Tornadoes rake state

Current satellite picture above. This is a very fast moving and dangerous front. The satellite image below was 12 hours ago after the tornadoes struck. It seems to me the front has built intensity.

A day after a tornado struck, this aerial photo shows the remains of the Bear Paw Outdoor Adventure Resort three miles south of White Lake in eastern Langlade County. More than a half-dozen buildings were destroyed in the area.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Tornadoes rake state
Maelstrom roars from La Crosse area to northeast; few are hurt
Journal Sentinel staff
Posted: June 8, 2007
Thunderstorms, tornadoes, 65 mph winds and baseball-sized hail roared through west-central to northeast Wisconsin on Thursday, leaving widespread damage, uprooting trees and knocking out power to thousands.
The National Weather Service and Wisconsin Emergency Management reported tornadoes in La Crosse, Oconto, Langlade, Marathon, Wood, Menominee and Marinette counties.
Despite the extended path of the twisters, authorities reported fewer than a half-dozen minor injuries by late Thursday.
The weather service extended the tornado watch for southeastern Wisconsin until 5 this morning.
A tornado ripped through Bear Paw Outdoor Adventure Resort, three miles south of White Lake in eastern Langlade County, where more than a half-dozen buildings were destroyed and high winds were reported to have driven a pine tree through a kayak.
Alex Emerich, Town of Wolf River fire chief, said the twister started just south of White Lake, where it damaged several homes and buildings and inflicted major forest damage before jumping across the Wolf River.
A forest area along state Highway 55 known for its large white pine trees "is wide open now," Emerich said.
"It's gone."
The tornado struck a largely rural area that serves mostly as a recreation destination.
About a half-dozen families in the area were left homeless after their houses were heavily damaged, said Chief Deputy Brad Henricks of the Langlade County Sheriff's Department.
They were being assisted late Thursday by the American Red Cross, he said.
"The devastation was awesome," Henricks said.
After the twister swept through, residents with chainsaws and backhoes started clearing dozens of downed trees along state Highway 55, he said.
"We had a tremendous outpouring of volunteers to help clear the way and help search the houses that were off the main road," he said.
Four people suffered minor injuries during the storm, Henricks said.
Cindy Buettner, who with her husband, Andy Buettner, owns Buettner's Wild Wolf Inn, was trying to reach her in-laws, who own the Bear Paw resort, but roads were blocked by trees and the resort's phone line was down.
She described the storm as quick and intense.
"It was solid black and heavy rains," Buettner said.
Tornado damage closed state Highway 55 from Langlade to the Menominee County line while crews cleared the roadway, said Eugene Rogatzki, Langlade County highway commissioner.
Northeast of Wind Lake in the Town of Townsend in Oconto County, a tornado cut a 3-mile-wide swath of damage, flattening at least a half-dozen houses and heavily damaging nearly 30 more homes, said Capt. Flip Hartman of the Townsend Fire Department.
Also damaged were the Town Hall and the Townsend Fire Department, where high winds overturned a firetruck, Hartman said.
"It's pretty bad," said Hartman, adding that the department has been slowed with one truck out of commission and a firehouse without a roof.
One person was injured, but the extent of the injuries was not known late Thursday, Hartman said.
Another tornado destroyed a house in Pike Lake in Marathon County and another home was heavily damaged, the weather service reported.
A total of seven homes in Marathon County sustained severe to moderate damage from the storms, the Sheriff's Department reported.
Four-and-a-quarter-inch hail pounded Wood County, where the Sheriff's Department reported two tornado touchdowns, one in Wisconsin Rapids.
"We have three of our squad cars that lost their windshields" after baseball-sized hail hit the area, said Kelly Zenzs, manager of the Wood County sheriff's dispatch center.
Peter Jennings, manager at the Baker Street Grill in Wisconsin Rapids, said the storm blew through quickly but left a trail of dents.
"I got hardball-sized hail . . . I'm talking baseballs," Jennings said. "I got three or four cars damaged out in the parking lot."
The Rapids shopping mall closed after hail shattered the skylights in a portion of the building, officials said.
Wind gusts of more than 60 mph knocked trees into power lines, leaving about 12,000 Wisconsin Public Service Corp. customers without electricity Thursday night, utility spokesman Paul Bredael said.
The power failures were mostly in Forest and Marinette counties, Bredael said.
The first line of thunderstorms drove into the state in the La Crosse area about 3 p.m. Hailstones the size of golf balls pelted the area along with 60 mph winds.
The storm and the damage intensified as the front moved east.
Early in the week, forecasters had described the conditions as ripe for a derecho, a continuous line of intense thunderstorms that sustain straight-line winds over hundreds of miles. In a more typical storm, isolated cells spin off and deliver high winds and hail in localized areas.
Local officials throughout the state had been bracing for the storms, including in Stevens Point, where classes at the School District's nine elementary schools, two junior highs and one high school were canceled.
In Milwaukee, city officials were prepared to activate the Emergency Operations Center and forestry crews were on standby through this morning. By late Thursday, southeast Wisconsin had been largely spared from the severe weather, though high winds flipped a small plane at Timmerman Airport.
A fast-moving cold front triggered the storms as it mixed with unstable, moist air, according to Bob McMahon, a forecaster with the weather service.
Forecasters expected partly cloudy skies for most of the state today, with high temperatures in mid-60s in the north to low 70s in the southeast.
Jesse Garza wrote this report, with contributions from Tom Held and Bob Purvis in Milwaukee and Lori Nickel in Langlade County, all of the Journal Sentinel staff.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616865


Expansion of stewardship program advances
Madison - The Legislature's budget committee today let stand an expansion of a popular state land purchase program that will cost taxpayers an estimated $1.6 billion over 10 years.
Gov. Jim Doyle has called for an expansion of the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund program because values for forest and recreation land are rising fast and because timber companies are putting large tracts of land on the market. The program, in place since 1990, is set to expire in 2010 unless reauthorized.
Republicans on the committee said lawmakers should wait before reauthorizing the program because of questions about the ability to pay for it.
Their move to hold off on reauthorization was defeated 9-7, with Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) joining Democrats.
"Let's take a time out here, take a look back and see where we're at," said Rep. Dan Meyer (R-Eagle River).
He said the state has to balance buying land with other duties, such as fighting invasive species, the emerald ash borer and a new fish virus that has cropped up. He also said the state can't properly manage the 1.4 million acres it already owns.

