Rosa Parks sat down.
That is all she did.
She sat down.
She simply sat in a seat on a pubic bus.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Creating New Habitat As Part of Hazardous Waste Cleanup
Alaska's very bad history with industry that had little regard for the environment and fisheries. This is Asarco Shoreline Remediation .
Morning Papers - concluded
Juneau Empire
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Overcast
-13.0°
Updated Wednesday 02 Nov 8:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH PATCHY FOG AND ISOLATED SHOWERS THROUGH 3 AM.VARIABLE WINDS LESS THAN 10 MPH.
37 °F / 3 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
35 °F / 2 °C
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
34 °F / 1 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the North
Pressure:
29.56 in / 1001 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 1600 ft / 487 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Why is there such an assault on civil rights across the board in this country? The government is dictating religious bias rather than good government. This is an outrage. The people of Alaska pride themselves on environmental protection yet this is front page headlines in Juneau. This needs to be litigated before the courts.
Murkowski moves to kill gay benefits
Governor, GOP senator will try to change Alaska constitution
By ANDREW PETTY
JUNEAU EMPIRE
A long battle is expected in a recent court ruling that requires the state to give certain benefits to public employees with same-sex partners.
Gov. Frank Murkowski and a Republican state senator are vowing to fight Friday's Alaska Supreme Court ruling by changing the state constitution.
Juneau resident Lin Davis, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the response to the ruling is a step back in the struggle to give homosexual partners the same rights as married couples.
"I think it really puts a mirror up to (Murkowski)," Davis said.
Alaska became the 12th state on Friday to offer same-sex benefits to partners of state employees when the court unanimously ruled that denying benefits violated the Alaska Constitution's equal protection clause.
Sen. Fred Dyson of Eagle River and the Department of Law already are drafting an amendment borrowing language from Ohio's constitution.
It says: "No provision of this constitution shall be interpreted or applied so to require the state or its political subdivisions to extend or assign the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities or effects of marriage to any other union, partnership or legal status."
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/110105/sta_20051101002.shtml
My Turn: Kensington Mine needs environmental safeguards
By MELANIE N. BROWN
I was sitting on the beach at Point Bridget on one of those rare fall days when the sun was shining and the view into Berners Bay was spectacular. In this peaceful setting, I reflected on how this all may change when the Kensington Mine goes into full operation. Will I hear the distant rumble of machinery over the lapping of the waves and the call of the ravens? Will the ferry from Cascade Point for the miners disrupt the feeding behavior of the birds and marine mammals in the bay? Will marine transport activities diminish habitat for spawning herring, an important food source for birds and mammals? Three minor spills at the Kensington Mine have been reported to the state of Alaska since July 2005 (Oct. 4 Juneau Empire). With increased mining activity, how many more spills will happen, and how much can the fragile Berner Bay ecosystem take?
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/110105/opi_20051101018.shtml
Three Southeast towns hope ferry route will attract tourists
Group promotes its communities under brand name 'Alaska's Rainforest Islands'
The Associated Press
A ferry slated to begin sailing Southeast Alaska next spring will create a new transportation corridor in an area usually transited only by floatplanes and fishing boats.
But the three small communities connected by the route hope for more than the marine equivalent of a freeway.
Petersburg, Wrangell and Coffman Cove plan to use the ferry Stikine as the center of a new tourism marketing campaign. The Central Southeast Regional Partnership is promoting its communities under the brand name "Alaska's Rainforest Islands."
Petersburg Economic Development Director Eric Phillips said the towns hope to attract visitors by advertising the area's scenery, wildlife, history, and Native culture.
"Between the three communities, we basically have a majority of the top things people come to Alaska to experience," Phillips said.
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/110105/sta_20051101003.shtml
Coastal environmental document gets little comment
Written statements must be submitted to NOAA's Maryland office by Monday
By TONY CARROLL
JUNEAU EMPIRE
Juneau residents had little to say Monday about a draft environmental review of a state plan to change Alaska's coastal management program, but a state official said the changes are by no means "noncontroversial."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration must publish its final environmental impact statement by Jan. 1 or the state will withdraw from the program, said Randy Bates, acting director of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources programming and permitting division. Although NOAA initially declined to approve the state's coastal management plan, the state got approval for its reworked plan in June.
"We're ready to go now," Bates said Monday.
NOAA representatives held a public hearing on the draft EIS in Monday in Juneau. Only one person spoke, representing Oceana, an environmental conservation group that operates its Pacific Region Office in Juneau.
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/110105/sta_20051101011.shtml
Alaska editorial: Take time to get pipeline deal right
This editorial first appeared in the Anchorage Daily News:
Alaskans agree on several things about the proposed North Slope natural gas pipeline. We want jobs, lots of them.
We want to burn the gas in our homes and offices and electrical-generating power plants, which will mean expensive valves and facilities and pipelines along the route so we can take off the gas at our convenience. But who will front the money for construction and guarantee the operating costs?
We want the tax and royalty revenues that will pay for our schools and roads and public services for years to come, so that we can continue to avoid taxing ourselves for all that we want.
… As they tell gamblers, don't bet what you can't afford to lose.
Our elected officials, our political parties and next year's candidates need to be careful: Don't promise us more than the project can afford; don't entice us with gifts you can't deliver; don't set us up for disappointment when the numbers show what isn't possible.
And one other thing: Don't get so eager to make a deal with the North Slope producers that Alaska comes away with less than it should receive.
The natural gas pipeline is a risky (price of steel, construction delays, future gas prices), expensive ($20 billion and rising) and unique (possible state partnership with three multinational corporations) undertaking that could make Alaskans happy for decades to come. Let's think, let's be realistic and let's get it right.
http://juneauempire.com/stories/102805/opi_20051028016.shtml
The Selma Times Journal
Remembering Rosa
By Cassandra Mickens
Tuesday, November 1, 2005 11:56 PM CST
The Selma Times-Journal
A silent but strong woman.
The Rev. Frederick Reese of Ebenezer Baptist Church will forever remember civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks this way.
Reese joined the front line on March 25, 1965, following Bloody Sunday to march from Selma to Montgomery alongside civil rights icons Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,, Coretta Scott King and Ralph Abernathy.
He met Parks when she joined the marchers as they entered Montgomery. Although their meeting was short-lived, Parks left a lasting impression on Reese.
http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/local/news2410.txt
Harvard students on quest to aid Katrina victims
By Cassandra Mickens
Tuesday, November 1, 2005 11:49 AM CST
The Selma Times-Journal
Ten Harvard Law School students could not stand by and watch Alabama residents lose their homes and livelihoods as Hurricane Katrina swept through the Southeast.
"Watching everything that happened on television, the faces I saw looked like myself," student Chaz Ainett said. "Deep down that was the greatest motivation for me coming here."
C.H.A.S.M. Family Resource Center founders, the Rev. Carl Rawls and his wife Marilyn, are playing host and hostess to the students who are passing through Selma to assist hurricane victims throughout southern Alabama.
C.H.A.S.M., which stands for Caring-Helping-Aiding-Supporting-Mentoring, was contacted by Sanetta Ponton, a Harvard Law Student who was angered as she watched the events of Hurricane Katrina unfold.
"We felt helpless," Ponton said. "We were in a unique situation where we wanted to help but didn't know exactly what to do, how we could assist and we could only give the victims so much money."
With no money to travel to Alabama to help hurricane victims, the students received funding from Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan and the campus Black Law Student Association.
"For most of us, the community in Alabama has been particularly devastated and have not received the same amount of attention as New Orleans and Houston," Ponton said. "We felt that our efforts could be very useful here."
http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/articles/2005/11/02/news/local/news2412.txt
The New Zealand Herald
Australia pushes nuclear power
02.11.05 1.00pm
LONDON - Politicians standing in the way of a nuclear power industry are guilty of "environmental vandalism", Australia's environment minister said today.
Senator Ian Campbell is representing Australia at a major environmental summit in London, comprising the G8 nations, burgeoning powers China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa plus other major nations such as Indonesia.
He described it as "a turning point" in environmental history, with nations becoming increasingly urgent in attempts to curtail the starkly-evident acceleration in global warming.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10353211
Microsoft unveils online Windows and Office
02.11.05 1.00pm
SEATTLE - Microsoft has unveiled a new initiative to deliver more of its software's features and services over the internet.
Windows Live and Office Live will give users much of the functionality of the software giant's two most-profitable products, but without the complexity of installing and maintaining the software in computer hard drives, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Ray Ozzie, a longtime software services pioneer who recently joined Microsoft, told reporters in San Francisco.
"Our dream is to deliver a seamless experience where all the technology in your life and business comes together in a way that 'just works' for you," Ozzie said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10353201
Hunt for US weapons dump off NZ coast
02.11.05 1.00pm
New Zealand Government researchers have combed the United States Government national archives for information on chemical weapons dumped off the New Zealand coast.
At the end of World War 2, the US Army secretly dumped millions of kilograms of chemical weapons off New Zealand and a dozen other countries.
The dumpings took place as the US was short of space in home-based munitions depots.
US-made weapons litter 30 sites off New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, the Philippines, Italy, France, India, Pakistan, Japan, Denmark and Norway, a report by the chemical weapon historical research and response team at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, US, said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10353207
Two Koreas to compete as single team at Games
02.11.05 1.00pm
SEOUL - North and South Korea agreed on Tuesday to compete as a single team for the first time at the 2006 Asian Games, and at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, a South Korean official said.
North and South Korea have been bitter ideological - and sporting - rivals for more than 50 years and are gradually building closer relations across the Demilitarised Zone.
"We had discussed making a single team since we jointly marched in such international events six times," Baek Sung-il, a spokesman for South Korea's Olympic Committee, said by telephone from Macau.
"As exchanges between South and North Korea have been progressing, the mood was ripe for reaching such an agreement."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10353221
Charles, Camilla view 9/11 sites in New York
02.11.05 1.00pm
NEW YORK - Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, began an eight-day US trip with a visit to Manhattan's Ground Zero and the dedication of the British Memorial Garden to honor victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
After a private tour of the razed site of the World Trade Center's twin towers, the royals spent 10 minutes of reflection among mementos left to honor those who died at the "family room," reserved for relations of victims of the attacks.
Sixty-seven Britons were killed in the hijacked airplane attacks that brought the twin towers down, killing 2,749 office workers, rescuers and others.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10353217
Zimbabwe rejecting aid for homeless says UN chief
02.11.05 1.00pm
HARARE - President Robert Mugabe's cabinet has rejected United Nations' aid for thousands of Zimbabweans still homeless after a controversial government clean-up campaign earlier this year, a UN statement said.
UN officials have for months been trying to smooth differences with Zimbabwe over a stalled US$30 million ($43.4 million) humanitarian relief programme offered after the government demolished thousands of shacks and "illegal" houses.
In a statement issued in New York and distributed in Harare, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Annan urged Harare to address the needs of those still without homes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10353197
Australia reveals 'specific' terror threat
02.11.05 2.45pm
CANBERRA - Australian Prime Minister John Howard said today he had received intelligence about a "potential terrorist threat".
"The government has received specific intelligence from police information this week which gives cause for serious concern about a potential terrorist threat," Howard told reporters in Canberra.
Howard refused to give details about the nature or location of the threat, but said the government would rush through an amendment to anti-terror laws to enable police to respond.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10353235
Paris youths rampage for fifth night
02.11.05 9.20am
PARIS - French youths rampaged through a Paris suburb for the fifth overnight running, prompting fresh criticism of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's "zero tolerance" policy towards the violence.
Eleven vehicles were burned and a policeman lightly injured in the latest overnight disturbances in the northeastern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where passions were raised a day earlier when a tear gas grenade was fired into a mosque.
The violence began following the death of two teenagers of African origin who were electrocuted last Thursday night while apparently fleeing police.
