Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

Brain Injuries Low On The DoD’s Priority List

• The Pentagon has been less than helpful when it comes to caring for the mental health of our troops. Shortages of mental health professionals and a blind eye when it comes to post traumatic stress disorder have led to spikes in suicide rates among vets, alcoholism, drug addiction, and depression. [USA Today] [Washington Post]
• Now, it seems like physical health is dropping on the Pentagon’s priority list, as well. USA Today reports: “For more than two years, the Pentagon delayed screening troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because officials feared veterans would blame vague ailments on the little-understood wound caused by exposure to bomb blasts.” [USA Today]
• Air Force Col. Kenneth Cox said in an interview that the Pentagon wanted to avoid another controversy such as the so-called Gulf War syndrome.
• Flashback: The Pentagon did not acknowledge Gulf War syndrome until Congress created a committee to study it in 1998. And by that time, countless soldiers had suffered from it.
• Here’s where we are now: An Army mental health report last month indicated that 11% of 2,195 soldiers surveyed in Iraq and Afghanistan show signs of mild brain injury, but fewer than half were identified and evaluated in the field.
• That’s more proof of the need to screen troops as they leave Iraq, says Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Jaffee, a neurologist who heads the brain injury center.

Caring for our troops?

John McCain Gets It Wrong. Really, Really Wrong.

• Presidential candidate John McCain is overseas in an attempt to highlight his foreign policy expertise. Unfortunately, he did just the opposite. [Washington Post]
• In remarks to reporters, McCain announced that Iranian operatives were “taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back.”
• Huh? Confused, reporters asked him to elaborate. Sadly for him, McCain did, saying it’s “common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that’s well known. And it’s unfortunate.”
• What’s actually unfortunate: McCain got it completely wrong.
• What is “common knowledge”: There are two sides to the on-going war in Iraq, the Sunnis and the Shiites. Sunnis and Shiites have been fighting since they split after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 AD.
• Al-Qaeda in Iraq is a predominately Sunni group. They banded with Iraqi Sunnis to kill U.S. forces and Shiites.
• Iran is overwhelmingly Shiite. They have been rumored to be helping Iraqi Shiite insurgents, who are battling U.S. troops, Sunnis and…al Qaeda.
• Thus, contrary to John McCain’s assertion, Iran is definitely not training al-Qaeda.
• Now we’ll quote the Washington Post. “The mistake threatened to undermine McCain’s argument that his decades of foreign policy experience make him the natural choice to lead a country at war with terrorists.” [Washington Post]
• But wait, there’s more. Sen. McCain is also touting the success of President Bush’s plan, telling radio host Bill Bennett that, “There are neighborhoods in Baghdad where you and I could walk through those neighborhoods, today.” He also claimed Gen. Petraeus goes out “almost every day in an unarmed Humvee.” [Raw Story]
• McCain’s rosy assertion was almost immediately countered by CNN reporter Michael Ware, who’s been in Iraq for four years. Ware said McCain is “way off base,” adding, “[I]n the hour since Sen. McCain’s said this, I’ve spoken to military sources and there was laughter down the line. I mean, certainly the general travels in a Humvee. There’s multiple Humvees around it, heavily armed.” [Think Progress]

McCain’s mission, not accomplished.

Recession 101: A Cheat Sheet For The Financially Challenged

• If headlines about Bear Stearns’ collapse this weekend made you think “football team” instead of “investment bank,” don’t panic.
• Here are the answers to some basic questions on the recession that can help clear the fog on the economic forecast:
• What’s a recession anyway? The official definition is when GDP growth is negative for at least 6 months. In the last quarter, GDP growth was a sad 0.6% [FOX NEWS]
• Clues that you’re in one: Sluggish GDP growth, a halt in businesses expansion, a steady dip in unemployment and fewer job opportunities, higher gasoline prices and heating costs – all problems we can see today, thanks to the subprime mortgage crisis, sinking home prices, and a destabilized credit market. [USA TODAY]
• Why is it bad? If we’re really in a recession, then the next thing to fear would be a depression, which is only a deeper, broader, and longer recession. Think Herbert Hoover, 1929, Grapes of Wrath, and unemployment lines around the block.
• How does it affect you? Fewer jobs, longer work hours, a free-falling U.S. dollar, even more expensive mortgages, diminished retirement savings, reduced home equity and wealth, harder-to-get loans, and steeper prices for everyday goods and that European honeymoon you’ve always dreamed of. [USA TODAY]
• Are we in one now? Although we’ll have to wait a few more months to get the official GDP results, the forecast isn’t good. According to a national poll, more than 3 in 4 Americans think we’re in a recession. [CNN]
• Should we try to cheer up? Well, maybe, pessimism creates more problems when a recession can become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Says Economic Policy Institute economist Jared Bernstein,"If folks don’t feel confident enough to make that purchase … that reverberates negatively throughout the economy.”
• How does the collapse of Bear Stearns relate to all this? The Federal Reserve’s selective bailout of the nation’s 5th largest investment bank is a flare signal of today’s deeper economic problems. It’s also a prime example of the Bush administration’s hypocrisy: they’re gung-ho when it comes to bailing out one of Wall Street’s central players, but they’re all “tough love” with average homeowners devastated by the foreclosure crisis. [CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS]

Typical Bush behavior: giving get-out-of-jail cards to business bros over average Joe Schmoes.

