The “number of coalition military deaths in the war in Iraq has reached 4,000,” with the majority of the fatalities — 3,702 — suffered by U.S. soldiers. Forty-four U.S. troops have died this month.

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.”

I’ve gotta stop Jason Zengerle and Ross Douthat from propagating some kind of revisionist notion whereby Dick Cheney (in Zengerle’s words) “could well benefit from a round of media appearances – because, while his views may be crazy and alarmist, his public presentation of them isn’t.” Or, as Ross puts it, “Cheney entered this Administration with a reputation for being anti-charismatic but deeply responsible, but if anything the reverse has proven true: When he’s ventured out of the undisclosed location, he’s actually been a much more compelling spokesman for the Administration than the President, even as he’s been associated with many of its more reckless and tone-deaf policy decisions.”

This is crazy talk. One’s first-glance view of the situation is correct. Steve Hayes is a crazy sycophant. His idea that Cheney could enhance his popularity by speaking more in public is the sort of thing a crazy sycophant would say. Cheney is kept in hiding because even before it became known that his policy judgment was absolutely abysmal, he always looked and sounded like an evil troll. He comes across as the kind of guy who’d vote to keep Nelson Mandela locked in prison. It’s obvious from Ross’ and Jason’ posts, however, that people are beginning to forget exactly how abhorrent he is. More public appearances will cure that fast.

“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?

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