"It was less serious than the previous nights," said an official at the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture in Bobigny, which oversees Clichy-sous-Bois.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10353184
Paris youths rampage for fifth night
02.11.05 9.20am
PARIS - French youths rampaged through a Paris suburb for the fifth overnight running, prompting fresh criticism of Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's "zero tolerance" policy towards the violence.
Eleven vehicles were burned and a policeman lightly injured in the latest overnight disturbances in the northeastern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where passions were raised a day earlier when a tear gas grenade was fired into a mosque.
The violence began following the death of two teenagers of African origin who were electrocuted last Thursday night while apparently fleeing police.
"It was less serious than the previous nights," said an official at the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture in Bobigny, which oversees Clichy-sous-Bois.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10353184
Mattel rolls out Elmo that 'knows your name'
02.11.05 1.00pm
NEW YORK - This holiday season, the latest toy version of Elmo, the furry red creature based on a "Sesame Street" character, will do much more than sing, dance or giggle when tickled.
This week, Mattel's Fisher-Price unit is undergoing a full rollout to store shelves of its "Knows Your Name Elmo," a doll that can greet a child by name when it is unwrapped this holiday season, even before being taken out of its box.
The new Elmo comes with a CD-ROM and a USB cable that lets parents download personal information about a child - like his or her favorite color or birthday - into the plush doll.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10353186
Giant star of rare brilliance in our sky
02.11.05
By Grant Christie
Buried deep within a rich region of the southern Milky Way lies a monster star of intense interest to astronomers.
Known as Eta Carinae, it first blazed to prominence in the early 1840s when it brightened to become the second brightest star in the sky, outshining even the brilliant Canopus.
Over the period when the Treaty of Waitangi was being signed, Eta Carinae transformed the whole look of the southern sky.
After 1850, this enigmatic star faded steadily and eventually fell below naked-eye visibility. When I began observational astronomy in 1967, Eta Carinae was easily seen with binoculars but has since been steadily brightening until today, when it can again be glimpsed by the unaided eye.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=325&objectid=10353079
US frees 500 prisoners from Abu Ghraib
02.11.05 8.00am
BAGHDAD - Five hundred prisoners walked free from the US military's Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq on Tuesday, released in a goodwill gesture to mark the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The detainees were presented with a Koran and US$25 on their release which marked Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Their release was in addition to 1,000 prisoners set free in October at the start of the month of fasting.
All 1,500, who also received traditional white shirts, were released after their cases went before an Iraqi-led review board and were found not to have committed serious or violent crimes, the US military said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10353171
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Overcast
-13.0°
Updated Wednesday 02 Nov 8:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH PATCHY FOG AND ISOLATED SHOWERS THROUGH 3 AM.VARIABLE WINDS LESS THAN 10 MPH.
37 °F / 3 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
35 °F / 2 °C
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
34 °F / 1 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the North
Pressure:
29.56 in / 1001 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 1600 ft / 487 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 1, the 305th day of 2005.
There are 60 days left in the year.
1512, Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were first exhibited to the public.
1604, William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" was first presented at Whitehall Palace in London.
1765, the Stamp Act went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists.
1870, the United States Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.
1920 Charles Gilpin opens in "Emperor Jones" at Provincetown Playhouse in New York.
1937 Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. succeeds his father and becomes the new senior minister of Abyssinian Baptist Church in NYC.
1944, "Harvey," a comedy by Mary Chase about a man and his friend, an invisible 6-foot-tall rabbit, opened on Broadway.
1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands.
1961 Albany students organized by SNCC, sat down in a white-only waiting room in a bus station to test compliance with the Interstate Commerce Commission ruling barring segregation in interstate bus and train stations.
1973, following the "Saturday Night Massacre," Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork appointed Leon Jaworski to be the new Watergate special prosecutor, succeeding Archibald Cox.
1979, former first lady Mamie Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C., at age 82.
1991 Judge Clarence Thomas formally seated as 106th Associate Justice of U.S. Supreme Court. He replaces Thurgood Marshall who was the first Black Associate Justice
Ten years ago: Bosnia peace talks opened in Dayton, Ohio, with the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia present. The House voted to ban so-called "partial birth" abortions by a vote of 288-139.
Five years ago: Yugoslavia's new democratic government joined the United Nations after eight years of U.N. ostracism under former strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
One year ago: American contract worker Roy Hallums was one of several people kidnapped during an armed assault on the Baghdad compound where he lived; Hallums was rescued by coalition forces on Sept. 7, 2005. A 16-year-old Palestinian laden with explosives blew himself up in an outdoor market in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis. U.N. nuclear agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and called on North Korea to dismantle its weapons program.
Missing in Action
1965 GILLSON PETER R. AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE W/PARKER
1965 KNIGHT BILLY CLIMAX GA 01/27/73 PRG SAYS DIC CACCF=REMAINS RECOVERED TIME OF LOSS 10/22/68
1966 CARPENTER ALLAN R. SPRINGVALE ME 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 WEAVER GEORGE R. JR. LANCASTER PA
1968 KENNEY HARRY J. CINCINNATI OH
1969 ADVENTIO RUDOLPHO ANDRES
1969 BAILEY DANIEL T.
1969 PARTINGTON ROGER D. SPARTA IL
The Gulf News
Mehlis returns to Beirut
Agencies
Beirut:
The UN team investigating the murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri arrived back in Beirut on Tuesday.
Detlev Mehlis, who was heading the inquiry said in his interim report that the plot included Syrian and pro-Syria Lebanese officials and pointed the finger at Damascus for misleading the UN team.
On Monday night The UN Security Council voted unanimously for a resolution demanding Syria cooperate with a UN inquiry into the death of a former Lebanese prime minister or face possible "further action."
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189723
Iran says it launched its first satellite into orbit
AP
Tehran:
Iran said yesterday it has joined the club of countries enjoying space technology after launching its first satellite last week in a joint project with Russia, state-run television reported.
Sina-1 was launched from Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia on Thursday, the report said.
"By placing Iran's Sina-1 (Z-S.4) in its designated orbit, we have practically joined the group of countries enjoying space technology. It was a big achievement," the broadcast quoted Telecom Minister Mohammad Soleimani as saying on his return to Tehran from a four-day visit to Beijing.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189620
Bahrainis to be freed from Guantanamo during Eid
By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A number of Bahrainis detained by US authorities at Guantanamo Bay will be freed during the Eid holidays, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
A ministry spokesman on Sunday evening said that the information had been conveyed by US officials, but no details about the number or names of the detainees were given.
"The release is the outcome of the efforts and contacts by the competent authorities in Bahrain, particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior, based upon the directives of the country's leadership as well as those of the lawyers appointed by the families of the detainees," the spokesman said.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189609
US claims precision strike against Al Qaida hideout
Agencies
Ramadi, Iraq : US planes bombed a house near the Syrian border early Monday in what the military said was a precision strike on an Al Qaida leader.
The jets also used precision-guided munitions to attack a second house suspected of being a base for attacks against American and Iraqi forces, the US command said.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189715
King Abdullah performs umrah
Reuters
Makkah: Jordan's King Abdullah performs umrah with his son Prince Hussain (left) and his wife Queen Rania (right), in Makkah on Sunday.
King Abdullah arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks with Saudi officials to discuss the Iraqi crisis and Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189614
Border guards seize 2 tonnes of hashish
Reuters
Riyadh:
Saudi Arabian border guards seized more than two tonnes of hashish on an island off the kingdom's Gulf coast, Al-Riyadh newspaper said yesterday.
This was one of their largest drug hauls in recent times.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189613
Preacher jailed for inspiring 9/11 bombers rejects killing of innocents
AP
Tangiers: For the first time since his imprisonment two years ago, Morocco's most famous jailed cleric is smiling.
Mohammad Al Fazazi, accused of inspiring the September 11 terrorist attack as well as strikes in Morocco and Spain, was transferred to a studio-like cell with a private kitchen, bathroom and colour TV that allows him to watch his favourite all-news Arab channel, Al Jazeera.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189629
The Miami Herald
Lack of power severely limits elderly in care facilities
BY CHUCK RABIN
crabin@herald.com
Haydee Lezcano is 77, has chronic high blood pressure, and uses an oxygen tank to treat shortness of breath. Her third-floor apartment lost power when Hurricane Wilma hit and is still in the dark.
Unable to make her way down any of the dark staircases at Samari Towers in Hialeah Gardens, Lezcano has not been outside for eight days. One day last week she had to borrow an oxygen tank from a neighbor.
She has been eating and drinking thanks in large part to the Hialeah Gardens government, which has visited every day with food and drink. But her apartment is hot and she says she gets anxious when it gets dark.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13048479.htm
Miami-Dade schools to resume Thursday; Broward out all week
By MATTHEW I. PINZUR and HANNAH SAMPSON
mpinzur@herald.com
School will resume Thursday in Miami-Dade County, but remain closed in Broward through the end of the week, district leaders announced today.
Miami-Dade's 327 schools were repaired and ready by Monday, Superintendent Rudy Crew said, but electricity was restored more slowly than utility officials originally expected.
''The impact is devastating,'' Crew said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13052357.htm
Bottled water from Dania distribution site may be unsafe
By WANDA J. DEMARZO
wdemarzo@herald.com
The state Department of Health is advising residents who received Nirvana water at the Dania Beach distribution site to throw away the one-liter bottles because the water may be unsafe to drink.
Health department officials say the free water, distributed along with free ice from lots 0914 and 0915 at Dania Beach City Hall, 100 W. Dania Beach Blvd., may be unsafe to drink because it contains algae.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13051715.htm
Nearly a half-million homes still powerless in Broward and Miami-Dade
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@herald.com
Restoration efforts are slowing down as crews deal with more complicated problems, but South Florida will soon get a boost as workers move in from the Gulf Coast, Florida Power & Light executives said Tuesday afternoon.
''We're in the tough stage of the restoration,'' said FPL Vice President Geisha Williams at a press conference.
With the fixing of substations and main distribution lines, workers are now focusing on more time-consuming repairs, which involve going into backyards, replacing individual poles and stringing individual lines.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13046267.htm
Boil water order in section of Coral Springs
By WANDA J. DEMARZO
wdemarzo@herald.com
The Broward County Health Department has issued a boil-water order for a portion of Coral Springs.
The order applies to any customer who pays their water bills to the City of Coral Springs and lives in the area bordered by Wiles Road to the north, Royal Palm Boulevard to the south, the Sawgrass Expressway to the west and State Road 7 to the east.
A boil water order remains in effect for the City of Fort Lauderdale, Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Sea Ranch Lakes, Tamarac- east of 31st Avenue only, Wilton Manors, Port Everglades, and the community of Hacienda Village in Davie.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13052155.htm
Homeowners scramble to get tarps on roofs
Fixing roofs became a matter of urgency Monday, as rain clouds gathered and life began to return to normal in South Florida.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD AND WANDA J. DeMARZO
ebolstad@herald.com
Looking anxiously to increasingly cloudy skies, thousands of people across South Florida scrambled Monday to complete makeshift repairs to roofs damaged one week ago by Hurricane Wilma.
By day's end Monday, more than 10,000 people in 10 Florida counties were expected to have applied for temporary roofs through Operation Blue Roof, the program administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. An estimated 2,000 of those homeowners applied Monday, said spokeswoman Nancy Regalado, and the Corps had plans to expand the program to three other counties hit by the storm.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13048537.htm
FPL: Wind felled poles - not rot
Strong winds, not poor maintenance, caused utility poles to break or topple, FPL says.
BY DAVID OVALLE AND JACK DOLAN
jdolan@herald.com
Thousands of utility poles snapped and toppled during Hurricane Wilma because of freakishly strong gusts, not because of poor maintenance, Florida Power & Light officials said Monday.
