New Zealand Herald
Rival groups keep whalers on the move
5:00AM Monday January 14, 2008
By Greg Ansley
Greenpeace last night claimed to have driven Japan's whaling fleet out of the Southern Ocean hunting grounds after a chase over hundreds of kilometres.
The fleet scattered after the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, following a trail of krill, located the Japanese ships by radar amid fog-shrouded icebergs on Saturday night.
Greenpeace said the Esperanza pursued the factory ship Nisshin Maru over the 60 degrees latitude mark, the boundary of the whale hunting grounds, followed by the catcher vessel Yushin Maru.
Greenpeace says the fleet may refuel soon and offload whale meat that has already been processed on to a tanker, Oriental Bluebird.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10486661
Nepalese mourn their hero
5:00AM Monday January 14, 2008
By Lincoln Tan
As a child growing up in Nepal, Giri Kattel listened to his father telling him stories about a man called Sir Edmund Hillary.
"Fathers would tell stories about Sir Edmund to inspire their children to climb life's mountains and aim for greater heights," Mr Kattel said.
"I really enjoyed listening to the stories and reading books in school of the first man who went beyond horizon."
Mr Kattel, 40, who moved to Auckland in 2006, now shares these stories to inspire his daughter.
"Sir Edmund is regarded almost like a man-god with the power to go above the horizons, and is a big legend for the Nepali people," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10486671
Left is the best to exit bed, say scientists
12:45PM Monday January 14, 2008
LONDON - Getting out of bed on the left side is the right side.
Sleep scientists, feng shui experts and psychologists put their heads together to analyse the best way to get up in the morning.
Left is best, they decreed in a study undertaken by the hotel chain Premier Inn.
Feng shui expert Jan Cisek said getting out of the bed on the left is associated with all that people hold dear - family and health, money and power.
Psychology and motivation expert Pete Cohen said the left side helps us all to think rationally about the day ahead.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10486756
Al-Qaeda plot to kill Queen foiled
12:10PM Monday January 14, 2008
A plot by terrorist group al-Qaeda to kill the Queen during a state visit to Uganda was foiled late last year by security services.
The terrorists had planned to hide inside two outside broadcast vans owned by the Ugandan Broadcasting Corporation and then set off bombs during the Queen's visit to Kampala last November.
The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla all travelled to the east African nation's capital for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which was attended by more than 30 world leaders.
Uganda's Minister of Internal Affairs Dr Ruhakana Rugunda said several suspected terrorists were arrested.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10486752
Princess Diana's 'Mr Wonderful' breaks silence
8:29AM Monday January 14, 2008
By Paul Majendie
LONDON - Princess Diana's former lover, heart specialist Hasnat Khan, has broken his silence a decade after they broke up and confessed that her death still haunts him.
"Sometimes I feel like screaming. There have been very bad times. I have moved on but it keeps coming back," he said.
Diana described Khan as "Mr Wonderful" and friends giving evidence into her death at a London inquest said she was still pining for him during a summer romance with Dodi al-Fayed.
Dodi and Diana were killed in a high-speed crash in a Paris road tunnel in August 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi photographers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10486715
One dead, five missing in northern Italy avalanche
8:09AM Monday January 14, 2008
ROME - An avalanche in northern Italy killed one person and injured six, while another five people are still missing, the fire brigade said on Sunday.
The six injured were dug out of the snow on Mount Maniva, near the city of Brescia, after the avalanche hit them as they were riding on snowmobiles.
A cold wave has swept northern Italy in the past few days, with heavy snow increasing the risk of avalanches. Two young skiers died in the popular resort of Livigno on Saturday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10486707
Second execution for 2008
7:15AM Monday January 14, 2008
Saudi authorities beheaded an Indonesian maid convicted of killing her employer, the Interior Ministry announced.
The ministry said the maid used a pillow to suffocate her employer, Aisha Al Makhaled, and then stole her jewellery in the southern province of Asir.
Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which those convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery are executed in public with a sword.
The maid is the second person to be executed this year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10486669
VW's sex, bribery and free Viagra
5:00AM Monday January 14, 2008
By Kate Connolly
Europe's biggest car company, and the leading symbol of corporate Germany, was embroiled in a widespread scandal involving sex, bribery and pleasure trips, the scale of which the Continent has not seen before.
In a courtroom investigation in Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, details of the ?2.5 million ($4.7 million) affair have been unfolding and the nation has been poring over the lurid details.
They involve a string of expensive hookers, sex parties and expense-account shopping trips which took place over the best part of a decade, endorsed by a management keen to buy the support of union officials and the shopfloor at a critical time for the company.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10486639
Sydney Morning Herald
Government killed Bhutto: poll
January 14, 2008 - 6:09AM
Nearly half of Pakistanis suspect that government agencies or government-linked politicians killed Benazir Bhutto, an opinion poll showed, highlighting the popular mistrust of the country's US-allied president ahead of elections next month.
Bhutto, an opposition leader and former prime minister, was killed in a gun and suicide bomb attack on December 27.
The government of President Pervez Musharraf has blamed Islamic extremists for the assassination, who had already reportedly threatened to kill her. Bhutto was a secular politician popular in the United States and other Western countries for her vocal opposition to hardline Islam.
But her political party and family members have repeatedly made vague allegations that elements within Musharraf's government may have been involved. Musharraf has denied any role in the slaying.
The opinion poll showed that 23 per cent of Pakistanis suspected government agencies in the slaying, while 25 per cent believed government-allied politicians were behind it. Only 17 per cent suspected al-Qaeda or Taliban.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/government-killed-bhutto-poll/2008/01/14/1200159308625.html
President calls for Bhutto autopsy
January 14, 2008
WASHINGTON: The Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, has called for the body of the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to be exhumed as he rejected charges that the Government was complicit in her assassination.
In a wide-ranging interview with Newsweek published online, Mr Musharraf also expressed his refusal to let the United States stage CIA operations against al-Qaeda in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been in turmoil since Ms Bhutto's assassination on December 27 and her Pakistan People's Party has challenged the Government's reports on her death. No autopsy was conducted.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/president-calls-for-bhutto-autopsy/2008/01/13/1200159278204.html
Birdflu fears as 20,000 chickens die
January 14, 2008 - 5:38PM
Nearly 20,000 chickens have died in eastern India in the past week, triggering fears of an outbreak of bird flu, officials said today.
Samples from dead birds have been sent to a laboratory in central India to determine if the deaths were due to the H5N1 virus.
"The dead birds showed the flu symptoms," said SK Bhowmic, the chief health officer of the affected district in eastern West Bengal state.
The poultry deaths were reported from farms in the state's Morgram village, about 125 kilometres from state capital Kolkata.
Preliminary tests suggest bird flu to be the cause of the deadly infection, state animal resources development minister Anisur Rehman said. A final report was expected later today.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/birdflu-fears-as-20000-chickens-die/2008/01/14/1200159352617.html
Tribunal judges visit Khmer stronghold
Top officials from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal have travelled for the first time to the regime's former stronghold today to allay fears of mass arrests of former rebels.
Judges investigating the murderous Khmer Rouge regime joined other court officials for the three-day visit to the western Pailin region to "meet and talk" with former rebels, said tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath.
"The aim of the meetings is to explain to them about the role of tribunal and its mandate - that this court will only try the most senior and the most responsible Khmer Rouge leaders, and the ordinary Khmer Rouge officials should not be worried," he said.
The visit also aimed to clear up misunderstandings about the joint Cambodian-UN tribunal in the hope of convincing many to give evidence for the prosecution in upcoming trials, Reach Sambath said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/tribunal-judges-visit-khmer-stronghold/2008/01/14/1200159351949.html
Bombs kill two as Sri Lankan peace talks open
A roadside bomb attack on a van filled with explosives in northern Sri Lanka killed two soldiers and one civilian today, the military said. The attack coincided with a round of peace talks with a visiting Japanese envoy.
Yasushi Akashi arrived yesterday in the capital, Colombo, to conduct talks with Sri Lankan leaders as the international community stepped up pressure over Colombo's decision to abandon a truce with the Tamil Tiger rebels.
Japan, the biggest bilateral donor to Sri Lanka, has hinted that foreign aid could be withheld if violence continues to escalate in the island's long-running ethnic conflict that has already claimed thousands of lives.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bombs-kill-two-as-sri-lankan-peace-talks-open/2008/01/14/1200159351067.html
Across the creek after a very long paddle
Damien Murphy
January 14, 2008
JAMES CASTRISSION and Justin Jones, the two Sydney kayakers who rowed into New Zealand and the record books yesterday, were super-conscious that they were paddling in the wake of Andrew McAuley throughout their historic 62-day crossing of the Tasman Sea.
"We have only got a small, small idea of what Andrew went through out there," James Castrission said of McAuley, who disappeared last February while attempting the same crossing solo after sighting the New Zealand coast.
"Some nights when we were out there, we had each other to hold through the difficult moments."
Escorted into Port Taranaki by Maori canoes, the pair jumped into the water at Ngamotu Beach on New Zealand's west coast about 8.20am and started to wade ashore as the 5000-strong welcoming crowd cheered and clapped. A band started playing Waltzing Matilda.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/across-the-creek-after-a-very-long-paddle/2008/01/13/1200159278180.html
Blind marathon man heads for Sydney in record attempt
January 13, 2008 - 11:31AM
A blind British man will pound the streets of Sydney in an attempt to become the first disabled person to run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
Dave Heeley, who likes to be known as "Blind Dave", has chosen Sydney as the fourth leg of his record-breaking mission, which begins in April in the Falkland Islands and ends in London.
The laid-back 50-year-old father of three is currently undertaking a rigorous training schedule and hopes his "Seven Magnificent Marathons" mission will raise millions of dollars for guide dogs and raise awareness about visually impaired people.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/blind-marathon-man-heads-for-sydney-for-record/2008/01/13/1200159260664.html
A regal encounter on New York Harbour
Three of the world's best-known ocean liners steamed out of New York harbour together late yesterday, sailing out of the same port for the first and only time in their history.
The Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth 2 and newly-launched Queen Victoria slipped past the Statue of Liberty together under the cover of darkness as fireworks burst overhead, offering maritime history fans a unique opportunity.
"This is the first time they've all met," Carol Marlow, president of Cunard Line, which operates the three ships, told reporters in New York.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/cunard-queens-rule-the-waves/2008/01/14/1200159338802.html
"Ipswich Ripper" trial to start
January 14, 2008 - 1:12PM
A forklift truck driver goes on trial today, accused of murdering five women, all aged under 30 and who worked as prostitutes, during a killing spree carried out at a pace never seen before in Britain.
The 2006 murders led to one of the country's biggest manhunts, drew comparisons with infamous 19th century serial killer "Jack the Ripper", and threw a spotlight on Britain's murky underworld of drugs and illicit sex.
Steve Wright, 49, is accused of killing Gemma Adams, Tania Nicol, Anneli Alderton, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls, whose naked bodies were found dumped at rural locations around the eastern town of Ipswich in Suffolk.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/ipswich-ripper-trial-to-start/2008/01/14/1200159331878.html
Gitmo should close says US military boss
January 14, 2008 - 12:24PM
The top US military officer said he would like to see the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed because its image has damaged America's international standing.
"I'd like to see it shut down," Admiral Mike Mullen said yesterday. "I believe that from the standpoint of how it reflects on us that it's been pretty damaging."
But Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said closing the prison posed major legal problems.
"There are enormous challenges associated with that," he said. "There are enormously complex, complicating legal issues that are way out of my purview."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/gitmo-should-close-says-us-military-boss/2008/01/14/1200159327576.html
Saddam's men ushered back into power
Richard Oppel in Baghdad
January 14, 2008
THE Iraqi Parliament has passed a bill to allow some former officials from Saddam Hussein's party to apply for government positions, in the first of the so-called political benchmark measures to pass after months of US pressure for progress.
The measure, which is expected to be approved by the presidential council and become law, was described by its backers as opening the door for the reinstatement of thousands of low-level Baath Party members barred from office after the 2003 US invasion. The Bush Administration had urged the Iraqi Government to pass such a measure to help mend the deep rifts between Sunni Arabs who used to control the government under Saddam and the Shiites who now dominate politics.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/saddams-men-ushered-back-into-power/2008/01/13/1200159278226.html
Dutch soldiers 'killed in combat' in Afghanistan
January 13, 2008
Two Dutch soldiers have been killed in southern Afghanistan after coming under fire near their base, the Dutch Defence Ministry says.
