Monday, February 14, 2005

This is the Mediterranean Sea as viewed from Italy. One cannot actually view this as a calm sea except there are no white caps. That wave in the foreground is a breaking wave. The Mediterranean Sea is interesting, especially at the Straits of Gilbralter. There is a huge 'ocean fall' (not water fall) that leaves the sea to mix with ocean water. The ocean fall at the straits is significant in that the velocity could literally (if tapped for energy) produce large amounts of electric (hydroelectric) power that would probably power every nation of Europe or North Africa or those of the Mediterranean Sea. That ocean fall at the straits is very, very interesting to me, as it leaves the straits and tumbles right to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean without being disrupted by ocean currents coming south along the continental margin.Posted by Hello

February 14th seems turbulent through history.

February 14, ...

278 AD, Saint Valentine is beheaded, contributing in part to the origins of the Valentine's Day holiday.

1349, 2,000 Jews burned at the stake in Strasbourg France

1670, Roman Catholic emperor Leopold I chases Jews out of Vienna

1794. 1st US textile machinery patent granted, to James Davenport, Philadelphia PA

1817, Frederick Douglass African-American abolitionist/lecturer/editor

1838 Margaret Knight inventor, "the female Thomas Edison"

1847 Anna Howard Shaw US, suffragette

1864 Israel Zangwill England, Jewish author/Zionist (Children of Ghetto)

1872 1st state bird refuge authorized (Lake Merritt CA)

1883 1st state labor union legislation; New Jersey legalizes unions

1889, born, Philip A. Randolph, American labor leader, born in Crescent City, Florida. During his youth Randolph worked as a section hand on a railroad. Upon completion of high school, he moved to New York City and attended the College of the City of New York. During his student days, he organized a small union of elevator operators. Concerned over the treatment of black employees on railroads, Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925. It was the first union of predominantly black workers to be granted a charter by the American Federation of Labor. After more than ten years of struggle, his union won recognition as bargaining agent with the Pullman Company.

1894, born, Jack Benny, American comedian, who hosted long-running shows on both radio and television. He was born Benjamin Kubelsky in Chicago. Benny began a successful career in vaudeville at the age of 17 as a violinist, but he later became a monologuist, having discovered that he could convulse an audience with his deadpan stare and elegant style. His first film was Hollywood Review of 1929; other films in which he appeared are To Be or Not to Be (1942) and A Guide for the Married Man (1968). It was as a radio performer, however, that Benny achieved his greatest fame. His enormously popular program, “The Jack Benny Show,” was introduced in 1932; it was heard every week for 23 years thereafter. He first successfully transferred his well-loved characterization of the acerbic penny pincher to television in 1950. For the next 24 years he appeared frequently. “The Jack Benny Show” was seen on television from 1955 to 1964. Benny also appeared in theaters and nightclubs in the late 1950s and '60s, and after 1956 he appeared frequently as a comic violin soloist with major American symphony orchestras in fund-raising concerts.

1894 Venus is both a morning star & evening star

1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.) AND IN 2000, Secretary Evans destroyed it.

1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maude Wood Park.

1921 Hugh Downs Akron OH, TV journalist (20/20, Concentration)

1925 State of emergency crisis in Bayern ends, NSDAP re-allowed

1929, disguised as Chicago police officers and detectives, Al Capone's mobsters take out six of George "Bugs" Moran's gang in a warehouse. The infamous event will become known as the Saint Valentine's Day massacre.

1936, more than 800 delegates representing over 500 organizations elect Asa Philip Randolph, of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, as president of the newly formed National Negro Congress in Chicago.

1944, Anti-Japanese revolt on Java

1945, Perú, Paraguay, Chile & Ecuador join the United Nations

1945, 8th Air Force bombs Dresden

1949, 1st session of Knesset opens in Jerusalem

1960, Beverly Hanson wins LPGA St Petersburg Golf Open

1960, Marshal Ayub Khan elected President of Pakistan

1961, Element 103, Lawrencium, 1st produced in Berkeley CA

1961, Louise Suggs wins LPGA Royal Poinciana Golf Invitational

1962, 1st lady Jacqueline Kennedy conducts White House tour on TV

1963 US launches communications satellite Syncom 1

1964, Bill Bradley, playing for the Ivy League Princeton basketball team, scores a record high 58 points.

