ENVIRONMENT
Global Boiling

The evidence for the consequences of global warming is appearing with alarming frequency. This morning's headlines are filled with tales of deadly weather: "At least four people were killed and about 40 injured when a tornado tore through a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa on Wednesday night"; "two people are dead in northern Kansas after tornadoes cut a diagonal path across the state"; "[t]wo Maryland men with heart conditions died this week" from the East Coast heat wave. These eight deaths come on top of reports earlier this week that the heat wave "claimed the lives of 17 people" and the wave of deadly storms killed 11 more: "six in Michigan, two in Indiana and one each in Iowa and Connecticut," as well as one man in New York.  Tornadoes this year are being reported at record levels. States of emergency have been declared in Minnesota, California, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Michigan because of floods and wildfires. Counties in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois,  South Dakota, and Wisconsin have been declared disaster areas due to the historic flooding that has breached dams, inundated towns, and caused major crop damage, sending commodity futures to new records. The floodwaters are continuing down the Mississippi River, with "crests of 10 feet or more above flood level" for "at least the next two weeks."

GLOBAL BOILING: This tragic, deadly, and destructive weather -- not to mention the droughts in Georgia, California, Kansas, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, North Dakota, and elsewhere across the country -- are consistent with the changes scientists predicted would come with global warming. Gov. Chet Culver (D-IA) called the three weeks of storms that gave rise to the floods in his state "historic in proportion," saying "very few people could anticipate or prepare for that type of event." Culver is, unfortunately, wrong. As far back as 1995, analysis by the National Climatic Data Center showed that the United States "had suffered a statistically significant increase in a variety of extreme weather events." In 2007, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that it is "very likely" that man-made global warming will bring an "increase in frequency of hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation." The Nobel Prize-winning panel of thousands of scientists and government officials also found, "Altered frequencies and intensities of extreme weather, together with sea level rise, are expected to have mostly adverse effects on natural and human systems." In 2002, scientists said that "increased precipitation, an expected outcome of climate change, may cause losses of US corn production to double over the next 30 years -- additional damage that could cost agriculture $3 billion per year." Scientists have also found that the "West will see devastating droughts as global warming reduces the amount of mountain snow and causes the snow that does fall to melt earlier in the year."

WAKE-UP CALL?: Of the Memorial Day storms that killed eight people and "led to about $160 million in claims," Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) rose on the Senate floor on June 5 to say, "the storm may serve as a wake-up call to those of us who have become somewhat complacent about severe weather warnings." The next day, Grassley joined 37 of his colleagues to filibuster climate legislation, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. This week, conservatives filibustered two more bills to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and support renewable energy and energy efficiency. In response to "[T]he most destructive flood in Indiana history," estimated to have caused "$126 million in damages," Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) told reporters that President Bush "called 'simply to inquire about how Hoosiers were getting through this, and to ask me -- as I have asked local officials -- was his level of government doing all it can to support us here and to cooperate with us? I told him, 'So far, so good.'" At the beginning of the month, Bush said he would veto these climate and clean energy bills if they came to his desk, declaring, "I urge the Congress to be very careful about running up enormous costs for future generations of Americans."

'TURNING THE KNOB': Although the deadly weather has been front-page news all season, and news channels dedicate hours of coverage to "Extreme Weather," the media are strangely reluctant to discuss severe weather events in the context of climate change. Perhaps some of the reason is the virulent response from the right wing whenever a journalist or scientist dares to discuss how "the upsurge in the number and power of the deadly storms could be related to a warming climate." In a rare instance of good coverage, ABC's Good Morning America ran a segment on Monday about the East Coast heat wave that noted "90 records have been tied or broken" across the East and interviewed eminent climatologist Dr. Stephen Schneider. Schneider explained, "While this heat wave like all other heat waves is made by Mother Nature, we've been fooling around by turning the knob and making a little bit hotter." Schneider then pointed out that we are making the climate hotter through carbon dioxide and methane emissions. In response, the right-wing media outlet Newsbusters wrote that Schneider "Blames Greenhouse Gases for Current Heat Wave," saying, "[G]lobal warming activists have another way to frighten the public -- using steamy weather to suggest human greenhouse gas emissions are worsening a heat wave."

Under the Radar

IRAN -- BUSH MAY BE SEEKING TO USE BASES IN IRAQ FOR STRIKE AGAINST IRAN: Despite vocal and fierce opposition by some of Iraq's top politicians to his plan to establish permanent bases in Iraq, President Bush yesterday expressed confidence the plan would go through. He dismissed the opposition as the "noise" of a freer Iraq society and insisted that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki "appreciates our presence there." "I think we'll get the agreement done," Bush said. Media accounts indicate that the White House's determination to finalize the deal may have more to do with Iran than Iraq. The Bush administration is reportedly seeking "the power to determine if a hostile act from another country is aggression against Iraq," a provision that would allow the United States to brand Iran an enemy of Iraq and attack Iran in the name of defending Iraq. Bush is also seeking "the prerogative for U.S. forces to conduct operations without approval from the Iraqi government." Additionally, the U.S. determination to control Iraqi airspace "added to concerns that the United States was preparing to use Iraq as a base to attack Iran." 

