Brookfield Zoo Wind Chime, Chicago.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Morning Papers - concluded
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Snow
-20.0°
Updated Friday 24 Jun 8:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
39 °F / 4 °C
Clear
Windchill:
37 °F / 3 °C
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
36 °F / 2 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the NNW
Pressure:
29.99 in / 1016 hPa
Visibility:
1.0 miles / 1.6 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Clear -
end
Scott Base
Snow
-20.0°
Updated Friday 24 Jun 8:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
39 °F / 4 °C
Clear
Windchill:
37 °F / 3 °C
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
36 °F / 2 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the NNW
Pressure:
29.99 in / 1016 hPa
Visibility:
1.0 miles / 1.6 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Clear -
end
Three blazes char thousands of acres
June 24, 2005. California Wild Fires. Amanda Lucidon / The Press-Enterprise Joe Popular, 75, and his wife, Viktoria, 73, of Morongo, examine the charred remains of their greenhouse.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Crowing"
"Okeydoke"
History . . .
June 23 . . .
1668, Giambattista Vico, philosopher of history
1888, Anna Akhmatova, poet
1894, Alfred Kinsey, sex researcher
1912, Alan Turing, mathematician
1927, Bob Fosse, choreographer and director
1940, Wilma Glodean Rudolph, American track-and-field athlete, who was the first American woman to win three track-and-field gold medals at a single Olympic Games. Born in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee, Rudolph was educated at Tennessee State University. Although she contracted double pneumonia, polio, and scarlet fever at the age of 4 and could not walk normally until the age of 11, she became an outstanding basketball player in high school and competed in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, winning a bronze medal in the 4 x 100-meter relay race. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, she won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and ran the anchor (last) leg on the winning 4 x 100-meter relay team. In 1961 she won the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award, given annually by the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU) to the nation's top amateur athlete. Rudolph retired from competitive sports that same year and later became a teacher and coach.
1943, James Levine, conductor and pianist
1611, The mutinous crew of English explorer Henry Hudson, after a harsh winter with their ship frozen in Hudson Bay, puts Hudson and eight others adrift in a small boat. They are never seen again.
1845, The Congress of the Republic of Texas agrees to join the United States, following the wishes of the republic's leading figure, Sam Houston.
1848, During a year of revolution throughout Europe, French working-class radicals clash with government forces in the first of the June Days, in which thousands of workmen are killed.
1868, Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for his "Type-Writer."
1888, abolitionist Frederick Douglass received one vote from the Kentucky delegation at the Republican convention in Chicago, effectively making him the first black candidate nominated for U.S. president. (The nomination went to Benjamin Harrison.)
1892, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago nominated former President Cleveland on the first ballot.
1917: After Boston pitcher Babe Ruth is ejected for arguing the base on balls given to the first game's first batter, reliever Ernie Shore retires 27 straight men and is credited with a perfect game.
1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.
1938, the Civil Aeronautics Authority was established.
1947, Despite the veto of President Harry Truman, the U.S. Congress passes the Taft-Hartley Act, which significantly restricts the ability of labor unions to organize.
1961, The Antarctic Treaty (signed December 1, 1959) comes into effect. It pledges the 12 signatory nations to nonpolitical, scientific investigation of the continent and bars any military activity.
1967, President Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin held the first of two meetings in Glassboro, N.J.
1969, Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief U.S. justice by the man he was succeeding, Earl Warren.
1985, all 329 people aboard an Air- India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland, apparently because of a bomb.
1994, The Nigerian military regime led by Sani Abacha arrests Moshood Abiola after he declares himself president of the country. Abiola was the apparent winner of the suspended presidential election in 1993.
Missing in Action
1966 BELKNAP HARRY JOHN JONAS RIDGE NC
1966 NYMAN LAWRENCE F. ABERDEEN WA
1968 BOOTH JAMES E. ROSEVILLE CA "DEAD, VIETNAM COURIER"
1968 CASEY DONALD F. CHATTANOOGA TN "DEAD, VIETNAM COURIER"
1969 CONDIT WILLIAM H. JR. WORTHINGTON OH REMAINS ID'D 06/24/98
1969 REED TERRY MICHAEL RANDOLPH AFB TX REMAINS ID'D 06/24/98
1969 SAGE LELAND C. WAUKEGAN IL
1970 PHILLIPS ROBERT P. SYLVANIA OH
1970 PEDERSON JOE P. SEASIDE CA
1970 ROZO JAMES M. BUFFALO NY
June 22 . . .
1903, Carl Hubbell, baseball pitcher
1906, Billy Wilder, American motion-picture director, writer, and producer, whose best films—usually comedies—employ his distinctive dialogue to elucidate a darkly satirical view of human nature. Born Samuel Wilder in Vienna, Austria, he later moved to Berlin, Germany, where he worked first as a journalist and then as a screenwriter. Wilder left Germany after Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, and in 1934 he immigrated to the United States, later becoming a U.S. citizen. Beginning in 1937, Wilder found his initial niche in Hollywood, California, as a screenwriter. From 1938 he teamed with American screenwriter Charles Brackett, with whom he was to carry on a long and successful collaboration until 1950. Together they wrote such memorably sophisticated screenplays as those for Midnight (1939), Ninotchka (1939), Arise, My Love (1940), Hold Back the Dawn (1941), and Ball of Fire (1941). Although the screenplays were well received, Wilder was increasingly dissatisfied with the way they were directed, so, following in the footsteps of American director Preston Sturges (who had also begun as a writer), he succeeded in persuading the studio to let him direct his own scripts.
1909, Katherine Dunham, dancer and choreographer
1933, Dianne Feinstein, U.S. senator
1947, Jerry Rawlings, Ghanaian president
1949, Meryl Streep, actor
1611, English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and several other people were set adrift in present-day Hudson Bay by mutineers.
1870, Congress created the Department of Justice.
1938: Two years after Adolf Hitler took German boxer Max Schmeling's defeat of American Joe Louis as a sign of Nazi superiority, Louis defeats Schmeling in their rematch by knocking him out in the first round.
1938, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocked out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch at Yankee Stadium.
1940, during World War II, Adolf Hitler gained a stunning victory as France was forced to sign an armistice eight days after German forces overran Paris.
1941: Breaking the nonaggression pact signed by the two countries in 1939, Germany invades the Soviet Union, sending over 3 million troops across the border.
1944, President Roosevelt signed the Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the "GI Bill of Rights," which provides tuition, low-interest mortgages, and other benefits to veterans.
1945, the World War II battle for Okinawa officially ended; 12,520 Americans and 110,000 Japanese were killed in the 81-day campaign.
1970, President Nixon signed a measure lowering the voting age to 18.
1977: Former attorney general John Mitchell begins serving his sentence for his role in the Watergate break-in and cover-up, becoming the first U.S. attorney general to go to prison.
1978: The U.S. astronomer James W. Christy discovers that the planet Pluto has a moon more than half its diameter, which he names Charon.
Missing in Action
1966 SMITH WARREN P. JR. PASADENA TX
1967 PIRIE JAMES GLENN TUSCALOOSA AL 02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV DECEASED 05/09/98
1969 ENGELHARD ERIC CARL BELLBROOK OH 04/01/74 REMAINS RECOVERED
1969 ROBERSON JOHN W. MALAKOFF TX
1969 SEAGROVES MICHAEL ANTHONY CHICAGO IL 04/01/74 REMAINS RECOVERED
1970 EARLE JOHN S. WESTFIELD MA
1970 GUMBERT ROBERT W. JR. NEW RICHMOND OH
1971 STROHLEIN MADISON A. PHILADELPHIA PA INDICATIONS OF SHOOTOUT WITH NVA
continued . . .
"Okeydoke"
History . . .
June 23 . . .
1668, Giambattista Vico, philosopher of history
1888, Anna Akhmatova, poet
1894, Alfred Kinsey, sex researcher
1912, Alan Turing, mathematician
1927, Bob Fosse, choreographer and director
1940, Wilma Glodean Rudolph, American track-and-field athlete, who was the first American woman to win three track-and-field gold medals at a single Olympic Games. Born in Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee, Rudolph was educated at Tennessee State University. Although she contracted double pneumonia, polio, and scarlet fever at the age of 4 and could not walk normally until the age of 11, she became an outstanding basketball player in high school and competed in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, winning a bronze medal in the 4 x 100-meter relay race. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, she won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes and ran the anchor (last) leg on the winning 4 x 100-meter relay team. In 1961 she won the James E. Sullivan Memorial Award, given annually by the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU) to the nation's top amateur athlete. Rudolph retired from competitive sports that same year and later became a teacher and coach.
1943, James Levine, conductor and pianist
1611, The mutinous crew of English explorer Henry Hudson, after a harsh winter with their ship frozen in Hudson Bay, puts Hudson and eight others adrift in a small boat. They are never seen again.
1845, The Congress of the Republic of Texas agrees to join the United States, following the wishes of the republic's leading figure, Sam Houston.
1848, During a year of revolution throughout Europe, French working-class radicals clash with government forces in the first of the June Days, in which thousands of workmen are killed.
1868, Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for his "Type-Writer."
1888, abolitionist Frederick Douglass received one vote from the Kentucky delegation at the Republican convention in Chicago, effectively making him the first black candidate nominated for U.S. president. (The nomination went to Benjamin Harrison.)
1892, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago nominated former President Cleveland on the first ballot.
1917: After Boston pitcher Babe Ruth is ejected for arguing the base on balls given to the first game's first batter, reliever Ernie Shore retires 27 straight men and is credited with a perfect game.
1931, aviators Wiley Post and Harold Gatty took off from New York on the first round-the-world flight in a single-engine plane.
1938, the Civil Aeronautics Authority was established.
1947, Despite the veto of President Harry Truman, the U.S. Congress passes the Taft-Hartley Act, which significantly restricts the ability of labor unions to organize.