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=6/8/2007&id=24758


McGee backing of consultant in development deal examined
By LARRY SANDLER
lsandler@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 7, 2007
A politically connected consultant sought a $15,000 contract from a Milwaukee developer at the same time Ald. Michael McGee was holding up the developer's $3 million Brewers Hill redevelopment project, according to documents released Thursday by Mayor Tom Barrett's office.
McGee recommended the developer hire the consultant, Marvin Walker, who also was linked to a previous corruption case against former Ald. Paul Henningsen, according to a 2005 letter from the developer to McGee.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616785


Screaming Paris Hilton sent back to jail
By LINDA DEUTSCH
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Paris Hilton was sent screaming and crying back to jail Friday after a judge ruled that she must serve out her sentence behind bars rather than in the comfort of her Hollywood Hills home.
"It's not right!" shouted Hilton, who violated her probation in a reckless driving case. "Mom!" she cried out to her mother.
Hours earlier, the 26-year-old hotel heiress was taken handcuffed from her home in a black-and-white police car, paparazzi sprinting in pursuit and helicopters broadcasting live from above. She entered the courtroom disheveled and weeping, hair askew, without makeup, wearing a fuzzy gray sweat shirt over slacks.
She cried throughout the hearing, dabbing her eyes, and her body shook constantly. Several times she turned to her parents, seated behind her in the courtroom, and mouthed, "I love you."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PARIS_HILTON?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


UPDATE: More sick from mystery backpack
A second juvenile and four staff members of Children's Hospital of Wisconsin are being treated at the hospital for exposure to a possible hazardous substance that sent a mother and son to Children's earlier today, police and hospital sources have confirmed.
Menomonee Falls police are reporting that a juvenile went to the principal's office at Menomonee Falls High School about 2:45 p.m. complaining of extreme illness.
Investigators learned that he was a friend of a Wauwatosa juvenile who at 12:20 p.m. went to Children's Hospital with his mother reporting they had become sick from a mysterious substance, which they brought with them to the emergency room. A police spokesman said the two friends had visited earlier in the day.
Upon learning that the Menomonee Falls juvenile was possibly contaminated, the Menomonee Falls Fire Department isolated the juvenile using a controlled atmosphere, police said.

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=6/8/2007&id=24779


Editorial: A shameful past
This bill is about fully understanding how this country treated some European-Americans and Jewish refugees during World War II.
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: June 7, 2007
The nation just commemorated the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day invasion that helped bring World War II in the European theater to a close. That war, of course, was one fought to overcome unparalleled injustice.
There is at least one more task remaining from that fight. The nation must come to grips with the internment of hundreds of thousands of German-Americans and others of European descent here during the war. While the nation has acknowledged the injustice done to Japanese-Americans, it has yet to do so for others who suffered similarly.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616643


Editorial: Our great outdoors
The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee today should make sure the state sets aside enough recreational land for future generations — and future tourists — to enjoy and use.
From the Journal Sentinel
Posted: June 7, 2007
The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee is expected to take up today Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal to provide more funding for a state land purchase program that has helped protect more than 477,000 acres in the past 17 years.
Although there might be some room for compromise in the governor's numbers, the bottom line should be sufficient funding to protect more acres as land prices continue to rise across the state.
Doyle has proposed increasing the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Fund by 75% - from $60 million a year to $105 million a year - starting in 2011. Critics who say that's too much need to keep in mind that northern forest land values have risen an average of 10% a year over the past decade.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616647


MMSD reports sewage overflow into river
Heavy rain on Milwaukee's east side late Thursday caused a combined sewer to overflow and discharge an estimated 5,858 gallons of sewage and storm water into the Milwaukee River south of North Ave., Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District officials said today.
The overflow began at 11:55 p.m. Thursday and ended at 12:10 a.m. today, said Tom Petri, the sewerage district's system monitoring supervisor. It was the second overflow at the same location, on the river's west bank near Humboldt Blvd., in eight days.
A nearby rain gauge measured a downpour with a peak intensity equivalent to 2.6 inches an hour prior to the overflow, Petri said.
The deep tunnel storage system did not reach capacity during the storm. This isolated overflow was caused when the combined sewer pipe filled to a previously set level, causing it to discharge briefly to the river.

http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=6/8/2007&id=24775


FAA computer glitch causes flight delays
By ALAN ZIBEL
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A cascading computer failure in the nation's air-traffic control system caused severe flight delays and some cancellations along the East Coast Friday.
A computer system in Atlanta that processes pilots' flights plans and sends them to air-traffic controllers failed late Thursday or early Friday, Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said. In response, the agency rerouted the system's functions to another computer in Salt Lake City, which overloaded due to the increased volume of data, magnifying the problem.
The FAA could not immediately calculate the number of flight delays caused by the problem, which was made worse by bad weather, Spitaliere said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FLIGHT_DELAYS?SITE=WIMIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Housing slump eases, but numbers still down
Permits up from April, but well below last year
By MICHELE DERUS
mderus@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 8, 2007
It's a bold move, commissioning home construction in the middle of a slump, but some area residents can't resist a bargain.
Raising the Roof
Discounts paved the way for Thursday's good news from MTD Marketing Services that 180 home-building permits were issued in May, the best monthly performance this year, said Elm Grove builder Bill Baesemann.
"Pretty much, you'll get 2006 prices right now and maybe even some 2005 ones," said Baesemann, founder and president of Kings Way Homes Inc.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616709


Ethanol frenzy could fizzle
High gas prices, U.S. mandates are fueling a building boom
By RICK BARRETT
rbarrett@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 6, 2007
The rush to build ethanol plants could produce an investment bubble that bursts and undermines the biofuel's prospects in Wisconsin.
Ethanol
20% - Percentage of the state's corn crop going to ethanol this year.
7 - Number of ethanol plants in Wisconsin, up from zero six years ago.
Several national reports in recent weeks have questioned whether the supply of ethanol - a corn-based renewable fuel that's blended with gasoline - will outpace the demand.
Most industry analysts remain optimistic about ethanol, especially if the government mandates more of its use amid rising petroleum prices. But there's growing concern that too many ethanol plants are being built as investors rush to capitalize on the trend.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616423


Cicadas emerge to scratch a 17-year itch
Posted: June 7, 2007
Phil Pellitteri says they can sound like "lots and lots of tree frogs," capable of long periods of "constant shrills" as they emerge after 17 years of slumber and spend the next month or more concerned mostly with perpetuating their species.
They are the Brood XIII cicadas that began leaving their underground burrows in late May and now are picking up their pace into a full-blown hatch across parts of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
They are different from the dog-day cicadas that fill the air in the late summer every year to mate and lay eggs before dying.
These particular cicadas work on a 17-year cycle, and the long dormancy probably developed as an evolutionary strategy of survival to avoid predation, said Pellitteri, an entomologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616741


