Michael Moore Today

October Surprise

Here We Come!


"... they systematically set about to fleece the American people out of their hard-earned money."
– Michael Moore


May 21st, 2009 5:40 pm
Filmmaker Michael Moore targeting economic crisis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Firebrand filmmaker Michael Moore, who targeted the Bush administration in "Fahrenheit 9/11" and the healthcare industry in "Sicko," is now focusing on the global economic meltdown.
The Oscar-winning director will release his as-yet-untitled documentary across North America on October 2, co-financiers Overture Films and Paramount Vantage said on Thursday.
"The wealthy, at some point, decided they didn't have enough wealth," the statement quoted Moore as saying.
"They wanted more -- a lot more. So they systematically set about to fleece the American people out of their hard-earned money. Now, why would they do this? That is what I seek to discover in this movie."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=13929

The Biggest Swindle in American History

May 21st, 2009 6:40 pm
Michael Moore's new documentary to open Oct. 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Moore's documentary about the economic crisis will hit theaters on Oct. 2.
The announcement was made Thursday by Overture Films and Paramount Vantage.
The film is not yet titled. Moore earlier planned to make it more broadly about America as an empire. Instead, the documentary explores the causes of the global economic meltdown. Moore has called it "the biggest swindle in American history."
The division between rich and poor is old territory for Moore, who broke through 20 years ago with "Roger & Me" — about General Motors closing a plant in his hometown of Flint.
Moore won the Academy Award for best documentary in 2003 for "Bowling for Columbine."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=13930


Root Cause Unearthed


May 21st, 2009 6:41 pm
Michael Moore's latest doc out Oct. 2
Overture, Paramount International distributing
By Steven Zeitchik / Hollywood Reporter
CANNES -- Michael Moore's movie about the economic fall will unspool during the fall boxoffice.
Overture and Paramount Vantage said Thursday the still-untitled documentary about the collapse of the world economy will bow domestically on Oct. 2. That's almost a year to the day that Congress passed the first U.S. economic stimulus package, officials noted.
The companies also provided more details about the film, announced at last year's Festival de Cannes. The pic will examine the "root causes of the economic meltdown," they said, as well as the "corporate and political shenanigans" that resulted in the financial crisis.
"The wealthy, at some point, decided they didn't have enough wealth," Moore said in a statement. "So they systematically set out to fleece the American people."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=13931


It's a Date


May 21st, 2009 5:02 pm
Michael Moore doc gets release date
Filmmaker's take on economy set for Oct. 2
By Dana Harris / Variety
Michael Moore's new documentary, which tackles the root causes of the global economic crisis, now has a release date: Oct. 2.
Overture Films and Paramount Vantage, which made the announcement, are the film's co-financers and distributors. The film is not yet titled.
Overture and Paramount announced the project during last year's Cannes Film Festival. At the time it was described as a sequel to "Fahrenheit 9/11," but during production Moore decided to focus on the growing financial meltdown.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=13928


Popcorn & Pitchforks


May 21st, 2009 8:44 pm
Michael Moore preparing to turn sights on Wall St
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Oscar-winning director Michael Moore vowed Thursday to turn his sights on the Wall Street chieftains blamed for the global economic meltdown in a new documentary to be released later this year.
Moore, whose past targets have included President George W. Bush, the US healthcare system and the gun lobby, said his as yet untitled film would be released on October 2.
"The wealthy, at some point, decided they didn't have enough wealth. They wanted more -- a lot more -- so they systematically set about to fleece the American people out of their hard-earned money," Moore said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=13932

This Friday at 9 PM on PBS:
*** American SiCKO Donna Smith on Bill Moyers ***

TV SCHEDULE
Bill Moyers' Journal
Friday, May 22, 9:00pm
9.1[D] (WVPBS)
Why single-payer health care isn't among the health-care reform plans under consideration. Guests include Donna Smith (California Nurses Association), Dr. Sidney Wolfe (Public Citizen) and Dr. David Himmelstein (Physicians for a National Health Program).
CC Stereo Educational Taping Rights: 6 months from original broadcast

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/about/airdates.html?program_id=640056&display_format=ep_description&display_feed=13640&display_date=2009-05-22&display_time=21:00:00&feeds=&station=WSWP&zipcode=&transport=&provider=&channelsuppress=f


Today in History - May 22
By The Associated Press – 1 day ago
Today is Friday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2009. There are 223 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On May 22, 1969, the lunar module of Apollo 10, with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan aboard, flew to within nine miles of the moon's surface in a dress rehearsal for the first lunar landing.
On this date:…

In 1813, composer Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany.

In 1992, after a reign lasting nearly 30 years, Johnny Carson hosted NBC's "Tonight Show" for the last time….

...Ten years ago: Columbine High School seniors wearing blue-and-silver gowns marched single file in a graduation ceremony that mixed celebration of the day with sorrow for victims of the recent massacre.

Five years ago: In Tunisia, Arab leaders convened their annual summit, but the opening session was overshadowed by the walkout of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who criticized peace efforts. Filmmaker Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a scathing indictment of Bush White House actions after the Sept. 11 attacks, won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Samuel C. Johnson Jr., who'd built the family's S.C. Johnson Wax company into a consumer products giant, died at age 76.

One year ago: A Texas appeals court said the state had no right to take more than 400 children from a polygamist sect's ranch. (After the Texas Supreme Court upheld the ruling, the children were returned to their parents.) Britain's Conservative Party won a special election that was viewed as a barometer of the popularity of Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Gordon Brown. Indiana Jones returned to the big screen in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."...

...Thought for Today: "It is often said that men are ruled by their imaginations; but it would be truer to say they are governed by the weakness of their imaginations." — Walter Bagehot, English editor and economist (1826-1877).

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jhZfSZI4djl_MxnRykC5lZzlBMYQD98B27181


Friday, May 1st, 2009
"Bernie Madoff, Scapegoat" by Michael Moore (for Time magazine)
The following piece written by Michael Moore appears in this week's Time magazine (and in full at Time.com) as part of their annual "Time 100" issue highlighting their choices for "The World's Most Influential People."
Elie Wiesel called him a "God." His investors called him a "genius." But, proving correct that old adage from the country and western song, you never really know what goes on behind closed doors.
Bernie Madoff, for at least 20 years, ran a Ponzi scheme on thousands of clients, among them the people you and I would consider the best and brightest. Business leaders, celebrities, charities, even some of his own relatives and his defense attorney were taken for a ride (this has to be the first time a lawyer was hosed by the client).
We're clearly in one of those historic, game changing years: up is down, red is blue and black is President. Aside from Obama himself, no person will provide a more iconic face of this end-of-capitalism-as-we-know-it year than Bernard Lawrence Madoff.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=247


Saturday, May 23rd, 2009
The Disease of Permanent War ...by Chris Hedges
TruthDig
The embrace by any society of permanent war is a parasite that devours the heart and soul of a nation. Permanent war extinguishes liberal, democratic movements. It turns culture into nationalist cant. It degrades and corrupts education and the media, and wrecks the economy. The liberal, democratic forces, tasked with maintaining an open society, become impotent. The collapse of liberalism, whether in imperial Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Weimar Germany, ushers in an age of moral nihilism. This moral nihilism comes is many colors and hues. It rants and thunders in a variety of slogans, languages and ideologies. It can manifest itself in fascist salutes, communist show trials or Christian crusades. It is, at its core, all the same. It is the crude, terrifying tirade of mediocrities who find their identities and power in the perpetuation of permanent war….