1966 Wilt Chamberlain breaks NBA career scoring record at 20,884 points

1967 Aretha Franklin records "Respect"

1967 Latin American nuclear free zone proposal drawn up

1968 Pennsylvania Railroad/NYC Central merge into Pennsylvania Central

1975, Jennifer Michelle Roberts Greensboro NC, Miss North Carolina-America (1996)

1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police. GEE WHIZ. THIS kinda stuff has been going on a long time. Does anyone believe this is going to stop just because Bush is in Iraq? NO !

1984, 6-year-old Stormie Jones became the world's first heart-liver transplant recipient at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (she lived until November 1990).

1984 Singer Elton John marries Renate Blauel in Sydney Australia

1985 Hostage CNN reporter Jeremy Levin is released in Beirut

1985, Cable News Network reporter Jeremy Levin, who was being held hostage by extremists in Lebanon, was freed.
The Associated Press

1988, Patty Sheehan wins LPGA Sarasota Golf Classic

1989, Robin Givens is granted a divorce from Mike Tyson in Dominican Republic

1989, Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million damages for Bhopol disaster

1989, African National Congress (ANC) opens office in Amsterdam

1989, Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini offers $1 million-$3 million bounty on Salman Rushdie's death due to his novel, "Satanic Verses"

1989, World's 1st satellite Skyphone opens

1990, Space probe Voyager 1 takes photograph of entire solar system

1991, Air raid shelter at Baghdad bombed killing 300

1992, Cease fire in Somalia begins

1993, Fire in Linxi department store in Tangshan China, kills 79

1994, Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia (51) weds Deborah Koons

Missing in Action

1966
HILLS JOHN R. SOUTH BEND IN

1967
MARVIN ROBERT C. DEXTER MI

1968
DUNN JOSEPH P. HULL MA

1968
ELLIOT ROBERT M. SPRINGFIELD MA SEVERAL OBS INDICATE CAPTURE REMAINS RETURNED 12/27/99

1968
MC MAHAN ROBERT C. JACKSONVILLE IL REMAINS RETURNED 9/90 11/28/90 I.D.

1969
CLARK STANLEY S. MODESTO CA

1969
STEVENS LARRY J. CANOGA PARK CA
Some time ago after the manifestation of the vortexes on October 4, 2002 a resident 'heat conduit' existed between Africa and the mouth of the Amazon River. You can see it here on February 6, 2005. There is also a lot of other 'stuff' going on over Madagascar but I won't go into that here. The clouds reaching across the Atlantic between Africa and South America would indicate an exchange of air at the equator with air masses moving from Africa to South America.  Posted by Hello
The next day on February 7th there is an obvious movement of clouds from west Africa eastward toward Madagascar. Along with that movemnt is the mostly missing 'heat conduit' over the Atlantic Ocean. The point here is that a massive change in air circulation occurred 'against' the normal geophysics of Earth. It was a clear indication to me Earth was losing the cooling battle in a way that was leading to greater Climate Change rather than a return to normalcy. Posted by Hello
This is today's satellite. It is a very big reach to be happy about what I am seeing but regardless the increased cloud cover and turbulence there is still signs there is a slowing to the dynamics that caused the snows of Australia. The 'heat conduit' is back. It is more grossly apparent in it's assent to teh Northern latitudes and it easily discerned it is traveling directly to the North Polar Cap. But if one considers this along with the diminished heat movement from the equator to the South Polar Ice Continent and the minimally manifesting Jet Stream over the resident North Atlantic Vortex I believe I am seeing at very least an oscillation minimum but more a 'settling' of dynamics that remotely might indicate we are starting to do this thing right.

WAR IS OUT OF THE QUESTION !! Posted by Hello

It would behoove everyone to behave themselves and keep breathing !

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Is there a question to where Earth is headed?

I don't see how anyone could ever deny Earth is heating. I don't see the objection to the belief the destructive pattern that manifested on October 4, 2002 could be anything but THE problem this world faces.