1961, The Antarctic Treaty (signed December 1, 1959) comes into effect. It pledges the 12 signatory nations to nonpolitical, scientific investigation of the continent and bars any military activity.
1967, President Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin held the first of two meetings in Glassboro, N.J.
1969, Warren E. Burger was sworn in as chief U.S. justice by the man he was succeeding, Earl Warren.
1985, all 329 people aboard an Air- India Boeing 747 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland, apparently because of a bomb.
1994, The Nigerian military regime led by Sani Abacha arrests Moshood Abiola after he declares himself president of the country. Abiola was the apparent winner of the suspended presidential election in 1993.
Missing in Action
1966 BELKNAP HARRY JOHN JONAS RIDGE NC
1966 NYMAN LAWRENCE F. ABERDEEN WA
1968 BOOTH JAMES E. ROSEVILLE CA "DEAD, VIETNAM COURIER"
1968 CASEY DONALD F. CHATTANOOGA TN "DEAD, VIETNAM COURIER"
1969 CONDIT WILLIAM H. JR. WORTHINGTON OH REMAINS ID'D 06/24/98
1969 REED TERRY MICHAEL RANDOLPH AFB TX REMAINS ID'D 06/24/98
1969 SAGE LELAND C. WAUKEGAN IL
1970 PHILLIPS ROBERT P. SYLVANIA OH
1970 PEDERSON JOE P. SEASIDE CA
1970 ROZO JAMES M. BUFFALO NY
June 22 . . .
1903, Carl Hubbell, baseball pitcher
1906, Billy Wilder, American motion-picture director, writer, and producer, whose best films—usually comedies—employ his distinctive dialogue to elucidate a darkly satirical view of human nature. Born Samuel Wilder in Vienna, Austria, he later moved to Berlin, Germany, where he worked first as a journalist and then as a screenwriter. Wilder left Germany after Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, and in 1934 he immigrated to the United States, later becoming a U.S. citizen. Beginning in 1937, Wilder found his initial niche in Hollywood, California, as a screenwriter. From 1938 he teamed with American screenwriter Charles Brackett, with whom he was to carry on a long and successful collaboration until 1950. Together they wrote such memorably sophisticated screenplays as those for Midnight (1939), Ninotchka (1939), Arise, My Love (1940), Hold Back the Dawn (1941), and Ball of Fire (1941). Although the screenplays were well received, Wilder was increasingly dissatisfied with the way they were directed, so, following in the footsteps of American director Preston Sturges (who had also begun as a writer), he succeeded in persuading the studio to let him direct his own scripts.
1909, Katherine Dunham, dancer and choreographer
1933, Dianne Feinstein, U.S. senator
1947, Jerry Rawlings, Ghanaian president
1949, Meryl Streep, actor
1611, English explorer Henry Hudson, his son and several other people were set adrift in present-day Hudson Bay by mutineers.
1870, Congress created the Department of Justice.
1938: Two years after Adolf Hitler took German boxer Max Schmeling's defeat of American Joe Louis as a sign of Nazi superiority, Louis defeats Schmeling in their rematch by knocking him out in the first round.
1938, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis knocked out Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch at Yankee Stadium.
1940, during World War II, Adolf Hitler gained a stunning victory as France was forced to sign an armistice eight days after German forces overran Paris.
1941: Breaking the nonaggression pact signed by the two countries in 1939, Germany invades the Soviet Union, sending over 3 million troops across the border.
1944, President Roosevelt signed the Readjustment Act of 1944, more popularly known as the "GI Bill of Rights," which provides tuition, low-interest mortgages, and other benefits to veterans.
1945, the World War II battle for Okinawa officially ended; 12,520 Americans and 110,000 Japanese were killed in the 81-day campaign.
1970, President Nixon signed a measure lowering the voting age to 18.
1977: Former attorney general John Mitchell begins serving his sentence for his role in the Watergate break-in and cover-up, becoming the first U.S. attorney general to go to prison.
1978: The U.S. astronomer James W. Christy discovers that the planet Pluto has a moon more than half its diameter, which he names Charon.
Missing in Action
1966 SMITH WARREN P. JR. PASADENA TX
1967 PIRIE JAMES GLENN TUSCALOOSA AL 02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV DECEASED 05/09/98
1969 ENGELHARD ERIC CARL BELLBROOK OH 04/01/74 REMAINS RECOVERED
1969 ROBERSON JOHN W. MALAKOFF TX
1969 SEAGROVES MICHAEL ANTHONY CHICAGO IL 04/01/74 REMAINS RECOVERED
1970 EARLE JOHN S. WESTFIELD MA
1970 GUMBERT ROBERT W. JR. NEW RICHMOND OH
1971 STROHLEIN MADISON A. PHILADELPHIA PA INDICATIONS OF SHOOTOUT WITH NVA
continued . . .
Morning Papers - continued...
The Guardian
THE BUSH/BLAIR rhetoric cannot even be supported by their own intelligence.
Baghdad bombings kill 38
Agencies
Thursday June 23, 2005
A wounded man is rushed to hospital in Baghdad. Photograph: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty
At least 38 people were killed in eight Baghdad car bombings over a 12-hour period, police said today.
Three of the blasts happened at dawn, killing 15 people in a central Baghdad shopping district. The explosions, in the Karrada area, targeted a Shia mosque, a police patrol, and a public bath house.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1512831,00.html
Iraq creating new breed of jihadists, says CIA
Ewen MacAskill, Duncan Campbell and Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday June 23, 2005
The Guardian
The war in Iraq is creating a new breed of Islamic jihadists who could go on to destabilise other countries, according to a CIA report.
The CIA believes Iraq to be potentially worse than Afghanistan, which produced thousands of jihadists in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the recruits to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida had fought in Afghanistan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1512597,00.html
Blinded by the light at the end of the tunnel
The American public is increasingly disillusioned by the Iraq war, and Bush's triumphalism only makes things worse
Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday June 23, 2005
The Guardian
On June 21, network news reported that the Pentagon had claimed that 47 enemy operatives had been killed in Operation Spear in western Iraq. Last month, the Pentagon declared 125 had been killed in Operation Matador, near the Syrian border. "We don't do body counts on other people," Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defence, stated in November 2003.
...Bush's Iraq syndrome is a reinvention of Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam syndrome. In December 1967, Walt Rostow, LBJ's national security adviser, famously declared about the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese: "Their casualties are going up at a rate they cannot sustain ... I see light at the end of the tunnel." The official invitation to the New Year's Eve party at the US embassy in Saigon read: "Come see the light at the end of the tunnel." The Tet offensive struck a month later.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1512412,00.html
The story of Africa through the lives of 10 children born in 2005
Will the world keep its promises to them? And what can you do?
June 21 2005: The United Nations has set ambitious goals for development - poverty, health and education - by 2015. If these mean anything, Africa's children will be leading better lives. The decisions made by the G8 leaders in Gleneagles next month will shape the life chances of a generation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/10babies/0,16105,1511167,00.html
The Boston Globe
Rumsfeld rejects notion Iraq war is a 'quagmire'
By Will Dunham June 23, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday rejected a senator's assertion the Iraq war had become a quagmire, but warned Iraq's government not to delay political developments such as drafting a constitution.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/23/rumsfeld_rejects_notion_iraq_war_is_a_quagmire/
French luxury store apologizes to Oprah
Television talk show host Oprah Winfrey addresses reporters as part of the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Jan. 23, 2005, in the Universal City section of Los Angeles. The luxury store Hermes has apologized to Winfrey for turning her away from one of its Paris boutiques on June 14, 2005, saying it was closed for a public relations event when she came knocking. (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
June 23, 2005
PARIS --The luxury store Hermes has apologized to Oprah Winfrey for turning her away from one of its Paris boutiques last week, saying it was closed for a public relations event when she came knocking.
http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2005/06/23/french_luxury_store_apologizes_to_oprah/
Romney says wife's health key factor as he weighs future
By Theo Emery, Associated Press Writer June 23, 2005
BOSTON --Gov. Mitt Romney, who's acknowledged that he's considering a presidential run, said his wife's health is a key factor as he decides his political future.
"Any reversal of her good health would almost certainly mean getting out of public office. I wouldn't run for another campaign, almost certainly," Romney said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/23/romney_says_wifes_health_key_factor_as_he_weighs_future/
Hospitals cut costs for uninsured
2 networks plan discounts of 15-50%
By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff June 23, 2005
Two of the state's largest hospital networks, Partners HealthCare and UMass Memorial Health Care, will no longer routinely charge uninsured patients full ''sticker price" for medical care, but instead will offer 15 to 50 percent discounts, in some cases as much as the mark-downs large health insurers receive.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/06/23/hospitals_cut_costs_for_uninsured/
Greenspan, Snow warn against China sanction
By Glenn Somerville June 23, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Trade sanctions against China won't protect U.S. jobs, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday, and he joined with Treasury Secretary John Snow in saying sanctions might backfire.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/06/23/greenspan_snow_warn_on_china_sanction_1119545030/
Jerusalem to ban annual gay pride parade
An Israeli soldier holds a rainbow-colored flag as hundreds of people participate in a gay pride parade in downtown Jerusalem in this photo from Thursday June 3, 2004. Jerusalem City Hall on Thursday, June 23, 2005 announced it would not allow the planned annual gay pride parade to go ahead next week, saying the march would offend many of the holy city's residents and set off unrest. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
By Gavin Rabinowitz, Associated Press Writer June 23, 2005
JERUSALEM --Jerusalem officials said Thursday they will ban the annual gay pride parade set for next week, claiming the march would offend many of the holy city's residents.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/06/23/jerusalem_to_ban_annual_gay_pride_parade/
The Arab News
Riyadh Pledges $1bn for Iraq Reconstruction
Abdullah Mustafa, Arab News
BRUSSELS, 23 June 2005 — Saudi Arabia yesterday emphasized its vision of an independent and unified Iraq and said it would extend $1 billion in the form of soft loans for the reconstruction of the war-torn country.