The men, a 20-year-old soldier and a 22-year-old corporal, were killed yesterday by what the ministry called opposing militant forces near the Dutch base at Deh Rawod in Oruzgan province.
Hundreds of Dutch and Afghan troops were carrying out a military operation to better map out the Dutch area of operations.
In all, 14 Dutch soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, either accidentally or in combat.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dutch-soldiers-killed-in-combat-in-afghanistan/2008/01/13/1200159260598.html
Man sodomises stepson to avenge daughter's rape
January 13, 2008
A US father sodomised his 18-year-old stepson to avenge the teenager's alleged rape of the man's eight-year-old daughter, police in Texas say.
The father, 32, turned himself in to authorities yesterday and was released from jail today after posting a $US17,500 ($19,560) bond. He faces a charge of aggravated sexual assault.
The stepson was arrested on January 2 and charged with suspicion of aggravated sexual assault.
Police say the father caught him assaulting his daughter, and a subsequent examination at a hospital revealed the girl had been sodomised.
Sergeant Cheryl Johnson, supervisor of the Fort Worth sex crimes unit, said in a story posted today on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's website that people need to "allow the criminal justice system to work for them."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/man-sodomises-stepson-to-avenge-daughters-rape/2008/01/13/1200159269823.html
Veterans relive trauma of war in home streets
Deborah Sontag and Lizette Alvarez in New York
January 14, 2008
LATE ONE night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed to a 7-Eleven store in the seedy Las Vegas suburb where he had settled after leaving the US Army.
By day, the area looks depressed but not menacing. By night, in the words of a local homicide detective, it becomes "like [the Iraq town of ] Fallujah".
Plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, Sepi said he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when he put a trench coat over his slight frame - and tucked an assault rifle inside it.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/veterans-relive-trauma-of-war-in-home-streets/2008/01/13/1200159278220.html
Hunt for marine accused of raping and killing pregnant colleague
A manhunt has been launched for a US marine suspected of murdering a 20-year-old pregnant colleague he was accused of raping before burning and burying her body.
Marine Corporal Cesar Armando Laurean, 21, had been spotted outside his home state of North Carolina, where the killing occurred, and CNN reports he may be heading for Texas.
The burnt remains of Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach and her unborn child were discovered at the weekend buried in a fire pit in Laurean's garden.
She was eight and a half months pregnant and purportedly carrying Laurean's child.
Laurean, 21, fled after leaving behind a note in which he admitted burying her body but claimed she cut her own throat in a suicide.
Onslow County Sherriff Ed Brown doesn't believe it and challenged Laurean to come forward and defend his claims of innocence.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hunt-for-marine-accused-of-raping-and-killing-pregnant-colleague/2008/01/14/1200159345772.html
Indonesia ready for the funeral as Soeharto clings on
Lindsay Murdoch in Solo, Indonesia
January 14, 2008
THE funeral has been planned, the grave is being readied. Passes have been issued to the media and preparations made for an influx of world leaders.
There is only one thing missing as Indonesia marks the passing of the former dictator Soeharto: his death.
He appears to be holding on to life as stubbornly as he once gripped power. On Friday doctors had to revive the 86-year-old and connect him to a ventilator to save his life, as his family indicated the end had come. They were "ready and would accept whatever takes place".
Doctors said Soeharto had regained consciousness and improved slightly. Though stable, he was still in a "very critical" condition, said Mardjo Soebiandono, the chief of the team treating him.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/general/indonesia-ready-for-funeral-as-suharto-clings-on/2008/01/13/1200159278177.html
Kenya death toll tops 700: police
A prominent US-based rights group has called on Kenyan authorities to lift a ban on political rallies ahead of new demonstrations this week, as the death toll from political violence topped 700.
Police gave the fresh death toll from violence in the wake of the December 27 presidential election after four people died in overnight clashes in the Rift Valley and after 89 more bodies were discovered.
Human Rights Watch urged the government to allow rallies, led by opposition leader Raila Odinga, which are due to start on Wednesday to protest against alleged vote rigging that led to President Mwai Kibaki winning a second five year term.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/kenya-death-toll-tops-700-police/2008/01/14/1200159308482.html
Body found kilometres from bridge
MOBILE, Alabama: A duck hunter found the body of the youngest of four children allegedly thrown from a coastal bridge by their father, raising hopes that the bodies of the other children would be recovered, a sheriff said.
A search for the children - ranging in age from a few months to three years - began on Tuesday near the mouth of Mobile Bay after prosecutors said the father, Lam Luong, confessed.
The duck hunter found the body of an infant about eight kilometres west of the bridge in a marshy area on Saturday.
"The inevitable nightmare we have feared has now been confirmed," the Mobile County Sheriff, Sam Cochran, said.
"We believe, certainly now, that the father of these children threw these children off the Dauphin Island Bridge."
Mr Cochran said a police chaplain had informed the children's family of the discovery.
Their mother, Kieu Phan, 23, had gone with Luong to report them missing last Monday evening.
When told that the infant's body had been found, Ms Phan wept. Through an interpreter, she said: "Why didn't he kill me instead of the children? It's too much hurting."
Mr Cochran said searchers using sonar technology saw images on Friday that they believed were three bodies, but the currents were too strong for divers to reach the location.
Divers re-entered the water on Saturday and worked until darkness forced them out. The search was set to resume yesterday.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/body-found-kilometres-from-bridge/2008/01/13/1200159278214.html
Second body found in search for children tossed off bridge
January 14, 2008 - 6:05AM
A second body was recovered on Sunday in the search for four children allegedly thrown from a coastal bridge in Alabama by their Vietnamese father.
The body was found by a search team near where a duck hunter found the body of an infant about five miles west of the bridge in a marshy area on Saturday, said Mobile County sheriff's Sergeant Jerry Taylor.
The search for the children - ranging in age from a few months to three years - began on Tuesday near the mouth of Mobile Bay after prosecutors said the father, Lam Luong, confessed.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/second-body-found-in-search-for-children-tossed-off-bridge/2008/01/14/1200159308456.html
Taiwanese humiliate maverick President
Mary-Anne Toy Herald Correspondent in Beijing
January 14, 2008
Advertisement
TAIWANESE voters have rebuked the ruling party for its confrontational push to make the self-ruled island formally independent of China.
The Democratic Progressive Party of the outgoing President, Chen Shui-bian, won just 27 of the 113 seats in Taiwan's slimmed-down parliament, the Legislative Yuan; the opposition Kuomintang won 81.
Mr Chen has intensified the drive for independence to revive support for the DPP, whose popularity has dived as the economy enters its sixth year of lacklustre performance, and parliamentary gridlock frustrates decision-making.
Mr Chen had threatened to hold a referendum on whether the Government should apply for United Nations membership under the name Taiwan at the same time as the March 22 presidential elections. He is not eligible to stand again, having served two four-year terms.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/taiwanese-humiliate-maverick-president/2008/01/13/1200159278194.html
L'amour the merrier, but Sarkozy loses nation's love
Gethin Chamberlain and Susan Bell in Paris
January 14, 2008
NICOLAS SARKOZY is paying a heavy political price for his very public wooing of the former model Carla Bruni, a poll has revealed.
The poll, published in Le Figaro on Saturday, showed public confidence in the French President has dipped to 49 per cent after hitting 64 per cent six months ago.
But although the romance appears to be a turn-off for the public, that has done nothing to dampen fevered speculation about the relationship.
Rumours that Ms Bruni was pregnant circulated widely after she was allegedly seen leaving the exclusive American Hospital in Mr Sarkozy's former fiefdom of Neuilly, though the news organisation behind the reports dropped the claim, which appeared to have been generated by an internet blogger.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/lamour-the-merrier-but-sarkozy-loses-nations-love/2008/01/13/1200159278208.html
Brown backs move to remove organs unless patients refuse
Patrick Hennessy and Laura Donnelly in London
January 14, 2008
Advertisement
THE British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has backed a move to allow hospitals to remove organs from dead patients without explicit consent.
Writing in London's The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Brown says that such a facility would save thousands of lives and that he hopes such a system can start this year.
The proposals would mean consent for organ donation after death would be automatically presumed, unless individuals had opted out of the national register or family members objected.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/brown-backs-move-to-remove-organs-unless-patients-refuse/2008/01/13/1200159278197.html
The refrain in Spain is mainly very plain
January 14, 2008
Advertisement
MADRID: It might have only four uninspiring and old-fashioned verses, but Spain has finally found the words to match its national anthem, which has been lyric-less since 1978, three years after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco.
But despite their seemingly lacklustre nature, the lyrics are bound to cause controversy in a country made up of numerous regions with distinct languages and identities which have a difficult relationship with the Spanish state.
Last year Spain's Olympics committee held a competition to find suitable lyrics to ensure that the country's sportsmen and women had something to mumble along to before international football matches or when they pick up medals.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/the-refrain-in-spain-is-mainly-very-plain/2008/01/13/1200159278211.html
continued...
Monday, January 14, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
...it's free...(I think everyone knows it's paid through taxes. Questions? I mean really. Taxes are necessary. Got that?)
No American is so stupid they expect universal health care to be a gift from the almighty. The Right Wing Republican Aristocracy can stop treating everyone else as through they are stupid. Being an American is not rocket science, however, to deal with Republican Rhetoric and determining corruption is !!!
Michael Moore Today
www.michaelmoore.com
January 12th, 2008 7:00 pm
Romney and McCain debate economy
By Jeremy Pelofsky / Reuters
YPSILANTI, Michigan - Republican rivals Mitt Romney and John McCain clashed on Saturday over how to revive the depressed economy of Michigan, the former manufacturing powerhouse that hosts the next contest in the presidential race that still has no clear front-runner.
Michigan-born Romney, needing to win here on Tuesday after losing Iowa to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Hampshire to Arizona Sen. McCain, went to a General Motors Corp. plant that just announced it was laying off 200 workers.
"It's inexcusable to me to see these jobs going away again and again and again," Romney said outside the plant, arguing for more investment in science and technology research.
While Republicans battled in Michigan, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigned for votes in Nevada, which holds presidential caucuses next Saturday, the next big test in her battle with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10709
Let's have some fun in Michigan
by kos
Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 01:31:01 PM PST
In 1972, Republican voters in Michigan decided to make a little mischief, crossing over to vote in the open Democratic primary and voting for segregationist Democrat George Wallace, seriously embarrassing the state's Democrats. In fact, a third of the voters (PDF) in the Democratic primary were Republican crossover votes. In 1988, Republican voters again crossed over, helping Jesse Jackson win the Democratic primary, helping rack up big margins for Jackson in Republican precincts. (Michigan Republicans can clearly be counted on to practice the worst of racial politics.) In 1998, Republicans helped Jack Kevorkian's lawyer -- quack Geoffrey Feiger -- win his Democratic primary, thus guaranteeing their hold on the governor's mansion that year.
With a history of meddling in our primaries, why don't we try and return the favor. Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win. How so?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/10/2713/87225/55/434206
January 13th, 2008 6:05 pm
Shoppers: It's BYO bag in China
By Christopher Bodeen / Associated Press
BEIJING - Declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags and calling for a return to the cloth bags of old — steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers on Wednesday.
The measure eliminates the flimsiest bags and forces stores to charge for others, making China the latest nation to target plastic bags in a bid to cut waste and conserve resources.
Beijing residents appeared to take the ban in stride, reflecting rising environmental consciousness and concern over skyrocketing oil prices.
Pasted from <http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10716>
January 12th, 2008 9:01 pm
Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles
By Deborah Sontag and Lizette Alvarez / New York Times
Late one night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed out to a 7-Eleven in the seedy Las Vegas neighborhood where he had settled after leaving the Army.
This particular 7-Eleven sits in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino-hotel in a section of town called the Naked City. By day, the area, littered with malt liquor cans, looks depressed but not menacing. By night, it becomes, in the words of a local homicide detective, “like Falluja.”
Mr. Sepi did not like to venture outside too late. But, plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when, seized by a gut feeling of lurking danger, he slid a trench coat over his slight frame — and tucked an assault rifle inside it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10713
Spy Chief Speaks for Himself:
'If I Were Waterboarded, That Would be Torture"
"...oh God, I just can't imagine how painful!"
