Never forget
Vietnam veteran Lyle Hurley is reflected in the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC, this week. Organisers commemorated the 25th anniversary of the wall with "The Reading of the Names", the four-day event during which the more than 58 000 names inscribed on the memorial are read aloud.


American deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan (click here)
November 7, 2007
According to an Associated Press count, at least 3,856 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003. At least 28,385 have been wounded, the military says. In Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, at least 387 US personnel have died and 1,742 have been wounded since late 2001, according the Defense Department....


The Bush/Cheney Administration and their pandering media report violence in Iraq is down. There are current estimates of 1 million dead and now a report from inside Iraq to answer the 'Benchmarks' that a full 14% of Iraqis are displaced. There is a reason for the drop in violence and it has NOTHING to do with success in Iraq. Annihilating people, either through death or displacement is a real strategy to MAKE THE NUMBERS look good. I knew this was the reason and stated same many times on this blog, I was just waiting for the reports to manifest. My estimates were about 8 percent if I recall. It's about double of that, not including deaths.



Report: 14 percent of Iraqis now displaced (click here)
Posted on Tuesday, November 6, 2007
WASHINGTON — The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction offered a generally optimistic picture of security developments in Iraq in his quarterly report to Congress on Tuesday, but noted that while violence was down, one of every seven Iraqis — 14 percent of Iraq's population — is now displaced by the war.
The report said that electricity production in Iraq reached its highest level since early 2003, in part because insurgent attacks on power-lines and repair crews have declined. Corruption, however, remains a major problem, the report said.
The deaths of 72 civilian contractors working on U.S.-funded projects in Iraq were reported to the U.S. Department of Labor during the third quarter of the year, a 22 percent increase over the average of previous quarters, the report said.
The deaths brought to 1,073 the number of civilians working on U.S.-funded projects who've died in Iraq since the war there began, the report said. The report did not say how the 72 died.
Private companies with U.S. contracts are required to report any deaths to the Department of Labor under U.S. regulations.
The report, which was released on the same day Special Inspector General Stuart Bowen testified before a congressional subcommittee, also said that the number of mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone in Baghdad during the quarter had declined to the lowest levels in a year. But mortar and rocket attacks on Camp Victory, where the U.S. military is headquarters, increased during the same period. Attacks there killed one person on Sept. 11 and two people on October 11, the report said.

Special Inspector General for the Reconstruction of Iraq

http://www.sigir.mil/reports/quarterlyreports/Oct07/pdf/Report_-_October_2007.pdf

Seven killed in Iraq attacks (click here)
2 hours ago
BAGHDAD (AFP) — At least seven people were killed on Saturday in Iraq, a day after a suicide bombing claimed the lives of four tribal leaders fighting Al-Qaeda, security officials said.
Four civilians were killed when a roadside bomb struck their bus in the centre of the northern city of Mosul, police Brigadier General Abdel Karim al-Juburi said.
Another six people, including a woman and her daughter, were wounded in the morning attack in the city's Raas al-Jadha area, he said.
Two people were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdad, while a street vendor walking on a road in the city of Baquba was shot dead by unknown gunmen, security officials said.
The early morning bombing in Baghdad's eastern Al-Baladiyat neighbourhood that also wounded seven civilians was aimed at police but instead hit a minibus, an official said.
"The explosion missed a police patrol and ripped through a bus carrying civilians," he said.



Mass grave of 17 bodies found in Baghdad (click here)
Malaysia Sun
Wednesday 7th November, 2007 (IANS)
Baghdad, Nov 7 (Xinhua) Iraqi troops have discovered the remains of some 17 bodies dumped in an area in the volatile province of Diyala, a source from provincial and Iraq liaison office said Wednesday.The badly decomposed bodies were found Tuesday night in a small river near the village of Hashimiyat, west of Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, said the source from the provincial joint coordination centre on condition of anonymity.'The security forces could not retrieve the bodies because we need some back up as the area was booby-trapped,' the source said.On Tuesday, the Iraqi security forces announced they had discovered the remains of 22 bodies in a mass grave in the western province of Anbar.Diyala in northeast of Baghdad has long been the hot-bed of insurgency led by Al Qaeda in Iraq network, and sectarian violence between the Sunni and Shiite communities.





Blackwater's impunity (click here)
Neither Iraqi nor U.S. laws apply to its contractors, so a controversial shooting may go unpunished.
November 9, 2007
'They can get away with murder" has been the cry of critics of hiring private companies such as Blackwater to provide security for the U.S. military and diplomats in Iraq and other war zones. Now it looks as though the critics may be right -- and in the worst way.
Legal experts say the Blackwater contractors accused of killing 17 Iraqi civilians and wounding 24 others while guarding a State Department convoy in Baghdad in September cannot be prosecuted under either Iraqi or U.S. law -- even if an FBI investigation validates the Iraqi view that the contractors opened fire unprovoked. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, quizzed by a congressional committee last month, agreed that "there is a lacuna in our law about this. And even though this particular case . . . has been referred to the Department of Justice for further action, we believe that there is a hole." What Rice didn't say was that the State Department has been aware of that "hole" for at least two years and has rejected Pentagon suggestions to plug it by making security contractors subject to military law...



Iraq is now policing the USA. When is the war going to be DEFUNDED !?!?!?!



An Act of Terrorism? Blackwater Sniper Shot Dead Three Iraqi Guards At Iraqi Media Center in February (click here)
Legal and political woes continue for the private military firm Blackwater. Iraq's Interior Minister announced this week he would authorize raids against Western military firms to ensure compliance with Iraqi weaponry laws. Scrutiny of the private military industry in Iraq has peaked following the killing of seventeen Iraqis by Blackwater guards in September.
Meanwhile, here in the United States, the Bush administration has shown its first audible signs of distancing itself from Blackwater. On Tuesday, the White House quietly missed a deadline to weigh in on a wrongful death case brought by families of three American servicemembers who died when a Blackwater aircraft crashed in Afghanistan. Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, a major Republican donor, said: "After the President has said that as commander-in-chief he is ultimately responsible for contractors on the battlefield, it is disappointing that his administration has been unwilling to make that interest clear before the courts.”...

US Releases 9 Iranians in Iraq (click here)
By LAUREN FRAYER – 7 hours ago
BAGHDAD (AP) — In a possible break in the U.S.-Iranian standoff in Iraq, the U.S. military on Friday released nine Iranians no longer deemed a threat, including two accused of membership in an elite force suspected of arming Shiite militias.
The handover — planned for several days — still leaves at least three high-profile Iranians in U.S. custody and doesn't significantly ease the many disputes between Washington and Tehran in Iraq. But it could open the door for another round of groundbreaking talks between the two nations, which have been without diplomatic relations for 28 years.
It also is seen as a possible gesture for Iran's pledge to block suspected cross-border weapons shipments to armed Shiite factions, whose attacks have been sharply reduced.
American soldiers delivered the nine men to the offices of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, where they were met by Iran's ambassador, according to Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. The former captives arrived in Tehran later Friday, Iranian state TV said.
The group included two men — identified by the military as Brujerd Chegini and Hamid Reza Asgari Shukuh — who were among five captured when U.S. forces stormed an Iranian government office in the northern city of Irbil in January....


2007 Is Deadliest Year for U.S. Troops in Iraq (click here)
BAGHDAD, Nov. 6 — Six American soldiers were killed in three separate attacks in Iraq on Monday, the military said Tuesday, taking the number of deaths this year to 852. The toll makes 2007 the deadliest year of the war for United States troops.
Military officials announced the discovery of a mass grave holding 22 bodies in a rural area north of Falluja. They also said that nine Iranians being held in Iraq would soon be released, including two of the five who were detained during a January raid of a consulate office in Erbil....


The entire region, from Pakistan to Afghanistan, Kashmir and Iraq remain unstable and to think Turkey wants more chaos in a place where the West can't even hold it's own anymore. Musharraf as a coup leader in Pakistan does little to nothing to improve the instability in the region. He simply has provided comfort to the enemy, namely the Taliban, while they have regrouped and redeployed against the West's forces.

