Friday, May 27, 2005

May 25, 2005. Sunrise in Morocco. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. The skies of North Africa. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. Sunrise in North Africa. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. Thorny flower in North Africa. Posted by Hello
May 25, 2005. Bootlegger from Sequim, Washington. Posted by Hello
May 25, 2005. Chester, Nebraska. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. Windblown in Jersey City, New Jersey. Posted by Hello
Sorry but this is just today. May 27, 2005. Lake Park, Florida. Reported to be in the high 80s but the last two days has seen 90s and some very severe weather. This is a pretty good size water spout. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. Lower Manhattan with Battery Park in the foreground. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. Lower Manhattan Skyline. Posted by Hello
For those at the New York Times who stand by their values of guarding nature. This is an Elk at Jackson, Wyoming.  Posted by Hello
May 25, 2005. Full rivers in Billings, Montana. Noted the rain falling on the horizon. River levels have not topped out yet. Posted by Hello
May 21, 2005. The seashore of New Hampshire. Just a little rough. Nah. A lot rough. There are white caps on the horizon as far as the eye can see. Posted by Hello
May 22, 2005. Flood Stage at Forest Service Road 151, of the Rio Chama. North of Abiquiu, New Mexico. The road usually leads to Christ in the Desert Monestary. Posted by Hello
May 22, 2005. The flooding at The Rio Grande. It streched form Pojoaque to Los Alamos to The Black Mesa and San Idelfonso's Reservations. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. Dust storm in Dike, Iowa. Posted by Hello

Michael Moore Today

Congressman Joins Fight To Help Soldiers Contaminated With Radiation In Iraq
NY1
Some veterans of the war in Iraq fear their exposure to radiation has endangered their health, and the health of their children. It's a story NY1’s Dean Meminger has reported on before, and he filed an update Monday.
Eleven-month-old Victoria Claudette Matthew is a beautiful sight in pink. But if you look closely you'll see she has a serious problem. Victoria was born with only half of her right hand, which has two fingers fused together.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2791

Welcome to CADU
The Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (CADU) was launched in 1999 to focus specifically on trying to achieve a global ban on the manufacture, testing, and use of depleted uranium weapons.
We also have a strong interest in identifying the extent of its civilian use and achieving as much limitation of this as possible.

http://www.cadu.org.uk/

Glass Salesmen Take Home Uneasy Profits in Shattered Baghdad
By Jonathan Finer and Bassam Sebti /
Washington Post
BAGHDAD -- At midday, the stores and sidewalks of Sadoun Street, Baghdad's once-bustling commercial center, were nearly deserted.
A pharmacy's double doors were held closed by a rusty chain. The manager of a family restaurant had no patrons to feed. And a dealer in Swiss watches mused about moving to a city where wealthy customers would not be afraid to shop downtown.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2789

THEY HAVE COURTS IN IRAQ. That was an execution. Executions are illegal under international law. They had the man where they wanted him, why did they kill him?

Unarmed Iraqi Cooperated, Soldier Testifies
Squad Leader Apparently Shot Man in Retaliation for Attack That Killed Captain
Associated Press
FORT HOOD, Tex., May 25 -- An unarmed Iraqi cooperated with American troops searching his house and said "USA good" minutes before he was shot to death, a former U.S. soldier testified Wednesday at his onetime squad leader's murder trial.
Jason Pizer testified that the Iraqi was alive with Army Staff Sgt. Shane Werst when Pizer went to a translator to check the Iraqi's identification against a list of suspected insurgents.
Pizer said he radioed back to Werst to confirm the man was on the list. He said he then heard Werst say, "Expecting contact," and then the sound of gunfire. Pizer said he returned to the house and found Naser Ismail's body on the floor.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2787

Opium: blessing and burden

Intoxicants from the Golden Triangle Posted by Hello

Where our loyalties belong?

"Mr. Bush should also have come up with a more thoughtful answer to the urgent request Mr. Karzai made on Monday to transfer Afghan prisoners now under United States military custody to Kabul's control."

Absolutely.

President Karzai has been amazing. I remember a picture of him, The Former King who lives in Rome if he is still alive. Last I remember he was in his eighties. The picture I have is of those two and the current Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah sitting together under a tree 'beaming from ear to ear' as their return to sanity in Afghanistan. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah was a great resource for the USA in those beginning days and I cherish the picture of he carrying his young daughter in his arms dressed in proper Afghan attire.

There is no doubt in my mind this leadership has been among the greatest ever to walk this Earth. They have taken a country of Warlords and sewn the beginnings of 'justice' and 'equity' into it's continually unraveling seams.

THE DRUG ECONOMIES OF THE WORLD.

They exist because they are lucrative and require no knowledge except good old fashion farming know how. Oddly enough the farmers aren't the ones that get the biggest profits but are the ones under most pressure to produce. In Afghanistan it is Poppies. In Columbia it is Coca Leaves. I don't recall what it is in Indonesia, but, one can count on a huge cash crop of something illegal in that climate and plenty of it.