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=1194


May 23rd, 2009 9:19 am
Iraq slaying verdict highlights combat stress
By Kristen M. Hall / Associated Press
PADUCAH, Ky. – There's no question ex-soldier Steven Dale Green raped and killed a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered her parents and sister.
Still, jurors in Kentucky couldn't agree this week whether to sentence the 24-year-old to death for heinous crimes he committed while serving in Iraq, indecision that may signal growing public awareness of combat stress and its consequences, experts say.
Jurors declined to talk to reporters, but forms they completed during deliberations indicate some factored in the stress of Green's bloody combat tour, poor mental health treatment in Iraq and weak leadership in his unit….

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=13933


Penguin Claims Credit for Decline in Gotham Crime; Also, Dick Cheney claims credit for takedown of A.Q. Khan nuclear network


May 23rd, 2009 10:07 am
The lie Cheney told about A.Q. Khan
by Larisa Alexandrovna / Raw Story
Somewhere among the strategically placed references to September 11, 2001 and his unapologetic defense of torture, Dick Cheney managed to lie about a series of topics and events that are well documented. It is, after all, the electronic age and facts are not difficult to come by.
One must consider too what motivated the networks to carry a speech by a former Vice President in defense of torture. The ethics vacuum is mind-boggling….

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=13936


May 23rd, 2009
Looking Back at Hell; "But, at the end, the American people are responsible for everything that happened." – "Abu Ahmed," former prisoner at Abu Ghraib


May 23rd, 2009 9:32 am
Ex-inmate recalls days of abuse at Abu Ghraib
By Cal Perry
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Abu Ahmed says he was there: An Iraqi held prisoner at Abu Ghraib by the American military when inmates were abused.
He says he was kept naked and saw other naked inmates stacked onto a pile while photos were taken, photos that would become public and bring shame to the United States.
The pain of the past few years is clearly etched on the man's face and equally obvious as he talks. It began October 1, 2003, he says, when U.S. troops came to his home and detained him during a sweep of his neighborhood….

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=13934


Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
Roseanne Barr knows that ACORN is on the side of working people. Here's what she has to say about the non-stop attacks from the right wing:
If these guys hate ACORN so much, then ACORN must be doing something right.
While everyone else is talking about issues and ideas and politics, ACORN is out there working. They’re working side-by-side with the people most affected by years of failed economic and health care policies, by the crappy economy.
They don’t just work with poor people – they are poor people. Poor people doing all they can to stay in their homes, raise their kids, improve their environment and their schools. Get the picture? Yeah.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/2749/t/4538/signUp.jsp?key=2287&track=roseanne

continued...

Charles Bradford "Brad" Henry should run for the Senate against Coburn. He'd win !

The Oklahoma Democrat Governor is exceptionally popular in "The Sooner State." In job approval polls he ranks over 66%, at least a 6% lead over Coburn.

Coburn is a radical and an underhanded radical and needs to be replaced. The Democrats should choose a strong candidate against Coburn to bid for the Senate. Brad Henry wouldn't have to do much campaigning, he is well known and could conduct his business in the Governor's office while placing his bid in for Senate.


The Dodd Credit Card Bill was concerned about its passage due to the exploitation by Coburn. This is typical of the ruthless and cowardess of the Republican Neocons. They use every opportunity to pass a bill that could never stand on its own.

By the way, it was President Ronald Reagan that first banned guns in our National Parks.

Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), the chief sponsor of the credit card reform bill, is wondering whether the same might be the fate of his credit card proposal. “My concern is about what the underlying bill — what happens to it,” Dodd said on the chamber floor just before the vote. “I hate to see us lose this opportunity to make a difference with credit card reform.”

The Credit Card bill was amended by Coburn to include endangering the general public in our National Parks. This is a thinly vailed attempt to justify the killing of wildlife in our parks. The Republicans want that opportunity for the NRA. The ESA delisting of the Bald Eagle and Grey Wolf opens all kinds of opportunity for those that like to hunt species of wildlife.

There are deaths in National Parks as well as assaults, rapes and other forms of violence, however, it isn't even close to the level of these crimes in our cities where guns are banded and far more tightly controlled.

This law does not go into effect for nine months and provides enough time to collect data regarding violence in the National Parks and the sincere need for such legislation. There needs to be monitoring of the escalation of violence against people and the injuries and deaths of wildlife. As the numbers go up, lawsuits can be filed to remove the guns from the parks again.

There is no doubt to me there will be opportunists with guns that will find reasons to kill wildlife, especially, the keystone preditors that could conceivably attack humans for reasons of territorial threats. It will happen, so the recordkeeping has to be forthcoming. The Park Rangers usually are required to report such incidents in their reports.

Govt: Guns barred from national parks until Feb. (click here)
By MATTHEW DALY – 28 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Not so fast, gun owners. A new law allowing loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges will not take effect until next year, the Obama administration said Friday.
President Barack Obama signed the gun law Friday as part of a measure creating new rules for the credit card industry.
But a spokeswoman for the Interior Department said that because the credit card law won't take effect until nine months after it is signed, the gun measure also will be delayed.
Spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the Interior Department will follow Congress's directive and put the new firearms law into effect in late February 2010.
Until then, rules adopted under the Reagan administration will remain in place. The rules severely restrict guns in the national parks, generally requiring that guns be locked or stored in a glove compartment or trunk....


National Park Rangers and Park Advocates Outraged by Votes Allowing Loaded Guns in National Parks (click here)
Statement by Theresa Pierno, Executive Vice President, National Parks Conservation Association:
“We are disappointed in the members of the House and Senate who allowed this amendment to pass, as well as in President Obama. By not taking a stand to prevent this change, they have sacrificed public safety and national park resources in favor of the political agenda of the National Rifle Association. This amendment had no hearing or review, and will increase the risk of poaching, vandalism of historic park treasures, and threats to park visitors and staff.”
“These are special protected places, where millions of American families and international visitors can view magnificent animals and majestic landscapes and experience our nation’s history, including sites where lives were lost to preserve our American ideals.
“The Reagan Administration’s regulation requiring that guns carried into these iconic places be unloaded and put away is a time-tested, limited and reasonable restriction to carry out an important and legitimate goal of protecting and respecting our national parks, monuments and battlefields. It is a tremendously sad day that it has been thrown out by political leaders from whom we expect more.”

Brad Henry would never have to give up his Governorship until he was elected to the Senate.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 10:56 AM
Keating Could Exit ACLI To Seek Senate Seat (click here)
The American Council of Life Insurers could be getting a new leader later this year, depending on whether Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., decides to run for reelection in 2010. The ACLI has quietly launched a search for a possible replacement for its current president and CEO, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, who is seriously considering running for the Senate if Coburn chooses not to seek a second term, according to life insurance industry sources.
Keating, a Republican who served two terms as governor from 1995 to 2003, has a contract with the ACLI that runs to January 2011. He has told leading life insurance executives that he is waiting for Coburn's decision. Coburn has confided to close associates on K Street that he is uncertain about running for reelection; he is expected to make a decision within the next few weeks.

