Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Dutch K2 survivor describes chaos after avalanche
This is not to glamorize the danger, but, to raise awareness to the caution. K2 has regular fatalities. Previous to these deaths was the death of climbers in 2004.
K2 2004 started with 3 deaths (click here) before the Italian expedition even arrived at base camp with porters dying on the trek to the mountain. Early in June four South Koreans climbers and two Sherpas were caught in an avalanche on K2. One of the South Koreans Climbers was OK, and both Sherpas are fine, the other three Korean climbers were found dead at Base camp in their sleeping bags in a crevice. According to the Korea times, the names are Lee Hwa-hyong, 36, Kim Jae-yong, 35, and Pae Kyong-kyu, 34. All were part of the 11 members Korean team from POSCO steel.
Noted in the picture below is a sparcity of ice and snow. That is a real 'clue' to the chance of such a tragedy odds of occurrence. The K2 Summit is very steep. Due to that fact and the fact it has high wind exposure, it is actually more dangerous than Mt. Everest could ever be. There is no way any ice or snow accumulation would ever 'hold' to the mountain for long. So, although these are experienced climbers using every means of protection to secure their position on the face of K2, they ignored the opportunity for danger by ignoring potentials of falling ice and snow. In the year 2008, it is 'expected' the optimal climbing condtions for K2 would be free of snow and ice.
Wilco van Rooijen, of the Netherlands, was injured on the treacherous Himalayan peak.
This is the summit when snow covered. Noted the surrounding mountain has little snow or ice cover.
This is a borrowed picture to illustrate the absence of snow and ice at the K2 Summit. The reason for same is linked to the dense cloud cover. With clouds come insulating warmth that separates the summit, which is exposed to the sun, from the supporting colder climate below and vise versa.
This is 'in the shadows' of K2. There is a direct link between the 'cold climatability' of K2 at the summit and the ice rivers that exist in its shadow. The surrounding mountains have snow on the same side and have absense of same on the same side. Wind and climate play a huge roll in the stability of the ice and snow found at the summit. The summit interacts with the climate of the surrounding mountains.
K2 2004 started with 3 deaths (click here) before the Italian expedition even arrived at base camp with porters dying on the trek to the mountain. Early in June four South Koreans climbers and two Sherpas were caught in an avalanche on K2. One of the South Koreans Climbers was OK, and both Sherpas are fine, the other three Korean climbers were found dead at Base camp in their sleeping bags in a crevice. According to the Korea times, the names are Lee Hwa-hyong, 36, Kim Jae-yong, 35, and Pae Kyong-kyu, 34. All were part of the 11 members Korean team from POSCO steel.
Noted in the picture below is a sparcity of ice and snow. That is a real 'clue' to the chance of such a tragedy odds of occurrence. The K2 Summit is very steep. Due to that fact and the fact it has high wind exposure, it is actually more dangerous than Mt. Everest could ever be. There is no way any ice or snow accumulation would ever 'hold' to the mountain for long. So, although these are experienced climbers using every means of protection to secure their position on the face of K2, they ignored the opportunity for danger by ignoring potentials of falling ice and snow. In the year 2008, it is 'expected' the optimal climbing condtions for K2 would be free of snow and ice.
Wilco van Rooijen, of the Netherlands, was injured on the treacherous Himalayan peak.
This is the summit when snow covered. Noted the surrounding mountain has little snow or ice cover.
This is a borrowed picture to illustrate the absence of snow and ice at the K2 Summit. The reason for same is linked to the dense cloud cover. With clouds come insulating warmth that separates the summit, which is exposed to the sun, from the supporting colder climate below and vise versa.
This is 'in the shadows' of K2. There is a direct link between the 'cold climatability' of K2 at the summit and the ice rivers that exist in its shadow. The surrounding mountains have snow on the same side and have absense of same on the same side. Wind and climate play a huge roll in the stability of the ice and snow found at the summit. The summit interacts with the climate of the surrounding mountains.
The location of K2 brings climbers the view of many countries. From that vantage point all wars and conflicts seem hideous when one realizes 'the boundary lines' of sovereignty are truly 'manmade' and lack the reality of survival at the peak.
Tornadoes cause havoc and death on two continents
Ruins of houses after a tornado hit Hautmont, northern France. Photograph: Philippe Frutier/AFP/Getty Images
Lizzy Davies in Paris
The Guardian,
Tuesday August 5 2008
The bodies of a man and a woman were pulled from the wreckage of their home yesterday, after a tornado tore through northern France, ripping off roofs, overturning cars and destroying dozens of houses.
The couple were believed to be the deputy mayor of Hautmont, which was at the epicentre of the tornado near the Belgian border, and his wife.
Earlier the body of an elderly woman was also discovered. She was thought to have died when her home collapsed on top of her. Thirteen other people were injured.
Firefighters, medics and police searched two residential streets in the area yesterday to establish whether anyone else was buried under the rubble.
High winds and torrential rain lashed the region on Sunday night as the tornado swept through an area of about four square miles in less than two hours....
Lost in the wash (click here)
Cubs just can't catch up when game is called in 8th after 2 lengthy rain delays
By Brian Hamilton Chicago Tribune reporter
August 5, 2008
The clock on top of the venerable Wrigley Field scoreboard read 8:06 p.m. Monday when tornado sirens began to wail in the darkness. Action between the Cubs and Astros had been suspended already for nearly a half-hour.Then, minutes after the sirens howled, the wind started blowing out. Like, really out. Like carry-a-ball-to-the-Michigan-shoreline out.Rain pulled a U-turn within the stadium. Debris floated along a river of standing water on the warning track behind home plate.All of it giving a new, unsettling meaning to "It's Gonna Happen."...
Storms roar through northern Illinois (click here)
Associated Press - August 5, 2008 4:53 AM ET
CHICAGO (AP) - One man caught at Chicago's Wrigley Field during last night's powerful storm says he'd "never seen anything like it."
Fans at the Cubs-Houston Astros game were evacuated from the stands as intense lightning, fierce wind and a torrential downpour battered the ballpark.
The game was called off after 8 innings -- and two weather delays.
Tornado sirens blared in downtown Chicago, and hundreds of flights were canceled at O'Hare Airport, where travelers were moved to lower levels of the terminals for safety.
In two counties west of the city, there was widespread tree and power line damage from the fast-moving storm. Trained spotters reported what may have been tornadoes.
No serious injuries have been reported.
Commonwealth Edison says more than 200,000 customers lost power at the height of the storm.
Monday, August 04, 2008
TROPICAL STORM EDOUARD INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY NUMBER 4A
Why would anyone begin to believe THE ANSWER to the USA's energy and transportation crisis be more Offshore Oil drilling? That makes sense?
I
DON'T
THINK
SO !!
...A STORM SURGE OF 2 TO 4 FT ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS CAN BE EXPECTEDIN THE WARNING AREA IN AREAS OF ONSHORE WINDS....
August 4, 2008
1225z
UNISYS Visual Satellite
The 'sunrise' adds dynamic to the storm. The hot waters of the Gulf fueled the development of the lastest storm this season, but, it is enhanced in dynamics by the solar radiation. The central pressure has stabilized at 1002 millibars, HOWEVER, it is the storm surge of a 'continuous' near shore storm that will plague the Gulf Coast. So long as the storm 'sits and spins' it will be driving tides higher with prolonged pounding of the coastal plains.