Wherever one finds these types of crops there is always control of the government by the cartel. If not direct control as in Osama bin Laden's Afghanistan then indirect control but the populous supported and the power wheeled as in Indonesia.

Gangs in the USA thrive on Drug Economies providing their source of government control in the way of mayhem creating territories of cities to dangerous to venture into even for law enforcement at times.

All these 'trouble spots' have the same thing in common in that it takes persistence over time to reclaim the 'territory' from the clutches crime and it's drug economy and instill a substitute that people value AND with a return to order a different appreciation for living.

It's not easy.

Drug Economies also serve of masking subversive moments such as the Uzbeks practice seeking drug monies from it's Afghanistan Warlords and carrying out attacks of 'soft targets' in places like Beslan. It is my belief at times when a legitimate government such as the USA wants to undermine what it's administration deems 'undesirable' there is AN ALLOWANCE OF TOLERANCE to these 'drug economies' as it degrades the esteem of the current government of that country. I firmly believe the USA's lack of action regarding the drug issues of Afghanistan has served that purpose with Russia's Beslan. But, Putin would set that aside to conduct business as usual to some extent being a peace maker and also hugging trees for Kyoto. If nothing else he knows where to point fingers himself.

There is an interesting case that has been conducted in Indonesia, the Corby Case.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Both-sides-to-appealbr-20year-jail-sentence/2005/05/27/1117129870467.html

According to Ms. Corby what happened to her could have happened to anyone. Her insistence of her innocence is that her luggage was sabotaged and filled with drugs while she was traveling to Indonesia from Australia. It reminds of that greeting that chronically plays in USA airports these days, "Please keep all carry-ons close by..." It's possible. At any rate all during this trial there has been a great deal of scrutiny of the proceedings and there was a definitive favoritism of the prosecution and victimization of the defense. There is no doubt this women was going to prison right from the start and in Indonesia one can get the death penalty for this crime.

Why then would the courts be corrupt? It's drug, baby. It's an underground economy that serve the terrorists there and in unwritten law if the 'streets' of Jakarta are to remain orderly there better not be an investigation further than the prosecution of Ms. Corby.

WITH THAT sad reality we come full circle back to Afghanistan and the patient, devout and dedicated President Karzai whom in my opinion needs an unequivocal and resounding "YES" to all his requests while asking him if he is sure that is enough?


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The New York Times Editorial

The Poppies of Afghanistan

It requires breathtaking audacity for United States officials to complain that efforts to curb opium poppy production in Afghanistan have been lagging because President Hamid Karzai "has been unwilling to assert strong leadership." Washington waited almost two and a half years to heed Mr. Karzai's calls for help on this problem.

Even now, the Bush administration is disproportionately concentrating on the most visible, but least effective approach, forcible crop eradication, which merely moves the problem around and enriches traffickers by raising the price of their opium holdings. It is also creating turmoil in rural areas during the run-up to this year's crucial parliamentary elections.

Mr. Karzai was right to use his just-completed four-day visit to the United States to press for coordinating eradication with the crop substitution, agricultural credit and alternative development programs that would provide Afghanistan's rural population with better ways to feed their families. The money that Washington has promised for those broader efforts has been lagging behind, and the planning that will be required to spend that money wisely has barely begun.

Blaming Mr. Karzai may look smart in Washington, where forcible eradication has always been more popular than long-term alternative development. But it is costly folly in Afghanistan, where the politically nimble Mr. Karzai has slowly begun to turn around an almost impossible situation, gradually extending the writ of the central government and nurturing a fragile electoral process. Instead of using Mr. Karzai as a scapegoat for its own failed anti-drug policies, Washington should now be doing all it can to help him create favorable conditions for those parliamentary elections, which have had to be repeatedly postponed.

Mr. Bush should also have come up with a more thoughtful answer to the urgent request Mr. Karzai made on Monday to transfer Afghan prisoners now under United States military custody to Kabul's control.

Mr. Karzai's anguish over this issue is understandable. Two Times articles in recent days have documented the inexcusable breakdowns at the Bagram detention center that let American soldiers almost casually torture an innocent Afghan prisoner to death in 2002 and then saw Army investigators in Afghanistan try to close the case without any charges being brought. Seven of those suspected of involvement in the abuse have finally been charged after a nearly two-year delay that even the Pentagon acknowledges seems "excessively long."

As Afghanistan's democratically elected president and a proven American ally, Mr. Karzai would have been remiss not to call for turning over the remaining Afghan prisoners. Washington should work with his government to build and staff secure Afghan-run detention centers so that those transfers can take place at an early date.

Regrettably, Mr. Karzai came away from the White House on Monday without any visible progress on either of these issues.
Schapelle Corby reacts as judges deliver the verdict.
 Posted by Hello

How easy is the trap to fall into? According to Ms. Corby, all too easy.