No other thing about Coburn. He doesn't accept large donations from the NRA to his direct campaign funds and accepts thousands into his political action committee, however, that is a convenience for the NRA. For one, Oklahoma already has liberal gun laws, but, in the case of Coburn sponsoring these bills; it appears to be sincere and less a political favor for the NRA. However, Coburn does a good turn for his party by being the sponsor for the NRA while they funnel monies into the party's coffers and the campaigns of his peers.

The Statement by Panetta is obvious. He stated he wants to move away from the past in regard to the 'credibility' of the CIA. Why?

Because there is NOTHING credible about the Bush White House !!!

My, my how convenient to forget all the lies and deceptions and deaths in the face of an illegal and immoral war.

End of discussion !


US House Speaker Pelosi Stands By Statement on CIA Interrogation Briefing (click title to entry - thank you)
By Dan Robinson Capitol Hill
22 May 2009
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she stands by her statement that the CIA misled Congress in a 2002 briefing for key lawmakers on the use of harsh interrogation methods on suspected terrorists....

What Pelosi knew about waterboarding, and when (click here)
2 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accused the CIA and Bush administration of misleading her at a secret 2002 briefing on the use of harsh interrogations in the war on terror.
CIA records suggest that Pelosi, D-Calif., was told at that time that the Bush administration was using waterboarding — a simulated drowning. Pelosi, however, said on May 14 that spy agency officials specifically informed her at that session that the practice was not used.
The CIA's records on the subject are vague. Here is a brief timeline on the conflicting accounts of what Pelosi knew, and when:...

Pakistan (If Pakstan falls, Iran will dominate the region and India will be next. Pakistan is NOT an option.)

I wonder why India gets so nervous about the Iran-Pakistan relationship over the ? Peace Pipeline ? Maybe it is one of those 'dependency' issues as noted between the EU and Russia. I strongly suggest Pakistan AND India find 'alternative' energy sources to FREE their countries from dependency with Iran.

After all, a frequent social malady in India is abuse of women by setting them on fire by 'gas stove' accident. Why would India want to continue with such a form of energy?

Research and Markets: Iran Pakistan Gas Agreement: A Decisive Step for IPI Pipeline Project (click here)
Mon Feb 2, 2009 1:00am EST
DUBLIN, Ireland--(Business Wire)--
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/82b0f2/iran_pakistan_gas) has
announced the addition of GlobalData 's new report "Iran Pakistan Gas Agreement
A Decisive Step for IPI Pipeline Project" to their offering.
The consumption of natural gas in India and Pakistan exceeds domestic
production. In 2006, natural gas production in India was 31.8 Bcm against a
consumption of 39.7 Bcm. Similarly, Pakistan consumed almost the entire 30.7 Bcm
it produced in 2006.
The production of natural gas in both countries fails to meet the demand for
energy and natural gas consumption. India's current demand for natural gas is
69.0% more than its production. The production of natural gas in Pakistan meets
only 39.0% of its energy needs and it would increase to 50.0% by 2010. Iran,
with an estimated 27.5 Trillion Cubic Meter (Tcm) of reserves, has the world's
second largest natural gas reserve....

Pakistan Aid Bill Clears House Committee
By Dan Robinson
Washington
21 May 2009
A U.S. congressional committee has approved legislation that would provide Pakistan with billions of dollars in economic aid over the next five years. VOA's Dan Robinson reports from Capitol Hill, lawmakers on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee supported the need to help Pakistan battle an extremist insurgency, but some voiced concerns about strong conditions in the measure:
The Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act would triple U.S. economic aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion a year until 2013, to help stabilize Pakistan's civilian government, and support national and provincial institutions and strengthen Pakistan's education and judicial systems.
It establishes a Pakistan Democracy and Prosperity Fund for non-military aid, and intensifies a focus on access to education for women and girls in Pakistan.
On the military front, the measure authorizes military aid to bolster the capabilities of Pakistan's army and special forces battling Taliban and other extremist groups. Congress has allocated $400 million as part of a separate 2009 supplemental war funding bill for a new Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund (PCCF).
Democratic committee chairman Howard Berman said the legislation underscores the importance of Pakistan's fight against extremism. "All of us are deeply concerned about the stability and security of that country. We cannot allow al-Qaida or any other terrorist group that threatens sour national security to operate with impunity in the tribal regions of Pakistan, nor can we permit the Pakistani state and its nuclear arsenal to be taken over by the Taliban," he said.
But the measure contains provisions designed to help Congress exert control and see results, a response to what lawmakers see as billions of dollars wasted by Pakistan's government over the past decade.
The U.S. president would have to report on whether Pakistan has demonstrated a sustained commitment to and made progress toward combating terrorist groups, including ending support by any elements in Pakistan's military or intelligence agencies to extremist and terrorist groups.
Pakistan would also have to be shown to have closed terrorist camps in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas [FATA], dismantled terrorist bases in other areas, and strengthened counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-21-voa1.cfm

India doesn't seem to read the bill the same way as Americans do. I don't know what exactly India considers 'extremist' either or what they consider a threat by Pakistan. It would appear work by Secretary Clinton is not finished.

U.S. aid law soft on Pakistan
Washington: A key congressional committee on Thursday approved a law tripling U.S. non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion annually, but went soft on Islamabad dropping all direct references to India on not allowing its soil to be used to plot terror attacks.
Approving for passage the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act, 2009, the House Foreign Affairs Committee replaced the word “India” with “neighbouring countries” with regard to Pakistan not allowing its territory to be used to launch terror attacks.
The original bill, introduced on April 2 by Committee Chairman Howard L Berman, imposed conditions that Pakistan would not let its territory be used for launching terror attacks against India and would not support any group that indulges in terror activities against India. The version of the Berman bill, which was approved by voice vote, replaced “India” with “neighbouring countries,” apparently at the suggestion of the Obama Administration because Pakistan, in particular its Army and the ISI, had raised strong objections to it. Congressional observers said this meant almost the same, but the word “India” had to be deleted because the Obama Administration told the lawmakers that this could be counter-productive to their overall objective for, the Pakistan establishment was allergic to it.
In other tough clauses, the law seeks to bar the Pakistan military or its intelligence agency from supporting any extremist and terrorist group. — PTI

http://www.hindu.com/2009/05/22/stories/2009052258330100.htm


Pakistan: Armed residents fend off Taliban incursion
Security footage shows prison staff didn't act until well after prisoners' convoy of escape vehicles had disappeared
Tribune news services
May 22, 2009
LOS ANGELES ¿ LONDON ¿ - Pakistan
Armed residents fend off Taliban incursion
Armed residents foiled an attempt by Taliban militants to expand their reach in Pakistan's Swat Valley as foreign aid for refugees fleeing an army offensive in the northwestern region passed $200 million, officials said Thursday. The attempted infiltration in Kalam indicated insurgents are feeling pinched by an army offensive and are seeking new shelter, while the local resistance suggested growing public confidence in an anti-Taliban operation supported by the United States.
Above: Internally displaced Pakistanis wait for dinner at the Chota Lahore relief camp Thursday in Swabi, Pakistan. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced amid operations against the Taliban.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-tc-nw-briefs-0521-05221may22,0,233394.story



UN in $543m Pakistan aid appeal
Tens of thousands are housed in camps south of the war zone
The UN has appealed for a total of $543m in humanitarian aid to help more than 1.6 million people displaced by fighting in north-west Pakistan.
The UN said the "extraordinary" exodus had caused "incredible suffering".
Tens of thousands of people are being housed in camps south of the main fighting zone in the Swat valley.
Pakistan's army began an offensive on 2 May against the Taliban after a peace deal broke down and militants began spreading their area of influence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8062846.stm


