Daily Briefing - 12/13/06

Wall street investors are taking a serious look at global warming and how it will affect their portfolios. A group in Louisiana is telling locals that climate change is the real deal, but an expert from Yale says not to abandon hope. Fred Singer, denier-extraordinaire, is gloating over the recently released IPCC report which lowered it's original projections of human impact by 25%. Hey Fred, they just lowered their projection, they didn't remove it.

In Washington, the Democrats have added ANOTHER victory. Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX) cruised to a surprisingly large upset victory over incumbent Henry Bonilla (R-TX) in the 23rd district. This district was made nearly impenetrable thanks to Mr. DeLay's redistricting scheme, but it was redrawn after the Supreme Court deemed it a violation of civil rights. The addition of a large number of Latino voters (ahem, the lack of suppression), looks like what tipped the scales.

Chuck Todd of the National Journal is looking ahead and sees a long term Democratic majority in the Senate thanks to a ripe field in '08. Speaking of '08, Maureen Dowd takes a look at the Obama-Clinton scuffle. Gov. Romney tries to explain his "flip-flopping" on gay rights issues, and Sen. Brownback (known uber-conservative) sees room in the GOP tent for gay rights supporters. I'm confused.

The liberal blogosphere is all smiles today after chalking up another victory. Very unpredictable, I know. What is more interesting is the brewing feud between Tom DeLay and Arianna Huffington. The Hammer called out Ms. Huffington in one of his inaugural posts, drawing a sharp, yet witty response. Good times.

In the weird news, some people think soy products will make you gay. I'm not kidding. Another person stupid enough to interact with the brilliant Borat is suing him, and JibJab is back with a year in review! All that and more in the briefing.

MW

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Daily Briefing – 12/13/06
691 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- Wall Street eyes global warming
- Don’t abandon all hope
- Times-Picayune: Climate change serious, group says
- The cows missed the movie
- Top scientists discuss global warming
- RCP: Alarmism and Cows
- How will global warming affect people in Georgia
- UN News Centre: No firm link yet between global warming and intensity of cyclones
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- Make it 30. Democrat upsets incumbent in Texas 23rd
- Democrats consider outside ethics panel
- Majority of Americans support timetable for withdrawal
- Incoming Chairman of Intelligence Committee needs a lesson on al Qaeda
- Congress, White House to push ethanol
- A long-term Senate democratic majority?
Potential ‘08ers…
- Clinton v. Obama (Maureen Dowd’s take), Kerry (going to Iraq), Romney (needs to explain his record), Brownback (GOP tent is big enough for gay rights supporters), Vilsack (still looking for support), Obama (some NH’ans playing hard to get), Dodd (will decide soon), Clinton (dining with some old friends), Obama again (the path to power)
Other News from the Media
- Leo wants answers… environmental answers
- Tom Friedman wants us to keep learning
- Plan for tracking animals meets farmers’ resistance
- LA Times: Time out for earmarks
- Mine water quality predictions often wrong
…and the Blogosphere
- The Fix: Another pickup for the Dems
o Hotline: Was it the Latino vote?
- RedState: John McCain wants to censor the internet
- Huffington Post: Why YouTube was created
- Oh man this is fun – Its Tom DeLay vs. Arianna Huffington
- TPM Muckraker: Swift Boat Vets slapped with $300K fine for
- DailyKos: On the Arctic Ice thinning
- From Grist:
o The world’s first cellulosic ethanol plant
o Top ten breakthroughs that could help cool the greenhouse
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- They tried to give me the award. I told them it would be better to give it to Mr. Craig, since he needs the press for his resurgent career
- Borat sued again
- Sometimes I really wonder if the internet is a new positive for society. It is articles like this that make me wonder if we were better off…
- But then I get to learn that people are living in the Star Wars set and everything seems good again
- JibJab’s year in review
Quotes O’ the Day
"I'm confident we're going to keep the Senate; I'm confident we're going to keep the House.” ~ Karl Rove, still 1 seat down in the Senate and now 31 seats down in the House