-- U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell
January 13th, 2008 2:28 pm
U.S. spy chief: waterboarding would be torture to him
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell said in a magazine interview that waterboarding would be torture if it was used against him personally, but stopped short of condemning the controversial interrogation technique.
McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, was quoted in The New Yorker edition released on Sunday as defining torture as "something that would cause excruciating pain."
Asked if waterboarding -- the practice of covering a person's face with a cloth and then dripping water on it to bring on a feeling of drowning -- fit that definition, McConnell said that for him personally, it would.
"If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can't imagine how painful!" McConnell said in the article. "Whether it's torture by anybody else's definition, for me it would be torture."
But he rejected a suggestion that he personally condemned the practice.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has declined to rule on whether waterboarding is torture.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10714
Hodding Carter III to moderate historic impeachment debate between Bruce Fein and Michael Tomasky
Conservative Republican and Progressive Journalist will debate Impeachment at the Carrboro Century Center on January 15, 2008 at 7pm. Guess who’s arguing for Impeachment?
CARRBORO , N.C. : In the tradition of the Lincoln/Douglas Debates, Coalition for the Constitution will host a Debate on Impeachment between Republican Bruce Fein (pro-impeachment) and Democrat Michael Tomasky (anti-impeachment). The Debate will be held on January 15, 2008 at 7pm, at the Carrboro Century Center and will be moderated by UNC Professor of Leadership and Public Policy, W. Hodding Carter III, and hosted by Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey. Seats are limited so preregistration is suggested at http://coalitionfortheconstitution.com/registration/. The debate will also be webcast on the Coalition for the Constitution web site at http://coalitionfortheconstitution.com.
Impeachment is mentioned six times in the United States Constitution, including most clearly in Article II, section 3 which reads:
“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
http://www.coalitionfortheconstitution.com/
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Impeachment Marcher Reaches Washington – “Hello Madame Speaker” ...by Dan DeWalt
John Nirenberg, who has spent the last forty days and nights walking south on Route 1 from Boston to Washington D.C., has reached the outskirts of his goal, Nancy Pelosi’s office. And rather than the last stumbling steps of exhaustion, or steps glad to be finishing up and moving on, the final leg of John’s journey is rather more a river of energy that has been fed by the response that he has received along his route.
During his trek, John has been invited (and thrown out of) high schools and bolstered by vigils and events in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York City, Jersey City, Philadelphia, and now Washington. His web site www.marchinmyname.org tells the tales of many a spirit touched, moved and even changed by learning about John and his dedication to actively protecting the Constitution.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=958
January 12th, 2008 8:14 pm
It seems Fred's S.C. campaign is a little short of cash
By Andrew Malcolm / Los Angeles Times
Quietly, deep within an e-mail to supporters from Fred Thompson's campaign manager touting the former senator's South Carolina game plan, William Lacy describes the long days the candidate is putting in on the Palmetto State's campaign trail. He said they needed more advertising to give Thompson the best chance to do well in the upcoming Republican primary there.
Then there's one line we almost overlooked where Lacy makes a possibly revealing admission about the Tennessean's campaign financial condition with ramifications for his political finish.
"Right now," he says, "my budget is a little short of where it needs to be to get that done."
He adds, "Even a donation of $10, $20 or $25 would help Fred get where he needs to be."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10711
January 12th, 2008 8:18 pm
Thompson says radio natural fit for him
By Jim Davenport / Associated Press
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Fred Thompson is relying on his radio roots for a rally in South Carolina's GOP presidential primary.
Thompson has sat behind microphones in a series of town-hall meetings as talk radio hosts question him for a few minutes before opening it up to audiences. On Wednesday, it was at a diner in Sumter. On Saturday, it was much the same at an overflowing pancake house in North Charleston.
Thompson says the radio is a natural fit for someone who grew up listening to AM broadcasts, including the well-known commentator Paul Harvey. In fact, the former Tennessee senator is quick to point out he filled in for Harvey for a while.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10712
January 12th, 2008 5:31 pm
Yemenis caught in Gitmo stalemate
Detainees can't be freed because of homeland's impasse with U.S.
By Michael Melia / Associated Press
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — The number of men held at Guantanamo Bay is declining rapidly, but there is no way out for most of the Yemeni detainees because their homeland's government and Washington are mired in a diplomatic impasse over security concerns.
The jail at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba entered its seventh year Friday, with Yemenis now making up the biggest group of prisoners. Only one Yemeni was among a record 100 detainees sent away over the past six months, according to an Associated Press count.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10707
January 11th, 2008 9:09 pm
US Appeals Court Dismisses Guantanamo Torture Suit
The suit sought $10 million in damages and named then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 10 military commanders.
Reuters
A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that four former Guantanamo prisoners, all British citizens, have no right to sue top Pentagon officials and military officers for torture, abuse and violations of their religious rights.
The decision by a three-judge panel to dismiss the lawsuit came exactly six years after the first detainees arrived at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The prison, which has been widely criticized by human rights advocates, now holds about 275 prisoners. President George W. Bush has acknowledged the prison's damage to the U.S. image and has said he would like to see it closed eventually.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10701
January 11th, 2008 8:50 pm
Prison camps to get new commander
Miami Herald
The Pentagon announced Friday that it will post a third one-star Navy admiral in a row to run the prison camps at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, replacing the commander who has been there only seven months.
A short Defense Department announcement said Rear Adm. David M. Thomas will replace Rear Adm. Mark Buzby as the officer in charge of the detention and interrogation center that today holds 275 foreign captives at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.
There was no immediate word on when Thomas would take charge.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10699
‘Filipino Monkey’ behind threats?
By Andrew Scutro and David Brown - Staff writers
Posted : Sunday Jan 13, 2008 15:38:29 EST
The threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing harassing maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz may have come from a locally famous heckler known among ship drivers as the “Filipino Monkey.”
Since the Jan. 6 incident was announced to the public a day later, the U.S. Navy has said it’s unclear where the voice came from. In the videotape released by the Pentagon on Jan. 8, the screen goes black at the very end and the voice can be heard, distancing it from the scenes on the water.
“We don’t know for sure where they came from,” said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain. “It could have been a shore station.”
While the threat — “I am coming to you. You will explode in a few minutes” — was picked up during the incident, further jacking up the tension, there’s no proof yet of its origin. And several Navy officials have said it’s difficult to figure out who’s talking.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_hormuz_iran_radio_080111/
January 12th, 2008 4:14 am
Pentagon releases video of Iran clash
By Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Recent clashes between Iranian and U.S. Navy forces in the Persian Gulf reflect Iran's shifted military strategy to use its Revolutionary Guard's fast boats more aggressively in the region, the top U.S. military officer said Friday.
In a confrontation Sunday — captured on a 36-minute video the Pentagon made public Friday — military officials said boxes were thrown into the water by the Iranians, triggering concerns about potential mine threats. And in an incident last month, a U.S. ship fired warning shots at a rapidly approaching Iranian boat.
While there are lingering questions about the origin of menacing verbal threats heard during the confrontation Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday that the clash was the most "provocative and dramatic" he has seen.
"The incident ought to remind us all just how real is the threat posed by Iran and just how ready we are to meet that threat if it comes to it," Mullen said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10705
Messages From Rogue Radio Operator Could Provoke Attack Filipino Monkey: On Backs of Many in Tense Gulf
[Home Edition]
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Author:
MICHAEL ROSS
Date:
Nov 12, 1987
Start Page:
19
Section:
1; Foreign Desk
Text Word Count:
800
Abstract (Document Summary)
Since the arrival of U.S. warships and an increase in Iranian challenges to shipping at the southern end of the gulf, the Monkey's mischief has assumed a darker side.
One case in point is another recent encounter between an Iranian gunboat and a merchant vessel near the Strait of Hormuz last month. When the gunboat challenged the vessel, demanding to know its destination, the Filipino Monkey broke in and replied: "I go to your mother's house. . . . "
The Iranian ship had locked its weapons radar onto the U.S. warship, which was warning it in no uncertain terms to stand down. The warning was repeated three times until the Filipino Monkey added his own.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58746546.html?dids=58746546:58746546&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+12,+1987&author=MICHAEL+ROSS&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Messages+From+Rogue+Radio+Operator+Could+Provoke+Attack+Filipino+Monkey%3A+On+Backs+of+Many+in+Tense+Gulf&pqatl=google
Sign our online petition for "CheneyCare" here!
Unlike the average American, the president, vice president and members of Congress all enjoy government-financed healthcare with few restrictions or prohibitive fees. They are never turned away for pre-existing conditions or denied care for what an insurance company labels "experimental treatments."
DOESN'T EVERYONE DESERVE CheneyCare?
http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/
Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
Be It Resolved: You Can Impeach the President
Official State Impeachment Text
Impeachment Text for Cities & Towns
Impeachment Text for County Democratic Committees
Impeachment Text for State Assemblies and/or Legislatures
Jefferson's Manual, Section LIII, 603
You Can Impeach the President
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622
If you feel George W. Bush should be impeached, paint a sign that says "Impeach." and post it in a public place.
Send pictures to: freewayblogger@yahoo.com
http://www.freewayblogger.com/impeachment_project2.htm
continued...
www.michaelmoore.com
January 12th, 2008 7:00 pm
Romney and McCain debate economy
By Jeremy Pelofsky / Reuters
YPSILANTI, Michigan - Republican rivals Mitt Romney and John McCain clashed on Saturday over how to revive the depressed economy of Michigan, the former manufacturing powerhouse that hosts the next contest in the presidential race that still has no clear front-runner.
Michigan-born Romney, needing to win here on Tuesday after losing Iowa to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New Hampshire to Arizona Sen. McCain, went to a General Motors Corp. plant that just announced it was laying off 200 workers.
"It's inexcusable to me to see these jobs going away again and again and again," Romney said outside the plant, arguing for more investment in science and technology research.
While Republicans battled in Michigan, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton campaigned for votes in Nevada, which holds presidential caucuses next Saturday, the next big test in her battle with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10709
Let's have some fun in Michigan
by kos
Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 01:31:01 PM PST
In 1972, Republican voters in Michigan decided to make a little mischief, crossing over to vote in the open Democratic primary and voting for segregationist Democrat George Wallace, seriously embarrassing the state's Democrats. In fact, a third of the voters (PDF) in the Democratic primary were Republican crossover votes. In 1988, Republican voters again crossed over, helping Jesse Jackson win the Democratic primary, helping rack up big margins for Jackson in Republican precincts. (Michigan Republicans can clearly be counted on to practice the worst of racial politics.) In 1998, Republicans helped Jack Kevorkian's lawyer -- quack Geoffrey Feiger -- win his Democratic primary, thus guaranteeing their hold on the governor's mansion that year.
With a history of meddling in our primaries, why don't we try and return the favor. Next Tuesday, January 15th, Michigan will hold its primary. Michigan Democrats should vote for Mitt Romney, because if Mitt wins, Democrats win. How so?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/10/2713/87225/55/434206
January 13th, 2008 6:05 pm
Shoppers: It's BYO bag in China
By Christopher Bodeen / Associated Press
BEIJING - Declaring war on the "white pollution" choking its cities, farms and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags and calling for a return to the cloth bags of old — steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers on Wednesday.
The measure eliminates the flimsiest bags and forces stores to charge for others, making China the latest nation to target plastic bags in a bid to cut waste and conserve resources.
Beijing residents appeared to take the ban in stride, reflecting rising environmental consciousness and concern over skyrocketing oil prices.
Pasted from <http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10716>
January 12th, 2008 9:01 pm
Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles
By Deborah Sontag and Lizette Alvarez / New York Times
Late one night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed out to a 7-Eleven in the seedy Las Vegas neighborhood where he had settled after leaving the Army.
This particular 7-Eleven sits in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino-hotel in a section of town called the Naked City. By day, the area, littered with malt liquor cans, looks depressed but not menacing. By night, it becomes, in the words of a local homicide detective, “like Falluja.”
Mr. Sepi did not like to venture outside too late. But, plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when, seized by a gut feeling of lurking danger, he slid a trench coat over his slight frame — and tucked an assault rifle inside it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10713
Spy Chief Speaks for Himself:
'If I Were Waterboarded, That Would be Torture"
"...oh God, I just can't imagine how painful!"
