Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

Depressing Data From Darfur

• Things in Darfur are worse than we thought.
• The U.N. announced Tuesday that they may have underestimated deaths in Darfur by 50%. [BBC]
• The official numbers released in March put the death toll in Darfur at 200,000, with another 2.5 million people displaced. [CNN]
• This new information puts the death toll at 300,000 people in the last two years.
• Also, sexual violence has increased recently, and food allotments for civilians affected by the civil war will be halved in a few days.
• U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs: “I am sad to say that the humanitarian situation remains as grim today as it was [last year], if not more so.” [CNN]
• This year alone, 100,000 civilians have fled their homes, many not for the first time.
• The violence isn’t just impacting residents of Darfur.Six aid workers have been killed this year, and 42 humanitarian posts have been attacked.

Maybe now the mainstream media will pay attention.

General Petraeus’ Spiffy New Job

The Story

• General Petraeus, big daddy of the surge, is getting a promotion. [NY Times]
• Up till now, Petraeus has been in charge of U.S. troops in Iraq, but now Bush has nominated him to “head the United States Central Command, which oversees military operations across a wide swath of the Middle East, Africa and Asia” including Afghanistan.
• The guy who used to have the CENTCOM job? Admiral William Fallon who stepped down last month after “a dispute with the Bush administration over perceived policy differences on Iran and reports that he had clashed with Petraeus over how deeply to draw down troop levels in Iraq.” [Bloomberg]
• In other words: Fallon thought war with Iran was dumb, and that our military was overstretched in Iraq and needed to be redeployed. Can’t have that, now can we?
• Who’s taking over for Petraeus in Iraq? His former deputy, Lieut. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who had just completed a 15 month tour in Iraq. General Odierno, consider yourself stop-lossed.
• The analysis: “It would not have been surprising if General Petraeus’s next assignment had turned out to be a military-diplomatic post in Europe, or a similar slot. That he was tapped to run the Central Command instead indicated the importance the Pentagon places on the command and on America showing no sign of flagging in Iraq or Afghanistan.” Oh joy.
• Remember: He still has to be confirmed by the Senate, and will probably remain in Iraq until “late summer or early fall,” according to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. [NY Times]
• Things to watch: During his testimony as commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Petraeus dodged questions about the allocation of resources to Iraq and Afghanistan saying Afghanistan wasn’t his responsibility. Well...now it is. [Wonk Room]
• So, Gen. Petraeus, do you think it’s appropriate that we spend $12 billion a month taking sides in an Iraqi civil war among people who had nothing to do with September 11th while Afghanistan slips back under Taliban rule and Osama bin Laden goes free?

The Audio

• Defense Secretary Robert Gates announces his nomination.
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• Gates says Petraeus is “the best man for the job.”
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Congratulations on your promotion, General Petraeus. Can we come home now?

Interfering With Hundreds Of EPA Scientists

• Yesterday, the Union of Concerned Scientists released the results of their investigation into the politicization of the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s not pretty. [AP] [Union Of Concerned Scientists]
• Of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists surveyed, 889 of them — 60 percent — “said they had personally experienced at least one instance of political interference in their work over the last five years.”
• 31%: Percent of scientists at the EPA who say they personally experienced frequent or occasional “statements by EPA officials that misrepresent scientists’ findings.”
• 22%: Percent of scientists who say they experienced “selective or incomplete use of data to justify a specific regulatory outcome.”
• 17%: Percent of scientists who say they had been “directed to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information from an EPA scientific document.”
• 34%: Percent of scientists who say they were too afraid of retaliation to openly speak within the agency about their concerns regarding the EPA’s work.
• Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Scientific Integrity Program, said the survey revealed “an agency in crisis” and “under siege from political pressures.”
• The Mustache of Justice, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., wrote a letter to EPA head Stephen Johnson yesterday saying the survey results “suggest a pattern of ignoring and manipulating science.” Johnson is scheduled to testify in front of Waxman’s committee in early May – we can’t wait.

Make sure to check out today’s Eavesdrop to get President Bush honoring a legendary doctor for his dedication to science.