Below is a graph from Mauna Loa Observatory. There are two red lines. Each read line represents the increase of carbon dioxide being deposited into the troposphere. In the early days of investigation is was learned the 'average' rate of increase of carbon dioxide in the years 1958 through 1966 was 0.60 parts per million. The other red line measure the rate of carbon dioxide increase in the years 1996 to 2002.

To keep this as simple if one is to draw a straight line continuing the earlier red line off the chart it would exit at about 340 parts per million in the year 2002. In March of 2004 the level of carbon dioxide in the troposphere was 379 parts per million. Needless to say that the amount of increase per year has significantly changed the level of CO2 in the tropsphere. In October 2002 the tropospheric levels of CO2 were nearly 376.

Back in the day and it wasn't all that long ago, approximately 2 or 3 decades ago when global warming was first conceived as a dangerous trend it was believed levels of 400 PPM would be tolerable and the levels of which intolerance of biota would be 800 PPM. Those were estimates derived from fossil evidence. They were wrong. They were not only wrong they were grossly wrong. The intolerance to CO2 concentration by Earth is significantly lower than 400.

The pictures below give an interesting picture. The day Australia had snow in the middle of summer the raging heat from the equator into the Southern Ice Continent was unlike any 'Heat Transfer System' I ever witnessed in the 3+ years I have been observing and recording the events of Human Induced Global Warming. Since that day the dynamics seems to have changed and I want to say in a postive way but in reality with carbon levels not improved I can only say in a 'static way.'

The traverse of the sun from the southern hemisphere to the north seems to have brought about an equilibrium of the two hemispheres of Earth in that the reach of the North Polar and South Polar vortexes are the same as exhibited in the current Pacific Global Satellite. That is somewhat of a relief to the Southern Hemisphere although the temperature at Scott would reflect a little bit warmer wind today. That is not a drastic experssion of accuracy of the movement of heat there but only the movement of air at the instance the measurement was taken and that can vary from day to day to reflect stability overall.

The issue now is what will occur in the Northern Hemisphere now that we have a resident 'super cell' if you will over the North Atlantic. I believe I am catching a bit of a re-manifestation of the Jet Stream today flowing over top of the vortex which would be a clear indication the velocity of the system could be slowing. I don't believe the Jet Stream is back to stay but it is making more appearances on a regular basis than it has in the past. This could be just another oscillation to minimum before a return to a greater maximum or it could be an actually 'relief' pattern whereby we are actually coming down in CO2 density while Earth is trying to rest back into comfortable patterns of 'normal' tropospheric air movement.

There is one more item of interest not pictured here but I can certainly pull up a 'then' and 'now' picture to illustrate it. The 'heat conduit' that flowed between the mouth of the Amazon River and Africa disappeared. Today it is back. It is oscillating but it is back. For as 'terrible' as all this looks, I remain hopeful and optimistic we are taking our responsiblities seriously and getting the CO2 to lower in trend rather than to continue to rise.
Annual Carbon Dioxide Levels compliments of Mauna Loa Observatory Posted by Hello
The North Atlantic Supercell 2.13.05 (to right of satellite image) Posted by Hello
The North Atlantic Supercell 2.9.05 Posted by Hello
The Day of Australian Snowfall Posted by Hello
The Day After Australian Snowfall Posted by Hello
Pacifc Global Satellite 2.13.05 Posted by Hello

"Oak-He-Doe-$he" - even after twenty five years of jouralism

"Cock-A-Doodle-Do" Posted by Hello

Israel Dares to Recast a Story Set in Stone

Holocaust Museum Posted by Hello

Morning Papers - It's Origins

History

February 13...

1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, known as ASCAP, was founded in New York.

1920, the League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.

1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J., found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first- degree murder in the kidnap-death of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.)

1945, during World War II, the Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans.

DRESDEN DEVASTATED:February 13, 1945
On the evening of February 13, 1945, the most controversial episode in the Allied air war against Germany begins as hundreds of British bombers loaded with incendiaries and high-explosive bombs descend on Dresden, a historic city located in eastern Germany. Dresden was neither a war production city nor a major industrial center, and before the massive air raid of February 1945 it had not suffered a major Allied attack. By February 15, the city was a smoldering ruin and an unknown number of civilians--somewhere between 35,000 and 135,000--were dead.

