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Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

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U.S. deaths in Iraq exceed 9-11 count
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The number of U.S. military service members killed in Iraq has exceeded the number of victims in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to an Associated Press count. Car bomb attacks, meanwhile, killed at least 25 Iraqis.

George Bush has now killed more Americans than Osama bin Laden. —Caro

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The Radical Fringe

The World

British Soldiers Storm Iraqi Jail, Citing Torture
Hundreds of British and Iraqi soldiers assaulted a police station in Basra, killing seven gunmen and rescuing 127 prisoners from almost certain execution.

Top Shiite cleric balks at plan for Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S.-backed plan to form a political coalition of Iraq's Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds — a glimmer of hope in a nation torn by sectarian violence — failed to win the crucial support of the top Shiite cleric Saturday.

Iran refuses to cease uranium enrichment
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran vowed Sunday to push forward efforts to enrich uranium and to change its relations with the international nuclear watchdog after the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions designed to stop the country's disputed nuclear program.

Egypt slams Iranian president
CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt rebuked Iran's president on Monday for claiming his state is "a nuclear country" — a comment that touched a nerve among Iran's neighbors in the Middle East.

OIC urges peaceful end to Iran nuclear standoff
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - The Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has called for a peaceful resolution of the Iran nuclear crisis after the United Nations decided to impose sanctions over Tehran's refusal to stop enriching uranium.

Israel to remove West Bank roadblocks
JERUSALEM - Israel agreed Monday to remove some of the military roadblocks that have hindered Palestinian travel in the West Bank, one of several gestures aimed at boosting moderate President Mahmoud Abbas in his bitter struggle with the militant Islamic Hamas.

Battle for power and energy looms in Turkmenistan
ASHGABAT (AFP) - The sudden death of Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov has prompted predictions of a power struggle inside the ex-Soviet republic and a fierce contest among world powers coveting the desert nation's energy reserves.

Ban calls for patience on NKorea
SEOUL (AFP) - Incoming UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has called for patience in international efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

Chavez targets Venezuela homeless woes
CARACAS, Venezuela - Beneath bridges and overpasses, the homeless of Caracas are spending Christmas in encampments of cardboard and discarded wooden palettes.

Posthumous Pinochet note justifies coup
SANTIAGO, Chile - In a letter to Chileans written to be published after his death, Gen. Augusto Pinochet said he wished he hadn't had to stage the bloody 1973 coup that put him in power, and called the abuses under his long regime inevitable.

Our own Pinochet blames his insane actions on God. —Caro

Islamic forces on the retreat in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Islamic fighters were in a tactical retreat Tuesday, a senior Islamic leader said, as government and Ethiopian troops advanced on three fronts in a decisive turn around in the battle for control of Somalia.

The Nation

Poor records plague Bush AIDS effort
WASHINGTON - President Bush's ambitious AIDS-fighting program in poor countries has pushed so hard for fast results that basic record keeping and accountability often went by the wayside, making it hard to judge the true success, according to government audits and officials.

Interior, Pentagon faulted in audits
The Defense Department paid two procurement operations at the Department of the Interior to arrange for Pentagon purchases totaling $1.7 billion that resulted in excessive fees and tens of millions of dollars in waste, documents show.

With $1 billion wasted, more Katrina abuse yet to emerge
The tally for Hurricane Katrina waste could top $2 billion next year because half of the lucrative government contracts valued at $500,000 or greater for cleanup work are being awarded without little competition.

46 Guantanamo suspects OK'd for transfer
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A review process directed by the Pentagon cleared 46 detainees at the Guantanamo prison camp for transfer this year to their home countries.

Why did it take four years to clear these people? —Caro

McCain's son may be sent to Iraq
If more U.S. forces are sent to Iraq, Arizona Sen. John McCain's son, a recent graduate of Marine boot camp, could take his place in a line of family warriors

Liberal lawmakers face new challenges
WASHINGTON - There's one certainty for the Capitol's most liberal lawmakers now that Democrats will control Congress: They won't have to meet in the basement anymore.

Ban on Pet Projects Won't Stop Trading
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democrats may have declared a one-year moratorium on pet projects treasured by members of Congress, but the move will hardly stop horse trading in Washington or moves by lawmakers to try to steer taxpayer money back home.

New rules enable healthy savings
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Health Savings Accounts are a great deal, and they are about to get even better. The 109th Congress, in one of its final acts, expanded the tax breaks that are linked to these accounts.