Mending broken hearts, again
Survivors of congenital defects face surgery as adults
By JOHN FAUBER
jfauber@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 7, 2007
Hot sparks streamed out of Lee Collar's chest as the surgeon sawed his way through old wires wedged in his sternum in what is an increasingly common medical phenomenon.
Mending Hearts Again
Surgeon James Tweddell (left) opens Lee Collar's chest at Froedtert Hospital. Before tending to the heart, Tweddell had to remove wires that were used to close Collar's chest after surgery 45 years ago.
Lee Collar, 66, prepares for open heart surgery last month at Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa. Collar is one of a generation of patients who were operated on for congenital heart defects as children or young adults, only to see heart problems resurface decades later. His earlier operation was in 1962.
The doctor in this case was a pediatric heart surgeon, but Collar, 66, was no child. The wires in his chest were from a surgery 45 years earlier when Collar was 21 and open heart surgery still was in its infancy.
Today Collar is in the first wave of a growing number of adults living with congenital heart defects.
Before the late 1950s, many babies born with these defects simply died because the heart-lung machines needed for such operations weren't available and surgical techniques were not perfected. Even the cordless power saw used during Collar's

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=616784



Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

"SiCKO" the Trailer

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/trailer/

Mike takes 'SiCKO' for a test drive in Petoskey, Michigan

Moore outrage: He taps the anger over 'Sicko' health care system
Susan Whitall / Detroit News
PETOSKEY -- The man dressed in artfully disheveled black looks out of place in the parking lot of the Petoskey Cinema, a sleepy cineplex in this northern Michigan resort town of 6,000. The Michael Moore staffer has flown in on the red-eye flight from Los Angeles via New York with a print of Moore's new documentary film "Sicko" that he and his director boss must scan for errors.
They call it an answer print, the first print struck from a negative, and Moore is amused that his studio can't understand why he insists on having the print flown in to a popcorn-scented theater in Petoskey and not a professional screening room in New York or Los Angeles.
"This is the kind of place where people will see my film," says Moore, who's just stepped out of his everyman Chrysler minivan wearing a Michigan State ball cap and black Ray-Bans. "I want to see it the way they will."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=9871


Sicko Premiere
Wonderful News!!
Michael Moore’s new movie
“Sicko”
will be premiered in
Bellaire, Michigan
June 16th , 2007
at the Bellaire Theater
There will be 2 showings
1:00pm and 4:30pm
Pre-paid tickets may be ordered using a credit card below, or
by printing off the order form and sending it, along with a check to:
ACDP-Sicko Tickets
P.O. Box 355
Central Lake, Mi. 49622
The Premiere Party and Brunch are both SOLD OUT.
All proceeds go to the
Antrim County Democratic Party
$40/person for the film
Ticket cost is not tax deductible.
We are now accepting secure Credit Card payments for 1 or 2 tickets - please click on the button for a Single or Double (2 Tickets).

http://www.antrimdems.org/sicko/


'SiCKO' Puts Its Best Foot Forward
"Important documentaries like Michael Moore's film lead people to want to get involved."
-- California State Senator Sheila Kuehl
"A Significant Victory"
...and it hasn't even opened yet

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/


Michael Moore Health Care Proposal

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/health-care-proposal/


'SiCKO' News
June 8th, 2007 12:34 pm
SB 840 Passes Senate Floor, Heads to Assembly Health
Senator Sheila Kuehl
Senator Sheila Kuehl invites Filmmaker Michael Moore and patient witnesses to Legislative briefing next Tuesday discussing the soon to be released documentary "SiCKO"
Large Rally to follow featuring Moore, Kuehl and
the California Nurses Association
National premiere for “SiCKO” follows later that evening
at the CREST Theater
SACRAMENTO -- The California Universal Health Care Act, SB 840, which establishes a single payer universal health care system in California, passed the Senate Floor by a vote of 22-14 (final vote of 24-16 expected) and now heads to the California State Assembly.
SB 840 covers every California resident with comprehensive health benefits, contains the growth in health care spending, and provides patients with total choice over their doctors and hospitals.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=9870

Synopsis
'SiCKO' opening June 29, 2007
The words "health care" and "comedy" aren't usually found in the same sentence, but in Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore's new movie 'SiCKO,' they go together hand in (rubber) glove.
Opening with profiles of several ordinary Americans whose lives have been disrupted, shattered, and—in some cases—ended by health care catastrophe, the film makes clear that the crisis doesn't only affect the 47 million uninsured citizens—millions of others who dutifully pay their premiums often get strangled by bureaucratic red tape as well.
After detailing just how the system got into such a mess (the short answer: profits and Nixon), we are whisked around the world, visiting countries including Canada, Great Britain and France, where all citizens receive free medical benefits. Finally, Moore gathers a group of 9/11 heroes – rescue workers now suffering from debilitating illnesses who have been denied medical attention in the US. He takes them to a most expected place, and in addition to finally receiving care, they also engage in some unexpected diplomacy.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/about/synopsis/


What can I do?

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/


"It's very much in the Michael Moore vein -- hilarious, but I was crying through about a third of it."
-Peter Brunette, Boston Globe

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/pressroom/


California Nurses Association
http://www.calnurse.org/

Guaranteed Healthcare
http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/

Health Care for All
http://www.healthcareforall.org/

HealthCare-NOW!
http://www.healthcare-now.org/

OneCareNow
http://www.onecarenow.org/

Physicians for a National Health Program
http://www.pnhp.org/

National Health Care for the Homeless Council
http://www.nhchc.org

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/links-resources/


Canadian premiere tonight in London, Ontario

http://www.michaelmoore.com/


Let's call Sicko showing here today a 'premiere'
Fri, June 8, 2007
By JAMES REANEY, FREE PRESS ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
Enjoy some healthy exposure to MM, use the premiere word -- and lose the A-list.
That's the best unauthorized and unofficial advice I can give regarding the premiere of Sicko, the latest documentary from Michael Moore ("MM" to some) tonight at SilverCity at 7 p.m.
The red carpet is set to start rolling in the guests at about 6:30 p.m. at SilverCity, so get to Masonville Place early for the best glimpse of Moore and other people connected with the Sicko premiere.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Today/Entertainment/2007/06/08/4243789-sun.html


Michael Moore Talks 'SiCKO' on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9868


Michael Moore: The Buzz About “Sicko” Plus Oprah’s Summer Book
Total Messages: 810
New Messages This Week: 810
He's taking on a trillion-dollar industry that affects all of us—Michael Moore talks about his new film, Sicko. Then, in his first TV interview literary legend Cormac McCarthy opens up. Plus, see what Bono's up to this summer!

http://boards.oprah.com/WebX/.f15fce6!DYNID=


Girding for Battle:

"SiCKO" – Bringing to Life the RN's Everyday Experience
Michael Moore’s latest film, “Sicko” brings to cinematic life and details in unsparing and vivid imagery the everyday experience of all nurses as they care and advocate for their patients in the confines of a health care industry that long ago abandoned its caring mission in favor of the pursuit of profit at any cost.

http://www.calnurse.org/sicko/


Gunning for those Darn Nurses--Guaranteed Healthcare Update
Posted by Shum Preston on June 7, 2007 - 5:41pm
The day after America's nursing movement announced its plans to use the tragedy and horror of SiCKO to spur people to action, the attacks are already beginning. Fortunately, for you, me, and most people the attacks are best described as unintentionally hilarious.

