The Cheney Observer

On the first day of the Bush administration's second term, EPA announces that it has signed the sweetheart CAFO deal. In reviewing the final terms of the agreement but it is likely that it will prevent NC from enforcing the Clean Air Act against large hog and poultry operations for air emissions.

Here is the EPA's release. There will be a 30-day comment period.

EPA Announces Air Quality Compliance Agreement for Animal Feeding Operations

Contact: Cynthia Bergman 202-564-9828/ bergman.cynthia@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C.- January 21, 2005) The Environmental Protection Agency today announced an air quality compliance agreement to address emissions from certain animal feeding operations, also known as AFOs. This agreement is part of the Agency’s ongoing effort to minimize air emissions from animal feeding operations and to ensure those operations comply with the Clean Air Act and other laws.

"This agreement is a huge step forward," said Thomas V. Skinner, EPA’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "It will allow us to reach the largest number of AFOs in the shortest period of time and ensure that they comply with applicable clean air requirements."

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/b1ab9f485b098972852562e7004dc686/7505fc66006c202d85256f90005c4363!OpenDocument

EPA Announces New Aircraft Drinking Water Quality Data
Contact: Cynthia Bergman 202-564-9828 / bergman.cynthia@epa.gov
(Washington, D.C. – January 19, 2005) A second round of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) testing shows that 17.2 percent of 169 randomly selected passenger aircraft carried water contaminated with total coliform bacteria. The latest round of tests were performed on domestic and international passenger aircraft at airports nationwide in November and December of last year. The results confirm the presence of bacteria at levels warranting continued EPA scrutiny.

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/b1ab9f485b098972852562e7004dc686/4cad7566ca567d3f85256f8e0053ce39!OpenDocument


Was it oil exploration or dumping of nuclear waste?
By Boniface Ongeri and Victor Obure

A Wajir resident peers at strange equipment left behind by an American company that was purportedly prospecting for oil in the area.
There was tremor of excitement in Kenya during the early 80s when word emerged that there would be a feasibility study on oil exploration in North Eastern Province.

But all this has since turned out to be castles in the air. No oil was ever discovered in North Eastern and it is further suspected that the American company came to the country with ulterior motives.
There are widespread fears that the company was dumping toxic waste in the arid region under the guise of exploring for oil. The anguished residents are now up in arms and want the Government to dispel speculation that the company deposited nuclear waste at the sites.
A visit to the region reveals that the company excavated deep trenches and later covered them with concrete slabs.
Residents who were employed by the company as casuals during the purported exploration confided that they would be unceremoniously laid off whenever the depth of the trenches reached a certain level.

http://www.eastandard.net/hm_news/news.php?articleid=11300>

Oil Surges Close to 8-Week High as Cold Weather Boosts Demand
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose close to an eight-week high as freezing weather in the U.S. Northeast increased consumption of heating fuels and unrest before the Iraqi election disrupted oil shipments from the country.

Pasted from <http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=aeCLiQIEBbbw&refer=home>

U.S. OKs expanded oil drilling in Alaska
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Citing a need for domestic energy, the government plans to open for exploratory drilling thousands of acres on Alaska's North Slope that have been protected for decades because of migratory birds and caribou.
The Bureau of Land Management has concluded that oil and gas exploration in the northeastern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska can be conducted with "minimal impact" on the area's wildlife.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Alaska%20Oil

OPEC Cuts Size of Projected Oil Stocks
Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:43 PM ET
By Andrew Mitchell
LONDON (Reuters) - World oil inventories are continuing to rise but stronger-than-expected demand growth means the stockbuild will be smaller than previously thought, the OPEC oil cartel said on Friday. Supply problems outside the cartel will heighten demand for OPEC's oil over the coming months, according to the report from the group's Vienna secretariat. Current OPEC production levels imply just a small first quarter stockbuild, accelerating modestly into the second quarter.

http://www.reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=7396357

DICK CHENEY will run in the 2008 race for president. I was plainly obvious to me that his aggressive stance while burying his chin into his chest at St. Vincent's the morning of the inaugural that he is running for something. It is either the desire to escalate war in the Middle East for the Caspian Sea or he is running for president. Either way he is a living nightmare.

