News in the news

So, major media starting to displease the crown? This calls for new subjects.

And Lt.Col. Steven Collins assesses "perception-management operations". Looks like it works better on the homies than it seems to have on intended foreign audiences.

I like this title: When War Fails, Launch a PR Campaign.

And...

Knight Ridder...spent "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars" to obtain information under FOIA [Freedom of Information Act].

Not so free, is it?

That article speaks of jouranlists' fear and the obstacles presented to them in reporting the truth. Well, yes, but what's been coming out lately about loose reporting, accepting of unverified material, wholly fabricated 'news', and scrubbed reports can't be dismissed by a simple claim of journalist obstruction. But, one could expect the newspaper man to give it a try.

At a fundraiser last week, Bush says: "Iraq is free. America is more secure." The man has no shame. There are some other things he hasn't got, as well, but I won't go into it at this time, as I haven't got the energy. Reality becomes whatever you can convince other people to believe.

But speaking of energy...

Ah, industry. Electric lights, powered by vegetable oil, come to the jungle.

Suryakala, a 7-year-old in Kammeguda, is happy she can devote more time to studying. She says her father has always told her that God provided from the jungle everything the villagers needed,” and now she has proof.

"God has given us light so that we can study," she said.

And the question is: what will you study, Suryakala? Check back in ten more years.

Oil companies will not get a tax credit from the federal government guaranteeing a minimum price for natural gas that would flow through a proposed $20 billion Alaskan pipeline, the head of the Senate Energy Committee said on Tuesday.

Whaaaaaaaaaat? Oil companies will NOT get a tax credit?

House lawmakers, the Canadian government, and the Bush administration oppose a gas floor price, arguing it favors gas from Alaska over other regions..

Such as....Iraq? Chad? Canada? I can see I have a lot to learn in the global trade business. All I can think is: who didn't send in their campaign contribution? I know, I know - automatic kneejerk response.

While the gas tax credit will be dropped from the bill, Domenici said federal loan guarantees will be included in the legislation to make it easier to finance the pipeline. Under the guarantees, the federal government would promise to repay (in case of default) a certain portion of any loans taken out by private companies to build the pipeline.

Well, now, I think I smell some pipeline finance problems on the horizon.

Domenici said other items that must be resolved are whether to ban the methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) gasoline additive and shield MTBE producers from lawsuits because the additive has polluted drinking water in many communities.

Okay, okay, I give. (But before I do, I just want to say: Tom DeLay's Texas is full of MTBE producers.)

Thomas Butler, plague researcher, is caught in the DoJ terror - I mean, anti-terror - machinery. He's charged with smuggling bacteria samples and lying about them. And apparently some new charges are being thrown in to include theft, embezzlement and fraud. The American Federation of Scientists is concerned.

Boy. This is not a good time to be a microbiologist.

I'm going for my fiddle.

....but hey, you do what you want....you will anyway.