Addressing an international conference here, attended by over 80 governments and international institutions, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said Riyadh was also ready to write off part of Iraq’s debt burden.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65795&d=23&m=6&y=2005
Israel Revives Assassination Policy
Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News
JERUSALEM, 23 June 2005 — Israel has resumed an assassination policy against Islamic Jihad militants, as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas tried to rally international support yesterday after coming away with no tangible results from a summit with Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Abbas called American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Egypt President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan King Abdallah soon after the summit, as the Palestinians voiced exasperation over the Israeli premier’s hard-line attitude.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65796&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
US Was Big Spender in Days Before Iraq Handover
Reuters
WASHINGTON, 23 June 2005 — The United States handed out nearly $20 billion of Iraq’s funds, with a rush to spend billions in the final days before transferring power to the Iraqis nearly a year ago, a report said on Tuesday.
The report, by Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California, said in the week before the hand-over on June 28, 2004, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority ordered the urgent delivery of more than $4 billion in Iraqi funds from the US Federal Reserve in New York.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65807&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Iraqi Militants Release Filipino Accountant After 7 Months in Captivity
Julie Javellana-Santos, Arab News
MANILA, 23 June 2005 — Filipino accountant Roberto Tarongoy has finally been released after more than half a year as a captive of a militant group in Iraq.
Tarongoy was interviewed live over a national news program while at the Philippine Embassy in Iraq waiting for his flight to Manila.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65792&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
US Designs to Reshape ME ‘No Longer Secret’: Syria
Agence France Presse
DAMASCUS/BEIRUT, 23 June 2005 — Syria’s state-run radio yesterday lashed out at US accusations of Syrian involvement in a Lebanese politician’s murder and said Washington’s designs to reshape the Middle East were no longer a secret. “The American-Israeli objective is no longer a secret,” said Damascus Radio. “All the countries and peoples, Arabs and foreigners, have found out the scope of the plan drawn up for the region,” it said.
“The statements made by US officials, especially those of (Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice making accusations against Syria ... no longer fool anyone,” the radio said in its daily commentary.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65797&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Iran Moderates Fan ‘Extremist’ Fears to Swing Vote
Stuart Williams, Agence France Presse
TEHRAN, 23 June 2005 — The camp of moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani made a last-ditch effort yesterday to sway undecided voters in Iran’s tense presidential election, saying his rival was a reactionary extremist bent on overturning reform. With the outcome of Friday’s vote too close to call, Rafsanjani and ultra-conservative Tehran Mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad had one last day of legal campaigning to swing one of the most crucial elections in the Islamic republic’s history.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65817&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Pakistan Denies Violating Bus Agreement
Agence France Presse
ISLAMABAD/SRINAGAR, 23 June 2005 — Islamabad yesterday dismissed New Delhi’s complaints that a visit by moderate separatists from Indian Kashmir to Pakistan violated a travel agreement on a new bus service across the Himalayan region.
“We saw the visit as part of the peace process between Pakistan and India,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said, rejecting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s criticism.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65819&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Mukhtaran Mai toGet Back Passport
Huma Aamir Malik, Arab News
ISLAMABAD, 23 June 2005 — Pakistan government has agreed to return passport to gang rape victim, Mukhtaran Mai, who won world acclaim for her pursuit of justice, sources said.
The government has already lifted a controversial ban on Mukhtaran leaving the country. Pakistan had slapped the travel ban on Mukhtaran, prompting fresh international outrage.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65821&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Crude Oil Rates
22 June 2005
$ per barrel
Brent
56.58
US Oil
58.09
Los Angeles Times
Ex-Klansman Gets 60 Years for 1964 Civil Rights Killings
Edgar Ray Killen, 80, gets the maximum penalty for the manslaughter of three men.
By Michael Muskal, Times Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. -- Edgar Ray Killen received the maximum sentence this morning, three consecutive 20-year terms, for the killings of three civil rights workers in 1964.
Wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit and sitting in a wheelchair, the 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman reacted without emotion as Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon effectively sentenced the preacher to spend the rest of his life in prison.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-062305killen_lat,0,47493.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Wildfires Destroy 7 Homes, Burn 3,000 Acres
By Susana Enriquez and Lance Pugmire, Times Staff Writers
MORONGO VALLEY, Calif. -- The wildfires in Southern California that have destroyed seven structures and blackened the California desert subsided today, with officials hopeful that the blazes can be curbed.
Using satellite imagery, officials scaled back earlier estimates and reported 3,022 acres burned.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-062305fires_lat,0,3264126.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Many in Brazil See Their Amazon as a Jungle of Foreign Intrigue
Suspicions run wild that 'hegemonic' powers like the U.S. have designs on the vast, rich region.
By Henry Chu, Times Staff Writer
BELEM, Brazil — Afghanistan was the first to fall. Iraq, with all that oil, was next. And Socorro Leite says she has a fair idea of what else lies in the sights of the American imperialists.
"Soon," she warns, "their target will be the Amazon."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-paranoia23jun23,0,3071305.story?coll=la-home-world
Anglicans May Target Firms Seen as Anti-Palestinian
A plan calls for churches to urge companies in their investment portfolios to end activities that support the Israeli occupation.
By Sarah Price Brown, Times Staff Writer
LONDON — The worldwide association of Anglican churches will consider a controversial report Friday that calls for companies in its investment portfolios to drop any business activity supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The Anglican Consultative Council, the association's policymaking body, will discuss at its 10-day meeting underway in Nottingham, England, whether to recommend the proposal to the Anglican Communion. The communion comprises 77 million members belonging to the Church of England, the U.S. Episcopal Church and three dozen related churches.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-anglicans23jun23,0,649940.story?coll=la-home-world
Vietnam News
Party leader addresses concerns
(23-06-2005)
Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh meets with resident of Cau Giay District, Ha Noi. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Xuan Tuan
HA NOI —The hardest but most necessary element in the struggle against corruption is teaching people how to prevent it, said Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh yesterday.
Raising awareness of corruption and graft will help avoid future corruption, bureaucracy, wastefulness and other negative phenomena, Manh told residents of Cau Giay District at a meeting organised by Ha Noi’s National Assembly delegation and the municipal Fatherland Front Committee.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=03POL230605
Talks, visit to US bodes well for bilateral co-operation: PM Khai
(23-06-2005)
PM Khai and US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez witness the signing of a contract for Vietnam Airlines’ purchase of four Boeing Dreamliner aircraft. — VNA/VNS Photo The Thuan
WASHINGTON — Talks between Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President George W Bush are a positive sign of increasing bilateral co-operation, the PM told a US business group on Tuesday.
The talks also mean a future of equitable relations, respect for each other and co-operation for mutual interests, Khai said at a meeting that gathered representatives from US business sectors.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02POL230605
South set for transportation overhaul
(23-06-2005)
HCM CITY — A series of major transportation facilities will be built in the southern region between now and 2010, including Viet Nam’s first metro system, according to a plan revealed by Minister of Transport Dao Dinh Binh.
An underground rail network which will link Ben Thanh in downtown HCM City to the city of Bien Hoa in Dong Nai province is estimated to cost around US$620 million, which will be generated from various sources, including government bond issues, Binh said at a press briefing in HCM City.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=12ECO230605
Govt policy to offer insured patients more medical benefits
(23-06-2005)
Nurses taking care of patients in Hong Giang Commune in Luc Ngan District of northern Bac Giang Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Na.
HCM CITY — Insured Vietnamese patients currently pay 20 per cent of medical treatment costs, with the remainder paid by the Viet Nam Social Insurance Agency. But the Government’s newly-issued health insurance policy, which takes effect July 1, will change that.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=03POP230605
Drinking water projects keep rural people safe
(22-06-2005)
Ethnic minority women collect clean water from a tap in K’Lip B Village in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. — VNA/VNS Photo Sy Huynh
HA NOI — Over 40 million people residing in rural areas will have benefited by the end of this year from a national programme to supply safe drinking water, said National Centre for Safe Water and Rural Hygiene director Le Van Can.
Can said this result is the outcome of a national programme on rural water safety and hygiene, now in its seventh year.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=05SOC220605
Domestic tourism heats up the summer
(19-06-2005)
With prosperity comes leisure time, and more upscale Vietnamese are now shelling out the Dong for luxury vacations. Van Anh sits by the pool.
Ngo Thu Hang settles back in her armchair, gazing out at the white sandy beach of Sam Son in the central province of Thanh Hoa. Her husband and four-year-old son romp playfully at the water’s edge. Having arrived at Van Chai Resort a few days prior, the 38-year-old director of a private furniture design company says being close to the sea nourishes the imagination needed in her work.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01SUN190605
New York Times
Greenspan: China Tariffs Won't Help U.S.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 23, 2005
Filed at 5:18 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Congress on Thursday not to rush to impose punitive tariffs on imports from China, saying they would harm U.S. consumers and protect ''few if any American jobs.''
It marked Greenspan's most blunt assessment to date that currency-related legislation that has attracted support from two-thirds of the Senate would harm the U.S. economy by driving up prices for the Chinese products Americans crave.
He said a move toward protectionism in the world's largest economy could also unsettle global financial markets while doing little to protect jobs in this country.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Greenspan-China.html?hp&ex=1119585600&en=fca087b716eeefc5&ei=5094&partner=homepage
G.E. Revamps Businesses and Names 3 New Chiefs
By JENNIFER BAYOT
Published: June 23, 2005
The General Electric Company announced today that it would reorganize its 11 businesses into six broader units, in its largest sweep of changes since Jeffrey R. Immelt became chief executive in 2001.
The moves also reshuffled the next-to-highest tier of leadership at the company, bringing the appointment of three new vice chairmen as two executives announced their retirements as expected.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/business/23cnd-elec.html
World View of U.S. Improves Slightly, Except Among Muslims
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
International Herald Tribune
Published: June 23, 2005
The anti-Americanism that surged through much of the world over the American-led war in Iraq shows modest signs of abating, although distinctly negative views persist in the Muslim world, according to a major new international opinion poll.
