Nice V for Victory sign there, Al. Now. Live up to it.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Morning Papers - continued...
Michael Moore Today
"We already have many volunteers ready and raring to go start the petition process..."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
October 7th, 2007 11:02 pm
DC Draft Gore Prepared to put Al Gore on Primary Ballot
DC Draft Gore
Organizers of DC Draft Gore have decided to continue the nationwide trend and will gather the necessary signatures to place former Vice-President Al Gore on the district's primary ballot next year. In addition to the 1,000 signatures that must be collected from registered Democratic Party voters, Al Gore must submit a candidate affidavit. "We already have many volunteers ready and raring to go start the petition process once the proper forms become available on October 12th," said James Skoufis, one of the drive's organizers.
The District of Columbia would only be the most recent of many efforts nationwide to put the Oscar, Emmy, and perhaps soon-to-be Nobel Peace Prize winning statesman on their primary ballot. Michigan, California, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois, Washington, among other states already have petition drives underway. "He was the first major American politician to oppose the Iraq War, he has single-handedly made climate change a global priority, and, lets face it, has already won a presidential election before," says Nelson Jacobson, the group's founder.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10370
"(Gore's) Nashville office didn't return several phone calls and e-mails seeking comment for this story."
-- Newsweek
October 8th, 2007 3:40 pm
A Nobel Candidate
Thousands of activists are hoping to convince Al Gore to run for president. Could a Nobel Peace Prize give the reluctant candidate a push?
By Jamie Reno / Newsweek
Oct. 8, 2007 - Al Gore is not running for president. But might the publicity and sheen of a Nobel Peace Prize change his mind? Some Democratic activists sure hope so.
Grass-roots Gore loyalists have been buzzing for weeks about the Nobel Prize announcement scheduled for Oct. 12 in Oslo, Norway. Gore was nominated for his work on global warming, and several longtime Nobel observers believe this could be the year that a champion of climate change gets the prize. “We feel that if [Gore] wins the Nobel Prize … then he can’t not run for president,” says Roy Gayhart, a San Diego-based organizer of a California draft Gore group.
For Gore supporters like Gayhart, the real inconvenient truth is that the former veep is not a candidate—and may never become one, no matter what happens in Oslo on Friday. Gore, who won an Emmy last month for his Current TV channel and whose film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won an Oscar last February, has said nothing to indicate that he would run, and his Nashville office didn’t return several phone calls and e-mails seeking comment for this story. But unlike 2004, when his Shermanesque statement stopped supporters dead in their tracks, Gore has not completely closed the door on the idea.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10373
'Draft Gore' organizers take lack of a definitive 'no' as a green light to keep working
October 11th, 2007 3:41 pm
Gore Supporters’ Movement Lacks a Candidate
By Jim Rutenberg / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 — With talk of a Nobel Peace Prize in the air and election deadlines looming, supporters of Al Gore have been raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for petition drives and advertising campaigns in a last-ditch effort to draft him into the Democratic presidential primaries.
Draft Gore, a national group that for several years has been trying to pull Mr. Gore into a presidential race, ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Wednesday, as well as commercials on liberal radio talk shows, saying he had an obligation to seek the presidency again and address from the White House a variety of moral issues facing the country.
The group said it had collected small donations over the Internet to pay for the ads. The Times advertisement alone cost roughly $65,000, a standard rate for ads not slotted to run on a particular day, a spokeswoman for the newspaper said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10393
October 11th, 2007 6:05 pm
Could Nobel Nod Spur Gore's '08 Run?
Another Accolade Could Provide 'Climatic' Opportunity
By Nitya Venkataraman / ABC News
Oct. 11, 2007 — While eight Democrats scramble around the country seeking the office he aspired to as many years ago, Al Gore's 2007 has been a breezy stroll down the red carpet, and a near endless loop of will-he-or-won't-he speculation surrounding a potential second run for the White House.
For the former vice president's legion of grassroots supporters, the suspense has been agony as they wait for the "Gore-acle" to divine, what they deem to be, an infallible political future.
After the Oscars, the release of yet another book and the Live Earth concerts on July 7, Friday's long-awaited, much-anticipated Nobel Peace Prize announcement could provide the most "climatic" and climactic opportunity to date for the Democratic presidential nominee of 2000 to announce White House intentions for 2008.
Will He or Won't He?
Former Gore strategist Chris Lehane said though his former boss's entrance to the presidential race would be more than fashionably late, he "would be uniquely positioned" if he chose to contest the Democratic nomination.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10395
Bob Alexander Drives Around MI update
Bob Alexander Weekly Schedule to Drive Around Michigan to meet with petitioners and supporters who want to sign the Gore Nomination Petition...
Each of the remaining three weeks Bob Alexander will Drive Around Michigan to meet with petitioners and those who just want to sign a Nomination Petition to place Al Gore on the Jan. 15 Presidential Primary ballot. Alexander is the Manager of the Michigan Nominate Al Gore Petition drive.
Detailed locations & times are at the bottom of the page, grouped geographically.
Sunday is the North Drive Around to Mt. Pleasant, Grayling, Traverse City, Cadillac, Big Rapids and Grand Rapids.
Monday is an evening South Drive to Jackson, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.
Tuesday during the day is the SE and East Drive to Livonia, Dearborn, Detroit (WSU), Royal Oak, Clarkston, Flint and Perry.
http://mivolstodraftgore2008.blogspot.com/
October 8th, 2007 12:26 am
Iraq veteran organizes war protest
Soldier says the United States has blundered in its military effort
By Mike Belt / Lawrence Journal-World
When Mike Sanger returned from military duty in Iraq in 2004, he disdained war protesters.
“I thought what I was doing was for the good of the world. I was fighting terrorists, fighting for a good cause,” the Lawrence resident, 31, said recently.
Now he is one of the protesters. And he is president of the Kansas City chapter of the national Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Sanger’s attitude about the war started to change while he was still in Iraq, he said.
“A lot of us still tried to believe in what we were doing even though we did not like the circumstances we were in,” he said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10371
Mike Sanger's duty in Iraq October 7, 2007
Lawrence resident Mike Sanger, center, says his views on the Iraq War changed while he was still in the country on active duty. Now he is the president of the Kansas City chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Special to the Journal-World
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2007/oct/07/pictures_iraq/
One Of Petraeus' Own Advisers Says General's Testimony On Iraq Was Misleading
October 8, 2007 -- 11:46 AM EST
New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt has now weighed in with a new column analyzing a key topic -- the constant conflicts between the different ways civilian casualties are counted in Iraq. Hoyt interviewed a number of experts about the topic, and towards the end of the piece he mentions in passing what appears to be a significant piece of news.
Specifically, Hoyt reports that he spoke to one of Petraeus' own advisers, and despite having advised Petraeus he still says that the General's recent testimony to Congress about Iraq may have been misleading in key ways:
Stephen Biddle, a scholar at the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, said Petraeus's December number was "very high" but was likely the result of "statistical noise" — the tendency of Iraq numbers to jump all over the place. Biddle was an adviser to Petraeus last spring but believes the general's testimony was "potentially misleading" because it didn't discuss all the reasons why the numbers might have improved.
He said the best way to analyze statistics from Iraq is to gather all the numbers from all sources and look for broad trends instead of picking isolated points, as Petraeus did. Biddle examined data from nine sources on Iraqi civilian deaths, including the U.S. military, independent organizations like Brookings and Iraq Body Count and four news organizations. Although the specific monthly numbers varied widely, he said they all showed declines since late 2006.
Did we know that even one of Petraeus' own advisers thinks the General's methodology was suspect? I didn't know it. Spencer Ackerman, TPM's resident casualty count guru, says he thinks this is significant, and if Ackerman says this is important, well, it is. Yet as best as I can determine Biddle's view of the matter hasn't received any real attention.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/10/one_of_petraeus.php
"The Army's having trouble filling numbers so they're going anywhere -- they're even going on college spring breaks and sending recruiters down in uniform to Cabo San Lucas." -- Sgt. Patrick Campbell
October 9th, 2007 11:20 pm
Military Recruiters Invited To Jail Job Fair
NBC News4
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Both the Army and the Marines went to the Alexandria City Jail to pitch their case to soon-to-be-released inmates.
Jail officials invited the recruiters to the biannual job fair, News4's Jane Watrel reported.
With the military stretched thin, the military can accept ex-convicts into their ranks.
"The Army's having trouble filling numbers, so they're going anywhere," said veteran Sgt. Patrick Campbell. "They're even going to college spring breaks, sending recruiters in uniform down to Cabo San Lucas."
Campbell said standards for recruits have dropped.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10384
Same jail as American Taliban, John Walker Lindh
Lindh Admits Guilt to Two Charges
Under Plea Bargain Deal, Lindh Will Serve 20 Years in Prison
By a Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 15, 2002; 5:18 PM
John Walker Lindh, the suburban American who converted to Islam and later volunteered his services to the Taliban army in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty this morning in federal court in Alexandria to two felonies that will land him in prison for up to 20 years.
The surprise plea was negotiated mostly over the weekend and concluded early this morning, Lindh's lawyers said. It was announced to a packed courtroom awaiting the start of what was to be a crucial evidentiary hearing on whether Lindh's statements while he was in custody in Afghanistan could be used against him at a trial that was scheduled to begin in August.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6499-2002Jul15
Same jail as DC Sniper, John Allen Muhammad
Sniper case linked to Ga. slaying
ATLANTA (AP) — Police said Thursday that ballistics tests connect the two Washington-area sniper suspects to yet another slaying — that of a man who was shot outside an Atlanta liquor store in September.
The victim, Million Woldemarian, a 41-year-old Ethiopian immigrant, was shot shortly after midnight on Sept. 21. He had walked out of the store, where he worked, to check on a suspicious car parked outside the store, police said.
Later that same day, a woman was shot to death and another was wounded in a holdup attempt outside a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala., about 150 miles away, in an attack that police have blamed on sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-11-07-georgia-sniper_x.htm
October 9th, 2007 3:09 pm
Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets
Firm Says Administration's Handling of Video Ruined Its Spying Efforts
By Joby Warrick / Washington Post
A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.
Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.
The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10380
U.S. Constitution not for cowards
October 9th, 2007 3:05 pm
Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers
By Eric Lichtblau and Carl Hulse / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 — Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.
Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.
As the debate over the eavesdropping powers of the National Security Agency begins anew this week, the emerging measures reflect the reality confronting the Democrats.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10379
October 9th, 2007 2:44 am
Edwards backers seek impeachment
By Nancy Foster / New Hampshire Union Leader
Amherst – Though Elizabeth Edwards was in town to talk about her husband's universal health insurance plan, once she turned the floor over to the audience, the conversation quickly turned to impeachment.
Several people from the audience of nearly 100 who packed into the clubhouse at The Fells of Amherst pressed Senator John Edwards' wife about the presidential contenders stance on impeachment.
Edwards said that her husband opposes plans to impeach President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney.
She said that devoting valuable time and money to ousting the administration would tie up Congress and wouldn't likely have the outcome pro-impeachment are hoping for.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10378
Sen. Reid Struggles for Reason to Oppose Impeachment
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-10-09 03:43.
Impeachment Video and Audio
By David Swanson
Christiane Brown (KJFK, Reno) interviews Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in this audio clip from last week and presses him on why he admits impeachable offenses have been commited but opposes impeachment. Reid says that impeaching Bush would just give you Cheney, but Brown points out that Cheney can be impeached too (in fact, the only impeachment bill in Congress right now is to impeach Cheney). Reid says there's not enough time, but Brown points out how swift past impeachments have been. Reid struggles and fails to find a coherent explanation.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/27549
The culture hasn't changed much from the days of John Lennon, has it? Lennon was a genius. We are far worse off as a global community for being without him. The Anti-War Movement is more subdued today in the USA, but, growing still. I have noticed over the last year, more and more people 'thinking 60's.' It's interesting, the more life is different, the more it is the same.
Give Peace a Chance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-NRriHlLUk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emichaelmoore%2Ecom%2F
Imagine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOkxRLzBf0
Power To The People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpsF_0-ta_A
Instant Karma - John lennon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4
John & Joko - I don't want to be a soldier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA-N2O-O2Bw
Working Class Hero-John Lennon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lKwXwU5iWs
Imagine all the people living life in peace
John Lennon
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN LENNON - 9th October 1940
http://www.imaginepeace.com/
U.S., Iraqis probe civilian killings
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi officials Wednesday were investigating yet another shooting of Iraqi civilians by a heavily armed security firm linked to U.S. government-financed work in Iraq.
The bodies of Marou Awanis and Geneva Jalal, the Christian women killed in the Tuesday shooting, were taken, meanwhile, to Baghdad's Armenian Orthodox Virgin Mary Church for funeral services.
Iraqi authorities blamed the women's deaths on guards working for Unity Resources Group, a security company owned by Australian partners but with headquarters in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Unity provides security services to RTI International, a group based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., that promotes governance projects in Iraq for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Ag2S3Ib4C68XxChzUsXRN.ys0NUE
October 9th, 2007 7:57 pm
Parents recall fallen soldiers
By Bob Kalinowski / Scranton Times-Tribune
JENKINS TWP., PA - It was a conversation about the war, but not about the politics behind the conflict. The discussion was about people, about soldiers - the human cost of war.
Three area families who lost a loved one in the Iraq war gathered the courage Thursday night to go on live television to speak about their loss.
To most people, the families said, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, of Plymouth; 1st Lt. Michael Cleary, of Dallas Township; and Sgt. Sean Thomas, of Hughesville, Lycoming County; are only statistics outside their home communities.
The parents of the men said they agreed to come together Thursday for the hourlong program at the WVIA-TV studio to tell residents of Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania something about the young men who paid the ultimate price.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10383
October 8th, 2007 8:44 pm
1,000-plus war protesters in Berkeley spell out opposition to Bush
San Francisco Chronicle
BERKELEY, CA -- It all began with a simple conversation around the kitchen table on a Saturday afternoon. Sarah Newsham, 9, asked her dad if he knew about Google Earth. Taking one look at the satellite images, Brad Newsham had an epiphany: The anti-war movement needed visuals.
On Sunday, nearly one year later, Newsham directed more than 1,000 people to lie on the grass at the Berkeley Marina to spell out "IMPEACH!" while photos were taken from helicopters whirring above.
Anti-war Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, who recently announced her run for Congress against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, appeared at the rally and took a spot on the lawn to help form the letter C. She called ending the war in Iraq "the most important issue of our time."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10377
The Nightwatchman - Alone without you - Live @ Cologone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xh824dgtKA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emichaelmoore%2Ecom%2F
Artist on Artist: Tom Morello & Michael Moore
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=8272191
The Nightwatchman
http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/
H.R.676
Title: To provide for comprehensive health insurance coverage for all United States residents, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] (introduced 1/24/2007) Cosponsors (85)
Latest Major Action: 2/2/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@N
Make Sure Your Rep. Supports H.R. 676
"Which congressional district am I in?"
CLiCK here and enter your address to find out.
If there is already a green check next to your Representative's name, don't hesitate to thank them.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/boxscore/index.php?action=print
BIG THANK YOU GOES TO ::
Information on
Representative Stephen Lynch
of Congressional District number 9 of Massachusetts
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?lang=&member=MA09&site=ctc&address=&city=&state=MA&zipcode=&plusfour=
"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military..." -- Jimmy Carter
October 11th, 2007 3:35 pm
Jimmy Carter calls Cheney a "disaster" for U.S.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday denounced Vice President Dick Cheney as a "disaster" for the country and a "militant" who has had an excessive influence in setting foreign policy.
Cheney has been on the wrong side of the debate on many issues, including an internal White House discussion over Syria in which the vice president is thought to be pushing a tough approach, Carter said.
"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world," Carter told the BBC World News America in an interview to air later on Wednesday.
"You know he's been a disaster for our country," Carter said. "I think he's been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he's prevailed."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10392
H.RES.333
Title: Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Sponsor: Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] (introduced 4/24/2007) Cosponsors (20)
Latest Major Action: 5/4/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HE00333:@@@N
October 11th, 2007 5:08 pm
Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs.
By Rick Weiss / Washington Post
Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month.
"I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."
Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them, too.
"I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' "
That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10394
Precious and few are the moments we two can share...
BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 10/8/2007 8:10PM
Fred Thompson's Daughter Seen Chomping on Diaphragm During Fox 'News' Interview!
(Though We're Open to Other Explanations of This One...)
Hat tip to BRAD BLOG commenter Floridiot for this one! But yes, that does seem to be a diaphragm that Fred Thompson's daughter (grand daughter?) is munching on at the beginning of a recent Fox "News" interview...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5147
Thursday, July 26th, 2007
See the Movie, Start the Revolution ...a letter from Michael Moore
Friends,
I am overwhelmed by the response to "Sicko." And I'm not just talking about all the wonderful, heart-felt letters you've sent me and the stories you've shared with me about the abuse you've suffered from our health care system.
No, I'm talking about how thousands of you are taking matters into your own hands and using the movie to do something. From Seattle to New England, each day I learn of numerous groups holding meetings or dinners after the movie to discuss it and to plot a course for action. A church in Plano, TX took its weekly bible study group to see "Sicko." 70 people crammed into a Wisconsin coffee shop's back room. Groups are plotting over pancakes in Illinois and microbrew in Missouri. E-mail addresses are being exchanged in theater lobbies. A Connecticut group is inviting legislators to see "Sicko" and keeping a tally on their website. Local groups have been buying out theaters to have special screenings for their members. Information tables are set up, literature is distributed, action groups are formed.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=219
October 10th, 2007 8:33 pm
Rare march in Baghdad against new U.S. wall
By Haider Salahuddin / Reuters
BAGHDAD - More than a thousand Iraqis marched in west Baghdad on Saturday in a rare public demonstration to protest against a wall they say the U.S. military is planning to erect around their neighborhood.
Carrying an Iraqi national flag and banners condemning the wall the marchers in the predominantly Shi'ite district of al-Washash chanted "No, no to the wall. No, no to America."
The U.S. military sparked international outrage earlier this year when it began erecting a high concrete barrier to shield the Sunni Arab enclave of Adhamiya in east Baghdad from neighboring Shi'ite communities.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10390
October 10th, 2007 6:11 pm
Some at Winthrop critical of CIA's visit
Professors, staffers plan rally during recruitment meeting
By Jessica Schonberg / The Herald
A recruiting visit from the CIA is causing a stir at Winthrop University.
More than 20 professors and staff members plan to picket and rally today while the government agency hosts a lunchtime recruitment meeting at Dinkins Student Center.
"Our collective idea is that the CIA has a right to recruit on campuses. We don't have the power to stop that," said Chris Van Aller, a political science professor. "We merely say that lately, the CIA has been accused of doing a number of reprehensible things that, at least in my opinion, are not in the national interest."
Van Aller cited the CIA's interrogation tactics and allegations of torture as among the issues that he finds troubling. The CIA has come under criticism in recent months for what human rights groups and some Washington lawmakers call its inhumane treatment of terror suspects.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10388
GO SEE SiCKO by MC ARTIFICIAL -- ABBREVIATED VERSION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZSPSRcX3Qw
continued…Zoos as usual…coming right up…it's been a busy week...I appreciate any readers patience...thank you...
"We already have many volunteers ready and raring to go start the petition process..."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
October 7th, 2007 11:02 pm
DC Draft Gore Prepared to put Al Gore on Primary Ballot
DC Draft Gore
Organizers of DC Draft Gore have decided to continue the nationwide trend and will gather the necessary signatures to place former Vice-President Al Gore on the district's primary ballot next year. In addition to the 1,000 signatures that must be collected from registered Democratic Party voters, Al Gore must submit a candidate affidavit. "We already have many volunteers ready and raring to go start the petition process once the proper forms become available on October 12th," said James Skoufis, one of the drive's organizers.
The District of Columbia would only be the most recent of many efforts nationwide to put the Oscar, Emmy, and perhaps soon-to-be Nobel Peace Prize winning statesman on their primary ballot. Michigan, California, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois, Washington, among other states already have petition drives underway. "He was the first major American politician to oppose the Iraq War, he has single-handedly made climate change a global priority, and, lets face it, has already won a presidential election before," says Nelson Jacobson, the group's founder.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10370
"(Gore's) Nashville office didn't return several phone calls and e-mails seeking comment for this story."