August 4, 2008
1440z
UNISYS Visual Satellite Image ( 12 hour loop )
Shell evacuating 40 offshore workers due to storm (click here)
NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Shell Oil said on Monday it would begin evacuating 40 workers from oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico as a precaution due to the effects of Tropical Storm Edouard.
"No further evacuations are planned at this time and based on current information and forecast, we do not expect any impact on Shell operated production in the Gulf of Mexico," the company said in a release. (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis)
Storm Edouard shuts refinery, hits shipping (click here)
Reuters
Monday August 4 2008
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Edouard forced shut a huge offshore oil port, a refinery, some oil production and disrupted shipping as the storm raced toward the Texas-Louisiana coast on Monday.
Energy companies evacuated staff from offshore platforms due to Edouard, the second named storm of the season to threaten oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico, with Apache shutting a small amount of output.
Marathon shut its Texas City, Texas refinery and Valero Energy Corp warned its plants in the region could be affected after the storm halted inbound traffic to the Houston Ship Channel and the Sabine Pass ship channel.
"We have started an orderly shut-down in preparation for the storm," said Marathon spokeswoman Angela Graves.
Packing 50 miles per hour (85 kph) winds, Edouard swept across the northern Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles (135 km) south-southwest of Grand Isle, Louisiana, threatening to come ashore on the Texas-Louisiana coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Edouard had about a 20 percent chance of becoming a hurricane by the time it reaches land.
The Gulf of Mexico supplies about a quarter of U.S. crude oil output and 15 percent of its natural gas, while Gulf Coast refiners make about a quarter of domestic gasoline.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only deep-water U.S. oil port and a major conduit for the country's crude oil imports, temporarily suspended offloading oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico due to high waves and winds.
The port's onshore storage continued to supply refiners with crude on-hand, however, a spokeswoman said....
I
DON'T
THINK
SO !!
...A STORM SURGE OF 2 TO 4 FT ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS CAN BE EXPECTEDIN THE WARNING AREA IN AREAS OF ONSHORE WINDS....
August 4, 2008
1225z
UNISYS Visual Satellite
The 'sunrise' adds dynamic to the storm. The hot waters of the Gulf fueled the development of the lastest storm this season, but, it is enhanced in dynamics by the solar radiation. The central pressure has stabilized at 1002 millibars, HOWEVER, it is the storm surge of a 'continuous' near shore storm that will plague the Gulf Coast. So long as the storm 'sits and spins' it will be driving tides higher with prolonged pounding of the coastal plains.
August 4, 2008
1440z
UNISYS Visual Satellite Image ( 12 hour loop )
Shell evacuating 40 offshore workers due to storm (click here)
NEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Shell Oil said on Monday it would begin evacuating 40 workers from oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico as a precaution due to the effects of Tropical Storm Edouard.
"No further evacuations are planned at this time and based on current information and forecast, we do not expect any impact on Shell operated production in the Gulf of Mexico," the company said in a release. (Reporting by Richard Valdmanis)
Storm Edouard shuts refinery, hits shipping (click here)
Reuters
Monday August 4 2008
By Erwin Seba
HOUSTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Edouard forced shut a huge offshore oil port, a refinery, some oil production and disrupted shipping as the storm raced toward the Texas-Louisiana coast on Monday.
Energy companies evacuated staff from offshore platforms due to Edouard, the second named storm of the season to threaten oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico, with Apache shutting a small amount of output.
Marathon shut its Texas City, Texas refinery and Valero Energy Corp warned its plants in the region could be affected after the storm halted inbound traffic to the Houston Ship Channel and the Sabine Pass ship channel.
"We have started an orderly shut-down in preparation for the storm," said Marathon spokeswoman Angela Graves.
Packing 50 miles per hour (85 kph) winds, Edouard swept across the northern Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles (135 km) south-southwest of Grand Isle, Louisiana, threatening to come ashore on the Texas-Louisiana coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Edouard had about a 20 percent chance of becoming a hurricane by the time it reaches land.
The Gulf of Mexico supplies about a quarter of U.S. crude oil output and 15 percent of its natural gas, while Gulf Coast refiners make about a quarter of domestic gasoline.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only deep-water U.S. oil port and a major conduit for the country's crude oil imports, temporarily suspended offloading oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico due to high waves and winds.
The port's onshore storage continued to supply refiners with crude on-hand, however, a spokeswoman said....
U.S. Coast Guard closes inbound traffic at Houston channel (click here)
By Steve Gelsi
Last update: 11:39 a.m. EDT Aug. 4, 2008
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. Coast Guard has closed ship traffic into the Houston Ship Channel, which provides access to the largest oil and gas operations in the U.S., a spokesperson from the Port of Houston Authority said. Ship traffic within the channel itself is still allowed. The move by the Coast Guard came in response to Tropical Storm Edouard.
First Global Water Vapor Map from OSTM
Tracking Water Vapor is one of the most important mappings NASA can pursue, unfortunately, this is the first and only such map. It would have been grossly helpful if NASA had been doing this for decades of time.
The oceans have high spots and low spots depending on ocean circulation. Here again, we should have had decades of recordkeeping to better understand our troposphere. However, it is better that we have started than not start at all. The unfortunate aspect of the tardiness of this project is that the Arctic Ocean is expected to be 'ice free' by September. While 'sea level rise' is considered 'static' with the meltdown of the Arctic Ice Cap, the reality is that significant ice masses were at the shorelines of the Arctic Ocean and once melted contributes to sea level rise in several ways, including 'continental rebound.'
This is a good start for such ventures by NASA and should continue. I doubt seriously it will add to the dialogue of circumstances now faced by humanity regarding Human Induced Global Warming resulting in Climate Change.
In mid-June 2008, NASA launched the latest of a series of satellites that scientists use to measure sea level from space. The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 uses a radar altimeter to map the height of the ocean surface. The radar sends a pulse of energy down to the ocean surface and listens for the echo. The time delay and intensity of the echo reveal the altitude of the sea surface.
Because water vapor delays the time it takes for the radar pulse to travel to the ocean surface and back, the satellite also carries a sensor to measure atmospheric moisture. The image above shows the first results from this sensor, the Advanced Microwave Radiometer: a global map of the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere beneath the satellite from June 22–28, 2008. The time span was the first week of operations for OSTM’s science instruments. In this image, white and light blue show dry areas; dark blue shows moist regions....
The oceans have high spots and low spots depending on ocean circulation. Here again, we should have had decades of recordkeeping to better understand our troposphere. However, it is better that we have started than not start at all. The unfortunate aspect of the tardiness of this project is that the Arctic Ocean is expected to be 'ice free' by September. While 'sea level rise' is considered 'static' with the meltdown of the Arctic Ice Cap, the reality is that significant ice masses were at the shorelines of the Arctic Ocean and once melted contributes to sea level rise in several ways, including 'continental rebound.'
This is a good start for such ventures by NASA and should continue. I doubt seriously it will add to the dialogue of circumstances now faced by humanity regarding Human Induced Global Warming resulting in Climate Change.