What moviemaker doesn't want crazy anti-patient Web sites pumping our press releases about their product?

http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/blog


Citizen Healthcare Hearing in Marin for a Non-Profit Health Insurance System
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006 by Ann Ricchiazzi, HCA-Santa Barbara
“More than 200 people turned out on a cold, rainy Saturday to listen to local health-care professionals, government officials, union representatives and others make the case for change.” See Health-care Overhaul Urged at Rally. The meeting was sponsored by the Marin Chapter of Health Care for All, a statewide organization working toward a single, […]
Read more... Post a comment

http://www.healthcareforall.org/blog/?m=200602


Labor Should Fight for Single-Payer
Retirement, Health Care
by Al Hart
Labor Notes Viewpoint
Working people in the United States are being hammered by twin crisis affecting what were once called "fringe benefits": health care and retirement benefits. In recent years, nearly all unions face employer attacks on one or both of these vital lifelines when they go to the bargaining table.
The ranks of the uninsured are mushrooming; rising deductibles and co-pays mean that many of the "insured" can't afford to get sick; and the rapid disappearance of pensions leave the majority of baby boomers facing the prospect of retiring into poverty--or working until they die. MORE

http://www.healthcare-now.org/


Universal Health Insurance Campaign: California's 365 Cities Demand Reform
Quality, Affordable Healthcare is your Right!
The California OneCareNow Campaign is the nation's first-ever statewide grassroots campaign for universal health insurance. Teams in more than 365 California cities are conducting grassroots educational and public awareness "action" events--one event per day, in a different city, for one year--to demand quality, affordable healthcare for all Californians.
Quality, Affordable Healthcare Is Your Right!
Join Us Today!

http://www.onecarenow.org/index.html


Our Mission: Single-Payer National Health Insurance
The U.S. spends twice as much as other industrialized nations on health care, $7,129 per capita. Yet our system performs poorly in comparison and still leaves 46 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered.

http://www.pnhp.org/



Michael Moore to Testify at Landmark Sacramento Legislative Briefing on 'SiCKO' June 12
SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Filmmaker Michael Moore will testify at a landmark Sacramento legislative briefing on his stunning new documentary "SiCKO" Tuesday, June 12, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announced today.
The briefing is sponsored by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, chair of the Senate Health Committee, and author of a sweeping healthcare reform bill, SB 840. The briefing for legislative co-authors of SB 840 will be followed by a big rally with Moore and Physicians for a National Health Program on the West Steps of the Capitol and then a special premiere of "SiCKO" for RNs, doctors and invited guests.

http://sacramentofordemocracy.org/?q=node/view/6019


Informational Briefing
“SiCKO” What Has happened to health care?
June 12th, 2007
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
State Capitol, Room 4203
Rally with Senator Kuehl, Michael Moore, and the Nurses!
June 12, 2007 - 2:00 p.m.
State Capitol - West Steps
The health care industry has a death grip on our society because the insurance companies put profits before patients, which is why we as a country spend considerably more on health care than other developed countries and get back far less.
In recognizing that for-profit insurance is incompatible with a caring, a moral and a high-quality health care system that provides coverage for all, Sen. Kuehl is leading the fight to break the industry's death grip.
--Michael Moore

http://www.dist23.casen.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={E8682787-AE26-46B2-8252-E528F9D0145E}


Must Read
'SiCKO'
June 6th, 2007

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=881


Tuesday, June 12, 2:00 PM:

'SiCKO' goes to Sacto: Join Michael Moore and local nurses in Sacramento on June 12
by Dan Bacher
Thursday May 31st, 2007 9:51 PM
This message was sent by Bill Lackemacher, group organizer for Sacramento For Democracy:
Please join Michael Moore and local nurses as he testifies at the Capitol in Sacramento on June 12th. He will be speaking in support of Sheila Kuehl's SB 840 (single-payer healthcare). As you know, Sacramento for Democracy has been a big supporter of Sheila Kuehl's efforts over the past couple of years to get single-payer healthcare for all Californians.
We hope you will be able to come out and support him in this important event.
If you are not familiar with SB 840 - California Universal Health Care Act, you can learn more about it here:
http://tinyurl.com/2glxp8


Michael Moore to Testify at Landmark Sacramento Legislative Briefing on 'SiCKO' June 12
http://sacramentofordemocracy.org/?q=node/view/6015

http://bayarea.indymedia.org/newsitems/2007/05/31/18423362.php


California State Capitol
Sacramento, CA

http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=California+State+Capitol&saddr=&f=li&hl=en&sll=38.582526,-121.508789&sspn=20.09199,47.900391&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=38.576789,-121.494434&spn=0.00983,0.023389&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr



Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007
A Letter from Michael Moore: 'Sicko' is Socko in Cannes!
Friends,
Well, as you may have read by now, our premiere of "Sicko" at the Cannes Film Festival has been an overwhelming success. The 2,000 people inside the Lumière Theater were alternately in tears and laughing during the two-hour film -- and when it was over, they gave it a standing ovation that seemed to go on for nearly 15 minutes! Many came up to me and said (and critics seem to agree) that this is my best film yet. I don't know about that, and it seems weird to compare any of these movies in the first place. But I do feel safe in saying that I am very, very happy with this film and I can't wait to show it to you when it opens on June 29th.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=210


Public Punditry Contest!
Attention Artists, Activists, and Americans!
Celebrate Your Right to Free Speech in the First Annual Freewayblogger Public Punditry Contest!

http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2007/03/public-punditry-contest.html



The Nightwatchman

http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/


Blackwater

Meet Blackwater USA, the powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. With its own military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, and twenty-thousand troops at the ready, Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the "global war on terror"--yet most people have never heard of it.MORE
Read More: On May 10, bestselling Nation Books author Jeremy Scahill testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense on the use of private contractors in Iraq. Watch it here.

http://www.nationbooks.org/


Blackwater: Shadow Army

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqM4tKPDlR8


Ever feel like no one's listening?
With more than 3600 troops dead and the majority of Americans in opposition to the war, it's time for a realistic plan to bring our troops home safely.
Apply here to attend the Iraq Action Camp June 10-14, all expenses paid and travel grants available.

http://www.campusprogress.org/page/content/iraqcamp/


June Journal:
Thursday, June 7, 2007: This was one of the most difficult walking days I've had in a long time - hot, humid and very windy. Passing semis were nearly knocking me over and it just sucked the energy right out of me. I basically went on automatic after about eight miles and made it into Mount Sterling - my minimum goal for today.

http://wtetw.com/journal.htm


Libby heckled

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-ex-libby6-cnn,0,5465179.ipixpicture?coll=la-home-center


June 7th, 2007 3:06 am
Impeachment resolution passes
County representatives urged to push investigation of Bush, Cheney By Timothy Cama / Ithaca Journal
ITHACA, NY — After almost an hour of debate, the Tompkins County Legislature passed a resolution Tuesday evening to urge the county's representatives in the state legislature to recommend that the United States Congress investigate charges against President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to determine if they warrant impeachment.
Nine legislators voted in favor of the resolution, as submitted by Pamela Mackesey, D-City and Town of Ithaca, while six opposed it.
The resolution declared that “substantial evidence has been gathered that indicates that President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney have committed high crimes and misdemeanors.”