The snapshot of world opinions emerged from a Pew Global Attitudes Survey of nearly 17,000 people in the United States and 15 other countries: Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Spain and Turkey.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/international/23cnd-poll.html
Air Force Academy Staff Found Promoting Religion
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: June 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 22 - An Air Force panel sent to investigate the religious climate at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs found evidence that officers and faculty members periodically used their positions to promote their Christian beliefs and failed to accommodate the religious needs of non-Christian cadets, its leader said Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/politics/23academy.html
Ford Plans to Cut 5% of Salaried Work Force
By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: June 22, 2005
DETROIT, June 21 - The Ford Motor Company said Tuesday that it would cut 5 percent, or about 1,700, of its white-collar jobs in North America. It also said it would no longer give bonuses to managers or make matching contributions to the 401(k) plans of salaried employees.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/automobiles/22ford.html
Haaretz
Jewish officials pleased by Klansman's conviction
By Shlomo Shamir
NEW YORK - Senior Jewish officials in New York expressed satisfaction yesterday at this week's conviction of a one-time Ku Klux Klansman in the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.
The jury convicted Edgar Ray Killen of manslaughter Tuesday, dismissing the more serious charge of murder. Killen, who is 80 and uses a wheelchair, was found guilty of planning the killings, carrying them out and hiding the bodies. Sentencing is set for today.
Killen's conviction is an act of justice and a reversal of inequality that has particular resonance for Jews and blacks in the United States, said Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which runs programs on black-Jewish relations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/591190.html
Right-wing activists holed up in Gush Katif hotel
By Amos Harel and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents
Right-wing activists residing in the Maoz Hayam Hotel, in Gush Katif, were holed up in the hotel on Thursday night, fearing that security forces would enter in the middle of the night and evacuate them from the site.
Military and police sources refused to confirm that an operation was planned for late Thursday night.
The fact that activists were residing in the hotel was raised in recent days in talks among the high echelons of the defense establishment, due to growing concerns regarding the assembly of activists and a violent incident that occurred near the hotel recently.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/591617.html
Mofaz: PA may get security control of Bethlehem next week
By Amos Harel and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday told senior military officials to prepare for the likelihood that the West Bank city of Bethlehem will be transferred to Palestinian Authority security control next week.
"If things go as planned," Mofaz said, "we will also transfer Qalqilyah a week later."
Israel Defense Forces soldiers Thursday began evacuate outposts in the center of the West Bank city of Hebron, which were set up following the outbreak of the intifada in late 2000.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/591246.html
Steinitz wants Knesset okay for Egyptian troops on Gaza border
By Gideon Alon and Amos Harel, Haareetz Correspondents
Senior lawmakers, including the head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval Steinitz, demanded Thursday that an agreement with Egypt for the deployment of 800 of its troops along the Gaza-Egypt border be approved by the Knesset.
The Egyptian policemen would be placed along the Philadelphi Route following Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in August.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/591602.html
continued . . .
THE BUSH/BLAIR rhetoric cannot even be supported by their own intelligence.
Baghdad bombings kill 38
Agencies
Thursday June 23, 2005
A wounded man is rushed to hospital in Baghdad. Photograph: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty
At least 38 people were killed in eight Baghdad car bombings over a 12-hour period, police said today.
Three of the blasts happened at dawn, killing 15 people in a central Baghdad shopping district. The explosions, in the Karrada area, targeted a Shia mosque, a police patrol, and a public bath house.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1512831,00.html
Iraq creating new breed of jihadists, says CIA
Ewen MacAskill, Duncan Campbell and Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday June 23, 2005
The Guardian
The war in Iraq is creating a new breed of Islamic jihadists who could go on to destabilise other countries, according to a CIA report.
The CIA believes Iraq to be potentially worse than Afghanistan, which produced thousands of jihadists in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the recruits to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida had fought in Afghanistan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1512597,00.html
Blinded by the light at the end of the tunnel
The American public is increasingly disillusioned by the Iraq war, and Bush's triumphalism only makes things worse
Sidney Blumenthal
Thursday June 23, 2005
The Guardian
On June 21, network news reported that the Pentagon had claimed that 47 enemy operatives had been killed in Operation Spear in western Iraq. Last month, the Pentagon declared 125 had been killed in Operation Matador, near the Syrian border. "We don't do body counts on other people," Donald Rumsfeld, the secretary of defence, stated in November 2003.
...Bush's Iraq syndrome is a reinvention of Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam syndrome. In December 1967, Walt Rostow, LBJ's national security adviser, famously declared about the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese: "Their casualties are going up at a rate they cannot sustain ... I see light at the end of the tunnel." The official invitation to the New Year's Eve party at the US embassy in Saigon read: "Come see the light at the end of the tunnel." The Tet offensive struck a month later.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1512412,00.html
The story of Africa through the lives of 10 children born in 2005
Will the world keep its promises to them? And what can you do?
June 21 2005: The United Nations has set ambitious goals for development - poverty, health and education - by 2015. If these mean anything, Africa's children will be leading better lives. The decisions made by the G8 leaders in Gleneagles next month will shape the life chances of a generation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/10babies/0,16105,1511167,00.html
The Boston Globe
Rumsfeld rejects notion Iraq war is a 'quagmire'
By Will Dunham June 23, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday rejected a senator's assertion the Iraq war had become a quagmire, but warned Iraq's government not to delay political developments such as drafting a constitution.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/06/23/rumsfeld_rejects_notion_iraq_war_is_a_quagmire/
French luxury store apologizes to Oprah
Television talk show host Oprah Winfrey addresses reporters as part of the Television Critics Association Press Tour on Jan. 23, 2005, in the Universal City section of Los Angeles. The luxury store Hermes has apologized to Winfrey for turning her away from one of its Paris boutiques on June 14, 2005, saying it was closed for a public relations event when she came knocking. (AP Photo/Ric Francis)
June 23, 2005
PARIS --The luxury store Hermes has apologized to Oprah Winfrey for turning her away from one of its Paris boutiques last week, saying it was closed for a public relations event when she came knocking.
http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/articles/2005/06/23/french_luxury_store_apologizes_to_oprah/
Romney says wife's health key factor as he weighs future
By Theo Emery, Associated Press Writer June 23, 2005
BOSTON --Gov. Mitt Romney, who's acknowledged that he's considering a presidential run, said his wife's health is a key factor as he decides his political future.
"Any reversal of her good health would almost certainly mean getting out of public office. I wouldn't run for another campaign, almost certainly," Romney said Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/23/romney_says_wifes_health_key_factor_as_he_weighs_future/
Hospitals cut costs for uninsured
2 networks plan discounts of 15-50%
By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff June 23, 2005
Two of the state's largest hospital networks, Partners HealthCare and UMass Memorial Health Care, will no longer routinely charge uninsured patients full ''sticker price" for medical care, but instead will offer 15 to 50 percent discounts, in some cases as much as the mark-downs large health insurers receive.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/06/23/hospitals_cut_costs_for_uninsured/
Greenspan, Snow warn against China sanction
By Glenn Somerville June 23, 2005
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Trade sanctions against China won't protect U.S. jobs, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday, and he joined with Treasury Secretary John Snow in saying sanctions might backfire.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/06/23/greenspan_snow_warn_on_china_sanction_1119545030/
Jerusalem to ban annual gay pride parade
An Israeli soldier holds a rainbow-colored flag as hundreds of people participate in a gay pride parade in downtown Jerusalem in this photo from Thursday June 3, 2004. Jerusalem City Hall on Thursday, June 23, 2005 announced it would not allow the planned annual gay pride parade to go ahead next week, saying the march would offend many of the holy city's residents and set off unrest. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
By Gavin Rabinowitz, Associated Press Writer June 23, 2005
JERUSALEM --Jerusalem officials said Thursday they will ban the annual gay pride parade set for next week, claiming the march would offend many of the holy city's residents.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/06/23/jerusalem_to_ban_annual_gay_pride_parade/
The Arab News
Riyadh Pledges $1bn for Iraq Reconstruction
Abdullah Mustafa, Arab News
BRUSSELS, 23 June 2005 — Saudi Arabia yesterday emphasized its vision of an independent and unified Iraq and said it would extend $1 billion in the form of soft loans for the reconstruction of the war-torn country.
Addressing an international conference here, attended by over 80 governments and international institutions, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said Riyadh was also ready to write off part of Iraq’s debt burden.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65795&d=23&m=6&y=2005
Israel Revives Assassination Policy
Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News
JERUSALEM, 23 June 2005 — Israel has resumed an assassination policy against Islamic Jihad militants, as Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas tried to rally international support yesterday after coming away with no tangible results from a summit with Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Abbas called American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Egypt President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan King Abdallah soon after the summit, as the Palestinians voiced exasperation over the Israeli premier’s hard-line attitude.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65796&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
US Was Big Spender in Days Before Iraq Handover
Reuters
WASHINGTON, 23 June 2005 — The United States handed out nearly $20 billion of Iraq’s funds, with a rush to spend billions in the final days before transferring power to the Iraqis nearly a year ago, a report said on Tuesday.
The report, by Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California, said in the week before the hand-over on June 28, 2004, the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority ordered the urgent delivery of more than $4 billion in Iraqi funds from the US Federal Reserve in New York.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65807&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Iraqi Militants Release Filipino Accountant After 7 Months in Captivity
Julie Javellana-Santos, Arab News
MANILA, 23 June 2005 — Filipino accountant Roberto Tarongoy has finally been released after more than half a year as a captive of a militant group in Iraq.