In mid-June 2008, NASA launched the latest of a series of satellites that scientists use to measure sea level from space. The Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 uses a radar altimeter to map the height of the ocean surface. The radar sends a pulse of energy down to the ocean surface and listens for the echo. The time delay and intensity of the echo reveal the altitude of the sea surface.
Because water vapor delays the time it takes for the radar pulse to travel to the ocean surface and back, the satellite also carries a sensor to measure atmospheric moisture. The image above shows the first results from this sensor, the Advanced Microwave Radiometer: a global map of the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere beneath the satellite from June 22–28, 2008. The time span was the first week of operations for OSTM’s science instruments. In this image, white and light blue show dry areas; dark blue shows moist regions....
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park ( Crystal Wind Chime) is:
August 2, 2008
Fairbanks, Alaska
Photographer states :: Chena River flooding August 2008
Interior Alaska floods' effect on salmon spawning is unknown (Click on title to entry, thank you.)
By Tim Mowry
Published Monday, August 4, 2008
State fisheries biologists don’t know what kind of effect this week’s flood will have on spawning king salmon in the Chena and Salcha rivers. The flood coincided with the peak of spawning in both rivers.
“Most times when we’ve had floods, they happened later on, after the fish were done spawning,” Dan Bergstrom, the Department of Fish and Game’s regional supervisor for the Yukon River, said. “This year is different because it’s right on top of when they should be spawning.”...
...Female salmon dig holes called reads in the gravel river bottom to lay their eggs in before male fish fertilize them.
Virgil Umphenour, owner of Alaska Interior Fish Processors Inc. in Fairbanks, is worried the eggs will be carried away in the current.
“If you have high water and super fast current, the eggs will just go down the river as she’s laying them,” Umphenour speculated....
Lat/Lon :: 58.8° N 137.0° W
Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m
Time :: 5:05 AM AKDT
Temperature :: 52 °F / 11 °C
Conditions :: Overcast
Humidity :: 88%
Dew Point :: 48 F/ 9 C
Wind :: Calm
Pressure :: 30.25 in / 1024 hPa (Steady)
Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV :: 0 out of 16
Clouds :: Mostly Cloudy 2400 ft / 731 m
Overcast 4400 ft / 1341 m
(Above Ground Level)
Flight Rule:
MVFR (PAGS)
Wind Speed :: 4 mph / 6 km/h / 1.5 m/s
Wind Direction :: 140° (SE)
Ceiling :: 2200 ft / 670 m
Saturday, August 02, 2008
The Republicans have a very poor track record on 'promises' but good record on 'whining.'
This was from 2001. Immediately after Inaugeration, Bush/Cheney did a complete reversal of their campaign promises when it came to addressing Human Induced Global Warming.
The McCain approach has never been significant enough to warrant support to a majority of the House or Senate. The McCain/Lieberman Bill has been a complete and abject failure.
They never backed S.309, the bill to amend The Clean Air Act (click here). You will NEVER seen John McCain or Joe Lieberman as a Co-sponsor to this bill and this IS the bill that needs to be passed by the USA to reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions and set the USA on the BEST path to Environmental Safety.
GWEN IFILL: We get more on the Bush reversal from Debbie Reed, director of legislative affairs for the National Environmental Trust -- they supported limits on carbon dioxide emissions; and Chris Horner, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which opposes such limits.So, Debbie Reed, what is the significance of the president's decision to reverse himself on this?
DEBBIE REED: Well, Gwen, I think it's very significant; the president campaigned on a commitment to bring integrity to the White House but what good is his word now? This was the most significant environmental commitment made under the campaign, and the president walked away from it in exactly 53 days. I think it's very unfortunate that he has brought into question not only his integrity on environmental issues but his lead on EPA -- Christie Todd Whitman on this. Christie Todd Whitman has been a forceful proponent of protecting the president on this, and leading up on his promise to support a four-key agenda and unfortunately, while she was out front on this, the president sawed off the limb from underneath her. I think it's very unfortunate.
GWEN IFILL: Were you really surprised?
DEBBIE REED: Yes, actually, we were very surprised; the president had this in his campaign commitment -- and we've been hearing all the right signals from both him and from Christie Todd Whitman on this. And I think it's very unfortunate that they have caved to special interests on this in just a matter of weeks.
Then in 2003, afraid of the movement in the country over the concern of continued deterioration of the Arctic areas of Earth, and lusting after the oil under the floor of the Arctic Ocean, Bush decided to 'play god' further:
Going Backwards
Bush Administration: Carbon Dioxide Not a Pollutant (click here)
by Seth Borenstein
WASHINGTON - Carbon dioxide, the chief cause of global warming, cannot be regulated as a pollutant, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled Thursday....
..."Refusing to call greenhouse-gas emissions a pollutant is like refusing to say that smoking causes lung cancer," responded Melissa Carey, a climate policy specialist for Environmental Defense, a New York-based environmental group. "The Earth is round. Elvis is dead. Climate change is happening."...
The Republicans are UNTRUSTWORTHY on all counts !
Friday, August 01, 2008
The Republian Agenda of "More of the Same" is failing the USA.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Sen. Barack Obama, reacting to the seventh straight month of job decline, announced a new version of his $50 billion economic stimulus plan, which would use a windfall profits tax on oil companies to finance $500 tax rebates and aid to state governments for energy cost assistance, school construction and infrastructure building.
The new plan reallocates funds announced in the $50 billion assistance plan Obama had pledged two months ago, as part of that plan -- an extension of unemployment insurance and a housing refinancing fund -- has been approved by Congress.
Obama aides and advisers were trying to show they can react quickly to an economic landscape that continues to slide downward. The Labor Department announced that employers shed 51,000 jobs in July, the seventh straight month of job losses which now total 463,000. The unemployment rate rose last month from 5.5 percent to 5.7 percent.
Those numbers elicited very different responses from the presidential candidates....
McCain is playing "The Republican Game" of "More of the Same."
The Dangerous Game of More of the Same
This is what the nation's 'gas lines' looked like in 1973 with the OPEC Oil Embargo. Since then the USA's answer under Republican leadership, thirty long years of lack of innovation or change, was to use less energy to achieve the same result. In other words, fuel efficient internal cumbustion engines were perferred in order to 'make the resources last longer.' There was no 'switch' to an electric car rather than continued dependence on oil itself.
What McCain wants to do is no different than what Nixon did in the 1970s. We witnessed the building of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline in response to the the OPEC Oil Embargo. Now, John McCain wants to drill offshore of the USA for marginal amounts of oil that might exist there to attempt to have a 'traditional' Republican answer. It's hideous to continue a strategy already 30 decades old with finite answers. 
This is a picture of a stretch of the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline. The 'sliders' noted is to assist the pipleline to be resiliant to Alaskan earthquakes along the Denali Fault. This is an extreme measure that is not an answer to energy or transportation of the USA. It is a 'bandaid' and that is all offshore oil drilling is as well. Noted, the sliders have a limit.
It took this long to figure it out? Its no surprise to me that Bush/Cheney poisoned their own populous.
The anthrax attacks were too sophisticated to believe the Bush/Cheney White House didn't approve. John Ashcroft tried to derail the reality of the suspect by accusing Hatfield. I think this story needs the attention it deserves.