1960, France exploded its first atomic bomb.

1966: The Rolling Stones appear for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show.

2000, Charles Schulz's final "Peanuts" strip ran in Sunday newspapers, the day after the cartoonist died in his sleep at his California home at age 77.

Missing in Action

1967
CARLSON PAUL V. MINNEAPOLIS MN

1969
HERLIK QUERIN E GREEN BAY WI 03/12/69 RELEASED BY SIHANOUK ALIVE AND WELL 98

The Jerusalem Post

Italy to increase Mideast peace role

Italy was interested in increasing its role in Mideast peacemaking, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, on a visit to Israel, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566056>

Peres to plead with Rabbi Yosef
Before he entered the coalition, the economic policies of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu were "piggish capitalism" for Labor chairman Shimon Peres.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566073

Hamas, Jihad say they will maintain undeclared truce

Hamas and Islamic Jihad will maintain a de facto truce with Israel, the groups said on Saturday.
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told The Associated Press after the group's leaders met with Abbas that the group is "committed to what is called 'quietness'" until it sees whether Israel stops military activities, halts its targeted assassinations, and discloses according to what criteria Palestinian prisoners will be released.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178565121

Iran goes public with stealth torpedo production

Iran on Saturday officially launched production of a line of stealth torpedoes, calling it the latest effort to step up its defense capabilities against possible threats, state-run television reported.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566047

Leaving Ethiopia for Zion

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to bring the last of the eligible Falash Mura to Israel by the end of 2007 promises finally to resolve a controversial and heart-wrenching problem. People who have been following the Ethiopian aliya over the years, however, will wait to see what actually happens before accepting that this chapter really has been closed.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1108178566035

continued...

Morning Papers - continued

Miscellaneous

Diesel spill could bring prosecution

13.02.05 12.45pm

A diesel spill in Christchurch's Heathcote River could result in prosecution and a fine of up to $200,000.

Thousands of litres of fuel leaked into the river from a drain in Sockburn on Friday.

Environment Canterbury spokesperson Mike Freeman says if there is evidence to suggest the spill was deliberate, then it is highly likely legal action will follow.

Hundreds of volunteers are continuing to help with the clean-up.

Council staff were alerted to the problem when residents complained of a heavy smell.

Hundreds of ducks and other birds have been affected by the spill, which is not thought to be deliberate.
- Newstalk ZB

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010847

Overturned tanker on I-595 leaves 4 dead, 1 injured
By Bill Hirschman and Jean-Paul Renaud
Sun-Sentinel
Posted February 12 2005, 6:02 PM EST
Davie · Four people were killed Friday night when a fuel tanker truck flipped over at a busy interchange, landed on a car and burst into flames that shot 30 feet into the air.
FHP spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo said the 18-wheel tanker truck was traveling eastbound on Interstate 595 at the Florida Turnpike's on-ramp in the right lane, but "for some reason the driver lost control and started overturning."

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-ctanker12feb12,0,5383489.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

The Gulf News

Sectarian attacks kill 22 in Iraq

Reuters
Baghdad: More than 20 people were killed in attacks on Shiite targets yesterday in violence apparently aimed at stoking sectarian hatred.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151595

The European Union and the Middle East peace process

By As'ad Abdul Rahman
Europe, both in terms of the individual states and collectively through the 15-member European Union (EU), seeks to play an active role in the Middle East peace process. There are many reasons for this, the most important of which are economic and political.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151605

Women are advancing, but their pay is not

By Larry Williams
Women's brains work differently from those of men different sizes, different electrical patterns, different test scores. That much we know is true.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=151606

Foundation comes to the aid of tsunami victims

By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Dubai: More than Dh5.5 million in aid has been donated to tsunami victims in Thailand by the Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=151586

US officials should check facts, says Syria

Reuters
Damascus: Syria said on Thursday that US officials should check the facts before making provocative remarks, commenting after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Syria last week of exporting terrorism.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151659

