President Hu can’t suppress dissent in the United States like he does in China, but the Bush adminstration is helping out where it can.

According to a CNN Wire report, CNN producer Joe Vaccarello was removed by Secret Service officers “from covering a private meeting Friday at Yale University after calling out a question about whether Chinese President Hu Jintao had seen protesters lined up outside”:

Vaccarello was told he had broken a rule against asking questions at the “photo op,” during which Hu and Levin exchanged gifts and Hu met with four students. Vaccarello was escorted from the building by members of the Secret Service who were escorting people in and out of the building.

Vaccarello said he had not been told he could not ask questions at the event.

A Yale spokeswoman actually defended the producers’ removal, calling the talk a “very intimate event” and claiming that “[e]very other reporter knew the ground rules.”

But she said she could not be sure the CNN staffers were specifically informed that questions would not be allowed at the event.

She argued the rule was “obvious.”

CNN staffers said they were not aware of the rule.

It is not unusual for journalists to ask questions at designated photo ops. Often, the questions are ignored.

Already, President Bush has broken protocol by not holding the typical “press availability” with Hu. Instead, the White House limited the session to a few “pool” reporters, under a “mutual agreement” with the Chinese, who did not want a more public setting.

In today’s LA Times, columnist Jonah Goldberg – following George Will’s lead – argues that global warming may not be a problem (or even exist). Goldberg writes that “we don’t have a clear picture of what’s happening now, never mind what will happen.” He calls concern about climate change “millenarian battiness.”

Here is the only “evidence” Goldberg provides to support his contention that the science of climate change is in dispute:

But it’s also true that we don’t have a clear picture of what’s happening now, never mind what will happen. Just ask the 60 climatologists from around the world who wrote Canada’s prime minister that “observational evidence does not support today’s computer climate models, so there is little reason to trust model predictions of the future.”

The letter by a dwindling club of “climate skeptics” is misleading and not supported by scientific evidence. A subsequent letter from “climate science leaders from the academic, public and private sectors across Canada” to the prime minister corrects the record. That letter states that since 2001, advances in climate science provided “confirmation that warming of the atmosphere near the surface is consistent with the projections of climate models.”

To the extent “observational evidence” is different from “climate models” it shows that global warming is happening faster. Specifically, scientific analyses conducted since 2001 suggest “climate may be more sensitive to additional greenhouse gases than previously determined.”

The big difference between the letter Goldberg references and the letter sent in response is that the latter contains scientific support for its claims. (There are no peer-reviewed studies that support the skeptics.)

For Goldberg, none of this may matter. Goldberg believes that even if climate change is real, it may be a good thing. He argues that “a one- or two-degree-per-century rise in average global temperatures” will have “some pleasant consequences.”

Happy Earth Day Mr. Goldberg!

The Note has a scoop: “The grand jury investigating the CIA leak is scheduled to meet at 9:30 am ET.”

As ThinkProgress documented previously, right-wing commentators have wasted no time impugning the character and motivations of the seven generals who have spoken out against Secretary Rumsfeld. A new talking point has surfaced: the generals’ comments have endangered America by emboldening our enemies.

Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer in today’s Washington Post:

[This] kind of dissident party within the military is alien to America. … [I]t is a disturbing and very dangerous precedent that even the left will one day regret.

Krauthammer suggests that foreign governments may “exploit” the generals’ comments to “force” our government to change policy:

That happens in places such as Hussein’s Iraq, Pinochet’s Chile or your run-of-the-mill banana republic. And when it does, outsiders (including the United States) do their best to exploit it, seeking out the dissident factions to either stage a coup or force the government to change policy.

Meanwhile, syndicated conservative columnist Cal Thomas charges that the comments will only “further embolden America’s enemies”:

By going public with their criticisms in the midst of the war, those generals are making victory more difficult. They are encouraging the enemy to fight on, believing we will ultimately surrender. There can be no good that will come from the comments of the former leaders of our volunteer soldiers, at least no good for what they once called “our side.”

Apparently, the key to defeating our enemies is stifling all dissent against administration policies.

Last night, MSNBC’s David Shuster took a look at recent court filings by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and suggests that Karl Rove is likely to be indicted. Watch it:

Three key points made by Shuster:

1. The latest court documents, for the first time, name Rove as a subject of the investigation.

2. The court documents go out of their way to say that Rove will not be called as a witness in Scooter Libby’s trial, even though Rove is a key part of the narrative. Shuster notes that this is done when prosecutors want to “leave open the possibility of later charging that particular subject in a separate case.”

3. Rove is referred in court documents as “Official A.” Shuster says “in every single case we have found, Keith, that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald when he designates somebody as Official A in an indictment, that person eventually does get indicted themselves.”

(HT: Atrios)

Transcript: Read more

“Vice President Dick Cheney gets caught napping yesterday as Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other White House aides leave a press briefing by President Bush and Chinese leader Hu Jintao. The veep’s people later insisted he was reading his notes.”