Pakistan unlikely to win World Cup 2011 battle
By Col (r) Rafi Nasim
Having been associated with cricket for over half a century now, I do not remember a case causing such turmoil in the game and drawing publicity more than the World Cup 2011 fiasco. I remember in early 70’s South Africa was debarred from playing Test cricket for a couple of years but the issue did not affect other cricket playing countries of the world. This was followed by the ‘Kerry Packer’s Circus’ that entangled 55 top cricketers of the world, depriving the parent countries of their services. The problem was amicably solved with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of which I was the chief executive officer, being instrumental in arranging mediation between the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Kerry Packer. The issue, however, acted as a blessing in disguise because it was after this incident that one-day cricket progressed by leaps and bounds.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C20%5Cstory_20-5-2009_pg2_23


5 killed in suicide attack on paramilitary camp in Pak
Islamabad, May 21 (PTI) Five persons were killed and over 20 injured when a suspected suicide bomber targeted a paramilitary camp in Tank district of Pakistan's troubled North West Frontier Province today.
The suspected suicide attacker rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the camp of the Frontier Corps at Jandola Bazar in Tank this evening. Reports said several of the dead were paramilitary personnel.
Several civilians injured in the attack were taken to hospitals in nearby Dera Ghazi Khan and Tank cities.
Several shops and vehicles were destroyed by the blast. Security forces cordoned off the area soon after the attack.
Reports suggested militants might have carried out the attack in retaliation for the operations mounted by security forces against the Taliban in Buner, Dir and Swat districts of the NWFP. PTI

http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/BDBEC9D359FAB7BF652575BD005CB315?OpenDocument


Bipartisan support for president obama’s Afghanistan plan
May 21, 1:57 PM
We often times hear of “bipartisanship, reaching across the aisle, crossing party lines, and [insert generic phrase to indicate our major political parties working together” in the world of Washington. National security seems to be one genre of our national political system in which consensuses are sometimes reached that do indeed include bipartisanship.

Recently, President Obama issued his proposal for conducting U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and House Republicans are on board. Two bills were introduced by the House Republicans and John Boehner (R-West Chester) one of the framers of them had this to say on Wednesday:

http://www.examiner.com/x-11880-Houston-Congressional-Examiner~y2009m5d21-Bipartisan-Support-For-President-Obamas-Afghanistan-Plan


Pakistan denies nuclear expansion
By Syed Shoaib Hasan
BBC News, Islamabad
Pakistan began testing weapons in response to India's nuclear programme
Pakistan has denied that it is expanding its nuclear arsenal after the US said that it has unearthed new evidence that it has done so.
The denial was issued by Pakistan's information minister a week after US Adm Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the disclosure.
The response comes amid fears that the country's nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of the Taleban.
There are also concerns about Islamabad's weak proliferation record.
Pakistan, along with neighbour India, joined the club of declared nuclear weapons states in 1998.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8058401.stm


Panetta: Location of all Pakistan nukes not known
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD Associated Press Writer
Posted: 05/18/2009 02:58:00 PM PDT
Updated: 05/18/2009 05:01:01 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES—Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta said Monday that the U.S. does not know the location of all of Pakistan's nuclear weapons but is confident there are "pretty secure" measures to keep them out of terrorists' hands.
Panetta's comments come just days after the top U.S. military officer told Congress that there is evidence that Pakistan is adding to its nuclear weapons systems and warheads.
Speaking at a downtown forum organized by the Pacific Council on International Policy, Panetta was asked if nuclear weapons in Pakistan are more safely guarded than those in the former Soviet Union.
"Obviously, we do try to understand where all of these are located," the director said. "We don't have, frankly, the intelligence to know where they all are located."
He added that the U.S. is confident that Pakistani government has a "pretty secure approach to try to protect these weapons."

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12397388


India U-13 Thrash Pakistan 5-0
The India U-13 side defeated Pakistan 5-0 at the AFC Under 13 Football Festival in Tehran, Iran on Thursday.
21-May-2009 10:07:36 PM
Indian football Fan, India
Aryaman Sethi scored in a hat-trick in the win and has now taken his tournament tally to six goals.
C.M. Ranjith’s boys earlier defeated Afghanistan 1-0 and Maldives 2-1. They also put up a fighting display in their 1-1 draw against hosts IR Iran.
Earlier on Tuesday the Indian team lost to IR Iran 0-1 and defeated Sri Lanka 3-0.
Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh are the other participating countries. The festival will end on 24th May.
Goal.com India

http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/136/india/2009/05/21/1278766/india-u-13-thrash-pakistan-5-0


Isn't this special. If Iran supplies Pakistan with free electricity it justifies all the more the reason for their nuclear reactor that Isreal has in the sites of its missiles. Looks like some very fancy footwork by Iran.


Iran to supply Pakistan with free electricity
Thu, 21 May 2009 18:27:00 GMT
Iran's ambassador to Pakistan Mashaallah Shakeri
Iran plans to supply Pakistan with 100 megawatt electricity free of charge, says the Iranian Ambassador to Islamabad Mashaallah Shakeri.
“All the groundwork in this connection has been completed and the power supply would start as soon as Pakistan finalizes work on transmission lines,” said Shakeri in a meeting with Pakistani Federal Minister for Communications Arbab Alamgir.
According to the Pakistani Dawn newspaper, Shakeri said his country would transit the electricity to the Gwadar Port to ease Pakistan's growing power crisis.
Iran agreed last year to export 1,100 megawatt of electricity to Pakistan to help it overcome shortages in areas bordering Iran, especially in Gwadar.
Tehran also extended an offer to supply wind turbines to Pakistan, which is facing an electricity shortfall of more than 3,000 megawatt.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95544&sectionid=351020103

Panetta clarifies remarks regarding Pelosi. Oh,...“focus on the past”...is that it.

Basically, the partisanship of the defeated Republican Cabal and all their 'lieutenants' decided 'on their own' to redefine the context of the statements of Panetta and Pelosi. It would appear as though Speaker Pelosi is 'under seige' from still another Republican strategy of Rovian etiology to create still ANOTHER wedge issue. It would seem as though Republican victories such as Lieberman are a popular thing to do and if there is anyway the Rovian Republicans can create 'opportunistic' circumstances they will.

You see. The Republican Cabal at the RNC hopes it can win through defeats of 'stable' Democratic political sectors. So, it doesn't matter 'truth or lie' so long as they can find their way back into the power structure of the USA at every turn.

NO !!!!!!

Siobhan Gorman reports on politics.
Aggressively defending the Central Intelligence Agency against Democratic charges that the CIA misled the Congress, CIA Director Leon Panetta on Monday fired back again at lawmakers on Capitol Hill who “focus on the past” to the distraction of spies on the frontlines.
Underscoring the seriousness of the CIA’s work, Panetta acknowledged that the U.S. doesn’t know where all of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are. He said, however, that he’s sure Pakistan has a “pretty secure approach” to keep the weapons under control.
“Obviously the last thing we want is to have the Taliban have nuclear weapons in Pakistan,” Panetta told a foreign policy group luncheon in Los Angeles. “The last thing we would want is to give al Qaeda that potential.”
Panetta has been engaged in a heated battle with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, over whether the CIA misled her during a 2002 briefing on integrations of detainees. She says she was told the CIA wasn’t using the technique known as waterboarding when had used the technique 83 times by that time.
“We are a nation at war,” Panetta told a foreign policy luncheon in Los Angeles. “We have to confront that realty every day. While it’s important to learn the lessons of the past, we must not do it in a way that compromises our capability to stay focused on the present to stay focused on the future and to stay focused on those things that may threaten the United States of America.”
Panetta, a former congressman from California, said that partisanship in Washington is as bad as he’s seen it in his decades in public office. When politicians “start to use these issues as political clubs to beat up each other with, that’s when we not only pay a price, but this country pays a price.”

