daily reads...

1. 2004: Things To Forget - It was a year full of memorable events, but here are some worth forgetting - AlterNet
2. After Tsunami, Relief Begins - Nations and businesses pledge aid to areas hit by Sunday disaster - AlterNet
3. Invisible Soldier - A perilous journey from New York to Falluja and back leaves one soldier out in the cold - AlterNet
4. Top 10 Conspiracy Theories of 2003-2004 - Is the end of the world now? Are we out of oil? What prior dealings did the US have with Iraq? Conspiracies abound. How near is the truth? - AlterNet
5. Russia says 'nyet' to Ukraine election results - As European leaders hailed the apparent victory of Ukraine opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko as a triumph for democracy worldwide, The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Russia might refuse to recognize Mr. Yushchenko as the new president of his country. A statement issued by Moscow Wednesday said that electoral observers from the West were "not objective" when they said the election process was free of tampering - Christian Science Monitor
6. How five newcomers could change Senate - Call them the five horsemen of the Republican Revolution: incoming US Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, John Thune of South Dakota, and David Vitter of Louisiana. Their arrival in the US Senate next week gives a powerful boost to both fiscal and social conservatives on issues ranging from judicial nominations and abortion rights to tax reform. It also tips the number of former House members in the Senate to 52 percent - the first time it has passed a majority. More than just an additional five GOP votes, they bring a hard-driving style and ideological focus that is at odds with the collegial culture of the Senate - Christian Science Monitor
7. How the 2005 economy could affect Bush's big plans - Social Security and tax code changes could strain the federal budget. The president could use a rising GDP - Christian Science Monitor
8. Fresh push to coordinate tsunami aid - India rebuffs offers of international help as South Asia's death toll nears 80,000 - Christian Science Monitor
9. In Iraq, a clear-cut bin Laden-Zarqawi alliance - The connection between Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was cemented with Mr. bin Laden's latest taped statement on Tuesday, in which he praised the Jordanian militant and said anyone who participates in Iraq's Jan. 30 election will be considered an infidel and fair game for attack - Christian Science Monitor
10. US Businesses Overseas Threatened by Rising Anti-Americanism - The Bush administration's foreign policy may be costing U.S. corporations business overseas--according to a new survey of 8,000 international consumers released this week by the Seattle-based Global Market Insite (GMI) Inc. - Common Dreams
11. Death toll from quake may rise to 100,000 - The death toll from the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunamis has passed 77,000 and could rise to 100,000, international aid agencies said on Wednesday, as questions grew about the best way of co-ordinating relief efforts for millions of survivors across a vast region - Financial Times
12. US army kills 25 rebels in fierce Iraq fight - U.S. troops backed by warplanes killed 25 guerrillas in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday after facing a coordinated assault involving two suicide bombs and dozens of insurgents, the military said - Financial Times
13. Car bomb attacks near Saudi security buildings - Two huge car bombs went off near Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry and a security unit on Wednesday, in what appeared to be the latest strike by al Qaeda in the world’s biggest oil exporter - Financial Times
14. Bush defends US response to tsunami - The US president, George Bush, today rejected accusations that the west had been "stingy" in its offers of aid for victims of the tsunami that wreaked havoc on coastal communities around the Indian Ocean - The Guardian Unlimited
15. Tsunami disaster - In pictures: The destruction wreaked by the Indian Ocean tsunami - The Guardian Unlimited
16. Ukraine cabinet abandons meeting - The Ukrainian opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, today moved a step closer to becoming the country's president when his supporters forced his rival, the prime minister, Viktor Yanukovich, to abandon a cabinet meeting - The Guardian Unlimited
17. Weekly Review - Harpers Magazine
18. Ohio secretary of state fights suit deposition - The secretary of state, who declared President Bush the official winner in Ohio, is seeking a court order to keep himself from being interviewed as part of a court challenge of the Nov. 2 vote - Houston Chronicle
19. Maytag Moves to Mexico - The closing of the Galesburg Maytag plant has left more manufacturing workers pondering an uncertain future - In These Times