Washington-Tehran tension may spin out of control

Reuters
London: Nobody sees military action as the best way to tame Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions, but as the rhetoric heats up, mutual miscalculation could suck Tehran and Washington into an unpredictable showdown.

http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=151656

On the proficiency of withdrawal from Iraq we turn to an interview with the King of Hype, General 'Strange' Grange. Kindly note the casual nature as if part of everyday living that death of people holds little definition except in the context of measuring success:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/27/ldt.01.html

DOBBS: There are no firm numbers on the number of insurgents and terrorists fighting U.S. troops and Iraqi forces in Iraq, but yesterday, the U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, declared that 15,000 insurgents have been killed or captured over the past year. Now, if that number were accurate, the insurgents would be far stronger than the Pentagon's civil and military leadership has ever admitted or in point of fact suggested. I'm joined now from Chicago, General David Grange. And General, let me first say, good to see you.

And secondly, the Pentagon has always had an interesting history with numbers, but the fact that a general is declaring that more insurgents have been killed or captured than the Pentagon suggested existed a year ago is remarkable, isn't it?

BRIG. GEN. DAVID GRANGE (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, you know, the good news is that 15,000 were killed or captured. The bad news is that that means there's a lot more out there, and obviously has grown considerably since the fall of Saddam.

DOBBS: It's grown considerably, the attacks are escalating, and yet U.S. military forces, the Bush administration insists that we are winning the war in Iraq. How can that be?

GRANGE: Well, I do believe we're winning the war. What you don't see is a lot of the effort that's going on. I really think, Lou, that after this election, you're going to start seeing a decline in that insurgency. It's going to require removing the popular support, those that do support the insurgency, away from the insurgents, and that has to be with Iraqis, military on the street and moving the presence of the U.S. off-set from the street but ready to pounce on and raid any sites they deem necessary to eliminate the threat as well.

DOBBS: General, as you know, I am as -- certainly as supportive of our troops as you are in Iraq, and I think that no one can be more supportive than you and I of our troops. I'm also extraordinarily, frankly, critical of the Pentagon. The leadership at this point -- we've lost over 1,400 Americans. We have 10,000 Americans wounded. The Pentagon continues and usually in the form of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to say that the violence will escalate at each one of the events that occurs, whether it's the handover, the run-up to the elections, the elections themselves, post-election. At what point is there such a breach of just straightforward relationship to facts that we have to examine precisely what is happening here on the part of military strategy for the good of our troops first and then for the good of the Iraqi people?

GRANGE: Well, I think what you're seeing is not anyone hiding the truth. I think what you're seeing is a miscalculation of the estimate of what the threat is and how it's changed over time and the requirement that it was a necessity to have many more troops there initially in a transition from maneuvered combat to the stability and support operations. During that void is where this thing built up and changed the landscape, the environment, the situation that we're experiencing right now. And it's -- I think there were poor calculations up front.

DOBBS: And do you believe that the Pentagon, the general staff, those in command of our fighting men and women in Iraq now have, if you will, if I can put it in the colloquial, do they now, in your best judgment, have their act together?

GRANGE: Yes, I do. I know many of the commanders on the ground that are running these operations. They are very proficient. I would trust any of my sons under their care. And I think they have a handle on it. And I think we'll see improvement.

DOBBS: Outstanding. If General Grange says that there is going to be improvement, I'll take that to the bank. We appreciate it. Thank you, General David Grange.

IN CONTRAST TO an article that appears on Michael Moore Dot Calm:

Pentagon covers up failure to train and recruit local security forces
By Andrew Buncombe /
The Independent
Training of Iraq's security forces, crucial to any exit strategy for Britain and the US, is going so badly that the Pentagon has stopped giving figures for the number of combat-ready indigenous troops, The Independent on Sunday has learned.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1413

Michael Moore Today

Gold Star Families for Peace
We as families of soldiers who have died as a result of war are organizing to be a positive force in our world to bring our country’s sons and daughters home from Iraq, to minimize the “human cost” of this war, and to prevent other families from the pain we are feeling as the result of our losses. We are also hoping to be lifetime support for each other through our losses.

http://www.gsfp.org/

REGRETFULLY, LAURA
THE MARCH OF FREEDOM
The Bush administration came under pressure on Thursday to
make public the full classified version of a report from the 9/11 commission that is critical of the government's failure to heed aviation threats before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php

Iraqi Security Force Cover-Up at Pentagon?

