jump in riders coincides with the big jump in gas prices over the past couple of years, a surprising number of suburban transit users say that heightened concern about emissions and climate change also play a role.” Here’s a link to Metro Transit in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.

4. The Los Angeles Times reports The climate may be right for a global warming bill. “But despite the dramatic shift in the Capitol in favor of doing something to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, global warming legislation remains a long shot for this year.” The article explores the very flawed Lieberman-Warner “Climate [in]Security Act” which is in part greenwashing.

   “This bill doesn’t do the job that science tells us we need to do,” said Melinda Pierce, a Sierra Club lobbyist.

   Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth, called it “an embarrassment”…

   Some environmentalists worry that industry groups are eager for action this year only because they think they stand a better chance of shaping a bill to their liking than if a measure were to be crafted after the November election.

   Adam Siegel has several good diaries regarding this legislation.

1. The AP reports CIA used waterboarding at least three times. For the first time, CIA Director Michael Hayden publicly confirmed the names of three people whom the United States tortured. “Hayden said that Khalid Sheik Mohammed – the purported mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States – and Abu Zubayda and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri were subject to the harsh interrogations in 2002 and 2003. Waterboarding is an interrogation technique that critics call torture… ‘Waterboarding taken to its extreme, could be death, you could drown someone,’ McConnell acknowledged. He said waterboarding remains a technique in the CIA’s arsenal, but it would require the consent of the president and legal approval of the attorney general.” Which I think means Bush approved the use of torture.

   TPMmuckraker weighs in with some analysis: “Hayden’s testimony is part of a bid to beat back a bipartisan attempt by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), and others to pass legislation that would force the CIA’s interrogation policy to conform with the Army Field Manual. And rather than continuing to refuse to publicly discuss these issues, the administration seems to have adopted a change in tactics. Waterboarding was used only under extraordinary circumstances, Hayden’s saying. And as Attorney General Michael Mukasey disclosed last week, it’s not part of the current array of interrogation techniques deemed lawful. So it’s not worth legislating to prevent its use.” TPMmuckraker also has a fuller transcript of Hayden’s response.

2. The Los Angeles Times reports Federal judge overrules Bush’s Navy sonar exemption. “A federal district judge in Los Angeles on Monday rejected the Bush administration’s attempt to exempt Navy sonar training from key environmental laws, ruling that there’s no real emergency to justify overruling court-ordered protections for whales and dolphins. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper also suggested that President Bush’s effort to maneuver around an earlier federal court order was ‘constitutionally suspect,’ although she made no ruling on that issue… After reviewing the law and regulations, Cooper concluded that the Navy had no real emergency on its hands. The move to invoke these alternative arrangements, she wrote, appeared to be an attempt to get around the law after more than 10 months of litigation and losing several court battles.”

3. The Guardian reports Scientists isolate areas most at risk of climate change. “A team of climate experts has ranked the most fragile and vulnerable regions on the planet, and warned they are in danger of sudden and catastrophic collapse before the end of the century. In a comprehensive study published today, the scientists identify the nine areas that are in gravest danger of passing critical thresholds or ‘tipping points’, beyond which they will not recover.” The Independent has a succinct list of the Irreversible changes:

   • Arctic sea ice: some scientists believe that the tipping point for the total loss of summer sea ice is imminent.

   • Greenland ice sheet: total melting could take 300 years or more but the tipping point that could see irreversible change might occur within 50 years.

   • West Antarctic ice sheet: scientists believe it could unexpectedly collapse if it slips into the sea at its warming edges.

   • Gulf Stream: few scientists believe it could be switched off completely this century but its collapse is a possibility.

   • El Niño: the southern Pacific current may be affected by warmer seas, resulting in far-reaching climate change.

   • Indian monsoon: relies on temperature difference between land and sea, which could be tipped off-balance by pollutants that cause localised cooling.

   • West African monsoon: in the past it has changed, causing the greening of the Sahara, but in the future it could cause droughts.