2008 ELECTION: With Cheney and Bush not running, race is wide open
BY ADAM NAGOURNEY
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON - 2008 ELECTIONWith Cheney and Bush not running, race is wide open For the past half a century, there has been a reliable political dynamic at every presidential inauguration. Someone on the platform -- usually the president or the vice president -- had emerged as the party's likely candidate for an election that was still four years away.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/10698280.htm

British Petroleum Avoids Iran Operation due to U.S. Sanctions

British Petroleum announced that it will not be developing the Iranian Oil and Gas resources. The oil company with the biggest producer of oil and Gas in US. The company plans to avoid Iran because of US sanctions on Iran. The company is proceeding with oil and Gas exploration and production implementation in Russia, Africa and Gulf of Mexico

http://www.indiadaily.com/breaking_news/21828.asp

Alaska Peninsula group heads south to promote petroleum drilling
DAN JOLING
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A delegation of fishermen and government officials from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula will travel to Texas next week promoting their area for oil and gas development, a turnaround from past opposition.
Representatives of the Aleutians East Borough will travel to Houston to attend the North American Prospects Expo, the largest oil and gas exploration and production event in the world. Two representatives from the Aleut Corp., the regional Native corporation, also will attend.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/10704927.htm

GoM to consider raising gas price for fertiliser, power units:
[Business India]: New Delhi, Jan 21 : A Group of Ministers will consider on January 25 raising natural gas price for fertilizer and power units and setting up of a regulator for the oil sector.

http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=63208

Rosneft in 50m-tonne oil deal
MOSCOW: The Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft, new owner of the main production subsidiary of oil giant Yukos, yesterday announced a contract to supply China with 50 million tonnes of oil by 2010.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=102495&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27309

LOS ANGELES
Floating oil slick mystifies officials
New York Times News Service

A phantom oil slick floating somewhere along a 90-mile stretch of Southern California coastline is killing birds as investigators scramble to find its whereabouts.
More than 700 sea birds have died, another 700 are hospitalized and at least one sea lion was evacuated to a marine mammal center, officials said.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/01/22/BACADIGEST2.DTL

FCC unlikely to change course
Departure of Michael Powell expected to bring no shift in policy
By STEPHEN LABATON and JOHN O'NEIL
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — Michael K. Powell announced Friday that he would step down in March as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/10704649.htm

Cheney firm's £40m MoD deal
BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR
Key points
• Announcement to have far-reaching implications for Scottish shipbuilding
• Controversial firm closely linked to US VP Dick Cheney
• Demand could guarantee future of 1,000 jobs at Rosyth yard
Key quote
"This group appear to have the finger of suspicion pointing at them over bribery and corruption in their own country and elsewhere in the world." - Gordon MP
Story in full THE MULTIBILLION-pound project to build Britain’s biggest ever warships will be placed under the control of controversial American military firm Halliburton, under an extraordinary deal to be announced this week.
The Ministry of Defence is expected to confirm that the controversial firm, closely linked to US vice-president Dick Cheney, will be installed to manage the construction of the two "super-carriers", in a move that will have far-reaching implications for Scottish shipbuilding.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=85902005

Supreme Court is key to new Bush term
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
23 January 2005
The clearest pointer to the course of the second Bush administration at last week's inauguration was not the soaring presidential pledge to end global tyranny - a mismatch between rhetoric and reality if every there was one.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=603726

Bush to face battles on 2nd-term agenda
BY MARK SILVA
Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - With the pomp of the inaugural party over, the hard work of President Bush's second term begins as he confronts a series of hurdles testing his ability to fulfill his many re-election promises.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10709893.htm

Meeting to resolve Enron impasse
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

PUNE: For power-starved Maharashtra, there could be some reprieve over the Dabhol power plant.

Last week, representatives of financial institutions (FIs) and the state electricity board officials, met officials of GE and Bechtel in New York in an effort to resolve the issues of the power plant. Officials said they were hopeful of some settlement.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/998461.cms

Hearings will probe Caltrans
By Mike Adamick
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Lawmakers plan to lash Caltrans and the agency that oversees it in a series of hearings next week, berating top officials for concealing cost overruns on the $5.9 billion Bay Bridge replacement.

