Daily Briefing - 1/9/07

Welcome to the late edition of the briefing thanks to some troubles with blogger. No worries though as we are back up and running. Yee-haw!

At the UN the head of the Climate Secretariat is calling for better leadership on global warming. He's starting with his boss, new Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, asking for him to call a world summit. That would be good, another summit the US can quietly abstain from... or conspicuously walk out on. Oh boy. Moving along, Tony Blair says fighting global warming should not harm local and global economies and David Roberts of Grist grouses about being labeled a dirty hippie... well, sort of.

In Washington, the Democrats have fully unleashed their 100 hours agenda, attempting to ram through bills on 9/11 Commission recommendations and intelligence oversight. Republicans are angry that Democrats are using such tactics. I'm smell hypocrisy on all fronts here.

The official '08 candidate list is growing, but now with some familiar faces. Senator Kerry is on the verge of officially announcing and Al Sharpton is heavily leaning towards another run. I can see this is as a cathartic exercise for the Senator to exorcise the demons of '04, but I think Sharpton is trying to get under America's skin, Ralph Nader-style.

Finally, it has been brought to my attention that the quote from yesterday's briefing is questionably attributed to Victor Hugo, as Mr. Hugo was French and the quote was about Congress. Note the discord. I thank google for their (not so) accurate "quote of the day feature... and myself for being lazy and not researching it before posting. Wikiquote has this to say:
Though research done for Wikiquote indicates that the attribution of this remark to Hugo seems extensive on the internet, no source has been identified. It seems to be a statement a modern satirist might make, derived from one made circa 1910 by Mrs Patrick Campbell regarding homosexuals: "Does it really matter what these affectionate people do— so long as they don’t do it in the streets and frighten the horses?"

MW

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Daily Briefing – 1/9/07
664 days until the NEXT election… and global warming is an integral part of our nation’s agenda!

Key Issues in the News
Global Warming
- Time: Leadership on global warming is thin, according to top UN official
o The new Secretary General should call a world summit
- It could spur and evolution explosion
- The fight should not harm domestic and global economies, says Tony Blair
- What’s global warming got to do with it?
- Japanese cite it as top environmental problem
- Expanding on An Inconvenient Truth – George Monbiot’s Heat
- Woes may hit home
- ExxonMobil reportedly admits PR problem
- David Roberts on global warming and dirty hippies
Washington/Legislation/Politics/People/etc.
- The House continues its work… on 9/11 reforms and intelligence oversight
o Also from CNN
- Sen. Kennedy introduced legislation today forcing the President to get authorization for a troop “surge”
Potential ‘08ers…
- Kerry (he’s running again), Obama (beach babe?), Romney (raises $6.5 mil in one day), Romney again (endorsed by Sen. DeMint), McCain (may get caught up in Bush war plan), Obama again (honesty helps him), Clinton (sharing the bill with Obama), Edwards (already has one vote), Sharpton (oh boy, he might run again), Giuliani (wife may be a liability), Kucinich (he has a plan for Iraq)
- The first debate has been scheduled
Other News from the Media
- Paying in pollution for energy hunger
- Fewer continents are in the forecast
…and the Blogosphere
- Over at DailyKos they’re doing a congressional committees project
- Check out the straw poll over at MYDD
- The Caucus: Where the candidates stand on Iraq
Miscellaneous… or just plain weird
- The blowout nobody (except for Kristin Johnson) expected
- As with most problems New Yorkers face, the blame goes to New Jersey
- Apple jumps into the cell phone world
- Sacha Baron Cohen: out of character
Quotes O’ the Day
"Big day. Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as Speaker of the House. Experts say Pelosi is now the most powerful non-Oprah woman." ~ Conan O'Brien