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9860


June 7th, 2007 11:15 am
Three Brothers go AWOL
Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
CARLTON, MINN. -- Luke Kamunen began to wonder if he'd made a mistake the moment he arrived for basic training. He was still in the airport at Fort Jackson, S.C., with other members of his Minnesota National Guard unit, when an officer reprimanded him publicly for leaving a paper cup on his seat in the airport.
"I was thinking, is this what it's going to be like the whole time?" Luke said. "I'm not even on the bus yet."
His twin brother, Leif, started having doubts within weeks when a drill sergeant indicated they were probably headed to Iraq. Leif said that possibility had been downplayed by the recruiter who signed him up in Duluth.
On Jan. 2, the twins, age 21, and their brother Leo, 20, went AWOL from the Army. All three failed to return to basic training after Christmas break in northern Minnesota. Five months later, Luke has been released from the military, while Leif and Leo remain absent without leave. They say they plan to turn themselves in soon.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9863


June 7th, 2007 3:42 am
BREAKING: Five US Reps Support Cheney Impeachment
By Matthew Cardinale / Atlanta Progressive News
ATLANTA, GA – US Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) has become the fifth total co-sponsor of US Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s (D-OH) bill to impeach Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney, Atlanta Progressive News has learned. In addition to Kucinich, the additional three Members of Congress who have signed on to H. Res 333 are US Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL), William Lacy Clay (D-MO), and Albert Wynn (D-MD).
"This Administration has continued to erode the trust of the American people and enough is simply enough," stated US Rep. Clarke in a press release issued first to Atlanta Progressive News.
"H.Res. 333 was introduced to the House of Representatives by Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio on April 24, 2007, and asserts that the vice president manipulated intelligence to make the case for going to war with Iraq, falsified a connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda, and has threatened aggression against Iran," US Rep. Clarke says.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9862


June 7th, 2007 3:06 am
Impeachment resolution passes
County representatives urged to push investigation of Bush, Cheney By Timothy Cama / Ithaca Journal
ITHACA, NY — After almost an hour of debate, the Tompkins County Legislature passed a resolution Tuesday evening to urge the county's representatives in the state legislature to recommend that the United States Congress investigate charges against President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to determine if they warrant impeachment.
Nine legislators voted in favor of the resolution, as submitted by Pamela Mackesey, D-City and Town of Ithaca, while six opposed it.
The resolution declared that “substantial evidence has been gathered that indicates that President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney have committed high crimes and misdemeanors.”

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9860


May 31st, 2007 9:28 pm
Congressman Conyers Supports Movement to Impeach Bush, Cheney
Associated Press
DETROIT — U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said he supports a national effort calling for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, but stopped short of pledging to take action to back it.
"I've been supportive of that movement," said Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee that would lead impeachment hearings. "I encourage that nationwide."
But Conyers, who left a Detroit church before a town-hall meeting attended by a standing-room-only crowd of about 250 people, remained noncommittal about lending his official backing for impeachment proceedings. Conyers had also convened a separate town-hall meeting in Detroit on Tuesday evening to discuss high gas prices.
"The goal is whether to impeach or follow up on the defects and disabilities of an administration" that has shut out Congress, he said Tuesday.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9853


May 29th, 2007 8:41 pm
Chopper attack, bombs kill 10 U.S. troops in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Ten U.S. troops died in Iraq on Monday, including eight killed in a deadly chain of events that began when a U.S. helicopter was shot down, according to a U.S. military official.
Both helicopter pilots were killed.
Two Bradley fighting vehicles rushing to the helicopter crash site were hit by exploding roadside bombs, killing six soldiers and injuring three, the official said.
In a separate attack on Memorial Day, two other U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb while conducting a "combat security patrol" in southern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
The eight deaths related to the chopper crash occurred in volatile Diyala province between Baquba and Muqdadiya, the U.S. military announced on Tuesday.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9850


Lexington Herald Leader

Strong thunderstorms cause damage in western Kentucky
By The Associated Press
PADUCAH, Ky. --
Strong thunderstorms packing high winds swept across parts of Kentucky on Friday, downing trees and power lines and destroying a mobile home.
Kentucky State Police said there were no reports of injuries.
In western Kentucky, roads were blocked by downed trees in the Hendron area near Paducah.
The high winds destroyed a mobile home and a carport in Hendron, and a lightning strike caused a garage fire in the Hendron area, authorities said.
In Calloway County, the sheriff's department reported that trees were downed in several locations. Wind gusts reached 60 mph at the Murray airport.
Wind gusts exceeded 60 mph in several other western Kentucky towns.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/92201.html




14 killed at Iraqi police chief's house
By BUSHRA JUHI
Associated Press Writer
An Iraqi woman shows plastic cuffs left by joint Iraqi American force after a raid in al Orfali Shiite district next to Sadr city eastern Baghdad. on Thursday, June 7, 2007. The early Thursday operation ended with the detention of 16 civilians in the area including a policeman works at the ministry of interior, police officer on condition of anonymity said.
BAGHDAD --
Carloads of attackers descended on a police chief's house northeast of Baghdad at dawn Friday, killing the official's wife, two brothers and 11 guards, and kidnapping three of his grown children, Diyala provincial police reported.
The attack, which came when the police chief was not at home, was one of the boldest and bloodiest in months of stepped-up violence around the city of Baqouba, where al-Qaida in Iraq and affiliated groups have been fighting U.S. and Iraqi forces and local insurgents who have turned against al-Qaida.
Elsewhere in northern Iraq, two suicide bombers struck a Shiite mosque and a nearby police station near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, and more than 25 people were killed or wounded, police said.
The simultaneous suicide explosions occurred about 2 p.m. in the predominantly Shiite town of Dakok, about 28 miles south of Kirkuk, police Brig. Gen. Burhan Taieb Taha said.