-- U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell
January 13th, 2008 2:28 pm
U.S. spy chief: waterboarding would be torture to him
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence chief Mike McConnell said in a magazine interview that waterboarding would be torture if it was used against him personally, but stopped short of condemning the controversial interrogation technique.
McConnell, the director of National Intelligence, was quoted in The New Yorker edition released on Sunday as defining torture as "something that would cause excruciating pain."
Asked if waterboarding -- the practice of covering a person's face with a cloth and then dripping water on it to bring on a feeling of drowning -- fit that definition, McConnell said that for him personally, it would.
"If I had water draining into my nose, oh God, I just can't imagine how painful!" McConnell said in the article. "Whether it's torture by anybody else's definition, for me it would be torture."
But he rejected a suggestion that he personally condemned the practice.
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has declined to rule on whether waterboarding is torture.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10714
Hodding Carter III to moderate historic impeachment debate between Bruce Fein and Michael Tomasky
Conservative Republican and Progressive Journalist will debate Impeachment at the Carrboro Century Center on January 15, 2008 at 7pm. Guess who’s arguing for Impeachment?
CARRBORO , N.C. : In the tradition of the Lincoln/Douglas Debates, Coalition for the Constitution will host a Debate on Impeachment between Republican Bruce Fein (pro-impeachment) and Democrat Michael Tomasky (anti-impeachment). The Debate will be held on January 15, 2008 at 7pm, at the Carrboro Century Center and will be moderated by UNC Professor of Leadership and Public Policy, W. Hodding Carter III, and hosted by Orange County Commissioner Moses Carey. Seats are limited so preregistration is suggested at http://coalitionfortheconstitution.com/registration/. The debate will also be webcast on the Coalition for the Constitution web site at http://coalitionfortheconstitution.com.
Impeachment is mentioned six times in the United States Constitution, including most clearly in Article II, section 3 which reads:
“The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
http://www.coalitionfortheconstitution.com/
Sunday, January 13th, 2008
Impeachment Marcher Reaches Washington – “Hello Madame Speaker” ...by Dan DeWalt
John Nirenberg, who has spent the last forty days and nights walking south on Route 1 from Boston to Washington D.C., has reached the outskirts of his goal, Nancy Pelosi’s office. And rather than the last stumbling steps of exhaustion, or steps glad to be finishing up and moving on, the final leg of John’s journey is rather more a river of energy that has been fed by the response that he has received along his route.
During his trek, John has been invited (and thrown out of) high schools and bolstered by vigils and events in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York City, Jersey City, Philadelphia, and now Washington. His web site www.marchinmyname.org tells the tales of many a spirit touched, moved and even changed by learning about John and his dedication to actively protecting the Constitution.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=958
January 12th, 2008 8:14 pm
It seems Fred's S.C. campaign is a little short of cash
By Andrew Malcolm / Los Angeles Times
Quietly, deep within an e-mail to supporters from Fred Thompson's campaign manager touting the former senator's South Carolina game plan, William Lacy describes the long days the candidate is putting in on the Palmetto State's campaign trail. He said they needed more advertising to give Thompson the best chance to do well in the upcoming Republican primary there.
Then there's one line we almost overlooked where Lacy makes a possibly revealing admission about the Tennessean's campaign financial condition with ramifications for his political finish.
"Right now," he says, "my budget is a little short of where it needs to be to get that done."
He adds, "Even a donation of $10, $20 or $25 would help Fred get where he needs to be."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10711
January 12th, 2008 8:18 pm
Thompson says radio natural fit for him
By Jim Davenport / Associated Press
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Fred Thompson is relying on his radio roots for a rally in South Carolina's GOP presidential primary.
Thompson has sat behind microphones in a series of town-hall meetings as talk radio hosts question him for a few minutes before opening it up to audiences. On Wednesday, it was at a diner in Sumter. On Saturday, it was much the same at an overflowing pancake house in North Charleston.
Thompson says the radio is a natural fit for someone who grew up listening to AM broadcasts, including the well-known commentator Paul Harvey. In fact, the former Tennessee senator is quick to point out he filled in for Harvey for a while.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10712
January 12th, 2008 5:31 pm
Yemenis caught in Gitmo stalemate
Detainees can't be freed because of homeland's impasse with U.S.
By Michael Melia / Associated Press
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO — The number of men held at Guantanamo Bay is declining rapidly, but there is no way out for most of the Yemeni detainees because their homeland's government and Washington are mired in a diplomatic impasse over security concerns.
The jail at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba entered its seventh year Friday, with Yemenis now making up the biggest group of prisoners. Only one Yemeni was among a record 100 detainees sent away over the past six months, according to an Associated Press count.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10707
January 11th, 2008 9:09 pm
US Appeals Court Dismisses Guantanamo Torture Suit
The suit sought $10 million in damages and named then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 10 military commanders.
Reuters
A U.S. appeals court ruled on Friday that four former Guantanamo prisoners, all British citizens, have no right to sue top Pentagon officials and military officers for torture, abuse and violations of their religious rights.
The decision by a three-judge panel to dismiss the lawsuit came exactly six years after the first detainees arrived at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The prison, which has been widely criticized by human rights advocates, now holds about 275 prisoners. President George W. Bush has acknowledged the prison's damage to the U.S. image and has said he would like to see it closed eventually.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10701
January 11th, 2008 8:50 pm
Prison camps to get new commander
Miami Herald
The Pentagon announced Friday that it will post a third one-star Navy admiral in a row to run the prison camps at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, replacing the commander who has been there only seven months.
A short Defense Department announcement said Rear Adm. David M. Thomas will replace Rear Adm. Mark Buzby as the officer in charge of the detention and interrogation center that today holds 275 foreign captives at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba.
There was no immediate word on when Thomas would take charge.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10699
‘Filipino Monkey’ behind threats?
By Andrew Scutro and David Brown - Staff writers
Posted : Sunday Jan 13, 2008 15:38:29 EST
The threatening radio transmission heard at the end of a video showing harassing maneuvers by Iranian patrol boats in the Strait of Hormuz may have come from a locally famous heckler known among ship drivers as the “Filipino Monkey.”
Since the Jan. 6 incident was announced to the public a day later, the U.S. Navy has said it’s unclear where the voice came from. In the videotape released by the Pentagon on Jan. 8, the screen goes black at the very end and the voice can be heard, distancing it from the scenes on the water.
“We don’t know for sure where they came from,” said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, spokeswoman for 5th Fleet in Bahrain. “It could have been a shore station.”
While the threat — “I am coming to you. You will explode in a few minutes” — was picked up during the incident, further jacking up the tension, there’s no proof yet of its origin. And several Navy officials have said it’s difficult to figure out who’s talking.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/01/navy_hormuz_iran_radio_080111/
January 12th, 2008 4:14 am
Pentagon releases video of Iran clash
By Lolita C. Baldor / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Recent clashes between Iranian and U.S. Navy forces in the Persian Gulf reflect Iran's shifted military strategy to use its Revolutionary Guard's fast boats more aggressively in the region, the top U.S. military officer said Friday.
In a confrontation Sunday — captured on a 36-minute video the Pentagon made public Friday — military officials said boxes were thrown into the water by the Iranians, triggering concerns about potential mine threats. And in an incident last month, a U.S. ship fired warning shots at a rapidly approaching Iranian boat.
While there are lingering questions about the origin of menacing verbal threats heard during the confrontation Sunday in the Strait of Hormuz, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Friday that the clash was the most "provocative and dramatic" he has seen.
"The incident ought to remind us all just how real is the threat posed by Iran and just how ready we are to meet that threat if it comes to it," Mullen said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10705
Messages From Rogue Radio Operator Could Provoke Attack Filipino Monkey: On Backs of Many in Tense Gulf
[Home Edition]
Los Angeles Times (pre-1997 Fulltext) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Author:
MICHAEL ROSS
Date:
Nov 12, 1987
Start Page:
19
Section:
1; Foreign Desk
Text Word Count:
800
Abstract (Document Summary)
Since the arrival of U.S. warships and an increase in Iranian challenges to shipping at the southern end of the gulf, the Monkey's mischief has assumed a darker side.
One case in point is another recent encounter between an Iranian gunboat and a merchant vessel near the Strait of Hormuz last month. When the gunboat challenged the vessel, demanding to know its destination, the Filipino Monkey broke in and replied: "I go to your mother's house. . . . "
The Iranian ship had locked its weapons radar onto the U.S. warship, which was warning it in no uncertain terms to stand down. The warning was repeated three times until the Filipino Monkey added his own.
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/58746546.html?dids=58746546:58746546&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+12,+1987&author=MICHAEL+ROSS&pub=Los+Angeles+Times+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=Messages+From+Rogue+Radio+Operator+Could+Provoke+Attack+Filipino+Monkey%3A+On+Backs+of+Many+in+Tense+Gulf&pqatl=google
Sign our online petition for "CheneyCare" here!
Unlike the average American, the president, vice president and members of Congress all enjoy government-financed healthcare with few restrictions or prohibitive fees. They are never turned away for pre-existing conditions or denied care for what an insurance company labels "experimental treatments."
DOESN'T EVERYONE DESERVE CheneyCare?
http://www.guaranteedhealthcare.org/
Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
Be It Resolved: You Can Impeach the President
Official State Impeachment Text
Impeachment Text for Cities & Towns
Impeachment Text for County Democratic Committees
Impeachment Text for State Assemblies and/or Legislatures
Jefferson's Manual, Section LIII, 603
You Can Impeach the President
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622
If you feel George W. Bush should be impeached, paint a sign that says "Impeach." and post it in a public place.
Send pictures to: freewayblogger@yahoo.com
http://www.freewayblogger.com/impeachment_project2.htm
continued...
Mayor Bloomberg and the Governors Corzine and Spitzer need to stop the fees on the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan. This is hideous.
The reconstruction of Lower Manhattan is not standard issue construction for profit. It's a reconstruction after a traumatic event which required a great deal of public support. The project still isn't well funded and now to add insult to injury there are fines added to the construction costs.
This is simply outrageous. It adds pressure to the efforts to complete buildings which carry significant controversy. It's time to back off and allow the work to be done WELL rather than just 'on time.' The public doesn't need the added stress of fines to resolve the problems presented by the devastation that occurred to many that day.
This is the nation's reconstruction and not just NYC. If fees need to be charged then charge them to The Bush/Cheney Executive Branch for the lack of support NYC received in this reconstruction. Let Bush add the fees to his military budget !
January 11, 2008
The $250 Million East Bathtub at Ground Zero
An incessant din resounds for some 20 hours a day as hundreds of workers and mammoth mining machines excavate the foundations for two future office towers at Church Street between Liberty and Vesey Streets in Lower Manhattan. The pit is framed by 85-foot-tall concrete walls that hold the Hudson River at bay. Because a site preparation deadline was missed, every day of delay costs the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey $300,000 in penalties.
This is simply outrageous. It adds pressure to the efforts to complete buildings which carry significant controversy. It's time to back off and allow the work to be done WELL rather than just 'on time.' The public doesn't need the added stress of fines to resolve the problems presented by the devastation that occurred to many that day.
This is the nation's reconstruction and not just NYC. If fees need to be charged then charge them to The Bush/Cheney Executive Branch for the lack of support NYC received in this reconstruction. Let Bush add the fees to his military budget !
January 11, 2008
The $250 Million East Bathtub at Ground Zero
An incessant din resounds for some 20 hours a day as hundreds of workers and mammoth mining machines excavate the foundations for two future office towers at Church Street between Liberty and Vesey Streets in Lower Manhattan. The pit is framed by 85-foot-tall concrete walls that hold the Hudson River at bay. Because a site preparation deadline was missed, every day of delay costs the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey $300,000 in penalties.
Morning Papers - continued...
"Amphibian Ark" is based in solid conservation principles of conservation, preservation, ecology, restoration and reintroduction. Every aspect of this initiative is achievable. We need to address the loss of species, Climate Change and the dangers of Human Induced Global Warming. There is no option.
Zoos
Near-Escapes Plague SF Zoo
Posted Jan 12, 08 10:11 AM CST in
(newser) – Two animals have nearly escaped from enclosures at the San Francisco Zoo since a fatal mauling Dec. 25, the Chronicle reports. A 600-pound polar bear—whose movements are so unpredictable it's kept away from the zoo's other polar bears—tried to scale an enclosure wall Jan. 3; a 100-pound snow leopard got a paw and part of its head out of a mesh cage yesterday.
