Some news and open thread.

1. The Washington Post reports The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Mukasey confirmation on Tuesday. “Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) announced today that the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote Tuesday on attorney general nominee Michael B. Mukasey, whose confirmation has been complicated by his repeated refusal to declare that an interrogation tactic that uses simulated drowning constitutes illegal torture. The announcement from Leahy comes a day after Mukasey wrote a letter to the committee saying that while he considers waterboarding ‘repugnant,’ he does not know whether the technique violates U.S. laws against torture.”

   Mukasey “said it is ‘an open question,’ for example, whether a U.S. citizen seized on U.S. soil can be detained indefinitely after the president declares that he is in an enemy combatant. He also reiterated his view that the president can ignore surveillance laws if they infringe on his powers as commander in chief, and said a Justice Department prosecutor cannot enforce a congressional subpoena if the White House has asserted a claim of executive privilege.”

   Mukasey should be rejected by the senators. If any Democrat votes for Mukasey, he will become the Attorney General. Mukasey must be stopped in committee.

2. The New York Times reports the Fed lowers key interest rate by a quarter point. “Federal Reserve policymakers, worried that the meltdown in housing could continue to slow the entire economy, cut their benchmark interest rate today by a quarter point to 4.50 percent, from 4.75. Today’s rate cut follows an unusually large one-half percentage point in September”.

3. According to Spiegel, Rising prices widen gap between rich and poor. “Central banks flooded the world with cheap money for years, helping the rich get richer. Now inflation is on the horizon, threatening to make the poor even poorer… The excess dollars, euro and yen that were not being spent on capital goods went into more lucrative investments… And those were the rich of this world, the people who had enough surplus income to invest it profitably. The gap between rich and poor only became wider… Those who have money can also attempt to beat inflation with evasive strategies. Existing loans, such as mortgage loans, become cheaper relative to income. Besides, high earners can shift their assets to inflation-proof investments like gold or other precious metals.”

4. A couple of developments from Burma. The Guardian reports Burmese monks begin fresh protests. “More than 100 Buddhist monks marched and chanted in Burma today in the first public demonstration since the military junta crushed last month’s anti-government protests, several monks said. The monks in Pakokku made no political statements and shouted no slogans, but their march, which lasted nearly an hour, was in clear defiance of the government.”

   The Independent reports Burma forces children into combat as adults desert army. “The Burmese junta is making more and more use of child soldiers, some as young as 10, according to a Human Rights Watch report published today. Finding it increasingly hard to recruit adult soldiers, and trying to cope with high desertion rates and a constantly expanding demand for fighters, army recruiters pick on children at bus and train stations and force them to join up.”

So, what else is happening?

The afternoon’s news and Open Thread.

1. According to the Washington Post, Iraqi dam seen in danger of deadly collapse. “The largest dam in Iraq is in serious danger of an imminent collapse that could unleash a trillion-gallon wave of water, possibly killing thousands of people and flooding two of the largest cities in the country, according to new assessments by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other U.S. officials. Even in a country gripped by daily bloodshed, the possibility of a catastrophic failure of the Mosul Dam has alarmed American officials, who have concluded that it could lead to as many as 500,000 civilian deaths by drowning Mosul under 65 feet of water and parts of Baghdad under 15 feet, said Abdulkhalik Thanoon Ayoub, the dam manager. ‘The Mosul dam is judged to have an unacceptable annual failure probability,’ in the dry wording of an Army Corps of Engineers draft report.” The Bush administration has mismanaged $27 million in temporary measures to “help shore up the dam” to prevent its failure.

2. In an interview with the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Spiegel reports UN torture investigator slams western complacency.

   Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, has traveled the world investigating abuse and cruelty. As he prepares to deliver his final report, he voices his dismay at the complacency with which torture is regarded — even in the West…

   Nowak has personally visited a dozen countries, from Mongolia to Paraguay. He has inspected many dungeons and jails and spoken to hundreds of prisoners. So he is all the more annoyed when he is denied access to prisons. To this day, he has not been allowed to visit the US military base in Guantanamo, for example — at least not in order to conduct private, unsupervised interviews with detainees. The US government would not give him permission. But an essential prerequisite for Nowak’s investigative missions is the right to decide himself what he wants to see or who he wants to speak to — including without any prior appointment.