-- Newsweek
October 8th, 2007 3:40 pm
A Nobel Candidate
Thousands of activists are hoping to convince Al Gore to run for president. Could a Nobel Peace Prize give the reluctant candidate a push?
By Jamie Reno / Newsweek
Oct. 8, 2007 - Al Gore is not running for president. But might the publicity and sheen of a Nobel Peace Prize change his mind? Some Democratic activists sure hope so.
Grass-roots Gore loyalists have been buzzing for weeks about the Nobel Prize announcement scheduled for Oct. 12 in Oslo, Norway. Gore was nominated for his work on global warming, and several longtime Nobel observers believe this could be the year that a champion of climate change gets the prize. “We feel that if [Gore] wins the Nobel Prize … then he can’t not run for president,” says Roy Gayhart, a San Diego-based organizer of a California draft Gore group.
For Gore supporters like Gayhart, the real inconvenient truth is that the former veep is not a candidate—and may never become one, no matter what happens in Oslo on Friday. Gore, who won an Emmy last month for his Current TV channel and whose film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” won an Oscar last February, has said nothing to indicate that he would run, and his Nashville office didn’t return several phone calls and e-mails seeking comment for this story. But unlike 2004, when his Shermanesque statement stopped supporters dead in their tracks, Gore has not completely closed the door on the idea.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10373
'Draft Gore' organizers take lack of a definitive 'no' as a green light to keep working
October 11th, 2007 3:41 pm
Gore Supporters’ Movement Lacks a Candidate
By Jim Rutenberg / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 — With talk of a Nobel Peace Prize in the air and election deadlines looming, supporters of Al Gore have been raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for petition drives and advertising campaigns in a last-ditch effort to draft him into the Democratic presidential primaries.
Draft Gore, a national group that for several years has been trying to pull Mr. Gore into a presidential race, ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Wednesday, as well as commercials on liberal radio talk shows, saying he had an obligation to seek the presidency again and address from the White House a variety of moral issues facing the country.
The group said it had collected small donations over the Internet to pay for the ads. The Times advertisement alone cost roughly $65,000, a standard rate for ads not slotted to run on a particular day, a spokeswoman for the newspaper said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10393
October 11th, 2007 6:05 pm
Could Nobel Nod Spur Gore's '08 Run?
Another Accolade Could Provide 'Climatic' Opportunity
By Nitya Venkataraman / ABC News
Oct. 11, 2007 — While eight Democrats scramble around the country seeking the office he aspired to as many years ago, Al Gore's 2007 has been a breezy stroll down the red carpet, and a near endless loop of will-he-or-won't-he speculation surrounding a potential second run for the White House.
For the former vice president's legion of grassroots supporters, the suspense has been agony as they wait for the "Gore-acle" to divine, what they deem to be, an infallible political future.
After the Oscars, the release of yet another book and the Live Earth concerts on July 7, Friday's long-awaited, much-anticipated Nobel Peace Prize announcement could provide the most "climatic" and climactic opportunity to date for the Democratic presidential nominee of 2000 to announce White House intentions for 2008.
Will He or Won't He?
Former Gore strategist Chris Lehane said though his former boss's entrance to the presidential race would be more than fashionably late, he "would be uniquely positioned" if he chose to contest the Democratic nomination.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10395
Bob Alexander Drives Around MI update
Bob Alexander Weekly Schedule to Drive Around Michigan to meet with petitioners and supporters who want to sign the Gore Nomination Petition...
Each of the remaining three weeks Bob Alexander will Drive Around Michigan to meet with petitioners and those who just want to sign a Nomination Petition to place Al Gore on the Jan. 15 Presidential Primary ballot. Alexander is the Manager of the Michigan Nominate Al Gore Petition drive.
Detailed locations & times are at the bottom of the page, grouped geographically.
Sunday is the North Drive Around to Mt. Pleasant, Grayling, Traverse City, Cadillac, Big Rapids and Grand Rapids.
Monday is an evening South Drive to Jackson, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo.
Tuesday during the day is the SE and East Drive to Livonia, Dearborn, Detroit (WSU), Royal Oak, Clarkston, Flint and Perry.
http://mivolstodraftgore2008.blogspot.com/
October 8th, 2007 12:26 am
Iraq veteran organizes war protest
Soldier says the United States has blundered in its military effort
By Mike Belt / Lawrence Journal-World
When Mike Sanger returned from military duty in Iraq in 2004, he disdained war protesters.
“I thought what I was doing was for the good of the world. I was fighting terrorists, fighting for a good cause,” the Lawrence resident, 31, said recently.
Now he is one of the protesters. And he is president of the Kansas City chapter of the national Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Sanger’s attitude about the war started to change while he was still in Iraq, he said.
“A lot of us still tried to believe in what we were doing even though we did not like the circumstances we were in,” he said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10371
Mike Sanger's duty in Iraq October 7, 2007
Lawrence resident Mike Sanger, center, says his views on the Iraq War changed while he was still in the country on active duty. Now he is the president of the Kansas City chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War.
Special to the Journal-World
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2007/oct/07/pictures_iraq/
One Of Petraeus' Own Advisers Says General's Testimony On Iraq Was Misleading
October 8, 2007 -- 11:46 AM EST
New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt has now weighed in with a new column analyzing a key topic -- the constant conflicts between the different ways civilian casualties are counted in Iraq. Hoyt interviewed a number of experts about the topic, and towards the end of the piece he mentions in passing what appears to be a significant piece of news.
Specifically, Hoyt reports that he spoke to one of Petraeus' own advisers, and despite having advised Petraeus he still says that the General's recent testimony to Congress about Iraq may have been misleading in key ways:
Stephen Biddle, a scholar at the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, said Petraeus's December number was "very high" but was likely the result of "statistical noise" — the tendency of Iraq numbers to jump all over the place. Biddle was an adviser to Petraeus last spring but believes the general's testimony was "potentially misleading" because it didn't discuss all the reasons why the numbers might have improved.
He said the best way to analyze statistics from Iraq is to gather all the numbers from all sources and look for broad trends instead of picking isolated points, as Petraeus did. Biddle examined data from nine sources on Iraqi civilian deaths, including the U.S. military, independent organizations like Brookings and Iraq Body Count and four news organizations. Although the specific monthly numbers varied widely, he said they all showed declines since late 2006.
Did we know that even one of Petraeus' own advisers thinks the General's methodology was suspect? I didn't know it. Spencer Ackerman, TPM's resident casualty count guru, says he thinks this is significant, and if Ackerman says this is important, well, it is. Yet as best as I can determine Biddle's view of the matter hasn't received any real attention.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/10/one_of_petraeus.php
"The Army's having trouble filling numbers so they're going anywhere -- they're even going on college spring breaks and sending recruiters down in uniform to Cabo San Lucas." -- Sgt. Patrick Campbell
October 9th, 2007 11:20 pm
Military Recruiters Invited To Jail Job Fair
NBC News4
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Both the Army and the Marines went to the Alexandria City Jail to pitch their case to soon-to-be-released inmates.
Jail officials invited the recruiters to the biannual job fair, News4's Jane Watrel reported.
With the military stretched thin, the military can accept ex-convicts into their ranks.
"The Army's having trouble filling numbers, so they're going anywhere," said veteran Sgt. Patrick Campbell. "They're even going to college spring breaks, sending recruiters in uniform down to Cabo San Lucas."
Campbell said standards for recruits have dropped.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10384
Same jail as American Taliban, John Walker Lindh
Lindh Admits Guilt to Two Charges
Under Plea Bargain Deal, Lindh Will Serve 20 Years in Prison
By a Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 15, 2002; 5:18 PM
John Walker Lindh, the suburban American who converted to Islam and later volunteered his services to the Taliban army in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty this morning in federal court in Alexandria to two felonies that will land him in prison for up to 20 years.
The surprise plea was negotiated mostly over the weekend and concluded early this morning, Lindh's lawyers said. It was announced to a packed courtroom awaiting the start of what was to be a crucial evidentiary hearing on whether Lindh's statements while he was in custody in Afghanistan could be used against him at a trial that was scheduled to begin in August.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6499-2002Jul15
Same jail as DC Sniper, John Allen Muhammad
Sniper case linked to Ga. slaying
ATLANTA (AP) — Police said Thursday that ballistics tests connect the two Washington-area sniper suspects to yet another slaying — that of a man who was shot outside an Atlanta liquor store in September.
The victim, Million Woldemarian, a 41-year-old Ethiopian immigrant, was shot shortly after midnight on Sept. 21. He had walked out of the store, where he worked, to check on a suspicious car parked outside the store, police said.
Later that same day, a woman was shot to death and another was wounded in a holdup attempt outside a liquor store in Montgomery, Ala., about 150 miles away, in an attack that police have blamed on sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-11-07-georgia-sniper_x.htm
October 9th, 2007 3:09 pm
Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets
Firm Says Administration's Handling of Video Ruined Its Spying Efforts
By Joby Warrick / Washington Post
A small private intelligence company that monitors Islamic terrorist groups obtained a new Osama bin Laden video ahead of its official release last month, and around 10 a.m. on Sept. 7, it notified the Bush administration of its secret acquisition. It gave two senior officials access on the condition that the officials not reveal they had it until the al-Qaeda release.
Within 20 minutes, a range of intelligence agencies had begun downloading it from the company's Web site. By midafternoon that day, the video and a transcript of its audio track had been leaked from within the Bush administration to cable television news and broadcast worldwide.
The founder of the company, the SITE Intelligence Group, says this premature disclosure tipped al-Qaeda to a security breach and destroyed a years-long surveillance operation that the company has used to intercept and pass along secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications network.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10380
U.S. Constitution not for cowards
October 9th, 2007 3:05 pm
Democrats Seem Ready to Extend Wiretap Powers
By Eric Lichtblau and Carl Hulse / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 — Two months after insisting that they would roll back broad eavesdropping powers won by the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear ready to make concessions that could extend some crucial powers given to the National Security Agency.
Administration officials say they are confident they will win approval of the broadened authority that they secured temporarily in August as Congress rushed toward recess. Some Democratic officials concede that they may not come up with enough votes to stop approval.