   • Amazon rainforest: a warmer world and further deforestation may cause a collapse of the rain supporting this ecosystem.

   • Boreal forests: cold-adapted trees of Siberia and Canada are dying as temperatures rise.

Below the fold, yet another story about a steam locomotive in peril and a bonus story about satellite spotters.

1. The U.S. killed 9 Iraqi civilians in mistaken bombing reports the McClatchy Newspapers. “U.S. helicopters attacked allied Iraqi militiamen south of the capital on Saturday, killing at least nine civilians and wounding three, apparently because of a miscommunication during fighting with suspected Islamist gunmen. An Iraqi police spokesman put the death toll at 13. Casualties included two women and a child… The militamen apparently called for U.S. support during the fighting. A spokesman for the local militiamen said that poor communication between the militiamen and American forces was likely to blame. The militiamen were unable to summon U.S. forces directly, and their request was relayed through local police”. Winning hearts and minds — one corpse at a time.

2. The Washington Post reports Bush unveils $3 trillion budget proposal. “Bush today unveiled a… $3 trillion budget proposal for fiscal 2009 that would slice $14.2 billion from… federal health-care programs, eliminate scores of programs and virtually freeze domestic spending — but would still record a $407 billion budget deficit… The Bush budget plan would continue his first-term tax cuts beyond their 2011 expiration date, at a cost to the Treasury of $635 billion through 2013, extend abstinence education programs, create elementary and secondary education vouchers and guard other White House initiatives… The document also assumes $70 billion in costs for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars next year, a fraction of the true costs, which could reach $200 billion in 2008. Beyond 2009, the budget includes no war costs at all.”

   McClatchy Newspapers add Bush budget – more of the same, and Democrats don’t like it. “Among the biggest spending increases would be a 7 percent boost for Pentagon spending and an 11 percent increase for homeland security, with big increases for border security. Not included is full funding for the war on terror; Bush would allot $70 billion for 2009 but leaves spending targets for future years’ up to future presidents and Congresses.”

3. The AP reports there were Close ties between White House and Sept. 11 commission’s executive director.

   The Sept. 11 commission’s executive director had closer ties with the White House than publicly disclosed and tried to influence the final report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush administration’s responsibility, a new book says.

   Philip Zelikow, a friend of then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, spoke with her several times during the 20-month investigation that closely examined her role in assessing the al-Qaida threat. He also exchanged frequent calls with the White House, including at least four from Bush’s chief political adviser at the time, Karl Rove.

   Zelikow once tried to push through wording in a draft report that suggested a greater tie between al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Iraq, in line with White House claims but not with the commission staff’s viewpoint, according to Philip Shenon’s The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation.

   Raw Story weighs in with 9/11 Commissioner: ‘We had to go through Karl Rove’. “9/11 Commission member John Lehman goes on to tell MSNBC that it was impossible not to go through Karl Rove when documents such as presidential daily briefings were needed… ‘We had to go through Karl Rove, and through [Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales and the other most senior members,’ says Lehman.” Certainly calls into question the commission’s independence.

4. The Los Angeles Times report on Where blubber meets the road. Some elephant seals below the Hearst Castle are “sneaking past barbed-wire fences designed to protect them, then flopping on blubbery bellies right across California 1… The phenomenon of wandering seals isn’t entirely new. Seals and motorists have had encounters before. Seals have been killed and drivers injured. But Brian Hatfield, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey who has watched the rookery grow from a few seals in 1990 to an estimated 16,000 this year, said it had become more of a problem as the population exploded.” Check out the great narrated slide show too.

1. The Washington Post reports Dozens killed in suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad. “Within the span of 10 minutes, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in crowded Baghdad markets on Friday, killing dozens of people in the deadliest day in the Iraqi capital in months, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials… There were conflicting reports about the scale of the carnage. Iraqi police said 58 people were killed and 172 others were wounded, while the U.S. military reported 27 killed and more than 50 injured. The bombings took place in predominantly Shiite neighborhoods.”