http://www.kentucky.com/522/story/90912.html


Plane with 142 aboard makes emergency landing in Louisville
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. --
An America West plane made an emergency landing at Louisville International Airport after an engine failed during flight, an airline spokesman said.
Flight 688 was traveling from Newark, N.J., to Phoenix with 137 passengers and five crew members aboard when one of the plane's two engines failed, said airline spokesman Phil Gee.
"Louisville was the closest place to land, so the pilot decided to play it safe," Gee said. "The plane can operate on one engine, but you've lost one and you don't want to risk it, so it's best to get down as soon as you can and figure out what happened to the other engine."
Gee said he did not know how far the plane was from Louisville when the decision was made to land in Louisville. The plane landed safely at 8:30 p.m. EDT and there were no injuries, authorities said.
The plane was a two-engine Airbus A320 with a capacity for 150 people, Gee said. Passengers spent the night in Louisville and were to leave on another flight on Friday.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/92096.html


Montgomery County Nestle plant remains closed after ammonia leak
By Todd Van Campen
tvancampen@herald-leader.com
MOUNT STERLING --
The Nestle plant in Montgomery County remained closed Friday afternoon after an ammonia leak late Thursday night.
Seven employees were taken to the hospital with what were considered minor injuries, and all had been released by 9 a.m., company spokeswoman Roz O’Hearn said.
About 1,100 people work at the plant, which makes Hot Pockets. The plant is in the Woodland Industrial Park near Mount Sterling.
A release of ammonia from the plant’s refrigeration system was detected at 2:14 a.m. O’Hearn said an ammonia pressure vessel ruptured.
An emergency ventilation system was activated, and the 100 employees who were working third shift were evacuated.
Plants near Nestle also were evacuated as a precaution, but they reopened Friday morning.
O’Hearn said Nestle hoped to reopen the plant by Friday evening.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/92044.html


Bath sheriff indicted on vote-buying charge
By Beth Musgrave
BMUSGRAVE@HERALD-LEADER.COM
The Bath County sheriff was indicted Friday on charges of vote-buying and lying to a federal grand jury.
Calvin Randall “Randy” Armitage, 45, is just the latest public official to be indicted in the federal investigation into vote-buying during the May 2006 primary election.
Former Bath County Judge-Executive Walter Shrout and former Bath County Attorney Donald “Champ” Maze also were indicted. Maze pleaded guilty to several charges during a February trial after federal investigators determined that Maze and others were trying to contact members on his jury. Shrout was convicted by a jury in March. Both were forced to resign.
More than a dozen people have been charged in what federal prosecutors describe as rampant vote-buying during the May election.
Armitage is charged with two counts of vote-buying and one count of perjury.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/92321.html


Ky. No Child Left Behind results might be delayed again
By Raviya H. Ismail
RISMAIL@HERALD-LEADER.COM
No Child Left Behind data might be released later than expected this year as a result of new standards that will have to be applied to test scores, the Kentucky Department of Education has said.
Last year, the NCLB report was about a week late because of a scoring problem involving tests taken by students with disabilities.
NCLB is a federal law that measures achievement in public schools based on state tests in reading and math, and it holds all schools accountable for the performance of minority, low-income and special-needs students.
Typically, results are released during the first week of August. This year, results could be delayed several days or weeks, KDE spokeswoman Lisa Gross said.

http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/92207.html


Attorneys strike plea deal to avoid Beverage trial
The attorneys for former Transportation official Sam Beverage have reached a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid the upcoming perjury trial that had all the makings of a "political spectacle."
Beverage, the former chief highway engineer, was indicted last year on a felony charge of making false statements to a grand jury during his Aug. 30, 2005, appearance in relation to the state merit hiring investigation. That testimony came a day after Gov. Ernie Fletcher issued pardons to his administration, therefore Beverage was not covered.
Beverage, instead of going to trial June 25 as planned, has agreed to plea guilty to one count of misdemeanor official misconduct, said his lawyer Burl McCoy of Lexington. That carries a penalty of a $500 fine and up to a year in jail.
McCoy, who struck the deal with Franklin County Commonwealths Attorney Larry Cleveland on Wednesday, said he will urge Franklin Circuit Judge Tom Wingate during a 2 p.m. hearing on Monday to probate the jail time.

http://polwatchers.typepad.com/pol_watchers/2007/06/attorneys_strik.html


World markets fall following U.S. drop
LONDON --
Most Asian and European markets fell Friday following on a tumble in the U.S. a day earlier amid growing speculation a U.S. interest rate cut was unlikely. Declines in Europe were muted, however, and Chinese stocks bucked the trend and rose for a fourth straight session.
The slide across much of Asia came on the heels of recent rallies in many regional markets, some to record highs.
"This has to be seen in the perspective that we've had a very nice price rally," said David Cohen, director of Asian Economic Forecasting with Action Economics in Singapore. "They were due for a little bit of a fall."
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average fell 1.52 percent to 17,779.09 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.4 percent to 20,509.15. London's FTSE 100 index ended flat at 6,505.10, the German DAX Xetra 30 lost 0.4 percent to 7,590.50 and the French CAC-40 edged down 0.1 percent to 5,883.29.

http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/92123.html


Trade deficit improved in April
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON --
The trade deficit dropped sharply in April as continued strong overseas demand pushed American exports to an all-time high.
While the Bush administration hailed the unexpectedly large improvement as a sign that an export-boom was continuing, critics noted the imbalance with China rose in April, underscoring what they said was an urgent need for Congress to take action to punish China for unfair trade practices.
The Commerce Department reported Friday that the gap between what America sells abroad and what it imports totaled $58.5 billion in April, a 6.2 percent decline from the March deficit.
Exports edged up 0.2 percent to a record $129.5 billion, reflecting strong sales of soybeans and other farm products, commercial aircraft and industrial machinery. Imports fell 1.9 percent to $188 billion, reflecting big declines in imports of foreign cars, televisions and clothing and a small dip in America's foreign oil bill.

http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/92094.html


Gas prices gnaw at consumer confidence
By JEANNINE AVERSA
AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON --
Consumer confidence tumbled to a 10-month low as gyrating gasoline prices and persisting problems in the housing market gnawed at people's sense of economic well-being.
The magnitude of the drop shown in the latest RBC Cash Index was surprising given the healthy state of the nation's job market, which is usually an important factor coloring consumers' perceptions of how the economy and their own financial fortunes are faring.
But nagging worries about gasoline prices, if the yearlong housing slump will worsen and drag down home prices further and whether the economy will, in fact, snap out of its sluggish spell, are taking a toll on confidence, economists explained.
"There is too much uncertainty. That is the mindset of consumers right now," said Brian Bethune, economist at Global Insight.