FPL has examined 900 downed poles since last week's storm and found no evidence that deterioration, substandard materials or failure to anchor them deeply enough contributed to their demise, company officials said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13047908.htm
Pets, owners reunite at shelters
Some lucky pet owners looking for their lost dogs or cats are finding them at South Florida animal shelters.
BY NATALIE P. McNEAL AND ELINOR J. BRECHER
nmcneal@herald.com
The morning after Hurricane Wilma, Melissa DeBooy's mother-in-law allowed her pit bull to use the bathroom in the backyard. That was the last DeBooy saw of her dog until Monday, when she claimed Bambi at the Humane Society of Broward County.
''I'm in shock, I thought that I had lost her,'' DeBooy said. ``God was watching over me.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13047901.htm
The Times Picayune
La. Legislature to look at tax relief, budget cuts
11/1/2005, 3:31 p.m. CT
By MELINDA DESLATTE
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Levee oversight, New Orleans schools and an array of divisive matters that could bog down lawmakers are on the lengthy list of hurricane recovery topics included in a special legislative session called by Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who had initially pegged it for limited emergency needs.
Among the hot-button issues the governor is backing are stronger statewide building codes, a revamp of the New Orleans school system that would take control of the city's failing schools away from the troubled local school board and unified state oversight of the fractured system of levees that protect coastal areas, towns and New Orleans.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1130856842143202.xml&storylist=louisiana
Corps wanted gate instead of levee walls
But local agencies blocked structure
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
By Mark Schleifstein
Staff writer
An Army Corps of Engineers proposal to build a gate across the 17th Street Canal instead of building levee walls along the canal's banks was shot down in 1990 by the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board and the Orleans and Jefferson parish levee boards because of fears the gate could cause flooding from rainwater accompanying a hurricane.
Corps officials still think the proposed structure, known as a "butterfly gate," would have made more sense than building the levee walls that failed and flooded much of the area during Hurricane Katrina, but they agreed to scrap the plan because of the local agencies' concerns, said Al Naomi, corps project manager for the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity levee protection program.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113083204513840.xml
St. John, FEMA choose mobile home sites
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
By Allen Powell II
River Parishes bureau
After nearly a month of discussions, St. John the Baptist Parish officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have agreed on several sites for temporary housing communities for Hurricane Katrina evacuees and industrial workers.
Sites in Reserve, LaPlace and Edgard are being considered for a total of 169 travel trailers and mobile homes, said Natalie Robottom, the parish's chief administrative officer. Previously, the parish declined to release which sites were being considered because all the discussions were preliminary, Robottom said.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113083081113840.xml
Michael Moore Today
November 21, 2005 Issue
Copyright © 2005 The American Conservative
Forging the Case for War
Who was behind the Niger uranium documents?
by Philip Giraldi
From the beginning, there has been little doubt in the intelligence community that the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame was part of a bigger story. That she was exposed in an attempt to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, is clear, but the drive to demonize Wilson cannot reasonably be attributed only to revenge. Rather, her identification likely grew out of an attempt to cover up the forging of documents alleging that Iraq attempted to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.
What took place and why will not be known with any certainty until the details of the Fitzgerald investigation are revealed. (As we go to press, Fitzgerald has made no public statement.) But recent revelations in the Italian press, most notably in the pages of La Repubblica, along with information already on the public record, suggest a plausible scenario for the evolution of Plamegate
http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_11_07/feature.html
Questions About Vietnam War Raised by Controversial NSA Article
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Security Agency has been blocking the release of an article by one of its historians that says intelligence officers falsified documents about a disputed attack that was used to escalate the Vietnam War, according to a researcher who has requested the article.
Matthew Aid, who asked for the article under the Freedom of Information Act last year, said it appears that officers at the NSA made honest mistakes in translating interceptions involving the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. That was a reported North Vietnamese attack on American destroyers that helped lead to President Johnson's escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4744
Trial Could Pit Libby's Interests Against Bush's
By Jim VandeHei and Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post
Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is expected to plead not guilty to charges that he lied and obstructed justice in the CIA leak probe when he is arraigned Thursday, setting the stage for a possible courtroom fight in which Libby's interests could collide with those of the Bush White House, according to several Republican officials.
Libby, who was charged with five felonies, is putting the finishing touches on a new legal and public relations team. It will argue in court and in public that he is guilty of nothing more than having a foggy memory and a hectic schedule, according to people close to him. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court before Judge Reggie B. Walton.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4743
White House Rebuffs Calls for Shakeup
By Terence Hunt / Associated Press
The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way. Bush ignored reporters' questions during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4740
Syria's future in doubt as pressure mounts
By Carol Giacomo / Reuters
By tightening the diplomatic noose around Syria's leadership, the United States is aiming to ensure a weakened, compliant government in Damascus without the use of military force.
The Bush administration, tempered by the Iraq experience, appears to be approaching the conflict over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri with more caution.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4736
Labor Dept. Is Rebuked Over Pact With Wal-Mart
By Steven Greenhouse / The New York Times
The Labor Department's inspector general strongly criticized department officials yesterday for "serious breakdowns" in procedures involving an agreement promising Wal-Mart Stores 15 days' notice before labor investigators would inspect its stores for child labor violations.
The report by the inspector general faulted department officials for making "significant concessions" to Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, without obtaining anything in return. The report also criticized department officials for letting Wal-Mart lawyers write substantial parts of the settlement and for leaving the department's own legal division out of the settlement process.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4745
Guantanamo Desperation Seen in Suicide Attempts
One Incident Was During Lawyer's Visit
By Josh White / Washington Post
Jumah Dossari had to visit the restroom, so the detainee made a quick joke with his American lawyer before military police guards escorted him to a nearby cell with a toilet. The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had taken quite a toll on Dossari over the past four years, but his attorney, who was there to discuss Dossari's federal court case, noted his good spirits and thought nothing of his bathroom break.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4734
Military Faces Parental Counterattack
High School Recruitment, a Longtime Tradition, Raises Worries in Wartime
By Lori Aratani / Washington Post
For as long as Principal Alan Goodwin can recall, military recruiters -- in their crisp, carefully pressed uniforms -- have stopped by Walt Whitman High School to chat with students about the benefits of a career in the armed forces. They set up tables, greeted students with a firm handshake and passed out glossy brochures.
But a visit this fall to the Bethesda school by recruiters had parents firing off frantic missives on the school listserv. They demanded to know exactly what recruiters were doing on campus and why the parents had not been told in advance. Goodwin was puzzled.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4735
Coalition of the Unwilling
Counter-recruiters arm potential GI's with facts about the war in Iraq
by Anya Kamenetz
October 28th, 2005 5:41 PM
One Saturday this summer, Monique Dols, a Columbia University senior and a national leader of the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN), saw again why she has been working so hard to reach potential military recruits. "We were handing out flyers for an event with the brother of a military resister," Dols says of that day in Washington Heights. "Three 16-year-old [ROTC] cadets walked by in full military uniform. We started talking to them, and it turned out they were completely against the war. They had joined because it was an after-school program that provided structure and something for them to do. The priorities of a society that puts millions into military recruitment and continually cuts funding for after-school programs, that's backward, and that's the reality people are responding to."
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0544,kamenetz,69514,15.html
BUSH THE CANDIDATE PROMISED TO UPHOLD THE HONOR AND INTEGRITY AT THE WHITE HOUSE...
"I will swear to uphold the laws of the land. But I will also swear to uphold the honor and the integrity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God," said then-Governor George Bush [CNN, "Inside Politics," 8/11/00]
"Americans are tired of investigations and scandal, and the best way to get rid of them is to elect a new president who will bring a new administration, who will restore honor and dignity to the White House." [Then-Governor George Bush on CNN's "Burden of Proof," 9/15/00]
"Americans want to be assured that the next administration will bring honor and dignity to the White House." [Then-Governor George Bush on CNN's "Capital Gang," 8/13/00]
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/28/11422/749
continued ...
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Tuesday, Nov. 1, the 305th day of 2005.
There are 60 days left in the year.
1512, Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were first exhibited to the public.
1604, William Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" was first presented at Whitehall Palace in London.
1765, the Stamp Act went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists.
1870, the United States Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.
1920 Charles Gilpin opens in "Emperor Jones" at Provincetown Playhouse in New York.
1937 Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. succeeds his father and becomes the new senior minister of Abyssinian Baptist Church in NYC.
1944, "Harvey," a comedy by Mary Chase about a man and his friend, an invisible 6-foot-tall rabbit, opened on Broadway.
1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands.
1961 Albany students organized by SNCC, sat down in a white-only waiting room in a bus station to test compliance with the Interstate Commerce Commission ruling barring segregation in interstate bus and train stations.
1973, following the "Saturday Night Massacre," Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork appointed Leon Jaworski to be the new Watergate special prosecutor, succeeding Archibald Cox.
1979, former first lady Mamie Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C., at age 82.
1991 Judge Clarence Thomas formally seated as 106th Associate Justice of U.S. Supreme Court. He replaces Thurgood Marshall who was the first Black Associate Justice
Ten years ago: Bosnia peace talks opened in Dayton, Ohio, with the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia present. The House voted to ban so-called "partial birth" abortions by a vote of 288-139.
Five years ago: Yugoslavia's new democratic government joined the United Nations after eight years of U.N. ostracism under former strongman Slobodan Milosevic.
One year ago: American contract worker Roy Hallums was one of several people kidnapped during an armed assault on the Baghdad compound where he lived; Hallums was rescued by coalition forces on Sept. 7, 2005. A 16-year-old Palestinian laden with explosives blew himself up in an outdoor market in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis. U.N. nuclear agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei urged Iran to suspend uranium enrichment and called on North Korea to dismantle its weapons program.
Missing in Action
1965 GILLSON PETER R. AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE W/PARKER
1965 KNIGHT BILLY CLIMAX GA 01/27/73 PRG SAYS DIC CACCF=REMAINS RECOVERED TIME OF LOSS 10/22/68
1966 CARPENTER ALLAN R. SPRINGVALE ME 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 WEAVER GEORGE R. JR. LANCASTER PA
1968 KENNEY HARRY J. CINCINNATI OH
1969 ADVENTIO RUDOLPHO ANDRES
1969 BAILEY DANIEL T.
1969 PARTINGTON ROGER D. SPARTA IL
The Gulf News
Mehlis returns to Beirut
Agencies
Beirut:
The UN team investigating the murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri arrived back in Beirut on Tuesday.
Detlev Mehlis, who was heading the inquiry said in his interim report that the plot included Syrian and pro-Syria Lebanese officials and pointed the finger at Damascus for misleading the UN team.
On Monday night The UN Security Council voted unanimously for a resolution demanding Syria cooperate with a UN inquiry into the death of a former Lebanese prime minister or face possible "further action."
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189723
Iran says it launched its first satellite into orbit
AP
Tehran:
Iran said yesterday it has joined the club of countries enjoying space technology after launching its first satellite last week in a joint project with Russia, state-run television reported.
Sina-1 was launched from Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia on Thursday, the report said.
"By placing Iran's Sina-1 (Z-S.4) in its designated orbit, we have practically joined the group of countries enjoying space technology. It was a big achievement," the broadcast quoted Telecom Minister Mohammad Soleimani as saying on his return to Tehran from a four-day visit to Beijing.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189620
Bahrainis to be freed from Guantanamo during Eid
By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A number of Bahrainis detained by US authorities at Guantanamo Bay will be freed during the Eid holidays, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.
A ministry spokesman on Sunday evening said that the information had been conveyed by US officials, but no details about the number or names of the detainees were given.
"The release is the outcome of the efforts and contacts by the competent authorities in Bahrain, particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior, based upon the directives of the country's leadership as well as those of the lawyers appointed by the families of the detainees," the spokesman said.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189609
US claims precision strike against Al Qaida hideout
Agencies
Ramadi, Iraq : US planes bombed a house near the Syrian border early Monday in what the military said was a precision strike on an Al Qaida leader.