Tarongoy was interviewed live over a national news program while at the Philippine Embassy in Iraq waiting for his flight to Manila.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65792&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
US Designs to Reshape ME ‘No Longer Secret’: Syria
Agence France Presse
DAMASCUS/BEIRUT, 23 June 2005 — Syria’s state-run radio yesterday lashed out at US accusations of Syrian involvement in a Lebanese politician’s murder and said Washington’s designs to reshape the Middle East were no longer a secret. “The American-Israeli objective is no longer a secret,” said Damascus Radio. “All the countries and peoples, Arabs and foreigners, have found out the scope of the plan drawn up for the region,” it said.
“The statements made by US officials, especially those of (Secretary of State) Condoleezza Rice making accusations against Syria ... no longer fool anyone,” the radio said in its daily commentary.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65797&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Iran Moderates Fan ‘Extremist’ Fears to Swing Vote
Stuart Williams, Agence France Presse
TEHRAN, 23 June 2005 — The camp of moderate cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani made a last-ditch effort yesterday to sway undecided voters in Iran’s tense presidential election, saying his rival was a reactionary extremist bent on overturning reform. With the outcome of Friday’s vote too close to call, Rafsanjani and ultra-conservative Tehran Mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad had one last day of legal campaigning to swing one of the most crucial elections in the Islamic republic’s history.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65817&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Pakistan Denies Violating Bus Agreement
Agence France Presse
ISLAMABAD/SRINAGAR, 23 June 2005 — Islamabad yesterday dismissed New Delhi’s complaints that a visit by moderate separatists from Indian Kashmir to Pakistan violated a travel agreement on a new bus service across the Himalayan region.
“We saw the visit as part of the peace process between Pakistan and India,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said, rejecting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s criticism.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65819&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Mukhtaran Mai toGet Back Passport
Huma Aamir Malik, Arab News
ISLAMABAD, 23 June 2005 — Pakistan government has agreed to return passport to gang rape victim, Mukhtaran Mai, who won world acclaim for her pursuit of justice, sources said.
The government has already lifted a controversial ban on Mukhtaran leaving the country. Pakistan had slapped the travel ban on Mukhtaran, prompting fresh international outrage.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=65821&d=23&m=6&y=2005&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Crude Oil Rates
22 June 2005
$ per barrel
Brent
56.58
US Oil
58.09
Los Angeles Times
Ex-Klansman Gets 60 Years for 1964 Civil Rights Killings
Edgar Ray Killen, 80, gets the maximum penalty for the manslaughter of three men.
By Michael Muskal, Times Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. -- Edgar Ray Killen received the maximum sentence this morning, three consecutive 20-year terms, for the killings of three civil rights workers in 1964.
Wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit and sitting in a wheelchair, the 80-year-old former Ku Klux Klansman reacted without emotion as Circuit Judge Marcus Gordon effectively sentenced the preacher to spend the rest of his life in prison.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-062305killen_lat,0,47493.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Wildfires Destroy 7 Homes, Burn 3,000 Acres
By Susana Enriquez and Lance Pugmire, Times Staff Writers
MORONGO VALLEY, Calif. -- The wildfires in Southern California that have destroyed seven structures and blackened the California desert subsided today, with officials hopeful that the blazes can be curbed.
Using satellite imagery, officials scaled back earlier estimates and reported 3,022 acres burned.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-062305fires_lat,0,3264126.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Many in Brazil See Their Amazon as a Jungle of Foreign Intrigue
Suspicions run wild that 'hegemonic' powers like the U.S. have designs on the vast, rich region.
By Henry Chu, Times Staff Writer
BELEM, Brazil — Afghanistan was the first to fall. Iraq, with all that oil, was next. And Socorro Leite says she has a fair idea of what else lies in the sights of the American imperialists.
"Soon," she warns, "their target will be the Amazon."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-paranoia23jun23,0,3071305.story?coll=la-home-world
Anglicans May Target Firms Seen as Anti-Palestinian
A plan calls for churches to urge companies in their investment portfolios to end activities that support the Israeli occupation.
By Sarah Price Brown, Times Staff Writer
LONDON — The worldwide association of Anglican churches will consider a controversial report Friday that calls for companies in its investment portfolios to drop any business activity supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
The Anglican Consultative Council, the association's policymaking body, will discuss at its 10-day meeting underway in Nottingham, England, whether to recommend the proposal to the Anglican Communion. The communion comprises 77 million members belonging to the Church of England, the U.S. Episcopal Church and three dozen related churches.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-anglicans23jun23,0,649940.story?coll=la-home-world
Vietnam News
Party leader addresses concerns
(23-06-2005)
Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh meets with resident of Cau Giay District, Ha Noi. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Xuan Tuan
HA NOI —The hardest but most necessary element in the struggle against corruption is teaching people how to prevent it, said Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh yesterday.
Raising awareness of corruption and graft will help avoid future corruption, bureaucracy, wastefulness and other negative phenomena, Manh told residents of Cau Giay District at a meeting organised by Ha Noi’s National Assembly delegation and the municipal Fatherland Front Committee.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=03POL230605
Talks, visit to US bodes well for bilateral co-operation: PM Khai
(23-06-2005)
PM Khai and US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez witness the signing of a contract for Vietnam Airlines’ purchase of four Boeing Dreamliner aircraft. — VNA/VNS Photo The Thuan
WASHINGTON — Talks between Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President George W Bush are a positive sign of increasing bilateral co-operation, the PM told a US business group on Tuesday.
The talks also mean a future of equitable relations, respect for each other and co-operation for mutual interests, Khai said at a meeting that gathered representatives from US business sectors.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=02POL230605
South set for transportation overhaul
(23-06-2005)
HCM CITY — A series of major transportation facilities will be built in the southern region between now and 2010, including Viet Nam’s first metro system, according to a plan revealed by Minister of Transport Dao Dinh Binh.
An underground rail network which will link Ben Thanh in downtown HCM City to the city of Bien Hoa in Dong Nai province is estimated to cost around US$620 million, which will be generated from various sources, including government bond issues, Binh said at a press briefing in HCM City.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=12ECO230605
Govt policy to offer insured patients more medical benefits
(23-06-2005)
Nurses taking care of patients in Hong Giang Commune in Luc Ngan District of northern Bac Giang Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Na.
HCM CITY — Insured Vietnamese patients currently pay 20 per cent of medical treatment costs, with the remainder paid by the Viet Nam Social Insurance Agency. But the Government’s newly-issued health insurance policy, which takes effect July 1, will change that.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=03POP230605
Drinking water projects keep rural people safe
(22-06-2005)
Ethnic minority women collect clean water from a tap in K’Lip B Village in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. — VNA/VNS Photo Sy Huynh
HA NOI — Over 40 million people residing in rural areas will have benefited by the end of this year from a national programme to supply safe drinking water, said National Centre for Safe Water and Rural Hygiene director Le Van Can.
Can said this result is the outcome of a national programme on rural water safety and hygiene, now in its seventh year.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=05SOC220605
Domestic tourism heats up the summer
(19-06-2005)
With prosperity comes leisure time, and more upscale Vietnamese are now shelling out the Dong for luxury vacations. Van Anh sits by the pool.
Ngo Thu Hang settles back in her armchair, gazing out at the white sandy beach of Sam Son in the central province of Thanh Hoa. Her husband and four-year-old son romp playfully at the water’s edge. Having arrived at Van Chai Resort a few days prior, the 38-year-old director of a private furniture design company says being close to the sea nourishes the imagination needed in her work.
http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01SUN190605
New York Times
Greenspan: China Tariffs Won't Help U.S.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 23, 2005
Filed at 5:18 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Congress on Thursday not to rush to impose punitive tariffs on imports from China, saying they would harm U.S. consumers and protect ''few if any American jobs.''
It marked Greenspan's most blunt assessment to date that currency-related legislation that has attracted support from two-thirds of the Senate would harm the U.S. economy by driving up prices for the Chinese products Americans crave.
He said a move toward protectionism in the world's largest economy could also unsettle global financial markets while doing little to protect jobs in this country.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Greenspan-China.html?hp&ex=1119585600&en=fca087b716eeefc5&ei=5094&partner=homepage
G.E. Revamps Businesses and Names 3 New Chiefs
By JENNIFER BAYOT
Published: June 23, 2005
The General Electric Company announced today that it would reorganize its 11 businesses into six broader units, in its largest sweep of changes since Jeffrey R. Immelt became chief executive in 2001.
The moves also reshuffled the next-to-highest tier of leadership at the company, bringing the appointment of three new vice chairmen as two executives announced their retirements as expected.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/business/23cnd-elec.html
World View of U.S. Improves Slightly, Except Among Muslims
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
International Herald Tribune
Published: June 23, 2005
The anti-Americanism that surged through much of the world over the American-led war in Iraq shows modest signs of abating, although distinctly negative views persist in the Muslim world, according to a major new international opinion poll.
The snapshot of world opinions emerged from a Pew Global Attitudes Survey of nearly 17,000 people in the United States and 15 other countries: Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Spain and Turkey.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/international/23cnd-poll.html
Air Force Academy Staff Found Promoting Religion
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: June 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 22 - An Air Force panel sent to investigate the religious climate at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs found evidence that officers and faculty members periodically used their positions to promote their Christian beliefs and failed to accommodate the religious needs of non-Christian cadets, its leader said Wednesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/politics/23academy.html
Ford Plans to Cut 5% of Salaried Work Force
By JEREMY W. PETERS
Published: June 22, 2005
DETROIT, June 21 - The Ford Motor Company said Tuesday that it would cut 5 percent, or about 1,700, of its white-collar jobs in North America. It also said it would no longer give bonuses to managers or make matching contributions to the 401(k) plans of salaried employees.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/22/automobiles/22ford.html
Haaretz
Jewish officials pleased by Klansman's conviction
By Shlomo Shamir
NEW YORK - Senior Jewish officials in New York expressed satisfaction yesterday at this week's conviction of a one-time Ku Klux Klansman in the 1964 slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.