This is EVIDENCE of a government intent on destroying 'the truth' and using an issue of WMD as a lead into an illegal war that compromised American national security. This isn't about politics, it is about the 'degree' of culpability of the Executive Branch in exploiting the murderous activities of its own military.
The American people are at risk. No one in the Executive Branch is innnocent. NO ONE !!! They used the fear from this episode and the trauma of September 11th to wage a war that was unnecessary and contrived in Iraq.
U.S. to pay $2.8 million to settle anthrax lawsuit (click here)
Reuters Published: Friday, August 01, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it would pay former Army scientist Steven Hatfill over $2.8 million to settle his lawsuit accusing officials of violating his privacy rights by talking to the media and unfairly implicating him in anthrax attacks in 2001....
John Ashcroft never resumed investigation once it was decided the one to lay blame on was a FORMER biologicial weapons expert. Hatfield's lawsuit was settled leaving open the question, "Who done it?" With Democrats in the majority of the House and Senate the question wasn't going to lay fallow.
Biological Warfare Experts Questioned in Anthrax Probe (click here)
More Than Two Dozen Homes Searched by FBI
By Guy Gugliotta and Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writers
The FBI said yesterday it is focusing on about 30 U.S.-based biological warfare experts in its investigation of last year's anthrax attacks, and has searched the homes of more than two dozen in recent months -- always with the owner's consent.
The FBI said that former Army researcher Steven J. Hatfill, whose Frederick apartment was searched Tuesday, was on the floating short list of "persons of interest," but noted both publicly and in private meetings last week that Hatfill is not a suspect in the case.
Ben Haddad, spokesman for the San Diego-based defense contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), confirmed that Hatfill was a full-time SAIC employee in 1999 when he and collaborator Joseph Soukup commissioned a report investigating the consequences of a hypothetical anthrax attack by mail....
To exploit murderous activities of its own military as a lead up to war is criminal. There is no getting around it. The criminality of this Executive Branch is more evident today with
Anthrax suspect dies in apparent suicide (click here)
By David Willman
Los Angeles Times
Article Launched: 08/01/2008 01:31:11 AM PDT
A top government scientist who helped the FBI analyze samples from the 2001 anthrax attacks has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him for the attacks, the Los Angeles Times has learned....
This is EVIDENCE of a government intent on destroying 'the truth' and using an issue of WMD as a lead into an illegal war that compromised American national security. This isn't about politics, it is about the 'degree' of culpability of the Executive Branch in exploiting the murderous activities of its own military.
The American people are at risk. No one in the Executive Branch is innnocent. NO ONE !!! They used the fear from this episode and the trauma of September 11th to wage a war that was unnecessary and contrived in Iraq.
U.S. to pay $2.8 million to settle anthrax lawsuit (click here)
Reuters Published: Friday, August 01, 2008
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it would pay former Army scientist Steven Hatfill over $2.8 million to settle his lawsuit accusing officials of violating his privacy rights by talking to the media and unfairly implicating him in anthrax attacks in 2001....
John Ashcroft never resumed investigation once it was decided the one to lay blame on was a FORMER biologicial weapons expert. Hatfield's lawsuit was settled leaving open the question, "Who done it?" With Democrats in the majority of the House and Senate the question wasn't going to lay fallow.
Biological Warfare Experts Questioned in Anthrax Probe (click here)
More Than Two Dozen Homes Searched by FBI
By Guy Gugliotta and Dan Eggen, Washington Post Staff Writers
The FBI said yesterday it is focusing on about 30 U.S.-based biological warfare experts in its investigation of last year's anthrax attacks, and has searched the homes of more than two dozen in recent months -- always with the owner's consent.
The FBI said that former Army researcher Steven J. Hatfill, whose Frederick apartment was searched Tuesday, was on the floating short list of "persons of interest," but noted both publicly and in private meetings last week that Hatfill is not a suspect in the case.
Ben Haddad, spokesman for the San Diego-based defense contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), confirmed that Hatfill was a full-time SAIC employee in 1999 when he and collaborator Joseph Soukup commissioned a report investigating the consequences of a hypothetical anthrax attack by mail....
To exploit murderous activities of its own military as a lead up to war is criminal. There is no getting around it. The criminality of this Executive Branch is more evident today with
Anthrax suspect dies in apparent suicide (click here)
By David Willman
Los Angeles Times
Article Launched: 08/01/2008 01:31:11 AM PDT
A top government scientist who helped the FBI analyze samples from the 2001 anthrax attacks has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him for the attacks, the Los Angeles Times has learned....
Mail sent to Microsoft tests positive for anthrax
Saturday, 13 October 2001 22:51
A letter sent from Malaysia to a Microsoft office in Nevada has tested positive for traces of anthrax, according to local authorities there. The authorities in Carson City said today that at present there were no reported cases of anthrax infection stemming from the incident.Meanwhile, the US Vice President, Dick Cheney, has said that there could be links between the confirmed four cases of anthrax in America and Osama bin Laden.Mr Cheney said that there was ample evidence that bin Laden's network had been trained in the spread of biological and chemical weapons....
FBI indicates anthrax threat originated in US
Saturday, 10 November 2001 20:50
The FBI has given its closest indication yet that it believes the anthrax outbreak originated at home rather than abroad.The FBI says that the suspect is probably an adult male who may have referred to the US attacks in his messages only as a decoy. Agents believe he is a loner and not given to confrontation....
The anthrax attacks was to introduce the 'concept' of WMD. The evidence pointed to the source as the USA because of the sophisticated nature of the anthrax.
EIGHT days later. Count them, eight very short days later. No American Scientist involved with WMD could act out of some kind of personality disorder within eight days in such a sophisticated attacks alone. We all know the coveted use of the military's PSYOPS.
GIVE
ME
A
BREAK
Thank you to the LA Times. But, will the real truth behind this man's death ever be known. Nah.
September 19, 2001
A letter addressed to Jennifer Lopez containing a Star of David and a bluish powder arrived in the Sun's mailroom in the American Media headquarters. Several people handled the letter, and Stevens sniffed some of the powder....
Site of Anthrax Attack Reopens (click here)
BOCA RATON, Fla. - The tabloid newspaper building targeted in the fatal anthrax mailings in 2001 reopened with newsrooms still marked by Sun and Globe signs and file drawers bearing labels such as "JFK Jr."
The contents were included when American Media Inc. sold the building in 2003. Developer David Rustine bought it for $40,000 and said he spent millions on decontamination and maintenance.
The headquarters for the National Enquirer, Sun and Globe newspapers was the first known target in the mailings that killed five people starting a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Bob Stevens, a photo editor, died Oct. 5, 2001, from inhaling anthrax mailed to the building.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Exxon Mobil 2Q profit sets US record, shares fall.
Let me get this right. McCain's answer to the USA Energy Crisis and failing economy is to increase the production of the most expensive and extensive energy source in the world.
Oil pervades every aspect of investment globally, including food sources. To that reality, McCain wants to increase oil production so this 'fininte' source of fuel will continue to cause problems with economies at every level.
I
DON'T
THINK
SO !!!!
Exxon Mobil 2Q profit sets US record, shares fall
By JOHN PORRETTO – 1 hour ago
HOUSTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results were well short of Wall Street expectations and its shares fell.
The world's largest publicly traded oil company said net income for the April-June period came to $2.22 a share, up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, a year ago.