For instance, Bechtel helps the Bay Area Toll Authority prepare budget documents and cost estimates for some road and bridge work.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/10708110.htm


Fuel depot may have tainted aquifer
Idaho state agency cautions that results are preliminary
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RATHDRUM, Idaho -- Petroleum contaminants have been found in water samples from the aquifer below a railroad refueling depot in northern Idaho, The Spokesman-Review reported yesterday.
Preliminary water samples showed detectable levels of petroleum hydrocarbons in the giant underground aquifer, which is the sole source of drinking water for more than 400,000 people in Eastern Washington and northern Idaho, the newspaper said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/206159_leak01.html

Iran's NIOC among top three oil companies
Saturday, January 01, 2005 - ©2004 IranMania.com

LONDON, Jan 1 (IranMania) - The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has moved up from fourth to third in the latest annual league table of the world's top 50 oil companies published by Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW), IRNA said.
According to the London-based newsletter, NIOC overtook Petroleos de Venezuela in its rankings based on six operational criteria covering 2003--oil and gas reserves, oil and gas output, refining capacity and product sales.

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=28257&NewsKind=Business%20%26%20Economy

Oil giants resume Libyan adventure
(Filed: 02/01/2005)
The former pariah wants Western help to exploit gigantic reserves, writes Sylvia Pfeifer
The world's biggest energy companies are preparing to fight it out for a stake in Libya's lucrative oil and gas industry. Less than a year after it was welcomed back into the international fold, Libya will later this month hold a multi-billion pound auction of drilling rights to some of the world's largest oil and gas reserves.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2005/01/02/cclibya02.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2005/01/02/ixcoms.html

Moscow backs oil pipeline to Pacific
MOSCOW: Russia said yesterday it had ordered the construction of an oil pipeline from its huge Siberian oilfields to the Pacific Ocean opposite Japan, in a move to boost export opportunities throughout East Asia and to the United States.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=100301&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27288

US gets tougher rules on torture
By Neil A. Lews
Washington

The Justice Department has broadened its definition of torture, significantly retreating from a memorandum in August 2002 that said President George Bush could ignore domestic and international prohibitions against it in the name of national security.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/US-gets-tougher-rules-on-torture/2005/01/01/1104345033971.html

SCC Bags Bechtel Order- KSA
Arab News - 01/01/2005

Saudi Cable Company (SCC) has announced the award of an order for supply of medium tension cables worth SR24 million ($6.4 million) to Bechtel Corporation to meet their worldwide requirements for projects outside Saudi Arabia.
Bechtel is one of the largest international companies in the fields of engineering and construction of various types as well as project management with a turnover of over $16 billion. It has been classified as the top contractor in the American market for the past six years. Bechtel's choice of SCC for this order comes from the confidence in SCC product quality that has a worldwide renown because of the company's strict quality control measures and conformity to international specifications as well as their long association with SCC in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Saudi Arabian markets.

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=75140

'Axis of evil' tops Bush's second-term agenda
WASHINGTON (AP) — The three countries President Bush called an "axis of evil" in his first term are at the top of his foreign policy to-do list in the second, along with a revitalized Mideast peace process and continued efforts to repair European alliances frayed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-01-bush-abroad_x.htm

Insurgency costs oil companies $8b
January 3, 2005 - 8:49AM

Iraqi insurgents are waging an all-out war on the country's vital oil industry, which has lost nearly $US8 billion ($A10.3 billion) in revenue since last year's US-led invasion, oil minister Thamer Ghadban said today.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Insurgency-costs-oil-companies-8b/2005/01/03/1104601268560.html

Worker dies on North Sea platform

The Brent Bravo oil platform, where Graham Burns died
A man has died on a North Sea oil platform off the coast of Shetland.
Electrician Graeme Burns, 47, died while carrying out maintenance work with a colleague on Brent Bravo on New Year's Day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4141689.stm

Russia selects Pacific route for oil pipeline
The Asahi Shimbun
MOSCOW--The Russian government announced Friday it has agreed to the construction of an oil pipeline along a route favored by Tokyo.
Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has signed on the route that would connect eastern Siberia to Russia's Pacific coast. That plan was chosen over a Chinese proposal to route the line to Daqing in northern China.

http://www.asahi.com/english/business/TKY200501030076.html

Iran’s oil minister in Islamabad on 5th
ISLAMABAD: Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh will arrive in Pakistan on Wednesday for talks with his Pakistani counterpart, diplomatic sources said on Sunday.