   “There were pieces of people everywhere. One was without a head, others were without arms. Some were dead and not moving, some were crawling,” said Jawad Kadim, 21, who sells birds in the market. “I closed my shop and I ran away. It’s getting worse and worse here. This is the fourth explosion.”

2. Meanwhile in northern Iraq, The New York Times reports Kurds’ power wanes as Arab anger rises.

   The Kurds’ efforts to seize control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and to gain a more advantageous division of national revenues are uniting most Sunnis and many Shiites with Mr. Maliki’s government in opposition to the Kurdish demands.

   For the United States, the diminution in Kurdish power is part of a larger problem of political divisiveness that has plagued its efforts to build a functioning government in Iraq. While several political parties can come together to address a particular issue, none can seem to form the lasting allegiances needed for actual governance.

   The Kurds, with their pro-American outlook, were a natural ally. But now the Americans are increasingly placed in the uncomfortable position of choosing between the Kurds, whom they have long supported and protected, and the Iraqi Arabs, whose government the Americans helped create.

   “‘In times of trouble, you get to know your enemies and your friends,’ counsels one Kurdish proverb. ‘The Kurds have no friends,’ answers another. Many Kurds fear the United States will betray them, as, they say, Washington and other foreign powers have in the past.” — Houston Chronicle, March 21 2003.

3. The Guardian reports China arrests leading rights activist. “Chinese state security forces have arrested one of the country’s most prominent civil rights activists in an apparent crackdown on dissent ahead of the Olympics. Hu Jia – who used blogs, webcasts and video to expose human rights abuses – is expected to face charges of inciting subversion of state power, his lawyers said today. His formal arrest comes after he was seized by police from an apartment in east Beijing on December 27. In the month since, his wife, Zeng Jinyan, and their two-month-old daughter have been prevented from leaving their home or contacting outsiders.”

4. Bloomberg News reports Bats Die by the Thousands From Mystery Malady in Northeast U.S. “Thousands of bats are dying from an unknown illness in the northeastern U.S. at a rate that could cause extinction… At eight caves in New York and one in Vermont, scientists have seen bat populations plummet over two years. Most bats hibernate in the same cave every winter, keeping annual counts consistent. A cave that had 1,300 bats in January 2006 had 470 bats last year. It recently sheltered just 38. At another cave, more than 90 percent of about 15,500 bats have died since 2005, and two-thirds that remain now sleep near the cave’s entrance, where conditions are less hospitable. Scientists don’t know what’s causing the deaths”. The AP notes “The white fungus ring around bats’ noses is a symptom, but not necessarily the cause. For some unknown reason, the bats deplete their fat reserves and die months before they would normally emerge from hibernation.”

Remember tomorrow is Groundhog’s Day. The day where John McCain pops out of his dark hole, sees his shadow, and tells the nation there will be 100 more years of “surge”.

1. Dana Priest of the Washington Post reports Soldier suicides at record level: Increase linked to long wars and lack of Army resources.

   Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980…

   Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006. At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began. Last year, about 2,100 soldiers injured themselves or attempted suicide, compared with about 350 in 2002, according to the U.S. Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan.

   The Army was unprepared for the high number of suicides and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among its troops, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued far longer than anticipated. Many Army posts still do not offer enough individual counseling and some soldiers suffering psychological problems complain that they are stigmatized by commanders. Over the past year, four high-level commissions have recommended reforms and Congress has given the military hundreds of millions of dollars to improve its mental health care, but critics charge that significant progress has not been made.

   The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed severe stress on the Army, caused in part by repeated and lengthened deployments. Historically, suicide rates tend to decrease when soldiers are in conflicts overseas, but that trend has reversed in recent years. From a suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2001 — the lowest rate on record — the Army reached an all-time high of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2006.