As the debate over the eavesdropping powers of the National Security Agency begins anew this week, the emerging measures reflect the reality confronting the Democrats.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10379
October 9th, 2007 2:44 am
Edwards backers seek impeachment
By Nancy Foster / New Hampshire Union Leader
Amherst – Though Elizabeth Edwards was in town to talk about her husband's universal health insurance plan, once she turned the floor over to the audience, the conversation quickly turned to impeachment.
Several people from the audience of nearly 100 who packed into the clubhouse at The Fells of Amherst pressed Senator John Edwards' wife about the presidential contenders stance on impeachment.
Edwards said that her husband opposes plans to impeach President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney.
She said that devoting valuable time and money to ousting the administration would tie up Congress and wouldn't likely have the outcome pro-impeachment are hoping for.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10378
Sen. Reid Struggles for Reason to Oppose Impeachment
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2007-10-09 03:43.
Impeachment Video and Audio
By David Swanson
Christiane Brown (KJFK, Reno) interviews Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in this audio clip from last week and presses him on why he admits impeachable offenses have been commited but opposes impeachment. Reid says that impeaching Bush would just give you Cheney, but Brown points out that Cheney can be impeached too (in fact, the only impeachment bill in Congress right now is to impeach Cheney). Reid says there's not enough time, but Brown points out how swift past impeachments have been. Reid struggles and fails to find a coherent explanation.
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/27549
The culture hasn't changed much from the days of John Lennon, has it? Lennon was a genius. We are far worse off as a global community for being without him. The Anti-War Movement is more subdued today in the USA, but, growing still. I have noticed over the last year, more and more people 'thinking 60's.' It's interesting, the more life is different, the more it is the same.
Give Peace a Chance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-NRriHlLUk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emichaelmoore%2Ecom%2F
Imagine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEOkxRLzBf0
Power To The People
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpsF_0-ta_A
Instant Karma - John lennon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqP3wT5lpa4
John & Joko - I don't want to be a soldier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA-N2O-O2Bw
Working Class Hero-John Lennon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lKwXwU5iWs
Imagine all the people living life in peace
John Lennon
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN LENNON - 9th October 1940
http://www.imaginepeace.com/
U.S., Iraqis probe civilian killings
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago
BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi officials Wednesday were investigating yet another shooting of Iraqi civilians by a heavily armed security firm linked to U.S. government-financed work in Iraq.
The bodies of Marou Awanis and Geneva Jalal, the Christian women killed in the Tuesday shooting, were taken, meanwhile, to Baghdad's Armenian Orthodox Virgin Mary Church for funeral services.
Iraqi authorities blamed the women's deaths on guards working for Unity Resources Group, a security company owned by Australian partners but with headquarters in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Unity provides security services to RTI International, a group based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., that promotes governance projects in Iraq for the U.S. Agency for International Development.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=Ag2S3Ib4C68XxChzUsXRN.ys0NUE
October 9th, 2007 7:57 pm
Parents recall fallen soldiers
By Bob Kalinowski / Scranton Times-Tribune
JENKINS TWP., PA - It was a conversation about the war, but not about the politics behind the conflict. The discussion was about people, about soldiers - the human cost of war.
Three area families who lost a loved one in the Iraq war gathered the courage Thursday night to go on live television to speak about their loss.
To most people, the families said, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, of Plymouth; 1st Lt. Michael Cleary, of Dallas Township; and Sgt. Sean Thomas, of Hughesville, Lycoming County; are only statistics outside their home communities.
The parents of the men said they agreed to come together Thursday for the hourlong program at the WVIA-TV studio to tell residents of Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania something about the young men who paid the ultimate price.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10383
October 8th, 2007 8:44 pm
1,000-plus war protesters in Berkeley spell out opposition to Bush
San Francisco Chronicle
BERKELEY, CA -- It all began with a simple conversation around the kitchen table on a Saturday afternoon. Sarah Newsham, 9, asked her dad if he knew about Google Earth. Taking one look at the satellite images, Brad Newsham had an epiphany: The anti-war movement needed visuals.
On Sunday, nearly one year later, Newsham directed more than 1,000 people to lie on the grass at the Berkeley Marina to spell out "IMPEACH!" while photos were taken from helicopters whirring above.
Anti-war Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan, who recently announced her run for Congress against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, appeared at the rally and took a spot on the lawn to help form the letter C. She called ending the war in Iraq "the most important issue of our time."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10377
The Nightwatchman - Alone without you - Live @ Cologone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xh824dgtKA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emichaelmoore%2Ecom%2F
Artist on Artist: Tom Morello & Michael Moore
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=8272191
The Nightwatchman
http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/
H.R.676
Title: To provide for comprehensive health insurance coverage for all United States residents, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] (introduced 1/24/2007) Cosponsors (85)
Latest Major Action: 2/2/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@N
Make Sure Your Rep. Supports H.R. 676
"Which congressional district am I in?"
CLiCK here and enter your address to find out.
If there is already a green check next to your Representative's name, don't hesitate to thank them.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/boxscore/index.php?action=print
BIG THANK YOU GOES TO ::
Information on
Representative Stephen Lynch
of Congressional District number 9 of Massachusetts
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?lang=&member=MA09&site=ctc&address=&city=&state=MA&zipcode=&plusfour=
"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military..." -- Jimmy Carter
Go, Jimmy Carter, Go !!!!
October 11th, 2007 3:35 pm
Jimmy Carter calls Cheney a "disaster" for U.S.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday denounced Vice President Dick Cheney as a "disaster" for the country and a "militant" who has had an excessive influence in setting foreign policy.
Cheney has been on the wrong side of the debate on many issues, including an internal White House discussion over Syria in which the vice president is thought to be pushing a tough approach, Carter said.
"He's a militant who avoided any service of his own in the military and he has been most forceful in the last 10 years or more in fulfilling some of his more ancient commitments that the United States has a right to inject its power through military means in other parts of the world," Carter told the BBC World News America in an interview to air later on Wednesday.
"You know he's been a disaster for our country," Carter said. "I think he's been overly persuasive on President George Bush and quite often he's prevailed."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10392
H.RES.333
Title: Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Sponsor: Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] (introduced 4/24/2007) Cosponsors (20)
Latest Major Action: 5/4/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HE00333:@@@N
October 11th, 2007 5:08 pm
Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs.
By Rick Weiss / Washington Post
Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month.
"I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."
Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them, too.
"I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' "
That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10394
Precious and few are the moments we two can share...
BLOGGED BY Brad Friedman ON 10/8/2007 8:10PM
Fred Thompson's Daughter Seen Chomping on Diaphragm During Fox 'News' Interview!
(Though We're Open to Other Explanations of This One...)
Hat tip to BRAD BLOG commenter Floridiot for this one! But yes, that does seem to be a diaphragm that Fred Thompson's daughter (grand daughter?) is munching on at the beginning of a recent Fox "News" interview...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5147
Thursday, July 26th, 2007
See the Movie, Start the Revolution ...a letter from Michael Moore
Friends,
I am overwhelmed by the response to "Sicko." And I'm not just talking about all the wonderful, heart-felt letters you've sent me and the stories you've shared with me about the abuse you've suffered from our health care system.
No, I'm talking about how thousands of you are taking matters into your own hands and using the movie to do something. From Seattle to New England, each day I learn of numerous groups holding meetings or dinners after the movie to discuss it and to plot a course for action. A church in Plano, TX took its weekly bible study group to see "Sicko." 70 people crammed into a Wisconsin coffee shop's back room. Groups are plotting over pancakes in Illinois and microbrew in Missouri. E-mail addresses are being exchanged in theater lobbies. A Connecticut group is inviting legislators to see "Sicko" and keeping a tally on their website. Local groups have been buying out theaters to have special screenings for their members. Information tables are set up, literature is distributed, action groups are formed.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=219
October 10th, 2007 8:33 pm
Rare march in Baghdad against new U.S. wall
By Haider Salahuddin / Reuters
BAGHDAD - More than a thousand Iraqis marched in west Baghdad on Saturday in a rare public demonstration to protest against a wall they say the U.S. military is planning to erect around their neighborhood.
Carrying an Iraqi national flag and banners condemning the wall the marchers in the predominantly Shi'ite district of al-Washash chanted "No, no to the wall. No, no to America."
The U.S. military sparked international outrage earlier this year when it began erecting a high concrete barrier to shield the Sunni Arab enclave of Adhamiya in east Baghdad from neighboring Shi'ite communities.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10390
October 10th, 2007 6:11 pm
Some at Winthrop critical of CIA's visit
Professors, staffers plan rally during recruitment meeting
By Jessica Schonberg / The Herald
A recruiting visit from the CIA is causing a stir at Winthrop University.
More than 20 professors and staff members plan to picket and rally today while the government agency hosts a lunchtime recruitment meeting at Dinkins Student Center.
"Our collective idea is that the CIA has a right to recruit on campuses. We don't have the power to stop that," said Chris Van Aller, a political science professor. "We merely say that lately, the CIA has been accused of doing a number of reprehensible things that, at least in my opinion, are not in the national interest."
Van Aller cited the CIA's interrogation tactics and allegations of torture as among the issues that he finds troubling. The CIA has come under criticism in recent months for what human rights groups and some Washington lawmakers call its inhumane treatment of terror suspects.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10388
GO SEE SiCKO by MC ARTIFICIAL -- ABBREVIATED VERSION
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZSPSRcX3Qw
continued…Zoos as usual…coming right up…it's been a busy week...I appreciate any readers patience...thank you...
Weather warning issued for lower North and upper South Island
October 11, 2007
0900
New Zealand Infrared Satellite
October 12, 2007
0600
Pressure gradient map
Sun, 07 Oct 2007 01:54p.m.
The Met Service has issued a severe weather warning for North Canterbury, the Marlborough Sounds, Wellington, and the Wairarapa.
Severe northwest gales of up to 130kmph are set to batter the regions today and will continue throughout the afternoon.
Drivers in exposed hilltop areas such as the Rimutaka Road are being warned to take extreme care.
Heavy rain is also forecast in the Buller and Tararua ranges.
Camp Victory, Iraq attacked. At least two dead, many wounded. Get the troops out of Iraq.