Revenue rose 40 percent to $138.1 billion from $98.4 billion in the year-earlier quarter.
Excluding an after-tax charge of $290 million related to an Exxon Valdez court settlement, earnings amounted to $11.97 billion, or $2.27 per share.
Analysts on average expected Exxon Mobil to earn $2.52 a share on revenue of $144 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.
The record-setting results were largely expected, given that crude prices in the second quarter were nearly double what they were a year ago. Natural gas prices were significantly higher too....
The oceans are warming and with the loss of the Arctic Ocean ice expected in September, it is obvious our fisheries are a worry.
As food prices rocket, relief from the depths (click here)
Lobster costs fall, but demand still weakAs food prices rocket, relief from the depths
Boston GlobeConsumers, squeezed by rising prices on everything from milk to eggs to bread, are finding a rare - and surprising - bargain at the fish counter: The price of lobster is going down.
Lobster prices have declined, but demand has not increased, which has hurt lobstermen and such firms as James Hook in Boston, where Mario Hernandez checked stock.
(David L. Ryan/Globe staff)
By Devra First
Globe Staff / July 30, 2008
Consumers, squeezed by rising prices on everything from milk to eggs to bread, are finding a rare - and surprising - bargain at the fish counter: The price of lobster is going down.
Last year at this time, Boston-area lobstermen were getting $5 to $5.25 per pound, according to the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. This year they're getting only $4.50 a pound. That's translating to lower retail prices.
At Yankee Lobster and James Hook & Co., both located in Boston, the price for soft-shell lobsters - those that have recently molted and have less meat - is currently $6.99 a pound, down from last year's price of $7.99. Soft-shell lobsters represent the bulk of the local catch right now.
The harvest has been plentiful, yet demand has declined, say those in the industry. Consumers view lobster as a splurge, and with money tight, it's not a priority on the shopping list....
Rising school costs mean fewer bus routes, higher food prices (click here)
Districts will enforce 2-mile walking radius, make changes in cafeterias
BY KIMBERLINA ROCHA AND VICTOR GARCIA krocha@visalia.gannett.com and vdgarcia@visalia.gannett.com
July 30, 2008
Tulare County students will walk more and spend more this year as a result of cost-saving measures at area school districts.
Going down: The number of bus stops. Going up: The price of food.
Tulare Joint Union High School District estimates it will save $37,843 by eliminating 15 bus stops and enforcing its 2-mile walk radius. Students who live within 2 miles of a school site must walk to a "cluster" bus stop or directly to school.
Other transportation-related measures will have less of an effect on students' routines, officials say....
Oil pervades every aspect of investment globally, including food sources. To that reality, McCain wants to increase oil production so this 'fininte' source of fuel will continue to cause problems with economies at every level.
I
DON'T
THINK
SO !!!!
Exxon Mobil 2Q profit sets US record, shares fall
By JOHN PORRETTO – 1 hour ago
HOUSTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results were well short of Wall Street expectations and its shares fell.
The world's largest publicly traded oil company said net income for the April-June period came to $2.22 a share, up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, a year ago.
Revenue rose 40 percent to $138.1 billion from $98.4 billion in the year-earlier quarter.
Excluding an after-tax charge of $290 million related to an Exxon Valdez court settlement, earnings amounted to $11.97 billion, or $2.27 per share.
Analysts on average expected Exxon Mobil to earn $2.52 a share on revenue of $144 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.
The record-setting results were largely expected, given that crude prices in the second quarter were nearly double what they were a year ago. Natural gas prices were significantly higher too....
The oceans are warming and with the loss of the Arctic Ocean ice expected in September, it is obvious our fisheries are a worry.
As food prices rocket, relief from the depths (click here)
Lobster costs fall, but demand still weakAs food prices rocket, relief from the depths
Boston GlobeConsumers, squeezed by rising prices on everything from milk to eggs to bread, are finding a rare - and surprising - bargain at the fish counter: The price of lobster is going down.
Lobster prices have declined, but demand has not increased, which has hurt lobstermen and such firms as James Hook in Boston, where Mario Hernandez checked stock.
(David L. Ryan/Globe staff)
By Devra First
Globe Staff / July 30, 2008
Consumers, squeezed by rising prices on everything from milk to eggs to bread, are finding a rare - and surprising - bargain at the fish counter: The price of lobster is going down.
Last year at this time, Boston-area lobstermen were getting $5 to $5.25 per pound, according to the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association. This year they're getting only $4.50 a pound. That's translating to lower retail prices.
At Yankee Lobster and James Hook & Co., both located in Boston, the price for soft-shell lobsters - those that have recently molted and have less meat - is currently $6.99 a pound, down from last year's price of $7.99. Soft-shell lobsters represent the bulk of the local catch right now.
The harvest has been plentiful, yet demand has declined, say those in the industry. Consumers view lobster as a splurge, and with money tight, it's not a priority on the shopping list....
Rising school costs mean fewer bus routes, higher food prices (click here)
Districts will enforce 2-mile walking radius, make changes in cafeterias
BY KIMBERLINA ROCHA AND VICTOR GARCIA krocha@visalia.gannett.com and vdgarcia@visalia.gannett.com
July 30, 2008
Tulare County students will walk more and spend more this year as a result of cost-saving measures at area school districts.
Going down: The number of bus stops. Going up: The price of food.
Tulare Joint Union High School District estimates it will save $37,843 by eliminating 15 bus stops and enforcing its 2-mile walk radius. Students who live within 2 miles of a school site must walk to a "cluster" bus stop or directly to school.
Other transportation-related measures will have less of an effect on students' routines, officials say....
A soldier stands next to the body of a suicide bomber in Peshawar December 4, 2007. A woman suicide bomber blew herself up near a military checkpost in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday, but caused no casualties among the troops, police said.
REUTERS/Ali Imam (PAKISTAN)
Female suicide bomber killed in Pakistan blast: police
Tue Dec 4, 5:01 AM ET
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - A burka clad female suicide bomber blew herself up at a checkpost in northwest Pakistan Tuesday, in the country's first such attack involving a woman, police said. There were no other casualties in the blast in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, which is near the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan where troops are battling Islamic militants, they said.
It happened in a high-security zone where intelligence services buildings and also a Christian convent school are located, provincial police chief Mohammad Sharif told AFP.
"This is the first suicide attack carried out by a woman in Pakistan. She was the single casualty," Sharif said.
Other officials also confirmed that the bomber was female."
The suicide bomber was a woman," senior police official Kadir Khan told AFP."
She came to the army checkpost, she was stopped but she blew herself up. No soldiers were injured in the blast.
"Military personnel and police cordoned off the area, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Shreds of a blue burka, a foot and pieces of flesh were lying on the road.
A security official at the scene said that the woman was thought to be an Afghan refugee aged about 40.
"She blew herself up. Nobody was injured or died," the official said.
Police earlier said the bombing was outside St Mary's convent school, one of Peshawar's top schools, and that it had killed one person.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in Pakistan on November 3, citing the need to curb a wave of Islamic militant violence in the northwest of the country.