Nine troops dead in Afghan ambush (click here)

This year has been one of the deadliest for coalition forcesSix US soldiers and three Afghan troops have been killed in fighting in eastern Afghanistan, Nato officials have said.
Militants ambushed a patrol of Afghan soldiers and US troops from Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Nuristan province.
The ambush is one of the costliest for US forces this year, already the deadliest for the US since it helped overthrow the Taleban in 2001.
Eight US troops and 11 Afghans were also wounded, Isaf officials said.
The Taleban said they carried out the attack, which took place on Friday.
The rebels attacked from several positions simultaneously with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades as the patrol returned from a meeting with village elders, said Isaf spokesman Brig Gen Carlos Branco...


Iraq's Kurdish leaders walk fine line (click here)
Public's distrust of Turkey complicates regional government's tack on PKK crisis
By Bay Fang Tribune correspondent
November 11, 2007
ZAWITA, Iraq — Hamid Nabi remembers 1988 like it was yesterday. Stringing his plastic worry beads through wind-chapped hands, the retired Kurdish fighter recalls watching his village razed to the ground by Saddam Hussein's bulldozers. He remembers carrying his month-old son into the mountains with thousands of other Kurds to escape the government's chemical bombs.
But when asked who he considers his greatest enemy, the man who spent half his life fighting Hussein's army readily answered, "I hate Turkey more than Saddam. Turkey is more dangerous than Saddam was—if it could, it would destroy all the Kurdish villages in the country."
Nabi and his neighbors in this village 30 miles from the Turkish border say they are ready to take up arms if Turkey invades northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish rebels. "When Turkey said, 'We're on the border,' we also say, 'We're on the border,' " he said....

Morning Papers - continued...

Michael Moore Today

www.michaelmoore.com

Capitol Hill Goes 'SiCKO'

'SiCKO' DVDs Delivered to All 535 Members of Congress

SiCKO Waiting Room

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/dvd/

I have my copy on Pre-Order at Amazon.

Mike Joins Conyers - SiCKO DVDs Delivered to Congressmembers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f47SPW-lVgU&eurl=http://www.michaelmoore.com/


KVMR and all the local Public Radio Stations need your support and BEST 'listening ear.' Thank you.

KVMR's Program Director Steve Baker speaks with Oscar winning director Michael Moore
Oscar winning director Michael Moore helped kick off KVMR’s "Autumn of Love" with an exclusive interview Oct. 29th, Mon. with KVMR's Program Director Steve Baker. Michael spoke passionately about the value and need for independent media like KVMR as well as his new film SiCKO and some of the 80 extra minutes in the DVD release.
Click here to listen to KVMR's exclusive interview

http://kvmr.org/programs/talkies.html


Podcast

http://audio.kvmr.org/mmoore29oct2007.mp3


November 14th Across the U.S.A.

Search for SiCKO House Parties
SiCKO House Parties

Welcome to Democracy for America. On November 14th, people across the country are going to be gathering in homes and classrooms to watch SiCKO and take the first step in building a people powered movement for Health Care for America.
The insurance companies and special interests, don't want you to see this movie. They know that people power can change the system. When you attend a SiCKO house party, you'll see the movie, take action, and call in to a very special conference call with film maker Michael Moore and DFA Chair Jim Dean.
That's why over 200 DFA groups around the country have already set-up SiCKO house parties. Search for the one near you below.

http://www.dfalink.com/search_sicko.php


Councilman supports investigating Giuliani's 9/11 failures

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kzhiBudWRw


Charger Day Freeway Blog
The last week has been rough in some ways. My office was closed for the week because of the wildfires ravaging San Diego County. The fires have really affected everyone, and though I was fortunate enough that no members of my immediate family were evacuated or lost their homes, I do know several people who were evacuees. I work for a large company, and I'm sure that when I get back to work on Monday, there will be some bad news regarding co-workers, I know that many people I work with live in Encinitas, or Campo, or Poway.

http://sdpeaceguyblogger.blogspot.com/2007/10/charger-day-freeway-blog.html



October 29th, 2007 2:34 pm
'I Don't Think This Place Is Worth Another Soldier's Life'
After 14 months in a Baghdad district torn by mounting sectarian violence, members of one U.S. unit are tired, bitter and skeptical.
By Joshua Partlow
BAGHDAD, Oct. 26 Their line of tan Humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles creeps through another Baghdad afternoon. At this pace, an excruciating slowness, they strain to see everything, hoping the next manhole cover, the next rusted barrel, does not hide another bomb. A few bullets pass overhead, but they don't worry much about those.
"I hate this road," someone says over the radio.
They stop, look around. The streets of Sadiyah are deserted again. To the right, power lines slump down into the dirt. To the left, what was a soccer field is now a pasture of trash, combusting and smoking in the sun. Packs of skinny wild dogs trot past walls painted with slogans of sectarian hate.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10497



FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA
By Al Kamen
Friday, October 26, 2007; Page A19
FEMA has truly learned the lessons of Katrina. Even its handling of the media has improved dramatically. For example, as the California wildfires raged Tuesday, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing.
Reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices.
They were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said -- no questions. Parts of the briefing were carried live on Fox News (see the Fox News video of the news conference carried on the Think Progress Web site), MSNBC and other outlets.
Johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. The first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to Southern California and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. He responded eloquently.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/25/AR2007102502488.html



October 29th, 2007 2:14 pm
Health Sector Puts Its Money on Democrats
By Raymond Hernandez and Robert Pear
WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 — In a reversal from past election cycles, Democratic candidates for president are outpacing Republicans in donations from the health care industry, even as the leading Democrats in the field offer proposals that have caused deep anxiety in some of its sectors.
Hospitals, drug makers, doctors and insurers gave candidates in both parties more than $11 million in the first nine months of this year, according to an analysis of campaign finance records done for The New York Times by the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent group that tracks campaign finance.
In all, the Democratic presidential candidates have raised about $6.5 million from the industry, compared with nearly $4.8 million for the Republican candidates. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has amassed the most of any candidate, even as she calls for changes to the health care system that could pose serious financial challenges to private insurers, drug companies and other sectors.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10496



October 27th, 2007 3:38 pm
Friends Come To The Aid Of 9/11 First Responder
NBC10
BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- A fundraiser was held Friday night to help a man who used to make a living helping others.
The Jersey Shore resident was one of the first responders to the attacks at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. But as NBC 10’s Doug Shimell explained, these days, he's in need of a helping hand himself.
"This is not about me. This is about all the 9/11 first responders and rescue workers. Those of us that are sick and dying. We just want our dignity,” Charlie Giles said.
Giles, a former N.Y. EMT, can't work due to lung problems caused by the dust and debris at ground zero. The 9/11 Victims’ Fund hasn't paid his medical bills and his Barnegat Township, N.J., home is in foreclosure. For those reasons, colleagues and local officials went to work to help Giles out. It has become a rescue mission for the rescuer.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=10490



I'll go as so far as to say, the USA is not only spying on Average Americans, but, passing information onto 'favorite' media outlets to exploit for their listening audience.

Big Brother Spying on Americans' Internet Data?
AT&T Whistleblower Describes Secret Room That Sends Internet Data to Government
By Z. BYRON WOLF
Nov. 7, 2007 —
It would be difficult to say whose e-mail, text messages or Internet phone calls the government is monitoring at any given time, but according to a former AT&T employee, the government has warrantless access to a great deal of Internet traffic should they care to take a peek.
As information is traded between users it flows also into a locked, secret room on the sixth floor of AT&T's San Francisco offices and other rooms around the country -- where the U.S. government can sift through and find the information it wants, former AT&T employee Mark Klein alleged Wednesday at a press conference on Capitol Hill.
"An exact copy of all Internet traffic that flowed through critical AT&T cables -- e-mails, documents, pictures, Web browsing, voice-over-Internet phone conversations, everything -- was being diverted to equipment inside the secret room," he said.
Klein, who worked for more than 20 years as a technician at AT&T, said that the highly secretive electronics-focused National Security Agency began working with telecom companies to gain wholesale access to vast amounts of data traveling over the Internet.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=3833172