The jets also used precision-guided munitions to attack a second house suspected of being a base for attacks against American and Iraqi forces, the US command said.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189715
King Abdullah performs umrah
Reuters
Makkah: Jordan's King Abdullah performs umrah with his son Prince Hussain (left) and his wife Queen Rania (right), in Makkah on Sunday.
King Abdullah arrived in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks with Saudi officials to discuss the Iraqi crisis and Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189614
Border guards seize 2 tonnes of hashish
Reuters
Riyadh:
Saudi Arabian border guards seized more than two tonnes of hashish on an island off the kingdom's Gulf coast, Al-Riyadh newspaper said yesterday.
This was one of their largest drug hauls in recent times.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189613
Preacher jailed for inspiring 9/11 bombers rejects killing of innocents
AP
Tangiers: For the first time since his imprisonment two years ago, Morocco's most famous jailed cleric is smiling.
Mohammad Al Fazazi, accused of inspiring the September 11 terrorist attack as well as strikes in Morocco and Spain, was transferred to a studio-like cell with a private kitchen, bathroom and colour TV that allows him to watch his favourite all-news Arab channel, Al Jazeera.
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=189629
The Miami Herald
Lack of power severely limits elderly in care facilities
BY CHUCK RABIN
crabin@herald.com
Haydee Lezcano is 77, has chronic high blood pressure, and uses an oxygen tank to treat shortness of breath. Her third-floor apartment lost power when Hurricane Wilma hit and is still in the dark.
Unable to make her way down any of the dark staircases at Samari Towers in Hialeah Gardens, Lezcano has not been outside for eight days. One day last week she had to borrow an oxygen tank from a neighbor.
She has been eating and drinking thanks in large part to the Hialeah Gardens government, which has visited every day with food and drink. But her apartment is hot and she says she gets anxious when it gets dark.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13048479.htm
Miami-Dade schools to resume Thursday; Broward out all week
By MATTHEW I. PINZUR and HANNAH SAMPSON
mpinzur@herald.com
School will resume Thursday in Miami-Dade County, but remain closed in Broward through the end of the week, district leaders announced today.
Miami-Dade's 327 schools were repaired and ready by Monday, Superintendent Rudy Crew said, but electricity was restored more slowly than utility officials originally expected.
''The impact is devastating,'' Crew said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13052357.htm
Bottled water from Dania distribution site may be unsafe
By WANDA J. DEMARZO
wdemarzo@herald.com
The state Department of Health is advising residents who received Nirvana water at the Dania Beach distribution site to throw away the one-liter bottles because the water may be unsafe to drink.
Health department officials say the free water, distributed along with free ice from lots 0914 and 0915 at Dania Beach City Hall, 100 W. Dania Beach Blvd., may be unsafe to drink because it contains algae.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13051715.htm
Nearly a half-million homes still powerless in Broward and Miami-Dade
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@herald.com
Restoration efforts are slowing down as crews deal with more complicated problems, but South Florida will soon get a boost as workers move in from the Gulf Coast, Florida Power & Light executives said Tuesday afternoon.
''We're in the tough stage of the restoration,'' said FPL Vice President Geisha Williams at a press conference.
With the fixing of substations and main distribution lines, workers are now focusing on more time-consuming repairs, which involve going into backyards, replacing individual poles and stringing individual lines.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13046267.htm
Boil water order in section of Coral Springs
By WANDA J. DEMARZO
wdemarzo@herald.com
The Broward County Health Department has issued a boil-water order for a portion of Coral Springs.
The order applies to any customer who pays their water bills to the City of Coral Springs and lives in the area bordered by Wiles Road to the north, Royal Palm Boulevard to the south, the Sawgrass Expressway to the west and State Road 7 to the east.
A boil water order remains in effect for the City of Fort Lauderdale, Hillsboro Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Sea Ranch Lakes, Tamarac- east of 31st Avenue only, Wilton Manors, Port Everglades, and the community of Hacienda Village in Davie.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13052155.htm
Homeowners scramble to get tarps on roofs
Fixing roofs became a matter of urgency Monday, as rain clouds gathered and life began to return to normal in South Florida.
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD AND WANDA J. DeMARZO
ebolstad@herald.com
Looking anxiously to increasingly cloudy skies, thousands of people across South Florida scrambled Monday to complete makeshift repairs to roofs damaged one week ago by Hurricane Wilma.
By day's end Monday, more than 10,000 people in 10 Florida counties were expected to have applied for temporary roofs through Operation Blue Roof, the program administered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. An estimated 2,000 of those homeowners applied Monday, said spokeswoman Nancy Regalado, and the Corps had plans to expand the program to three other counties hit by the storm.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13048537.htm
FPL: Wind felled poles - not rot
Strong winds, not poor maintenance, caused utility poles to break or topple, FPL says.
BY DAVID OVALLE AND JACK DOLAN
jdolan@herald.com
Thousands of utility poles snapped and toppled during Hurricane Wilma because of freakishly strong gusts, not because of poor maintenance, Florida Power & Light officials said Monday.
FPL has examined 900 downed poles since last week's storm and found no evidence that deterioration, substandard materials or failure to anchor them deeply enough contributed to their demise, company officials said.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13047908.htm
Pets, owners reunite at shelters
Some lucky pet owners looking for their lost dogs or cats are finding them at South Florida animal shelters.
BY NATALIE P. McNEAL AND ELINOR J. BRECHER
nmcneal@herald.com
The morning after Hurricane Wilma, Melissa DeBooy's mother-in-law allowed her pit bull to use the bathroom in the backyard. That was the last DeBooy saw of her dog until Monday, when she claimed Bambi at the Humane Society of Broward County.
''I'm in shock, I thought that I had lost her,'' DeBooy said. ``God was watching over me.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13047901.htm
The Times Picayune
La. Legislature to look at tax relief, budget cuts
11/1/2005, 3:31 p.m. CT
By MELINDA DESLATTE
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Levee oversight, New Orleans schools and an array of divisive matters that could bog down lawmakers are on the lengthy list of hurricane recovery topics included in a special legislative session called by Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who had initially pegged it for limited emergency needs.
Among the hot-button issues the governor is backing are stronger statewide building codes, a revamp of the New Orleans school system that would take control of the city's failing schools away from the troubled local school board and unified state oversight of the fractured system of levees that protect coastal areas, towns and New Orleans.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1130856842143202.xml&storylist=louisiana
Corps wanted gate instead of levee walls
But local agencies blocked structure
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
By Mark Schleifstein
Staff writer
An Army Corps of Engineers proposal to build a gate across the 17th Street Canal instead of building levee walls along the canal's banks was shot down in 1990 by the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board and the Orleans and Jefferson parish levee boards because of fears the gate could cause flooding from rainwater accompanying a hurricane.
Corps officials still think the proposed structure, known as a "butterfly gate," would have made more sense than building the levee walls that failed and flooded much of the area during Hurricane Katrina, but they agreed to scrap the plan because of the local agencies' concerns, said Al Naomi, corps project manager for the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity levee protection program.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113083204513840.xml
St. John, FEMA choose mobile home sites
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
By Allen Powell II
River Parishes bureau
After nearly a month of discussions, St. John the Baptist Parish officials and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have agreed on several sites for temporary housing communities for Hurricane Katrina evacuees and industrial workers.
Sites in Reserve, LaPlace and Edgard are being considered for a total of 169 travel trailers and mobile homes, said Natalie Robottom, the parish's chief administrative officer. Previously, the parish declined to release which sites were being considered because all the discussions were preliminary, Robottom said.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113083081113840.xml
Michael Moore Today
November 21, 2005 Issue
Copyright © 2005 The American Conservative
Forging the Case for War
Who was behind the Niger uranium documents?
by Philip Giraldi
From the beginning, there has been little doubt in the intelligence community that the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame was part of a bigger story. That she was exposed in an attempt to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, is clear, but the drive to demonize Wilson cannot reasonably be attributed only to revenge. Rather, her identification likely grew out of an attempt to cover up the forging of documents alleging that Iraq attempted to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.
What took place and why will not be known with any certainty until the details of the Fitzgerald investigation are revealed. (As we go to press, Fitzgerald has made no public statement.) But recent revelations in the Italian press, most notably in the pages of La Repubblica, along with information already on the public record, suggest a plausible scenario for the evolution of Plamegate
http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_11_07/feature.html
Questions About Vietnam War Raised by Controversial NSA Article
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Security Agency has been blocking the release of an article by one of its historians that says intelligence officers falsified documents about a disputed attack that was used to escalate the Vietnam War, according to a researcher who has requested the article.
Matthew Aid, who asked for the article under the Freedom of Information Act last year, said it appears that officers at the NSA made honest mistakes in translating interceptions involving the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. That was a reported North Vietnamese attack on American destroyers that helped lead to President Johnson's escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4744
Trial Could Pit Libby's Interests Against Bush's
By Jim VandeHei and Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post
Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is expected to plead not guilty to charges that he lied and obstructed justice in the CIA leak probe when he is arraigned Thursday, setting the stage for a possible courtroom fight in which Libby's interests could collide with those of the Bush White House, according to several Republican officials.
Libby, who was charged with five felonies, is putting the finishing touches on a new legal and public relations team. It will argue in court and in public that he is guilty of nothing more than having a foggy memory and a hectic schedule, according to people close to him. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court before Judge Reggie B. Walton.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4743
White House Rebuffs Calls for Shakeup
By Terence Hunt / Associated Press
The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way. Bush ignored reporters' questions during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4740
Syria's future in doubt as pressure mounts
By Carol Giacomo / Reuters
By tightening the diplomatic noose around Syria's leadership, the United States is aiming to ensure a weakened, compliant government in Damascus without the use of military force.
The Bush administration, tempered by the Iraq experience, appears to be approaching the conflict over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri with more caution.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4736
Labor Dept. Is Rebuked Over Pact With Wal-Mart
By Steven Greenhouse / The New York Times
The Labor Department's inspector general strongly criticized department officials yesterday for "serious breakdowns" in procedures involving an agreement promising Wal-Mart Stores 15 days' notice before labor investigators would inspect its stores for child labor violations.
The report by the inspector general faulted department officials for making "significant concessions" to Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, without obtaining anything in return. The report also criticized department officials for letting Wal-Mart lawyers write substantial parts of the settlement and for leaving the department's own legal division out of the settlement process.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4745
Guantanamo Desperation Seen in Suicide Attempts
One Incident Was During Lawyer's Visit
By Josh White / Washington Post
Jumah Dossari had to visit the restroom, so the detainee made a quick joke with his American lawyer before military police guards escorted him to a nearby cell with a toilet. The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had taken quite a toll on Dossari over the past four years, but his attorney, who was there to discuss Dossari's federal court case, noted his good spirits and thought nothing of his bathroom break.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4734
Military Faces Parental Counterattack
High School Recruitment, a Longtime Tradition, Raises Worries in Wartime
By Lori Aratani / Washington Post
For as long as Principal Alan Goodwin can recall, military recruiters -- in their crisp, carefully pressed uniforms -- have stopped by Walt Whitman High School to chat with students about the benefits of a career in the armed forces. They set up tables, greeted students with a firm handshake and passed out glossy brochures.
But a visit this fall to the Bethesda school by recruiters had parents firing off frantic missives on the school listserv. They demanded to know exactly what recruiters were doing on campus and why the parents had not been told in advance. Goodwin was puzzled.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4735
Coalition of the Unwilling
Counter-recruiters arm potential GI's with facts about the war in Iraq
by Anya Kamenetz
October 28th, 2005 5:41 PM
One Saturday this summer, Monique Dols, a Columbia University senior and a national leader of the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN), saw again why she has been working so hard to reach potential military recruits. "We were handing out flyers for an event with the brother of a military resister," Dols says of that day in Washington Heights. "Three 16-year-old [ROTC] cadets walked by in full military uniform. We started talking to them, and it turned out they were completely against the war. They had joined because it was an after-school program that provided structure and something for them to do. The priorities of a society that puts millions into military recruitment and continually cuts funding for after-school programs, that's backward, and that's the reality people are responding to."
http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0544,kamenetz,69514,15.html
BUSH THE CANDIDATE PROMISED TO UPHOLD THE HONOR AND INTEGRITY AT THE WHITE HOUSE...