Two zoo employees told the Chronicle they feared for their own safety and that of visitors following the new incidents. A teenager was killed Christmas Day when a Siberian tiger leapt from its enclosure; two companions were injured before police shot the animal to death. The zoo was closed at the time of the polar bear incident, open during the snow leopard's attempt.
http://www.newser.com/story/16195.html?rss=y
Lawyers say city, zoo on shaky legal ground if tiger victims sue
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, January 13, 2008
In the eyes of the law, keeping a caged tiger is like hauling dynamite or storing uranium - an activity so dangerous that even the most careful proprietor is responsible for any injuries to bystanders.
That's the general rule that will apply to any lawsuits over the Christmas Day attack at the San Francisco Zoo, in which a tiger escaped from its outdoor grotto, killed a 17-year-old visitor from San Jose and injured two of his friends. But, as usual in these situations, there's an asterisk, and it dates back to 1952, when a state appeals court ruled on a suit by a man who was attacked by a polar bear at the same zoo.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/13/BAKDUD50Q.DTL
Sanctuary given to retired, rescued tigers
By PATRICK MAY
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
last updated: January 13, 2008 02:58:11 AM
SAN ANDREAS -- After years of mugging for photos at backyard zoos and feline freak shows, the arthritic performers now live out their lives in hushed obscurity. The daily ritual consists of gentle calisthenics, five-pound rabbits for breakfast and the occasional scoop of Jelly Belly beans.
For the 33 tigers rescued from America's love affair with beasts behind bars, life at the Ark 2000 wildlife sanctuary, part of the Performing Animal Welfare Society, is a mixed bag. Their 10-acre world is kept under lock and key. Yet the bucolic Gold Country retreat also features bathing pools and straw beds. Sometimes the keepers even spritz cheap perfume, which the cats find stimulating, around the paddocks.
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/178724.html
Polar bear cub is a website hit
23 hours ago
The German city of Nuremberg launched a web page dedicated to the country's latest celebrity polar bear and visitors have already inundated the site's operators with name suggestions for the four-week-old cub.
The site - www.eisbaer.nuernberg.de - provides details on the cub's health and has a photo gallery.
"We're getting 15 emails with name suggestions every minute," city spokesman Robert Hackner said.
He did not give examples. But for now, the zoo's keepers have dubbed the cub, thought to be female, Flocke - German for flake, as in snow flake - because of its brilliantly white and fluffy fur.
Flocke was taken from its mother, Vera, on Tuesday amid concerns she could harm or even kill the newborn, and will not be returned to her.
The decision was made after keepers saw Vera carrying the cub around in her jaws and tossing it around her enclosure.
The cub is the first in Germany to be hand-raised by its keepers since Knut, who became a celebrity after being rescued in late 2006 when his mother rejected him.
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hizQ8iXFcX8QS9_or2ale-xZ1e3A
St. Paul Como Zoo: Baby orangutan leaves zoo staff speechless
BY RICHARD CHIN
Pioneer Press
What’s the hardest thing about holding a newborn baby orangutan? Not talking to it.
That’s what zookeepers at Como Zoo learned when Markisa, one of the zoo’s orangutans, gave birth Dec. 13 via Caesarean section, the first primate C-section at the zoo and one of only a handful of orangutan C-sections worldwide.
The yet-to-be-named baby, reunited with his mother, made his public debut Thursday. He is on exhibit on a limited basis.
http://redapes.org/news-updates/st-paul-como-zoo-baby-orangutan-leaves-zoo-staff-speechless/
Rare Lions Born at the Belfast Zoo
Staff at Belfast Zoo are celebrating the birth of two endangered Barbary lions
http://content5.clipmarks.com/content/127FC2B3-B31A-448A-A129-23C6AF9C9595/
Nation
San Francisco Zoo officials detail two animal security incidents since Christmas tiger attack
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona Published: 01.12.2008
SAN FRANCISCO — Since a tiger escaped its pen and killed a person, a snow leopard has ripped a small opening in its wire cage and workers have had to dart a polar bear to goad it into its night enclosure, San Francisco Zoo officials said Friday.
A nearly 100-pound snow leopard managed to rip a 4-inch hole in its wire mesh cage Thursday afternoon and got part of its head and paw out, zoo officials said. The zookeeper could have been harmed if she had not secured the cage, but visitors were never threatened because the cage was in a larger, secured enclosure, zoo spokesman Sam Singer said.
"Even if (the leopard) had escaped, he would have been in another cage so he would never have come in contact with the public," Singer said.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/85631/220207.php
Columbus Zoo pays $35,000 to keep big snake
Published on Saturday Jan 12, 2008
A 24-foot python at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, billed as the largest snake in captivity, is staying put.
The zoo paid $35,000 to the snake's breeder in Oklahoma to keep the snake on permanent display. While on loan last year, the python helped draw 1.53 million visitors, just under the zoo's attendance record of 1.56 million set in 2006, said zoo Associate Director Pete Fingerhut.
The reticulated python, named Fluffy, is about as long as a moving van and thick as a telephone pole.
Bob Clark, the breeder from Oklahoma City who raised the python from a hatchling, initially resisted the zoo's purchase offer but said he's happy with the outcome.
"I really love that snake; I think it's a special animal," he said. "It's so big and tame and wonderful. But I have to deal with the realities of life like everyone else. I like to have the money, and I know she's got a great place to live there."
The Columbus Zoo doesn't buy animals very often, said Executive Director Jerry Borin. Its animals generally come as exchanges from other zoos or through breeding loans or donations, he said.
http://www.ohio.com/news/ap?articleID=336492&c=y
Meerkat at the Zoo - PAD #1009
By Drew January 12, 2008
Today Allison and I took Eva over to the Capron Park Zoo. I also got to use a real camera again so I was able to get some decent photos at the zoo. I love photographing the animals at the zoo. I also met a zoo volunteer who does many of the photos for the zoo and promotional materials.
I wonder if he would like any of these photos that I took.
I am very happy to be back home and to have access to my cameras again. I had a great time using my macro lens around the zoo. My favorite animals to photograph are the lions. The zoo is working on getting a White Lion cub. I can’t wait to see it and photograph it.
Next month Allison and I are headed to Florida for a vacation and we will be down near Miami, I saw a TV show today where the people on the show were talking about many locations in Florida and the Miami area specifically where families can go to see animals. I didn’t know that there was a zoo there and I hope that we can go. I want to go to Butterfly world again as it was an amazing place to go and take photos. Some of my favorite photos of 2007 were from there. This time I am going to get even more of them.
http://www.benspark.com/meerkat-at-the-zoo-pad-1009.html
Pasig zoo faces closure
THE Arc Avilon zoo in Ortigas Center, Pasig City faces closure after Mayor Robert Eusebio threatened to revoke its permit to operate for not following safety guidelines to protect its patrons.
Eusebio issued the statement after learning that a child was bitten by an Albino King snake during a visit at the zoo last January 5.
The zoo, which is located at Frontera Verde in Pasig City, started its operation on Nov. 30, 2007.
The child’s father, Jerry Liao, circulated a “hate e-mail” against the Arc Avilon zoo after the incident.
Liao said there was no doctor available at the zoo.
He said he brought his daughter to a hospital just to make sure that the snake is non-venomous.
“Thank God that the king snake was a non-venomous one. But the doctors wanted to be sure so they gave my daughter an anti-tetanus drug and asked her to take anti-biotics,” Liao said.
He identified the owners of the zoo as Jake and Tina Gaw.
People’s Journal tried to contact the owners of the zoo to get their comment but to no avail.
Alvin Murcia
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2008-01-13&sec=5&aid=45661
What happened to ... The polar bear cubs
Anushka Asthana
Sunday January 13, 2008
The Observer
The Observer reported last week on the fate of a tiny polar bear that was being left to starve to death in Germany's Nuremberg zoo after its mother neglected it.
Zoo workers had taken the controversial decision not to rear the cub by hand, even though the new mother, Vera, was ignoring the hungry cries of her babies. Meanwhile, another mother bear, Vilma, was showing signs of treating her two cubs well.
The story was similar to that of Knut, a polar bear cub who shot to fame a year ago after being abandoned by his mother. The decision by keepers at Berlin zoo to save the male cub led to a media frenzy branded 'Knutmania'.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2239915,00.html
San Francisco Zoo in new animal escape alert: reports
Fri Jan 11, 5:36 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - A leopard and a polar bear came close to escaping from enclosures at San Francisco Zoo, reports said Friday, less than three weeks after a visitor was mauled to death by a tiger at the facility.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on its website that zookeepers told the paper a female polar bear climbed the wall of its enclosure on January 3 while a snow leopard chewed through a temporary enclosure on Thursday.
The incidents come after the Christmas Day escape of a Siberian Tiger from its enclosure at the zoo. The tiger killed a teenager and mauled two men before being shot dead by police.
Zoo officials initially said they were baffled at how the tiger managed to escape from its enclosure, which was ringed by a moat and a wall.
However they later admitted the protective wall was only 12.5 feet high -- four feet lower than the 16.4 feet recommended as standard for a tiger exhibit by the US Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
San Francisco Zoo officials were not immediately available for comment on the reports Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080111/ts_alt_afp/usanimals_080111223659
In Defense of Animals (IDA) Announces the "Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007"
List demonstrates AZA-accredited zoos are failing elephants nationwide
San Rafael, Calif.— Zoos are increasingly under the microscope following the San Francisco Zoo tiger tragedy and a continuing nationwide debate about the welfare of elephants in zoos. Amidst the heightened controversy, In Defense of Animals (IDA) today released its fourth annual list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007.
Compiled for the first time with public input through Internet voting, the 2007 list reflects a year that zoos would prefer to forget. Of seven elephants who died at Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)-accredited zoos in 2007, at least four suffered from arthritis and chronic foot disorders, caused by lack of space and inadequate, unnatural zoo exhibits. Among the worst cases: Clara at the St. Louis Zoo and Carol at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Both elephants were euthanized after becoming crippled and debilitated by excruciating foot and joint disease. A deadly infectious disease that is spreading through the U.S. zoo population claimed the lives of two more young elephants in zoos in 2007. The deaths of Hansa (age 6) at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and Nisha (age 16 months) at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Missouri prompted IDA to demand that zoos stop breeding Asian elephants and adopt strict limits on transfers between zoos.
2007 also saw the transfer of three elephants from archaic and inadequate zoo exhibits to natural habitat sanctuaries: Ruby from the Los Angeles Zoo, Dulary from the Philadelphia Zoo, and Maggie from the Alaska Zoo. The latter two zoos are shuttering their elephant displays, bringing to 17 the number of zoos that have closed or plan to close their elephant exhibits.
"The Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants listdraws attention to the fact that elephants are needlessly suffering and dying prematurely from inadequate and inhumane zoo conditions," said IDA president Elliot M. Katz, DVM. "The problems such as aberrant behaviors, lethal joint and foot disorders, and premature death chronicled in this list speak loudly to the mammoth changes that are needed to improve the lives of elephants in zoos."
Top Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007
1. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Vallejo, Calif.) - Discovering the cruelty. For the fourth consecutive year, Six Flags lands on the list thanks to its history of terrible elephant care and disregard for the health and well-being of seven elephants forced to live in the shadow of roller coaster rides, amidst noisy, rowdy crowds. Nine elephants have died at the amusement park since 1995, including five elephants who were euthanized as a direct result of the same foot and joint disorders that afflict at least two elephants currently, painful ailments caused by the elephants' cramped and barren exhibit. An IDA investigation revealed that elephants with diseased feet and joints are forced to stack 600-pound logs and perform in shows for the public, despite their afflictions. To force the elephants to perform and give rides, Six Flags coercively controls elephants through force and physical punishment with a bullhook, a device similar to a fireplace poker that keepers use to poke, prod and stab the elephants into compliance.
http://www.idausa.org/news/currentnews/nr_080109.html
Talk Back: Woe for Captive Wildlife
Readers responded to the recent escape of Tatiana, a Siberian tiger who attacked three men at the San Francisco Zoo, and shared their concerns about the treatment of captive wildlife by zoos, circuses and private owners. Among the comments we received:
There have been reports that Tatiana might have been teased by the men that she attacked. Aren’t there people overseeing such things at the zoos? Why should animals have to live in such conditions! Also, why didn’t they "dart" Tatiana? Why was she killed? Where were Tatiana’s keepers? It wasn’t her fault that she got out if the wall wasn’t high enough! And if she had been teased or rocks thrown at her why didn’t anyone stop it! If zoos don’t want to spend money on adequate habitats and protection for the animals they shouldn’t be allowed to put animals on display. Animals should not be for our entertainment! —Deborah
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2008/01/zoo-wildlife.html
Zoos count their animals in annual audit
2 days ago
LONDON (AFP) — Zookeepers across the country are Friday carrying out the challenging task of counting all their animals in a stock-taking exercise that will list every aardvark to zebra in their collection.