   Ever since former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized the use of so-called “enhanced interrogation” techniques in Abu Ghraib, “the United States has lost its moral leadership and authority,” Nowak believes. “Today, when the Bush administration criticizes other countries for their human rights abuses, no one takes them seriously anymore.”

   But Europe has not succeeded in taking the place of the United States as the “driving force when it comes to human rights,” the lawyer says. On the contrary, he believes the European Union is “seriously tarnished.” European governments’ cooperation with the CIA in the war on terror and their denial of secret detainee renditions and prison camps has weakened the EU, according to Nowak.

3. The Guardian reports Malaria moves in behind the loggers. “In Peru, malaria was almost eradicated 40 years ago, but this year 64,000 cases have been registered in the country, half in the Amazon region. It is thought there are many more unregistered cases deep within the massive and humid rainforest, where health authorities find it almost impossible to gain access… Climate change and deforestation are behind the return of malaria in the Peruvian Amazon. Off-season rain is altering the pattern of mosquito development, leaving puddles containing the lethal larvae in areas where malaria had been nonexistent… And deforestation is having a similar effect, forcing the mosquito to move to new areas and spreading the disease to places where people are not aware of the disease, where villagers lack the means to get hold of mosquito nets and preventive medicines, and where health authorities have no presence.”

4. The New York Times explores Why they called it the Manhattan Project. Historian Robert S. Norris has researched the history surrounding the creation of atomic bomb and has written a book, The Manhattan Project, that was published last month. “Dr. Norris writes about the Manhattan Project’s Manhattan locations. He says the borough had at least 10 sites, all but one still standing. They include warehouses that held uranium, laboratories that split the atom, and the project’s first headquarters — a skyscraper hidden in plain sight right across from City Hall… Manhattan was central, according to Dr. Norris, because it had everything: lots of military units, piers for the import of precious ores, top physicists who had fled Europe and ranks of workers eager to aid the war effort. It even had spies who managed to steal some of the project’s top secrets.”

So, what else is happening?

Some news and OPEN THREAD.

1. Ribbit. Ribbit. Great News! Scientists in New Zealand have discovered a possible cure to a deadly disease that has been destroying much of the world’s population of frogs and other amphibians. Kim Griggs, BBC News science reporter, reports from Wellington, New Zealand of a Frog killer fungus ‘breakthrough’. The breakthrough is chloramphenicol, which is a common antibiotic used for humans as an eye ointment. “The researchers found frogs bathed in the solution became resistant to the killer disease, chytridiomycosis. The fungal disease has been blamed for the extinction of one-third of the 120 species lost since 1980.”

   “We found that we could cure them completely of chytrids,” said Phil Bishop from the University of Otago. “And even when they were really sick in the control group, we managed to bring them back almost from the dead.”

2. More good news. Xan Rice in Nairobi, Kenya for The Guardian reports Uganda ‘averts tragedy’ with reversal of decision to clear virgin forest for biofuel. “Conservationists have hailed a decision by the Ugandan government to drop plans that would have allowed a private company to grow sugar cane for biofuel production on a protected forest reserve.”

   “This is a tragedy averted,” said Paul Buckley, head of the Africa programme at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. “There are plenty of places to grow sugar cane, but not many tracts of virgin forest left in Uganda.”

   “The controversial proposal, which would have turned over 17,500 acres of the 74,000-acre Mabira forest to the Indian-owned Mehta Group, had caused alarm in environmental circles and stirred up racial tensions. Protected since 1932, the Mabira reserve acts as a vital catchment area for Lake Victoria, just eight miles south of the forest, and is home to more than 300 species of birds, 200 types of trees and nine different primates. Besides the biodiversity loss, local and international conservation groups claimed the forest’s value in storing carbon dioxide and mitigating global warming far exceeded any commercial gains from sugar cane production.”

Below the fold are stories about growing vegetables in Greenland, critter cameras, Lake Superior, and the nexus of birds and wind power in the Columbia River Gorge. That’s right! Two bonus stories today, making that a Four at Four first.

Good afternoon. Today marks the last weekend Four at Four, at least for a while. After today, the series will be Monday through Friday only.