He vowed to improve the broken relationship between the CIA and Congress, noting that he plans tomorrow morning to have coffee with a group of lawmakers outside the public spotlight. He said that, “as a creature of Congress” he believes Congress should try to learn the lessons of the past, but not to the point of diverting the attention of CIA officers.
He was introduced by one of Pelosi’s sometimes rivals in the Congress, Rep. Jane Harman, another California Democrat who took Panetta on a tour of area contractors and other facilities, including Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Pelosi passed over Harman for the coveted chairmanship of the House intelligence committee in 2006.
“I applaud some of the tough decisions that he’s making,” Harman said, introducing Panetta as an example of “true California excellence.”

Morning Papers - continued...

The Newark Star Ledger

Bruce Springsteen performs at the Meadowlands Izod Center live blog
by Jay Lustig/The Star-Ledger
Thursday May 21, 2009, 6:12 PM

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2009/05/bruce_springsteen_performs_at.html

National political group airing ads targeting N.J. GOP gov. candidate Chris Christie
by Claire Heininger and Josh Margolin/Statehouse Bureau
Thursday May 21, 2009, 7:14 PM
TRENTON -- The ad wars in the New Jersey governor's race escalated today, as national Democrats launched a television campaign targeting Republican frontrunner Chris Christie just a few weeks before the June 2 GOP primary.
Using a familiar Democratic line of attack against the former U.S. attorney, the anti-Christie ad blasts him for practicing "pay-to-play justice" by awarding lucrative monitoring contracts to his "political allies." It singles out David Kelley, former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, who investigated a stock fraud case involving Christie's brother but did not indict him.
Complete coverage of the New Jersey Governor's Race
Kelley later became one of five attorneys selected by Christie to perform 18 months of oversight of major orthopedic implant companies accused of violating federal anti-kickback laws.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/national_political_group_airin.html



Two men shot by off-duty Newark cop in Linden charged with attempted robbery
by Julie O'Connor/The Star-Ledger
Thursday May 21, 2009, 7:36 PM
LINDEN -- The shooting of two men by an off-duty Newark police officer Monday at a Linden motel was the result of a robbery gone awry, authorities confirmed today.
The shootings happened when Newark officer, Daniel DeAmorin, attempted to enter his room at the Swan Motel on East Edgar Road around 10:40 p.m. when two men approached and attempted to rob him, said Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow. DeAmorin, who was carrying his service weapon, fired several shots at the men, striking them both.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/two_men_shot_by_offduty_newark.html


Gov. Corzine proposes tax amnesty program to balance budget
by Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau
Thursday May 21, 2009, 8:21 PM
TRENTON -- Attention tax cheats: New Jersey is willing to forgive and forget.
Again.
With the recession chewing a gaping hole in tax revenues, New Jersey is one of several states turning to a tax amnesty program to raise extra cash.
The proposal, one of several budget-balancing steps announced by Gov. Jon Corzine last week, would allow deadbeat taxpayers to settle up with the state without paying the usual penalties. Interest charges of 5 percent would still apply for individuals and businesses, officials said.
It's the third time New Jersey is going to the tax amnesty well since 1996.
Corzine is hoping the tried-and-true method -- New Jersey's last two tax amnesties raised a cool half-billion combined -- produces $100 million this spring. He is trying to plug a budget deficit of $3.6 billion for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/gov_corzine_proposes_tax_amnes.html


Essex County to review cases by embattled defense lawyer Paul Bergrin
by Joe Ryan/The Star-Ledger
Thursday May 21, 2009, 8:10 PM
ESSEX -- County Prosecutor Paula Dow said today her office plans to review dozens of cases handled by Paul Bergrin, the prominent defense lawyer who was charged this week with intimidating and plotting to kill witnesses, to determine whether any should be reopened.
Bergrin, who has represented some of Newark's most notorious street gang members, was charged in federal court Wednesday with derailing prosecutions by silencing those scheduled to testify against his clients. According to a 14-count indictment, he tried to arrange the murder one witness, hired a hit man to kill a second and encouraged others to lie to authorities or flee.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/essex_county_to_review_cases_b.html


New Jersey state budget: Billions gone bye-bye
Posted by The Star-Ledger Editorial Board May 21, 2009 5:54AM
Maybe we should hire that guy who announces the Megamillions jackpots for the New York Lottery to keep us updated on our state finances.
"The New Jersey budget gap now totals: Three! Billion! Dollars!
"That's three billion dollars!"
Specifically, tax revenue is running nearly $3 billion behind the estimates Gov. Jon Corzine used in March to devise his budget for the year that begins July 1. Presenting the numbers to the Assembly Budget Committee on Tuesday, David Rosen of the Office of Legislative Services used phrases like "worst ever" and "extraordinarily and unbelievably bad."

http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/


N.J. Assembly Republicans to oppose Gov. Corzine's budget
by The Associated Press
Thursday May 21, 2009, 3:33 PM
Joe Epstein/The Star-LedgerAssembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (26th Dist.) speaks to the Assembly in this 2007 photo.
TRENTON -- New Jersey Assembly Republicans say they will unanimously oppose the state budget unless Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine adjusts the spending plan.
The Republicans, led by Assemblyman Alex DeCroce (R-Morris), want to see restoration of property tax rebates to homeowners and structural changes in the way government operates.
With 32 of 80 Assembly seats held by Republicans, their opposition is largely symbolic.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/nj_assembly_republicans_to_opp.html


Newark Mayor Cory Booker rapidly gains following on Twitter
by Ralph R. Ortega/The Star-Ledger
Thursday May 21, 2009, 7:35 PM
Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerCory Booker, taking advice from celebrity Ashton Kutcher, has exploded on Twitter, attracting about 65,000 followers, making him the most popular New Jersey politician on the social networking site.
NEWARK -- Mayor Cory Booker, a man who tends to go on a bit during speeches, is in the midst of a Twitter explosion.
In recent weeks Booker has dramatically increased the number of messages, or Tweets, he posts through the social networking website -- in some cases sharing his thoughts more than two dozen times a day. That has translated into a legion of new followers who subscribe to the mayor's feed, reading his Tweets on Twitter.com or on cell phones.
Booker has opined on social issues, posted inspirational quotations, touted his beloved city, shouted out to his mom and invited folks to watch the new "Star Trek" movie with him. All of it in 140 characters or fewer.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/newark_mayor_booker_increases.html


Hearing on GOP candidate Chris Christie's involvement in fraud settlement is delayed
by Claire Heininger/The Star-Ledger
Friday May 15, 2009, 6:23 PM
Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie will not be asked to testify at a Congressional hearing before the June 2 Republican primary, officials said today.
Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, said he postponed the hearing -- initially scheduled for next Tuesday -- after Republicans on the committee worried "it might appear to have an effect on or it might be intended to influence the election in New Jersey."