Good News, Bad News

Making Waves

The Journal of Coastal Research has released a report finding that “ocean wave heights along the U.S. East Coast have progressively increased during the summer months.” Extreme waves have increased in height and frequency, from “about 23 feet [thirty years ago] to higher than 33 feet [today].” The cause: you guessed it, global warming. The question for east coast residents: do we freak out or buy a surf board? Here’s our take: [Live Science]

GOOD NEWS

Totally tubular waves, man. Time for the Beach Boys to cut some new singles.

BAD NEWS

We wish they all could be...Nantucket girls?

Quote Of The Day

“It sounds like the architects are running away from their building here.”

—Former Iraq occupational governor Paul Bremer, on the flak he’s been catching from war architects Richard Perle and Douglas Feith because the Iraq war isn’t turning out like they’d hoped. [Think Progress]

Speed Round

AUDIO: MCCAIN ON GAS PRICES

Don’t worry, the high gas prices are baffling GOP presidential candidate John McCain, as well. In fact, he’s so confused, he doesn’t have a solution for them.

[Wonk Room]

THREE FOURTHS OF A POINT

The size of the cut to a key interest rate the Fed makes to fight back inflation and recession. [NYT]

LOVIN’ IT

The DOW soars “as shares of financial firms surged in the hopes that the Federal Reserve has finally taken hold of the credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 420 points.” [NYT]

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Fresh out of the oven New York Gov. David Paterson avoids pulling a Spitzer and airs out his dirty (and sexy) laundry ahead of time.[RAW STORY]

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Basically, it was a room full of 50 people with nothing to do but daydream of plane crashes and sex scandals.” – New NY Gov. David Paterson, last summer, after attending the Lieutenant Governors’ Convention in Washington, DC. [Page Six]

CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE

Three miles of Philadelphia’s I-95 will close after workers discover a 6-foot crack in one of the main concrete pillars supporting the road. [NY Times]

TODAY IN WINGNUT

Far-right conservatives in Colorado are collecting signatures for a petition to establish “Personhood” for eggs the moment they are fertilized in a woman’s body. Similar petitions have already failed in Georgia, Mississippi and Michigan. [The Denver Channel]

ECONOMY

The value of the dollar is so low that smaller currency vendors in Amsterdam are refusing to accept American cash to convert to local money. [Reuters]

POLLUTION

A week after the world’s top marathon runner dropped out of the Summer Games due to poor air quality, the International Olympic Committee acknowledged yesterday that “air pollution could affect the health and performance of athletes at this summer’s Olympics in Beijing.” [MSNBC]

WAR

Inmates have taken control of parts of Afghanistan’s main high-security prison just outside of Kabul. They’ve taken Afghan soldiers hostage and are threatening to assassinate them unless mediators are sent in to resolve the situation. [BBC]

1 IN 5

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said yesterday that “nearly one in five of Iraq’s population before the U.S.-led invasion” are either “internally displaced people or refugees in other countries.” [IOM]

PINK SLIPS

Troubled airline giant Delta hands out voluntary severances to 30,000 employees — more than half its workforce. [AP]

HOLD YOUR BREATH

“The first of more than 130 million economic stimulus payments from Washington are scheduled to be sent to Americans’ mailboxes or bank accounts starting May 2, the IRS said.” [USA Today]

HIGHLY UNPOPULAR

The U.S. isn’t winning any popularity contests with the Iraqis on the fifth anniversary of the invasion. More than two-thirds of Iraqis believe US-led coalition forces should leave. [RAW STORY]

TYPICAL FLORIDA DEMOCRACY

The Florida Democratic Party announces it will not hold a second primary after being stripped of its delegates for moving up its primary against Democratic National Committee rules. [CNN]

THE GOOD NEWS

In the wake of yesterday’s bad news: the stock market rallied yesterday. [NY Times]

TRAGEDY

Floods kill 2 people in Missouri. [USA Today]

US, ABROAD

Officials have concluded that three mortar blasts in Yemen were targeted at the U.S. embassy in the country. [AP]