1. The Independent reports Top Kenyan nature reserve under threat. “Little disturbs the tranquillity of the Tana Delta. As the deep orange sun sets above Kenya’s largest wetlands hippos wallow in the shallows, crocodiles slide off the banks into the brown river, while terns and whistling teals circle above. It is one of Kenya’s most important natural reserves and very soon it could all be gone. ¶ Plans have been drawn up to turn part of the delta into Kenya’s largest sugar plantation – an 80,000 acre area that could produce 100,000 tons of sugar a year and bring 20,000 jobs to a region where most people do not have jobs. Conservationists are alarmed. They warn that the plantation will destroy the wetlands and with it the habitats of dozens of species of bird”.

2. The New York Times reports Indonesia seeks allies for pay-for-forests plan. “Determined to lead the discussion on climate change among developing nations, the Indonesian government spent much of the past week recruiting countries to join it in pressing richer nations to provide incentives to reduce carbon emissions. ¶ President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a direct plea on Wednesday at the start of a two-day gathering of 40 environment ministers near this capital, a precursor to the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Bali in December. ¶ The environment minister of Indonesia, Rachmat Witoelar, said earlier this month that he wanted rich countries to pay up to $20 a hectare, or 2.47 acres, to preserve its dwindling forests.”

There’s more below the fold, including stories about the United States’ next nuclear warhead program in Texas, a brief Guns of Greed, and ‘bonus’ story about studying factory farm pollution. Plus my essay from yesterday, A Tale of Two Iraqs, may also be of interest.

The afternoon’s news and open thread.

1. A Tale of Two Iraqs. There are two differing stories coming from Iraq in today’s papers. The first comes from Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post who reports Members of one U.S. unit are tired, bitter and skeptical after 14 months in a Baghdad district torn by mounting sectarian violence. “Their line of tan Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles creeps through another Baghdad afternoon… A bomb crater blocks one lane, so they cross to the other side, where houses are blackened by fire, shops crumbled into bricks. The remains of a car bomb serve as hideous public art. Sgt. Victor Alarcon’s Humvee rolls into a vast pool of knee-high brown sewage water…”

   Asked if the American endeavor here was worth their sacrifice — 20 soldiers from the battalion have been killed in Baghdad — Alarcon said no: “I don’t think this place is worth another soldier’s life.“

   The second story is from Tina Susman of the Los Angeles Times with Marines declare war on garbage. The U.S. Marines see “trash pickup as the key to maintaining security in Ramadi, where a decision last year by Sunni Arab tribal leaders to turn against insurgents has brought calm to the once-violent capital of Anbar province… The desire for clean streets and pleasant surroundings has overtaken security concerns in Ramadi, where the population has declined by 100,000 residents since the war began four years ago.”

   “This is the fight — sewage, water and trash,” Lt. James Colvin said as he showed the landfill to a visitor. “I was a poor math major in college. I come here and they tell me: ‘OK, fix the sewage system!’ ” said Colvin, remembering how shocked he was to return to Ramadi and find that he could walk down streets that he once dreaded crossing in an armored vehicle. “But there’s no enemy to hunt down now, so this is our line of attack.“

   I think these two different stories explain a lot why the occupation continues and Congress remains divided.

Below the fold today are stories about a Guantánamo military lawyer brave whistle blowing, CIA ‘ghost prisoners’, a conversation with Castro, “Guns of Greed”, and a “bonus” story of delayed justice for 28 African-American soldiers from World War II.

“An Urgent Call to Action”

1. James Kanter of the International Herald Tribune reports that the UN issues ‘final wake-up call’ on population and environment.

   The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage on the environment that could pass points of no return, according to a major report issued Thursday by the United Nations.

   Climate change, the rate of extinction of species and the challenge of feeding a growing population are among the threats putting humanity at risk, the UN Environment Program said in its fourth Global Environmental Outlook since 1997.

   Covering the UNEP report, The Independent notes “Over the past 20 years, almost every index of the planet’s health has worsened. At the same time, personal wealth in the richest countries has grown by a third.” Achim Steiner, the executive director of UNEP, said:

   Without an accelerated effort to reform the way we collectively do business on planet Earth, we will shortly be in trouble if indeed we are not already. There have been enough wake-up calls… The systematic destruction of the Earth’s natural and nature-based resources has reached a point where the economic viability of economies is being challenged – and the bill we hand on to our children may prove impossible to pay.