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/hearing_on_gop_candidate_chris.html


N.J. Department of Corrections chief responds to critical report on gangs in prisons
by Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau
Thursday May 21, 2009, 7:23 PM
The Department of Corrections says it is "dealing proactively" with gangs in prisons, part of its response to criticism from the State Commission of Investigation, which released a report Tuesday saying it's too easy for incarcerated gang members to continue criminal activity behind bars.
Corrections Commissioner George Hayman said he welcomed the SCI's involvement in dealing with gangs.
"The challenge of dealing with gangs ... is formidable, and having the responsibility for more than 22,000 inmates, some of whom are gang-affiliated, is a heavy one," Hayman said in a statement. He also said Corrections isn't getting enough credit.
"We continue to house an offender population -- bent toward violence and power struggles -- with a minimum of disturbances," Hayman said.
The SCI had said New Jersey prisons are lucky not to have suffered a "catastrophic incident" due to the influx of gang members. It also said gangs are able to exploit corrupt guards to smuggle in drugs and cell phones, another allegation with which Hayman took issue.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/nj_department_of_corrections_c.html


The New Zealand Herald

Storm-lashed regions get no rain respite
4:00AM Friday May 22, 2009
By Greg Ansley
Gold Coast homeowner Andrew Breadmore was lucky to be out when a 30m gum tree split his home in Nerang. Photo / Gold Coast Bulletin
Violent storms that cut a devastating swathe through southeast Queensland and into New South Wales are expected to dump more rain into swollen rivers and hammer homes, roads and power supplies today.
Powerful winds and high seas are also expected to pound the eastern seaboard down to South Australia, and new fronts began striking Western Australia yesterday with thunderstorms, high winds and flash floods.
But while many Queensland dams reached their highest levels in years and rain soaked into drought-stricken plains, little benefit is expected to flow south into the dehydrated Murray-Darling basin.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573778


US lawmaker offers cash to see Bush waterboarded
9:05AM Friday May 22, 2009
WESTERLY, Rhode Island - A Rhode Island Democratic lawmaker says he'll donate $100 (NZD$164) to charity for every second former President George W. Bush withstands waterboarding.
State Rep. Rod Driver also included former Vice President Dick Cheney and ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in his offer. He sent letters to all three.
Bush's administration allowed the interrogation technique, which simulates drowning, to be used on terror suspects. Driver says that, if Bush is so confident it isn't torture, he should try it for himself. His offer was first reported Thursday in The Westerly Sun.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573859


UN puts security zone idea
6:15AM Friday May 22, 2009
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon recommended yesterday that security zones be established for 12km on both sides of the ceasefire line between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia where military forces and equipment would be banned.
Beyond the security zones, Ban called for "restricted zones" to be established for an additional 12km on each side where heavy military equipment including tanks, missile systems, artillery and mortars of more than 80mm would also be banned.
The only exception would be up to 10 armoured personnel carriers.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573805


Twitter's latest microblogging megastar is a pussy
9:06AM Friday May 22, 2009
Sockington has amassed a half-million strong following on microblogging site Twitter. Photo / twitter.com
Your Views Is Twitter overrated or just misunderstood?
NEW YORK - He's one of the most popular users on Twitter. More than 500,000 follow his growing celebrity, his every adventure and, well, his cat naps.
Meet Sockington. Twitter's latest star is a microblogging cat who regales more than half a million with his musings on meal time, personal hygiene and the view from the top of the stairs.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10573860


UK adventurer adds Everest to achievements
8:49AM Friday May 22, 2009
By Cahal Milmo
Photo / Jim Eagles
Exhausted and fearful for his health, Sir Ranulph Fiennes turned his back on the summit of the world's highest mountain for a second time a year ago and declared: "I won't try Everest again. The first time I got a heart attack. This time, bad timing and weather scuppered my chances. I think any third attempt would be bad luck."
Never one to be restricted by such trifles as fate or his own wellbeing, the 65-year-old explorer and survivor of heart bypass surgery yesterday set aside his vow by trudging for seven hours in oxygen-depleted darkness to finally stand on top of the world.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573853


$6m runaways have head start
Updated 8:47AM Friday May 22, 2009
By Rachel Tiffen
The business shut the day after it received millions. Photo / Alan Gibson
Leo Gao and his business partner, Huan Di Zhang, were struggling.
Staffing at their modest BP Barnetts station on Old Taupo Rd, Rotorua, was at a minimum. Gao's girlfriend, Cara Young, was working for free and had a 7-year-old daughter to think about. The shop's shelves were partly unstocked and it was often closed during business hours.
And the receivers were knocking at the door.
Then - with an apparent slip of a bank employee's finger - their fortunes changed dramatically.
Gao - believed to be originally from China and in his 30s - applied to Westpac bank for a $10,000 overdraft.
Instead, it put $10 million into his account. Now, he is the subject of an international manhunt.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10573818


Angler fined for $10 fish sale
5:00AM Friday May 22, 2009
A New Plymouth man is angry after being prosecuted for selling a mate $10 of gurnard to cover his petrol costs.
Roger Maine's home was raided by Ministry of Fisheries staff who confiscated his dinghy, outboard motor, ute and fishing gear, the Taranaki Daily News reported.
In New Plymouth District Court this week he admitted selling "recreational catch" and was fined $300.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10573825


Students sign up for random drug tests
4:00AM Friday May 22, 2009
Andrew Laxon
One high school had used sniffer dogs, like Murphy, but tried Rubicon because of the counselling links. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Your Views Are we losing the war against the drug P?
Today is the final of a six-part series on the damage methamphetamine is doing to New Zealand and what we can do to fix it.
Students at some Northland schools are signing up for voluntary random drug testing to prove they can stay clean for a year.
Under the Rubicon drug education programme, students who get into trouble for using drugs can sign a contract to attend counselling sessions and stay drug and alcohol-free for 12 months.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10573807


American had a 'vision' that Suu Kyi's life was under threat
8:44AM Friday May 22, 2009
By Peter Popham
John Yettaw. Photo / AP
The american man who swam across Inya Lake to Aung San Suu Kyi's villa earlier this month did so because he had "had a vision" that her life was in danger.
Speaking inside the court in Rangoon's Insein prison yesterday, where the democracy leader Ms Suu Kyi is on trial, John Yettaw told his lawyer to ask a Burmese policeman who was giving evidence at the trial if he remembered the mention of "a vision".