Click above to enter secret room


AT&T whistleblower: I was forced to connect 'big brother machine'
David Edwards and Jason Rhyne
Published: Wednesday November 7, 2007
A former technician at AT&T, who alleges that the telecom forwards virtually all of its internet traffic into a "secret room" to facilitate government spying, says the whole operation reminds him of something out of Orwell's 1984.
Appearing on MSNBC's Countdown program, whistleblower Mark Klein told Keith Olbermann that a copy of all internet traffic passing over AT&T lines was copied into a locked room at the company's San Francisco office -- to which only employees with National Security Agency clearance had access -- via a cable splitting device.
"My job was to connect circuits into the splitter device which was hard-wired to the secret room," said Klein. "And effectively, the splitter copied the entire data stream of those internet cables into the secret room -- and we're talking about phone conversations, email web browsing, everything that goes across the internet."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Countdown_Telcom_whistleblower_describes_secret_room_1107.html



H. R. 676, “The United States National Health Insurance Act,”
Or “Expanded & Improved Medicare For All”
"Of all the forms of inequality,
injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In 2003, Representative Conyers first introduced HR 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act (USNHI). This bill would establish a unique American universal health insurance program with single payer financing. As a publicly financed, privately delivered health care system that improves and expands the already existing Medicare program, it would be available to all U.S. residents, and all residents living in U.S. territories.
The goal of the legislation is to ensure that all Americans will have access, guaranteed by law, to the highest quality and most cost effective health care services regardless of their employment, income or health care status. They would receive all medically necessary primary care, dental, mental health, prescription drugs, and long term care services by the physician of their choice, with no restrictions on what providers they could visit. With 47 million uninsured Americans, and another 50 million who are underinsured, the time has come to change our inefficient and costly fragmented non-system of health care.

http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676.htm



Why are the top Democratic candidates speechless about real health care reform?
Al Gore, Noble Peace Prize winner and the man who won popular vote for U.S. President in 2000, has come out in support of single-payer national health insurance. Why are the top Democratic candidates scared to do so?

http://www.sickocure.org/speechless/



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



November 7th, 2007 3:46 pm
Moore: GOP bears number of the beast
The Examiner
The GOP isn’t just misguided, according to controversial liberal filmmaker Michael Moore — it’s downright satanic.
Moore appeared via satellite at the National Press Club on Tuesday to promote the DVD release of his documentary “Sicko” and push for Rep. John Conyers’ national health insurance bill, HR 676.
“Remember, it’s 676,” said Moore. “666 is the other people.” Snap!
He did soften the blow a bit later, adding, “I think most Republican candidates do care about sick children. I just think they care more about the money from their contributors” in the insurance industry.
“To those of you who sided against the children of America” on the recent votes to expand the SCHIP program, Moore said, “enjoy your last year in Congress.”
Immediately after the news conference, a group of nurses and doctors took a van up to Capitol Hill, where they distributed copies of the DVD to every congressional office.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10520



This is Bush's America

Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas (click here)

Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas

Monthly Rankings

Not Seasonally Adjusted

Sept. 2007

The lowest unemployment rates in the nation are ALL Red States until one comes to #50 and the first Blue State of Pennsylvania chimes in at 3.2%. There is something VERY, VERY "W"rong with this picture. The Republicans have SYSTEMATICALLY provided economic pressure to Blue State Voters to force the electorate to change their voting preference. Now in Flint, Michigan with an unemployment rate of 8.3% land is being sold for $1.00 to neighbors and churches to stop the real estate degradation of a planned assault by Republican legislators.

This is unconscionable.

When will America wake up to the fact the Republican Party is grossly corrupt, immoral and fiscal opportunist with complete disregard for the well being of the Constitution and nation?

When?

What does it take to have the country realize that Republicans are liars and manipulators?

A war?

An illegal war?

That didn't even do it !

Flint, Michigan Sheds Foreclosed Properties
by Tracy Samilton
Listen Now [7 min 46 sec] add to playlist
Morning Edition, October 30, 2007 · Abandoned homes are a big problem in Flint, Mich., a former manufacturing stronghold that is losing jobs and residents.
In some neighborhoods five or more houses in a row are boarded up, as one owner after another packs up and leaves. Once they have sat vacant too long bulldozers come to demolish them.
But the county is stepping in and taking control of the city's tax-foreclosed properties, selling plots to neighbors for a dollar or paying churches to maintain them.
The Genesee County Land Bank is demolishing the abandoned homes in an attempt to end decay and help Flint downsize gracefully.
The lots are sold to the neighbor for a dollar, or turned into parks.
Dan Kildee is Genesee County's treasurer and the chairman of the Land Bank. He says the old system, where the county auctioned tax-foreclosed properties to the highest bidder, worked against the city's interests. The amount of money raised wasn't that much and the result was often a spiral from bad to worse.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15766619



November 6th, 2007 12:41 pm
Parents Upset Over Expulsions For Student Protest
25 Berwyn Students Disciplined For Participating In Anti-War Protest
BERWYN, Ill. (AP) ― Twenty-five students who staged an anti-war protest at Morton West High School in Berwyn last week have been punished, including 10-day suspensions and possible expulsions.
Parents of some suspended students are outraged, saying school officials went too far. They plan to meet at the high school today and demand the students be returned to class.
"This is about freedom of speech," said Adam Szwarek, father of a sophomore who was suspended after the sit-in last Thursday. Szwarek says his son now faces an expulsion hearing. "There has to be consequences, but 10-day [suspensions]?"
Szwarek and other parents insisted the protest against the Iraq war was peaceful. The kids say the sit-in was meant as an alternative to regular school visits by military recruiters.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10516



To: Morton West School District
In Defense of the Morton West Antiwar Students
We are writing in defense of the students who now face excessive disciplinary actions at the hands of various Morton West school administrators. Our sympathies lie with the courageous and moral struggle that the students have taken up, and with their parents who still support them. The struggle for a peaceful and just society absent of war should not be met with punishment, but should be supported by the community as a whole, especially from within the educational setting. Furthermore, It is our firm belief that an injury to freedom for students anywhere is an injury to freedom for students everywhere. This is why we urge all Morton West administrators to drop all disciplinary action against the said students, and to remove any indications of said events from their permanent records. We urge you to respect these students right to free expression now and in the future.
(Written by Columbia College Chicago Students for a Democratic Society)
Sincerely,
The Undersigned

http://www.petitiononline.com/mortonw/


7443 Total Signatures

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?mortonw



November 4th, 2007 1:55 pm
Pentagon says declaration does not affect support
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- The Bush administration says it's deeply disturbed by the state of emergency in Pakistan and is urging a swift return to a democratic and civilian government.
At the same time, the Pentagon says General Pervez Musharraf's declaration does not impact U.S. military support of Pakistan.
A Pentagon spokesman says Defense Secretary Robert Gates is monitoring the situation while en route to China.
Geoff Morrell tells reporters, "Pakistan is a very important ally in the war on terror and he is closely following the developments there."
Morrell also says the emergency declaration "does not impact our military support of Pakistan" or its efforts in the war on terror.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10508



November 4th, 2007 1:56 pm
Musharraf declares state of emergency, suspends constitution
By Matthew Pennington / Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution and deployed troops in the capital Saturday, declaring that rising Islamic extremism had forced him to take emergency measures that included replacing the nation's chief justice and blacking out the independent media that refused to support him.
Authorities began rounding up opposition politicians despite calls from Washington and other Western allies not to take authoritarian measures.
The U.S. called for Musharraf to restore democracy. However, the Pentagon said the emergency declaration does not affect U.S. military support for Pakistan and its efforts in the war on terrorism. Britain said it was deeply concerned.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10509



"They dragged us out, including the women."

November 4th, 2007 2:20 pm
Pakistani police detain 500 activists
By Matthew Pennington / Associated Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Police rounded up hundreds of opposition leaders and rights activists Sunday after Pakistan's military ruler suspended the constitution, ousted the top judge and deployed troops to fight what he called rising Islamic extremism.
Increasingly concerned by the unfolding crisis, the Bush administration said Sunday that American aid to Pakistan would be reviewed. The U.S. has provided about $11 billion to Pakistan since 2001, when Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, allied with the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"Some of the aid that goes to Pakistan is directly related to the counterterrorism mission," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters traveling with her. "We just have to review the situation. But I would be very surprised if anyone wants the president to set aside or ignore" the responsibility to national security that can come through such cooperation, she said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10510



KUCINICH PUSHES IMPEACHMENT MEASURE
Posted: Tuesday, November 06, 2007 3:37 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: White House, Congress, Kucinich
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
Something interesting is happening in your US House.
Kucinich wants to impeach the vice president. We knew that. But today, using special procedures of the House, he put forward his resolution of impeachment.
Before Kucinich could get a debate and a vote, Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer stood up and moved to "table" -- i.e., kill -- the resolution. He knew that Republicans would just as soon see the resolution debated and have Democrats put on the spot to vote for or against the Kucinich measure.
At first, a whole bunch of Republicans voted with Hoyer to kill the resolution. Then they came to their senses and are in the process of switching their votes before the gavel comes down.
*** Update *** Now we are being treated to the spectacle of Democrats who had voted to table/kill the measure changing THEIR votes. They don't want to be in a postion of defending Dick Cheney if they don't have to.
*** Update II *** The House has just voted to refer the Kucinich impeachment resolution to committee. That means it's dead.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/06/451550.aspx

continued...

