The American Trial Lawyers Association

A British diplomat has come forward and made it clear that the British government has a paper trail that proves that both the US and the British government were fully aware that Saddam Hussein posed no threat to the world. Carne Ross, who was a first secretary at the United Nations in New York for the Foreign Office until 2004, told MPs: "A lot of facts about the run-up to this war have yet to come to light which should come to light and which the public deserves to know." He told the inquiry that the intelligence made it "very clear" that Saddam Hussein did not pose a significant threat to the UK, as was being claimed at the time by ministers, and that tougher enforcement of sanctions could have brought his regime down. Ross believes that his revelations could call the very legality of the invasion into question. When prodded about why he didn't come out sooner, or try harder to prevent the invasion, Ross said that he was aware that speaking out too often or too openly - even in internal debates - about his concerns about the government's policy direction would damage his career by winning him a reputation as a "naive troublemaker".


In environmental news today, a poll released recently by Gallup says that, while a majority of Americans still believe the seriousness of global warming is “either correctly portrayed in the news or underestimated,” an all-time high of 41 percent of those polled say it is exaggerated. One of the main reasons for this drop in concern can be attributed to the success of climate change deniers in disseminating their message. While they are no more credible now than they were a few years ago, the difference today is that they have more friendly media outlets that are willing to broadcast their message. Since Gallup began tracking domestic sentiment on global warming in 1997, American views that climate change was being underestimated were at their highest in 2001 and 2006 (the year An Inconvenient Truth came out). The poll also saw declines from last year in the number of people who believe the effects of global warming are occurring now, and in the number that believe global warming will pose a “serious threat” in their lifetimes. By age group, the biggest jump (13 percent) from last March in those who now believe global warming claims are exaggerated was in the 65-and-older demographic. While other age groups also saw an increase, the 18-29 segment had no change at all in the number of those who believe claims are exaggerated.


And finally, it just wouldn't be a news day if there weren't something to say about AIG. Admittedly, I'm getting pretty sick of these stories, and would prefer to no longer write about them. But people seem to enjoy it, so I'll play along one last time. But rest assured, after today, I'm done covering anything to do with AIG, unless aliens come down, beam up their building, and probe each and every executive. Now THAT would be a news story. Despite the protestations of a few congressmen, the House voted overwhelmingly to pass bonus tax legislation Thursday afternoon. Roll Call reports the vote was 328-93 to impose a 90 percent tax on employee bonuses at companies that received federal bailout funds, which includes AIG. CNN notes that the measure, which now heads to the Senate for consideration, would tax individuals on any bonuses received in 2009 from companies getting $5 billion or more in money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Those with incomes more than $250,000 would see their bonuses taxed at the 90 percent rate.

Labels: AIG, Bailout, Bonuses, Britain, Climate Change, Environment, Farron Cousins, Global Warming, Intelligence, Iraq War, Ron Paul, Saddam Hussein