GUILTY: CORBY JAILED FOR 20 YEARS

By Lindsay Murdoch and AAP
May 27, 2005 - 8:44PM

Schapelle Corby dried her tears behind the walls of Bali's Kerobokan jail tonight, vowing to fight her drug smuggling conviction and 20-year prison sentence.

In chaotic scenes at Denpasar District Court earlier, her shocked lawyers and family denounced the verdict handed down by three Indonesian judges as a miscarriage of justice. They announced an appeal would be filed as early as Monday.

But Indonesian prosecutors, who had demanded life in prison for the 27-year-old Gold Coast woman, complained she had got off too lightly.

They declared they would also go to a higher court and appeal for a tougher sentence for the crime of trying to smuggle marijuana into Bali.

"For us, a just penalty should be life for anyone who imports 4.1kg of marijuana," said chief prosecutor Ida Bagus Wiswantanu.

Some of the Most Dangerous Areas of the World now has an Oil Pipeline? Posted by Hello

. . . and Bush said it was all about Democracy. No arrests? Hm?

Georgia: Grenade Tossed at President Bush was 'Live' Says FBI

(Update) An agent for the FBI stated on Wednesday that a grenade thrown towards President George W. Bush while he was delivering a speech at Georgia's Freedom Square on May 10 was live and had only failed to explode due to a malfunction.

According to the AP "A White House spokesman said Secret Service agents in Georgia were examining whether security changes were needed, noting that some people were seen getting around the metal detectors at Bush's May 10 speech"

"We consider this act to be a threat against the health and welfare of both the president of the United States and the president of Georgia as well as the multitude of Georgian people that had turned out at this event," FBI agent Bryan Paarmann told reporters.

Georgian Officials announced a reward of more than $11,000 for information leading to an arrest. They appealed directly to any Georgians who might have seen the incident or taken photographs or video of it to come forward.

The announcement came after an initial report downplaying the incident and suggested an embarrassing, potentially scandalous and irresponsible lapse of security by Georgian officials and the Secret Service. Although spectators were funneled through various metal detectors, the enormous numbers overwhelmed the security measures, and thousands flowed into the square with no more than simple visual checks.

Bush spoke to tens of thousands of people in Freedom Square on May 10, the main plaza in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. The crowd was overwhelmingly receptive. The President offered strong support of Georgia’s efforts at democratic development following the Rose Revolution of 2003.

Experts from both countries have examined carefully the hand grenade, and will submit a detailed report soon, Paarmann went on to say. He expressed satisfaction at the cooperation of the two investigative bureaus.

Evidently the president was not aware of the grenade report during his visit until Secret Service agents on the plane told him about it as he returned to Andrews Air Force Base.

No arrests have been made in the case, and police have made a public appeal for videotapes that may contain footage of the incident. The Interior Ministry is reportedly offering a reward of £6,000 for information in the case.

Weapons are widespread among the Georgian population, largely due to the unrest that has plagued the ex-Soviet republic over the past decade.

The hand grenade, reportedly wrapped in a dark, colored handkerchief, was thrown at the podium where President Bush stood and landed several feet from him.
"Look for someone in a Tom DeLay T-Shirt!!" Posted by Hello
"Look for someone in a Tom DeLay T-shirt!" Posted by Hello

The DeLay Times

Judge rules DeLay ally broke law
The Washington Post
Published May 27, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas -- A state judge ruled Thursday that the treasurer of a political fundraising committee organized by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) violated the state's election law by failing to report $684,507 in contributions from corporations and other donors in 2002.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0505270270may27,1,16053.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

Treasurer for DeLay group broke the law
By Scott Gold
LOS ANGELES TIMES
AUSTIN, Texas - A fund-raising operation founded by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay broke the law when its treasurer failed to report more than $500,000 in corporate money funneled into Texas campaigns during the pivotal 2002 elections, a judge ruled Thursday.
Texas District Judge Joseph Hart ruled that the treasurer, Bill Ceverha, must pay five Democratic candidates who lost their elections a combined $196,660 in damages.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/11752353.htm

Texas judge rules against treasurer of PAC founded by Tom DeLay
Friday, May 27, 2005
By Kelley Shannon
The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — The treasurer of a political action committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay broke the law by not reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, a judge ruled Thursday in a lawsuit brought by Democratic candidates.
State District Judge Joe Hart said the money, much of it corporate contributions, should have been reported to the Texas Ethics Commission.

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsnews/279nd3.htm
May 1, 2005. Greenfield Road? That's a road? No, it's not. Deer Isle, Maine. Posted by Hello
May 1, 2005. Deer Isle, Maine. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. Burnt Cove, Deer Island, Maine. These people have had enough. This is like Chinese Water Torchure already. They are weiry of facing danger on their roads, over and over. Posted by Hello
May 26, 2005. Sylvester Cove, Deer Island, Maine. Flooding and still reining. Posted by Hello