The annual head count of animals in Britain's zoos and aquariums, which falls under the Zoo Licensing Act, helps keepers update their records.
The updated inventories are then kept on a database through which zoos can run scientifically based breeding programmes.
British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Biaza) director Miranda Stevenson told the BBC: "This annual stock-take, although time-consuming and sometimes quite difficult, is just one of the many ways which zoos and aquariums in this country demonstrate their professionalism and attention to detail."
Although it is simple for zookeepers to keep track of the number of gorillas or giraffes in their collection, it's somewhat trickier trying to account for every single insect or tiny fish.
To make this easier, keepers use clicker counters, they count the animals in their collection several times, and some insects are counted as a single colony rather than individuals.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5glbtoPOXTY-sWpO3_EBel99vD3ig
As zoo post stays open, speculation emerges
By Greg Latshaw
Staff Writer
SALISBURY -- The Salisbury Zoo offers a salary higher than the industry average, but still can't fill its top vacancy eight months into the search process.
Two candidates declined offers. A third, Lisa Tate, 43, of Zoo Boise in Idaho, accepted a $66,640 yearly salary, but resigned Tuesday, weeks before her start date, because of health problems.
Following Tate's unexpected resignation -- just five days after her hire -- speculation surfaced that either low salary offers or a Web log critical of the zoo has warded off candidates.
http://www.dailytimesonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/NEWS01/801110303/1002
Zoo, arboretumin get state grants
Jan 11, 2008 @ 12:26 PM
Observer-Dispatch
The Hamilton College Arboretumin in Clinton and the Utica Zoological Society will receive grants from the state’s Zoos, Botanical Gardens and Aquariums Program.
The arboretumin will receive $5,000 while the zoological society will get $40,775. The grants are among the $8 million to be distributed.
The ZBGA funding is administered by the state Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation. It is available to public or nonprofit organizations that own, care and interpret for the public living or preserved collections of biological specimens.
The organizations, referred to as Natural Heritage Institutions, include zoos, botanical gardens, arboretums, aquariums, bird sanctuaries, natural habitat preserves and sciences museums, and nature and environmental centers.
Under the agency’s program, ZBGA provides a minimum award of $5,000 and no more than 30 percent of the organization’s operating budget.
http://www.uticaod.com/homepage/x1925660864
Bongo born at Louisville Zoo
Business First of Louisville
The Louisville Zoo experienced its first birth of the year on Jan. 6.
Mahdi, a bongo, was born to Kaya and Forest. It was Kaya's second calf and Forest's first offspring.
Bongos are the largest of the forest antelopes. They have deep chestnut coats with white stripes on their sides.
Mahdi's birth was planned and is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan, according to a news release. The plan works to improve the genetic diversity of managed animal populations.
There currently are five bongos at the zoo -- four females and one male. The last bongo birth was last year, on Jan. 11, when Kaya had her first calf, Nailah.
Mahdi will be on exhibit daily depending on weather and other circumstances, the release said.
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2008/01/07/daily30.html
Chattanooga Zoo Celebrates Year Of Frog At 2 February Events
posted January 11, 2008
The Chattanooga Zoo will host Cocktails for Conservation - Kiss a Frog Day on Friday, Feb. 15, from 6-8 p.m.
The ticket price is $20 per person and may be purchased by calling 697-1339. Guests must be 21 years of age or older to attend.
Zoos around the world are uniting to raise money for Amphibian Ark, a non-profit organization working to keep threatened amphibian species afloat.
Then on Leap Day, Friday, Feb. 29, from 3-7 p.m. visitors to the Chattanooga Zoo will enjoy froggy fun activities and light refreshments and learn what it means to be a friend to frogs. The Chattanooga Zoo and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums - zoos from around the world, will be joining to learn about saving amphibians from extinction.
For Leap Day admission is $6 adults, $3 for children (ages 3-15).
For more information on either event call 697-1339.
The Chattanooga Zoo is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is working with more than 200 other zoos and aquariums to raise awareness about the global amphibian crisis.
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_119924.asp
State announces $8 million grants for zoos, botanical gardens, aquariums
Associated Press - January 12, 2008 3:15 AM ET
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - State officials yesterday announced $$8 million in grants awarded under the Zoos, Botanical Gardens and Aquariums Program.
State Parks Commissioner Carol Ash says the grants support development of educational, cultural and recreational programs based on New York's heritage.
The funding is available to public or not-for-profit organizations which own, care for and maintain for the public collections of living or preserved biological specimens.
Recipients of the largest grants include the Bronx Zoo, the New York Aquarium, The New York Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and the New York Botanical Gardens.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7614461&nav=menu183_15_14_8
Des Moines zoo develops technique to grow jellyfish
By MELISSA WALKER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DES MOINES — What does a zoo do when it runs short of jellyfish?
It grows its own.
Officials at Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines have developed a method for restocking their supply of jellyfish for a 2,500-gallon exhibit and providing replacements for other U.S. zoos in the process.
It involves a bathtub and a little patience.
The zoo’s exhibit, which opened in 2002, had dwindled in January to 13 moon jellyfish, senior aquarist Kirk Embree said.
The jellyfish were able to release fertilized eggs, called planulae. But the baby jellyfish, called ephyra, were too often sucked into the tank’s filter before they could mature.
‘‘We couldn’t get any more jellies’’ from other zoos, Embree said. ‘‘There was a real shortage.’’
Embree, who earlier worked at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, was convinced that a system could be created to safely collect the fertilized eggs. The problem was Blank’s limited budget. Everything had to be built from scratch. A fiberglass tub would cost $600, which was more than zoo officials wanted to spend.
A student intern provided the answer. Why not use a bathtub?
http://www.timesrepublican.com/page/content.detail/id/501535.html
continued...
Near-Escapes Plague SF Zoo
Posted Jan 12, 08 10:11 AM CST in
(newser) – Two animals have nearly escaped from enclosures at the San Francisco Zoo since a fatal mauling Dec. 25, the Chronicle reports. A 600-pound polar bear—whose movements are so unpredictable it's kept away from the zoo's other polar bears—tried to scale an enclosure wall Jan. 3; a 100-pound snow leopard got a paw and part of its head out of a mesh cage yesterday.
Two zoo employees told the Chronicle they feared for their own safety and that of visitors following the new incidents. A teenager was killed Christmas Day when a Siberian tiger leapt from its enclosure; two companions were injured before police shot the animal to death. The zoo was closed at the time of the polar bear incident, open during the snow leopard's attempt.
http://www.newser.com/story/16195.html?rss=y
Lawyers say city, zoo on shaky legal ground if tiger victims sue
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, January 13, 2008
In the eyes of the law, keeping a caged tiger is like hauling dynamite or storing uranium - an activity so dangerous that even the most careful proprietor is responsible for any injuries to bystanders.
That's the general rule that will apply to any lawsuits over the Christmas Day attack at the San Francisco Zoo, in which a tiger escaped from its outdoor grotto, killed a 17-year-old visitor from San Jose and injured two of his friends. But, as usual in these situations, there's an asterisk, and it dates back to 1952, when a state appeals court ruled on a suit by a man who was attacked by a polar bear at the same zoo.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/13/BAKDUD50Q.DTL
Sanctuary given to retired, rescued tigers
By PATRICK MAY
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
last updated: January 13, 2008 02:58:11 AM
SAN ANDREAS -- After years of mugging for photos at backyard zoos and feline freak shows, the arthritic performers now live out their lives in hushed obscurity. The daily ritual consists of gentle calisthenics, five-pound rabbits for breakfast and the occasional scoop of Jelly Belly beans.
For the 33 tigers rescued from America's love affair with beasts behind bars, life at the Ark 2000 wildlife sanctuary, part of the Performing Animal Welfare Society, is a mixed bag. Their 10-acre world is kept under lock and key. Yet the bucolic Gold Country retreat also features bathing pools and straw beds. Sometimes the keepers even spritz cheap perfume, which the cats find stimulating, around the paddocks.
http://www.modbee.com/local/story/178724.html
Polar bear cub is a website hit
23 hours ago
The German city of Nuremberg launched a web page dedicated to the country's latest celebrity polar bear and visitors have already inundated the site's operators with name suggestions for the four-week-old cub.
The site - www.eisbaer.nuernberg.de - provides details on the cub's health and has a photo gallery.
"We're getting 15 emails with name suggestions every minute," city spokesman Robert Hackner said.
He did not give examples. But for now, the zoo's keepers have dubbed the cub, thought to be female, Flocke - German for flake, as in snow flake - because of its brilliantly white and fluffy fur.
Flocke was taken from its mother, Vera, on Tuesday amid concerns she could harm or even kill the newborn, and will not be returned to her.
The decision was made after keepers saw Vera carrying the cub around in her jaws and tossing it around her enclosure.
The cub is the first in Germany to be hand-raised by its keepers since Knut, who became a celebrity after being rescued in late 2006 when his mother rejected him.
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hizQ8iXFcX8QS9_or2ale-xZ1e3A
St. Paul Como Zoo: Baby orangutan leaves zoo staff speechless
BY RICHARD CHIN
Pioneer Press
What’s the hardest thing about holding a newborn baby orangutan? Not talking to it.
That’s what zookeepers at Como Zoo learned when Markisa, one of the zoo’s orangutans, gave birth Dec. 13 via Caesarean section, the first primate C-section at the zoo and one of only a handful of orangutan C-sections worldwide.
The yet-to-be-named baby, reunited with his mother, made his public debut Thursday. He is on exhibit on a limited basis.
http://redapes.org/news-updates/st-paul-como-zoo-baby-orangutan-leaves-zoo-staff-speechless/
Rare Lions Born at the Belfast Zoo
Staff at Belfast Zoo are celebrating the birth of two endangered Barbary lions
http://content5.clipmarks.com/content/127FC2B3-B31A-448A-A129-23C6AF9C9595/
Nation
San Francisco Zoo officials detail two animal security incidents since Christmas tiger attack
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona Published: 01.12.2008
SAN FRANCISCO — Since a tiger escaped its pen and killed a person, a snow leopard has ripped a small opening in its wire cage and workers have had to dart a polar bear to goad it into its night enclosure, San Francisco Zoo officials said Friday.
A nearly 100-pound snow leopard managed to rip a 4-inch hole in its wire mesh cage Thursday afternoon and got part of its head and paw out, zoo officials said. The zookeeper could have been harmed if she had not secured the cage, but visitors were never threatened because the cage was in a larger, secured enclosure, zoo spokesman Sam Singer said.
"Even if (the leopard) had escaped, he would have been in another cage so he would never have come in contact with the public," Singer said.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/85631/220207.php
Columbus Zoo pays $35,000 to keep big snake
Published on Saturday Jan 12, 2008
A 24-foot python at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, billed as the largest snake in captivity, is staying put.
The zoo paid $35,000 to the snake's breeder in Oklahoma to keep the snake on permanent display. While on loan last year, the python helped draw 1.53 million visitors, just under the zoo's attendance record of 1.56 million set in 2006, said zoo Associate Director Pete Fingerhut.
The reticulated python, named Fluffy, is about as long as a moving van and thick as a telephone pole.
Bob Clark, the breeder from Oklahoma City who raised the python from a hatchling, initially resisted the zoo's purchase offer but said he's happy with the outcome.
"I really love that snake; I think it's a special animal," he said. "It's so big and tame and wonderful. But I have to deal with the realities of life like everyone else. I like to have the money, and I know she's got a great place to live there."
The Columbus Zoo doesn't buy animals very often, said Executive Director Jerry Borin. Its animals generally come as exchanges from other zoos or through breeding loans or donations, he said.
http://www.ohio.com/news/ap?articleID=336492&c=y
Meerkat at the Zoo - PAD #1009
By Drew January 12, 2008
Today Allison and I took Eva over to the Capron Park Zoo. I also got to use a real camera again so I was able to get some decent photos at the zoo. I love photographing the animals at the zoo. I also met a zoo volunteer who does many of the photos for the zoo and promotional materials.