The jury convicted Edgar Ray Killen of manslaughter Tuesday, dismissing the more serious charge of murder. Killen, who is 80 and uses a wheelchair, was found guilty of planning the killings, carrying them out and hiding the bodies. Sentencing is set for today.
Killen's conviction is an act of justice and a reversal of inequality that has particular resonance for Jews and blacks in the United States, said Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, which runs programs on black-Jewish relations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/591190.html
Right-wing activists holed up in Gush Katif hotel
By Amos Harel and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents
Right-wing activists residing in the Maoz Hayam Hotel, in Gush Katif, were holed up in the hotel on Thursday night, fearing that security forces would enter in the middle of the night and evacuate them from the site.
Military and police sources refused to confirm that an operation was planned for late Thursday night.
The fact that activists were residing in the hotel was raised in recent days in talks among the high echelons of the defense establishment, due to growing concerns regarding the assembly of activists and a violent incident that occurred near the hotel recently.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/591617.html
Mofaz: PA may get security control of Bethlehem next week
By Amos Harel and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday told senior military officials to prepare for the likelihood that the West Bank city of Bethlehem will be transferred to Palestinian Authority security control next week.
"If things go as planned," Mofaz said, "we will also transfer Qalqilyah a week later."
Israel Defense Forces soldiers Thursday began evacuate outposts in the center of the West Bank city of Hebron, which were set up following the outbreak of the intifada in late 2000.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/591246.html
Steinitz wants Knesset okay for Egyptian troops on Gaza border
By Gideon Alon and Amos Harel, Haareetz Correspondents
Senior lawmakers, including the head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval Steinitz, demanded Thursday that an agreement with Egypt for the deployment of 800 of its troops along the Gaza-Egypt border be approved by the Knesset.
The Egyptian policemen would be placed along the Philadelphi Route following Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in August.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/591602.html
continued . . .
Morning Papers - continued . . .
The Cheney Observer
UAL Union Asks For Pension Probe
Neil Weinberg, 06.22.05, 6:15 AM ET
NEW YORK - A union representing 16,000 airline ground workers is calling on the U.S. government to investigate possible wrongdoing in the management of United Airlines' pension fund.
The request came in a June 20 letter from the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association to U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Bradley Belt, executive director of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., the government body charged with taking over insolvent private pension plans--which has never conducted a forensic audit of any of the plans it has taken over.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/06/22/ual-pension-forensic-audit-cz_nw_0622ual.html?partner=daily_newsletter
Bechtel unhappy over Centre’s stance on Dabhol
SANJAY JOG
Posted online: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 at 0119 hours IST
MUMBAI, JUNE 20: Bechtel has fired yet another salvo against the Government of India (GoI) for taking a rigid stand on offering compensation for its claims in the Dabhol project.
“Bechtel, like GE, would prefer to arrive at a compromise, but GoI has failed to take the necessary steps to end. It will not even offer the barest acceptable compensation for our equity and contractor claims, net of tax. Despite our conciliatory proposals for dealing with creditors, GoI insists on denying us legal recourse for potential claims it created by the closure of the Dabhol power plant,” Bechtel’s spokesperson Marshall Jonathan told FE in an e-mail response.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=94376
Jeff Frederick and Tom DeLay
Filed under: Lowell @ 5:06 am
As usual,
Waldo Jaquith’s been doing some fine work over at his blog. This time it’s about Republican Virginia House Delegate Jeff Frederick (R-Prince William) and his “mystery fundraiser” with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). Waldo’s digging deserves more attention, so I’m mentioning it here as well.
It turns out that the ethically- and legally-challenged DeLay held a fundraiser for Frederick on April 19, but, according to Waldo, the State Board of Elections is missing one thing: “any evidence of the party.” Waldo concludes that “[e]ither Del. Frederick’s campaign is violating Virginia election law, or this was the lamest fundraiser ever. ” So which is it, Del. Frederick? Time to put in a call to Chris Piper over at the State Board of Elections’ compliance section?
http://www.raisingkaine.com/blog/?p=402
One Committee's Three Hours of Inquiry, in Surreal Time
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A06
Yesterday's Senate hearing into superlobbyist Jack Abramoff's alleged defrauding of Indian tribes had something for everyone. There was the yoga instructor who took the Fifth. There was the lifeguard selected to run a think tank from a beach house at Rehoboth. And there was Exhibit 31, an e-mail from Abramoff to a rabbi friend.
"I hate to ask you for your help with something so silly but I've been nominated for membership in the Cosmos Club, which is a very distinguished club in Washington, DC, comprised of Nobel Prize winners, etc.," Abramoff wrote. "Problem for me is that most prospective members have received awards and I have received none. I was wondering if you thought it possible that I could put that I have received an award from Toward Tradition with a sufficiently academic title, perhaps something like Scholar of Talmudic Studies?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202100.html
Chinese Oil Producer Makes Bid For Unocal
CNOOC's Unsolicited Proposal Tops Price Accepted From Chevron
By Gary Gentile
Associated Press
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page D01
LOS ANGELES, June 22 -- China's third-largest oil producer made an unsolicited $18.5 billion bid Wednesday for oil-and-gas company Unocal Corp., which has already agreed to be acquired by Chevron Corp. for $16.6 billion.
Unocal acknowledged the offer from state-run CNOOC Ltd., an affiliate of China National Offshore Oil Corp., to buy the company for $67 a share in cash. Unocal, based in El Segundo, Calif., said it would evaluate the bid but that its board's previous recommendation to shareholders to accept the Chevron offer remained in place.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202309.html
Mail and Guardian
SA 'irritated' by UK call on Zimbabwe
Pretoria, South Africa
23 June 2005 01:48
A South African government spokesperson expressed irritation on Thursday at a so-called bogeyman approach being used to scare African countries, like children, into conforming with the West.
"I am really irritated by this 'kgokgo' approach", presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said when approached for comment on a call by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for African action against Zimbabwe.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243688&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
Zim army to rebuild after eviction sweep
Michael Hartnack Harare
23 June 2005 11:37
The Zimbabwean government is mobilising soldiers to build houses for the thousands of people it forced from their homes in an urban clean up campaign that has drawn condemnation at home and abroad, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
The announcement comes as Zimbabwe prepares for the visit of a special United Nations envoy coming to see the impact of Operation Murambatsvina, or Drive Out Trash, which the UN estimates has left up to 1,5-million people homeless. The political opposition, which has its base among the urban poor, says the four-week-old campaign is meant to punish its supporters.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243683&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
Zimbabwe crackdown sparks violence
Harare
22 June 2005 02:07
The Zimbabwe government's campaign to clear the homes, businesses and even gardens of the poor from its cities has sparked more violence, a pro-government newspaper reported on Wednesday even as state radio claimed those displaced were being provided for.
The United Nations estimates up to 1,5-million people are homeless after police burned or demolished their shacks in what the government calls a “clean-up” campaign in the cities.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243638&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
Zim extends crackdown to rural areas
Harare, Zimbabwe
17 June 2005 03:53
Zimbabwe has extended the destruction of informal homes and businesses from the cities to rural areas, police told state radio on Friday.
The government calls the campaign a cleanup effort, but critics at home and abroad say it is a violation of human rights and inspired by politics.
Police spokesperson Austin Chikwavara said his force has started tearing down shacks and kiosks found at major crossroads in Chirumanzu, Umvuma and Lalapanzi in the Midlands area, 200km – 300km south of the capital, Harare.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243383&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
Civil society can be a powerful force for change
Yasmin Sooka: COMMENT
20 June 2005 10:24
South Africa’s richly plural civil society was forged in the struggle for liberation, but over the past five years its impact on policy and legislation has become less effective than it should be.
The African National Congress has made the shift from liberation movement to governing party, but civil society has not quite figured out how to move beyond its old, oppositional role.
During the 1990s organisations from human rights bodies and welfare groups to churches enjoyed an unprecedented level of access to government structures and to ministers, exchanging views and providing advice on the important issues. It was a heady period, and organisations revelled in their new role as partners in the reconstruction of our society.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243461&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
Capitalism: A curse, not cure
David Masondo: COMMENT
17 June 2005 08:59
The 1976 June uprising opened the floodgates for popular struggles, which ultimately made racial capitalism unprofitable. In response to this, Zac de Beer, the then-director of Anglo American, said: “We all understand how years of apartheid have caused many blacks to reject the economic and political system … We dare not allow the baby of free enterprise to be thrown out with the bath water of apartheid.”
De Beer’s response was a call for reform and defence of capitalism as a system run by capitalists or entrepreneurs who, like parasites, prey on the working class. His vision was of a post-apartheid rainbow parasitism in which the race, gender and age of parasites must be reformed. From this perspective, the process of “transformation” is meant to incorporate women and black people in the capitalist structures of production, distribution and consumption.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243344&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
Time to say 'never again'
Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya: COMMENT
17 June 2005 08:59
Who stops blacks from taking their children to the Hector Pieterson Memorial? (Photograph: Paul Botes)
The El Al aircraft veered east around northern Sudan. Instead of flying over the Egyptian airspace, it flew over the Red Sea.
On board was a group of 250 South Africans of Jewish ancestry en route to Tel Aviv, where they would catch a connecting flight to Poland. There, they would commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation from the Auschwitz death camp of Jews, Poles, homosexuals and gypsies by the Allied forces.
About 4 000 years after Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, and 60 years after the descendants of Moses’s flock suffered at the hands of the Nazis, the pilgrims were not taking a chance with their survival.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243332&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
What the hell happened?
Charles Lewis: COMMENT
17 June 2005 08:59
It wasn’t supposed to happen in the new South Africa, the country of Nelson Mandela that in the 1990s came to symbolise hope, resilience and the “long walk to freedom”, an indelible inspiration to the entire world.
No, it wasn’t supposed to happen anymore, preventing a newspaper from publishing a story about potential lawbreaking by the powers that be, about the government, its ruling political party and a favoured company.