"I will swear to uphold the laws of the land. But I will also swear to uphold the honor and the integrity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God," said then-Governor George Bush [CNN, "Inside Politics," 8/11/00]
"Americans are tired of investigations and scandal, and the best way to get rid of them is to elect a new president who will bring a new administration, who will restore honor and dignity to the White House." [Then-Governor George Bush on CNN's "Burden of Proof," 9/15/00]
"Americans want to be assured that the next administration will bring honor and dignity to the White House." [Then-Governor George Bush on CNN's "Capital Gang," 8/13/00]
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/28/11422/749
continued ...
Morning Papers - continued
The Boston Globe
Fed boosts key interest rate to 4 percent
In a file photo Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, seated left, presides over a meeting of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve in Washington Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will be presiding at one of his last meetings when Fed policy-makers gather on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005. It is widely expected that he and his colleagues will do what they have done for the past 11 meetings _ boost a key interest rate by a quarter-point, to 4 percent. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer November 1, 2005
WASHINGTON --The Federal Reserve, still concerned about inflation, raised a key interest rate on Tuesday to the highest level in more than four years and signaled more increases are likely.
The Fed announced it was pushing its target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, to 4 percent from 3.75 percent, where it had been since the Fed's last interest-rate meeting on Sept. 20.
It marked the 12th consecutive quarter-point increase since the Fed began gradually raising rates in June 2004 to make sure that a growing economy did not generate higher inflation.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/11/01/fed_boosts_key_rate_by_quarter_point/
N.J. jury begins deliberating Vioxx case
Defense attorney Diane Sullivan motions to the jury during her closing arguments, Monday, Oct. 31, 2005, in Atlantic City, N.J. Sullivan is representing pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. in a product liability trial over the withdrawn paninkiller Vioxx. (AP Photo/Mary Godleski, pool)
By John Curran, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. --A state court jury in a closely watched Vioxx product liability case began deliberating Tuesday afternoon, capping a seven-week trial in which drug manufacturer Merck & Co. was accused of knowingly misrepresenting the safety risks of its blockbuster arthritis drug.
The six-woman, three-man panel on Tuesday heard the closing argument of a lawyer for an Idaho postal worker blaming Vioxx for his heart attack. Lawyer Chris Seeger called Merck a "monster" and told jurors that their verdict will send a message about what is acceptable when marketing drugs.
The jurors got the case after Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee finished instructing them on the laws at issue in the case of Frederick "Mike" Humeston. Jurors will have hundreds of documents and testimony from 21 witnesses -- enough to fill 5,764 pages of trial transcript -- to consider.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/11/01/lawyer_merck_tried_to_obscure_facts/
Dying whale key in attempt to drown south Ga. marina project
By atgjglbjc November 1, 2005
ATLANTA --Conservation groups are trying to scuttle construction of one of Georgia's biggest marinas by staking their argument on a whale dying off the coast of New England.
The endangered North Atlantic right whale was clipped in March by a yacht off Georgia's coast and has since become a rallying cry for environmental groups opposing the 400-boat marina at Cumberland Harbour. The whale was last seen earlier this fall, apparently near death, off the coast of Cape Cod.
The marina is a short boat ride from Cumberland Island, a federally protected seashore and a favorite breeding ground for the threatened whale species. Only about 350 remain.
"If a 65-foot commercial vessel can harm a right whale, so can a 65-foot recreation vehicle," said Chris DeScherer, senior lawyer at Southern Environmental Law Center.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/01/dying_whale_key_in_attempt_to_drown_south_ga_marina_project/
As student, Alito warned against reading too much into opinions
By Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
NEW HAVEN, Conn. --As a law student 31 years ago, Samuel A. Alito cautioned against trying to glean justices' personal opinions from their decisions.
But now that the 1975 Yale Law School graduate is President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, reporters, congressional aides and interest groups are trying to do just that: sifting through Alito's writings from 15 years on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia in preparation for what's expected to be a contentious court fight.
Alito would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate voice who has been a swing vote on many issues considered by the court. The 55-year-old Alito could be in a position to cast the deciding votes in a range of cases from affirmative action to abortion, campaign finance to the death penalty if he is confirmed by the Senate.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2005/11/01/as_student_alito_warned_against_reading_too_much_into_opinions/
Democrats force closed meeting on Iraq
In this photo provided by ABC News, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., appears for an interview with George Stephanopolous on ABC's "This Week," in Washington, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005. (AP Photo/ABC News, Linda Spillers)
By Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
WASHINGTON --Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that led to the Iraq war and deriding a lack of congressional inquiry.
"I demand on behalf of the America people that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted," Democratic leader Harry Reid said.
Taken by surprise, Republicans derided the move as a political stunt.
"The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," said Majority Leader Bill Frist. "They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas," the Republican leader said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/01/democrats_force_closed_meeting_on_iraq/
Put your 2 cents in: Stamp prices going up
By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
WASHINGTON --A 2-cent boost in the price of a postage stamp was approved Tuesday by the independent Postal Rate Commission.
Under the recommendation, which now goes to the Postal Service's Board of Governors for final action, the cost of a first-class stamp will go from 37 cents to 39 cents and the postcard rate will rise a penny to 24 cents. The Postal Service requested the increase last April. It is expected to go into effect in January.
The increase is needed so the post office can make a $3.1 billion escrow payment required by Congress. A bill that would eliminate that payment and make other changes in postal operations was approved by the House but has not yet passed the Senate. The White House has expressed reservations about the bill.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/01/put_your_2_cents_in_stamp_prices_going_up/
Nightmare of 'loose nukes' still haunts
People walk through a security check point to enter the Kurchatov Institute, Russia's leading nuclear research center, in Moscow, in this May 15, 2002 file photo. Since 1994, Russian work crews and U.S. money _ some $6 billion thus far _ have been hardening walls, installing surveillance cameras and radiation detectors, and otherwise "locking down" 600 tons of Russian bomb-grade material that isn't inside warheads. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, FILE)
By Charles J. Hanley, AP Special Correspondent November 1, 2005
VIENNA, Austria --After years of warnings, hard work and billion-dollar budgets, the "loose nukes" of Russia and other nations are coming under tighter control, and nuclear smuggling cases have fallen sharply, international and U.S. agencies report.
Despite the good news, however, the potential nightmare of nuclear terrorism still haunts those charged with preventing it.
"There's still so much to be done," said Jerry Paul, whose U.S. Energy Department office aims to complete work by late 2008 upgrading security at Russian nuclear sites, two years ahead of the original schedule.
Here in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency says only a dozen incidents of uranium or plutonium trafficking were reported worldwide in 2004, down from an average of about 30 a year in the mid-1990s. Only one reported last year involved bomb-grade material, and that was a minor amount.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/11/01/nightmare_of_loose_nukes_still_haunts/
'Intelligent design' battle goes to polls
By Martha Raffaele, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
DOVER, Pa. --A battle over a policy requiring that ninth-graders in this rural community learn about "intelligent design" in biology class is being fought on two fronts -- one political, one legal.
In a federal courtroom in Harrisburg, 20 miles away, a judge is hearing arguments in the sixth week of a landmark trial over whether the concept can be introduced in public school. The non-jury trial is expected to conclude Nov. 4; it is unclear when the judge will issue a decision.
At the polls in Dover, voters will render their decision Nov. 8 on whether to retain eight of the nine Dover Area School Board members -- all Republicans -- or replace them with a Democratic slate whose platform calls for removing intelligent design from the curriculum.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/11/01/board_member_testifies_in_evolution_case/
Illegal fish threaten Wyo. trout stream
By Ben Neary October 31, 2005
CHEYENNE, Wyo. --Burbot -- an aggressive, eel-like fish that eat young trout -- have been illegally stocked in a reservoir in southwest Wyoming, and officials say they now pose a threat to some of the state's premier trout water in the upper Green River.
Craig Amadio, fisheries biologist for the Green River Region of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said the department found some young burbot, also called ling, in nets it set in Fontenelle Reservoir in late October. He said that while burbot have been found below the reservoir in the past, the dam has kept them from spreading upstream until now.
"Somebody has obviously put burbot upstream of Fontenelle Dam," Amadio said. "It's a pretty selfish action for somebody to take. They wanted fishing for burbot closer to home."
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/10/31/wyoming_trout_threatened_by_illegal_fish/
Great Salt Lake may return to normal level
October 31, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY --The drought-shrunken Great Salt Lake could be back at its typical level in as few as two or three years, experts say.
The U.S. Geological Survey automated gauge has recorded the level at about 4,195.5 feet above sea level for the past three weeks. That translates to a surface area of about 1,000 square miles.
By comparison, the average lake level over the years since Utah was settled is 4,200 feet, at which it covers 1,700 square miles, according to the USGS.
Many Utahns hope the lake will rise soon and "cover up those stinkin' mud flats, so it doesn't create a huge dust storm every time a storm comes through," said Randy Julander, snow survey supervisor for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service in Salt Lake City.
And that may be exactly what will happen, provided the drought does not return.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/10/31/great_salt_lake_may_return_to_normal_level/
The Chicago Sun Times
School drops American Girl show
November 1, 2005
MILWAUKEE -- A Roman Catholic school in suburban Milwaukee is the first nonprofit group in the nation to cancel a coveted American Girl Fashion Show.
It comes after concerns that the doll company behind the show gives money to a national girls organization that accepts abortion and lesbian sexual orientation.
St. Luke School in Brookfield notified its parents through bulletins at masses over the weekend.
"It seemed like a match made in heaven; a motivated Catholic school and an all-American icon," wrote Frank Malloy, St. Luke pastor, in his explanation. "We seemed poised to raise enough funds for a new playground and a remake of the school library."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-girl01.html
White House says no to shakeup, apology
November 1, 2005
BY TERENCE HUNT
WASHINGTON -- The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way.
Bush ignored reporters' questions during a meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-leak01.html
Anti-violence advocates want answers in 2003 slaying
November 1, 2005
BY JOHN O'CONNOR
Advertisement
Click here
SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois State Police officials must explain why they didn't seize guns from an employee who threatened his girlfriend before killing her and himself in 2003, anti-violence advocates said Monday.
If State Police are correct that they were powerless to intervene and take guns away from Donald Dunkirk, they need to ask the Legislature to change the law, one activist said.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that police officials began paperwork to revoke Dunkirk's Firearm Owner's Identification card and confiscate his weapons after suspending him from his maintenance job at the police training academy.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-gun01.html
Martha sought to fire Trump, fly solo on 'Apprentice'
November 1, 2005
Advertisement
Click here
NEW YORK -- Before her version of ''The Apprentice'' began, Martha Stewart thought she was saying ''you're fired'' to Donald Trump.
While ''The Apprentice: Martha Stewart'' hasn't done well in the ratings, Stewart initially had much higher hopes -- even that her NBC show would eclipse Trump's original.