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573851


Indonesia: Military defends planes
7:15AM Friday May 22, 2009
Indonesia's military insisted yesterday that a C-130 Hercules plane that crashed and killed nearly 100 people was in good condition, passing a flight test the day before it nose-dived into a village and erupted in flames.
The accident on Wednesday, during clear weather, has put a spotlight on the country's Air Force.
Survivors said they heard at least two loud explosions and felt the transport plane wobbling from left to right as it plummeted to the ground.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573808


Egyptian tycoon sentenced to hang for singer's murder
8:36AM Friday May 22, 2009
Daniel Howden
Hisham Talaat Moustafa (left) and popular Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim. Photos / AP
A murder mystery that began last year with the discovery of a Lebanese pop star stabbed to death in her Dubai apartment ended in a courtroom in Cairo yesterday with a death sentence for one of Egypt's richest and most influential men.
There was pandemonium in the court when Hisham Talaat Moustafa was sentenced to hang for paying an employee $2m (NZD$3.2m) to murder his estranged lover, Suzanne Tamim. The killer, Muhsin Sukkari, who had worked for Moustafa at one of his hotels, was also sentenced to death.
The uproar that followed the verdict was in keeping with a murder that has gripped the Middle East, sometimes resembling a gaudy Egyptian soap opera. Moustafa's relatives jostled with photographers trying to snap the tycoon seated inside a metal cage in a white jumpsuit.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573850


Gordon Brown retreats on Gurkhas
5:15AM Friday May 22, 2009
Gurkha veterans will win the right to settle in Britain after an embarrassing climb-down by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
The change of heart was forced on the Government by a vigorous campaign led by actress Joanna Lumley and a humiliating Commons defeat on the issue.
Lumley was to discuss the new rules with the Prime Minister at Downing St today.
Ministers had previously refused to allow thousands of Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997 to settle in Britain, claiming it would cost £1.4 billion ($3.6 billion) to give residency rights to all 36,000 Nepalese ex-soldiers.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573804


Tamil civilians face two years in refugee camps
4:00AM Friday May 22, 2009
By Andrew Buncombe
Thousands of Tamil civilians forced from their homes by the conflict in Sri Lanka could be interned in refugee camps for up to two years before they are permitted to return home, authorities in Colombo said.
And in a further revelation that will spark concern among the international community, the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) said it had been forced to suspend its aid supply to the refugees after it was refused access to the camps.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573755


Civilian trial for Guantanamo detainee
4:00AM Friday May 22, 2009
WASHINGTON - A top al Qaeda suspect held at Guantanamo Bay will be sent to New York for trial, an Obama Administration official has said.
Ahmed Ghailani will be the first Guantanamo detainee brought to the United States and the first to face trial in a civilian criminal court - a major step in President Barack Obama's plan to close the detention centre by early next year. It was not immediately clear when the transfer will occur.
Ghailani was indicted in New York for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa - attacks that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573814


Eleven charged in US mafia takedown
10:58AM Friday May 22, 2009
Curt Anderson
MIAMI - An FBI agent posing as a crooked businessman with ties to shady bankers was key to the indictment announced yesterday of 11 people on charges they ran a South Florida racket for New York's Bonanno organised crime family.
The unidentified agent was able to gain the trust of the crew and its leader, Thomas Fiore, by seeming to provide them with access to foreign bank accounts to launder criminal cash as well as help with drug trafficking and sale of stolen goods, according to the indictment.
All the while, the undercover agent wore a hidden recording device that captured their conversations. The FBI also recorded numerous telephone conversations between Fiore, other members of the crew and senior Bonanno bosses.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573895


Tight security as Suu Kyi goes on trial
1:59PM Monday May 18, 2009
A Myanmar anti-government activist dressed as a Myanmar soldier protests outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, and (inset) Aung San Suu Kyi. Photos / AP
YANGON, Myanmar - Riot police behind barbed wire barricades ringed a notorious prison where pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was to go on trial today for allegedly harbouring an American man who swam to her lakeside home.
The tight security came as activist groups, which spearheaded a bloody uprising against Myanmar's military rulers in 2007, called for protest rallies in front of the Insein prison until Suu Kyi is freed.
On the eve of the trial, her defence lawyer said Suu Kyi was innocent of the charges, which could put her into prison for up to five years.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10573049


US demands Myanmar release San Suu Kyi
9:47AM Friday May 15, 2009
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo / AP
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday urged Myanmar to immediately release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, even as Malaysia's foreign minister warned of isolating the military-run country.
Clinton, in tough language, told reporters at the US State Department that she was deeply troubled by Myanmar's decision to charge Suu Kyi for a "baseless crime" against the Nobel Peace laureate, who faces new charges less than two weeks before her house arrest was due to end after an American man swam across a lake and entered her home.
"We oppose the regime's efforts to use this incident as a pretext to place further unjustified restrictions on her," Clinton said.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10572469


Proposed 'poo tax' for island dumping
4:00AM Monday May 18, 2009
By Eloise Gibson
Maori groups oppose the dumping of sewage on Puketutu Island. Photo / Dean Purcell
Auckland's wastewater company is fighting a suggestion it should have to pay a "poo tax" to local iwi for sewage dumped on Puketutu Island.
The Auckland Regional Council and the Manukau City Council are this week considering plans by Watercare Services to drop 4.4 million cubic metres of Auckland's treated sewage on the island over the next 35 years.
The Manukau Harbour island is marked as a wahi tapu (area sacred to Maori) in the Manukau district plan, and many Maori groups oppose putting sewage there.
In a report to the Manukau City Council, planning consultant Barry Kaye said Watercare should be allowed to go ahead, but should pay $2 to a trust set up by local iwi for every cubic metre dumped.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10572954


US bans insecticide from food use
4:00AM Wednesday May 13, 2009
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has banned the use of the insecticide carbofuran on food crops.
The insecticide, sold under the brand name Furadan, has been under EPA review for years. Its granular form was banned in the mid-1990s because it was blamed for killing millions of migratory birds.
International efforts to remove it from sale began in 2006. It was transferred into New Zealand's hazardous substances regulations in that year, but a spokeswoman for the Environmental Risk Management Authority said yesterday there was no record of it being included in any crop pesticides still on sale.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10571966


Anthony Doesburg: Real-life journey to the centre of the earth
3:55AM Monday May 18, 2009
By Anthony Doesburg
New Zealand drilling technologists collecting Antarctic rock samples are having to overcome unique challenges in the name of climate change research.
As if the polar chill isn't enough to contend with, drill crews and scientists also have to drill 1000m or more into the Earth's crust from a moving ice platform.
It's a unique problem. And at this stage, with drilling due to take place during the 2012-13 summer, they haven't yet worked out how to solve it.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10572450


Scientists' race against time to stop frog-killing fungus
4:00AM Thursday May 14, 2009
Workers on the Caribbean island of Montserrat swab a mountain chicken frog for chytrid fungus. Photo / AP
WASHINGTON - Zoos in the United States, Panama and Mexico are deploying researchers in Central America to develop new ways to fight a fungus blamed for wiping out dozens of frog and amphibian species.
The Smithsonian Institution is leading six other zoos and institutes in the Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, which aims to raise US$1.5 million ($2.4 million) to fight the fast-spreading chytrid fungus.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10572126


Talks tackle climate change finds
4:00AM Friday May 15, 2009
New Zealand weather patterns mean the Fox Glacier is still growing despite global warming.
Researchers at a three-day science conference starting in Wellington today are looking at implications of new work on climate change.
More than 150 scientists from around the world will look at past climates in New Zealand, Australia and Antarctica, the causes and effects of climate change specifically in the Southern Hemisphere, and their relationships with global climates.
At the weekend, the scientists will hold workshops on climate in Australasia and the Southern Hemisphere looking at analysis of ice-core, marine and terrestrial records as well as computer modelling of past climates.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10572369


Do you think New Zealanders are being overcharged for electricity?
9:56AM Thursday May 21, 2009
Updated: 11:49AM Friday May 22, 2009
Power generators overcharged customers more than $4 billion over six years by using market dominance, according to a Commerce Commission report due out tomorrow.
The study will find that the country's main electricity generators, state-owned Meridian Energy, Genesis and Mighty River Power and privately owned Contact Energy, effectively used their market power to maximise profits, including withholding power at peak times, The Dominion Post has reported.
However, it was not expected to find their actions were illegal, so no prosecutions were likely.
Do you think New Zealanders are being overcharged for electricity? Here is the latest selection of Your Views:

http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2009/5/21/do-you-think-new-zealanders-are-being-overcharged-electricity/?c_id=466&objectid=10573649

continued...