Tidal surge hits parts of Europe (Video)

November 10, 2007
0134 gmt
North Pole Satellite

The storms over Europe are coming right off the Greenland Ice sheet.


North Sea surge threatens east coast flood defences (click here)
Mark Tran and agencies
Thursday November 8, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Residents along the east coast of England, from Yorkshire to Kent, have been warned of an "extreme danger to life and property" as six severe flood warnings were issued by the Environment Agency (EA).
The Dartford Creek and Thames barriers were set to close tonight to defend against the surge, the agency said.
Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, told MPs that a tidal surge coming down the North Sea could "overtop" flood defences in the region....

November 8, 2007
United Kingdom
Photographer states :: I didn't take this picture, but this shows the effects of the highest storm surge across large swathes of Eastern England this morning.. the largest and potentially most dangerous since 1953.

Morning Papers - continued...

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto waves to her supporters and media from behind the barbed wire outside her residence in Islamabad.Photo: AFP

Sydney Morning Herald

Bhutto released from house arrest
November 10, 2007 - 11:51AM
Pakistan freed former prime minister Benazir Bhutto from house arrest, a senior interior ministry official said, after she was earlier blocked from leading a rally against emergency rule.
"It has been withdrawn," interior secretary Kamal Shah told AFP, referring to the house arrest order.
Speaking via a megaphone from behind coils of barbed wire earlier, Bhutto called in vain on officers stationed outside her Islamabad compound to let her lead the planned protest against President Pervez Musharraf's state of emergency.
"I am your sister fighting for democracy," she told them as police blocked her route with armoured personnel carriers.
Speaking with AFP by telephone from inside her bulletproof car, she said: "I am not afraid of these tactics. My struggle is for the people of Pakistan, for their rights and for an end to dictatorship."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bhutto-released-from-house-arrest/2007/11/10/1194329551252.html


Passengers up, but no extra buses for them
Linton Besser Transport Reporter
November 10, 2007
Advertisement
THE number of new buses bought for Sydney has been an achievement of some pride for the Transport Minister, John Watkins.
But the number has been steadily shrinking.
Figures obtained by the Herald show the number the Government provided last financial year was 158 fewer than he told the public in May.
In contrast to the picture he paints of a rapidly expanding fleet, State Transit has not received one additional bus in the past three years.
"It is tantamount to misleading the community," said the Opposition transport spokeswoman, Gladys Berejiklian. "No wonder there is severe overcrowding."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/passengers-up-but-no-extra-buses-for-them/2007/11/09/1194329513075.html


Up your street: crime zones plotted
Catharine Munro Urban Affairs Editor
November 10, 2007
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STRIKE zones of pickpockets, car thieves and assailants can be pinpointed on a map as part of a new service that details the precise location of crime in any council area.
Previously, criminologists could not point to particular locations to help police and councils to boost patrols, improve lighting or put up warning signs to prevent crime.
It is now clear that parts of Sydney are more prone to some crimes than others. The City of Sydney, which extends from Glebe to Elizabeth Bay and south to Rosebery, is the first to be closely examined by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/up-your-street-crime-zones-plotted/2007/11/09/1194329512801.html


When medication harms, not heals
November 10, 2007
Antidepressants have saved countless lives, writes Kate Benson, but for a minority the side effects can be debilitating - or even fatal.
Shocking death … Charmaine Dragun with Simon Struthers.
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IT IS hard to fathom why the Channel Ten newsreader Charmaine Dragun killed herself last week. Hours before the 29-year-old jumped to her death at The Gap, she bought tickets to see Bjork perform on the Opera House steps in January. A day earlier she was chatting excitedly about her plans to show her adored nephew, Ayden, the sights of Sydney and Canberra when he visited at Christmas, swapping shifts to spend time with him.
She was planning to marry her longtime boyfriend, Simon Struthers, when they both turned 30 in March, and they had talked about having children. She was heading a prime-time news bulletin in her home city of Perth and was admired by viewers.
But Dragun, described by her family as "a beautiful ray of sunshine", had been quietly battling major depression for years, and had changed her antidepressant medication only a fortnight before her death. Days before she died, she had reportedly been feeling anxious and stressed, expressing concerns about how the medication was making her feel.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/when-medication-harms/2007/11/09/1194329512867.html



Back pain therapy is ineffective - study
Bellinda Kontominas Medical Reporter
November 10, 2007
GOING to a chiropractor or a physiotherapist to treat lower back pain may be a waste of time, according to research that shows having your spine manipulated does not speed recovery.
A study by the University of Sydney has shown that expensive and potentially risky treatments, such as spinal manipulation and the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as diclofenac or ibuprofen, are no more effective than paracetamol.
Current guidelines for acute lower back pain recommend as the first line of care that GPs advise patients to remain active and avoid bed rest, and that paracetamol be prescribed. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and spinal manipulative therapy are recommended as a second-tier option to speed recovery.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/back-pain-therapy-is-ineffective--study/2007/11/09/1194329512807.html



Europe still struggles to face up to reality
November 10, 2007
Despite the flare-ups migrants are essential to Europe's future, writes James Button in London.
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GIOVANNA REGGIANI, the 47-year-old wife of a naval captain, was coming home from shopping in central Rome last week when a man attacked her near the Tor di Quinto train station on the city's edge. He took her purse, raped her, beat her so savagely that she fell into a coma, and left her body in a ditch. As she lay dying in hospital, Italy erupted.
The suspected killer, Romulus Nicolae Mailat, 24, is Romanian. He is also Roma, a Gypsy, and part of probably the most despised ethnic group in Italy. While a group of young men attacked three Romanians with sticks and knives in a car park, police bulldozed the Gypsy camp near the Tor di Quinto station, where Mailat lived.
Moving along the Tiber River, they demolished more of the squalid camps, made up of flimsy huts and discarded furniture, as Gypsy families sat forlornly and watched. At the same time, the normally sclerotic Italian political system sprang into action.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/europe-still-struggles-to-face-up-to-reality/2007/11/09/1194329509963.html



Zuma's leadership bid hits another obstacle
Chris McGreal in Johannesburg
November 10, 2007
THE bitter power struggle between the South African President, Thabo Mbeki, and his former deputy, Jacob Zuma, for control of the ruling African National Congress intensified when a court opened the way for Mr Zuma to be charged with corruption over a multibillion-dollar weapons deal.
The court of appeal's ruling on Thursday that the police seizure of allegedly incriminating documents from Mr Zuma's home and office was legal was expected to undermine his campaign to unseat Mr Mbeki as party leader at an ANC meeting next month and so become the country's president in 2009.
The court also said investigators could have access to papers about a meeting between Mr Zuma and a French arms company, Thint, at which the payment of a substantial bribe was allegedly discussed.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/zumas-leadership-bid-hits-another-obstacle/2007/11/09/1194329510055.html



Bhutto under house arrest in bid to halt rally
Augustine Anthony in Islamabad
November 10, 2007
PAKISTANI police have placed the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto under house arrest to stop her from holding her first rally since the President, Pervez Musharraf, imposed emergency rule.
A senior official in Islamabad said police had cordoned off Bhutto's home in the city yesterday, but claimed it was only for her protection. However, other officials said she would be stopped if she tried to attend the scheduled rally in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.
"She's free to go anywhere but if she tries to go to the rally she'll be stopped," the official said.
Sherry Rehman, spokeswoman for Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, said police were blocking all movement in and out. "It's virtual house arrest," she said.
Police have banned all rallies and thousands of Bhutto's party activists have been detained over the past few days.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bhutto-under-house-arrest-in-bid-to-halt-rally/2007/11/09/1194329509947.html