Pakistani officials have previously said that militancy is thriving in giant refugee camps in the northwest and southwest where more than two million displaced Afghans are registered
"The Surge" failed on all counts. With men depleted in
We have witnessed female suicide bombers before. In Palestine and with the attack in Amman, Jordan (click here), the 'desperation' that leads women to mass killings is more than alarming.
In Palestine, women were the 'last straw' before the issue of peace became a serious one pursued by Palestine and Israel.
The Amman bomber was unsuccessful, but, she fully bought into the idea that her religious obligation, along with her husband would be fulfilled in such a violent act.
It is my guess that women in Iraq that are becoming suicide bombers are doing so because of the profound loss they are experiencing in this hideous war. We need to leave Iraq and allow the people in that country a 'respite' from occupation so they can find their own sense of 'civil peace.'
Violence In Iraq Takes On New Face
Number Of Suicide Bomb Attacks Carried Out By Women Has More Than Tripled Since Last Year
(CBS) In Iraq's volatile mix of race, religion and tribal rivalry, police say there's a common denominator in the continuing violence - gender.
According to the U.S. military in Iraq, women have carried the bombs in at least 27 attacks so far this year - more than triple the number of female suicide bombers in all of 2007, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.
A joint assessment by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security obtained by CBS News says the statistics reflect a growing combat role for females, aided by the fact that bombs are easy to hide under traditional women's clothing.
"It's much more difficult to inspect a female Muslim woman than it is a male Muslim because of religious sensitivities," said Steven Emerson, of the Investigative Project on Terrorism....
The Faces of Female Suicide Bombers (click here)
10/07/2007
By Fatima el Issawi
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- It no longer comes as a shock when one hears that a woman has carried out a suicide bomb attack. Lately, the media has made frequent reports of suicide operations, both successful and failed, that were carried out by women. Today, females are rivaling men in a field that was once regarded by Jihadi literature and fiqh to be strictly a man's job.
But who were the first women to actually sacrifice themselves for the sake of a cause? What do we know about the psychological motives and the political and social backgrounds surrounding these women and which are responsible for transforming them into ferocious female ‘jihadists’?
A look at the information available through the press reveals little about these women, however it is useful in defining an outline that may answer some questions. These limited sources reveal that female suicide bombers can be split into two groups, generally speaking, in terms of social profiles and motives behind their involvement.
In the first group women, venture into ‘martyrdom’ driven by a dedication to the cause, or as a means of expressing their resentment of the gross injustice for which there remains no other resort except sacrificing their own lives. Moreover, these women are encouraged by the fact that their brothers or relatives have been killed in circumstances related to this unjust reality and as such, that loss becomes the decisive factor in undertaking a suicide operation....
In Palestine, women were the 'last straw' before the issue of peace became a serious one pursued by Palestine and Israel.
The Amman bomber was unsuccessful, but, she fully bought into the idea that her religious obligation, along with her husband would be fulfilled in such a violent act.
It is my guess that women in Iraq that are becoming suicide bombers are doing so because of the profound loss they are experiencing in this hideous war. We need to leave Iraq and allow the people in that country a 'respite' from occupation so they can find their own sense of 'civil peace.'
Violence In Iraq Takes On New Face
Number Of Suicide Bomb Attacks Carried Out By Women Has More Than Tripled Since Last Year
(CBS) In Iraq's volatile mix of race, religion and tribal rivalry, police say there's a common denominator in the continuing violence - gender.
According to the U.S. military in Iraq, women have carried the bombs in at least 27 attacks so far this year - more than triple the number of female suicide bombers in all of 2007, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.
A joint assessment by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security obtained by CBS News says the statistics reflect a growing combat role for females, aided by the fact that bombs are easy to hide under traditional women's clothing.
"It's much more difficult to inspect a female Muslim woman than it is a male Muslim because of religious sensitivities," said Steven Emerson, of the Investigative Project on Terrorism....
The Faces of Female Suicide Bombers (click here)
10/07/2007
By Fatima el Issawi
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- It no longer comes as a shock when one hears that a woman has carried out a suicide bomb attack. Lately, the media has made frequent reports of suicide operations, both successful and failed, that were carried out by women. Today, females are rivaling men in a field that was once regarded by Jihadi literature and fiqh to be strictly a man's job.
But who were the first women to actually sacrifice themselves for the sake of a cause? What do we know about the psychological motives and the political and social backgrounds surrounding these women and which are responsible for transforming them into ferocious female ‘jihadists’?
A look at the information available through the press reveals little about these women, however it is useful in defining an outline that may answer some questions. These limited sources reveal that female suicide bombers can be split into two groups, generally speaking, in terms of social profiles and motives behind their involvement.
In the first group women, venture into ‘martyrdom’ driven by a dedication to the cause, or as a means of expressing their resentment of the gross injustice for which there remains no other resort except sacrificing their own lives. Moreover, these women are encouraged by the fact that their brothers or relatives have been killed in circumstances related to this unjust reality and as such, that loss becomes the decisive factor in undertaking a suicide operation....
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
The USA economy is not in recession. It is simply crashing. Everywhere.
From Starbucks to foreclosures, the American economy is taking a nose dive unmatched by its recent past.
The university students of Massachusetts are now facing more hurdles to success. This is just more of the same in sequelae of Bush's Fiscal Disaster !
Student lender won't have loan money this season (kindly click on title to entry)
July 28, 2008 11:16 AM
The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority today said it will not be able to provide any student loans this fall, which could leave tens of thousands of families in the lurch just weeks before college classes begin.
The nonprofit lending authority said it was unable to secure funding to provide private student loans. It is contacting more than 40,000 students and families to whom it has made loans in the past, to urge them to seek other options.
"As a result of our problems and the continued dislocation of the capital markets, we have been unable to raise funds for the coming academic year,'' said Thomas M. Graf, executive director of the group....
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The week wouldn't be complete without recognizing the success of Michael Moore's Coup !
Mike's relentless focus today and over the years, of our USA Constitution, has culminated in hearings at the US House of Representatives lead by the honorable and distinguished Dennis Kucinich.
There have been an incredible number of Americans in leadership positions that have come before the House Judiciary Committee to be heard. The overwhelming concensus that cannot be ignored is the overt illegal activities of the Bush/Cheney Administration.
It was astounding to realize Elizabeth Holtzman was actually repeating history with still another Republican aristocrat, again abusing the US Constitution. (Click here)
Bush un-impeachment bill gets hearing
by Katie Fretland and updated
Critics of President George W. Bush got the chance to air grievances against him Friday at a House Judiciary Committee "non-impeachment hearing" before a packed audience of political activists.
Even Cindy Sheehan, the famous anti-war mother, was there until she got kicked out for being loud.
Committee members and witnesses, including Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, spoke for almost six hours on allegations the Bush administration, among other things, misled the public into the Iraq War, manipulated intelligence and selectively prosecuted Democrats. Northwestern University professor Stephen Presser offered expert analysis.
The session was not an impeachment hearing, because the House of Representatives had not given authorization for such proceedings. Ranking Republican committee member Lamar Smith of Texas called the hearing an "anger management class" that only serves to impeach Congress' credibility....
Anger over WHAT exactly !
Breaking the law.
Circumventing the USA Constitution for crony wars and profits?
Anger?
There have been an incredible number of Americans in leadership positions that have come before the House Judiciary Committee to be heard. The overwhelming concensus that cannot be ignored is the overt illegal activities of the Bush/Cheney Administration.