Pasted from <http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_3-1-2005_pg7_30>

US dollar trades close to all-time low against euro
CONCERN: The euro is 8.5 percent stronger against the dollar than it was a year ago, with the greenback poised to continue its downward movement
AFP , LONDON
Sunday, Jan 02, 2005,Page 10

The euro soared close to its all-time high against the dollar in London on Friday on the last day of a year in which it gained 8.5 percent on a steadily weakening greenback.
The euro in afternoon trading was at US$1.3635 against US$1.3634 in New York late on Thursday. The single European currency at one point shot up to US$1.3661, just shy of the record US$1.3666 set on Thursday. The dollar was meanwhile at ¥102.53 after ¥103.4 on Thursday.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2005/01/02/2003217715

Bush makes right move
By Jeff Sessions
President Bush was right to say he will renominate the 20 superb judicial candidates who were denied floor votes by an unprecedented use of the filibuster. Few would dispute that the obstruction of Bush nominees played to the political advantage of Bush and Republican Senate candidates and was an important factor in Republicans' picking up four seats. The leader of the Democratic obstructionism, Tom Daschle, lost his seat. And the one Democrat who won in a competitive race, Ken Salazar of Colorado, pledged not to filibuster nominees.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2005-01-02-judicial-nominees-oppose_x.htm

Libya reopens oil territory
Americans scramble for rights to explore
TRIPOLI, Libya — For the first time in a decade, a new oil territory is opening — reopening, that is.
American oil executives recently have been flocking to Libya, crowding the lobby of Tripoli's only luxury hotel and literally standing in line to meet local officials.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10545386.htm

Ten Years Later
"Then the second wave of al-Qaeda attacks hit America." A leading expert on counterterrorism imagines the future history of the war on terror. A frightening picture of a country still at war in 2011
by Richard A. Clarke
.....
This is a transcript of the Tenth Anniversary 9/11 Lecture
Sunday, September 11, 2011
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Professor Roger McBride
Dean, Honored Guests,
It is a great honor to be chosen to give this tenth-anniversary lecture. This year, more than at any other time since the beginning of the war on terror, I think we can see clearly how that war has changed our country. Now that the terror seems finally to have receded somewhat, perhaps we can begin to consider the steps necessary to return the United States to what it was before 9/11. To do so, however, we must be clear about what has happened over the past ten years. Thus tonight I will dwell on the history of the war on terror.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200501/clarke?ca=%2FLLR8k1sBp%2BHdGM9e2OabuNJcNeokXZ1xGN47jmY%2B%2Bk%3D

Jon Carroll

So many stories in the newspaper right now are looking back on the dreadful and yet terrible year 2004, with critical appraisals and timelines and the usual hoorah. I decided to step it up a notch and look back on the year 2005, so that we can all experience pre-need nostalgia.

… Noting an "action gap" between the proposing of laws and their enactment by Congress, Halliburton said that it would behave as though the president's proposals were in fact laws. Vice President Dick Cheney noted that "the cumbersome process of legislation should not be allowed to slow the president's visionary proposals."
The company's first official act was to invest all monies in the Social Security trust fund in Halliburton. "The American people's investment will grow as we grow," said a spokesman for the company. "And trust me, we are gonna grow."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/12/31/DDGAB9AEE21.DTL>

Bush 'Undermining UN with Aid Coalition'
By Jamie Lyons, PA Political Correspondent
United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3944374

Bush breaks silence on bin Laden
December 31, 2004

Militants foiled ... Saudi police seal off the scene of a car-bomb blast outside the Interior Ministry. No one was killed.
Photo: AFP
The US President, George Bush, has taken the unusual step of responding to one of Osama bin Laden's taunting tape recordings, declaring that bin Laden's recent call for Iraqis to boycott the elections next month "make the stakes of this pretty clear to me".

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Global-Terrorism/Bush-breaks-silence-on-bin-Laden/2004/12/30/1104344928194.html

Bechtel to cut 200 more jobs from S.F. headquarters
Division moves, frozen program blamed for losses
David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Bechtel Corp. will cut about 200 jobs in January from its San Francisco headquarters, which has been losing staff as the construction and engineering giant moves a few of its divisions elsewhere.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/28/BUGVOAHOIM1.DTL

CHENIERE ENERGY: Cheniere Energy Awards Construction Turnkey Contract to Bechtel Corporation
Publication Date: Dec 28,2004, 15:54
SUMMARY: Cheniere Energy, Inc. announced that its wholly owned limited partnership, Sabine Pass LNG, L.P. (Sabine), and Bechtel Corporation executed a Lump Sum Turnkey Agreement for the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of the Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal to be located in western Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

http://webbolt.ecnext.com/coms2/description_41522_CHENIEREENERGY281204_EQU

Bush gala has big donations pouring in
Businesses, individuals to provide $40 million for 2nd inauguration, set to military theme
By Mark Silva
Washington Bureau
Published December 28, 2004
WASHINGTON -- Soldiers will dance free of charge at President Bush's second inauguration, a record $40 million-plus celebration for "a nation at war" financed by some of the same big donors who bankrolled Bush's re-election campaign.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412280295dec28,1,2969753.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