Specifically, the journalists had discovered that, just before the general elections last year, substantial taxpayer funds from state-owned oil company PetroSA apparently went to the African National Congress by way of a private company called Imvume Management.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243318&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
St. Petersburg Times
Eminent Domaine. Good-bye Florida shorelines. Owning property is a 'short term' investment or for a sincere 'homestead' but speculation for long term gains is all too questionable. This directly attacks the Conservation Groups that purchase lands in perpetuity to protect precious lands from environmental demise. What is to protect the parks from financial attack as well. This plays right into the political agenda of Bush via the Interior Department. There will not be any need for the EPA unless there is legislation from the Federal Government to reverse this decision protecting the investment of THE AMERICAN DREAM. I don't see an option. This is a move toward a communistic and overbearing federal authority. Property rights is one of the promises of what was an emerging democracy in Russia. That very right has been removed from every citizen in the USA with this decision. The 'Real Estate' bubble just burst, especially to low income areas which are usually minorities and single women with families !! Local authorities can pass bills as well to protect property owners as well as state legislatures. I strongly suggest that is done and soon. Ever hear of 'Emergency Session?'
Gulf oil back on Senate's reserve list
By WES ALLISON and ANITA KUMAR
Published June 22, 2005
WASHINGTON - With oil prices nearing $60 a barrel, the good will toward Florida finally ran dry.
After agreeing last week to maintain the existing moratorium on oil and gas drilling off Florida's shores, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday moved forward with conducting an inventory of energy reserves in all U.S. waters, including the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
By a vote of 52-44, the Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by Florida's senators that would have deleted the inventory from the comprehensive energy bill now moving through the Senate.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/06/22/Worldandnation/Gulf_oil_back_on_Sena.shtml
Just as with Elizabeth Dole. It is easy to take an 'empty' stand against Big Oil for political favoritism among constituents when the politician knows no matter the stand they take will make no difference when there is a majority otherwise. If a legislature wants to exploit the shores of Florida and the Governor's Veto will be overridden why would he side with a legislature when taking 'the popular environmental' view insures a better outcome in an election. When a politician takes a stand I want to know what they have know besides vote to STOP a dangerous trend in a legislative body. ACTION to stop a runaway legislature is more important than the political posturing for voters. Jeb Bush has wrongly pursued an expensive investigation in the Schivo Case. What then has he done in Florida and otherwise within his own family circle to stop this counterproductive trend?
Bush stresses his commitment against oil drilling
He says critics have misunderstood his comments about a 100-mile buffer.
By WES ALLISON and JONI JAMES
Published June 17, 2005
WASHINGTON - The way Gov. Jeb Bush has been referring to protecting Florida from offshore drilling has prompted some legislators to question his commitment to keeping drilling rigs as far off the state's shores as possible.
As lawmakers battle congressional attempts to open the state's waters to more oil and gas exploration, the governor has made several statements about the importance of maintaining "a 100-mile buffer" around Florida's coast.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/06/17/State/Bush_stresses_his_com.shtml
Michael Moore Today
THE BUSH DYNASTY IS NOT TO CRUMBLE !!
Anti-Bush protester on trial for convention actions
By Daryl Khan / Newsday
In her opening statements in jury room 5 of Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Jessica Troy said: "This is not a case about politics."
However, everything about the case suggested otherwise.
On one side of the courtroom sat protester June Brashares, 41, who unfurled an anti-Bush banner during his acceptance speech. Brashares is on trial for kicking two political operatives who dragged her out of Madison Square Garden, injuring one.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3096
Rumsfeld in Congress hot seat over Iraq
AFP
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military officers will face a tough Congressional hearing amid mounting doubts among lawmakers and the public over the US presence in Iraq.
With even Republican loyalists now increasingly questioning US policy in Iraq, the Senate Armed Forces Commission will seek get its first chance in four months to grill Rumsfeld and his senior generals.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3090
Lobbyist May Have Cost Tribe Millions
By Adam Nossiter / Associated Press
Though far removed from Washington, the Coushatta Indian tribe quickly learned the cost of influence in the Capitol: "Wire all funds. Professional Services. $3,405,000.00," one of the tribe's lobbyists, now under investigation, wrote the Coushattas in 2002.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3086
DeLay uses Houston to make point about Iraq news coverage
Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON - When House Majority Leader Tom DeLay sat down with reporters on Tuesday on Capitol Hill, he was asked to assess President Bush's campaign in Iraq and to respond to criticism that the military mission is not going well and the White House needs to develop an exit strategy.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3085
G8 'still sells arms to regimes'
BBC
Countries from the G8 group of wealthy nations have been accused of continuing to sell arms to regimes using them to abuse human rights.
The claim comes in a report published by the Control Arms Campaign - a group made up of organisations including Oxfam and Amnesty International.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3091
Halliburton Scores A Juicy New Contract
AP reports the Bush White House has just handed Halliburton a brand-new contract - worth up to $1 billion - to support U.S. troops in the Balkans.
A Halliburton spokesperson said “This decision is an endorsement of the best-in-class support that KBR provides to the U.S. military worldwide.”
Remember the last time Halliburton was given a contract in the Balkans?
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/06/22/halliburton-scores-a-juicy-new-contract/
Reporters Press McClellan on Secret CIA Report on Iraq
By E&P Staff / Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK At the daily White House press briefing Wednesday, reporters raised with Press Secretary Scott McClellan a bombshell story from Iraq carried earlier Wednesday in The New York Times and wire services, based on a CIA report. Essentially, the questions at the White House boiled down to: Has the invasion and occupation of Iraq actually created more terrorists than it has crushed, and also given them much-needed experience in killing Americans and others?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3097
continued . . .
UAL Union Asks For Pension Probe
Neil Weinberg, 06.22.05, 6:15 AM ET
NEW YORK - A union representing 16,000 airline ground workers is calling on the U.S. government to investigate possible wrongdoing in the management of United Airlines' pension fund.
The request came in a June 20 letter from the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association to U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Bradley Belt, executive director of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., the government body charged with taking over insolvent private pension plans--which has never conducted a forensic audit of any of the plans it has taken over.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/06/22/ual-pension-forensic-audit-cz_nw_0622ual.html?partner=daily_newsletter
Bechtel unhappy over Centre’s stance on Dabhol
SANJAY JOG
Posted online: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 at 0119 hours IST
MUMBAI, JUNE 20: Bechtel has fired yet another salvo against the Government of India (GoI) for taking a rigid stand on offering compensation for its claims in the Dabhol project.
“Bechtel, like GE, would prefer to arrive at a compromise, but GoI has failed to take the necessary steps to end. It will not even offer the barest acceptable compensation for our equity and contractor claims, net of tax. Despite our conciliatory proposals for dealing with creditors, GoI insists on denying us legal recourse for potential claims it created by the closure of the Dabhol power plant,” Bechtel’s spokesperson Marshall Jonathan told FE in an e-mail response.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=94376
Jeff Frederick and Tom DeLay
Filed under: Lowell @ 5:06 am
As usual,
Waldo Jaquith’s been doing some fine work over at his blog. This time it’s about Republican Virginia House Delegate Jeff Frederick (R-Prince William) and his “mystery fundraiser” with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). Waldo’s digging deserves more attention, so I’m mentioning it here as well.
It turns out that the ethically- and legally-challenged DeLay held a fundraiser for Frederick on April 19, but, according to Waldo, the State Board of Elections is missing one thing: “any evidence of the party.” Waldo concludes that “[e]ither Del. Frederick’s campaign is violating Virginia election law, or this was the lamest fundraiser ever. ” So which is it, Del. Frederick? Time to put in a call to Chris Piper over at the State Board of Elections’ compliance section?
http://www.raisingkaine.com/blog/?p=402
One Committee's Three Hours of Inquiry, in Surreal Time
By Dana Milbank
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page A06
Yesterday's Senate hearing into superlobbyist Jack Abramoff's alleged defrauding of Indian tribes had something for everyone. There was the yoga instructor who took the Fifth. There was the lifeguard selected to run a think tank from a beach house at Rehoboth. And there was Exhibit 31, an e-mail from Abramoff to a rabbi friend.
"I hate to ask you for your help with something so silly but I've been nominated for membership in the Cosmos Club, which is a very distinguished club in Washington, DC, comprised of Nobel Prize winners, etc.," Abramoff wrote. "Problem for me is that most prospective members have received awards and I have received none. I was wondering if you thought it possible that I could put that I have received an award from Toward Tradition with a sufficiently academic title, perhaps something like Scholar of Talmudic Studies?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202100.html
Chinese Oil Producer Makes Bid For Unocal
CNOOC's Unsolicited Proposal Tops Price Accepted From Chevron
By Gary Gentile
Associated Press
Thursday, June 23, 2005; Page D01
LOS ANGELES, June 22 -- China's third-largest oil producer made an unsolicited $18.5 billion bid Wednesday for oil-and-gas company Unocal Corp., which has already agreed to be acquired by Chevron Corp. for $16.6 billion.
Unocal acknowledged the offer from state-run CNOOC Ltd., an affiliate of China National Offshore Oil Corp., to buy the company for $67 a share in cash. Unocal, based in El Segundo, Calif., said it would evaluate the bid but that its board's previous recommendation to shareholders to accept the Chevron offer remained in place.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/22/AR2005062202309.html
Mail and Guardian
SA 'irritated' by UK call on Zimbabwe
Pretoria, South Africa
23 June 2005 01:48
A South African government spokesperson expressed irritation on Thursday at a so-called bogeyman approach being used to scare African countries, like children, into conforming with the West.