http://www.kentucky.com/103/story/91984.html


Obama, Dodd voice doubts on Holsinger
BOTH ON PANEL THAT WILL REVIEW NOMINATION
By Sarah Vos And Janet Patton
SVOS@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Angela Baldridge
Dr. James W. Holsinger Photo by Angela Baldridge
jpatton@herald-leader.com
Two U.S. senators who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president expressed reservations yesterday about Dr. James W. Holsinger, a University of Kentucky professor and President Bush's choice to be the country's next surgeon general.
Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., both of whom sit on a committee that will review Holsinger's nomination, said they had questions about Holsinger's ability to be surgeon general, given views he has expressed in the past about gays.

http://www.kentucky.com/454/story/91886.html


Forum discusses race issues related to Smith
WAS FIRST BLACK UK HOOPS COACH
By Sean Rose
SROSE@HERALD-LEADER.COM
Tubby Smith said he left because he felt wanted in Minnesota. File photo by Jim Mone Associated Press
The departure of former University of Kentucky men's basketball coach Tubby Smith may have stifled the progress being made to improve race relations in Lexington, a community leader said yesterday.
Smith, who left in March to be the coach of the University of Minnesota, was among the topics discussed by community leaders during yesterday's Lexington Forum meeting.
The race issue surrounding Smith, the university's first black head basketball coach, came to the forefront when he was named as a candidate for the job. That was, in part, because there has been a longstanding debate about whether former UK head coach Adolph Rupp was a racist who resisted integration.
Smith said he left because he felt wanted in Minnesota.
P.G. Peeples, president and chief executive officer of the Lexington-Fayette Urban League, said he listens to basketball call-in radio shows and has heard some "bone-chilling and scary" things since Smith left.

http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/91918.html


George Clooney at Oceans 13 premiere

http://www.kentucky.com/639/gallery/90347.html


Pace retires as head of Joint Chiefs
By LOLITA BALDOR
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON --
The Bush administration sidelined Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Friday, announcing plans to replace him as the nation's top military officer rather than reappoint him and risk a Senate confirmation struggle focusing on the Iraq War.
"It would be a backward looking and very contentious process," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said at a Pentagon news conference where he announced he would recommend Adm. Mike Mullen to replace Pace.
Mullen is the chief of naval operations, and Gates praised him for having the "vision strategic insight and integrity to lead America's armed forces."
At the same time, he made clear he had made his decision with reluctance, saying he wished it had not been necessary.
"I am no stranger to contentious confirmations, and I do not shrink from them," Gates said at a hastily arranged news conference.
"However, I have decided that at this moment in our history, the nation, our men and women in uniform and Gen. Pace himself would not be well served by a divisive ordeal. ..."

http://www.kentucky.com/522/story/92294.html


Listless consumer spending reported
BY ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
NEW YORK --
Associated Press
Americans shopped hesitantly in May, giving retailers some relief from a dismal showing in April but raising questions about the strength of consumer spending in the months ahead.
As the nation's merchants reported results yesterday, it was clear that higher gas prices and the slumping housing market are affecting consumer spending. Sales were disappointing in a cross-section of the industry, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Macy's Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co.
"This should have been a stronger performance because there should have been some pent-up demand. The weather was even nice," said John Morris, managing director at Wachovia Securities. "To me, this was a real litmus test, and retailers failed that litmus test. It's telling me where the consumer stands and the consumer is on weak legs."
Analysts are now closely monitoring sales in June, the most important month on the retail calendar behind December. But many think the modest spending pace will continue through the fall season. With no hot apparel trends emerging, Morris thinks consumers have few reasons to buy. He said sluggish demand could result in discounting increasing by 10 percent later this month from the current 5 percent at the 20 mall-based apparel stores he follows, compared with the year-ago period.

http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/91921.html


Study links vitamin D to lower risks for all cancers
By Timberly Ross And Jeff Donn
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OMAHA, Neb. --
Building hope for one pill to prevent many cancers, vitamin D cut the risk of several types of cancer by 60 percent overall for older women in the most rigorous study yet.
The new research strengthens the case made by some specialists that vitamin D could be a powerful cancer preventive and most people should get more of it. Experts remain split, though, on how much to take.
"The findings ... are a breakthrough of great medical and public health importance," said Cedric Garland, a vitamin D researcher at the University of California-San Diego. "No other method to prevent cancer has been identified that has such a powerful impact."
While the most reliable yet, the study does have drawbacks. It was designed mainly to monitor how calcium and vitamin D improve bone health, and the number of cancer cases overall was small, showing up in just 50 patients.

http://www.kentucky.com/148/story/91902.html



Peace Movement Want Ads

Job Opportunities
There are currently 5 job openings with CODEPINK:

http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=2959


U.S. death toll in Iraq passes 3,500
Strategy leaves forces vulnerable.
By KIM GAMEL
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- The four-year U.S. military death toll in Iraq passed 3,500 after a soldier was reported killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad. A British soldier was also shot to death Thursday in southern Iraq, as Western forces find themselves increasingly vulnerable under a new strategy to take the fight to the enemy.
The British ambassador to Iraq, meanwhile, signaled his government was ready to talk to those behind the abduction of five Britons in Baghdad last month. Iraqi officials have said they believe the Britons were taken by the Mahdi Army militia, which is largely loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
In a rare televised interview, al-Sadr blamed the United States for Iraq's woes, often referring to it as "the occupier" and accusing it of being behind the sectarian violence, the growing schism between Iraq's majority Shiites and once-dominant Sunni Arabs and economic hardships.
"We are now facing a brutal Western assault against Islam," he said, draped in his traditional black robe and turban. "This agenda must be countered with a cultural resistance," he said.
The mounting U.S. casualties, most by makeshift bombs placed in potholes on roads or in fields where troops conduct foot patrols, come as American troops work with Iraqi forces on the streets and in remote outposts as part of a joint crackdown on sectarian violence.
A U.S. soldier was killed and two others were wounded Wednesday when a roadside bomb exploded during combat operations in a southwestern section of Baghdad, the military said Thursday. At least 3,501 U.S. service-members have been killed since the beginning of the war, according to an Associated Press count.
They include at least 23 American deaths during the first six days of June -- an average of almost four per day, a similar pace to that in May. American troops deaths reached 127 in May, making it the third-deadliest month since the war started in March 2003. The average is nearly double the roughly two a day killed in June 2006.

http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/p0758_BC_Iraq_6thLd_Writethru_06_07_1213

continued...

Vladimir Putin is serious about securing Europe from Iran's radical nuclear program. Is Bush? My answer. Vladimir is more an ally.

Qabala / Gabala (click here)
[Lyaki / Mingacevir / Mingechaur]
40.870N 47.790E

Construction of the Qabala radar station started in 1978 and was completed in 1984. The station was put into operation in 1988. The station occupies an area of 210 hectares. The station's initial capacity was 50 MW, and its target capacity is 350 MW. The USSR had nine such radar stations, the Qabala station and the station at Mukachevo in Ukraine) being the last to be constructed.