BUSH'S DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN TO CREATE A SOCIAL SECURITY 'CRISIS'
By Randolph T. Holhut
www.OpEdNews.Com
DUMMERSTON, Vt. - I look at how the Bush administration is trying to manufacture a Social Security "crisis," and it looks much like what was done to manufacture the rationale for invading Iraq.

http://www.opednews.com/holhut_122804_social_security.htm

Halliburton and army agree over oil dispute
Matt Kelley

WASHINGTON — The Army apparently has sided with Halliburton in a dispute over the company’s charges for fuel delivered to Iraq.
The Army Corps of Engineers official overseeing the contract wrote to superiors last month that Halliburton followed correct procedures and got the best price for the gasoline supplied by a Kuwaiti company.

http://www.bakusun.az:8101/cgi-bin/ayten/bakusun/show.cgi?code=5163

Cheney to Become Human Billboard at Inaugural
To pay for Bush’s extravagant inauguration, the White House is selling advertising space on the vice president
WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Andy Borowitz
Newsweek
Updated: 12:46 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2005
Jan. 18 - To cover the escalating costs of this Thursday’s inauguration of President George W. Bush, major corporations are lining up to buy ad space on the side of Vice President Dick Cheney, the White House announced today.
advertisement

According to the administration, Cheney will become a “human billboard” to display the logos of several Fortune 500 companies underwriting the expensive event. Using state-of-the-art blue-screen technology, Cheney’s body will play host to ads for some of the Bush campaign’s largest corporate contributors, as well as promos for upcoming Fox TV shows.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6839322/site/newsweek/


Crossing the Rubicon
Simplifying the case against Dick Cheney
by
Michael Kane
January 18, 2005 (FTW) - In an argument of over 600 pages and 1,000 footnotes, Crossing the Rubicon makes the case for official complicity within the U.S. government and names Dick Cheney as the prime suspect in the crimes of 9/11. Since the publication of this book (to which I had the privilege of contributing a chapter), many people have asked to hear the case against Cheney argued "short & sweet."

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/011805_simplify_case.shtml

Halliburton - Poster Child For War Profiteering
By Evelyn Pringle
Of course, by now, everybody has at least heard of Halliburton, the all-time poster child for war profiteering. But I'll bet most people don't understand exactly how this company has gone the full financial circle in Iraq. Some background info may be helpful.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0501/S00198.htm

Halliburton unit may get UK job
Reports say aircraft carrier contract could be worth up to $7.5 billion.
January 23, 2005: 7:30 AM EST
LONDON (Reuters) - A unit of Houston-based oilfield service firm Halliburton is set to be awarded a key role in a major British defense project worth up to £4 billion ($7.5 billion), UK newspapers said Sunday.
The Business said Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) would confirm this week that Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), Halliburton (Research)'s engineering and construction subsidiary, had won a contract to manage the construction of two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/01/23/news/international/halliburton_uk.reut/

Two Bush inaugural speeches reflect two almost entirely different worlds
DPA , Washington
Monday, Jan 24, 2005,Page 9

Few direct comparisons can be made between US President George W. Bush's inaugural speech Thursday and his first in 2001, but there is one overwhelming similarity: They both reflected their times, very different times.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2005/01/24/2003220775

Iran slams Bush's 'psychological warfare'
January 23 2005 at 04:06PM
By Parisa Hafezi
Tehran - Iran, responding to comments by senior American officials, said on Sunday that any United States military attack on the country would be a strategic mistake and dismissed the US remarks as "psychological warfare".
American President George Bush last week said military action against Iran's nuclear programme had not been ruled out and Vice President Dick Cheney said Iran topped the list of world trouble spots and Israel could decide to bomb its nuclear facilities.
But Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi said: "We think the chance (of a US military attack) is very low unless someone wants to make a major strategic mistake."

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=123&art_id=qw1106483940935B265

Foreign lenders may sell Dabhol debt for $360 mn
Kavita Nair / Mumbai January 24, 2005
Lenders close to sign a deal after a meeting on Friday.

A major roadblock to a solution to the 2,184 MW, $2.9 billion Dabhol Power Company (DPC) problem has been cleared, with foreign lenders to the Enron-promoted project agreeing in principle to Indian lenders buying out their debt.