I say let’s just make health care insurance more affordable, and do away with these ridiculous tax free accounts where you lose it if you don’t use it. —Caro

Murtha aide says charity not political
WASHINGTON - Defense contractors as well as Pennsylvania businesses and universities seeking federal funding have worked to raise money for a charity started by an aide to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Congress Aide Sought Hacker To Hike Grades
A Montana congressman's aide was fired after it was learned he sought to hire computer hackers to inflate his college grades, so that he could pursue a master's degree.

High court becomes more media friendly
WASHINGTON - Many Supreme Court justices prize the anonymity that comes with their lifetime appointments and camera-free courtroom. Unrecognized, justices have snapped pictures for tourists in front of the court or been asked to move out of the way of a shot.

Economy & Business

Wall Street slips in light holiday trade
NEW YORK - Stocks slid Friday after waning enthusiasm among investors ahead of the holiday weekend overshadowed data showing higher consumer spending and a jump in sales of big-ticket goods in November. A weak bond market also weighed on stocks.

Rates on 30-year mortgages up slightly
WASHINGTON - Rates on 30-year mortgages, after sinking for a month, crept up for the second week in a row.

Despite laws, gay wedding industry booms
RICHMOND, Va. - He's no celebrity, but when Phillip McKee III tied the knot in September, he did it with all the pomp and circumstance of an A-lister: Custom-designed gold rings, a $2,000 kilt and a caviar-and-crepe reception at a five-star hotel.

Media

Most outrageous comments of 2006
How extreme were conservative commentators in their remarks this year? Right-wing rhetoric documented by Media Matters included the ignorant, the offensive, and the downright bizarre. Since there were so many outrageous statements, we included a list of honorable mentions along with the top 11, which, if not for Ann Coulter, we might have limited to 10.

Misinformer of the Year
Last year it was Chris Matthews. In 2004, Bill O'Reilly, of course. This year's contest took a different turn. In October 24 appearances on Fox News, ABC News political director Mark Halperin claimed that the "old media" -- broadcast news outlets and major newspapers -- were "biased against conservatives." On the fifth anniversary of 9-11, ABC aired The Path to 9/11, a "docudrama" that contained numerous fabrications and inaccuracies. Throughout the year, the network's news coverage reported GOP spin as fact, passed on falsehoods propagated by conservatives, and missed numerous opportunities to challenge or question the administration's actions during solo interviews with President Bush and key members of his administration.

Candidates turn to Web to reach voters
WASHINGTON - Al Gore claimed he invented it. John McCain predicted it would revolutionize political campaigning. Howard Dean made it pay — and then some.

The AP continues to lie about Al Gore. —Caro

Uncover Fake News in Your Community
The media activist organization follows up its exposés on fake news segments in local newscasts with an interactive map of the offending stations, making it easy for you to contact them with your concerns.

New York Times Finally Publishes Op-Ed 'Redacted' by CIA
"For days, it was an open secret that the Times was holding an op-ed piece after the CIA objected to publication of parts of it."

Science & Technology

Shuttle's landing ends big year for NASA
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA began 2006 having flown only a single space shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster three years earlier. After Friday's landing of space shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts, the U.S. space agency will end the year with three successful shuttle missions under its belt and the resumption of construction on the international space station.

White Dwarf Hints at Our Solar System's End
A debris disk spied recently around a distant dead star is likely the remains of an asteroid that was vaporized when the star died, scientists say.

Company develops virtual meal technology
Accenture is developing a system called "The Virtual Family Dinner" that would allow families to get together — virtually — as often as they'd like. The concept is simple. An elderly woman in, say, California, makes herself dinner. When she gets ready to sit down and eat, the system detects it and alerts her son in Chicago. The son then goes to his kitchen, where a small camera and microphone capture what he is doing. Speakers and a screen — as big as a television or as small as a picture frame — allow him to hear and see his mother, who has a similar setup.

MySpace users big targets for ID thieves
LOS ANGELES - MySpace devotee Kary Rogers was expecting to see a gut-busting video when a friend from the popular online hangout messaged him a link.

Recharging, The Wireless Way
Even physicists forget to recharge their cell phones sometimes. After waking up to the beeps of his battery-dead phone at 3 a.m., Marin Soljacic, an assistant professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, decided to cut the cord. He and two colleagues have developed a concept that could let you charge your electronics as easily as you get a suntan: without wires.

If energy can be transferred using radio waves, then why can’t the whole world take advantage of the geothermal energy available in Iceland? —Caro

Stem Cell Loss in Aging Brain May Bring Poorer Memory
(HealthDay News) -- Having trouble remembering things with age? A new study in rats finds that stem cells in aging brains divide less frequently, leading to a dramatic drop in the number of new nerve cells being born in the hippocampus, the brain's learning and memory center.