   Last year, twice as many soldier suicides occurred in the United States than in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2. Meanwhile, U.S. commanders in Iraq favor pause in troop cuts reports the Washington Post. “Senior U.S. military commanders here say they want to freeze troop reductions starting this summer… There are about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now, with about 5,000 leaving every month; the proposed freeze would go into effect in July, when troops levels reach around 130,000. Although violence is dropping in Iraq, commanders say they want to halt withdrawals to assess whether they can control the situation with fewer troops… Officers are still debating the length of the proposed freeze, with some arguing for 90 days and others saying it could be as short as 30. Because it can take as long as 75 days to withdraw a brigade, a freeze could result in troop levels remaining steady through most of the rest of Bush’s term, deferring any continued drawdown to his successor. Military planners fear that maintaining the current pace of withdrawals could lead to an unstable situation just as a new administration takes office in January.” Bush’s ‘temporary surge’ now becomes permanent. Surprised?

   According to the AP, “At least 37 U.S. soldiers have been killed in January – well above the 23 who died in December but still sharply lower than a year ago. In January last year, 83 soldiers were killed in Iraq. Since the beginning of the war in 2003, at least 3,942 members of the U.S. military have died. The total for January could rise; occasionally the military reports new casualties a few days after they occur.”

Four at Four continues below the fold with news about the fate of Afghan journalism student Sayed Pervez Kambaksh and Atlantic hurricanes.

1. The New York Times reports the FBI opens subprime inquiry. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation has opened criminal inquiries into 14 companies as part of a wide-ranging investigation of the troubled mortgage industry… The F.B.I. [is] looking into possible accounting fraud, insider trading or other violations in connection with loans made to borrowers with weak, or subprime, credit.” ABC News quotes Neil Power, chief of the FBI’s Economic Crimes Unit, as saying: “There are some irregularities we are looking at… [this is] good old-fashioned greed.” This investigation will likely not bare fruit until the next administration, but perhaps it is a good omen of things to come. Imagine what a progressive Attorney General would do with these predatory lenders.

2. The Washington Post reports the obvious: U.S. economy has ground to a virtual standstill. “The U.S. economy virtually stalled at the end of 2007… From October to December, gross domestic product grew by just 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted annual basis… This was a marked slowdown from the 4.9 percent growth posted in the three preceding months… The dip was greater than expected.“

   While the Los Angeles Times makes the other obvious observation, there’s High anxiety for 401(k) investors.

   As Americans increasingly link their well-being to financial markets, the possibility of recession and a slump on Wall Street has taken on new meaning for the middle class, including baby boomers who are approaching retirement age.

   Some 50 million workers now participate in 401(k)-type savings plans, a number that has shot up since 2000 as employers increasingly stop offering traditional pensions. Similarly, 46 million households hold a stake in the tax-advantaged savings plans known as individual retirement accounts, according to the Investment Company Institute.

   The result is a historic linkage between the fortunes of the public and Wall Street, just as older baby boomers — now past 60 — focus more seriously on the living standards that await in their post-work years.

3. Here’s the latest attack against Net Neutrality. Steven Levy of the Washington Post writes Time Warner Cable moving to pay-per-gigabyte metered Internet access. Time Warner has selected Beaumont, Texas for a pricing experiment where users of their Road Runner Internet service will have “consumption-based billing”. “Cable giant Comcast says it’s also evaluating the concept, but other broadband providers aren’t indicating they’ll adopt the scheme… There is… a net neutrality angle to the Time Warner Cable experiment… An increasingly important component of that business is distributing video on demand. TW’s competitors in that arena are Internet companies that intend to do the same thing. The TW plan tilts the field in its own favor. Let’s say I want to watch the indie film ‘Waitress.’ I may have the choice to order it on my cable box or rent it from iTunes. Each might cost me $3. But if I’m metered, renting it from iTunes might mean that I exceed my monthly limit, perhaps incurring a penalty that’s more than renting the movie.”

