! ! 100th Post ! !

Good Day to all and THANK YOU for continuing to visit the Daily Politique!
Now for the good stuff...

InterPlanetary:
Martians Found?!
NASA Schedules Briefing to Announce Significant Find on Mars

International:
World Powers Fail to Reach Iran Accord
Six world powers made "substantive progress" but failed to reach an accord on a U.N. resolution to punish Iran for defying U.N. demands to halt its nuclear program, the French Foreign Ministry said after talks in Paris Tuesday.

Tehran made a new threat of retaliation if the powers opted for sanctions. "We made substantive progress on the scope of the sanctions targeting proliferation-sensitive activities. There remain several outstanding issues, upon which we will reflect over the coming days," the French ministry said in a statement. "We are now close to a conclusion of this process." More here

Richest 2% hold half the world’s assets
Personal wealth is distributed so unevenly across the world that the richest two per cent of adults own more than 50 per cent of the world’s assets while the poorest half hold only 1 per cent of wealth.

A survey released on Tuesday shows that middle-income countries with high growth rates still have a long way to go before they have a hope of catching up with the levels of prosperity of the richest.
Read all about it at FT.com

Opium Anyone?
The Pentagon is resisting requests from U.S. anti-narcotic officials "to play an aggressive role in the faltering campaign to curb [Afghanistan's] opium trade," which finances the insurgency the U.S. military is fighting. Afghanistan produces more than 90 percent of the world's heroin, and "traffickers reap an estimated $2.3 billion in annual profits." This year's opium harvest will "generate more than US$3 billion in illicit revenue -- equivalent to almost half of Afghanistan's GDP." Despite ongoing U.S. programs to eradicate the drug, opium production in Afghanistan "broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high."

Iraq Study Group Set to Release Findings
President George W. Bush is to meet early Wednesday morning to receive Iraq Study Group's recommendations for war policy, but White House is already downplaying report's impact on United States' next moves in Iraq.

National:
Senate Approval
The Senate Armed Services Committee voted unanimously to approve Robert Gates’ nomination as defense secretary, 21-0. A full Senate is expected tomorrow.

Conservative Civil War?
Retreating to the friendly confines of the Weekly Standard magazine neoconservatives have reignited a conservative civil war over foreign policy.

While the Iraq Study Group led by James Baker and Lee Hamilton appears to have backed key elements of a progressive strategic redeployment plan put forth by the Center for American Progress more than a year ago, neoconservatives — reflecting their growing irrelevance and detachment from reality — are still insisting that the U.S. send more troops to Iraq and continue to oppose dialogue with Iraq’s neighbors.

The writers at the Weekly Standard have focused their attacks on the reemergence of Bush 41 “realist” foreign policy conservatives. In a clear effort to knee-cap the Baker-Hamilton report before it comes out, the Weekly Standard has a slew of articles attacking the Iraq Study Group, James Baker, and Robert Gates. Here is a sampling of some of the articles currently on the magazine’s website: “A Perfect Failure”, “Surge and Run”, “Surrender as ‘Realism’, and “From Metternich to Jim Baker”

Bush v. Gates
Bush (last month) President Bush says the upsurge in violencein Iraq does not disprove his contention that U-S forces are winning there (Iraq).

He continues to taunt the Democrats of wanting to "cut and run." Instead -Wednesday, the (Baker-Hamilton) Iraq Study Group will advise Bush to "cut and run"...probably on a timetable of sorts.

Gates (today) Incoming Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin’s (D-MI) first question to Defense Secretary nominee Robert Gates: “Mr. Gates, do you believe that we are currently winning in Iraq?”

Gates’ answer: “No, sir.” Watch it here

Elections Over -Gas Up - Interesting chart

In Other News...
Hearings for Defense nominee Robert Gates are today. Gates has said "that he supported Bush's decision to invade in 2003 and that leaving Iraq 'in chaos' would harm U.S. interests for many years. Beyond that he has not said how the U.S. might get Iraq moving in the right direction."

The Supreme Court is set to rule against "what is left, if anything, of Brown v. Board of Education." After hearings yesterday on two schools' racial integration programs, "the only question was how far the court would go in ruling such plans unconstitutional."

The number of government contractors operating in Iraq has reached 100,000, "a total that is approaching the size of the U.S. military force there." Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL) said the estimate "further demonstrates the need for Congress to finally engage in responsible, serious and aggressive oversight" over private military contracting.

"The Army and Marine Corps have sunk more than 40 percent of their ground combat equipment into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." Replacing, repairing, and upgrading combat equipment will cost at least $17 billion annually for several more years; before the war, "the Army spent $2.5 billion to $3 billion a year on wear and tear."

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) "wants to fast-track efforts to boost the federal minimum wage," and she is pushing for a "stand alone" bill that "will go straight to the floor for consideration."

From The Right: Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: The Iraq Surrender Group
On Wednesday, an unelected, unaccountable and substantially unqualified commission will formally report what hasn?t already been leaked about its recommendations with respect to the conflict in Iraq. The title of the commission is the Iraq Study Group (ISG).

From The Left: Dean Baker: The Housing Crash Recession of 2007 As we approach the end of 2006, the economy's prospects for next year appear more gloomy with each new piece of economic data. And, just like President Bush in his assessment of the situation in Iraq, the economic forecasters are gradually revising their forecasts downward, as it no longer appears credible to present the rosy pictures that they had been trying to sell.

Quote Of The Day:
"What's next, a witch gets elected, and she says she's only going to be sworn in with her hand over a pentagram?"

Michael Savage, on Congressman-elect Keith Ellison of Minnesota wants to take his oath of office using the Quran instead of the Bible.

(Sources: AP, MyWay.com, Drudge Report, Financial Times, WCBS, LATimes, Taipei Times, FOXNews, Weekly Standard, Washington Post, TownHall, TruthOut, PoliticalCartoons.com, CBSNews, USAToday, Reuters, MSNBC, Center For American Progress)