This is a 2002 preinvasion image of the camp, at link to entry there is a 'toggled' image to the 2005 image. Some of the difference between the images is picture quality. I doubt the color of water changed that much, but, anything is possilbe.
Many injured in US base attack (click here)
Camp Victory is the headquarters of the US military in BaghdadThe United States military in Iraq says two soldiers have been killed and about 40 people wounded in a rocket or mortar attack on Baghdad's main US base.
A statement described the two soldiers as members of the coalition forces but did not give further details.
The attack happened on Wednesday at the sprawling base known as Camp Victory, home of the US military HQ in Iraq.
Camp Victory and other US bases often come under fire, but attacks with such a large number of casualties are rare.
The US military also said two "third country nationals" were wounded, a term usually used for non-Iraqi, non-US contractors in Iraq.
Most of the troops stationed at Camp Victory are American.
In September, one person was killed and 11 were wounded when Camp Victory was attacked with what the US military said was a 240mm rocket supplied by Iran to Shia extremists.
By THOM SHANKER
Published: October 11, 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 — The Marine Corps is pressing to remove its forces from Iraq and to send marines instead to Afghanistan, to take over the leading role in combat there, according to senior military and Pentagon officials.
The idea by the Marine Corps commandant would effectively leave the Iraq war in the hands of the Army while giving the Marines a prominent new role in Afghanistan, under overall NATO command.
The suggestion was raised in a session last week convened by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and regional war-fighting commanders. While still under review, its supporters, including some in the Army, argue that a realignment could allow the Army and Marines each to operate more efficiently in sustaining troop levels for two wars that have put a strain on their forces.
As described by officials who had been briefed on the closed-door discussion, the idea represents the first tangible new thinking to emerge since the White House last month endorsed a plan to begin gradual troop withdrawals from Iraq, but also signals that American forces likely will be in Iraq for years to come.
At the moment, there are no major Marine units among the 26,000 or so American forces in Afghanistan. In Iraq there are about 25,000 marines among the 160,000 American troops there.
It is not clear exactly how many of the marines in Iraq would be moved over. But the plan would require a major reshuffling, and it would make marines the dominant American force in Afghanistan, in a war that has broader public support than the one in Iraq....
Published: October 11, 2007
WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 — The Marine Corps is pressing to remove its forces from Iraq and to send marines instead to Afghanistan, to take over the leading role in combat there, according to senior military and Pentagon officials.
The idea by the Marine Corps commandant would effectively leave the Iraq war in the hands of the Army while giving the Marines a prominent new role in Afghanistan, under overall NATO command.
The suggestion was raised in a session last week convened by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and regional war-fighting commanders. While still under review, its supporters, including some in the Army, argue that a realignment could allow the Army and Marines each to operate more efficiently in sustaining troop levels for two wars that have put a strain on their forces.
As described by officials who had been briefed on the closed-door discussion, the idea represents the first tangible new thinking to emerge since the White House last month endorsed a plan to begin gradual troop withdrawals from Iraq, but also signals that American forces likely will be in Iraq for years to come.
At the moment, there are no major Marine units among the 26,000 or so American forces in Afghanistan. In Iraq there are about 25,000 marines among the 160,000 American troops there.
It is not clear exactly how many of the marines in Iraq would be moved over. But the plan would require a major reshuffling, and it would make marines the dominant American force in Afghanistan, in a war that has broader public support than the one in Iraq....
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Carlyle Group Launches $605 Mln Venture Fund - Quick Facts
Friday, October 05, 2007
Posted: 09:26 AM
(RTTNews) - On Friday, The Carlyle Group announced that it completed its third and largest venture and growth capital fund, which is launching with a $605 million war chest for early stage venture capital, expansion stage growth capital and growth buyout transactions.
The Carlyle Venture Partners III L.P., 'will help its portfolio companies expand by using Carlyle's global platform and domain expertise in such sectors as telecom and media, defense and aerospace, automotive and logistics, energy, technology and business services to help its companies expand internationally and grow sales,' the private equity firm said.
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
Copyright(c) 2007 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
When is the corruption of this White House going to stop? When will someone impeach Bush and Cheney? After all, whom is going to profit from the surveillance in the first place ?
White House Fights Democratic Changes to Surveillance Act (click here)
By Dan EggenWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 11, 2007; Page A04
President Bush and other Republicans stepped up their attacks on Democratic legislation that would require more oversight of surveillance within U.S. borders that is directed at foreign targets, escalating a partisan battle over the boundaries of U.S. spying.
In separate votes along party lines, the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees approved bills that would require the government to get approval from a special intelligence court for blanket surveillance of targets overseas. Supporters say the legislation is needed to safeguard the rights of innocent U.S. citizens who may be caught up in such surveillance....
Carlyle's way Making a mint inside "the iron triangle" of defense, government, and industry. (click here)
By Dan Briody January 8, 2002
Like everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the events of September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the bin Laden family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly important.
That the Carlyle Group had its conference on America's darkest day was mere coincidence, but there is nothing accidental about the cast of characters that this private-equity powerhouse has assembled in the 14 years since its founding. Among those associated with Carlyle are former U.S. president George Bush Sr., former U.K. prime minister John Major, and former president of the Philippines Fidel Ramos. And Carlyle has counted George Soros, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, and Osama bin Laden's estranged family among its high-profile clientele. The group has been able to parlay its political clout into a lucrative buyout practice (in other words, purchasing struggling companies, turning them around, and selling them for huge profits)--everything from defense contractors to telecommunications and aerospace companies. It is a kind of ruthless investing made popular by the movie Wall Street, and any industry that relies heavily on government regulation is fair game for Carlyle's brand of access capitalism. Carlyle has established itself as the gatekeeper between private business interests and U.S. defense spending. And as the Carlyle investors watched the World Trade towers go down, the group's prospects went up....
Posted: 09:26 AM
(RTTNews) - On Friday, The Carlyle Group announced that it completed its third and largest venture and growth capital fund, which is launching with a $605 million war chest for early stage venture capital, expansion stage growth capital and growth buyout transactions.
The Carlyle Venture Partners III L.P., 'will help its portfolio companies expand by using Carlyle's global platform and domain expertise in such sectors as telecom and media, defense and aerospace, automotive and logistics, energy, technology and business services to help its companies expand internationally and grow sales,' the private equity firm said.
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
Copyright(c) 2007 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
When is the corruption of this White House going to stop? When will someone impeach Bush and Cheney? After all, whom is going to profit from the surveillance in the first place ?
White House Fights Democratic Changes to Surveillance Act (click here)
By Dan EggenWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 11, 2007; Page A04
President Bush and other Republicans stepped up their attacks on Democratic legislation that would require more oversight of surveillance within U.S. borders that is directed at foreign targets, escalating a partisan battle over the boundaries of U.S. spying.
In separate votes along party lines, the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees approved bills that would require the government to get approval from a special intelligence court for blanket surveillance of targets overseas. Supporters say the legislation is needed to safeguard the rights of innocent U.S. citizens who may be caught up in such surveillance....
Carlyle's way Making a mint inside "the iron triangle" of defense, government, and industry. (click here)
By Dan Briody January 8, 2002
Like everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the events of September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the bin Laden family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly important.
That the Carlyle Group had its conference on America's darkest day was mere coincidence, but there is nothing accidental about the cast of characters that this private-equity powerhouse has assembled in the 14 years since its founding. Among those associated with Carlyle are former U.S. president George Bush Sr., former U.K. prime minister John Major, and former president of the Philippines Fidel Ramos. And Carlyle has counted George Soros, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, and Osama bin Laden's estranged family among its high-profile clientele. The group has been able to parlay its political clout into a lucrative buyout practice (in other words, purchasing struggling companies, turning them around, and selling them for huge profits)--everything from defense contractors to telecommunications and aerospace companies. It is a kind of ruthless investing made popular by the movie Wall Street, and any industry that relies heavily on government regulation is fair game for Carlyle's brand of access capitalism. Carlyle has established itself as the gatekeeper between private business interests and U.S. defense spending. And as the Carlyle investors watched the World Trade towers go down, the group's prospects went up....
NYSE hits all time high and Carlyle gets 'bailout' from Bush in Telecom Industry ! (click on)
Best & Worst Performing Industries (last 3 months)
Best Performing
There is NOTHING in the profits to stockholders of the NYSE that interprets into good paying jobs in the USA. NOTHING.
And with a NYSE this good to a small percentage of American stockholders, I think they can pay more taxes. It in no way interprets into growth in the USA economy so much as 'balouts' through lower interest rates from 'The Fed' to the losers of the exploitation of the American housing sector, so Bush can 'float' his economy at the expense of the future of all Americans.
Worst Performing
I have heard it all now ! This is amazing. Bush has no economy and what does Brooks say? "The Odyssey Years"
Most conservative journalists go to the extreme to make a point, otherwise there wouldn't be any point to make. Right now, mothers all over the country are reading David Brooks' Op-Ed as reassurance their family is not the ONLY one with a twenty-something that is MEANDERING throught life.
To protect and give excuse of a USA economy without direction for their young adults in the job market place, David Brooks without the assistance of Erik Erikson (click here) has 'invented' a new stage of life. "The Odyssey Year."
According to Erik Erikson the twenty somethings are supposed to be engaged in life and making their way to bigger and better things:
Young adulthood: 18 to 35
Ego Development Outcome: Intimacy and Solidarity vs. Isolation
Basic Strengths: Affiliation and Love
In the initial stage of being an adult we seek one or more companions and love. As we try to find mutually satisfying relationships, primarily through marriage and friends, we generally also begin to start a family, though this age has been pushed back for many couples who today don't start their families until their late thirties. If negotiating this stage is successful, we can experience intimacy on a deep level.
If we're not successful, isolation and distance from others may occur. And when we don't find it easy to create satisfying relationships, our world can begin to shrink as, in defense, we can feel superior to others.
Our significant relationships are with marital partners and friends.
Ego Development Outcome: Intimacy and Solidarity vs. Isolation
Basic Strengths: Affiliation and Love
In the initial stage of being an adult we seek one or more companions and love. As we try to find mutually satisfying relationships, primarily through marriage and friends, we generally also begin to start a family, though this age has been pushed back for many couples who today don't start their families until their late thirties. If negotiating this stage is successful, we can experience intimacy on a deep level.