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?hpFlag=Y&chklogin=N&autono=178933&leftnm=lmnu3&lselect=0&leftindx=3

U.S. Democratic Party “Putting Brakes on President Bush’ Lead
U.S. President George W. Bush’s second term, launched on January 20 with a spectacular inauguration, is facing difficulties from the onset.
Senate confirmation is being held in check regarding key Cabinet member-designates including the secretary of state-designate, and the endorsement process is being delayed for some designated officials.

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2005012236458

Backseat Driver
The Dark Side Of the Globe
Jerry Flint, 01.10.05, 12:00 AM ET
Detroit is shipping too much of the engineering and design of cars abroad. I figure it has already lost the ability to build a small car from scratch.
The mantra of the modern economics writer is "globalism." I don't have a problem with globalism generally, but I worry about how the American automobile industry may, thanks to globalism, find itself unable to create and engineer a car in America. Detroit has turned to globalism to build vehicles better, faster, cheaper. But for some reason this means that nowadays Detroit ships the good jobs overseas, and I'm not convinced the vehicles come out better, faster and cheaper.

http://www.forbes.com/global/2005/0110/019_print.html

'Introvert' Jeb Bush keeps a low profile

By Associated PressPublished January 21, 2005

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush missed every event sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida leading to Thursday's inauguration.


Locals clamor for a change

Commissioners approve new ordinance to curb excessive noise.

BY ANDREW MACKIE
RECORD STAFF WRITER
Friday, January 21, 2005

HICKORY

The Catawba County Board of Commissioners hope a stiffer noise law will curb unnecessary clatter. A Springs Road couple has their doubts.

Bush/Cheney talk as if the Europeans are asking 'pretty please.' Iran is a strategically important nation for Dick's pet project "The Caspian Sea" and he isn't fooling anybody. If there is a mission launched into Iran it will be in the spirit of oil dominance not the security of Israel. The leadership of Israel is being kind in their estimation, they know what Bush/Cheney are all about. Who needs them? No one would expect Israel to 'stand by' as if anestisized by Europe's Promise of Nuclear Safety if there was a 'real threat' to that country.

Israel also does not need Europe to do it's bidding. Israel is fully capable of taking care of itself on all fronts. It's diplomatic distance from Iran does not indicate anything except mistrust between the two countries which should be dispelled with acceptance. Iran is capable of it, they need to get out of their own way realizing their greatest safety is openness and trade relations with other countries.

This is something new?

Hello? Where has everyone been? I have been saying this for years. This is not a big revelation. Did the Indian government the reality of the Permian or what?

The Permian extinction has always been the largest extinction of life on Earth. 95% of all marine life died because of the 'heat' of the oceans resulting in crenation of the microscopic 'primary producers.' The primary producers are those that are the cornerstone to all life. The microscopic plants and plankton that use photosynthesis to fuel their life. The primary producers are the bottom of the food chain and are 'supposed' to be the most abundant. They are what every other species feed on either directly or indirectly through it's food chain.

Scientists/archeologists/geologists for a long time believed all extinctions of which there are five complete were due to glacial periods. The Permian Extinction was believed to be to glaciation until further evidence of ice cores pointed to very high levels of greenhouse gases in the troposphere. The geologic investigators then realized The Permian Extinction was caused by Global Warming. It was the heating of the seas and oceans that collapsed the fisheries.

I am pleased to realize India and I are finally on the same page.


Biggest extinction wasn't caused by asteroid or comet:Report:

[India News]:

New Delhi, Jan 21 :

The biggest mass extinction in the history of earth some 250 million years ago was caused by global warming and not by the impact of asteroid or comet as earlier believed, new evidence has indicated.

In a paper published by Science Express, the online version of the journal Science, yesterday researchers headed by University of Washington scientist Peter Ward said they have found no evidence for an impact at the time of "the Great Dying" 250 million years ago.

Instead, their research indicates the culprit might have been atmospheric warming because of greenhouse gases triggered by erupting volcanoes.The extinction occurred at the boundary between the Permian and Triassic periods at a time when all land was concentrated in a supercontinent called Pangea.

The Great Dying is considered the biggest catastrophe in the history of life on Earth, with 90 per cent of all marine life and nearly three-quarters of land-based plant and animal life going extinct."The marine extinction and the land extinction appear to be simultaneous, based on the geochemical evidence we found," their paper said."Animals and plants both on land and in the sea were dying at the same time, and apparently from the same causes too much heat and too little oxygen."

PTI