   The Guardian adds calls attention to the Lack of urgency by the world’s governments.

   Climate change is a global priority that demands political leadership, but there has been “a remarkable lack of urgency” in the response, which the report characterised as “woefully inadequate”.

   The report’s authors say its objective is “not to present a dark and gloomy scenario, but an urgent call to action”.

   It warns that tackling the problems may affect the vested interests of powerful groups, and that the environment must be moved to the core of decision-making.

   There is more coverage in an essay by Turkana posted earlier today. Yes, we’re likely preaching to the choir here, but this is important enough to repeat.

Here is some news and an open thread brought to you by the resident instrument of doom and gloom. I think that makes me a banjo.

1. The Washington Post reports White House feels Rep. Henry Waxman’s oversight gaze. “Waxman has become the Bush administration’s worst nightmare: a Democrat in the majority with subpoena power and the inclination to overturn rocks. But in Waxman the White House also faces an indefatigable capital veteran — with a staff renowned for its depth and experience — who has been waiting for this for 14 years.”

   “We have to let people know they have someone watching them after six years with no oversight at all,” said Waxman, 68. “And we’ve got a lot of low-hanging fruit to pick.”

   This morning, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified before the House Oversight Committee that Waxman chairs and, as TMPmuckraker described it, Rice continued proud tradition of State Department stonewalling. Waxman’s doing his job. I guess the Founders never considered executive branch officials would just “not recall” when they drafted our Constitution. Keep at it Henry. You’re fighting the good fight.

2. BBC News reports Costa Rica gets a forest fund boost. “The US and conservation groups will cut $26m (£12.8m) from Costa Rican debt in return for the country spending the same sum on forest protection. Costa Rica will spend the money over the next 16 years on large swathes of its tropical forest. It hopes to help conserve such endangered species as the jaguar, squirrel monkey and scarlet macaw. Areas targeted include the Talamanca Highlands that contain the country’s largest untouched tract of rainforest.”

3. The Guardian reports Giant wind turbines face a storm of protest. “General Electric is developing wind turbines with blades longer than the tip-to-tip wingspan of a jumbo jet. In a move likely to dismay activists who view wind farms as a blot on the landscape, the American company has taken the wraps off a project to develop power-generating windmills with blades of 70 metres [229 feet] – some 75% longer than the typical existing length of 40 metres [131 feet].”

   Lorraine Bolsinger, vice-president of GE’s ecoimagination division, was unapologetic about the aesthetics of giant windmills. “You can’t say no to everything,” she said, pointing out that there were also objections to nuclear and water-generated power.

Today’s episode of Guns of Greed is below the fold.

The news and open thead at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, Eastern.

1. Reuters reports Protester waves blood-colored hands in Rice’s face. “An anti-war protester waved blood-colored hands in U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s face at a congressional hearing on Wednesday and shouted ‘war criminal!’, but was pushed away and detained by police.” Rice was “unfazed” and Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House Foreign Relations committee, shouted “Out!” as the police hauled her off. Lantos, fearing protests, demanded the ejection of Code Pink members. “‘What are you doing, what are you doing?’ the protesters screamed as police dragged them away.”

   Real nice democracy we have here. Rep. Lantos is the Champion of Civility. Of course, maybe Code Pink hit too close to home, since Lantos too has blood on his hands. His enthusiastic support for war with Iraq back in 2002 helped Bush win ‘bipartisan’ support for his war.

   AP reports “Despite the protesters’ effort to focus on the war, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran dominated the hearing. Lantos, D-Calif., asked whether the Bush administration was doing enough to pressure Egypt to crack down on Hamas sympathizers and whether Bush was calling for the peace conference to salvage his political legacy.”

2. In a Trillion-dollar war, Leonard Doyle of The Independent reports that Afghanistan and Iraq set to cost more than Vietnam and Korea. By the time George W. Bush leaves the White House, he will have spent over $1 trillion on war and occupation.

   There are also disturbing signs that Mr Bush is preparing an attack on Iran during his remaining months in office. He has demanded $46bn (£22.5bn) emergency funds from Congress by Christmas and included with it a single sentence requesting money to upgrade the B-2 “stealth” bomber.

   Bush is wrapping himself and his request in the flag to disguise his latest request. On Monday, when he made the request, the glorious Leader stood beside the family of a dead U.S. marine. Apparently, spending more on war will bring their soldier back to life. When are Americans going to stop falling for this false patriotism?