The $400 billion Australian
November 10, 2007
Big numbers, big passions … a decade ago BHP and Rio Tinto were talking friendly merger, now they're heading for the ring and a bloody bout between two of mining's heaviest hitters. Jamie Freed reports.
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Just over a week ago, the Rio Tinto chairman, Paul Skinner, was told a very important letter was about to land on his desk.
The sender wanted to ensure he was available to open the document in person. Once confirmation was made, a messenger was dispatched to Rio's head office in the posh Mayfair neighbourhood of London's West End with the precious parcel in hand.
What he found inside was formal notification from his BHP Billiton counterpart, Don Argus, that the Big Australian wanted his company. It was offering three BHP shares for each Rio share.
Although the letter served as a massive bombshell to the global financial market, it's fair to say Skinner wasn't exactly shocked. In fact, he was more than prepared.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/the-400-billion-australian/2007/11/09/1194329506801.html



US Presidential Primaries

http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/2007/world/us-presidential-elections-south-carolina/index.html


Scandal of $60m wasted on Tcard
Alexandra Smith
November 10, 2007
TAXPAYERS will be left with a bill of more than $60 million after the Iemma Government admitted it would have to dump the troubled Tcard. Sydney must now start from scratch to create an integrated transport ticketing system.
The smart card was meant to be delivered in time for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, but is now so unlikely to materialise that the Government has told ERG, the company responsible for introducing it, that it intends to terminate its contract.
ERG has until December 3 to implement Tcard for the entire rail network but it almost certainly will not meet that deadline.
An embarrassed Transport Minister, John Watkins, would not speculate on the future of smart cards - a system that dozens of cities around the world have managed to implement - but said his Government was still determined to introduce integrated ticketing in Sydney.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/scandal-of-60m-wasted-on-tcard/2007/11/09/1194329512980.html



Russian model tops Kate Moss
Russian model Natalia Vodianova tops Harper's Bazaar's Best Dressed list while supermodel Kate Moss drops down to number 10.(00:39)

http://media.smh.com.au/?category=Breaking%20News&rid=33120


Cousins' LA cocaine binge
Gerard Wright in Los Angeles
November 10, 2007
Ben Cousins.
Photo: Steve Ferrier
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THE emergency early morning call to the Hermosa Beach Police Department last week described a 29-year-old man "on cocaine not acting right". Later, the caller added, the man "has been on cocaine for the past five days".
The caller was Susie Ela, a computer software sales manager. The man on the cocaine binge was Ben Cousins, the wayward former West Coast Eagles captain and star player, accused by his coach of sabotaging the reigning AFL premiers' season, and the centre of an unprecedented judicial inquiry into the troubled club.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/ben-cousins-in-fiveday-la-cocaine-binge/2007/11/09/1194329512789.html



Lyrical terrorist whose grisly poem glorified beheading
Owen Bowcott in London
November 10, 2007
Samina Malik … burst into tears on hearing the verdict.
Photo: AP
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A YOUNG Muslim worker at London's Heathrow Airport who wrote poems about beheading non-believers has become the first woman to be convicted in Britain under new anti-terrorism laws.
Samina Malik, a 23-year-old from Southall, west London, who worked at an airport branch of the bookseller WH Smith, burst into tears in the dock at the Old Bailey criminal court in London when the jury returned its verdict.
By a majority of 10 to one they found Malik, who called herself the "lyrical terrorist", guilty under the Britain's Terrorism Act 2000 of possessing records likely to be useful in terrorism.
Poems discovered at her home included two entitled How to Behead and The Living Martyrs.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/lyrical-terrorist-whose-grisly-poem-glorified-beheading/2007/11/09/1194329509950.html



Oil up again over fear of supply breaks
Christian Schmollinger and Gavin Evans
November 10, 2007
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CRUDE oil rose for the first time in three days in New York on concern supply disruptions may hamper US efforts to store fuel for peak winter demand.
A fire at Valero Energy Corporation's refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, the company's largest, left processing rates "somewhat reduced", a company spokesman said. Strong currents in the Gulf of Mexico are delaying the restart of the 150,000 barrel-a-day Mars platform, shut for maintenance since November 3, Royal Dutch Shell said.
"The supply situation seems serious so people are seeing this as a buying opportunity," said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager with Astmax Futures Ltd in Tokyo. "For the bullish players it's a good time to take a fresh long position."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/oil-up-again-over-fear-of-supply-breaks/2007/11/09/1194329506831.html



Jungle boys up to monkey business
Alan Ramsey
November 10, 2007
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The Government's Tarzan and Jane election routine isn't working. John Howard's vines aren't what they used to be and Peter Costello's pout is still a smirk. We are now all 11 months older since the accursed Kevin Rudd rudely bounded into the Prime Minister's election year miscalculations.
It has been a stressful time ever since for Howard and the deputy now fated never to make it. Two days ago, when they fronted up in Melbourne for their fourth joint press conference of the campaign, the strain was obvious.
Neither seemed comfortable, both were niggly with reporters and each continued to deliberately misunderstand plain English.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/government-monkey-business/2007/11/09/1194329506193.html



Greens push the yellow peril button, leaving farmers in the red
Michael Duffy
November 10, 2007
This week academics at the University of Melbourne released news of the latest victory in the environmental movement's war on Australia. The ban on growing genetically modified canola is costing our struggling farmers a whopping $157 million a year.
No green group has yet claimed credit for this triumph of economic terrorism, but no doubt one will soon. On its website, Greenpeace lists among its main achievements the decision by five states to impose moratoriums on the commercial release of the first proposed GM crop. The greens applied pressure on the states after both Australia's independent regulators, Food Standards Australia New Zealand and the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, approved the general release of two types of GM canola in 2003.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/greens-push-the-yellow-peril-button-leaving-farmers-in-the-red/2007/11/09/1194329506200.html



Site not found: the failed online search for Steve Fossett
Stephen Hutcheon
November 9, 2007 - 9:50AM
Two months after adventurer Steve Fossett disappeared over the Nevada desert, the plug has been pulled on an experimental online search mission that harnessed the collective efforts of some 50,000 volunteers around the world.
Last week, without warning, online retailer Amazon.com shut down the collaborative search it began hosting just days after the 63-year-old aviator failed to return from a routine flight on September 3.
Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) site enabled volunteers to pore over high-resolution photographs covering parts of the 44,000 square kilometres of uninhabited wilderness where the physical search mission has been taking place.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/fossett-search-misses-the-mark/2007/11/09/1194329456167.html



Worm gives uni students a wriggle on in lectures
Harriet Alexander
November 9, 2007
THE artful worm has slithered off the TV screen and into universities, where academics are evaluating its performance in making lectures more interactive.
As the number of students in lectures increases, universities are adopting hand-held devices that work in a similar fashion to Channel Nine's election worm, to ensure every student actively participates.
The University of Western Sydney is about to conclude an 18-month trial of the technology - known as a "student response units" - in select disciplines, which will likely result in it being rolled out to the rest of the university.
Roy Tasker, a chemistry lecturer in the school of natural sciences, said the devices were particularly useful in boosting participation among international students who were shy speaking English. Each student is given a machine like a calculator with numbered keys that allow them to punch in their answers to his multiple choice questions. Their responses are then transmitted to his laptop.
"It's very simple but extremely powerful," Associate Professor Tasker said. "When everybody's voted, I click on a button and up comes a bar graph showing the distribution of figures. The beauty about it is it's confidential, because a big problem with putting hands up is they turn around and see what the smartest student in the class is doing."

http://www.smh.com.au/news/technology/worm-gives-uni-students-a-wriggle-on-in-lectures/2007/11/08/1194329471859.html



Lightning strikes Qantas flight
Craig Platt
November 8, 2007 - 4:54PM
Lightning struck a Qantas plane en route from Sydney to Melbourne this morning, causing flight cancellations.
Flight number QF409 arrived as scheduled at Melbourne Airport this morning but was unable to take off again until safety checks had been carried out after the lightning strike.
Qantas executive general manager of engineering David Cox said lightning occasionally strikes during flights and that aircraft are designed to withstand them.
He said the aircraft underwent a thorough inspection after landing in Melbourne and was back in service this afternoon. Two services on the Melbourne-Sydney route were cancelled as a result of the strike, with passengers accommodated on other flights.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/lightning-strikes-qantas-flight/2007/11/08/1194329397064.html



UK flood threat worst in decades
November 9, 2007 - 2:10PM
The Netherlands and Britain, facing the worst flood threat in decades, closed surge barriers and evacuated people from homes as a North Sea storm threatened to inundate low-lying areas.
Authorities compared the approaching conditions to those in 1953 when floods killed more than 2,000 people in both countries.
The massive storm surge barrier near the Dutch port city of Rotterdam was closed for the first time since its construction in the 1990s.
At 11pm last night (0900 AEDT Friday), the two arc-shaped steel doors of the Maeslant barrier edged into the waterway that connects Rotterdam to the North Sea.
As spectators braved rain and wind to watch from a narrow headland, it took about half an hour for the two doors to meet in the Nieuwe Waterweg, about 360 metres wide.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2007/11/09/1194329501429.html?s_rid=smh:top5



Solar power -- worth it or not?