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Rumsfeld Watches as Iraqis Learn to Fight Insurgency
By Josh White /
Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Feb. 11 -- The sharp blast echoed from a cluster of buildings and trees in the morning sunshine, and almost simultaneously the target crumpled nearly 1,000 feet away. Helicopters roared in and soldier after soldier slithered down a rope onto a stone building. Armored vehicles followed, as did flashes and bangs and smoke and gunshots.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1412

At Least 18 Killed In Iraq Violence
By Luke Baker /
Reuters
BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber killed 18 people near a hospital south of Baghdad on Saturday amid a surge of violence by Iraq's mostly Sunni Muslim insurgents ahead of Ashura, the holiest festival on the Shi'ite religious calendar.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1411

Bush Doctrine Gets a Nuclear Reaction
Editorial /
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Under the Bush Doctrine, the United States will "not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most dangerous weapons," as the president explained his policy. Those words "will not permit" were carefully selected, carrying the clear and very intentional message that military force will be used to correct such situations if necessary.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1398

The Los Angeles Times

Postelection Optimism Ebbing in Iraq

With no official results and a surge in violence, some wonder whether even a new government can make a difference. Others hold on to hope.
BAGHDAD — Two weeks after Iraq's first democratic election, hopes for a better future have given way in some quarters to pessimism, or at least to more limited expectations, as resurgent violence and a delay in the final tally have added to political uncertainty.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-mood13feb13,0,3907101.story?coll=la-home-headlines

The Face of Mexico's Narco-Spy Scandal

AGUA PRIETA, Mexico — Nahum Acosta's rise from elementary school teacher in this hardscrabble border city to a prestigious job on President Vicente Fox's travel staff made him the epitome of "local boy makes good." And he never forgot his roots.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexmole13feb13,0,7806044.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Hunt for Fugitives Expands to Retirees
A computer dragnet of aid recipients has caught felons, but in many cases the sick and poor lost their lifeline. Social Security rolls are next.
WASHINGTON — A law enforcement measure that has had mixed results in hunting down fugitives among the nation's sick and disabled is expanding this year to target the much larger ranks of retired Americans.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fugitive13feb13,0,2021583.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Guardian Umlimited

Top police chiefs admit hunt ban won't work
Secret memos reveal growing fear of civil unrest
Mark Townsend, environment correspondent
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Britain's most senior police officers have raised grave concerns that the imminent hunting ban is unenforcable, will erode morale, and could precipitate large-scale civil unrest, internal documents obtained by The Observer reveal.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1411912,00.html

New Aids nightmare shocks US
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411916,00.html

Allies move in on top terrorist
Bigley's executioner 'holed up in Kirkuk' as death toll in Iraq resumes pre-election levels
Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Iraq's most wanted terrorist, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is hiding out in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk after fleeing from Mosul, according to police sources.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411802,00.html

Tsunami victims still wait for aid
Supplies to stricken Sri Lankans are blocked by bungling and corruption
Jason Burke in Galle
Sunday February 13, 2005
The Observer
Thousands of tsunami victims in Sri Lanka are still without aid, despite the biggest global humanitarian effort ever launched following a natural disaster. Tens of thousands more are receiving patchy assistance, because of government bureaucracy and corruption, poor co-ordination between aid agencies and inappropriate, rather than insufficient, supplies sent from the West.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1412033,00.html

Sex and the single robot
Jonathan Watts, East Asia correspondent
Wednesday February 2, 2005
The Guardian
Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1403780,00.html

The Daily Mail and Guardian

New Aids nightmare shocks US
13 February 2005 08:02

A strain of HIV that is highly resistant to almost all anti-retroviral drugs and which leads to the rapid onset of Aids has been detected in New York. Doctors and hospitals across the city have been placed on alert and told to test all new HIV cases for evidence of the strain.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197398&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