I wonder if he would like any of these photos that I took.
I am very happy to be back home and to have access to my cameras again. I had a great time using my macro lens around the zoo. My favorite animals to photograph are the lions. The zoo is working on getting a White Lion cub. I can’t wait to see it and photograph it.
Next month Allison and I are headed to Florida for a vacation and we will be down near Miami, I saw a TV show today where the people on the show were talking about many locations in Florida and the Miami area specifically where families can go to see animals. I didn’t know that there was a zoo there and I hope that we can go. I want to go to Butterfly world again as it was an amazing place to go and take photos. Some of my favorite photos of 2007 were from there. This time I am going to get even more of them.
http://www.benspark.com/meerkat-at-the-zoo-pad-1009.html
Pasig zoo faces closure
THE Arc Avilon zoo in Ortigas Center, Pasig City faces closure after Mayor Robert Eusebio threatened to revoke its permit to operate for not following safety guidelines to protect its patrons.
Eusebio issued the statement after learning that a child was bitten by an Albino King snake during a visit at the zoo last January 5.
The zoo, which is located at Frontera Verde in Pasig City, started its operation on Nov. 30, 2007.
The child’s father, Jerry Liao, circulated a “hate e-mail” against the Arc Avilon zoo after the incident.
Liao said there was no doctor available at the zoo.
He said he brought his daughter to a hospital just to make sure that the snake is non-venomous.
“Thank God that the king snake was a non-venomous one. But the doctors wanted to be sure so they gave my daughter an anti-tetanus drug and asked her to take anti-biotics,” Liao said.
He identified the owners of the zoo as Jake and Tina Gaw.
People’s Journal tried to contact the owners of the zoo to get their comment but to no avail.
Alvin Murcia
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2008-01-13&sec=5&aid=45661
What happened to ... The polar bear cubs
Anushka Asthana
Sunday January 13, 2008
The Observer
The Observer reported last week on the fate of a tiny polar bear that was being left to starve to death in Germany's Nuremberg zoo after its mother neglected it.
Zoo workers had taken the controversial decision not to rear the cub by hand, even though the new mother, Vera, was ignoring the hungry cries of her babies. Meanwhile, another mother bear, Vilma, was showing signs of treating her two cubs well.
The story was similar to that of Knut, a polar bear cub who shot to fame a year ago after being abandoned by his mother. The decision by keepers at Berlin zoo to save the male cub led to a media frenzy branded 'Knutmania'.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2239915,00.html
San Francisco Zoo in new animal escape alert: reports
Fri Jan 11, 5:36 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - A leopard and a polar bear came close to escaping from enclosures at San Francisco Zoo, reports said Friday, less than three weeks after a visitor was mauled to death by a tiger at the facility.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported on its website that zookeepers told the paper a female polar bear climbed the wall of its enclosure on January 3 while a snow leopard chewed through a temporary enclosure on Thursday.
The incidents come after the Christmas Day escape of a Siberian Tiger from its enclosure at the zoo. The tiger killed a teenager and mauled two men before being shot dead by police.
Zoo officials initially said they were baffled at how the tiger managed to escape from its enclosure, which was ringed by a moat and a wall.
However they later admitted the protective wall was only 12.5 feet high -- four feet lower than the 16.4 feet recommended as standard for a tiger exhibit by the US Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
San Francisco Zoo officials were not immediately available for comment on the reports Friday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080111/ts_alt_afp/usanimals_080111223659
In Defense of Animals (IDA) Announces the "Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007"
List demonstrates AZA-accredited zoos are failing elephants nationwide
San Rafael, Calif.— Zoos are increasingly under the microscope following the San Francisco Zoo tiger tragedy and a continuing nationwide debate about the welfare of elephants in zoos. Amidst the heightened controversy, In Defense of Animals (IDA) today released its fourth annual list of the Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007.
Compiled for the first time with public input through Internet voting, the 2007 list reflects a year that zoos would prefer to forget. Of seven elephants who died at Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)-accredited zoos in 2007, at least four suffered from arthritis and chronic foot disorders, caused by lack of space and inadequate, unnatural zoo exhibits. Among the worst cases: Clara at the St. Louis Zoo and Carol at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Both elephants were euthanized after becoming crippled and debilitated by excruciating foot and joint disease. A deadly infectious disease that is spreading through the U.S. zoo population claimed the lives of two more young elephants in zoos in 2007. The deaths of Hansa (age 6) at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and Nisha (age 16 months) at the Dickerson Park Zoo in Missouri prompted IDA to demand that zoos stop breeding Asian elephants and adopt strict limits on transfers between zoos.
2007 also saw the transfer of three elephants from archaic and inadequate zoo exhibits to natural habitat sanctuaries: Ruby from the Los Angeles Zoo, Dulary from the Philadelphia Zoo, and Maggie from the Alaska Zoo. The latter two zoos are shuttering their elephant displays, bringing to 17 the number of zoos that have closed or plan to close their elephant exhibits.
"The Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants listdraws attention to the fact that elephants are needlessly suffering and dying prematurely from inadequate and inhumane zoo conditions," said IDA president Elliot M. Katz, DVM. "The problems such as aberrant behaviors, lethal joint and foot disorders, and premature death chronicled in this list speak loudly to the mammoth changes that are needed to improve the lives of elephants in zoos."
Top Ten Worst Zoos for Elephants in 2007
1. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Vallejo, Calif.) - Discovering the cruelty. For the fourth consecutive year, Six Flags lands on the list thanks to its history of terrible elephant care and disregard for the health and well-being of seven elephants forced to live in the shadow of roller coaster rides, amidst noisy, rowdy crowds. Nine elephants have died at the amusement park since 1995, including five elephants who were euthanized as a direct result of the same foot and joint disorders that afflict at least two elephants currently, painful ailments caused by the elephants' cramped and barren exhibit. An IDA investigation revealed that elephants with diseased feet and joints are forced to stack 600-pound logs and perform in shows for the public, despite their afflictions. To force the elephants to perform and give rides, Six Flags coercively controls elephants through force and physical punishment with a bullhook, a device similar to a fireplace poker that keepers use to poke, prod and stab the elephants into compliance.
http://www.idausa.org/news/currentnews/nr_080109.html
Talk Back: Woe for Captive Wildlife
Readers responded to the recent escape of Tatiana, a Siberian tiger who attacked three men at the San Francisco Zoo, and shared their concerns about the treatment of captive wildlife by zoos, circuses and private owners. Among the comments we received:
There have been reports that Tatiana might have been teased by the men that she attacked. Aren’t there people overseeing such things at the zoos? Why should animals have to live in such conditions! Also, why didn’t they "dart" Tatiana? Why was she killed? Where were Tatiana’s keepers? It wasn’t her fault that she got out if the wall wasn’t high enough! And if she had been teased or rocks thrown at her why didn’t anyone stop it! If zoos don’t want to spend money on adequate habitats and protection for the animals they shouldn’t be allowed to put animals on display. Animals should not be for our entertainment! —Deborah
http://hsus.typepad.com/wayne/2008/01/zoo-wildlife.html
Zoos count their animals in annual audit
2 days ago
LONDON (AFP) — Zookeepers across the country are Friday carrying out the challenging task of counting all their animals in a stock-taking exercise that will list every aardvark to zebra in their collection.
The annual head count of animals in Britain's zoos and aquariums, which falls under the Zoo Licensing Act, helps keepers update their records.
The updated inventories are then kept on a database through which zoos can run scientifically based breeding programmes.
British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Biaza) director Miranda Stevenson told the BBC: "This annual stock-take, although time-consuming and sometimes quite difficult, is just one of the many ways which zoos and aquariums in this country demonstrate their professionalism and attention to detail."
Although it is simple for zookeepers to keep track of the number of gorillas or giraffes in their collection, it's somewhat trickier trying to account for every single insect or tiny fish.
To make this easier, keepers use clicker counters, they count the animals in their collection several times, and some insects are counted as a single colony rather than individuals.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5glbtoPOXTY-sWpO3_EBel99vD3ig
As zoo post stays open, speculation emerges
By Greg Latshaw
Staff Writer
SALISBURY -- The Salisbury Zoo offers a salary higher than the industry average, but still can't fill its top vacancy eight months into the search process.
Two candidates declined offers. A third, Lisa Tate, 43, of Zoo Boise in Idaho, accepted a $66,640 yearly salary, but resigned Tuesday, weeks before her start date, because of health problems.
Following Tate's unexpected resignation -- just five days after her hire -- speculation surfaced that either low salary offers or a Web log critical of the zoo has warded off candidates.
http://www.dailytimesonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/NEWS01/801110303/1002
Zoo, arboretumin get state grants
Jan 11, 2008 @ 12:26 PM
Observer-Dispatch
The Hamilton College Arboretumin in Clinton and the Utica Zoological Society will receive grants from the state’s Zoos, Botanical Gardens and Aquariums Program.
The arboretumin will receive $5,000 while the zoological society will get $40,775. The grants are among the $8 million to be distributed.
The ZBGA funding is administered by the state Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation. It is available to public or nonprofit organizations that own, care and interpret for the public living or preserved collections of biological specimens.
The organizations, referred to as Natural Heritage Institutions, include zoos, botanical gardens, arboretums, aquariums, bird sanctuaries, natural habitat preserves and sciences museums, and nature and environmental centers.
Under the agency’s program, ZBGA provides a minimum award of $5,000 and no more than 30 percent of the organization’s operating budget.
http://www.uticaod.com/homepage/x1925660864
Bongo born at Louisville Zoo
Business First of Louisville
The Louisville Zoo experienced its first birth of the year on Jan. 6.
Mahdi, a bongo, was born to Kaya and Forest. It was Kaya's second calf and Forest's first offspring.
Bongos are the largest of the forest antelopes. They have deep chestnut coats with white stripes on their sides.
Mahdi's birth was planned and is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' Species Survival Plan, according to a news release. The plan works to improve the genetic diversity of managed animal populations.
There currently are five bongos at the zoo -- four females and one male. The last bongo birth was last year, on Jan. 11, when Kaya had her first calf, Nailah.
Mahdi will be on exhibit daily depending on weather and other circumstances, the release said.
http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2008/01/07/daily30.html
Chattanooga Zoo Celebrates Year Of Frog At 2 February Events
posted January 11, 2008
The Chattanooga Zoo will host Cocktails for Conservation - Kiss a Frog Day on Friday, Feb. 15, from 6-8 p.m.
The ticket price is $20 per person and may be purchased by calling 697-1339. Guests must be 21 years of age or older to attend.
Zoos around the world are uniting to raise money for Amphibian Ark, a non-profit organization working to keep threatened amphibian species afloat.
Then on Leap Day, Friday, Feb. 29, from 3-7 p.m. visitors to the Chattanooga Zoo will enjoy froggy fun activities and light refreshments and learn what it means to be a friend to frogs. The Chattanooga Zoo and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums - zoos from around the world, will be joining to learn about saving amphibians from extinction.
For Leap Day admission is $6 adults, $3 for children (ages 3-15).
For more information on either event call 697-1339.
The Chattanooga Zoo is a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is working with more than 200 other zoos and aquariums to raise awareness about the global amphibian crisis.
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_119924.asp
State announces $8 million grants for zoos, botanical gardens, aquariums
Associated Press - January 12, 2008 3:15 AM ET
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - State officials yesterday announced $$8 million in grants awarded under the Zoos, Botanical Gardens and Aquariums Program.
State Parks Commissioner Carol Ash says the grants support development of educational, cultural and recreational programs based on New York's heritage.
The funding is available to public or not-for-profit organizations which own, care for and maintain for the public collections of living or preserved biological specimens.
Recipients of the largest grants include the Bronx Zoo, the New York Aquarium, The New York Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and the New York Botanical Gardens.
http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=7614461&nav=menu183_15_14_8
Des Moines zoo develops technique to grow jellyfish
By MELISSA WALKER, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DES MOINES — What does a zoo do when it runs short of jellyfish?
It grows its own.
Officials at Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines have developed a method for restocking their supply of jellyfish for a 2,500-gallon exhibit and providing replacements for other U.S. zoos in the process.