It was astounding to realize Elizabeth Holtzman was actually repeating history with still another Republican aristocrat, again abusing the US Constitution. (Click here)
Bush un-impeachment bill gets hearing
by Katie Fretland and updated
Critics of President George W. Bush got the chance to air grievances against him Friday at a House Judiciary Committee "non-impeachment hearing" before a packed audience of political activists.
Even Cindy Sheehan, the famous anti-war mother, was there until she got kicked out for being loud.
Committee members and witnesses, including Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr, spoke for almost six hours on allegations the Bush administration, among other things, misled the public into the Iraq War, manipulated intelligence and selectively prosecuted Democrats. Northwestern University professor Stephen Presser offered expert analysis.
The session was not an impeachment hearing, because the House of Representatives had not given authorization for such proceedings. Ranking Republican committee member Lamar Smith of Texas called the hearing an "anger management class" that only serves to impeach Congress' credibility....
Anger over WHAT exactly !
Breaking the law.
Circumventing the USA Constitution for crony wars and profits?
Anger?
Over the compromise of the National Security of the USA !
Over what !
The Unnecessary Deaths of 4124 American Soldiers. (click here)
July 25th, 2008 4:51 pm
Bush critics get an unimpeachable forum
By Jim Abrams / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Call it the un-impeachment hearing.
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Friday it insisted was not about removing President Bush from office. But critics of Bush's policies couldn't pass up the chance to charge the president with a long list of impeachable "high crimes and misdemeanors."
Leading the way was Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the former Democratic presidential candidate who has brought repeated impeachment resolutions on the House floor against Bush and Vice President Cheney.
Kucinich got a rock star welcome of whistles, hoots and clapping as he walked into the hearing room, holding hands with his wife, from hundreds of anti-war, anti-Bush people crammed into the room and lining the hallways outside. T-shirts reading "Arrest Bush" and "Veterans for Impeachment" illustrated the sentiments of many.
"The decision before us is whether to demand accountability for one of the gravest injustices imaginable," Kucinich testified, avoiding use of the "I" word....
Al-Qaida returns to Afghanistan to protect Bin Laden. It was far easier to protect him and defeat 'The West' while Halliburton was making profits in Iraq. Maybe this time next year, Bin Laden will actually be captured or killed. It won't take forever to achieve that goal. It should not have taken forever to do it this time. We should have been in and out of Afghanistan within two years living behind ONLY the reparations of war to begin Afghanistan 'anew.'
Ambassador: al-Qaida leaving Iraq for Afghanistan (click here)
By PAMELA HESS – 3 days ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida's foreign fighters who have for years bedeviled Iraq are increasingly going to Afghanistan to fight instead, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States said Wednesday.
"We have heard reports recently that many of the foreign fighters that were in Iraq have left, either back to their homeland or going to fight in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is now seeming to be more suitable for al-Qaida fighters," said Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie.
Al-Qaida had training camps and a headquarters in Afghanistan, under the protection of the then-ruling Taliban, until the U.S. invaded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. With al-Qaida forced out of Afghanistan, the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 quickly drew outside fighters there....
Endangered Species - Honest Iraqi Government Official
Two women walk past the main building housing the National Iraqi Olympic Committee in Baghdad
The IOC in a letter dated July 23 confirmed the prohibition of seven Iraqi Olympic athletes after first imposing the ban on the war-ravaged country's sporting officials for political interference last month.
"In spite of all the joint efforts of IOC and OCA (Olympic Council of Asia), over the last months to find a positive solution with the Iraqi government authorities, we regretfully inform you that the decision of the IOC executive board dated 4 June 2008 to suspend the National Olympic Committee of Iraq is confirmed," said the letter.
In a separate statement issued Thursday the IOC said it was "disappointed they have been so ill-served by their own government's actions," and that the deadline to register athletes had expired.
You know, you gotta love it when the USA newspapers declare there is a stabilization in Baghdad for the sake of an election strategy. Today, 'the happy talk' about Iraq is that the Mahdi Army is waning and there is greater security in Baghdad.
Right.
There are finite people in Iraq available for security of any kind. I would think that journalists would be able to discern the fact that although the numbers of Mahdi Army members are waning the number of Iraqi soldiers are increasing. Hm?
Iraqi Forces Continue to Grow in Number. (click here)
In September 2004, there were only 96,000 trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces. By November 2005, there were more than 212,000. As of May 30th, there were nearly 350,000 trained and equipped Iraqi Security Forces.
That doesn't necessarily lend itself to the 'idea' that Iraq is secured by people that are approved of by Bush. The fact is that more militia members are accepting 'salaried' employment in the Iraqi military. It's called a 'transition' of authority. The added comfort zone for Iraqis is there providing one is affiliated strongly with the 'correct' Shi'ite group.
Iraq bomber kills 8 U.S.-allied Sunni fighters (click here)
From the Associated Press
July 25, 2008
BAGHDAD -- A woman blew herself up Thursday near U.S.-allied Sunni Arab fighters walking in a crowded area of Baqubah, killing at least eight members of the Awakening movement and wounding 24 people, police said.The attack comes as the U.S.-backed Iraqi military is promising to launch a major offensive in Diyala province aimed at taming the last major insurgent belt north of Baghdad. Baqubah is the provincial capital....
Iraq pledges $100 million to rebuild Sadr City slum (click here)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq will spend $100 million to rebuild the east Baghdad slum of Sadr City and create jobs for many of its two million residents after years of violence and neglect, a government official said on Sunday.
The Shi'ite slum is a stronghold of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army, whose fighters clashed with U.S. and government troops there in March and April until a ceasefire halted hostilities.
Sadr City was largely outside the government's control until the truce allowed Iraqi soldiers to deploy.
"The government has ordered an allocation of $100 million to reconstruct and develop Sadr City," Tahseen al-Sheikhli, civilian spokesman for security operations in Baghdad, told a news conference.
He did not give a timeframe for spending the money....
All that death of Iraqi civilians does actually 'add up' to less of one group and more of the other. Then the actions of the USA military and it's 'fumbling around' doesn't help a darn thing. It only 'adds' to the anxiety of who dies next in Baghdad.
Military says US troops killed Iraqi editor's son (click here)
By KIM GAMEL – 1 day ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that bullets fired by American soldiers killed the 14-year-old son of the chief editor of a U.S.-sponsored newspaper during a gunbattle a day earlier in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.
The military said Arkan Ali Taha was hit Thursday when soldiers came under heavy gunfire from a passing taxi and shot back. The boy was riding in the cab and the driver was later taken into custody, the statement said.
The father said his son was not involved with extremist groups and didn't know how to use weapons. He said the boy had hired the cab to bring a set of keys to the newspaper.
American and Iraqi security forces have been cracking down on insurgents in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul and in the restive Diyala province north of Baghdad, where violence has been slower to decline than elsewhere in Iraq....
Some of the violence has actually waned into political furvor. That is a good thing, so long as there is no oppression of freedom of expression or the freedom to deny expression in the name of peace.
Baghdad muralists resist push for sectarian themes (click here)
Young Iraqi artists continue attempts to boost spirits, kindle optimism at Baghdad ‘blast walls’.