4. The Independent reports on the discovery that a Hummingbird sings through its tail feathers. “A small hummingbird has been found to “sing” through its tail feathers rather than its voice-box in the same way a wind musician plays a note on a clarinet. Scientists have found that the Anna’s hummingbird of the American south-west makes a “chirping” sound by dive-bombing at speeds of 50mph to cause wind to rush through its splayed tail feathers. The feathers quiver in the same way that the reed of a clarinet vibrates when a musician plays the instrument to produce a musical note. In this way, the bird is able to produce a noise that is louder than anything its own tiny voice-box can make.” You can hear the Anna’s Hummingbird’s chirp by following the link above and you can go to BBC News and see the hummingbird flying and chirping.

There’s a poll below the fold… why don’tcha vote in it. Okay?

1. I know this will come as a shock to some, but Attorney General Michael Mukasey is blocking an investigation into Alberto Gonzales. Sorry to burst the bubble. The Los Angeles Times reports the Justice Department is accused of blocking Gonzales probe by the Office of Special Counsel.

   The government agency that enforces one of the principal laws aimed at keeping politics out of the civil service has accused the Justice Department of blocking its investigation into alleged politicizing of the department under former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales.

   Scott J. Bloch, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, wrote Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey last week that the department had repeatedly “impeded” his investigation by refusing to share documents and provide answers to written questions, according to a copy of Bloch’s letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

   The Justice Department wants Bloch to wait until its own internal investigation is completed. A department official signaled recently that the investigation is examining the possibility of criminal charges.

   But that, the regulator wrote, could take until the last months of the Bush administration, “when there is little hope of any corrective measures or discipline possible” being taken by his office.

   Bloch’s allegations show how the controversy, which mostly focused on the dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006, continues to boil inside government.

   So much for Mukasey being “independent”, “not part of the Bush political circle”, and “hard to see him becoming a subservient tool of the White House.” Didn’t see that one coming, did ya? Right?

2. Another shocker story from the Los Angeles Times, A Cold War redux is seen on the horizon. “Growing friction between the United States and Russia over Iran is only part of an increasingly difficult relationship that many diplomats and experts consider to be in its worst shape since the end of the Cold War, and at risk of further deterioration. Although U.S. officials are publicly playing down the rising tension, a series of conflicts has prompted some within the Bush administration to conclude that, for domestic and geopolitical reasons, Russia is now more comfortable with the U.S. as an enemy than an ally.”

   “Russian analysts acknowledge that the Putin government is trying to exploit anti-Americanism for political purposes… [But,] Russian analysts argue that the United States bears as much or more responsibility for strained relations. The two countries have often clashed because of flawed foreign policy on the part of the United States, they say.” I lay the responsibility for Cold War II at the feet of Bush administration and their joke-of-a-Russia-expert, Condi Rice.

3. How’s that occupation working out for ya? Well if you’re poor and from Latin America, maybe not so well. According to yet another Los Angeles Times story, Iraq contractors tap Latin America’s needy.

   In the United States, [Gregorio] Calixto might be under treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in Iraq, receiving daily physical therapy and counseling. Here he’s an unemployed street vendor, renting a spartan room and struggling to recover physically and emotionally from severe shrapnel wounds.

   He is one of several thousand Latin Americans who have taken jobs with U.S. contractors as security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 1,200 Peruvians are in Iraq, mostly guarding sites in Baghdad’s Green Zone. Chileans, Colombians, Salvadorans and Hondurans have also served as part of the polyglot assemblage providing “conflict labor” in U.S. war zones.

   Although most appear to have returned to Latin America safely and with enough cash to buy houses, taxis and businesses, others, such as Calixto, have been unlucky: seriously injured in Iraq and left to negotiate a labyrinthine and what he terms inadequate U.S. insurance system.

4. The Washington Post reports despite Wall Street driving the U.S. economy over a cliff, Year-end bonuses keep coming! “The grim toll that the U.S. mortgage crisis has taken on financial markets has been felt worldwide… But largely spared have been financiers on Wall Street, a place where brokers, bankers and traders are called into corner offices at the end of each year and told how large a bonus they’ll receive for the year’s work. The size of the figure reflects their value to the company, and many feared — even complained out loud — that the amount would be badly affected by the subprime mess. They needn’t have worried. Wall Street bonuses totaled $33.2 billion in 2007, down just 2 percent, by the estimates of the New York state comptroller’s office. Seven of Wall Street’s biggest firms boosted their total compensation and benefits to a combined $122 billion, up 10 percent since 2006, despite seeing their net revenue collectively fall 6 percent”. Booyah!