''I thought I was replacing The Donald,'' Stewart says in the Nov. 14 issue of Fortune magazine, on newsstands Nov. 7. ''It was even discussed that I would be firing The Donald on the first show.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-martha01.html
Dawn
Creek Marina. Pakistan has plans. Earthquake buildings are an issue.
http://www.creekmarina.com/
G8, emerging powers meet in London to discuss climate change LONDON, Nov 1 (AFP) The world's emerging economic powers, including China and India, were encouraged Tuesday to join their Group of Eight seniors to develop sustainable clean energy sources in response to climate change. Meeting in London, energy and environment ministers from the G8 leading industrialised nation and from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa sought common ground on the pressing issue. "The focus of our agenda for this meeting is on energy, and on how we can make better use of technology to make the transition to a low-carbon economy," British Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett said.(Posted @ 21:35 PST)
http://www.dawn.com/2005/11/01/welcome.htm
French leaders under fire over riots
Nov 2, 2005
French government leaders came under fire on Wednesday for their handling of unrest in a poor suburb north of Paris, as police braced for further possible violence after five successive nights of clashes.
The main opposition Socialists accused President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of an "inexcusable" silence over the violence, which began after the accidental death by electrocution last Thursday of two teenagers.
But most of their anger was directed toward Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious interior minister and would-be president, whose tough rhetoric on urban crime has aroused charges of pandering to the far right.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/623898
Paris suburb riots continue
2.34PM, Tue Nov 1 2005
French youths have rioted in a Paris suburb for the fifth night running despite calls for calm from Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Eleven vehicles were burned out and a policemen lightly injured in the latest night of violence in the north-eastern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where passions were raised a day earlier when a tear gas grenade was fired into a mosque.
The violence began after two teenagers died last Thursday night when they were electrocuted in an electricity sub station while apparently fleeing police.
An official at the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture in Bobigny said: "It was less serious than the previous nights."
In the nearby area of Montfermeil, two cars were destroyed and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a police garage.
http://www.itn.co.uk/news/554066.html
The Guardian
Sarkozy pledges police crackdown after riots in Paris
· Special units assigned to rundown districts
· 30 held after worst clashes with youths for years
Jon Henley in Paris
Tuesday November 1, 2005
The Guardian
France's interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, yesterday defended his law-and-order tactics and pledged rapid police reinforcements after four nights of rioting in Paris.
Mr Sarkozy, who also promised the parents of two teenagers whose deaths sparked the violence that they would learn "the full truth" about how their sons died, said the situation in some deprived neighbourhoods had been deteriorating "for 30 years" and had to be tackled firmly. More than 30 people were under arrest last night in the rundown northeastern district of Clichy-sous-Bois after some of the most violent clashes between riot police and mainly immigrant youths that the country has seen for some years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1605792,00.html
Tributes paid to July 7 victims
Mark Oliver and agencies
Tuesday November 1, 2005
A memorial service for the victims of the London bombings gets underway in St Paul's Cathedral. Photograph: John D McHugh/AFP/Getty
The Archbishop of Canterbury told a national memorial service for victims of the July 7 bombings today that each of the victims was "unique, precious ... non-replaceable".
Rowan Williams told the service at St Paul's Cathedral that every victim of the attacks in London had "a separate, unique beauty".
The Queen and the prime minister joined relatives of the victims of the attacks, survivors and emergency workers for the 55-minute service.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1606219,00.html
Diwali celebrations defy Delhi bombers
Staff and agencies
Tuesday November 1, 2005
Women light earthen lamps, in Agartala, India, for Diwali, the festival of lights. Photograph: Ramakanta Dey/AP
The sound of firecrackers greeted the dawn in Delhi today as the city began the Hindu festival of Diwali in the wake of bomb attacks at the weekend that killed 59 people.
Defiant shopkeepers decorated their stalls with glowing lights and shiny tinsel to mark the festival of lights - representing the triumph of good over evil - but security was tight as investigators continued their hunt for the bombers.
Police sifted through millions of mobile telephone call records, trying to uncover who had carried out the attacks, and checkpoints were set up around the city.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1606197,00.html
Remote front line in the war on bird flu
In a small laboratory in a Budapest suburb, scientists are developing a vaccine which could prevent a global pandemic
Daniel McLaughlin in Pilisborosjeno
Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer
The road from Budapest meanders through forested hills and quiet villages, before reaching a neat yellow building guarded by an old man in a boiler suit and a barking alsatian. This is the unlikely front line in the global war against bird flu.
At this laboratory, Hungary is leading the fight against the H5N1 virus, which has arrived in Europe after killing dozens of people in Asia, and preparing for deadly future forms of an ever-changing disease that could cause a flu pandemic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1604650,00.html
In deepest space, the earth really mustn't move for you
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer
They should be out-of-this-world experiences. But US experts have warned that sex in space will bring problems not pleasure for men and women heading to the moon and Mars.
A panel of scientists has told Nasa interplanetary passion could cause chaos to its latest plans to send humans on long missions.
Cramped in spaceships for years, surrounded by the starry void, astronauts thoughts are bound to turn to romance, states the report, 'Bioastronautics Roadmap: a risk reduction strategy for human exploration of space'.
The resulting close encounters could have profound consequences, it adds. Without supplies of the necessary precautions, zero-gravity romps could lead to zero-gravity pregnancies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1604708,00.html
Space flight is hell on Earth
A manned flight to Mars means up to three years of discomfort and isolation - how would the cosmonauts cope? Tom Parfitt visits a terrifying simulation
Thursday September 8, 2005
The Guardian
Past a loose pile of broken asphalt, down a weed-choked path behind the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (IMBP) in Moscow lies the hidden jewel in Russia's space programme.
For decades, critics have bemoaned the state of modern space exploration. They rue the fact that since the Apollo moon landings in the late 1960s and early 1970s there has been no attempt at a manned mission beyond Earth's orbit. And the most gung-ho among them have their minds fixed on humans flying to Mars.
Last year, President Bush announced the US would send astronauts back to the moon by 2020, and from there to Mars. Spurred on, this summer the Russians included a groundbreaking experiment in their draft $10bn space programme for the next decade.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1564375,00.html
Bird-like lungs key to size of dinosaurs
Alok Jha
Thursday October 27, 2005
The Guardian
Bird-like lungs could have helped the biggest dinosaurs reach their astonishing size, say scientists.
According to New Scientist, Steve Perry and Jonathan Codd from the University of Bonn said sauropods, which reached 40 metres and weighed 100 tonnes (10 times as much as the largest elephants) sucked in air more efficiently than mammals today. In mammals a diaphragm pumps air through the lungs.
Birds have up to nine extra air sacs to supplement their lungs. And birds' "lung" tissues are only half as thick as those of mammals. It adds up to around 80% greater efficiency.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1601296,00.html
Breathalyser detects traces of explosives
Alok Jha
Thursday October 27, 2005
The Guardian
A device able to detect traces of chemicals found in explosives on the breath of people who have handled them has been developed.
Originally destined for medical diagnosis and already used to detect early-stage lung cancer, the Heartsbreath analyses the volatile organic compounds in a person's breath.
It works because chemicals from explosives can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and are subsequently stored in the body. Michael Phillips at Menssana Research in New Jersey, US, tested people who handled explosives regularly and found they exhaled compounds others did not.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1601324,00.html
The San Francisco Chronicles
SAN FRANCISCO
A not-too-scary Halloween
Crowds in Castro generally are well-behaved
Steve Rubenstein, Leslie Fulbright and Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
There were the typical -- angels, devils, Zorros, pirates and witches. And the San Francisco atypical -- men dressed as Midwestern beauty queens, a corpse bride protesting the governor's special election and an iPod Shuffle that blared thumping house music.
Halloween in the Castro district Monday night was crowded, but orderly and low-key compared with years past. Though thousands of people still attend, the festivities have mellowed considerably, and a rough estimate put only about 15 percent of the attendees in costume.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/01/HALLOWEEN.TMP
Governor raises the specter of taxation
He counters lack of support for his ballot measures
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a new Field Poll showing all of his ballot measures trailing, spent Halloween using a potential tax increase as the bogeyman waiting for Californians if his special election agenda fails at the polls next week.
Schwarzenegger rallied support for his budget-related initiative, Proposition 76, by saying it could be the only to way to avoid raising taxes to pay the state's bills. He made his pitch in a new commercial launched Monday and at a staged Southern California event featuring a Dracula-like character representing the car tax.
Supporters said the governor would continue the tax message through election day as a way to show voters how defeat of his plans to make changes in government could affect them. But Schwarzenegger's opponents called the theme a scare tactic raised by a desperate politician.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/01/FIELD.TMP
Election flummoxes many across state
Californians give mixed reviews to governor, measures
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005
Fillmore, Ventura County -- On a sun-washed park bench in their small town plaza, Frank Cervantez, 56, a retired landscaper, and his buddy, Angel Carrillo, 53, are savoring their special corner of rural California on a spectacular fall day.
But as they tick off concerns about the future here -- growth, traffic and jobs -- Cervantez throws up his hands.
"Why," he asked, "are we having a special election again?"
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/31/MNG28FGN011.DTL
SF State launches investigation into arrest of professor
Monday, October 31, 2005
(10-31) 10:40 PST San Francisco (AP) --
The president of San Francisco State University said an independent commission will investigate alleged racial profiling after the arrest of a black professor on campus.
Antwi Akom, 37, an ethnic studies assistant professor, was arrested on October 25 after he allegedly refused to provide identification to a security guard during a late-night visit to his office. Authorities said Akom instigated a scuffle with university police officers.
Akom was charged with two felony counts of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. One officer was treated for minor injuries at a hospital.
Akom was released on his own recognizance and is expected to return to teaching Tuesday.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/10/31/state/n104048S31.DTL
Cheney Names Two to Fill Libby's Positions
By TERENCE HUNT, Associated Press Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005
(10-31) 15:23 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way. Bush ignored reporters' questions during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
"We don't want to do anything from here that could prejudice the opportunity for there to be a fair and impartial trial," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/10/31/national/w092701S26.DTL
New IED - Armor Piercing.
Seven More U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005
(10-31) 20:00 PST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --
Capping the bloodiest month for American troops since January, the U.S. military reported Monday that seven more U.S. service members were killed — all victims of increasingly sophisticated bombs that have been become the deadliest weapon in the insurgents' arsenal.
Bombs also claimed a toll Monday among civilians in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and the major metropolis of the Shiite-dominated south, which has witnessed less violence than Sunni areas. A large car bomb exploded along a bustling street packed with shops and restaurants as people were enjoying an evening out after the daily Ramadan fast. At least 20 were killed and about 40 wounded, police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/10/31/international/i154922S56.DTL
Chronicle staff photographer Kim Komenich and staff writer Anna Badkhen went on assignment with U.S. Army and Marine units in Iraq in the spring and fall of 2005. The assignment has taken them from the border area near Syria, where U.S. Marines fought for towns controlled by insurgents, to the area around Tikrit, in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," which has long been a hotbed of insurgent activity.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/10/28/iraqgallery.DTL
John Ashcroft's Focus of Homeland Security was based in Anti-Arab profiling.
Sikhs struggle to be accepted
Since 9/11, many have been harassed or threatened
San Jose -- A teenager accosted Sukhdev Singh Bainiwal, 39, at Home Depot, saying he should take his turban back to the desert where he might actually need it.
Another time, a fellow driver swerved toward him, saying "Arab, get out of here." And once, the driver of a car near his rolled down his window to ask if Bainiwal had told his family he loved them that morning.
A member of Santa Clara County's Airport Commission and a software engineer at Sun Microsystems, Bainiwal is a Sikh. He is one of 500,000 in the United States, some 40,000 in the Bay Area alone, according to area Sikh leaders. Like many Sikhs, he has been threatened or harassed repeatedly since Sept. 11, 2001, by people who think he is Muslim and equate that with terrorism.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/31/BAGT3FGDR01.DTL
FINDING MY RELIGION
Neo-pagan witch on celebrating the dead and casting spells
This being Halloween, M. Macha NightMare will dress up with a pointy hat, black clothing and a broomstick. It's mostly for fun, but it's also what people expect from the 62-year-old educator, author and priestess, who also happens to be a witch.