By Brian Murphy – BAGHDAD
It's art ornamenting life: murals of soothing landscapes and historical heroes covering the blast walls that are now as much a part of Baghdad's cityscape as date palms and desert dust.
The idea took off last year when Iraqi aid groups sought to provide work for young artists — and offer a bit of hope and a splash of color to a city whose signature hue is oatmeal brown.
But fully rising above Iraq's sectarian suspicions has proved a challenge.
Many members in the founding group of artists are putting down their brushes to protest requests from neighborhood councils to depict politically charged sectarian themes such as Sunni shrines in Sunni districts or Shiite saints in Shiite areas....
Iraq says election ads can‘t show non-candidates Staff and agencies (click here)
03 July, 2008
By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer 29 minutes ago
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government on Thursday ordered that campaign materials in upcoming provincial elections can only feature pictures of candidates, in an apparent attempt to keep followers of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr from using his image to court voters.
Shiite politicians flooded the country with posters of the country‘s main Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and others during elections in 2005, capitalizing on their prestige to win power.
Pictures of al-Sadr, who comes from one of Iraq‘s most esteemed Shiite families, line the streets of places like Baghdad‘s Sadr City. The powerful cleric has built a large following among disgruntled Shiites in Baghdad and southern Iraq who haven‘t benefited from the rise of a Shiite-led government in the country.
Al-Sadr‘s followers hope to use the elections to loosen the grip on power that their Shiite rivals have enjoyed since the 2005 elections, which the Sadrists boycotted....
The 'peace' that is desired for Iraq is far from achieved. The fact of the matter is that Iraq will 'settle down' but it will with a Shi'ite majority and bias against all others. That is why the provinces and their minority 'rule' are important. I think Baghdad truly belongs to Shi'ites and leave it at that.
Iraq is not ready for anything else.
The Middle East is not a 'melting pot' as Bush would like to see it. There are differences that are profound and they stem from interpretations of Islamic doctrine. That is allowed in life. The Christians have innumberable denomiations and benefit from it. There is no 'stronghold' of religious authority in the USA. It's called a democracy and benefits from peaceful coexistence of all belief systems.
Baghdad's walls keep peace but feel like prison (click here)
By HAMZA HENDAWI – Jun 27, 2008
BAGHDAD (AP) — Baghdad hasn't been this quiet in years. But the respite from bloodshed comes at a high price.
Up to 20 feet high in some sections.
Rows after rows of barrier walls divide the city into smaller and smaller areas that protect people from bombings, sniper fire and kidnappings. They also lead to gridlock, rising prices for food and homes, and complaints about living in what feels like a prison.
Baghdad's walls are everywhere. They have turned a riverside capital of leafy neighborhoods and palm-lined boulevards into a city of shadows that separate Sunnis from Shiites.
The walls block access to schools, mosques, churches, hotels, homes, markets and even entire neighborhoods — almost anything that could be attacked. For many Iraqis, they have become the iconic symbol of the war.
"Maybe one day they will remove it," said Kareem Mustapha, a 26-year-old Sadr City resident who lives a five-minute walk from a wall built this spring in the large Shiite district.
"I don't know when, but it is not soon."
Indeed, new walls are still going up, the latest one around the northwestern Shiite neighborhood of Hurriyah, where thousands of Sunnis were slaughtered or expelled in 2006. They could well be around for years to come, enforcing the capital's fragile peace and enshrining its sectarian divisions....
Iraq will find stronger ties to each other as tourism grows and Baghdad finds itself with an identity of an 'International' city. There isn't that foucs because there is too much insecurity for the Shi'ites of the region. They have existed under very oppressive government in Iraq for a long time by sheer numbers. When 50,000 were killed in Southern Iraq in 2002 in a conflict with Saddam that didn't even begin to decry the end to the Shi'ites there.
A lot has to be settled in the way of security for these people and right now separating the provinces into ethnic and religious preferences is an adequate answer. As a side note, Turkey needs to prudent regarding its incursions into Northern Iraq. The Kurds have a right to their culture.
Baghdad boosts security for religious festival (click here)
1 day ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Baghdad has ramped up security ahead of one of Shiite Islam's most important religious festivals amid heightened concerns of attacks on a holy pilgrimage site, the Iraqi military said on Friday.
An extra 5,000 soldiers fanned out in the Kadhimiyah district of Baghdad ahead of the arrival of thousands of pilgrims expected to attend a ceremony on Tuesday to mourn a revered imam who died 12 centuries ago.
"There is more than a full brigade deployed in the vicinity, entrances and exits of the city, and in the surrounding areas of Kadhimiyah city, for fear of attacks," defence ministry officials told AFP.....
Nouri Maliki asks pope to urge Christians to return to Iraq (click here)
Osservatore Romano / EPA
Pope Benedict XVI receives a gift from Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
The prime ministers, on a European trip, also invites Benedict XVI to visit Iraq.
By Ned Parker and Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers July 26, 2008
BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri Maliki asked Pope Benedict XVI in a meeting Friday in Italy to encourage Iraqi Christians who have fled their country to return, citing the improved security situation. He also invited the pontiff to visit Iraq."I . . . appealed to his holiness to encourage Christians who left the country to go back and be part of the social structure of Iraq again," Maliki told reporters after his session with the pope at the pontiff's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.
16,000-acre wildfire threatening homes
As wildfires get wilder, the costs of fighting them are untamed (click here)
By Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart : times staff writers, First of five parts
July 27, 2008
LIVE OAK COMMAND POST -- It was day 42 of the zaca fire. A tower of white smoke reached miles into the blue sky above the undulating ridges of Santa Barbara's backcountry.
Helicopters ferried firefighters across the saw-toothed terrain and bombed fiery ridges with water. Long plumes of red retardant trailed from the belly of a DC-10 air tanker. Bulldozers cut defensive lines through pygmy forests of chaparral....
This is a close up of the similiar picture below. These are our national forests that are burning by the way. (click here)
Large Incident Fires (click here)
This image provided by NASA taken Tuesday July 22, 2008 shows smoke engulfing the northern Sacramento Valley in California. Northern California, steep terrain and a lack of roads hindered efforts to get the last of California's wildfires under control. Thick smoke from the fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Junction City grounded firefighting aircraft. The fire covered 98 square miles and was 61 percent contained. (AP Photo.NASA)
Fire threatens Yosemite area
A growing fire about 30 miles west of Yosemite Valley triggered the evacuations of 170 homes Saturday, and more are threatened, fire officials said.
Because of the fire, authorities cut the power grid to Yosemite National Park, and it had not been restored by Saturday evening.
Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the Telegraph fire grew from about 1,000 acres to around 16,000 acres, or 25 square miles, during the day Saturday.
Fires this time of year "are extremely active," Berlant said. "The erratic behavior is because there is so much fuel out there to burn."
About 900 firefighters are battling the blaze on both sides of a steep canyon along the Merced River.
Karen Guillemin, a department spokeswoman, said most of the evacuated homes are in Midpines but that residents of other small towns are being asked to prepare to leave. In all, about 2,000 homes are threatened, officials said.
Midpines is on California 140, the thoroughfare that leads to the west entrance of Yosemite National Park. Campers on nearby Bureau of Land Management land were evacuated as a precaution.
From the Associated Press
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