RADICAL RIGHT -- COBURN PLACES HOLD ON HIV/AIDS PREVENTION LEGISLATION: The Senate has introduced a bipartisan bill to triple funding for President Bush's program to fight HIV/AIDS. The $50 billion budget over five years would go toward the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is set to expire in September. The legislation, however, is being held up by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and six other conservative senators who object to the fact that the program would direct most of the spending to the "prevention" of HIV/AIDS, rather than just "treatment." The treatment of HIV/AIDS-infected individuals is "the No. 1 prevention protocol we have," argued Coburn.  Coburn may be an obstetrician, but he is out of the mainstream with other medical professionals on this issue, who say that focusing on treatment as a form of prevention is short-sighted and ineffective. "The prevention effect of treatment is not likely to be anywhere near the magnitude of prevention through prevention," including safe-sex education and condom distribution, said Mead Over, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. Coburn has a habit of blocking bills funding medical research, and his record on health care is abysmal. Coburn has repeatedly blocked legislation funding breast cancer research, doing so as recently as April. He also held up funding to screen returning veterans for signs of suicide risk. In 2005, he proclaimed that silicone breast implants "make you healthier." 

CONGRESS -- CONSERVATIVES NARROWLY BLOCK UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS BILL: Yesterday, the House of Representatives fell three votes shy of passing a bill that would extend unemployment insurance benefits by 13 weeks, while giving 26 to citizens living in states with unemployment rates higher than 6 percent. The bill, which was brought to the floor under an expedited floor procedure and needed two-thirds of the House for approval, failed by a vote of 279 to 144, with 49 Republicans voting in favor. The legislation was introduced in response to last month's jump in unemployment to 5.5 percent, the largest one-month jump since 1986. The White House had promised a veto unless extended benefits were targeted "to high-unemployment states alone." Proponents of the bill "argued that the 8.5 million already unemployed should not have to wait for things to get worse before the federal government helps them." "These millions count on us to do the right thing and respond when they are in need," said Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY). House Democrats plan to reintroduce the bill today, when it will need only a simple majority to pass.

Think Fast

As Bush arrived in Italy yesterday for meetings with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Pope Benedict XVI, he was greeted by hundreds of anti-war activists and other demonstrators who marched through the capital. The AP writes that these protests show "anti-Bush sentiment over the war in Iraq still lingers."

A new WSJ/NBC poll finds that, increasingly, voters don't like President Bush personally. "By 60% to 30%, they have negative views of him, his worst showing ever." By a majority of 54 percent to 42 percent, "voters say they'd prefer a president 'who will bring greater changes' over one who is ‘more experienced and tested.'"

Despite fierce opposition by Iraqis to his call for a long-term occupation of Iraq, President Bush yesterday expressed confidence that a status of forces agreement would pass. "Bush said that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki 'appreciates our presence there'" and suggested much of the opposition "is based on inaccurate media reports and misunderstandings."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) "said he's not going to let his effort to impeach President Bush die a quiet death in committee. He said Wednesday that he'll bring his resolution back in 30 days if the Judiciary Committee...doesn't act on it." "In 30 days, I'll be joined by many more" members, he said.

"As Bush travels across Europe to gain support for possible new sanctions against Iran, Israeli leaders have been working to lay the psychological foundation for a possible military strike if diplomacy falters. In public threats and private briefings with American decision-makers, Israeli officials have been making the case that a military strike may be the only way to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions."

Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are expected to introduce legislation today that would close "loopholes that lobbyists for foreign clients sometimes use to keep their activities under wraps." The bill would "require those who meet with American officials outside the country on behalf of foreign politicians to register as lobbyists, a step that existing law does not require."

A CNN investigation has found "FEMA gave away about $85 million in household goods meant for Hurricane Katrina victims." FEMA said, "We determined that they were excess to FEMA's needs; therefore, they are being excessed from FEMA's inventory." But Martha Kegel, the head of a New Orleans nonprofit agency, responded, "These are the very things that we are seeking right now."

"The financial credit crisis is squeezing student loan programs that offer breaks to borrowers who enter critical fields such as nursing and teaching," as state-backed lenders in at least six states "have dropped or scaled back programs."

And finally: June seems to be music month on Capitol Hill. On Monday, the House passed legislation honoring recently deceased blues legend Bo Diddley. On Tuesday, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) "introduced a resolution to make September 'Gospel Music Heritage Month,'" and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) proposed "a bill honoring country singer Toby Keith's commitment to the armed forces. "Although the troops have been hearing his hit 'I Love this Bar,' our office is so proud of our hometown hero that we hope he’ll be singing, 'I love this bill,'" Cole's spokeswoman said.

Good News

President Bush announced he would award the late Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA) with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil honor. Lantos, who served 27 years in the House and "devoted himself to securing liberty for oppressed people around the world," died from cancer on Feb. 11.

State Watch

COLORADO: "At least 22,500 secretaries, prison guards and other state employees will soon fall under a union contract following a vote tallied Wednesday."

WASHINGTON: State is considered to have one of the best "confidential programs aimed at helping addicted health workers get into treatment."

CALIFORNIA: "One of the last bastions of racial segregation will be breached next month. Trailing most US states, California will start fully integrating its prison cells beginning July 1."

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT): Iraqi opposition to U.S. long-term security agreement is "a sign of our success in Iraq."

WONK ROOM: Cap and rebate scheme based on libertarian mistrust of communities.

CROOKS AND LIARS: 97-year-old Arizona woman disenfranchised by voter ID law.

FEMINISTING: MSNBC's Chris Matthews says that "pro-choice is a poor choice of words."

Daily Grill

"We know the Iraqis want us there."
-- White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, 6/11/08

VERSUS

"The majority of the people of Iraq are [in favor of] withdrawal. ... Perhaps even about 70 percent."
-- Iraqi Parliament member Nadeem Al-Jaberi, 6/4/08