Judge lashes out at SA's prison crisis
12 February 2005 07:41

Were the SPCA to cram as many animals into a cage as inmates are packed into a prison cell, it would be prosecuted for animal cruelty, Pretoria High Court judge Eberhardt Bertelsmann said on Friday.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197395&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/

SA's water: how long will it last?
13 February 2005 08:02

South Africa urgently needs a well-funded institute to research water demand management.
This is the view of Pieter Pansegrouw, professor of civil engineering at Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, who wrote on the topic in the latest issue of Farmer's Weekly.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197402&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/

Sri Lanka accuses UK of poaching its doctors
13 February 2005 08:02

Sri Lanka - still recovering from the devastation of December's tsunami - has accused Britain of undermining its already embattled health service by failing to prevent hospitals luring away trained doctors and nurses to work in the UK.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=197399&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/

continued...
Indian fishermen stand on the coast of Tamil Nadu in southern India.
Posted by Hello

Morning Papers - concluding

The Cheney Observer

Cheney, celebrities in town for quail hunt

February 11, 2005
Albany- Vice President Cheney often comes to South Georgia to hunt.
This time he may be shooting beside other well-known Americans. The 19th Annual Quail Unlimited Celebrity Hunt is the biggest fundraiser the group has ever had.
The Vice President landed in Albany on

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=2937154&nav=5kZQWI76

Cheney's Fertilizer Nay Unnerves Inter-Korean Exchange Proponents

Dick Cheney(L) and Ban Ki-moon
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- Concern is growing here that inter-Korean exchange may be put on hold after U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney reportedly asked South Korea to suspend its fertilizer aid to North Korea.

According to the New York Times, Cheney called upon South Korea to stop its fertilizer aid to North Korea during his meeting in Washington with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050212/310000000020050212225334E4.html

Independent Media TV
Under Reported
February 12, 2005
Halliburton Contracts Illegal - Bush & Cheney Say So What

After millions of tax dollars were spent investigating how Halliburton ended up being awarded billions of dollar worth of no-bid contracts in Iraq, the Government Accounting Office determined that the company should never have been awarded the contracts in the first place.
In response to those findings, Cheney and Bush both, as much as thumbed their noses at tax payers as if to say "so what, what are you going to do about it?" Well, it's beginning to look like they were right, there is nothing we can do about it.

http://www.independent-media.tv/itemprint.cfm?fmedia_id=10399&fcategory_desc=Under

THIS IS RACIAL PROFILING. This is harassment of the New Iraqi Authority. Who requested this? Allawi? He nor Bush have any right to unseat the new Shi'ite leadership.

Shiites Win (Americans grill top Shia Leaders)
By Hamza Hendawi /
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) With a Shiite coalition set to take power in Iraq, American officials have begun grilling top Iraqi Shiite politicians to try to gauge the extent of their relationship with neighboring Iran, a predominantly Shiite nation ruled by its clergy.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1418

The New Zealand Herald

Tsunami may have revealed lost city

14.02.05 12.00pm
By Jan McGirk

The mighty Boxing Day tsunami has revealed what archaeologists believe to be the lost ruins of an ancient city off the coast of Tamil Nadu in southern India.
The 30-metre waves, which reshaped the Bay of Bengal and swept more than 16,000 Indians to their death, shifted thousands of tonnes of sand to unearth a pair of elaborately carved stone lions and a stallion near the famous 7th century Dravidian temple on the coast at Mahabalipuram, south of Madras.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010991

Two powerful cyclones born near Samoa

14.02.05 10.30am

Two powerful tropical cyclones were born near Samoa early today, with weather authorities warning people to prepare for damaging storms.
The Tropical Cyclone Centre in Fiji said Cyclone Olaf had formed north-east of Samoa and was developing strongly. Early today it was 426 nautical miles east of the capital Apia.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010987

Israel to release 500 Palestinian prisoners

14.02.05 12.00pm
By Eric Silver

JERUSALEM - Israel approved the release of 500 Palestinian prisoners yesterday in what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called a goodwill gesture to bolster new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and build mutual trust.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010988

Cloud over Dresden's 60-year reflection

Dresden residents march to honour more than 35,000 who died, while also making a statement against far right attempts to hijack the 60th anniversary of the bombings. Picture / Reuters

