News extravaganza

The Congressional Research Service says the Bush administration apparently violated federal law by ordering the chief Medicare actuary to withhold information from Congress indicating that the new Medicare law could cost far more than White House officials had said.

The Bush administration is coming under fire for allegedly allowing political concerns to determine what it deems to be sensitive national security material after a series of document declassifications that critics contend were timed for strategic advantage.

Nice: Editor-in-chief of U.S.-funded Iraqi newspaper quits, complaining of American control

About 50 retired US diplomats have written to President George W Bush to criticise current American policy towards the Middle East.

From Salon: Spain’s 10-year pursuit of al-Qaida cells is being compromised and jeopardized by the American authorities’ failure to turn over information needed to prosecute.

Hail to the straw-man! Bush Cites Racism in Remarks On Iraq: President’s Target Unclear

Interesting: Warren Buffett to advise Democrat Kerry

This year’s presidential race – fueled by more than a million donors, including many who have never given before – is well on its way to becoming the country’s first $1-billion political campaign, experts say.

The U.S. military did a “top-level review” last fall of how its detention centers in Iraq were run, months before commanders first were told about the sexual humiliation and abuse of Iraqis that has created an international uproar, a Pentagon official said.

Rush is classy

Media Matters for America will document and correct conservative misinformation in each news cycle. Some nice ones in here: Rush Limbaugh’s comments on the March for Women’s Lives: “Some of these babes, I’m telling you, like the sexual harassment crowd. They’re out there protesting what they actually wish would happen to them sometimes.” [4/26/04].

‘There seems to be almost an absence of any analytical or deliberative process for mapping the problem or exploring alternatives or estimating consequences,’ said Graham Allison, a professor of government at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. And Bush appears to give greater weight to his own instincts than to experts or other sources of advice and information. The president has a ‘bias for action,’ said Roderick M. Kramer, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. ‘I’ve been struck by [how] Bush’s sense of personal identity as a leader shapes his decisions,’

The Ney Yorker looks at Abu Ghraib prison abuse in Iraq. It seems to show that the abuse of prisoners was not isolated. It was systematic and encouraged by the intelligence community.

President Bush took a huge diplomatic gamble two weeks ago when he forcefully embraced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and handed Israel key concessions on a final peace deal. The backlash in Arab and European countries was especially intense, but administration officials argued Sharon’s plan carried the seeds of a breakthrough in the stalled peace process. Now, the Likud Party’s overwhelming rejection of that plan has left the administration’s credibility in the Middle East in tatters.

Chop down my sky ear

Just ordered Lonely Planet Peru (2004). I’m giddy. The plan is Peru for xmas.

The Advertising Century. Ad Age takes a look.

Sky Ear will be a one-night event in which a glowing “cloud” of mobile phones and helium balloons is released into the air so that people can dial into the cloud and listen to the sounds of the sky.

Pair of 350 year old oaks chopped down. Guess for what.

Brit Govt buying anti radiation pills. Should I be?