NightMare -- not her given name -- considers herself a Neo-Pagan, an eclectic term describing a diverse cluster of religious movements in the last 100 years or so seeking to resurrect pre-Christian spiritual beliefs, like a reverence for nature and Goddess worship. Some Neo-Pagans are witches, others are Wiccans and still others are both and neither.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/10/31/findrelig.DTL
The Halloween Celebration
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?m=/c/pictures/2005/11/01/mn_halloween_jrs_0152.jpg&f=/c/a/2005/11/01/BAGPUFH6H61.DTL
continued ...
Fed boosts key interest rate to 4 percent
In a file photo Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, seated left, presides over a meeting of the Board of Governors at the Federal Reserve in Washington Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will be presiding at one of his last meetings when Fed policy-makers gather on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005. It is widely expected that he and his colleagues will do what they have done for the past 11 meetings _ boost a key interest rate by a quarter-point, to 4 percent. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer November 1, 2005
WASHINGTON --The Federal Reserve, still concerned about inflation, raised a key interest rate on Tuesday to the highest level in more than four years and signaled more increases are likely.
The Fed announced it was pushing its target for the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, to 4 percent from 3.75 percent, where it had been since the Fed's last interest-rate meeting on Sept. 20.
It marked the 12th consecutive quarter-point increase since the Fed began gradually raising rates in June 2004 to make sure that a growing economy did not generate higher inflation.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/11/01/fed_boosts_key_rate_by_quarter_point/
N.J. jury begins deliberating Vioxx case
Defense attorney Diane Sullivan motions to the jury during her closing arguments, Monday, Oct. 31, 2005, in Atlantic City, N.J. Sullivan is representing pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. in a product liability trial over the withdrawn paninkiller Vioxx. (AP Photo/Mary Godleski, pool)
By John Curran, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. --A state court jury in a closely watched Vioxx product liability case began deliberating Tuesday afternoon, capping a seven-week trial in which drug manufacturer Merck & Co. was accused of knowingly misrepresenting the safety risks of its blockbuster arthritis drug.
The six-woman, three-man panel on Tuesday heard the closing argument of a lawyer for an Idaho postal worker blaming Vioxx for his heart attack. Lawyer Chris Seeger called Merck a "monster" and told jurors that their verdict will send a message about what is acceptable when marketing drugs.
The jurors got the case after Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee finished instructing them on the laws at issue in the case of Frederick "Mike" Humeston. Jurors will have hundreds of documents and testimony from 21 witnesses -- enough to fill 5,764 pages of trial transcript -- to consider.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/11/01/lawyer_merck_tried_to_obscure_facts/
Dying whale key in attempt to drown south Ga. marina project
By atgjglbjc November 1, 2005
ATLANTA --Conservation groups are trying to scuttle construction of one of Georgia's biggest marinas by staking their argument on a whale dying off the coast of New England.
The endangered North Atlantic right whale was clipped in March by a yacht off Georgia's coast and has since become a rallying cry for environmental groups opposing the 400-boat marina at Cumberland Harbour. The whale was last seen earlier this fall, apparently near death, off the coast of Cape Cod.
The marina is a short boat ride from Cumberland Island, a federally protected seashore and a favorite breeding ground for the threatened whale species. Only about 350 remain.
"If a 65-foot commercial vessel can harm a right whale, so can a 65-foot recreation vehicle," said Chris DeScherer, senior lawyer at Southern Environmental Law Center.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/01/dying_whale_key_in_attempt_to_drown_south_ga_marina_project/
As student, Alito warned against reading too much into opinions
By Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
NEW HAVEN, Conn. --As a law student 31 years ago, Samuel A. Alito cautioned against trying to glean justices' personal opinions from their decisions.
But now that the 1975 Yale Law School graduate is President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, reporters, congressional aides and interest groups are trying to do just that: sifting through Alito's writings from 15 years on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia in preparation for what's expected to be a contentious court fight.
Alito would replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a moderate voice who has been a swing vote on many issues considered by the court. The 55-year-old Alito could be in a position to cast the deciding votes in a range of cases from affirmative action to abortion, campaign finance to the death penalty if he is confirmed by the Senate.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2005/11/01/as_student_alito_warned_against_reading_too_much_into_opinions/
Democrats force closed meeting on Iraq
In this photo provided by ABC News, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., appears for an interview with George Stephanopolous on ABC's "This Week," in Washington, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005. (AP Photo/ABC News, Linda Spillers)
By Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
WASHINGTON --Democrats forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session Tuesday, questioning intelligence that led to the Iraq war and deriding a lack of congressional inquiry.
"I demand on behalf of the America people that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted," Democratic leader Harry Reid said.
Taken by surprise, Republicans derided the move as a political stunt.
"The United States Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," said Majority Leader Bill Frist. "They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas," the Republican leader said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/01/democrats_force_closed_meeting_on_iraq/
Put your 2 cents in: Stamp prices going up
By Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
WASHINGTON --A 2-cent boost in the price of a postage stamp was approved Tuesday by the independent Postal Rate Commission.
Under the recommendation, which now goes to the Postal Service's Board of Governors for final action, the cost of a first-class stamp will go from 37 cents to 39 cents and the postcard rate will rise a penny to 24 cents. The Postal Service requested the increase last April. It is expected to go into effect in January.
The increase is needed so the post office can make a $3.1 billion escrow payment required by Congress. A bill that would eliminate that payment and make other changes in postal operations was approved by the House but has not yet passed the Senate. The White House has expressed reservations about the bill.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/01/put_your_2_cents_in_stamp_prices_going_up/
Nightmare of 'loose nukes' still haunts
People walk through a security check point to enter the Kurchatov Institute, Russia's leading nuclear research center, in Moscow, in this May 15, 2002 file photo. Since 1994, Russian work crews and U.S. money _ some $6 billion thus far _ have been hardening walls, installing surveillance cameras and radiation detectors, and otherwise "locking down" 600 tons of Russian bomb-grade material that isn't inside warheads. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel, FILE)
By Charles J. Hanley, AP Special Correspondent November 1, 2005
VIENNA, Austria --After years of warnings, hard work and billion-dollar budgets, the "loose nukes" of Russia and other nations are coming under tighter control, and nuclear smuggling cases have fallen sharply, international and U.S. agencies report.
Despite the good news, however, the potential nightmare of nuclear terrorism still haunts those charged with preventing it.
"There's still so much to be done," said Jerry Paul, whose U.S. Energy Department office aims to complete work by late 2008 upgrading security at Russian nuclear sites, two years ahead of the original schedule.
Here in Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency says only a dozen incidents of uranium or plutonium trafficking were reported worldwide in 2004, down from an average of about 30 a year in the mid-1990s. Only one reported last year involved bomb-grade material, and that was a minor amount.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/11/01/nightmare_of_loose_nukes_still_haunts/
'Intelligent design' battle goes to polls
By Martha Raffaele, Associated Press Writer November 1, 2005
DOVER, Pa. --A battle over a policy requiring that ninth-graders in this rural community learn about "intelligent design" in biology class is being fought on two fronts -- one political, one legal.
In a federal courtroom in Harrisburg, 20 miles away, a judge is hearing arguments in the sixth week of a landmark trial over whether the concept can be introduced in public school. The non-jury trial is expected to conclude Nov. 4; it is unclear when the judge will issue a decision.
At the polls in Dover, voters will render their decision Nov. 8 on whether to retain eight of the nine Dover Area School Board members -- all Republicans -- or replace them with a Democratic slate whose platform calls for removing intelligent design from the curriculum.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/11/01/board_member_testifies_in_evolution_case/
Illegal fish threaten Wyo. trout stream
By Ben Neary October 31, 2005
CHEYENNE, Wyo. --Burbot -- an aggressive, eel-like fish that eat young trout -- have been illegally stocked in a reservoir in southwest Wyoming, and officials say they now pose a threat to some of the state's premier trout water in the upper Green River.
Craig Amadio, fisheries biologist for the Green River Region of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said the department found some young burbot, also called ling, in nets it set in Fontenelle Reservoir in late October. He said that while burbot have been found below the reservoir in the past, the dam has kept them from spreading upstream until now.
"Somebody has obviously put burbot upstream of Fontenelle Dam," Amadio said. "It's a pretty selfish action for somebody to take. They wanted fishing for burbot closer to home."
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/10/31/wyoming_trout_threatened_by_illegal_fish/
Great Salt Lake may return to normal level
October 31, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY --The drought-shrunken Great Salt Lake could be back at its typical level in as few as two or three years, experts say.
The U.S. Geological Survey automated gauge has recorded the level at about 4,195.5 feet above sea level for the past three weeks. That translates to a surface area of about 1,000 square miles.
By comparison, the average lake level over the years since Utah was settled is 4,200 feet, at which it covers 1,700 square miles, according to the USGS.
Many Utahns hope the lake will rise soon and "cover up those stinkin' mud flats, so it doesn't create a huge dust storm every time a storm comes through," said Randy Julander, snow survey supervisor for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service in Salt Lake City.
And that may be exactly what will happen, provided the drought does not return.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/10/31/great_salt_lake_may_return_to_normal_level/
The Chicago Sun Times
School drops American Girl show
November 1, 2005
MILWAUKEE -- A Roman Catholic school in suburban Milwaukee is the first nonprofit group in the nation to cancel a coveted American Girl Fashion Show.
It comes after concerns that the doll company behind the show gives money to a national girls organization that accepts abortion and lesbian sexual orientation.
St. Luke School in Brookfield notified its parents through bulletins at masses over the weekend.
"It seemed like a match made in heaven; a motivated Catholic school and an all-American icon," wrote Frank Malloy, St. Luke pastor, in his explanation. "We seemed poised to raise enough funds for a new playground and a remake of the school library."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-girl01.html
White House says no to shakeup, apology
November 1, 2005
BY TERENCE HUNT
WASHINGTON -- The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way.
Bush ignored reporters' questions during a meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-leak01.html
Anti-violence advocates want answers in 2003 slaying
November 1, 2005
BY JOHN O'CONNOR
Advertisement
Click here
SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois State Police officials must explain why they didn't seize guns from an employee who threatened his girlfriend before killing her and himself in 2003, anti-violence advocates said Monday.
If State Police are correct that they were powerless to intervene and take guns away from Donald Dunkirk, they need to ask the Legislature to change the law, one activist said.
The Associated Press reported Sunday that police officials began paperwork to revoke Dunkirk's Firearm Owner's Identification card and confiscate his weapons after suspending him from his maintenance job at the police training academy.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-gun01.html
Martha sought to fire Trump, fly solo on 'Apprentice'
November 1, 2005
Advertisement
Click here
NEW YORK -- Before her version of ''The Apprentice'' began, Martha Stewart thought she was saying ''you're fired'' to Donald Trump.
While ''The Apprentice: Martha Stewart'' hasn't done well in the ratings, Stewart initially had much higher hopes -- even that her NBC show would eclipse Trump's original.
''I thought I was replacing The Donald,'' Stewart says in the Nov. 14 issue of Fortune magazine, on newsstands Nov. 7. ''It was even discussed that I would be firing The Donald on the first show.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-martha01.html
Dawn
Creek Marina. Pakistan has plans. Earthquake buildings are an issue.
http://www.creekmarina.com/
G8, emerging powers meet in London to discuss climate change LONDON, Nov 1 (AFP) The world's emerging economic powers, including China and India, were encouraged Tuesday to join their Group of Eight seniors to develop sustainable clean energy sources in response to climate change. Meeting in London, energy and environment ministers from the G8 leading industrialised nation and from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and South Africa sought common ground on the pressing issue. "The focus of our agenda for this meeting is on energy, and on how we can make better use of technology to make the transition to a low-carbon economy," British Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett said.(Posted @ 21:35 PST)
http://www.dawn.com/2005/11/01/welcome.htm
French leaders under fire over riots
Nov 2, 2005
French government leaders came under fire on Wednesday for their handling of unrest in a poor suburb north of Paris, as police braced for further possible violence after five successive nights of clashes.