If we're not successful, isolation and distance from others may occur. And when we don't find it easy to create satisfying relationships, our world can begin to shrink as, in defense, we can feel superior to others.
Our significant relationships are with marital partners and friends.
What Brooks exuse making for Bush indicates is that indeed our young adults are isolated from the rewards of life and the chance for assets building because there simply is no economy for them. Just that simple !
Well this mother isn't interested in any decade whereby young adults flounder around the landscape of America looking for a career path while Republicans make lame excuse and write 'feel good articles' to parents don't feel alone in their plight.
No different than the administration of George H. W. Bush, this Bush has caused the collapse of the American infrastructure that provides good paying jobs to young adults.
What next?
Honestly, will people buy anything or what?
October 9, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist
The Odyssey Years
By DAVID BROOKS
There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.
During this decade, 20-somethings go to school and take breaks from school. They live with friends and they live at home. They fall in and out of love. They try one career and then try another.
Their parents grow increasingly anxious. These parents understand that there’s bound to be a transition phase between student life and adult life. But when they look at their own grown children, they see the transition stretching five years, seven and beyond. The parents don’t even detect a clear sense of direction in their children’s lives. They look at them and see the things that are being delayed.
They see that people in this age bracket are delaying marriage. They’re delaying having children. They’re delaying permanent employment. People who were born before 1964 tend to define adulthood by certain accomplishments — moving away from home, becoming financially independent, getting married and starting a family.
In 1960, roughly 70 percent of 30-year-olds had achieved these things. By 2000, fewer than 40 percent of 30-year-olds had done the same.
Yet with a little imagination it’s possible even for baby boomers to understand what it’s like to be in the middle of the odyssey years. It’s possible to see that this period of improvisation is a sensible response to modern conditions.
Two of the country’s best social scientists have been trying to understand this new life phase. William Galston of the Brookings Institution has recently completed a research project for the Hewlett Foundation. Robert Wuthnow of Princeton has just published a tremendously valuable book, “After the Baby Boomers” that looks at young adulthood through the prism of religious practice.
Through their work, you can see the spirit of fluidity that now characterizes this stage. Young people grow up in tightly structured childhoods, Wuthnow observes, but then graduate into a world characterized by uncertainty, diversity, searching and tinkering. Old success recipes don’t apply, new norms have not been established and everything seems to give way to a less permanent version of itself.
Dating gives way to Facebook and hooking up. Marriage gives way to cohabitation. Church attendance gives way to spiritual longing. Newspaper reading gives way to blogging. (In 1970, 49 percent of adults in their 20s read a daily paper; now it’s at 21 percent.)
The job market is fluid. Graduating seniors don’t find corporations offering them jobs that will guide them all the way to retirement. Instead they find a vast menu of information economy options, few of which they have heard of or prepared for.
Social life is fluid. There’s been a shift in the balance of power between the genders. Thirty-six percent of female workers in their 20s now have a college degree, compared with 23 percent of male workers. Male wages have stagnated over the past decades, while female wages have risen.
This has fundamentally scrambled the courtship rituals and decreased the pressure to get married. Educated women can get many of the things they want (income, status, identity) without marriage, while they find it harder (or, if they’re working-class, next to impossible) to find a suitably accomplished mate.
The odyssey years are not about slacking off. There are intense competitive pressures as a result of the vast numbers of people chasing relatively few opportunities. Moreover, surveys show that people living through these years have highly traditional aspirations (they rate parenthood more highly than their own parents did) even as they lead improvising lives.
Rather, what we’re seeing is the creation of a new life phase, just as adolescence came into being a century ago. It’s a phase in which some social institutions flourish — knitting circles, Teach for America — while others — churches, political parties — have trouble establishing ties.
But there is every reason to think this phase will grow more pronounced in the coming years. European nations are traveling this route ahead of us, Galston notes. Europeans delay marriage even longer than we do and spend even more years shifting between the job market and higher education.
And as the new generational structure solidifies, social and economic entrepreneurs will create new rites and institutions. Someday people will look back and wonder at the vast social changes wrought by the emerging social group that saw their situations first captured by “Friends” and later by “Knocked Up.”
Op-Ed Columnist
The Odyssey Years
By DAVID BROOKS
There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.
During this decade, 20-somethings go to school and take breaks from school. They live with friends and they live at home. They fall in and out of love. They try one career and then try another.
Their parents grow increasingly anxious. These parents understand that there’s bound to be a transition phase between student life and adult life. But when they look at their own grown children, they see the transition stretching five years, seven and beyond. The parents don’t even detect a clear sense of direction in their children’s lives. They look at them and see the things that are being delayed.
They see that people in this age bracket are delaying marriage. They’re delaying having children. They’re delaying permanent employment. People who were born before 1964 tend to define adulthood by certain accomplishments — moving away from home, becoming financially independent, getting married and starting a family.
In 1960, roughly 70 percent of 30-year-olds had achieved these things. By 2000, fewer than 40 percent of 30-year-olds had done the same.
Yet with a little imagination it’s possible even for baby boomers to understand what it’s like to be in the middle of the odyssey years. It’s possible to see that this period of improvisation is a sensible response to modern conditions.
Two of the country’s best social scientists have been trying to understand this new life phase. William Galston of the Brookings Institution has recently completed a research project for the Hewlett Foundation. Robert Wuthnow of Princeton has just published a tremendously valuable book, “After the Baby Boomers” that looks at young adulthood through the prism of religious practice.
Through their work, you can see the spirit of fluidity that now characterizes this stage. Young people grow up in tightly structured childhoods, Wuthnow observes, but then graduate into a world characterized by uncertainty, diversity, searching and tinkering. Old success recipes don’t apply, new norms have not been established and everything seems to give way to a less permanent version of itself.
Dating gives way to Facebook and hooking up. Marriage gives way to cohabitation. Church attendance gives way to spiritual longing. Newspaper reading gives way to blogging. (In 1970, 49 percent of adults in their 20s read a daily paper; now it’s at 21 percent.)
The job market is fluid. Graduating seniors don’t find corporations offering them jobs that will guide them all the way to retirement. Instead they find a vast menu of information economy options, few of which they have heard of or prepared for.
Social life is fluid. There’s been a shift in the balance of power between the genders. Thirty-six percent of female workers in their 20s now have a college degree, compared with 23 percent of male workers. Male wages have stagnated over the past decades, while female wages have risen.
This has fundamentally scrambled the courtship rituals and decreased the pressure to get married. Educated women can get many of the things they want (income, status, identity) without marriage, while they find it harder (or, if they’re working-class, next to impossible) to find a suitably accomplished mate.
The odyssey years are not about slacking off. There are intense competitive pressures as a result of the vast numbers of people chasing relatively few opportunities. Moreover, surveys show that people living through these years have highly traditional aspirations (they rate parenthood more highly than their own parents did) even as they lead improvising lives.
Rather, what we’re seeing is the creation of a new life phase, just as adolescence came into being a century ago. It’s a phase in which some social institutions flourish — knitting circles, Teach for America — while others — churches, political parties — have trouble establishing ties.
But there is every reason to think this phase will grow more pronounced in the coming years. European nations are traveling this route ahead of us, Galston notes. Europeans delay marriage even longer than we do and spend even more years shifting between the job market and higher education.
And as the new generational structure solidifies, social and economic entrepreneurs will create new rites and institutions. Someday people will look back and wonder at the vast social changes wrought by the emerging social group that saw their situations first captured by “Friends” and later by “Knocked Up.”
Like I said, Iraq has no sovereignty. Iraq will be devoured by it's neighbors.
Military trucks carry tanks toward Sirnak near the Turkish-Iraq border, Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007, two days after Kurdish rebels killed 15 Turkish soldiers at the Turkey-Iraq border. Turkey said Tuesday it had begun preparations for a military operation into Iraq to chase Kurdish rebels whose deadly attacks on soldiers in recent days triggered public outrage. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
Turkey issues fresh warning of military incursion into Iraq (click here)
20 hours ago
ANKARA (AFP) — Turkey on Tuesday threatened a military incursion in northern Iraq as part of stepped up measures against Kurdish rebel bases there following the deaths of 15 soldiers in weekend attacks.
The government said in a statement that it had given orders allowing for all legal, economic and political measures, "including a cross-border operation if necessary," against a "terrorist organisation in a neighbouring country".
The statement was taken to refer to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) presence in Iraq.
Earlier, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had met senior government and military officials to discuss tougher action against the PKK after the rebels killed 15 soldiers in weekend attacks. The group is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community.
Ankara says the PKK enjoys free movement in northern Iraq and obtains weapons and explosives there for attacks across the border.
It has also accused Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even supporting the rebels....
This ought to be interesting. The USA invades Iraq illegally and now the 'idea' that Turkey is taking over in the northern regions is typical of the anarchic Bush White House. No structure, just shoot from the hip and let's profit in the aftermath.
Iraq is a battlefield. At the time when the USA Executive Branch is finally coming to terms with the civilian element in Iraq, when Maliki FINALLY stood up for his citizens against the USA's military and mercenaries; the country that was once Iraq is turning into "The Battlefield of the Ethnicities."
What a mess. The USA military needs to leave Iraq to prevent a war with Turkey !
It goes like this. The Kurds and Turkey have been enemies for a long time. When Bush invaded Iraq, the Kurds never wanted it because they had set up a democrary under the northern no fly zone and it worked for them. They had their own economy, shadow government and military. The PKK, no matter how unpopular and viewed by most diplomats as a terrorist group, have always wanted to establish a Kurdistan.
Iraqi Kurds warn Turkey (click here)
By Jim Muir BBC correspondent in Erbil, northern Iraq
The Kurds of northern Iraq have warned that there will be clashes if troops from neighbouring Turkey cross the border.
Ankara is demanding that Turkish forces should enter the north of the country to secure Turkey's interests if the US and Britain go ahead with an attack on Iraq.
Kurdish spokesmen have said that their guerrillas who control the north will oppose any Turkish intervention.
Regional tensions are rising in advance of expected military action by the US and its allies and the atmosphere between two of those allies - the Turks and the Iraqi Kurds - is becoming increasingly embittered....
