When NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies recently announced that it was revising its temperature data, right-wing bloggers leaped at the news to propel its global warming denial campaign. James Hansen — head of the NASA center — sets the record straight. He writes that the “corrected and uncorrected curves are indistinguishable,” adding that the “deceit” propagated by the right “has a clear purpose: to confuse the public about the status of knowledge of global climate change.”

Countrywide Financial, the nation’s leading mortgage lender, is suffering a liquidity crunch as a result of doling out risky subprime loans in the past few years. The company announced today that it will borrow $11.5 billion in order to keep making home loans. “The announcement sent its stock tumbling about 11 percent and prompted one credit rating agency to downgrade its rating to near-junk bond status.”

A Countrywide spokesman said, “Management is completely focused on running the business in a changing environment.” Unfortunately, Countrywide isn’t taking the necessary steps to prioritize its spending and maintain its solvency.

This afternoon, CNBC ran a report on Countrywide which stated the company was “suffering a perfect storm of bad news.” Moments after that piece aired, a Countrywide commercial appeared on the CNBC network. “Homeowners, wanna refinance and get cash? Countrywide has a great reason to do it now,” the ad blared. Watch it:

Countrywide made one out of every six home loans in the U.S. in the first half of this year. If the company were to declare bankruptcy, “it would be a huge shock to the U.S. housing system and the mortgage system as perceived around the world.” If Countrywide is serious about surviving the market downturn and ensuring the stability of its loans, it should stop wasting much-needed funds on TV ads.

UPDATE: Media Biz notes that Countrywide is also going on an internet ad spending spree.

The Pentagon paid a small South Carolina parts supplier about $20.5 million over six years “for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas. The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq.”

“People using CIA and FBI computers have edited entries in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia on topics including the Iraq war and the Guantanamo prison, according to a new tracing program.” It was not known whether changes were made by an official representative of an agency or company, a CIA spokesman said, but it was certain the change was made by someone with access to the organization’s network.

UPDATE: Steve Benen notes Fox News has been editing Wikipedia entries too. And now that they’ve been caught, Fox News is turning its guns on Wikipedia.

The White House announced today that Jenna Bush, one of President Bush’s twin daughters, is engaged to be married to her longtime boyfriend, Henry Hager. This must come as a shock to Laura Bush, given that in 2005 she publicly proclaimed that Jenna and Henry were not in a “serious” relationship. Here’s how the Washington Post reported it:

Former White House aide Henry Hager may be flying high, considering he’s dating the president’s daughter, but maybe he shouldn’t get too comfortable with Jenna Bush on his arm. Yesterday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Charlie Gibson broached the topic of the twins’ dating with Laura Bush, noting: “I’ve read in the social pages that one of your daughters has a new boyfriend.”

The first lady, referring to the 26-year-old Hager, who has been seen regularly in Jenna’s company, said: “This is not a serious boyfriend — I hate to have to be the one to say it on television. But he’s a very nice young man.”

UPDATE: Newsbusters hits us for posting on this, and ThinkProgress responds.

When the Congress passed legislation this month raising tobacco taxes to fund the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), President Bush threatened a veto. Defending the health insurance and tobacco industries, Bush said, “If Congress continues to insist upon expanding healthcare through the SCHIP program — which, by the way, would entail a huge tax increase for the American people — I’ll veto the bill.”

But in a direct rebuke, the President’s Cancer Panel today recommended that Bush no longer “acquiesce to the demands of the industries that encourage” the “disease and death caused by tobacco use.” Specifically, the panel recommended that the federal government raise taxes on tobacco and more heavily regulate the tobacco industry to “weaken” its influence. CQ reports (sub. req’d):

In its report to President Bush, the panel said that “policymakers at all levels of government have an obligation to enact legislation to eliminate disease and death caused by tobacco use and environmental tobacco smoke exposure. The panel recommends foremost that the influence of the tobacco industry — particularly on America’s children — be weakened through strict federal regulation of tobacco product sales and marketing.” […]

The cancer panel pointedly noted that all “the issues discussed in this report have suffered to varying degrees from politicization that continues to derail or limit progress toward a healthier population that is less burdened by cancer. We cannot continue to fund tobacco- and obesity-related research, thinking it will solve the problems caused by cancer risk-promoting behaviors and products, and also acquiesce to the demands of the industries that encourage those behaviors and produce those products.”

According to the American Medical Association, “for each 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes, youth smoking is reduced by 7 percent, and overall consumption by 4 percent.” Furthermore, the public overwhelmingly supports raising tobacco taxes, by a margin of 67 percent to 28 percent.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee recently approved a bill “that would give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco.” Today, Chairman Ted Kennedy (D-MA) welcomed the panel’s recommendations.

The recommendations eloquently reaffirm what is widely recognized throughout the public health community; that giving the Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate tobacco products is the most important step Congress can take to reduce smoking and the immense toll of illness and death it causes. It is absolutely essential to reduce smoking, especially among the nation’s youth.

In addition to top medical scientists, the three-member panel includes Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor. Will Bush listen to his own appointed experts?

Digg It!

Convicted ex-congressman Bob Ney’s former chief of staff Will Heaton has been spared prison time in his conspiracy case. He will serve two years of probation and pay a $5,000 fine. Heaton has admitted to “accepting favors and numerous items of value, and attempting to use his official position to help disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a foreign businessman in their business ventures.” Heaton had aided the investigation by wearing a hidden wire during conversations with Ney.

Today, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe dismissed a report by the Washington Post that claimed Bush aides were resisting the open testimony of Gen. David Petraeus. “General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will testify to the Congress in both open as well as closed sessions prior to the September 15th report,” he said. “That has always been our intention.” Apparently, that message hasn’t been communicated to Congress:

[A]ides to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said negotiations between congressional leaders and the administration to open the hearings were still ongoing.