Good News, Bad News

Saving Student Loans

The Bush Admin is pushing Congress to authorize the federal buying of billions of dollars in federal student loans. Among concerns that the nation’s credit crunch does not block borrowing for higher ed, this move would make sure that low and middle income students don’t face a crisis in the fall as they pay their tuition.

GOOD NEWS

Who can pay for college without loans?

BAD NEWS

More excuses to drown in debt? Yipee!

Quote Of The Day

“We have been expressly advised by the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice that Professor Yoo is not authorized to discuss before your Committee any specific deliberative communications, including the substance of comments on opinions or policy questions, or the confidential predecisional advice, recommendations or other positions taken by individuals or entities of the Executive Branch.”

— John Yoo’s lawyer, John C. Millian, on Yoo’s unwillingness to testify on his time as the administration’s pointman for authorizing the use of torture in interrogations. [ABC]

Speed Round

HELL NO, HE WON’T GO

Former Justice Department counsel John Yoo – the guy who wrote the torture memos – says he will not testify voluntarily in front of the House Judiciary Committee. You can already smell the subpoenas. [ABC News]

“BONER”

According to a new profile in Cincinnatti Magazine, that’s what President Bush and other “friends and colleagues” call House Minority Leader John Boehner. (Not to be confused with Mike Seaver’s best friend.) [Cincinatti Magazine]

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Although Northwest Airlines and Delta may be getting hitched soon, the honeymoon’s over. Delta reported a $6.4B loss in the first quarter, far overshadowing the $4.1B loss reported by Northwest. [ABC]

BELOW THE BELT

We knew it couldn’t last — EBay sues Craigslist over claims of diluting their stock by 10%. [New York Times]

SEXUAL PROBLEMS

Experts testified yesterday in front of the House of Representatives that abstinence-only programs do not work. White House response: “So?” [Reuters]

SECRET AGENT MAN

It took the government more than two decades, but they finally noticed that spy slipping images of classified documents to Israel in 1985. [Washington Post]

TAKE YOUR PICTURE FROM THE WALL

Disgraced former chief of HUD Alphonso Jackson has officially been erased from the walls of his former offices. In The Loop reports the guy was barely out the door when aides started taking down the giant homage he’d built to himself in the lobby, replacing the 21 giant photos of Jackson with pictures of homeowners, cityscapes and housing (you know, the agency’s actual mission.) [Washington Post]

HEIL TONY

GOP congressional candidate Tony Zirckle (Indiana 2nd District) can’t figure out why people are upset about his speech to a group celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday (complete with swastika flags). He helpfully explained, “I’ll speak before any group that invites me.” [CBS News]

DAMN THE ELECTRIC FENCE

Remember that high-tech “virtual” fence the government wanted to build between the U.S. and Mexican border? They’re getting rid of its $20-million prototype because, well, it just doesn’t work. Thanks, Boeing! [CNN]

BEING MEAN IS EXPENSIVE

Meanwhile, Prince William County, Virginia, got national attention last October when it announced it was starting a draconian new program to purge its streets of illegal immigrants. This week, their Board of County Supervisors realized how much it would cost and cut money for immigration crackdowns almost in half. [Washington Post]

STOP STALKING ME

Post 9/11, standards were drastically tightened for international students studying in the U.S., straining both universities and students. This spring, they hope to make these standards even stricter, both doubling the financial payments from students for the service and increasing the length of monitoring for students from certain countries. [Kansas City Star]

SUPPORT THE TROOPS

A substantial overhaul of the GI Bill is facing stiff challenges from the administration, who worry that members of the military would leave the service as soon as they could get educational benefits. [Politico]

NUCLEAR BUDDIES

North Korea’s been pretty busy with their own nuclear program recently, but not too busy to help out their friends in Syria. Photographic evidence released by U.S. intelligence today shows copycat nuclear reactors in the two countries, although the Syrian facility was destroyed by an Israeli military operation in 2007. [ABC]

SORRY LADIES, MAYBE NEXT YEAR

Despite Sen. Mikulski’s call of “Women of America: Put your lipstick on, square your shoulders, suit up” and get ready to fight,” Senate Republicans managed to kill the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Moral of the story: be rude and ask your coworkers for full salary info in the first 180 days at a new job. [MSNBC]