Of course it is. (Video)
Could installing solar power in a home be an expensive load of hot (greenhouse-free) air?
With generous federal government rebates of up to $8000 for householders to install solar panels (sometimes called solar PV or a solar array), converting may seem attractive.
Yet the average solar power system still costs between $7000 to $12,000 -- even with the generous rebates -- which is something only a gold-plated Greenie could afford. And though solar power is free, renewable and can supply power back to the grid, EnergyAustralia says it is unlikely the installation cost of solar would pay back within 24 years.
What's more, experts are divided on the value in household solar panels reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/renovationnation/archives/2007/11/solar_power_gre.html?s_rid=smh:top5



Evicted suicide service goes on road
Michael Leidig in Vienna and Henry Samuel in Paris
November 10, 2007
A CONTROVERSIAL Swiss suicide charity is now helping people to die in car parks after being forced out of its premises.
Two German men aged 50 and 65 have used the "death on wheels" service of the Dignitas charity, which handed them lethal barbiturates last week in a car park near Zurich.
The deaths were only reported on Thursday, with a prosecutor confirming that both men had driven to a woodland parking area and overdosed in their cars.
The charity was forced to leave the flat in a Zurich suburb which had been its headquarters for the eight years - where the Australian John Elliott went to die in January - after residents campaigned to have it evicted. Locals complained of being traumatised by passing people going up in the lift, only to come across them hours later in body bags.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/evicted-suicide-service-goes-on-road/2007/11/09/1194329509959.html



Nic helps sister through tough times
November 10, 2007 - 2:45PM
Antonia Kidman and Angus Hawley in happier times.
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Antonia Kidman has had her famous big sister's shoulder to cry on during her high-profile split with husband Angus Hawley.
Nicole Kidman said she has been at Antonia's side and helped raise her nieces and nephews through the break-up, which has been littered with tell-all stories in Australian gossip magazines from Hawley's alleged lovers.
"She has been through a tough time recently, so I've been really blessed to be able to be there and help raise her kids, help with her children," Nicole told today's USA Today newspaper.
"I'm godparent to all of them.
"I'm Auntie DeeDee.
"Don't ask how I've gotten that name, either. I bought them a trampoline. I'm very popular at the moment."
Hawley and Antonia have four children, two boys and two girls, with the youngest, daughter Sybella, born in March.
Ironically, it was Antonia who comforted her Oscar winning sister when she split from husband Tom Cruise in 2001.
"She's my best friend," Nicole told the newspaper.
"My sister and I are just - I always say to her that I'm always there for her.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/people/nic-helps-sister-through-tough-times/2007/11/10/1194329555433.html



New hope for Vioxx claimants
November 10, 2007 - 3:27PM
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Australian victims of the anti-arthritis drug Vioxx have welcomed a breakthrough in the United States where American claimants who suffered heart attacks and strokes after using the drug have been offered a $US4.85 billion ($5.24 billion) settlement.
More than 1000 Australian former Vioxx users, in a class action spearheaded by law firm Slater & Gordon, say the breakthrough should expedite Australian settlement talks.
Lawyer James Higgins said the Australian class action was probably the most advanced Vioxx litigation outside the US, and the company also would rely on its expertise in settling the world-first settlement package for 3000 Australian women who used Dow Corning breast implants.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/new-hope-for-vioxx-claimants/2007/11/10/1194329556445.html


US Treasury Secretary backs $US, economy
November 10, 2007 - 3:04PM
US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has defended the US dollar's status as the world's reserve currency, saying the American economy's strength, openness and competitiveness would "shine through" the current market turmoil.
"The dollar has been the world's reserve currency since World War II and it's been that for a reason. We are the biggest economy in the world, we are as open as any economy to investment, to trade, and we've had stable economic policies ... we've had good productivity," Paulson told reporters at an impromptu news briefing.
Paulson repeated the administration's oft-stated mantra that a strong dollar is in US interests and that currency values should be set in a competitive marketplace.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/US-Treasury-Secretary-backs-US-economy/2007/11/10/1194329555953.html


New ways to whet the appetite
November 10, 2007
A change in drinking laws won't necessarily mean the transformation of a city's cultural make-up, writes Elizabeth Farrelly.
It's not just about alcohol. That would be complicated enough, in a booze-soaked society such as ours. No, the argument over liquor licensing in NSW takes in gambling, music, planning, health, competition and the creation, or not, of that mysterious nature-grappling device we call culture.
And although - this is the good news - there are three major liquor reforms under way in NSW, none seems likely to go the whole hog and line our streets with funky neighbourhood drinking holes a la Melbourne.
This sheets back to government, and the old, vexed question of whether we can trust it: not just to be honest, but to have our best interests at heart. The liquor issue is looking like an instructive microcosm of why democracy, Sussex Street-style, is unable to deliver even what we want - like a lively, interesting city - much less what we don't want, like any deviation from the climate-change lemming-walk.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/change-in-drinking-laws-wont-make-sydney-less-dull/2007/11/09/1194329512870.html





continued...

Response to fuel spill under Bay Bridge called 'unusually slow' (Video)

Waterfowl fouled: birds glided across the rainbow-hued surface of the bay Thursday as wildlife workers attempted to rescue as many oil-soaked birds as possible while emergency crews blocked off beaches and attempted to contain the growing fuel oil leak from the Cosco Busan. Duration: 1:05. File size: 9.2 MB. Camera and editing: Frederic Larson, Chronicle Staff

Jonathan Curiel, Kevin Fagan, Peter Fimrite,Pat Yollin, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, November 9, 2007

(11-08) 22:14 PST San Francisco --
Emergency officials were pressured Thursday to explain why it took them hours to announce that 58,000 gallons of oil had leaked from a container ship that rammed the Bay Bridge on Wednesday - creating a slick that has contaminated beaches and injured hundreds of birds from Hunters Point to the Marin Headlands and out to the Farallon Islands.
San Francisco officials, frustrated that they weren't told immediately about the severity of the spill, threatened legal action against the company or agency responsible for the disaster. Sen. Barbara Boxer has called for scrutiny of the Coast Guard's response. Residents and environmental groups have become increasingly alarmed at the sprawling contamination - and what they called an anemic cleanup response taking place as late as Thursday night.
"Why did it take them so long to respond?" complained Mike Herz, founder of the San Francisco Baykeeper organization and chairman of U.S. Friends of the Earth. "Every oil spill I've ever seen has screwups of one kind or another.
"But it looks like they've been unusually slow in responding in this one."...

Canisius students’ zoo leads way to Amazon rain forest in Buffalo

Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
Kelly Fischbach, a Canisius College biology student, visits a bird in the classroom mini-zoo.