20. How Mercury-Tainted Tuna Damages Fetal Brains - Last spring, I received a tantalizing invitation from the editor of Childbirth Forum: write a story on mercury in fish and the resulting risks to pregnant women. This was a topic dear to my heart. During the four years I researched fetal toxicology at Cornell University, I had become alarmed about the breach between what the scientific community knows about the effects of prenatal mercury exposure (a lot) and what the general public knows (very little) - In These Times
21. Two police stations are attacked in bid to scare Iraqi voters - Violence flared in Iraq's restless Sunni Triangle yesterday when insurgents stormed two police stations in a brazen attempt to intimidate Sunni voters a day after Osama bin Laden called for Iraqis to boycott upcoming elections - The Independent
22. Neoconomy - The Bush economic policy amounts to a huge gamble based on a few radical economic assumptions. If these assumptions aren't vindicated, we're in big trouble - MotherJones
23. Happy Holidays from Bushy Claus! - MotherJones
24. Tim Spicer's World - Military contracts are big game. And one of the most notorious hunters is a former British soldier whose past business ventures include violating a UN arms embargo in Sierra Leone and unwittingly triggering a coup in Papua New Guinea. His name is Tim Spicer, and in March his London-based company, Aegis Defense Services, bagged a $293 million contract from the Pentagon to protect US diplomats in Iraq - The Nation
25. Tsunamis: Facts About Killer Waves - The Indian Ocean tsunami generated by the most powerful earthquake in decades this weekend is believed to have killed as many as 70,000 people and made millions homeless, making it perhaps the most destructive tsunami in history - National Geographic News
26. 2004: The Year Global Warming Got Respect - In 2004 global warming made the covers of National Geographic and Business Week magazines, was the subject of a blockbuster movie, and was a theme in a Michael Crichton's best-selling novel State of Fear—all signs that the issue has captured widespread media attention - National Geographic News
27. Ohio Recount Gives a Smaller Margin to Bush - A recount of the presidential election in Ohio that was finished on Tuesday showed that President Bush won the election here by about 300 fewer votes than initially recorded - NY Times
28. Disease Threatens Survivors in Southern Asia; Many Missing - The waters that stole tens of thousands of people from the shorelines of Asia and East Africa on Sunday continued to spew their bodies back onto beaches today, leading officials to raise the death toll again to more than 76,000. Meanwhile, scores of international rescue teams arrived hoping to stave off disease and homelessness - NY Times
29. US Airways Is Seeking Free New Year's Help - US Airways is trying to recruit volunteers willing to work for free over the New Year's weekend at Philadelphia's airport in order to avoid a repeat of a Christmas fiasco that left the struggling airline with too few workers to fly its planes and process baggage - NY Times
30. C.I.A. Deputy for Analysis Is Being Removed - head of the Central Intelligence Agency's analytical branch is being forced to step down, former intelligence officials say, opening a major new chapter in a shakeup under Porter J. Goss, the agency's chief - NY Times
31. Irate Over 'Stingy' Remark, U.S. Adds $20 Million to Disaster Aid - Rejecting a United Nations official's suggestion that it had been a "stingy" aid donor, the Bush administration on Tuesday announced another $20 million in relief for victims of the Asian earthquake and tsunamis and dispatched an aircraft carrier and other ships to the region for possible relief operations - NY Times
32. Sunday news quiz - NY Times
33. Birth Control: VBAC Backlash - Why are hospitals forbidding women who have had C-sections the right to have vaginal births? - Slate
34. Bushism of the day - The president's accidental wit - Slate
35. Daily updating political cartoons - Slate
36. Short takes: News from all over - Utne
37. Dollar Sags to a New Low Against Euro - The U.S. dollar fell to an all-time low Wednesday against the euro, which touched $1.3646 in thin year-end trading - Washington Post
38. House Ethics Panel Chief May Be Replaced - House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert is leaning toward removing the House ethics committee chairman, who admonished House Majority Leader Tom DeLay this fall - Washington Post
39. FBI Names 6th Counterterrorism Chief Since 9/11 - The FBI announced the appointment yesterday of its sixth counterterrorism director since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, underscoring the bureau's struggle to retain executives in senior positions - Washington Post