Four at Four continues below the fold with a story about the 7-year prison terms facing the 10 Burmese protest leaders and Al Gore’s IPO.

1. Another Monday, another ‘why are we still in Iraq?’ The Guardian reports that another Five US soldiers killed in Iraq. “Five US soldiers were killed in Iraq today when their patrol was hit by a roadside bomb and then came under small arms fire, the American military said. The attack, one of the deadliest against US troops in months, was in Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, 390km (240 miles) north of Baghdad… The attack against the US patrol takes to 36 the number of soldiers killed in Iraq this month, up from 23 in December but similar to levels in October and November. The number of US troops killed since the 2003 invasion now stands at 3,940.

   While The Independent reports ‘If there is no change in three months, there will be war again’.

   A crucial Iraqi ally of the United States in its recent successes in the country is threatening to withdraw his support and allow al-Qa’ida to return if his fighters are not incorporated into the Iraqi army and police.

   “If there is no change in three months there will be war again,” said Abu Marouf, the commander of 13,000 fighters who formerly fought the Americans. He and his men switched sides last year to battle al-Qa’ida and defeated it in its main stronghold in and around Fallujah.

   “If the Americans think they can use us to crush al-Qa’ida and then push us to one side, they are mistaken,” Abu Marouf told The Independent in an interview in a scantily furnished villa beside an abandoned cemetery near the village of Khandari outside Fallujah. He said that all he and his tribal following had to do was stand aside and al-Qa’ida’s fighters would automatically come back. If they did so he might have to ally himself to a resurgent al-Qa’ida in order to “protect myself and my men”.

2. According to The Seattle Times, Small earthquake shifts views. “For decades, the ‘doomsday’ fault off the coast of Washington and Oregon has appeared to be locked tight, building up stress that scientists say will one day be unleashed in a monster earthquake and tsunami. Now researchers from Oregon State University (OSU) have discovered that portions of the fault have actually been slipping, leading to a series of small earthquakes over the past several years – including one Thursday. The finding doesn’t mean a major quake is more – or less – likely to strike anytime soon. It does provide a new window through which to study the fault and understand what it might do next…”

3. The Washington Post bring news of a Madagascar palm that “flowers itself to death“. “Tahina spectabilis (from the Latin for “spectacular”) is a huge palm, with fan-shaped leaves as big as 15 feet across. As is the case with most palms, the leaves are arranged in a way that appears to minimize the amount they shade each other… T. spectabilis is one of just a few species of “suicide palm” worldwide: trees that grow for decades, then throw every last bit of energy they have into an ultimately fatal reproductive frenzy. Some scientists call it ‘explosive’ or ‘big bang’ reproduction, but it is a slow-motion explosion, in which hundreds of thousands of flowers will bloom, attracting pollinators that, depending on the palm, may be beetles, bees or bats.”

   “The palm… is not only a new species. It has forced palm biologists to invent an entirely new genus to accommodate it. That is an almost unheard of event in modern palm tree classification, but one made necessary by its many unique traits and by DNA testing suggesting the tree has been evolving independently of other palms for millions of years.”

4. Time magazine notes that today, Lego celebrates 50 years of building. “It was at 1:58 p.m. on January 28, 1958, that then-Lego head Godtfred Kirk Christiansen filed a patent for the iconic plastic brick with its stud and hole design. Since then, the company has made a staggering 400 billion Lego elements, or 62 bricks for every person on the planet. And if stacked on top of one another, the pieces would form 10 towers reaching all the way from the Earth to the Moon. But Lego’s legacy lies less in numbers than in its creative influence. The colorful bricks have littered playroom floors for generations of families. But they have also spurred ingenuity among children that few toys can claim before and since.” Happy birthday Lego! Thanks for the many happy memories.