14.02.05

DRESDEN - Sixty years after the Dresden bombings, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pledged to stop far-right groups exploiting the anniversary and portraying Germany as a war victim while ignoring Nazi atrocities.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010931

Former Australian Guantanamo Bay detainee details abuse

14.02.05 11.15am

CANBERRA - Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib has spoken during his first Australian interview of a systematic regime of physical and mental abuse suffered in detention.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010983

Iran tells US not to 'play with fire'

14.02.05

Iran warned the United States on Sunday not to attack its nuclear facilities and said talks with European nations might produce a deal to defuse the dispute.
"They know our capabilities. We have clearly told the Europeans to tell Americans not to play with fire," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news briefinG.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010947

Sub captain blamed for undersea accident

14.02.05

The United States Navy has relieved from command the captain of a nuclear-powered submarine that rammed into an undersea mountain in the Pacific last month, killing one crew member and injuring 98 others.


Commander Kevin Mooney was removed for failing to follow crucial navigational procedures before the USS San Francisco crashed into the mountain.

The Navy said investigators found "several critical navigational and voyage planning procedures were not being implemented" aboard the submarine.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010935

Missionary killed in Amazon state

14.02.05

An American missionary has been shot to death in the Amazon state of Para, less then a week after she accused loggers and ranchers of threatening to kill rural workers, authorities said.
Dorothy Stang, 74, was accompanying a group of peasants to a meeting with other local workers when they were attacked near the jungle town of Anapu, about 2100km north of Sao Paulo.
Police said she was shot three times in the face. Two suspects had been taken into custody.
Stang had lived in Brazil since the early 1960s. She was an outspoken critic of efforts by loggers and large landowners to expropriate lands and clear the Amazon rainforest.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010932

Michael Richardson: Oil-seeking China steps on US toes
The United States has long regarded Central and South America as part of its backyard; and Canada as an extension of its front porch.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10010884

Maramena Roderick: True Maori power lies behind men seated in the front row

So, women are a slighted gender in the Maori world, are we?
The hoopla over the unfairness of women being seated behind men on a marae brought home yet again the chasm that exists between Maori and Pakeha.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10010863

Editorial: Nuclear risk must not be ignored

14.02.05

John Kerry, during his unsuccessful challenge for the United States presidency, voiced the view that nuclear proliferation was the greatest threat facing the world. Few queried his opinion but, with events in Iraq occupying Americans, few awarded it much attention. Now, however, confirmation of Mr Kerry's fears has arrived with North Korea's admission that it has nuclear weapons.

Those in the know were not surprised by the disclosure. US policy towards the communist state has for some time assumed nuclear arms - and the likelihood that a million or more may die if an all-out war were to break out on the Korean peninsula. But Pyongyang's admission provides a timely warning that proliferation is no longer an issue that can remain on the international backburner.

… Equally, however, the Korean admission represents the first time a rogue state has possessed nuclear weapons - and threatened global nuclear stability. The international community must react effectively. President George W. Bush has placed his faith in the six-nation talks, rather than embarking on bilateral negotiations or calling on the United Nations. His hope is that North Korea's neighbours - China in particular - can bring a strong influence to bear. But most immediately, that sway is having to be used just to get the Koreans back to the negotiating table.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10010859


Diesel spill almost cleared

14.02.05 1.00pm

A cleanup effort following a spill of up to 10,000 litres of diesel into Christchurch's Heathcote River was today almost complete as investigators prepared to speak to those responsible.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10010994


The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:

Scott Base

Cloudy

-2.0°

Updated Monday 14 Feb 9:59AM

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:

28 °F / -2 °C
MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES WITH INCREASING CLOUDS THROUGH THE EVENING.

Humidity:
69%

Dew Point:
19 °F / -7 °C

Wind:
Calm

Pressure:
30.15 in / 1021 hPa

Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV:
0 out of 12

Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 3800 ft / 1158 m

EAST WINDS TO 15 MPH.
World Press Photo of the Year 2004 - the earth became untrustworthy Posted by Hello
Fatah al-Sheikh campaigning in Iraqi elections Posted by Hello