   The full amount requested for this fiscal year is now $196.4bn. The US is on course to spend a total of $806bn fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, more than on any war it has fought since the Second World War. With interest payments this tops $1trn.

   Despite their expense, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are less of an economic burden (at 4.2 per cent of GDP) than earlier wars. The 1990-91 Gulf War cost $88bn, the Korean War cost $456bn (12.2 per cent of GDP) and the Vietnam War, $518bn (9.4 per cent of GDP). By comparison the Second World War cost more than 40 per cent of GDP.

   There now, the Bush administration is doing their wars on the cheap. Don’t you feel better about your country? Just look at the results! Afghanistan slipping back into the hands of the Taliban. Iraq descending into chaos and a simmering civil war. 3,835 dead soldiers, 27,753 wounded. Unknown number of Afghans and Iraqis dead and, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, 4.5 million displaced and refugees in Iraq. Alls systems FUBAR. So, why not more war? Why not Iran?

   The Pentagon wants to upgrade its fleet of stealth bombers so that they can deliver 30-tonne, satellite-guided bombs. The planes would be based on the British Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia where hangars are being specially upgraded. These “bunker-buster” bombs are six times bigger than anything used by the air force and designed to destroy weapons of mass destruction facilities underground. Diego Garcia is also much closer to Iran than Missouri, where the bombers are based.

   Why are the British even entertaining such a request from these madmen? Especially after glorious Leader’s World War III threat? Not to mention Cheney’s threat.

   This weekend Vice-President Dick Cheney stepped up the rhetoric, warning of “serious consequences” if Iran refuses to stop enriching uranium and said the US would not permit it to get nuclear weapons. Iran denies that the enrichment is linked to a nuclear weapons programme and says it is entirely peaceful.

   The time has come to put humanity before patriotism nationalism. More war, with Iran or any other nation, is insanity.

Four at Four continues below the fold with stories on extinction and today’s Guns of Greed – mercenary news round-up.

Man on the Moon.

In presidential primary politics, money is the reward for good behavior. If a candidate does or says something people can get behind, something people can believe in, then he or she will be rewarded by campaign contributions. I think this a simple concept to understand.

Senator Hillary Clinton has had amazing success fund raising and her $50 Million Cash-on-Hand: $35M Primary, $15M General.

Proof positive that Everybody Loves Hillary.

1. Southern California is on fire. The Los Angeles Times reports on More evacuations and new fires.

   High temperatures and fierce winds returned to Southern California this morning, complicating the efforts to control a string of wildfires that grew overnight, prompting new evacuations. San Diego County authorities estimated 1,000 homes had burned there, and blazes in the mountains east of Los Angeles.

   Fires sprang up in San Diego and Los Angeles counties, and evacuations were ordered in Orange and San Diego counties. Weary firefighters fought to contain major blazes that have burned for days across seven counties, with containment days away at the soonest.

   In especially hard-hit San Diego County, Board of Supervisors Chairman Ron Roberts said this morning that the burned area in the county could be approaching 300,000 acres, with an estimated 1,000 homes lost. He said 270,000 “reverse 911” calls had been made warning residents to evacuate. At least 15,000 people spent the night in shelters, and the number of evacuees could exceed half a million.

   The San Diego Union Tribune reports the Witch Creek fire is “Going to get worse.”

   The Witch Creek fire burning across northern San Diego County has left a grim toll: 500 homes destroyed and 250 damaged; 100 commercial buildings destroyed and 75 damaged; 50 outbuildings destroyed and 50 more damaged. At least 145,000 acres have burned, authorities said Monday.

   “It’s going to get worse. It’s probably the worst fire this county has ever had, well worse than the Cedar fire,” Sheriff Bill Kolender said in a news conference.

   The New York Times reports that the California fires force 300,000 from homes. “More than a dozen wildfires continued to rage unstopped in southern California for a third day today , forcing an estimated 300,000 people to evacuate their homes and blackening over 400 square miles of brushland and suburbs. Hot, gusting winds made the advancing flames nearly impossible for firefighters to control, officials said. The winds are expected to keep blowing through the day, and perhaps longer.”

Four at Four continues below the fold with additional news.