Daryal installation No 754 -- the Gabelinskaya radar station -- was located at Lyaki in Azerbaijan. The Stopor installation with its' 16-story radar building is located in Gabala. The radar was intended for detection of launches from the Indian Ocean. However, the radar is unable to process the information independently, and transmits it to the Kvadrat and Shvertbot installations near Moscow. Russia will probably have to pay rent for the land where the radar is stationed.

The offer by Vladimir Putin to protect Europe from any attempt by Iran to strike any nuclear capacity is a serious one. He is taking his place among those that believe in peace and not nuclear annhilation which enhances his stand regarding de-escalation of nuclear capacity globally. I am more than pleased by this Russian proposal.

Bush on the other hand has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt his intention for MDS in Europe, especially Poland, was an overt aggressive stance against Russia. This offer by Russia has put Bush's initial plan to shame in it's sincerity of purpose. It also gives a clear indication by Russia to be a partner to Europe while placing Iran in a position to honor Non-proliferation and living only with the 'peaceful use of nuclear energy' as it's sole purpose to it's reactor.

In other words, it took Russian competency in realizing the best place for such deployment of MDS, should the system prove to provide the protection beyond what Russia already can provide for Europe.

The map above shows the extent to "The Early Warning Radar Capacity of Russia" at the location of Russian radar at Gabala in Azerbaijan.

Reducing the risk of an accidental launch (click here)

Four of the currently operational radars can be classified as large phased-array radars, comparable in capability to their U.S. counterparts. These are two Daryal radars deployed in Pechora and Gabala, Azerbaijan, the Volga radar in Baranovichi, Belarus, and the Don-2N radar in Pushkino, which was built as part of the Moscow A-135 missile defense system.[89] The Dnepr-M/Dnestr radars are modification of the old Dnepr design known as Hen House. Because of their linear design, radars of this class cannot provide accurate elevation data.

The map shows locations of the radars and the sectors that they cover. It is usually believed that there is a gap in the radar coverage in the East, between the radars in Pechora and Michelevka. In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union attempted to build an early-warning radar in Krasnoyarsk, but it was dismantled after objections from the United Stated. Our estimates, however, demonstrate that even if the gap exists it is very small. Only an attack from a narrow range of positions against a limited set of targets would have a chance of avoiding detection by the radars in Pechora and Mishelevka. Practical importance of this gap is minimal.

History and the current status of the Russian early warning system (click here)

ABSTRACT: The article presents an overview of the history of development and the current status of the Soviet and Russian early-warning system, which was built to provide the Soviet strategic forces with information about a missile attack in an event of a nuclear conflict with the United States. Two main components of this system are considered--the network of early-warning radars and the space-based early-warning system, which includes satellites on highly-elliptical and geosynchronous orbits. The system appears to be capable of detecting a massive attack, but cannot be relied upon to detect individual missile launches.

The Russian radar at Gabala in Azerbaijan has not been without it's criticism. The site is stated to be an ecological disaster. The high levels of electrical power required by this facility needed high capacity power lines. The power lines were so intense in it's capacity that an entire hectare of land was completely burned. There was an issue with 'freon' which was used as a cooling agent for the radar station, but, a Russia commission was sent to investigate the site. As typical with much Russian engineering, the 'capacity' of any entity of design is far more than actually needed as a measure of effectiveness over frugalness, but, in a communist state frugality isn't necessarily a focus. Here is a link:

Ecological Genocide

Russian Radar Causes Ecological Problems (click here)

Baku Zerkalo 6 Jun 98

p14 N. Majidova report
A "top secret" stamp was put on the results of the research we are going to talk about below by the former Soviet KGB and later by Russia's Federal Security Service. Today, we have the opportunity to become acquainted with this document, which was certified by members of a government commission and a group of Azerbaijani experts. We are talking about the Russian military installation in Gabala District in Azerbaijan -- the radar station....

The radar station covers 210 hectares, plus 30 hectares of land which has turned into a scrap heap. The projected power of the station is 350 MW but it is impossible to use it to capacity because when using even 300 MW in 1984 one hectare of territory was completely burned. When installing high voltage lines, over 400 hectares of forest were destroyed. Apart from that, as a result of the station's operation, thousands of priceless trees have been dying after drying up because of lack of moisture. The amount of water in the soil started going down catastrophically when 16 deep artesian wells were drilled. They are necessary to ensure a constant [water] supply to the cooling system of the equipment of the radar station which is operating at a high temperature. Just one hour of operations at the station requires 300-400 cubic meters of water. After that, this used water is dumped on the mountain slope where the radar station is situated without chemical and biological cleansing and goes into the rivers below. [passage omitted: various species of fish used to live in the rivers before. The local population has to use this water for drinking. Freon is being used in the station]

Twenty-five tonnes of freon are used to cool the station's equipment just once. This gas destroys the ozone layer 500-600 times more than others. [passage omitted: At the beginning of the 1990s, the district executive authorities sounded the alarm and two years later parliament set up a special commission]

It was found out that the average electric field intensity exceeds the admissable norm by three or five times in the territory of the radar station and in the neighboring setlements. This was a result of safety norms being neglected before and transmitters with a capacity of more than 2 MW being built close to the setllements rather than 60-65 km away, as was planned in the technical documentation. [passage omitted: The soil in the area is infected with chemicals. Birth, death, and sickness rate figures.

Here again, Russia is proving to be way ahead of the curve. The West is always curious to the diplomacy of Russia, but, they little understand the 'capacity' of this communist country to monitor the world and act in prudent measure to insure peace over war. The fact remains that in dealing with Iran or Pakistan for that matter, Russia was never worried about the European threat as their 'early warning system' already addressed much of the European continent. Yet, Bush over reached again in an attempt to aggressively place a yet to be worthy MDS at the Russian border, a direct threat to a good friend. This clearly demonstrates, the Neocon directive of oil lust over profound alliance with countries solidly proven to be friends in Non-Proliferation.

Europe should consider this Russian proposal a profound sign of it's desire to be allies, as if history could ever paint a different picture, and a trading partner with ample energy resources for any European need. This is the time for Europe to extend a handshake to open negotiations of trade with Russia and embrace a proven ally as one of it's own. I have never known a Russian city, such as St. Petersburg, to be more European in it's culture and it would be more than appropriate for the EU and Russia to begin open cooperation in light of this generocity.

Also at question is any second thoughts by NATO of Russian intent in being a willing partner to strategic needs of the region. I congratulate Vladimir Putin in this bold move to continue on a path of Non-Proliferation. There is more hope today for the world than there was yesterday. Iran needs to 'measure' it's step in regard to moving beyond peaceful use of nuclear technology.

Thank you, Vladimir, it's the most brazen move toward global stability, peace and non-proliferation noted in the last decade.