"I am really irritated by this 'kgokgo' approach", presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo said when approached for comment on a call by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for African action against Zimbabwe.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243688&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
Zim army to rebuild after eviction sweep
Michael Hartnack Harare
23 June 2005 11:37
The Zimbabwean government is mobilising soldiers to build houses for the thousands of people it forced from their homes in an urban clean up campaign that has drawn condemnation at home and abroad, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
The announcement comes as Zimbabwe prepares for the visit of a special United Nations envoy coming to see the impact of Operation Murambatsvina, or Drive Out Trash, which the UN estimates has left up to 1,5-million people homeless. The political opposition, which has its base among the urban poor, says the four-week-old campaign is meant to punish its supporters.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243683&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
Zimbabwe crackdown sparks violence
Harare
22 June 2005 02:07
The Zimbabwe government's campaign to clear the homes, businesses and even gardens of the poor from its cities has sparked more violence, a pro-government newspaper reported on Wednesday even as state radio claimed those displaced were being provided for.
The United Nations estimates up to 1,5-million people are homeless after police burned or demolished their shacks in what the government calls a “clean-up” campaign in the cities.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243638&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
Zim extends crackdown to rural areas
Harare, Zimbabwe
17 June 2005 03:53
Zimbabwe has extended the destruction of informal homes and businesses from the cities to rural areas, police told state radio on Friday.
The government calls the campaign a cleanup effort, but critics at home and abroad say it is a violation of human rights and inspired by politics.
Police spokesperson Austin Chikwavara said his force has started tearing down shacks and kiosks found at major crossroads in Chirumanzu, Umvuma and Lalapanzi in the Midlands area, 200km – 300km south of the capital, Harare.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243383&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
Civil society can be a powerful force for change
Yasmin Sooka: COMMENT
20 June 2005 10:24
South Africa’s richly plural civil society was forged in the struggle for liberation, but over the past five years its impact on policy and legislation has become less effective than it should be.
The African National Congress has made the shift from liberation movement to governing party, but civil society has not quite figured out how to move beyond its old, oppositional role.
During the 1990s organisations from human rights bodies and welfare groups to churches enjoyed an unprecedented level of access to government structures and to ministers, exchanging views and providing advice on the important issues. It was a heady period, and organisations revelled in their new role as partners in the reconstruction of our society.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243461&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
Capitalism: A curse, not cure
David Masondo: COMMENT
17 June 2005 08:59
The 1976 June uprising opened the floodgates for popular struggles, which ultimately made racial capitalism unprofitable. In response to this, Zac de Beer, the then-director of Anglo American, said: “We all understand how years of apartheid have caused many blacks to reject the economic and political system … We dare not allow the baby of free enterprise to be thrown out with the bath water of apartheid.”
De Beer’s response was a call for reform and defence of capitalism as a system run by capitalists or entrepreneurs who, like parasites, prey on the working class. His vision was of a post-apartheid rainbow parasitism in which the race, gender and age of parasites must be reformed. From this perspective, the process of “transformation” is meant to incorporate women and black people in the capitalist structures of production, distribution and consumption.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243344&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
Time to say 'never again'
Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya: COMMENT
17 June 2005 08:59
Who stops blacks from taking their children to the Hector Pieterson Memorial? (Photograph: Paul Botes)
The El Al aircraft veered east around northern Sudan. Instead of flying over the Egyptian airspace, it flew over the Red Sea.
On board was a group of 250 South Africans of Jewish ancestry en route to Tel Aviv, where they would catch a connecting flight to Poland. There, they would commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation from the Auschwitz death camp of Jews, Poles, homosexuals and gypsies by the Allied forces.
About 4 000 years after Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, and 60 years after the descendants of Moses’s flock suffered at the hands of the Nazis, the pilgrims were not taking a chance with their survival.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243332&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
What the hell happened?
Charles Lewis: COMMENT
17 June 2005 08:59
It wasn’t supposed to happen in the new South Africa, the country of Nelson Mandela that in the 1990s came to symbolise hope, resilience and the “long walk to freedom”, an indelible inspiration to the entire world.
No, it wasn’t supposed to happen anymore, preventing a newspaper from publishing a story about potential lawbreaking by the powers that be, about the government, its ruling political party and a favoured company.
Specifically, the journalists had discovered that, just before the general elections last year, substantial taxpayer funds from state-owned oil company PetroSA apparently went to the African National Congress by way of a private company called Imvume Management.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=243318&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/
St. Petersburg Times
Eminent Domaine. Good-bye Florida shorelines. Owning property is a 'short term' investment or for a sincere 'homestead' but speculation for long term gains is all too questionable. This directly attacks the Conservation Groups that purchase lands in perpetuity to protect precious lands from environmental demise. What is to protect the parks from financial attack as well. This plays right into the political agenda of Bush via the Interior Department. There will not be any need for the EPA unless there is legislation from the Federal Government to reverse this decision protecting the investment of THE AMERICAN DREAM. I don't see an option. This is a move toward a communistic and overbearing federal authority. Property rights is one of the promises of what was an emerging democracy in Russia. That very right has been removed from every citizen in the USA with this decision. The 'Real Estate' bubble just burst, especially to low income areas which are usually minorities and single women with families !! Local authorities can pass bills as well to protect property owners as well as state legislatures. I strongly suggest that is done and soon. Ever hear of 'Emergency Session?'
Gulf oil back on Senate's reserve list
By WES ALLISON and ANITA KUMAR
Published June 22, 2005
WASHINGTON - With oil prices nearing $60 a barrel, the good will toward Florida finally ran dry.
After agreeing last week to maintain the existing moratorium on oil and gas drilling off Florida's shores, the U.S. Senate on Tuesday moved forward with conducting an inventory of energy reserves in all U.S. waters, including the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
By a vote of 52-44, the Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by Florida's senators that would have deleted the inventory from the comprehensive energy bill now moving through the Senate.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/06/22/Worldandnation/Gulf_oil_back_on_Sena.shtml
Just as with Elizabeth Dole. It is easy to take an 'empty' stand against Big Oil for political favoritism among constituents when the politician knows no matter the stand they take will make no difference when there is a majority otherwise. If a legislature wants to exploit the shores of Florida and the Governor's Veto will be overridden why would he side with a legislature when taking 'the popular environmental' view insures a better outcome in an election. When a politician takes a stand I want to know what they have know besides vote to STOP a dangerous trend in a legislative body. ACTION to stop a runaway legislature is more important than the political posturing for voters. Jeb Bush has wrongly pursued an expensive investigation in the Schivo Case. What then has he done in Florida and otherwise within his own family circle to stop this counterproductive trend?
Bush stresses his commitment against oil drilling
He says critics have misunderstood his comments about a 100-mile buffer.
By WES ALLISON and JONI JAMES
Published June 17, 2005
WASHINGTON - The way Gov. Jeb Bush has been referring to protecting Florida from offshore drilling has prompted some legislators to question his commitment to keeping drilling rigs as far off the state's shores as possible.
As lawmakers battle congressional attempts to open the state's waters to more oil and gas exploration, the governor has made several statements about the importance of maintaining "a 100-mile buffer" around Florida's coast.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/06/17/State/Bush_stresses_his_com.shtml
Michael Moore Today
THE BUSH DYNASTY IS NOT TO CRUMBLE !!
Anti-Bush protester on trial for convention actions
By Daryl Khan / Newsday
In her opening statements in jury room 5 of Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Jessica Troy said: "This is not a case about politics."
However, everything about the case suggested otherwise.
On one side of the courtroom sat protester June Brashares, 41, who unfurled an anti-Bush banner during his acceptance speech. Brashares is on trial for kicking two political operatives who dragged her out of Madison Square Garden, injuring one.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3096
Rumsfeld in Congress hot seat over Iraq
AFP
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military officers will face a tough Congressional hearing amid mounting doubts among lawmakers and the public over the US presence in Iraq.
With even Republican loyalists now increasingly questioning US policy in Iraq, the Senate Armed Forces Commission will seek get its first chance in four months to grill Rumsfeld and his senior generals.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3090
Lobbyist May Have Cost Tribe Millions
By Adam Nossiter / Associated Press
Though far removed from Washington, the Coushatta Indian tribe quickly learned the cost of influence in the Capitol: "Wire all funds. Professional Services. $3,405,000.00," one of the tribe's lobbyists, now under investigation, wrote the Coushattas in 2002.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3086
DeLay uses Houston to make point about Iraq news coverage
Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON - When House Majority Leader Tom DeLay sat down with reporters on Tuesday on Capitol Hill, he was asked to assess President Bush's campaign in Iraq and to respond to criticism that the military mission is not going well and the White House needs to develop an exit strategy.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3085
G8 'still sells arms to regimes'
BBC
Countries from the G8 group of wealthy nations have been accused of continuing to sell arms to regimes using them to abuse human rights.
The claim comes in a report published by the Control Arms Campaign - a group made up of organisations including Oxfam and Amnesty International.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3091
Halliburton Scores A Juicy New Contract
AP reports the Bush White House has just handed Halliburton a brand-new contract - worth up to $1 billion - to support U.S. troops in the Balkans.
A Halliburton spokesperson said “This decision is an endorsement of the best-in-class support that KBR provides to the U.S. military worldwide.”
Remember the last time Halliburton was given a contract in the Balkans?
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/06/22/halliburton-scores-a-juicy-new-contract/
Reporters Press McClellan on Secret CIA Report on Iraq
By E&P Staff / Editor & Publisher
NEW YORK At the daily White House press briefing Wednesday, reporters raised with Press Secretary Scott McClellan a bombshell story from Iraq carried earlier Wednesday in The New York Times and wire services, based on a CIA report. Essentially, the questions at the White House boiled down to: Has the invasion and occupation of Iraq actually created more terrorists than it has crushed, and also given them much-needed experience in killing Americans and others?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3097
continued . . .
June 21, 2005. Colorado Springs, Colorado. When the hail started to fall in Colorado there was no place for the melting ice to runoff. The ice blocked drain sewers and house gutters after they were knocked loose from the house. So what accompanied not only a foot of ice was a flood buiding as the ice melted after being exposed to summertime heat. The 'mess' of this event will be significant yet I don't recall anyone calling a state of emergency.
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