Before the semester closes on Michael Noonan’s zoo biology class at Canisius College, his students are tasked with creating their own mini-zoo.
So the 18 students transformed Room 316 of the Health Science Building, at the corner of Jefferson and East Delavan avenues, into a South American rain forest exhibit, right down to the canopy of leaves on the ceiling and the trail of bark leading to the douroucouli night monkey.
The public is invited to check out “Tropical Trek: From Dusk ’til Dawn in the Amazon,” from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays until Nov. 16.
For the first part of the semester, Noonan’s students studied the principles of exhibitry and husbandry, and then visited several zoos as far away as Detroit and Chicago to scope out exhibits and best practices.
“It’s very much like the real world,” said Noonan, professor of psychology and biology, and director of Canisius’ animal behavior program. “It’s a simulation of what real zoos have to go through.” The students decided to cre-
ate a South American rain forest exhibit, borrowing 10 species from the Buffalo Zoo, thanks to Noonan’s long working relationship with the cultural institution.
In less than three weeks, the students turned an ordinary classroom into an elaborate natural habitat, even hauling in and erecting fallen trees, and keeping the room temperature at a humid 82 degrees.
The exhibits include a sixbanded armadillo, a prehensiletailed porcupine, a dwarf caiman, a douroucouli night monkey, and green and black poison dart frogs.
The zoo is glad to be part of the project, said Kevin Murphy, animal curator at the zoo and a Canisius graduate.
“The best way to educate the public is having good exhibits,” Murphy said. “It’s amazing [the students] do this in the time frame they do.”
It was a lot of work, said Alicia DuBrava, a senior in the class.
“It was so much planning for the species’ needs. There was a lot to think about,” she said, “But it was worth it. I loved it.”
Noonan gives the students high marks.
“These are the most wonderful students I’ve ever worked with,” Noonan said. “These exhibits are as good as I’ve seen anywhere.”
jrey@buffnews.com

Zoos

Attend this Panel Discussion: How Zoos Inspire Careers in Conservation
Join the Buffalo Zoo, UB Green, UB’s Environmental Studies program, and the Environmental Network for a workshop to explore the important role zoos play (particularly, the Buffalo Zoo) in inspiring careers that support conservation efforts locally and internationally.
The Distinguished Panel Includes:
Dr. David Wilcove - Conservation Biologist and Professor at Princeton University
Kevin Murphy - Animal Curator and Herpetologist at the Buffalo Zoo
Dr. Donna Fernandes - the Zoo’s President/CEO

http://advising.buffalo.edu/beadvised/attend-the-panel-discussion-how-zoos-inspire-careers-in-conservation/



Animals at the zoo gain weight from eating processed foods
Martha Edwards
Filed under: Health in the Media
Heavily processed foods have been blamed for the ever-expanding waistlines of the human population, as well as a number of health problems. But humans aren’t the only ones affected by how our food is made. According to this article, animals at the zoo in Seoul, Korea, have become so overweight from their diet of processed foods that they are going on a strict diet.
I think this is very unfortunate — it’s one thing for humans to cause their own health problems by giving into their cravings, but it’s another when harmless animals are being fed junk food when they’re helpless to do anything about it — especially because it probably boils down to the zookeepers being too frugal to purchase real foods for the animals.

http://google-sina.com/2007/11/02/animals-at-the-zoo-gain-weight-from-eating-processed-foods/



Mango captured, may be taken to zoo
Remember the Green-breasted Mango that found its way to Beloit, Wisconsin? It was captured Monday and taken to the Wisconsin Humane Society's Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee.
Local birdwatchers who kept tabs on the bird decided to rescue it before a cold front moved into the area Monday evening.
Scott Diehl, manager of the rehab center, said the bird is doing well. It's housed in a screened-off area with feeders and perches and is being fed sugar water and a "nutritionally complete nectar" that zoos feed captive hummingbirds.
The mango most likely will be taken to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. The zoo has an accredited aviary that Diehl called a "rich environment" for birds.

http://bwfov.typepad.com/birders_world_field_of_vi/2007/11/mango-captured-.html




'Steve & Me' Chronicles Personal Life of Croc Hunter
Talk of the Nation, November 7, 2007 · In 2006, fans mourned the loss of Steve Irwin, the intrepid "Crocodile Hunter," who died when a stingray barb pierced his chest while he was filming off the Great Barrier Reef.
The popular television star and conservationist was 44 years old when he was killed, and friends say that he died doing what he loved.
In a new book, Steve & Me, Irwin's wife, Terri, writes about her husband's legacy and her efforts to keep his work alive.
Terri Irwin met Steve in 1991 when he was working as a zookeeper in a reptile park in Australia.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16082410



Services set for Denver Zoo's longtime president
By The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 11/08/2007 01:37:05 AM MST
A public memorial service for longtime Denver Zoo president Clayton Freiheit will be next week at the University of Denver.
Freiheit, who ran the zoo for 37 years, died of cancer Oct. 28 at the age of 69. The service will be at 10 a.m. Nov. 16 at DU's Newman Center for the Performing Arts, at East Iliff Avenue and South University Boulevard.
The zoo will be closed that day in honor of Freiheit. Following the public service, the family will host a private ceremony at the zoo.
The family said Freiheit asked that, in lieu of flowers or other gifts, donors make a contribution to the zoo in support of building Asian Tropics, a planned 10-acre exhibit of Asian animals. Any donations will be matched by zoo improvement bonds, which Denver voters passed in 1999.
The zoo also announced that the half-acre indoor elephant quarters will be renamed the Clayton F. Freiheit Elephant House.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_7399318



Davidson County: Ape briefly escapes from his zoo habitat
Nashville Zoo's male white-cheeked gibbon, Dixon, jumped the moat surrounding his island home about 9 a.m. Wednesday.
He was safely returned to the habitat about an hour later, officials said.
Dixon made his break for freedom just as the zoo was opening for the day. No guests were near the habitat at the time. Zoo staff were immediately notified and quickly secured the area. As a precaution and in accordance with the Zoo's Animal Escape Protocol, all arriving guests were moved to safe areas.
This is not the first time the gibbon has escaped.
Earlier this year on Sept. 2, Dixon jumped on to the back of a zookeeper, and then jumped off the island. Although safety alterations to the habitat were made since the last incident, officials say Dixon's far-reaching abilities probably will result in a transfer to another zoo.
—NICOLE YOUNG

http://www.rctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071108/NEWS01/711080392/1006/MTCN0301



Minnesota Zoo says you oughta see its otters today
A litter of three Asian small-clawed otters, the first born at the Minnesota Zoo since 1994, are now on exhibit and will go before media cameras this morning for the first time since their birth in late July.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1536895.html



Zoo grieves for 50-year-old gorilla

http://www.care2.com/news/member/285806679/533670



Audit finds holes in financial practices at zoo
The zoo needs to improve some of its financial practices and do a better job tracking commission revenues from vendors.
By Kevin Duchschere, Star Tribune
Last update: November 08, 2007 – 2:06 PM
The Minnesota Zoo overpaid a food service vendor by nearly $30,000, didn't adequately verify that vendors were paying the proper commissions and improperly had the same employee handling receipts and deposits, according to a state audit released today.
The financial review, conducted by Legislative Auditor James Nobles and covering the period from July 2003 through December 2006, found that zoo officials generally used adequate safeguards in their accounting practices.

http://www.startribune.com/south/story/1537624.html



Seven rare deer die in Delhi Zoo
9 Nov 2007, 0025 hrs IST
Tanushree Roy Chowdhury
TNN
NEW DELHI: Seven endangered deer have been killed in one go at the Delhi Zoo because, believe it or not, the vet — who has been with the zoo for about 12 years now — tried to tranquillise them in a hurry. What would have benefited a captive breeding programme ended up as a huge setback and a major embarrassment for the Central Zoo Authority. Its director, DN Singh, has ordered a high-level inquiry.
The incident which happened late on Tuesday comes close on the heels of Delhi zoo losing adult lions, jaguars, a male chimpanzee brought from Germany, Sambar deer which had escaped from their enclosure, and a male rhino brought from San Diego zoo for mating. In a majority of these cases, it is alleged, there was negligence by the zoo’s veterinary doctor, Dr Panneer Selvam.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Seven_rare_deer_die_in_Delhi_Zoo/articleshow/2529741.cms



Happy Hollow zoo welcomes two meerkat pups
By Lisa Fernandez
Mercury News
Article Launched: 11/08/2007 09:25:10 AM PST
Two meerkat babies are the newest buzz at San Jose's Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, where visitors are doing whatever they can to catch a glimpse of the three-week-old "kits."
Born Oct. 13, the two meerkats (think "Timon" in Lion King) are so young that no one's even gotten close enough to check out their gender, said zoo spokeswoman Vanessa Rogier. They'll be named soon, but a veterinarian has to check them out first.
She said the kits have been spending their days nursing from their mother, Kubaza, and snuggled up in a nest, especially since it's been so cold.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_7405484?nclick_check=1