To cut to the bottom line, Bush was never able to build the military of Iraq from the ground up. Quite the contrary. After destroying Saddam's military every self respecting citizen of Iraq ran the other way when Bush attempted to assemble a significant force called Iraqi police and military. There are lots of reasons for that, but, one of the reasons the Kurds don't throw in enthusiastically is because a large force in Iraq would dampen any authority they already have established.
Besides that, Bush is still hoping for his war with Iran. So if he can't put together a substantial Iraqi military that will ally with the USA, he'll settle for a Turkish military allied with the USA to invade Iran. See, with Turkey invading already identied 'terrorist' territory in northern Iraq and southeast Turkey it will 'appear' as though there are actually three allies working together to rid the area of PKK. The three would be the USA, Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds. Therefore, when it comes down to invading Iran there will be a coalition of supposedly three countries, Iraq, Turkey and the USA and it's coalition. But, that isn't the case. Iraq has turned away from putting together an autonomous military as it would overpower and control the outcomes of the already victimized populous of Kurds and Shi'ites.
What is occurring in Iraq today, is a slight of hand by many. By Turkey, by Bush's military and by the Iraqi Central Authority in the Green Zone. If Bush is able to 'pull off' this deception to the American legislature, he'll again take it to the UN and then proceed to override the initiative at the UN as he did with Iraq and invade Iran, but, this time with not just his contingent of military but also a full compliment of ambitious Turkish military INSTEAD of a allied Iraq military. That is why the Petraeus strategy won't work. The so called insurgency will be a predominantly Shi'ite military with loyalities to their religion before their government and they will more than likely 'turn on' the Turks and USA rather than fight along side of them. With that will enter the picture Iran backed, if not allied with Russia and China and then the Middle East will turn into a blood bath.
The Turks don't belong in Iraq, they belong at their borders protecting their sovereignty.
End of Discussion !
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Orientation Map
The Circumpolar Ocean
I think of it as the 'fifth' ocean. There are four official oceans, but, the Circumpolar Ocean of Antarctica can easily be discerned as unique to the others. At any rate if one clicks on this map and enlarges to maximum viewer size, one will note two lines that encircle Antarctica. They are the boundaries to the two 'currents' of this ocean. The outer border is the West Wind Drift and the inner border noted to be a lighter blue line is the East Wind Drift.
Ready for this? Where is the Arctic Ocean melting at a record pace?
October 9, 2007
0730z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite north and west hemisphere
FOUR heat transfer systems in the northern hemisphere over the Arctic Circle all in the proximity of the USA. Amazing. And of course, as George Bush would say, "There is no such thing as global warming and carbon dioxide could never be a toxic gas." Yeah, right. Jerk ! Sacrifice a planet for politics. Ethics? Where? Morality? Where? GREED. Everywhere !
October 9, 2007
0717 gmt
North Pole Satellite
The Arctic Ocean is the recipient of multiple heat transfers. MULTIPLE. Why? Because the blanket of carbon dioxide over the USA is so thick that the air is superhot and the water vapor GONE. The water vapor over the North Amerian continent is 'pulled' from the equator and causes drought in the Amazon and from the North Polar Cap where Polar Bears are dying as I write this. What does the USA do about that? NOTHING.
Did I tell you or did I tell you? Huh? But, there are still chronic heat transfers.
October 9, 2007
1200 pm UTC
Winds of Antarctica (click for 24 hour loop, thank you)
The winds that transcend the arrival of heat transfer are translated into significant velocity that sublimes the ice, causing a rise in water vapor and resulting in snow at lower elevations/altitudes. The snow sometimes is noted to leave the continent and enter the East Wind Drift such as is noted at 11:30, 12 and 3 o'clock.
October 8, 2007
0600 gmt
Antarctica Jet Stream Satellite
THIS satellite 'orientation' is the same as the temperature satellite, but, different 'temporal/time' component. At any rate, this orientation places South America at 10 o'clock, Africa at 2 o'clock and Australia at 5 o'clock. Therefore, the locations of high altitude/elevation heat transfer systems impacting Antarctica is discernable where noted in the satellite below given different 'temporal sync.'
October 9, 2007
0720 gmt
South Pole Satellite
It gets easy from here. Where are the LEAST heat transfers into Antarctica? This is an easy one. South America is at 12 o'clock. Africa is at 3 o'clock. And Australia is at 6:30 o'clock. Where is the 'break' in the heat transfer? You got it. THE PACIFIC OCEAN and where was there TWO, not one, but TWO; typhoons? Yep, THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
October 9, 2007
0900
Antarctica
Three images missing from the above temperature satellite of Antarctic, 6AM, 12PM and 3PM, click at title of entry.
The coldest temperatures of the reporting stations are :
Vostok, Antarctica
6:00 PM VOST
Elevation :: 11220 ft / 3420 m
Temperature :: -79 °F / -61 °C
Humidity :: 73%
Dew Point :: -81 °F / -63 °C
Wind :: 5 mph / 7 km/h from the WSW
Wind Gust :: -
Pressure :: in / hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 12.0 miles / 20.0 kilometers
Aviation
Flight Rule :: VFR ()
Wind Speed :: 5 mph / 7 km/h /
Wind Dir :: 240° (WSW)
Ceiling :: 100000 ft / 100000 m
Amundsen-Scott, AA
12:50 AM NZDT
Elevation :: 9285 ft / 2830 m
Temperature :: -60 °F / -51 °C
Conditions :: Light Snow Grains Blowing Snow
Wind :: 22 mph / 35 km/h / 9.8 m/s from the NNE
Pressure :: 28.07 in / 950 hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 0.4 miles / 0.6 kilometers
UV :: 0 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 600 ft / 182 m
(Above Ground Level)
Aviation
Flight Rule :: LIFR (NZSP)
Wind Speed :: 22 mph / 35 km/h / 9.8 m/s
Wind Dir :: 20° (NNE)
Ceiling :: 600 ft / 182 m
The warmest temperatures of any reporting stations are:
Bellingshausen, Antarctica
12:00 PM GMT
Elevation :: 52 ft / 16 m
Temperature :: 22 °F / -6 °C
Conditions :: Blowing Snow
Humidity :: 65%
Dew Point: :: 15 °F / -9 °C
Wind :: 16 mph / 26 km/h from the West
Wind Gust :: -
Pressure :: 29.12 in / 986 hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 2.0 miles / 4.0 kilometers
Aviation
Flight Rule :: IFR ()
Wind Speed :: 16 mph / 26 km/h /
Wind Dir :: 270° (West)
Ceiling :: 100000 ft / 100000 m
Base Orcadas, Antarctica
10:00 AM GST
Elevation :: 20 ft / 6 m
Temperature :: 22 °F / -6 °C
Conditions :: Light Snow
Humidity :: 92%
Dew Point :: 21 °F / -6 °C
Wind :: 12 mph / 18 km/h from the SW
Wind Gust :: -
Pressure :: 28.76 in / 974 hPa (Rising)
Visibility :: 2.0 miles / 3.0 kilometers
UV :: 1 out of 16
Clouds:
Mostly Cloudy 492 ft / 150 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Toll from Typhoon Lekima rises to 77 in Vietnam
Waves pound a beach in in Vietnam's central Thanh Hoa province October 3, 2007. Typhoon Lekima lashed central Vietnam with torrential rains and high winds, killing several people and blowing roofs off houses, media reports said on Thursday.
Tracking Data
Date: 30 SEP-03 OCT 2007
Typhoon-1 LEKIMA
ADV LAT LON TIME WIND PR STAT
1 15.50 116.30 09/30/00Z 25 - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
2 14.90 114.50 09/30/06Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
3 14.60 113.70 09/30/12Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
4 14.60 113.30 09/30/18Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
5 14.90 113.20 10/01/00Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
6 15.80 112.90 10/01/06Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
7 16.10 112.10 10/01/12Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
8 16.30 111.80 10/01/18Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
9 16.80 111.60 10/02/00Z 60 - TROPICAL STORM
11 17.80 109.90 10/02/12Z 70 - TYPHOON-1
12 18.00 109.10 10/02/18Z 70 - TYPHOON-1
13 17.60 108.20 10/03/00Z 70 - TYPHOON-1
16 18.00 105.40 10/03/18Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
Typhoon-1 LEKIMA
ADV LAT LON TIME WIND PR STAT
1 15.50 116.30 09/30/00Z 25 - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
2 14.90 114.50 09/30/06Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
3 14.60 113.70 09/30/12Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
4 14.60 113.30 09/30/18Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
5 14.90 113.20 10/01/00Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
6 15.80 112.90 10/01/06Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
7 16.10 112.10 10/01/12Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
8 16.30 111.80 10/01/18Z 55 - TROPICAL STORM
9 16.80 111.60 10/02/00Z 60 - TROPICAL STORM
11 17.80 109.90 10/02/12Z 70 - TYPHOON-1
12 18.00 109.10 10/02/18Z 70 - TYPHOON-1
13 17.60 108.20 10/03/00Z 70 - TYPHOON-1
16 18.00 105.40 10/03/18Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
HANOI (AP): Rescuers in Vietnam recovered the bodies of 11 more people killed by floods and landslides triggered by Typhoon Lekima, as authorities on Tuesday tried to reach remote areas which have been isolated for nearly a week.
The discovery of the bodies pushed the death toll across Vietnam to 77, while 11 others remain missing and are feared dead, officials said.
Packing winds of 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph), Typhoon Lekima hit Vietnam central provinces last Wednesday.
The death toll in the worst-hit province of Nghe An rose to 23 after rescue workers found a drowned body Monday night. Five people were missing, said provincial official Tran Gia Danh.
``Water has receded, but very slowly,'' Danh said. ``It has hindered our rescue efforts. Thousands of people, who are still living in isolated villages, really need food to survive.''
Three more bodies were recovered late Monday in Thanh Hoa, bringing the death toll there to 17. Two people were reported missing, said Nguyen Van Hoa, a disaster official.
``We have just been able to reach several parts of Thach Thanh district, as water is still everywhere,'' Hoa said, adding that food aid now is top priority after floodwaters wiped out the provisions of hundreds of thousands farmers.
The bodies of 7 other people were found in the provinces of Ninh Binh, Son La, Hoa Binh and Yen Bai.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and the Vietnamese government estimated that about 10 million Vietnamese had been affected by Typhoon Lekima, said Joe Lowry, a Red Cross official told The Associated Press from Ninh Binh.
