Countdown Newsletter -- 05/16/06: Tracing Reporters' Calls?

[Patsy Stone]

Ah, a Britney story...

BTW, I want to work Carey's hours!

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Tonight on Countdown
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ABC News claimed yesterday that phone calls made by its reporters and journalists at the New York Times and Washington Post are being traced by the federal government as part of an investigation into leaks of classified information. In a blog posting, the network said two of its reporters, Richard Esposito and Brian Ross, were told by an unnamed senior federal official that the government had obtained records of calls placed by the two men. The network said the probe may be focused on leaks about a CIA program to detain terrorism suspects at secret locations outside America, but could also involve the network's reports on the spy agency's use of missile-firing Predator drones in Pakistan. http://www.nysun.com/article/32798

Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann broadcasts LIVE at 8 pm et, and the count is never complete without you. Join us.

Karl Rove, the political brains of the Bush administration, voiced optimism today over the Republicans' chances of maintaining and even expanding their majorities in the House and Senate in this fall's elections. "I'm sanguine ," he said. "The American people like this president. His personal approval ratings are in the 60s. Job approval is lower. And what that says to me is that people like him, they respect him; he's somebody they feel a connection with, but they're just sour right now on the war." http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-051506rove_lat,0,680654.story?coll=la-home-headlines
However, on that last point, Mr. Rove is not consistent with the facts.
The President's personal approval tops out at about 40% in recent polls (his JOB approval number, lower).

Al Gore, at the beginning of the upcoming documentary feature "An Inconvenient Truth," introduces himself to an audience gathered to hear about global warming by saying, "I'm Al Gore. I used the be the next president of the United States." After the laughter dies down, he says, with an affable straight face, "I don't find anything particularly funny about that," and he gets an appreciative, though just slightly uncertain, second laugh. Then he launches into what he calls his slideshow - a clear and concise explanation that he has reportedly given about a thousand times around the world, aided by impressive animated mega-graphics on an enormous screen behind him - of what Gore (and a growing number of others) calls a planetary emergency. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1945893&page=1
This documentary was all the rage at Sundance... Is it part of an Al Gore comeback?

When it comes to driving with her baby, Britney Spears just can't get it right. After causing an international uproar by driving with her infant unsecured in her lap, Spears, sporting curlers in her hair, is snapped driving in Malibu with the baby strapped in the back seat - but facing the wrong way. http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/68606.htm

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
HONOLULU -- A golfer may not be held liable for mistakenly hitting another golfer with an errant golf ball, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled. The court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling to dismiss Ryan Yoneda's lawsuit against Andrew Tom, whose wayward ball hit Yoneda in the left eye at Mililani Golf Course in 1999. Chief Justice Ronald Moon wrote Yoneda assumed the risk of the injury when he played golf. It is "common knowledge that not every shot played by a golfer goes exactly where he intends it to go," the ruling said, adding there wouldn't be much "sport" in the "sport of golf," if golf balls went exactly where the player wanted. The court considered whether golfers should have to shout "fore" or other warnings to protect other players. The justices concluded, however, that doing so was golf etiquette, not a requirement recognized by law.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GOLF_BALL?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
So there you go. In Hawaii, you can hack away.

-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

Other News:
On the morning after President Bush's prime time speech on immigration, the White House sought to emphasize efforts to strengthen border security, calling the overall proposals "turbochargers" to finally deal with illegal immigrants. But some House lawmakers from the president's own party took issue with another part of his proposals: eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12816021/

The Pentagon said Tuesday it planned to release video images of American Airlines Flight 77 crashing into the military headquarters building and killing 184 people in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12818225/

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the telephone industry, should open an investigation into whether the nation's phone companies broke the law by turning over millions of calling records to the government, an FCC commissioner says. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12816460/

A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit deep under the South Pacific late Tuesday near an uninhabited chain of islands north of New Zealand, the U.S. Geological Survey said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12813671/

Bush administration officials say a last-day flurry of registration for the new Medicare drug benefit could lead to 90 percent of elderly Americans having insurance coverage for their medicine. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12805662/

Richard Hatch, who won $1 million in the debut season of "Survivor," was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in prison for failing to pay income taxes on his reality TV prize and other earnings. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12818163/