Panda Pair Kisses Everyday
November 1st, 2007
It’s unusual, but a male and female red panda at a Tokyo zoo kiss and embrace every day astonishing crowds with their public displays of affection.

http://www.ecoegg.org/shell/2007/11/01/panda-pair-kisses-everyday/



The Safari Next Door
You don't have to jet to Africa for great wildlife photos. Just trek to your local zoo.
By Tom and Pat Leeson
September 2007
Big-name wildlife photographers aren't eager to admit it, but many of their most famous -- and profitable -- images were taken in zoos. Surprised? Don't be. We're pro stock photographers, and we shoot at zoos all the time. They not only educate animal-lovers about wildlife, they also offer the chance to take pictures (especially portraits and close-ups) that would be difficult, if not impossible, in the wild.
And if you do it right, your photos will go far beyond the typical "zoo snapshot" and really show the beauty and majesty of the animals. Here's how:
First, prepare. Before embarking, check the zoo's website to learn the feeding times, see which animals may have young this season, and hunt for other photo possibilities. Good pictures on the website are clues to which species and environments are most photogenic. Schedule zoo visits in early fall and late spring, before and after the school field-trip seasons.

http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographyfeatures/4446/the-safari-next-door



Together again: Haifa Zoo reunites Littermate lionesses
By Zafrir Rinat
tags: Haifa Zoo, Ramat Gan Safari
Not many people saw the moving reunion yesterday in Haifa between sisters Gaia and Gov. Even though they had been living only 100 kilometers apart, the two heavyweights had not seen each other in a year. That's because Gov was living in the lion cage at Haifa Zoo and Gaia at the Ramat Gan safari.
Gaia, a young lioness, was transferred to Haifa from Ramat Gan because her native pack at the safari had rejected her.
To give Gaia a chance to reintegrate into a another pack, the safari and the zoo decided to move her sister up north with her.
Advertisement
The two lionesses were born in Ramat Gan. When the safari transferred Gov to Ramat Gan a year ago, Gaia was left behind, without her sister.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/921115.html




Long-necked women kidnapped again for Thailand’s human zoos
Published November 7th, 2007
From Andrew Drummond, Bangkok, November 7th
Long-necked women kidnapped for Thailand’s lucrative ‘human zoos
Police in Thailand are investigating new allegations that unscrupulous tour operators have kidnapped Burmese long-necked women for use in lucrative tourist camps known as ‘human zoos’.
Six members of the Padaung Burmese hill tribe have been reported missing from refugee camps in the Northern Thai district of Mae Hong Son, 400 miles north of Bangkok and police have set up an investigation team to try and find them.
Police Major Worapot Phuttawong said: “We believe that the only purpose for their kidnapping is for exhibition in these tourist camps over the peak holiday season which is beginning now and will continue over Christmas.”

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2007/11/07/long-necked-women-kidnapped-again-for-thailands-human-zoos/




A handful of funders for zoos
Jump to Comments
We will constantly update this post with more potential sources of funding for zoos. As potentially zoos and botanic gardens from all around the world may access ( and contribute to…?) this forum, we will try and reference funders with a relevance to different parts of the world.
Obviously “zoo projects” can mean lots of different things ( capital on site projects, educational programmes, in situ conservation projects, etc), and the following funders all fund different kinds of needs. So this is quite a rag-bag of opportunities, and it is up to you to sort through it.
For some of the large international funders, I really think it is also worth considering the virtues of inter-zoo collaborations for many of these sources of finance, as well as looking for highly innovative (even risky?) approaches amenable to eventual replication. The whole idea of changing the zoo paradigm through international co-operation could be very appealing to funders.

http://zoofunding.wordpress.com/2007/11/07/a-handful-of-funders-for-zoos/




Our cub reporter exposes China’s soft underbelly.
by James Fallows
Among the Pandas
Everyone knows that pandas are cute.
Very few people know firsthand how cute pandas are in quantity. Only 12 pandas exist in the United States, rented from the Chinese government for $1 million per year apiece (and some extra fees) and spread out among four zoos. The world’s other zoos outside China hold only two dozen or so more. When glimpsed by visitors, these pandas are usually on their own, making themselves scarce behind tree stumps or chewing resignedly on bamboo. At best we see a mother panda with her cub.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200712/pandas




Zoocheck Slams Two Central Alberta Zoos
Nov, 07 2007 - 12:20 PM
CALGARY/AM770CHQR - Animal advocates are coming down hard on the provincial government for what they say is a lack of action to protect animals and the public.
They want two controversial zoos shut down if they can't meet the province's new regulations.
At the centre of the controversy are two facilities, Guzoo animal farm in Three Hills and Discovery Wildlife Park in Innisfail.
Zoocheck Canada's Julie Woodyer says they went to provincial enforcement staff with over 150 documented violations and didn't get any assurances action would be taken.
Woodyer says new provincial regulations went into effect last March and yet some of these violations were recorded just this past weekend.

http://www.770chqr.com/news/news_local.cfm?cat=7428327912&rem=78849&red=80132723aPBIny&wids=410&gi=1&gm=news_local.cfm




PETA Calls On Feds to Investigate, Revoke License of Zoo Following Bear Mauling
For Immediate Release:
November 7, 2007
Contact:
Lisa Wathne 757-622-7382
Coram, Mont. - This morning, PETA sent an urgent letter to Dr. Robert M. Gibbens, Western Regional director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) animal care unit, urging him to immediately launch an investigation into Great Bear Adventure Park, an unaccredited roadside zoo in Coram. PETA's request comes in the wake of news reports that a grizzly bear mauled a man thought to be a zoo employee on November 2.
PETA points out that the menagerie may have violated the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which addresses safe handling procedures. Because Great Bear Adventure Park has a history of unsafe animal-handling practices--including two incidents in July 2004, in which an employee was attacked by a grizzly bear and a bear smashed a visitor's car window--PETA is asking the USDA to take steps to revoke Great Bear Adventure Park's exhibitor's license if an investigation determines that the recent incident constitutes a violation of the AWA.

http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=10448




Rare bears' mating efforts fail to produce cubs, so science steps in
By PATRICIA YOLLIN
San Francisco Chronicle
[oas:casperstartribune.net/news/special:Middle1]
Spike comes from Omaha, and Kaika from Honolulu. Maybe that fact alone is enough to doom their prospects. For whatever reason, they've had sex hundreds of times at the Oakland Zoo but have never produced offspring.
They're not the only ones going through the motions. For the past 10 or 15 years throughout zoos in Europe and North America, captive mainland sun bears like Spike and Kaika have had trouble breeding.
And that is a problem.
"If we keep going this way, there won't be any sun bears left in captivity," said their keeper, Cathy Keyes.
As a result, breeding of sun bears from the mainland of Southeast Asia has been halted at North American zoos, and the focus has shifted to a subspecies of sun bear from the island of Borneo. And the two Oakland bears, both born in captivity, now have a new role to play: They're being studied to figure out how the Borneans, through artificial insemination, can multiply.

http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/11/07/news/special/3cf9419cf31871458725703c005b2ea6.txt



Stolen exotic animals seized in Flint, Mundy townships (Video)
69 animals recovered, including wallaby, parrots, several foxes
By Matt Franklin
GENESEE COUNTY (WJRT) - (11/07/07)--Raids at homes in Flint and Mundy townships have turned up several stolen exotic animals. Investigators say they believe the animals were taken from zoos and pet shops across the state.
In all, investigators say they recovered about 69 animals ranging from a wallaby, parrots and several foxes. Police arrested three people Tuesday in connection to the case.
A tip lead Livonia police to a rental home on Dyewood Road in Flint Township. Inside they found a home full of exotic animals and birds.
Police recovered six toucans worth about $30,000 apiece. There were also tortoises and snakes in the home.
Flint Township police say a search warrant also was executed at a home on Crystal Lake Drive in Mundy Township. They also recovered animals in that home as well.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=local&id=5748733

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