The typhoon washed away 6,000 houses, damaged 52,000 houses and destroyed about 80,000 hectares of crops, Lowry said.
``In lowland in Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh and Nghe An, we saw many people living on dikes, roofs of houses or higher areas, which is very dangerous'', he said, adding that besides food, clean water, people also now shelters and protection from mosquitoes.
Vietnam's Department of Floods and Storms Control said earlier the initial damage estimate from the typhoon was 2,100 billion dong (US$131 million; euro93 million).
Authorities are rushing aid to hundreds of thousands of people. Nearly 5,000 soldiers and more than 30,000 militiamen have been mobilized to help people deal with the aftermath of the flooding, Vietnam's Department of Floods and Storms Control .
Vietnam is prone to floods and storms that kill hundreds of people each year.
The discovery of the bodies pushed the death toll across Vietnam to 77, while 11 others remain missing and are feared dead, officials said.
Packing winds of 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph), Typhoon Lekima hit Vietnam central provinces last Wednesday.
The death toll in the worst-hit province of Nghe An rose to 23 after rescue workers found a drowned body Monday night. Five people were missing, said provincial official Tran Gia Danh.
``Water has receded, but very slowly,'' Danh said. ``It has hindered our rescue efforts. Thousands of people, who are still living in isolated villages, really need food to survive.''
Three more bodies were recovered late Monday in Thanh Hoa, bringing the death toll there to 17. Two people were reported missing, said Nguyen Van Hoa, a disaster official.
``We have just been able to reach several parts of Thach Thanh district, as water is still everywhere,'' Hoa said, adding that food aid now is top priority after floodwaters wiped out the provisions of hundreds of thousands farmers.
The bodies of 7 other people were found in the provinces of Ninh Binh, Son La, Hoa Binh and Yen Bai.
The International Federation of the Red Cross and the Vietnamese government estimated that about 10 million Vietnamese had been affected by Typhoon Lekima, said Joe Lowry, a Red Cross official told The Associated Press from Ninh Binh.
The typhoon washed away 6,000 houses, damaged 52,000 houses and destroyed about 80,000 hectares of crops, Lowry said.
``In lowland in Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh and Nghe An, we saw many people living on dikes, roofs of houses or higher areas, which is very dangerous'', he said, adding that besides food, clean water, people also now shelters and protection from mosquitoes.
Vietnam's Department of Floods and Storms Control said earlier the initial damage estimate from the typhoon was 2,100 billion dong (US$131 million; euro93 million).
Authorities are rushing aid to hundreds of thousands of people. Nearly 5,000 soldiers and more than 30,000 militiamen have been mobilized to help people deal with the aftermath of the flooding, Vietnam's Department of Floods and Storms Control .
Vietnam is prone to floods and storms that kill hundreds of people each year.
When typhoons occur in the West Pacific there is a huge heat load delivered into the ocean. It relieves Antarctica of 'some' of it's burden. Video.
People run away from high waves at the levee in Lianyungang, a coastal city in east China's Jiangsu province, Oct. 7, 2007. Affected by Typhoon Krosa, heavy wind swept through the sea area near Lianyungang on Sunday and surged big waves as high as 10 meters. (Xinhua Photo)
Typhoon Krosa hits East China, one mln evacuated (click on title to entry)
BEIJING, Oct. 8 -- Typhoon Krosa has slammed into the country's eastern coastal areas. Almost 1.5 million people have been evacuated from Fujian and Zhejiang. But no causalities have been reported so far.
Meanwhile, provincial governments have been preparing relief materials to be distributed to the affected areas. David Rathbun has the latest.
Krosa, the 16th typhoon this year, hit land about 3:30 pm on Sunday near the borders of Zhejiang's Cangnan County and Fujian's Fuding City. By 5 pm, it had weakened to a tropical storm.
The powerful storm was moving northward at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. It was expected to sweep through Zhejiang Province before reaching the East China Sea.
The Zhejiang Provincial Flood Prevention and Drought Relief Headquarters says over 1.1 million people had been evacuated by 9 pm on Sunday.
In addition, around 75,000 vessels were recalled to harbor as a precautionary measure ahead of the typhoon.
The Fujian Provincial Civil Affairs Department has allocated 3.5 million yuan in relief funds. It has also prepared tents, quilts, rice and bottled water for those affected.
Schools, airports, expressways and shipping services in some areas have been shut down.
Meanwhile, the provincial governments of Fujian and Zhejiang have been warned of more strong rainstorms and landslides in coming days.
Fujian and Zhejiang have also been closely monitoring landslide-prone areas and examining reservoir dams. On Sunday morning, some reservoirs began to discharge water.
Earlier, Krosa swept through Taiwan where it left at least four people dead. Two people are still missing and 52 others have been injured.
(Source: CCTV.com)
Meanwhile, provincial governments have been preparing relief materials to be distributed to the affected areas. David Rathbun has the latest.
Krosa, the 16th typhoon this year, hit land about 3:30 pm on Sunday near the borders of Zhejiang's Cangnan County and Fujian's Fuding City. By 5 pm, it had weakened to a tropical storm.
The powerful storm was moving northward at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. It was expected to sweep through Zhejiang Province before reaching the East China Sea.
The Zhejiang Provincial Flood Prevention and Drought Relief Headquarters says over 1.1 million people had been evacuated by 9 pm on Sunday.
In addition, around 75,000 vessels were recalled to harbor as a precautionary measure ahead of the typhoon.
The Fujian Provincial Civil Affairs Department has allocated 3.5 million yuan in relief funds. It has also prepared tents, quilts, rice and bottled water for those affected.
Schools, airports, expressways and shipping services in some areas have been shut down.
Meanwhile, the provincial governments of Fujian and Zhejiang have been warned of more strong rainstorms and landslides in coming days.
Fujian and Zhejiang have also been closely monitoring landslide-prone areas and examining reservoir dams. On Sunday morning, some reservoirs began to discharge water.
Earlier, Krosa swept through Taiwan where it left at least four people dead. Two people are still missing and 52 others have been injured.
(Source: CCTV.com)
Tracking Data
Date: 01-08 OCT 2007
Super Typhoon-4 KROSA
ADV LAT LON TIME WIND PR STAT
1 17.70 130.90 10/01/12Z 25 - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
2 16.60 130.40 10/02/08Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
2A 16.60 130.50 10/01/18Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
3 16.40 131.10 10/02/00Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
4 16.80 131.40 10/02/20Z 60 - TROPICAL STORM
5 17.00 131.10 10/02/12Z 65 - TYPHOON-1
6 16.90 130.80 10/02/18Z 75 - TYPHOON-1
7 17.00 130.20 10/03/00Z 75 - TYPHOON-1
9 17.70 129.30 10/03/12Z 95 - TYPHOON-2
10 18.30 128.80 10/03/18Z 120 - TYPHOON-4
11 18.60 128.00 10/04/00Z 120 - TYPHOON-4
12 19.20 127.30 10/04/06Z 115 - TYPHOON-4
13 19.90 126.60 10/04/12Z 120 - TYPHOON-4
14 20.20 125.70 10/04/18Z 125 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
15 20.40 125.20 10/05/00Z 130 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
16 21.00 125.00 10/05/06Z 130 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
17 21.80 124.80 10/05/12Z 130 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
18 22.80 124.00 10/05/18Z 130 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
19 23.70 123.50 10/06/00Z 125 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
20 24.50 122.30 10/06/06Z 125 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
21 24.40 121.40 10/06/12Z 115 - TYPHOON-4
22 25.60 121.20 10/06/18Z 90 - TYPHOON-2
23 25.90 120.60 10/07/00Z 75 - TYPHOON-1
24 26.70 120.40 10/07/06Z 50 - TROPICAL STORM
25 27.60 120.30 10/07/12Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
26 27.60 120.00 10/07/18Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
27 27.70 120.00 10/08/00Z 40 - TROPICAL STORM
28 27.80 120.20 10/08/06Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
29 28.00 120.00 10/08/12Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
30 29.70 123.00 10/08/18Z 25 - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
+12 30.20 124.60 10/09/06Z 20 - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
Super Typhoon-4 KROSA
ADV LAT LON TIME WIND PR STAT
1 17.70 130.90 10/01/12Z 25 - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
2 16.60 130.40 10/02/08Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
2A 16.60 130.50 10/01/18Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
3 16.40 131.10 10/02/00Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
4 16.80 131.40 10/02/20Z 60 - TROPICAL STORM
5 17.00 131.10 10/02/12Z 65 - TYPHOON-1
6 16.90 130.80 10/02/18Z 75 - TYPHOON-1
7 17.00 130.20 10/03/00Z 75 - TYPHOON-1
9 17.70 129.30 10/03/12Z 95 - TYPHOON-2
10 18.30 128.80 10/03/18Z 120 - TYPHOON-4
11 18.60 128.00 10/04/00Z 120 - TYPHOON-4
12 19.20 127.30 10/04/06Z 115 - TYPHOON-4
13 19.90 126.60 10/04/12Z 120 - TYPHOON-4
14 20.20 125.70 10/04/18Z 125 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
15 20.40 125.20 10/05/00Z 130 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
16 21.00 125.00 10/05/06Z 130 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
17 21.80 124.80 10/05/12Z 130 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
18 22.80 124.00 10/05/18Z 130 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
19 23.70 123.50 10/06/00Z 125 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
20 24.50 122.30 10/06/06Z 125 - SUPER TYPHOON-4
21 24.40 121.40 10/06/12Z 115 - TYPHOON-4
22 25.60 121.20 10/06/18Z 90 - TYPHOON-2
23 25.90 120.60 10/07/00Z 75 - TYPHOON-1
24 26.70 120.40 10/07/06Z 50 - TROPICAL STORM
25 27.60 120.30 10/07/12Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
26 27.60 120.00 10/07/18Z 45 - TROPICAL STORM
27 27.70 120.00 10/08/00Z 40 - TROPICAL STORM
28 27.80 120.20 10/08/06Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
29 28.00 120.00 10/08/12Z 35 - TROPICAL STORM
30 29.70 123.00 10/08/18Z 25 - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
+12 30.20 124.60 10/09/06Z 20 - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
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