I thought terrorists couldn't be tried in the USA, yet alone imprisoned here.

Warsame pleads guilty in deal with government (click title to entry - thank you)
by Elizabeth Stawicki, Minnesota Public Radio
May 20, 2009
St. Paul, Minn. — A former Minneapolis man who's been imprisoned for more than five years awaiting trial on terrorism charges has struck a plea deal with the U.S. government.
Mohamed Warsame pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide support to a terrorist organization. In exchange, the government will drop four other charges that include providing support to a terrorist organization and lying to the FBI.
Warsame, a Canadian citizen of Somali descent, lived in Minneapolis as a community college student before he was arrested in 2003. The government later charged him with providing support to al-Qaeda, alleging he took part in military camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan; attended lectures by Osama Bin Laden; taught English to al-Qaeda operatives, and lied to the FBI.
Warsame's lawyers say he's spent more time in prison awaiting trial longer than anyone else in U.S. history -- five and half years, primarily in solitary confinement. Warsame had maintained that he never knowingly attended an al Qaeda training camp but was on a spiritual journey seeking a "utopian" society in Afghanistan.
After court, Warsame's attorney David Thomas said his client pleaded guilty to the one count because it reduced the maximum time he could serve in prison from 30 to 12 1/2 years....

...But the latest snag was a delay by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2007, Judge Jack Tunheim ruled that FBI agents failed to read Warsame his rights during one of his interrogations. As a result, Tunheim said some, but not all, of Warsame's statements to the FBI could not be used against him in court. Federal prosecutors appealed that ruling and the 8th Circuit still has not issued its decision....

Afghanistan. The War We Should Have Fought.

Clinton Says US Losing Media War in Afghanistan, Pakistan (click title to entry - thank you)
By VOA News 20 May 2009
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. is losing the media war in Afghanistan and Pakistan - something she said must be reversed.
She told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Wednesday that militants broadcasting from radio equipment on the backs of pickup trucks are threatening and intimidating people.
She says while they are spreading what she called the "worst kind of disinformation" they have been more effective than the U.S. when it comes to strategic communications.
Secretary Clinton says as a result, the Obama administration is revamping its communications strategy - looking at new ways to directly reach people in areas where militants are active - including on their cell phones.
Clinton says the U.S. must not lose the "information war" in the region, and much do a better job at communicating its values and ideals to Afghans and Pakistanis.
She is seeking $48.6 billion in State Department funding for 2010, a seven percent increase over 2009 funding levels. Clinton also says the State Department will work side-by-side with the Defense Department to promote U.S. interests and security in the region.

Reid named AP news director in Kabul (click here)
6 hours ago
NEW YORK (AP) — Robert H. Reid, The Associated Press bureau chief in Baghdad, has been appointed to a new position heading AP's coverage in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Senior Managing Editor John Daniszewski announced the appointment Thursday.
As news director for Afghanistan and Pakistan and bureau chief in Kabul, Reid will direct coverage of the widening conflict in the two countries where U.S.-supported governments are threatened by resurgent Taliban movements.
"Bob Reid has played a pivotal role in AP's coverage of the war in Afghanistan from the start in 2001 and will return to that story now," said Daniszewski, noting that Reid would be relocating to Afghanistan in a few weeks.
"His experience in Afghanistan dates to the Soviet invasion. He is an outstanding journalist, and as bureau chief and news director he will lead one of the AP's most important multimedia news operations to new heights."
The move marks a buildup of AP's operation in Afghanistan, led since 2006 by chief correspondent Jason Straziuso. In coming weeks, the cooperative will shift more journalists to the area in response to rising news demand. Reid will plan and coordinate coverage, working with Straziuso and Islamabad Chief of Bureau Chris Brummitt....

US Says 9 Militants Killed in Afghanistan (click here)
By VOA News 21 May 2009

The U.S. military said nine suspected militants have been killed in separate operations in southern and central Afghanistan.

It said U.S.-led coalition forces killed two militants and captured six others in a clash Thursday in the southern province of Helmand.

Separately, the military said seven militants were killed during an airstrike that followed a gunbattle in the central province of Ghazni Wednesday. It also said a Taliban commander was detained.

U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered 21,000 additional troops to reinforce the 38,000 U.S. troops already in Afghanistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency is spreading.

Did this, but, no $80 million for the closing of Gitmo. Right. The 'Gitmo thing' is a political volley and nothing else. It has no validity except to create a Rove wedge issue.

Associated Press
US Senate approves $100 billion IMF line of credit (click here)

Associated Press, 05.21.09, 04:59 PM EDT
The Senate approved on Thursday a $100 billion U.S. line of credit to the International Monetary Fund, rejecting an attempt by a conservative senator to remove the commitment from legislation to finance military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By a 64-30 vote, the Senate turned back an amendment by Republican Jim DeMint that would have denied the line of credit the IMF is to use to shore up the ability of countries around the globe to cope with financial crises, along with $8 billion for existing IMF commitments.

We don't belong in Iraq. We never did.

FACTBOX-Military and civilian deaths in Iraq (click title to entry - thank you)
Thu May 21, 2009 11:42am ED
May 21 (Reuters) - Suicide bombers killed at least 22 people, including three U.S. soldiers, in the Iraqi capital and the northern city of Kirkuk on Thursday, officials said.

The soldiers died when a suicide bomber struck at a crowded market in Baghdad's southern district of Doura, making it one of the deadliest incidents in months for U.S. troops as they curtail activities before a withdrawal deadline in 2012.

Following are the latest figures for soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003:

U.S.-LED COALITION FORCES:

United States 4,299

Britain 179

Other nations 139

IRAQIS:Military Between 4,900 and 6,375

#Civilians Between 92,098 and 100,544

*# = Think-tank estimates for military under Saddam Hussein killed during the 2003 war. No reliable official figures have been issued since new security forces were set up in late 2003.

* = From www.iraqbodycount.net

(IBC), run by academics and peace activists, based on reports from at least two media sources. The IBC says on its website the figure underestimates the true number of casualties.The U.S.-led military coalition toll includes casualties from Iraq and the surrounding area where troops are stationed.

(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

Calif. condor deaths shows lead still a problem

In this photo provided by the Ventana Wildlife Society, California condor No. 375 soars over the hills of Big Sur, Calif., after being treated for lead poisoning and re-released on Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Nearly a year after the California Legislature banned lead bullets in counties where California condors fly, lead poisoning appears to have has dropped among the endangered animals but it remains their No. 1 killer.



FILE - This 2003 file photo provided on March 13, 2009 by Pinnacles National Monument shows a California Condor who was brought to the Los Angeles Zoo on Friday, March 13 for treatment of lead poisoning. The bird, number 286, was the old man of the park's California condor restoration program. Hatched in a zoo, he learned to live in the wild, a hopeful sign the majestic birds' population could rise again. But in recent months during a forage for a carcass that took the endangered vulture above Pinnacles' rocky spires and nearby hunting ranches, he got lead poisoning. No. 286 recently died at the Los Angeles Zoo.