It involves a bathtub and a little patience.
The zoo’s exhibit, which opened in 2002, had dwindled in January to 13 moon jellyfish, senior aquarist Kirk Embree said.
The jellyfish were able to release fertilized eggs, called planulae. But the baby jellyfish, called ephyra, were too often sucked into the tank’s filter before they could mature.
‘‘We couldn’t get any more jellies’’ from other zoos, Embree said. ‘‘There was a real shortage.’’
Embree, who earlier worked at Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, was convinced that a system could be created to safely collect the fertilized eggs. The problem was Blank’s limited budget. Everything had to be built from scratch. A fiberglass tub would cost $600, which was more than zoo officials wanted to spend.
A student intern provided the answer. Why not use a bathtub?
http://www.timesrepublican.com/page/content.detail/id/501535.html
continued...
Pasture land can be dry without production for grazing, hence owners find supplementing expensive
The responsiblities of a representative, democratic government IS to protect the populous and not serve their cronies or private enterprise that only has it's own interest at it's center. The issue of carbon dioxide emissions of the USA was never taken seriously. As a result people are now suffering at the lack of esteem they were held in all these issues resulting from Human Induced Global Warming.
The housing market may very well become more and more worthless in the face of adverse climate regardless any attempts by The Fed to bring about recovery. The issues of Human Induced Global Warming has become less contained and exponential because of the lack of policy of the USA. As a result, the spiral of a USA recession may very well end in a profound depression with all lost to government incompetence.
Human Induced Global Warming is an economic issue and one that might be ignored, but, never goes away.
The National Weather Service has extended the flood warning in Plymouth until Tuesday and the water could reach record levels. No mandatory evacuations are underway yet, but city officials are urging some people along the Yellow River to leave their homes. (WSBT photo)
NWS extends area flood warnings
SBT24/7 News Report
Story Updated: Jan 12, 2008 at 11:34 PM EST
The National Weather Service extended flood warnings Saturday for area rivers, including the Yellow River at Plymouth and Knox in Indiana, the Elkhart River at Goshen and the St. Joseph River in affected Michigan and Indiana counties.
For the St. Joseph River at South Bend, the flood warning continues until next Saturday. The NWS does not expect the river to fall below its 5.5-foot flood stage until Friday morning, and it remained at 8.6 feet and steady Saturday.
For other area rivers:
The flood warning is extended for the St. Joseph River in Niles until Friday morning. Early Saturday, the river was at 13.2 feet and not expected to fall below flood stage of 11.0 feet until Thursday morning.
The Yellow River at Knox carries a flood warning until Tuesday evening. On Saturday the river was at 12.1 feet and is not expected to fall below flood stage of 10.0 feet until late Monday night.
The St. Joseph River at Elkhart is expected to stay in flood stage until it falls below its flood stage of 24.0 feet Wednesday evening.
The Yellow River at Plymouth is expected to drop below its flood stage of 13.0 feet Sunday morning at 1 a.m. It remained at 14.0 feet before noon on Saturday. Flood warnings also continue for the Tippecanoe River above Winamac, the Elkhart River at Goshen and the Kankakee River.For further updates on weather and travel conditions, check with SBT24/7 News at southbendtribune.com or with our newsgathering partners at WSBT-TV and WSBT Radio News.
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/13739612.html
People along Yellow River leaving their homes
by Nora Gathings (hsgathings@wsbt.com)
Story Updated: Jan 10, 2008 at 12:16 AM EST
PLYMOUTH — The National Weather Service has extended the flood warning in Plymouth until Tuesday and the water could reach record levels.
Some homes are under feet of water, and not even sandbags seem to be helping.
Police and city officials decided to take steps to keep anyone from getting hurt. NIPSCO has shut off gas and electric to people living along the Yellow River.
No mandatory evacuations are underway yet, but NIPSCO has been shutting off utilities as a precaution. As a result, city officials went to homes several times today urging people to leave.
"From 9 o'clock to now, it just started coming real fast," said Michelle Weldon, whose home was surrounded by water.
Within hours, River Street owned up to its name.
"It's really stressful," said Weldon.
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/13586782.html
Janaury 12, 2008
Knox, Indiana
Photographer states :: Kankakee Game Preserve, 10 Mile Road: The Yellow River crested this morning at 12.14' at the US35 bridge at 11:45AM. This was 2.14' over flood stage. The record is 15.3 Jan 1, 1991.
The majority of the country is experiencing some degree of drought. The exceptions are the areas hit by chronically displaced arctic air masses, that of the northwest as well as the chronic vaporizing of the Gulf of Mexico waters causing severe floods in the central corridor of those storm in 'mid-continent' leading to the northeast USA. That is about the pattern that will continue since the lower troposphere is to hot to sustain rain clouds anymore.
And you might ask yourselves, what exactly is the federal government doing to stem the progression of Human Induced Global Warming to prevent tragedy into my life that demises my lifestyle and the economy I participate?
The answer? About the same as they do the domestic economy, nothing ! There is no policy to stop or reverse the trend of Human Induced Global Warming and the USA is showing the economic signs of profound negligence by their government ! If pasture land for horses are becoming this much of an issue, imagine what's going to happen to the price of food for people before too much longer.
The housing market may very well become more and more worthless in the face of adverse climate regardless any attempts by The Fed to bring about recovery. The issues of Human Induced Global Warming has become less contained and exponential because of the lack of policy of the USA. As a result, the spiral of a USA recession may very well end in a profound depression with all lost to government incompetence.
Human Induced Global Warming is an economic issue and one that might be ignored, but, never goes away.
The National Weather Service has extended the flood warning in Plymouth until Tuesday and the water could reach record levels. No mandatory evacuations are underway yet, but city officials are urging some people along the Yellow River to leave their homes. (WSBT photo)
NWS extends area flood warnings
SBT24/7 News Report
Story Updated: Jan 12, 2008 at 11:34 PM EST
The National Weather Service extended flood warnings Saturday for area rivers, including the Yellow River at Plymouth and Knox in Indiana, the Elkhart River at Goshen and the St. Joseph River in affected Michigan and Indiana counties.
For the St. Joseph River at South Bend, the flood warning continues until next Saturday. The NWS does not expect the river to fall below its 5.5-foot flood stage until Friday morning, and it remained at 8.6 feet and steady Saturday.
For other area rivers:
The flood warning is extended for the St. Joseph River in Niles until Friday morning. Early Saturday, the river was at 13.2 feet and not expected to fall below flood stage of 11.0 feet until Thursday morning.
The Yellow River at Knox carries a flood warning until Tuesday evening. On Saturday the river was at 12.1 feet and is not expected to fall below flood stage of 10.0 feet until late Monday night.
The St. Joseph River at Elkhart is expected to stay in flood stage until it falls below its flood stage of 24.0 feet Wednesday evening.
The Yellow River at Plymouth is expected to drop below its flood stage of 13.0 feet Sunday morning at 1 a.m. It remained at 14.0 feet before noon on Saturday. Flood warnings also continue for the Tippecanoe River above Winamac, the Elkhart River at Goshen and the Kankakee River.For further updates on weather and travel conditions, check with SBT24/7 News at southbendtribune.com or with our newsgathering partners at WSBT-TV and WSBT Radio News.
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/13739612.html
People along Yellow River leaving their homes
by Nora Gathings (hsgathings@wsbt.com)
Story Updated: Jan 10, 2008 at 12:16 AM EST
PLYMOUTH — The National Weather Service has extended the flood warning in Plymouth until Tuesday and the water could reach record levels.
Some homes are under feet of water, and not even sandbags seem to be helping.
Police and city officials decided to take steps to keep anyone from getting hurt. NIPSCO has shut off gas and electric to people living along the Yellow River.
No mandatory evacuations are underway yet, but NIPSCO has been shutting off utilities as a precaution. As a result, city officials went to homes several times today urging people to leave.
"From 9 o'clock to now, it just started coming real fast," said Michelle Weldon, whose home was surrounded by water.
Within hours, River Street owned up to its name.
"It's really stressful," said Weldon.
http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/13586782.html
Janaury 12, 2008
Knox, Indiana
Photographer states :: Kankakee Game Preserve, 10 Mile Road: The Yellow River crested this morning at 12.14' at the US35 bridge at 11:45AM. This was 2.14' over flood stage. The record is 15.3 Jan 1, 1991.
The majority of the country is experiencing some degree of drought. The exceptions are the areas hit by chronically displaced arctic air masses, that of the northwest as well as the chronic vaporizing of the Gulf of Mexico waters causing severe floods in the central corridor of those storm in 'mid-continent' leading to the northeast USA. That is about the pattern that will continue since the lower troposphere is to hot to sustain rain clouds anymore.
And you might ask yourselves, what exactly is the federal government doing to stem the progression of Human Induced Global Warming to prevent tragedy into my life that demises my lifestyle and the economy I participate?
The answer? About the same as they do the domestic economy, nothing ! There is no policy to stop or reverse the trend of Human Induced Global Warming and the USA is showing the economic signs of profound negligence by their government ! If pasture land for horses are becoming this much of an issue, imagine what's going to happen to the price of food for people before too much longer.
The latest double talk of the FCC is the use of 'economic down turn' or 'economic slow down' when in fact the USA economy has lost it's ability to produce and is in a recession. The definition of 'economic recession' anywhere one looks is : a period of reduced economic activity.
Recreational horseback riding is a huge industry in the USA. People can't afford it anymore and have to dump their favorite steed in order to try to save their homes. This is simply outrageous and where is Bush today? Grandstanding in the Middle East of Iran.
The Arab nations are doing their level best to stop destabilization of their region after his illegal and immoral invasion into Iraq and he is lecturing Arabs on democracy and invading Iran, while citizens of the USA can't even keep their homes. This is simply outrageous already. All the Neocons ever speak to is war and it's potential for wealth because if they ever addressed 'the real world' they would be ridiculed at every turn. The ONLY venue of esteem this Washington administration has is 'the potential for war' as the wars they have all proved to be complete failures that endanger world stability and enhance the growth of terrorism.
Horses to the slaughter house is Bush's idea of an economy. Amazing.
A THINNING HERD: Amid punishing drought, owners are struggling to feed their horses. The lucky animals stay at rescue centers like this one in Carlisle, Ky.; others are left to die on back roads or slaughtered.
(Jim Winn / For The Times)
...In many parts of the United States, horse owners are struggling to feed their animals after a severe drought doubled -- even tripled -- the cost of hay. The drought has exacerbated a glut in the low end of the horse market, brought on by years of over-breeding and the recent economic downturn.
Horses that once cost $500 are selling for $50. On Equine .com, a website for horse classified ads, hundreds of horses -- some malnourished, but many well-fed -- are offered for free.
Local officials are seizing large numbers of horses, and rescue organizations are taking in more than ever, according to Keith Dane, director of Equine Protection for the Humane Society of the United States....
Recreational horseback riding is a huge industry in the USA. People can't afford it anymore and have to dump their favorite steed in order to try to save their homes. This is simply outrageous and where is Bush today? Grandstanding in the Middle East of Iran.
The Arab nations are doing their level best to stop destabilization of their region after his illegal and immoral invasion into Iraq and he is lecturing Arabs on democracy and invading Iran, while citizens of the USA can't even keep their homes. This is simply outrageous already. All the Neocons ever speak to is war and it's potential for wealth because if they ever addressed 'the real world' they would be ridiculed at every turn. The ONLY venue of esteem this Washington administration has is 'the potential for war' as the wars they have all proved to be complete failures that endanger world stability and enhance the growth of terrorism.
Horses to the slaughter house is Bush's idea of an economy. Amazing.
A THINNING HERD: Amid punishing drought, owners are struggling to feed their horses. The lucky animals stay at rescue centers like this one in Carlisle, Ky.; others are left to die on back roads or slaughtered.
(Jim Winn / For The Times)
...In many parts of the United States, horse owners are struggling to feed their animals after a severe drought doubled -- even tripled -- the cost of hay. The drought has exacerbated a glut in the low end of the horse market, brought on by years of over-breeding and the recent economic downturn.
Horses that once cost $500 are selling for $50. On Equine .com, a website for horse classified ads, hundreds of horses -- some malnourished, but many well-fed -- are offered for free.
Local officials are seizing large numbers of horses, and rescue organizations are taking in more than ever, according to Keith Dane, director of Equine Protection for the Humane Society of the United States....
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