The main opposition Socialists accused President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of an "inexcusable" silence over the violence, which began after the accidental death by electrocution last Thursday of two teenagers.
But most of their anger was directed toward Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious interior minister and would-be president, whose tough rhetoric on urban crime has aroused charges of pandering to the far right.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/623898
Paris suburb riots continue
2.34PM, Tue Nov 1 2005
French youths have rioted in a Paris suburb for the fifth night running despite calls for calm from Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
Eleven vehicles were burned out and a policemen lightly injured in the latest night of violence in the north-eastern Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois, where passions were raised a day earlier when a tear gas grenade was fired into a mosque.
The violence began after two teenagers died last Thursday night when they were electrocuted in an electricity sub station while apparently fleeing police.
An official at the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture in Bobigny said: "It was less serious than the previous nights."
In the nearby area of Montfermeil, two cars were destroyed and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a police garage.
http://www.itn.co.uk/news/554066.html
The Guardian
Sarkozy pledges police crackdown after riots in Paris
· Special units assigned to rundown districts
· 30 held after worst clashes with youths for years
Jon Henley in Paris
Tuesday November 1, 2005
The Guardian
France's interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, yesterday defended his law-and-order tactics and pledged rapid police reinforcements after four nights of rioting in Paris.
Mr Sarkozy, who also promised the parents of two teenagers whose deaths sparked the violence that they would learn "the full truth" about how their sons died, said the situation in some deprived neighbourhoods had been deteriorating "for 30 years" and had to be tackled firmly. More than 30 people were under arrest last night in the rundown northeastern district of Clichy-sous-Bois after some of the most violent clashes between riot police and mainly immigrant youths that the country has seen for some years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1605792,00.html
Tributes paid to July 7 victims
Mark Oliver and agencies
Tuesday November 1, 2005
A memorial service for the victims of the London bombings gets underway in St Paul's Cathedral. Photograph: John D McHugh/AFP/Getty
The Archbishop of Canterbury told a national memorial service for victims of the July 7 bombings today that each of the victims was "unique, precious ... non-replaceable".
Rowan Williams told the service at St Paul's Cathedral that every victim of the attacks in London had "a separate, unique beauty".
The Queen and the prime minister joined relatives of the victims of the attacks, survivors and emergency workers for the 55-minute service.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1606219,00.html
Diwali celebrations defy Delhi bombers
Staff and agencies
Tuesday November 1, 2005
Women light earthen lamps, in Agartala, India, for Diwali, the festival of lights. Photograph: Ramakanta Dey/AP
The sound of firecrackers greeted the dawn in Delhi today as the city began the Hindu festival of Diwali in the wake of bomb attacks at the weekend that killed 59 people.
Defiant shopkeepers decorated their stalls with glowing lights and shiny tinsel to mark the festival of lights - representing the triumph of good over evil - but security was tight as investigators continued their hunt for the bombers.
Police sifted through millions of mobile telephone call records, trying to uncover who had carried out the attacks, and checkpoints were set up around the city.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1606197,00.html
Remote front line in the war on bird flu
In a small laboratory in a Budapest suburb, scientists are developing a vaccine which could prevent a global pandemic
Daniel McLaughlin in Pilisborosjeno
Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer
The road from Budapest meanders through forested hills and quiet villages, before reaching a neat yellow building guarded by an old man in a boiler suit and a barking alsatian. This is the unlikely front line in the global war against bird flu.
At this laboratory, Hungary is leading the fight against the H5N1 virus, which has arrived in Europe after killing dozens of people in Asia, and preparing for deadly future forms of an ever-changing disease that could cause a flu pandemic.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1604650,00.html
In deepest space, the earth really mustn't move for you
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer
They should be out-of-this-world experiences. But US experts have warned that sex in space will bring problems not pleasure for men and women heading to the moon and Mars.
A panel of scientists has told Nasa interplanetary passion could cause chaos to its latest plans to send humans on long missions.
Cramped in spaceships for years, surrounded by the starry void, astronauts thoughts are bound to turn to romance, states the report, 'Bioastronautics Roadmap: a risk reduction strategy for human exploration of space'.
The resulting close encounters could have profound consequences, it adds. Without supplies of the necessary precautions, zero-gravity romps could lead to zero-gravity pregnancies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1604708,00.html
Space flight is hell on Earth
A manned flight to Mars means up to three years of discomfort and isolation - how would the cosmonauts cope? Tom Parfitt visits a terrifying simulation
Thursday September 8, 2005
The Guardian
Past a loose pile of broken asphalt, down a weed-choked path behind the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems (IMBP) in Moscow lies the hidden jewel in Russia's space programme.
For decades, critics have bemoaned the state of modern space exploration. They rue the fact that since the Apollo moon landings in the late 1960s and early 1970s there has been no attempt at a manned mission beyond Earth's orbit. And the most gung-ho among them have their minds fixed on humans flying to Mars.
Last year, President Bush announced the US would send astronauts back to the moon by 2020, and from there to Mars. Spurred on, this summer the Russians included a groundbreaking experiment in their draft $10bn space programme for the next decade.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1564375,00.html
Bird-like lungs key to size of dinosaurs
Alok Jha
Thursday October 27, 2005
The Guardian
Bird-like lungs could have helped the biggest dinosaurs reach their astonishing size, say scientists.
According to New Scientist, Steve Perry and Jonathan Codd from the University of Bonn said sauropods, which reached 40 metres and weighed 100 tonnes (10 times as much as the largest elephants) sucked in air more efficiently than mammals today. In mammals a diaphragm pumps air through the lungs.
Birds have up to nine extra air sacs to supplement their lungs. And birds' "lung" tissues are only half as thick as those of mammals. It adds up to around 80% greater efficiency.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1601296,00.html
Breathalyser detects traces of explosives
Alok Jha
Thursday October 27, 2005
The Guardian
A device able to detect traces of chemicals found in explosives on the breath of people who have handled them has been developed.
Originally destined for medical diagnosis and already used to detect early-stage lung cancer, the Heartsbreath analyses the volatile organic compounds in a person's breath.
It works because chemicals from explosives can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin, and are subsequently stored in the body. Michael Phillips at Menssana Research in New Jersey, US, tested people who handled explosives regularly and found they exhaled compounds others did not.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1601324,00.html
The San Francisco Chronicles
SAN FRANCISCO
A not-too-scary Halloween
Crowds in Castro generally are well-behaved
Steve Rubenstein, Leslie Fulbright and Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
There were the typical -- angels, devils, Zorros, pirates and witches. And the San Francisco atypical -- men dressed as Midwestern beauty queens, a corpse bride protesting the governor's special election and an iPod Shuffle that blared thumping house music.
Halloween in the Castro district Monday night was crowded, but orderly and low-key compared with years past. Though thousands of people still attend, the festivities have mellowed considerably, and a rough estimate put only about 15 percent of the attendees in costume.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/01/HALLOWEEN.TMP
Governor raises the specter of taxation
He counters lack of support for his ballot measures
Mark Martin, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a new Field Poll showing all of his ballot measures trailing, spent Halloween using a potential tax increase as the bogeyman waiting for Californians if his special election agenda fails at the polls next week.
Schwarzenegger rallied support for his budget-related initiative, Proposition 76, by saying it could be the only to way to avoid raising taxes to pay the state's bills. He made his pitch in a new commercial launched Monday and at a staged Southern California event featuring a Dracula-like character representing the car tax.
Supporters said the governor would continue the tax message through election day as a way to show voters how defeat of his plans to make changes in government could affect them. But Schwarzenegger's opponents called the theme a scare tactic raised by a desperate politician.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/01/FIELD.TMP
Election flummoxes many across state
Californians give mixed reviews to governor, measures
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005
Fillmore, Ventura County -- On a sun-washed park bench in their small town plaza, Frank Cervantez, 56, a retired landscaper, and his buddy, Angel Carrillo, 53, are savoring their special corner of rural California on a spectacular fall day.
But as they tick off concerns about the future here -- growth, traffic and jobs -- Cervantez throws up his hands.
"Why," he asked, "are we having a special election again?"
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/31/MNG28FGN011.DTL
SF State launches investigation into arrest of professor
Monday, October 31, 2005
(10-31) 10:40 PST San Francisco (AP) --
The president of San Francisco State University said an independent commission will investigate alleged racial profiling after the arrest of a black professor on campus.
Antwi Akom, 37, an ethnic studies assistant professor, was arrested on October 25 after he allegedly refused to provide identification to a security guard during a late-night visit to his office. Authorities said Akom instigated a scuffle with university police officers.
Akom was charged with two felony counts of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. One officer was treated for minor injuries at a hospital.
Akom was released on his own recognizance and is expected to return to teaching Tuesday.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/10/31/state/n104048S31.DTL
Cheney Names Two to Fill Libby's Positions
By TERENCE HUNT, Associated Press Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005
(10-31) 15:23 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way. Bush ignored reporters' questions during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
"We don't want to do anything from here that could prejudice the opportunity for there to be a fair and impartial trial," presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/10/31/national/w092701S26.DTL
New IED - Armor Piercing.
Seven More U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005
(10-31) 20:00 PST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --
Capping the bloodiest month for American troops since January, the U.S. military reported Monday that seven more U.S. service members were killed — all victims of increasingly sophisticated bombs that have been become the deadliest weapon in the insurgents' arsenal.
Bombs also claimed a toll Monday among civilians in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and the major metropolis of the Shiite-dominated south, which has witnessed less violence than Sunni areas. A large car bomb exploded along a bustling street packed with shops and restaurants as people were enjoying an evening out after the daily Ramadan fast. At least 20 were killed and about 40 wounded, police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/10/31/international/i154922S56.DTL
Chronicle staff photographer Kim Komenich and staff writer Anna Badkhen went on assignment with U.S. Army and Marine units in Iraq in the spring and fall of 2005. The assignment has taken them from the border area near Syria, where U.S. Marines fought for towns controlled by insurgents, to the area around Tikrit, in the so-called "Sunni Triangle," which has long been a hotbed of insurgent activity.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/10/28/iraqgallery.DTL
John Ashcroft's Focus of Homeland Security was based in Anti-Arab profiling.
Sikhs struggle to be accepted
Since 9/11, many have been harassed or threatened
San Jose -- A teenager accosted Sukhdev Singh Bainiwal, 39, at Home Depot, saying he should take his turban back to the desert where he might actually need it.
Another time, a fellow driver swerved toward him, saying "Arab, get out of here." And once, the driver of a car near his rolled down his window to ask if Bainiwal had told his family he loved them that morning.
A member of Santa Clara County's Airport Commission and a software engineer at Sun Microsystems, Bainiwal is a Sikh. He is one of 500,000 in the United States, some 40,000 in the Bay Area alone, according to area Sikh leaders. Like many Sikhs, he has been threatened or harassed repeatedly since Sept. 11, 2001, by people who think he is Muslim and equate that with terrorism.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/31/BAGT3FGDR01.DTL
FINDING MY RELIGION
Neo-pagan witch on celebrating the dead and casting spells
This being Halloween, M. Macha NightMare will dress up with a pointy hat, black clothing and a broomstick. It's mostly for fun, but it's also what people expect from the 62-year-old educator, author and priestess, who also happens to be a witch.
NightMare -- not her given name -- considers herself a Neo-Pagan, an eclectic term describing a diverse cluster of religious movements in the last 100 years or so seeking to resurrect pre-Christian spiritual beliefs, like a reverence for nature and Goddess worship. Some Neo-Pagans are witches, others are Wiccans and still others are both and neither.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/10/31/findrelig.DTL
The Halloween Celebration
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?m=/c/pictures/2005/11/01/mn_halloween_jrs_0152.jpg&f=/c/a/2005/11/01/BAGPUFH6H61.DTL
continued ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)