“We are in talks with the administration now,” Levin’s aide said, adding that Levin had been pushing for an open hearing but no agreement had been reached.

An aide to Foreign Relations Committee ranking Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana said his committee staff was communicating directly with Petraeus’ staff to discuss how the general’s views would be shared with members of Congress.

Lugar’s staff was not coordinating its efforts with Levin’s office, according to the aide, but neither office was under the impression that the White House had agreed to open testimony before Johndroe spoke.

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars notes that Chris Matthews called the “Petraeus report” for what it actually is — the White House report.

According to a CNN poll released today, 53 percent of Americans said they suspect that the military assessment of the situation will try to make it sound better than it actually is. Forty-three percent said they do trust the report.

Reporters were forbidden from asking questions during Karl Rove’s farewell press conference on the White House lawn with President Bush on Monday. But CBS correspondent Bill Plante ignored the embargo, shouting “If he’s so smart, how come you lost Congress?

For having the gall to disrupt the White House’s scripted moment, Plante’s off-the-cuff query became a lightning rod for right-wing criticism and abuse.

Newsbusters called it “disgraceful. Powerline called his “conduct…almost unbelievable.” According to Plante, there was much more venom personally directed at him:

Judging by some of the reaction, you’d think I had been shouting obscenities in church!

“Unprofessional;” “Inappropriate;” “Unbecoming;” “Doesn’t show much class;” “you are a total idiot;” “Shill for the liberal Democrats.

Plante commented on his now-famous question in an interview with CBS’ Public Eye today. Plante said that “asking questions should not be dependent on what the White House thinks the mood or the tone of an event should be”:

Anytime you challenge or appear to challenge the president — and I don’t care if the president is a Republican or a Democrat — there are people who will take issue with it and tell you it’s inappropriate. And you kind of expect that. I knew that was I did on Monday was smart-assed, but I think that that’s beside the point.

Our asking questions should not be dependent on what the White House thinks the mood or the tone of an event should be. And the fact that they say ‘no questions’ or don’t allow time for questions really has nothing to do with it. They don’t have to answer, but I think we need to preserve and aggressively push our right to ask.

Plante is right. The problem with the traditional media today isn’t that reporters have neglected to show proper decency towards the White House, but rather that they’ve shown much too much deference.

This morning, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) “asked the Justice Department’s Inspector General (IG) to investigate potentially false or misleading testimony given by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales during his appearances before various congressional committees.” Leahy highlights several contradictory statements made by the Attorney General on the NSA’s spy program, the use of National Security Letters, and his role in the U.S. attorney purge:

Consistent with your jurisdiction, please do not limit your inquiry to whether or not the Attorney General has committed any criminal violations. Rather, I ask that you look into whether the Attorney General, in the course of his testimony, engaged in any misconduct, engaged in conduct inappropriate for a cabinet officer and the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, or violated any duty — including the duty set out in federal regulations for government officials to avoid any conduct which gives the appearance of a violation of law or of ethical standard, regardless of whether there is an actual violation of law.

Read the full release.

In a battle of breaking stories, CNN chooses Jenna Bush’s engagement to a Karl Rove intern over the Jose Padilla conviction.

Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who had been arrested in 2002 as an enemy combatant, has been found guilty in a Miami court on all charges of supporting terrorism. The Washington Post wrote that the administration’s detention of him had been “bruising to liberty.” The Bush administration had claimed that Padilla, who was held in a military brig for more than 3 years, could be detained indefinitely and without access to a lawyer. Ultimately, the federal courts forced the administration to provide Padilla access to the courts. The verdict today affirms the merits of a judicial system that provides both due process and due punishment. Padilla’s attorneys are expected to appeal.

In a July hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, FBI Director Robert Mueller revealed that he took notes of the infamous White House visit to Attorney General John Ashcroft’s hospital room because the events were so “out of the ordinary.”

Chairman John Conyers wrote to Mueller after the hearing to request access to his notes. Today, Conyers’ office put out a statement explaining that the Judiciary Committee has taken a look at Mueller’s notes, which were “heavily-redacted.” Yet, even from the amount the Committee was able to read, Conyers reported that it is clear there was a craven effort to take advantage of “a sick and heavily-medicated Ashcroft“:

“Director Mueller’s notes and recollections concerning the White House visit to the Attorney General’s hospital bed confirm an attempt to goad a sick and heavily medicated Ashcroft to approve the warrantless surveillance program,” said Conyers. “Particularly disconcerting is the new revelation that the White House sought Mr. Ashcroft’s authorization for the surveillance program, yet refused to let him seek the advice he needed on the program.

“Unfortunately, this heavily redacted document raises far more questions than it answers. We intend to fully investigate this incident and the underlying subject matter that evoked such widespread distress within the Department and the FBI. We will be seeking an unredacted copy of Director Mueller’s notes covering meetings before and after the hospital visit and expect to receive information from several of the individuals mentioned in the document.”

Former Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Alberto Gonzales rushed to Ashcroft’s bedside to get his sign-off for the administration’s NSA warrantless surveillance program because then-Acting Attorney General James Comey refused to authorize it.

Mueller’s notes indicate Ashcroft was “feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed.” Moreover, Mueller’s notes indicate Ashcroft “was in no condition” to see visitors, much less decide whether to authorize the program. Nevertheless, Ashcroft articulated the fact that he did not have the proper legal guidance he needed to make a determination on the program. See Mueller’s redacted notes here. See a key snippet below, courtesy of The Gavel: