Morning Papers - continued...

Gaza Hamas leaders in Egypt for talks with Jimmy Carter (click here)
...Carter, who is scheduled to arrive in Egypt later Wednesday, has drawn criticism from the US and Israel for meeting Hamas officials.

22 killed on day of bloodshed in Gaza (click here)
By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 2:11am BST 17/04/2008
At least 19 Palestinians died in military operations in Gaza on Wednesday in a day of bloodshed sparked when militants ambushed and killed three Israeli soldiers....

Due to a fuel shortage, Palestinians use carts pulled by donkeys for transport in Gaza City, Monday, April 14, 2008. Israeli officials said Sunday that the fuel terminal that pipes the only fuel that reaches Gaza was closed to allow authorities to investigate last week's attack of the terminal by Gaza militants, that left two Israeli workers dead. Israel immediately shut down the terminal and launched raids that have killed 16 people since, including at least six civilians. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) - (click at title to entry)
Photo Credit: AP Photo

Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

"America will not stand for a Secretary of State who approved torture and then misled Congress."

Condi Must Go: Groups Launch Campaign to Remove Secretary of State
New TV Ad to Air around Presidential Debate to Pressure Politicians to Join Call for Rice's Resignation
WASHINGTON — TrueMajority.org, Brave New Films, and Democracy for America are launching CondiMustGo.com and a new television ad campaign calling for the resignation of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. This week Americans were outraged by the news that Condoleezza Rice personally oversaw meetings where top Bush administration officials selected specific torture techniques.
The new site CondiMustGo.com will feature a petition demanding Secretary Rice's resignation and a new video by Brave New Films documenting her involvement in torture and how she lied to Congress and the nation. The petition reads, "America will not stand for a Secretary of State who approved torture and then misled Congress. We call on the Presidential candidates to ask Secretary of State Rice to resign."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=998


"They brought him to the doctor, and when he came back he had no fingers left."
From Inside a Cage at Guantanamo
Submitted by davidswanson on Wed, 2008-04-16 15:19.
By David Swanson
The guards at Guantanamo are terrified. Even a man with no legs (amputated after being intentionally exposed to extreme cold by American guards in Afghanistan) is treated as a horrifying threat:
"The bandages wrapped around Abdul's stumps were never changed. When he took them off himself, they were full of blood and pus. He showed the bandage to the guards and pointed to his open wounds. The guards ignored him. Later I saw how he tried to wash the bandages in his bucket of drinking water. But he could hardly move his hands, so he wasn't able to. And even if he had, where would he have hung them up to dry? He wasn't allowed to touch the fence. He wrapped his stumps back up in the dirty bandages.
"When the guards came to take him to be interrogated, they ordered him to sit with his back to the door and put his hands on his head. When they opened the door, they stormed in as they did with every other prisoner. They hit him on the back and pushed him to the ground. Then they handcuffed and bound him so he could no longer move. Abdul howled in pain."
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/32784


Ask Senators Clinton, McCain and Obama to join us in calling on Secretary of State Rice to resign.
http://www.condimustgo.com/


April 16th, 2008 4:46 pm
People at Virginia Tech remember mass shooting of 1 year ago
By Kristen Gelineau / Associated Press
BLACKSBURG, Va. — A sea of people wearing orange and maroon flowed onto the main lawn at Virginia Tech on Wednesday, some clutching single roses, to remember the victims of the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
They gathered on the same field where a white candle lit at midnight began a day of mourning for the 32 people killed a year ago by a student gunman who shot himself as police closed in.
"We remain deeply and profoundly saddened by the events of that tragic day," Virginia Tech President Charles Steger told the crowd. "Indeed, all our lives were changed on that day."
While this close-knit campus of 27,000 has worked hard to move on, the anniversary of the killings has left many struggling to cope. Some weren't sure how best to honor the dead.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11308


April 16th, 2008 2:28 am
Iraq vigils become monthly event
Candlelight displays urge council, others to action
By Meera Pal / Tri-Valley Herald
PLEASANTON, CA — Feeling as if their local, state and federal governments were not listening to their concerns about the Iraq war, a group of Pleasanton residents has decided to do something on their own.
That something has turned into a monthly candlelight vigil held in downtown Pleasanton in front of the Museum on Main, where people from all over the Tri-Valley first gathered March 19 to mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion.
On Wednesday, Pleasantonians 4 Peace will gather for their third vigil. They are planning to make it a standing event.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11305


April 15th, 2008 1:41 am
Lawmaker lobbies for bill to impeach Bush
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. — To boost her campaign for a bill that would call for the impeachment of President Bush over the Iraq war, an 87-year-old great-grandmother drummed up support Monday from the whistleblower who leaked secret Pentagon documents during the Vietnam War.
It's unlikely that HR24 would pass, but Betty Hall, a Democrat and longtime representative from Brookline, is hopeful. Hall is the only sponsor of the bill, which is scheduled for debate on Wednesday.
"We are trying to make history by being the first Legislature to forward a petition to Congress under Section 603 of the Jefferson Manual," she said. "I'm feeling very good about it."
Hall was referring to the "Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States," written by President Thomas Jefferson in 1801.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11296


April 15th, 2008 2:06 am200 flock to rally for impeachment
State representatives to vote on resolution
By Lauren R. Dorgan / Concord Monitor
Calling President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney "domestic enemies," Pentagon Papers icon Daniel Ellsberg headlined a rally in Concord last night calling for their impeachment.
The rally, which drew more than 200 people to the Capitol Center for the Arts, was aimed at the New Hampshire House, which is considering a resolution that would call on Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney. The resolution may come to a vote on the House floor tomorrow.
A pre-rally reception for the House members who will vote on the resolution drew a couple of dozen, among them a few who said they were on the fence about the resolution. Rep. Betty Hall, the 87-year-old Brookline Democrat who is the measure's lone sponsor, was bullish, pumping her arms at a press conference and saying: "I think it's gonna pass."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11297


Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
New Hampshire Impeachment Efforts Get Final Boost Before Vote ...
by Dan DeWalt
On April 14, close to 500 legislators and citizens packed the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord NH and sat through more than three hours of words and music making the case for the N.H. House to send an impeachment investigation resolution to the U.S. Congress. The vote will take place in the state capital on March 16.
Speaking on behalf of representative Betty Hall's HR 24 was a plethora of informed and passionate advocates; Daniel Ellsberg, John Nichols, Granny D, Phil Burk, Bob Bowman, and Paul Noel Stookey joined Hall and other regional activists in making the case that not only is it not too late to impeach, but that the danger of not impeaching would bode ill for the last months remaining of the Bush administration as well as being a severe disservice to the future of the nation.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=997


TODAY! Help pass New Hampshire's HR-24, a bill to tell Congress to Impeach (Mail list & sample message included)
by John Kennedy
We must have Impeachment Hearings before the Election. HR-24, is a resolution that will be voted on in the New Hampshire House on Wednesday, April 16th and is probably our last chance this year to have a State Legislature send a directive to Congress telling them to get busy and Impeach.
Due to special rules


April 15th, 2008 8:58 pm
Money in the Military
KOMU 8
COLUMBIA - Members of Missouri-Pro Vote and Peaceworks met outside the post office to hand out pamphlets explaining and explain how much money is spent on the American military.
For every dollar collected from the federal income tax for 2007, 43 cents was used for the military. Only 20 cents of every dollar went to health care, including Medicaid and parts of Medicare. Other areas include responses to poverty, interest and governmental operations. Education, jobs, diplomacy and foreign aid fell at the bottom of the list.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11301


April 15th, 2008 9:00 pm
Anti-war groups take to St. Louis streets to mark Tax Day
By Jo Mannies / St. Louis Post-Dispatch
While the rest of us political junkies spend Tax Return Day contemplating who will report what in their campaign-donation reports also due today, some of opponents of the Iraq War plan to spend lunch time downtown conducting what they call a “penny poll.”
“As War and Occupation takes lives in Iraq and Iran and the Bush Administration Threatens Iran with War, St. Louisans are Joining the 2008 War Tax Boycott,” one group of protesters say in a release just sent out.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11302


April 15th, 2008 9:02 pm
Peace activists withhold taxes
By Elizabeth Ganga / Journal News
Two aspects of American foreign policy in the past few years pushed Ethan and Rima Vesely-Flad to step up their protests against the government's militarism.
One was the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006, when the Israelis used American-made cluster bombs in civilian areas, they said. Another was the continuing occupation of Iraq and their sense that there was no way to influence U.S. policy there.
"We've been out and marched and protested and contacted members of Congress, did all the things we were supposed to do as citizens of our democracy, and it wasn't having any effect," said Ethan Vesely-Flad, 40, who works at Fellowship of Reconciliation in Upper Nyack, a peace-and-justice group committed to nonviolence.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11303


April 15th, 2008 2:09 pm
Bush Defeats Truman
Tough But Familiar Numbers for Bush: High Disapproval on Job Performance, Iraq and Economy
By Gary Langer / ABC News
At 39 months in the doghouse, George W. Bush has surpassed Harry Truman's record as the postwar president to linger longest without majority public approval.
Bush hasn't received majority approval for his work in office in ABC News/Washington Post polls since Jan. 16, 2005 — three years and three months ago. The previous record was Truman's during his last 38 months in office.
Truman's problems included both economic recession and the war in Korea, which, in October 1952, 56 percent of Americans said was not worth fighting. Bush's approval, likewise, has suffered overwhelmingly because of the unpopular war in Iraq; his job rating correlates almost perfectly with views of the war.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11298


April 16th, 2008 2:19 pm
War and opinions collide at Inland peace vigil
By Julia Glick / Press-Enterprise
PALM SPRINGS, CA — Two groups of Vietnam-era veterans squared off at a peace vigil on the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, with bikers who support the war snatching an American flag from anti-war demonstrators in Palm Springs.
In the tumult, a war supporter stomped on the peace group's symbolic cardboard coffin and one peace activist says he was badly bruised. Both sides say they were verbally abused. And an older woman running across the street to intervene in the struggle for the flag was hit by a pickup truck. She was not seriously hurt.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11306


April 16th, 2008 2:22 am
HAFB investigating incident where F-16 fired on soldiers' SUV
By Matthew D. LaPlante / Salt Lake Tribune
Two Army soldiers, whose combat duties include working to prevent "friendly fire" mishaps, narrowly avoided harm when an F-16 fighter jet from Hill Air Force Base opened fire on their SUV while driving at the Utah Test and Training Range.
The incident occurred during a nighttime training mission April 8 in which the fighter pilot was practicing shooting at ground targets. The soldiers were not hit, but did suffer minor injuries "while exiting the vehicle in rough terrain," according to a statement from the base. The sport utility vehicle, a rental from Avis, was damaged in the incident, but base officials declined to say whether it was hit by the jet's 20mm cannon fire or crashed after the soldiers jumped out.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11304


April 15th, 2008 7:54 pm
Five Years On, Fallujah in Tatters
By Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail* / IPS
FALLUJAH - Fallujah remains a crippled city years after the November 2004 U.S.-led assault.
Unemployment, and lack of medical care and safe drinking water in the city 60 km west of Baghdad remain a continuous problem. Freedom of movement is still curtailed.
Fallujah has suffered more perhaps than any other city through five years of occupation. But it got a great deal worse in 2004.
The city suffered two devastating U.S. military attacks during 2004. Many of the buildings were destroyed, or heavily damaged. Several collapsed under the heavy bombing, and were never rebuilt. The heaps of concrete slabs and piles of rubble remain where they were.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=11299


Rock 'n' Recruiters Show Kids How Much the Military Rocks!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDDQuZnmHwQ&eurl=http://www.michaelmoore.com/


Monday, March 24th, 2008
So? ... A Note from Michael Moore
Friends,
It would have to happen on Easter Sunday, wouldn't it, that the 4,000th American soldier would die in Iraq. Play me that crazy preacher again, will you, about how maybe God, in all his infinite wisdom, may not exactly be blessing America these days. Is anyone surprised?
4,000 dead. Unofficial estimates are that there may be up to 100,000 wounded, injured, or mentally ruined by this war. And there could be up to a million Iraqi dead. We will pay the consequences of this for a long, long time. God will keep blessing America.
And where is Darth Vader in all this? A reporter from ABC News this week told Dick Cheney, in regards to Iraq, "two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting." Cheney cut her off with a one word answer: "So?"
"So?" As in, "So what?" As in, "F*** you. I could care less."
I would like every American to see Cheney flip the virtual bird at the them, the American people. Click here and pass it around. Then ask yourself why we haven't risen up and thrown him and his puppet out of the White House.
The Democrats have had the power to literally pull the plug on this war for the past 15 months -- and they have refused to do so. What are we to do about that? Continue to sink into our despair? Or get creative? Real creative. I know there are many of you reading this who have the chutzpah and ingenuity to confront your local congressperson. Will you? For me?
Cheney spent Wednesday, the 5th anniversary of the war, not mourning the dead he killed, but fishing off the Sultan of Oman's royal yacht. So? Ask your favorite Republican what they think of that.
The Founding Fathers would never have uttered the presumptuous words, "God Bless America." That, to them, sounded like a command instead of a request, and one doesn't command God, even if they are America. In fact, they were worried God would punish America. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington feared that God would react unfavorably against his soldiers for the way they were behaving. John Adams wondered if God might punish America and cause it to lose the war, just to prove His point that America was not worthy. They and the others believed it would be arrogant on their part to assume that God would single out America for a blessing. What a long road we have traveled since then.
I see that Frontline on PBS this week has a documentary called "Bush's War." That's what I've been calling it for a long time. It's not the "Iraq War." Iraq did nothing. Iraq didn't plan 9/11. It didn't have weapons of mass destruction. It DID have movie theaters and bars and women wearing what they wanted and a significant Christian population and one of the few Arab capitals with an open synagogue.
But that's all gone now. Show a movie and you'll be shot in the head. Over a hundred women have been randomly executed for not wearing a scarf. I'm happy, as a blessed American, that I had a hand in all this. I just paid my taxes, so that means I helped to pay for this freedom we've brought to Baghdad. So? Will God bless me?
God bless all of you in this Easter Week as we begin the 6th year of Bush's War.
God help America. Please.
Michael MooreMMFlint@aol.comMichaelMoore.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=224


Register to Vote
http://www.credomobile.com/registertovote/?source=govote


State Presidential Primary and Caucus Dates
http://www.votesmart.org/election_president_state_primary_dates.php


SDS Call to Action: Endorse and Participate in Shutting Down the RNC
Friday, March 28 2008 @ 01:09 PM PDTContributed by: activateViews: 2,197
Over the past year, organizing against the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC)--which will take place from September 1 through 4 in St. Paul--has grown at a considerable pace. At our 2007 national convention, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) passed a proposal endorsing the work of groups organizing against the RNC and encouraging folks within SDS to organize against both the RNC and the DNC.
SDS Call to Action: Endorse and Participate in Shutting Down the RNC
Over the past year, organizing against the 2008 Republican National Convention (RNC)--which will take place from September 1 through 4 in St. Paul--has grown at a considerable pace. At our 2007 national convention, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) passed a proposal endorsing the work of groups organizing against the RNC and encouraging folks within SDS to organize against both the RNC and the DNC.

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20080328130926247


Those opposed to war in Iraq invited to join vigil
04/15/2008
Ever since Feb. 15, 2003, local residents have stood on the Messalonskee Bridge on Kennedy Memorial Drive every Sunday as a way to publicly support a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Iraq.
The March 16 vigil was planned by Waterville Area Bridges for Peace and Justice and Colby College League of Progressive Voters. It marked the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion and occupation.
It was also an opportunity to show support for the soldiers testifying at the "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan" hearings (www.ivaw.org) at which they shared their experiences in the field and after their return.
http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/letters/4944269.html


Be It Resolved: You Can Impeach the President
Official State Impeachment Text
Impeachment Text for Cities & Towns
Impeachment Text for County Democratic Committees
Impeachment Text for State Assemblies and/or Legislatures
Jefferson's Manual, Section LIII, 603
You Can Impeach the President
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622


The Impeachment Project

http://www.freewayblogger.com/impeachment_project2.htm



FOR THE RECORD: Charlton Heston in 'Bowling for Columbine'

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/wackoattacko/president_of_NRA.php


Michael Moore winning an Oscar® and blasting Bush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7Is43K6lrg


Gun control advocates hold lie-ins on Drillfield and at Richmond's Capitol Square
Updated 4:40 p.m.
BLACKSBURG — They lay down on the grass of the Drillfield, roughly halfway between the places where two groups of victims lay one year ago in Norris and West Ambler Johnston halls.
In silence, the 50-some protestors stayed down for three minutes, about the time they said it takes to buy a gun.
Unlike the other vigils and ceremonies held on campus and around the region to mark the one-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, this one did more than commemorate the dead: It appealed to the living to do something about the ease with which guns are purchased in America.
“I have no fear of firearms,” said Peter Read, a U.S. Air Force veteran whose daughter, Mary, was one of the 32 victims of last year’s shootings on the Tech campus.
“But I am afraid of what can happen in this country when we don’t take the most simple, common sense precautions,” said Read, who spoke to about 100 people attending the protest.
http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/158419


On Virginia Tech anniversary, Saugus mom lobbies for changes
By Mike Gaffney/mgaffney@cnc.com
Wed Apr 16, 2008, 11:40 AM EDT
Saugus - A year after she tragically lost her son Ross in the Virginia Tech shootings, Lynnette Alameddine is fighting to support legislation that would require universities to issue campus emergency notifications in 30 minutes or less.
This Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the massacre at Virginia Tech. One of the 33 victims of the deadliest school shooting in this country’s history was Ross Alameddine, 20, a Saugus resident and college sophomore known for his sharp wit and uncanny ability to make people laugh.
In a recent interview with the Advertiser, Lynnette Alameddine declined to reflect upon Ross’s death and its affect on her family for personal reasons.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/saugus/news/x1632296582


US military deaths in Iraq at 4,036
By The Associated Press – 18 hours ago
As of Tuesday, April 15, 2008, at least 4,036 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The figure includes eight military civilians. At least 3,291 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is one higher than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia, three; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.
Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 29,780 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department's weekly tally.
___
The latest deaths reported by the military:
_ No deaths reported.
___
The latest identifications reported by the military:
_ Army Spc. Arturo Huerta-Cruz, 23, Clearwater, Fla., was killed Monday in Tuz from wounds sustained from an explosion; was assigned to the 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, N.Y.
_ Army Sgt. Joseph A. Richard III, 27, Lafayette, La., was killed Monday in Baghdad of wounds sustained from an explosive; was assigned to the 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), located at Fort Polk, La.
_ Two Marines were killed Monday during combat in Anbar province. Both were assigned to the Marine Forces Reserve's 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Milwaukee.
Killed were Cpl. Richard J. Nelson, 23, Racine, Wis.; and Lance Cpl. Dean D. Opicka, 29, Waukesha, Wis.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gqgQCcv26kB1dkgZRZNHmbn_1J8gD902MNM81


Explosions kill dozens in 2 cities
Attacks linked to al Qaeda in Iraq leave at least 40 dead in Baquba and 13 in Ramadi
Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
(04-16) 04:00 PDT Baghdad - --
Bombs in two provincial capitals killed more than 50 Iraqi civilians Tuesday, underscoring the continuing threat posed by Sunni Muslim insurgents as they try to regain power in former strongholds.
Coinciding with military efforts to curb the strength of Shiite militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq, the new attacks also portend the potential hurdles ahead for the Iraqi government as U.S. troop levels decrease through the summer. Iraqi troops will take on more responsibility for holding on to security gains made in the past year, and the challenge will be formidable if both Sunni and Shiite extremists are active.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/04/16/MN9G1066IF.DTL


Nearly 60 are killed in attacks; Al-Qaida in Iraq is suspected
By ERNESTO LONDONO, Washington Post
Last update: April 15, 2008 - 11:39 PM
BAGHDAD - Two bombings killed nearly 60 people Tuesday in parts of Iraq where U.S. and Iraqi forces have claimed significant success in combating Sunni insurgent groups.
A car bombing in central Baqouba, the capital of northeastern Diyala Province, killed at least 47 people, an Iraqi military spokesman said. A suicide bomber in Ramadi, west of Baghdad in Anbar Province, killed at least 10 people at a restaurant frequented by police, according to local officials. Bombs also exploded in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul, but the U.S. command said those blasts did not cause fatalities.
http://www.startribune.com/world/17761944.html


20 Palestinians, 3 Israelis killed in Gaza clashes (click here)
Last update: April 16, 2008 - 7:26 PM
GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - In a surge of fighting between Israeli forces and militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, 20 Palestinians, including a TV cameraman, and three Israeli soldiers were killed, medical officials and the Israeli army said.
The violence came after a relatively quiet month and threatened to unravel an Egyptian effort to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.

continued...

State of emergency in Colorado as 3 die in wildfires

April 15, 2008
Divide, Colorado
Photographer states :: Winds whipped wild fires in several areas of Colorado on Tuesday. This fire is on the Ft. Carson base in Colorado Springs


Brush fires burning in Colorado ( click here for video )
Thousands evacuated; firefighting plane crashes during battle, killing pilot
by Audra Ensign, News2
April 16, 2008
ORDWAY — At least two people died when a wind-driven wildfires swept across the plains and forced 1,110 residents to evacuate from this southeastern Colorado town Tuesday, and a pilot was killed after a single-engine plane crashed while fighting a fire at Fort Carson Army post...

Lightning kills horse rider as weather pounds north

South Pole Satellite
April 15, 2008
1920 gmt
New Zealand at 8 o'clock. The vortex flow is significant and it is right over the Northern Island. These vortices are ionic. They are no joke.


April 16, 2008
0025 gmt
Pacific Ocean Global Satellite

New Zealand to be noted at 7:30. it is caught in a vigorous vortex flow from the tropical Pacific to Antarctica. That has got to be a cyclone in Southeast Asia.


West Pacific Global Satellite
April 16, 2008
0015 gmt


New Zealand Satellite
April 16, 2008
0017 gmt


Six students, teacher die in raging river (click here)

...PARENTS suffered a drive through the night in New Zealand's North Island last night to discover whether their children were among seven dead in a canyoning disaster....


Kayaking on sit-on-tops down the Mangatepopo River

Italy's Economic problems are no different than that of the Global Economy. Corrupt government won't solve them.

Italy's Economic problems won't be solved until global stability is resolved. Italy's economic issues have resulted from the same instability created by George Walker Bush.

The re-election of Silvio Berlusconi won't solve anything, Italy only made their recovery that much slower !

Where there is no water vapor in the satellite picture below, there are wildfires. I guess its a little dry, huh? And HOT !

UPDATE: Four Separate Wildfires Ignite Monday (click at title to entry)
April 14, 2008 11:27 PM EDT
Updated By: Johnray Strickland
j.strickland@krdo.com
EL PASO COUNTY - Warm and dry conditions help to fuel four wildfires in Southern Colorado Monday afternoon. Three fires are within miles of each other while the fourth is South of the main gate of Fort Carson.
20 acres of land in Fort Carson was engulfed in flames Monday evening as the latest fire to break out. The fire raged near Highway 115 and Juniper Valley. Fire crews had the blaze surrounded by a perimeter and expect the flame to be contained shortly.
The call for the first wildfire came in around 4:30 p.m. The fire is burning on Baggett road and Big Springs road in Eastern El Paso County. No further information on this fire is available at this time.
The second fire ignited on the corner of Dodge road and Dodge circle in Falcon. The fire burned a total of 5 to 10 acres and was 100% contained by 3:00 p.m. Falcon Fire, Black Forest Fire and Woodman Valley were called in to control the flames.
The fire didn't have enough strength to jump the road and died on its own. No structures were threatened and no one was injured.
The third fire broke out just 25 minutes northeast in Calhan. Workers were welding a fence on Calhan highway and Judge Orr road when sparks ignited the fire.
Four fire trucks were called in to help keep the flames under control, including Tri Co., Calhan and Elliott.
The fire burned less than one acre and is now completely extinguished.

I'd pay attention to the current conditions over the USA. Yep. Click for 12 hour loop.

April 15, 2008
0230Z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite


April 11, 2008, 9:11PM
At least 8 tornadoes swept through Texas (click here)
© 2008 The Associated Press
DALLAS — At least eight tornadoes and a line of intense thunderstorms were responsible for widespread wind damage in North Texas, the National Weather Service said Friday.
The storms snapped utility poles, peeled roofs from buildings and sent trees crashing into homes, but no deaths were reported. There were several injuries, including one gas field worker who lost an arm when the storms hit while he was inside a trailer at a drilling site.
Areas where tornadoes touched down Wednesday night and Thursday morning included: south of the town of Breckenridge in Stephens County; the city of Breckenridge; Palo Pinto County near Oran; north of Alvarado in Johnson County; DeSoto in Dallas County; McKinney in Collin County; San Angelo; and Leary in Bowie County, said Jesse Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
Most of the tornadoes packed winds around 90 mph, while the Leary tornado had winds up to 125 mph, Moore said.
"This damaging line of thunderstorms was part of one of the most active 24-hour periods in recent North Texas weather history," National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Bunting wrote in his report.
Damage estimates in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are expected to top $35 million, said Sandra Helin, a spokeswoman for the Southwestern Insurance Information Service.
"We expect that figure to rise significantly as adjusters continue to assess damage and as homeowners inspect their homes over the weekend," Helin said.
About 25,000 customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area remained without power Friday evening, said Rob Trimble, president and CEO of Oncor.

Arctic ice shelf now split in three, mission finds

..."The map of Canada is changing," Derek Mueller, a Trent University researcher, said yesterday at Eureka's weather station, which is fewer than 1,200 kilometres south of the North Pole on the western coast of Ellesmere Island. "There are only five [ice shelves] left on Ellesmere, but almost 100 years ago the entire coastline was covered in ice shelves."...


Arctic Sea Ice Younger than Normal (click here)
...The area and thickness of sea ice that survives the summer has been declining over the past decade. Whereas perennial ice used to cover 50-60 percent of the Arctic, it covered less than 30 percent in 2008—down 10 percent from 2007. The ice that remains is also getting younger. In the mid- to late 1980s, over 20 percent of Arctic sea ice was at least six years old; in February 2008, just 6 percent of the ice was six years old or older....

The Weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:

5:57 PM AKDT

Lat/Lon: 58.8° N 137.0° W

Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m

Temperature :: 39 Fahrenheit

Conditions :: Overcast

Windchill :: 34 F / 1 C

Humidity :: 87%

Dew Point :: 36 F / 2 C

Wind :: 7 mph / 11 km/h / 3.1 m/s from the ESE

Pressure :: 29.76 in / 1008 hPa (Falling)

Visibility :: 8.0 miles / 12.9 kilometers

UV :: 0 out of 16

Clouds :: Few 900 ft / 274 m
Mostly Cloudy 1600 ft / 487 m
Overcast 2600 ft / 792 m
(Above Ground Level)

Is this Iraq? No. Pakistan. USA occupation numbers, ZERO !

In case you are wondering why the map below states "Stages 1 through 4..." it is because there is an attempted resettlement of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border (click here)

Do you want to know where Osama bin Laden is?

He is in this region on Earth. More than likely the Kurram Agency of Pakistan. Musharraf is corrupt. He and Osama caused a coupe in Pakistan, yet, he is one of Bush's best buddies. Just because a man has the title of President of the USA doesn't mean he and his words are competent.

Lawyers to observe ‘Karachi Martyrs Day’ on 17th (click here)

By By our correspondent 4/13/2008
Karachi
Pakistan Bar Council has announced to observe “Yaum-e-Shuhada-e-Karachi” on April 17 throughout the country to mourn the tragic deaths of lawyers and innocent citizens who lost their lives in the April 9 incidents of violence.Addressing a press conference at the Bar room of Sindh High Court Bar Association, PBC’s Executive Committee members Rasheed A Razvi, Hamid Khan, Qazi Mohammad Anwar, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Kazim Khan asked the Bar councils and associations to dedicate April 17 for those innocent lawyers and citizens who were killed in the incidents of terrorism in Karachi on April 9.The council called upon Sindh government to control law and order situation and conduct an impartial inquiry through judicial commission into the events and prosecute and punish the offenders.Former vice chairman PBC Ali Ahmed Kurd said that lawyers struggle was meant to establish rule of law as well as restoration of judiciary to its November 2 position.“Lawyers movement for the restoration of judiciary has become a part of history and history could not be defeated,” he said, adding that legal fraternity would continue its struggle until the restoration of judiciary and establishment of rule of law. “Lawyers struggle is meant for the 99% masses who are being suppressed for the last 60 years and who have been fully supporting the lawyers movement for the restoration of judiciary,” he said.Criticizing President Musharraf’s statement against lawyers, Kurd said that the people who abrogated the Constitution had actually intended to create anarchy in the country....

Don't tell me what 'goes on' in Iraq. I know what goes on in Iraq. It is called corruption and the people are engaged in war against that corruption. The illegal invasion of Iraq was and is an illegal invasion. "The oil, boss, the oil."

Oil, Iraq and U.S. Foreign Policy: A Way Forward (Part II) (click here)

...In other words, for these country's help in military and civilian assistance, their oil services and oil producing companies will participate in the exploration, drilling, and production of Iraqi oil. France (Schlumberger (SLB), Total (TOT)), Britain (BP (BP), BG), China (CNOOC (CEO), PetroChina (PTR)), Russia (LukOil (LUKOF.PK), Gazprom (OGZPY.PK)), and of course the US (Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Halliburton (HAL), etc) will negotiate contracts in order to divvy up the Iraqi oil and gas resources....

The Shia militias will never put down their weapons.

It's not possible. They have to 'survive the day' just like everyone else.

The 'fragility' Petraeus refers to is called 'oppression of the will of the Iraqis.' Iraq is divided into ethnic factions. The Iraqis need to get on with their business and the USA needs to leave that country.

Iraq never was a threat to the USA national security and still today it is not !


Death toll rises to 17 as sectarian clashes continue (click title above)
Our Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR - The death toll rises to 17 in the fresh round of sectarian clashes in Parachanar, Sadda and other parts of Kurram Agency continued on the fourth consecutive day Saturday.According to reports, the rival tribesmen from Shia and Sunni communities are targeting each other’s positions and properties with modern and sophisticated weapons. The armed clashes in and around Parachanar and Sadda towns have been continuing for the last four days, causing loss of 17 precious lives and injuries to more than 60. Though the leaders and stalwarts of both the sides are giving conflicting data regarding human and property losses during the clashes. However, the independent circles believe that 17 persons were killed in the last four days. The killed and injured include leading tribal elders and youngsters. While blaming each other for violating the cease-fire agreement, leaders of both the Shia and Sunni communities are unanimously unhappy with the policies of the Government, particularly the Political Administration of the agency. The tribal elders alleged that the officials are playing the role of silent spectators despite the fact that hundreds of people were killed and injured in the sectarian clashes, which erupted in November last.In the wake of frequent demands of people from socio-political circles, a number of helicopters initiated air patrolling in the area. So far no action has been taken for bringing the situation under control. However, after air patrolling of helicopters the firing is on the decline in some areas.The elders from Shia and Sunni communities are reportedly accusing each other of fuelling bloodshed at the behest of some alien hands. The elders from Sunni community alleged that Shia groups are getting help from the Afghan government whereas the Shia circles are accusing the diehard religious groups like Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and Sepah Sahaba of their involvement in attacking and killing of the Shia people.It merits mentioning that despite growing sectarian tension all over Kurram Agency, the government has withdrawn certain wings of the Frontier Corps from the area. A number of political leaders and stalwarts have shown resentment over the withdrawal of military and paramilitary troops from the area.

US GIs in Iraq suffer worst week of '08

Residents gather around a crater created after an air strike in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, Saturday, April 12, 2008. (AP / Karim Kadim)

...the absolute catastrophe has to be laid at the hands of the war's architects and the early Iraq administrators....

Q: What's the most pernicious myth that Americans have about Iraq or the Iraqis?

A: The all-too-popular notion that Iraqis are fundamentally ruthless and cruel, that they are more interested in bloodletting than living normal lives, that they hate the children of those of different sects and ethnicities more than they love their own.
Iraqis are really not much different from their American counterparts in their fierce devotion and love for their families, and in their desire for a better life for themselves and their children.

The militarization of attrition in Iraq. "Our current course is hard, but, is working..."

The real problem in Iraq is that the citizens continue to be born, grow into young soldiers for their faith and arm themselves to protect their families and neighborhoods.

The hideousness of being an Iraqi today is remarkable.

The Green Zone Iraqis state, "Lay down your weapons or we will kill you." That is interpreted by people used to Saddam's regime as "Surrender so we can kill you."

The skirmishs in Baghdad and throughout Iraq will never completely cease. The country has more 'fire power' on its streets than most of the First World, including an oversized occupying force. When people preceive their circumstances as dangerous from every element that exists INCLUDING Green Zone Iraqis with their own militias, why should they trust any government?

Currently the Bahr Brigade exists with immunity. What makes them any different than any other fighting faction in Iraq? Not a darn thing, yet, the Shi'ites of the southern Iraqi provice are told they have to lay down their weapons? That is hideous. Never once did I hear Crocker or Petraeus mention the 'reining in' of the ILLEGAL Bahr Brigade. I guess that would risk a REAL consequence in that the Green Zone Iraqis might even turn the Maliki military in alliance with the Bahr Brigade on the USA/British occupation. Now, that would be interesting, wouldn't it?

The hideousness and enormous double standard to the current occupation is outrageous. The Sistani Shi'ites are scapegoated to be 'The Bin Laden of Baghdad and Iraq' while the OFFICIAL INFRASTRUCTURE of Iraq conduct private militias that kill seeking control of the country.

The Western occupation in Iraq continues to be the most destabilizing entity in that country causing enormous civilian deaths, massive refugee issues for the surrounding countries and abject poverty accompanied by STILL unmeasurable deaths due to that poverty.

The USA military by presence of its military give CONSENT to Green Zone Iraqi Militias, death to citizens and the continued impoverishment of the people.



Iraq violence, in figures (click here)



April 11, 2008, 6:20 pm
Once again it is time to bid aloha to that sober team of mirthless entertainers, Petraeus & Crocker.
It’s hard to imagine where you could find another pair of such sleep-inducing performers.
I can’t look at Petraeus — his uniform ornamented like a Christmas tree with honors, medals and ribbons — without thinking of the great Mort Sahl at the peak of his brilliance. He talked about meeting General Westmoreland in the Vietnam days. Mort, in a virtuoso display of his uncanny detailed knowledge — and memory — of such things, recited the lengthy list (”Distinguished Service Medal, Croix de Guerre with Chevron, Bronze Star, Pacific Campaign” and on and on), naming each of the half-acre of decorations, medals, ornaments, campaign ribbons and other fripperies festooning the general’s sternum in gaudy display. Finishing the detailed list, Mort observed, “Very impressive!” Adding, “If you’re twelve.”
(As speakers, both Petraeus and Crocker are guilty of unbearable sesquipedalianism, a word wickedly inflicted on me by my English-teaching mother. It’s one of those words that is what it says. From the Latin, literally “using foot-and-a-half-long words.” We all learned the word for words that sound like what they say — like “click” or “pop” or “boom” or “hiss” — but I’m sure the mercifully defunct Famous Writers School surely forbade using the “sesqui” word and “onomatopoeia” in the same paragraph. (You can have fun with both of them at your next cocktail party.)
But back to our story. Never in this breathing world have I seen a person clog up and erode his speaking — as distinct from his reading — with more “uhs,” “ers” and “ums” than poor Crocker. Surely he has never seen himself talking: “Uh, that is uh, a, uh, matter that we, er, um, uh are carefully, uh, considering.” (Not a parody, an actual Crocker sentence. And not even the worst.)
These harsh-on-the-ear insertions, delivered in his less than melodious, hoarse-sounding tenor, are maddening. And their effect is to say that the speaker is painfully unsure of what he wants, er, um, to say.
If Crocker’s collection of these broken shards of verbal crockery were eliminated from his testimony, everyone there would get home at least an hour earlier.
Petraeus commits a different assault on the listener. And on the language. In addition to his own pedantic delivery, there is his turgid vocabulary. It reminds you of Copspeak, a language spoken nowhere on earth except by cops and firemen when talking to “Eyewitness News.” Its rule: never use a short word where a longer one will do. It must be meant to convey some misguided sense of “learnedness” and “scholasticism” — possibly even that dread thing, “intellectualism” — to their talk. Sorry, I mean their “articulation.”
No crook ever gets out of the car. A “perpetrator exits the vehicle.” (Does any cop say to his wife at dinner, “Honey, I stubbed my toe today as I exited our vehicle”?) No “man” or “woman” is present in Copspeak. They are replaced by that five-syllable, leaden ingot, the “individual.” The other day, there issued from a fire chief’s mouth, “It contributed to the obfuscation of what eventually eventuated.” This from a guy who looked like he talked, in real life, like Rocky Balboa. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Who imposes this phony, academic-sounding verbal junk on brave and hard-working men and women who don’t need the added burden of trying to talk like effete characters from Victorian novels?
And, General, there is no excuse anywhere on earth for a stillborn monster like “ethnosectarian conflict,” as Jon Stewart so hilariously pointed out.
What would the general be forced to say if it weren’t for the icky, precious-sounding “challenge” that he leans so heavily on? That politically correct term, which was created so that folks who are legally blind, deaf, clumsy, crippled, impotent, tremor-ridden, stupid, addicted or villainously ugly are really none of those unhappy things at all. They are merely challenged. (Are these euphemisms supposed to make them feel better?) And no one need be unlucky enough to be dead or hideously wounded anymore. Those unfortunates are merely “casualties” — a sort of restful-sounding word.
(I have a friend who would like the opportunity to say to our distinguished warrior, “General Petraeus, my son was killed in one of your challenges.”)
Petraeus uses “challenge” for a rich variety of things. It covers ominous developments, threats, defeats on the battlefield and unfound solutions to ghastly happenings. And of course there’s that biggest of challenges, that slapstick band of silent-movie comics called, flatteringly, the Iraqi “fighting forces.” (A perilous one letter away from “fighting farces.”) The ones who are supposed to allow us to bring troops home but never do.
Petraeus’s verbal road is full of all kinds of bumps and lurches and awkward oddities. How about “ongoing processes of substantial increases in personnel”?
Try talking English, General. You mean more soldiers.
It’s like listening to someone speaking a language you only partly know. And who’s being paid by the syllable. You miss a lot. I guess a guy bearing up under such a chestload of hardware — and pretty ribbons in a variety of decorator colors — can’t be expected to speak like ordinary mortals, for example you and me. He should try once saying — instead of “ongoing process of high level engagements” — maybe something in colloquial English? Like: “fights” or “meetings” (or whatever the hell it’s supposed to mean).
I find it painful to watch this team of two straight men, straining on the potty of language. Only to deliver such . . . what? Such knobbed and lumpy artifacts of superfluous verbiage? (Sorry, now I’m doing it…)
But I must hand it to his generalship. He did say something quite clearly and admirably and I am grateful for his frankness. He told us that our gains are largely imaginary: that our alleged “progress” is “fragile and reversible.” (Quite an accomplishment in our sixth year of war.) This provides, of course, a bit of pre-emptive covering of the general’s hindquarters next time that, true to Murphy’s Law, things turn sour again.
Back to poor Crocker. His brows are knitted. And he has a perpetually alarmed expression, as if, perhaps, he feels something crawling up his leg.
Could it be he is being overtaken by the thought that an honorable career has been besmirched by his obediently doing the dirty work of the tinpot Genghis Khan of Crawford, Texas? The one whose foolish military misadventure seems to increasingly resemble that of Gen. George Armstrong Custer at Little Bighorn?
Not an apt comparison, I admit.
Custer sent only 258 soldiers to their deaths.

The Cheney Poison - "In THOSE DAYS there was a right way to do it."

"Dick and Barak Obama are eighth cousins."

Cheney: Rev. Wright's remarks 'absolutely appalling' (click here).

The man in the Executive Branch that should be impeached insists on 'attempts' to raise question with Reverand Wright as appalling. Really? There is no American more appauling than Dick Cheney. It is highly questionable as to whether Dick Cheney actually has room to talk.

Cheney is the most Anti-American entity in government. He has used the Executive Branch to his own purpose to exonerate his liability with Halliburton after he cooked the books as CEO, lied to the American public in the lead up to the illegal and immoral and currently genocidal was in Iraq, conducted a secret Energy Committee, outed a CIA agent and has 'enjoyed' the First Amendment using language as "Fuck You" and "So" in reference to other members of our society that was intended to intimidate and denigrate.

The comments made by Cheney started at the FOX News stage with characters such as Hannity. All one has to realize about that is, "Consider the source." It would be far better to leave the 'mouth' of any Cheney where it belongs and that is on the stage of the Fox Propaganda Network. The comments by Cheney were to 'prompt' the Neocons into a rant that ? might work ? in an attempt to defame a Democratic Presidential hopeful. Does this childlessness ever stop? Do 'REAL' issues like the genocidial tendancies of Bush and Cheney ever make it to the social rhelm? It would seem not and speaks to the lack of sincere interest Americans exhibit regarding the 'best interests' of their country.

Terrorist dies of domestic disease. Why is it that it seems an honor?

The FBI has the methodology that if a serial killer isn't apprehended, in time, the killer will 'retire' from his crimes through old age or die unidentified. An example of that was the BTK murders (click here) in which he 'got away with it' for decades.

Abu Ubaida al Masri is believed dead of Hepatitis C at the age of 52. He would fit right in to the statistics of those in the USA. He was more than likely getting the best health care in Pakistan along with Osama bin Laden's dialysis machine.

Dramatic Rise Found In Hepatitis C-related Deaths In The United States (click here)
ScienceDaily (Mar. 25, 2008) — Hepatitis C-related deaths in the United States increased by 123 percent from 1995 through 2004, the most recent year for which data are available. Mortality rates peaked in 2002, then declined slightly overall, while continuing to rise among people 55 to 64 years old....

Al Qaeda struck the USA on September 11, 2001. It is a day way from being six years and seven months ago. During that time, was al Qaeda dismantled? No. Was al Qaeda brought to justice and imprisoned or worse? No. Was Pakistan in complete turmoil while sending custom made nuclear packages to, for lack of a better word, 'Rouge Countries?' Yes. Has the USA fought the war they should have fought to dismantle al Qaeda, kill or capture their leaders, while protecting their allies from further harm? No. The USA has been engaged in a completely unnecessary war in Iraq.

Abu Ubaida al Masri died of a progression of a disease process. He didn't die of WMD. He didn't die in battle. He was not killed by British or USA forces and he died in Pakistan. There is something very, very "W"rong with this picture !

Pakistan court acquits Bhutto's widower in murder case

Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and leader of the Pakistan People's Party gestures as he arrives to attend the National Assembly session in Islamabad March 17, 2008.
REUTERS/Mian Khursheed

Only two hours ago, these children had no injuries. This is the fruit of the Bush/Cheney Iraq War !

Iraqi men rush wounded children to a hospital in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, Wednesday, April 9, 2008. The children were injured after two projectiles fell into two separate places in Sadr city on Wednesday morning. According to hospital officials the death toll now is 7 killed, including 3 children and 27 wounded. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

What exactly will any reform bring these people? More love for their chidren? They love their familes as much as we love ours. They don't deserve this. They understand the world differently and their reward for that is having bombs as part of their daily lives and streets littered with the blood of their children. When will this stop? The occupation has gone too far. The occupation has made enemies of the citizens of Iraq. How does Bush expect the people of Iraq, the people of Baghdad to simply 'take it on the chin' when their families are wounded and killed by a war they never welcomed. There is a huge disconnect between the people that wage this war and those that suffer through it.

Violence in Iraq claims 2 U.S. soldiers, 11 residents (click here)

A rocket blast in Sadr City kills 7 as a curfew locks down the capital amid continued fighting between militiamen and military forces.
By Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 7:47 AM PDT, April 9, 2008
BAGHDAD -- At least seven Iraqi civilians were killed today when a rocket or mortar shell tore into a residential neighborhood of Baghdad's Sadr City, the site of fierce fighting between Shiite militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi forces.Four people died in additional clashes in Sadr City today, and the U.S. military announced the deaths of two soldiers, bringing to 4,028 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003, according to www.icasualties.org "> www.icasualties.org (nhlirl452i43tn45j1vwpa22)/Default.aspx. Today marked the fifth anniversary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, but a curfew in the capital prevented gatherings to commemorate the event....

Morning Papers - continued...

The Kookaburra (click at title to entry), could it be over wintering? Or. Is there trouble with Australia's drought that might be placing them in danger?

Sydney Morning Herald

Planes versus trains
April 6, 2008
Danielle Teutsch looks at whether you're better off flying or going by rail around Europe.
You're hopping around Europe - do you go by plane or train? Only a decade ago, the answer was simple. Flights were expensive and the rail system worked well. It was a no-brainer.
Then came the advent of budget airlines, EasyJet and Ryanair, selling flights within Europe for ridiculously cheap prices - think London to Paris for £20 ($44). Suddenly, plane travel was too tempting to refuse.
But rail travel is fighting back with high-speed services that are improving - so much so that, in some cases, rail travel is quicker than going through airport red tape. And compared to carbon-emission spewing aircraft, electric rail has a a green halo.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/tips/planes-versus-trains/2008/04/04/1207249417544.html

Zimbabwe results judgment on Monday
April 10, 2008 - 6:13AM
A judge hearing an opposition petition demanding the immediate release of Zimbabwe's presidential election results said he will deliver his judgment on Monday.
"Conscious of the urgency of the matter, I should be ready for a judgment on Monday afternoon," Judge Tendai Uchena told the high court in Harare today.
"Judgment is therefore reserved until Monday at 14.30pm (2230 AEST)."
AFP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/zimbabwe-results-judgment-on-monday/2008/04/10/1207420521404.html


Privacy fears as Google hits the road
HIGHLY detailed panoramic street-level photos of much of Australia will soon be published by Google, but the executive in charge of the project is making no assurances that private homes, faces and number plates will be obscured.
A US couple is suing the search giant for invasion of privacy after photos of their home, on a street clearly marked with a private road sign, appeared on the new feature of Google Maps.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/privacy-fears-as-google-hits-the-road/2008/04/09/1207420533151.html



The Student Operated Press

Florida Lawmakers Pass Take-Your-Gun-To-Work Measure
by Robert Paul Reyes
Some progressive companies allow their employees to bring their children to work on certain days. This liberal policy builds good morale and is conducive to a productive work environment.Other employers permit their workers to bring their pets to work on Fridays; this is another way to foster good relations in the workplace. I would be very happy if I could bring my cat to my place of employment; it would reduce my level of anxiety knowing that my feline is scratching and otherwise vandalizing my company's furniture instead of my own. Some folks love their children; some love their pets, and then there are those who love their firearms. There is a measure pending in Florida that would allow residents to take their beloved guns to work. "Most Florida residents would be allowed to take guns to work under a measure passed by Florida lawmakers on Wednesday. The bill, allowing workers to keep guns in their cars for self-protection, was approved by the Florida Senate by a vote of 26-13. It now goes to Republican Gov. Charlie Crist to sign into law.

http://www.thesop.org/index.php?id=10544


New Zealand Herald

Floods and drought to rise due to climate change
New 11:27AM Thursday April 10, 2008
BUDAPEST - Flooding in temperate regions and the tropics and droughts in arid regions are likely to increase over the course of the century due to climate change, according to a study released yesterday.
The study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the body which won last year's Nobel Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore, said changes in fresh water supplies would have a huge impact on humans and on the environment.
"The frequency of heavy precipitation events (or proportion of total rainfall from heavy falls) will very likely increase over most areas during the 21st century, with consequences to the risk of rain-generated floods,' the report, released at the IPCC's annual meeting in Budapest, said.
"At the same time, the proportion of land surface in extreme drought at any one time is projected to increase,' it said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503242


Baghdad anniversary clampdown fails to stop violence (+video)
9:10AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD - Twenty people were killed in Baghdad's Shi'ite slum of Sadr City yesterday, security sources said, despite vehicle bans aimed at preventing unrest from spreading on the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
Up to 70 people have died in Sadr City since Sunday in battles between black-masked militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and US and Iraqi troops.
The upsurge in fighting comes as the top US officials in Iraq testified in Washington that they opposed setting a timetable to withdraw troops from the 5-year-old war.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503217

Haiti's leader urges calm amid food price unrest (+video)
8:51AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Joseph Guyler Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haitian President Rene Preval told demonstrators to "cool it" yesterday as he sought to end days of angry and violent protests over soaring food prices in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
"To those who are stirring up violence, I order you to stop because it is not going to solve the problem," Preval said in a national television and radio address.
"Poze," said Preval, telling protesters in Creole to "cool it" in a recorded message from the ornate National Palace, protected by barbed wire and UN peacekeeping troops backed by trucks and armoured personnel carriers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503208

Air NZ set to ask Boeing for delay compensation
10:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Grant Bradley
Air New Zealand is likely to seek compensation from Boeing following the announcement its eight 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft on order will be delayed by two years.
Air New Zealand has eight 787-9 aircraft on firm order with delivery of the first initially expected around the end of 2010, with all aircraft delivered by late 2013.
The delivery of the first aircraft is now likely in early 2012.
The airline says it will now be entering into compensation discussions with Boeing.
Overnight Boeing said production difficulties had led to the delays for the aircraft made largely of carbon fibre and promises significant fuel saving. First deliveries are not expected until late next year, almost 18 months later than planned.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10503222

Manufacturing sector activity in decline
11:30AM Thursday April 10, 2008
The manufacturing sector's overall activity declined for the first time in over two years, a survey released today shows.
The Bank of New Zealand-Business NZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) for March was 48.3, seasonally adjusted, 3.5 points lower than February.
It was the first time it has declined since January 2006 and was the lowest result since November 2005.
The average PMI since the survey began in 2002 is 54.4.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10503241


Rocker eyes 'holographic touring' to save planet
11:30AM Thursday April 10, 2008
NEW YORK - Serj Tankian, the frontman for Los Angeles rock band System of a Down, is so dedicated to saving the planet that he wants to launch a virtual concert tour to reduce his carbon footprint.
"I've had an idea for a long time, which might sound a little crazy, but I really want to look into holographic touring," Tankian told Billboard.
"I think we could reduce our need to travel if we could project ourselves into meetings and concerts. We have the technology, and we're not using it right now."
He suggested that he could broadcast a show in real time from his home studio, and he could interact with fans as if they were in the same room.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10503224

Confusion along San Francisco Olympic torch route (+video)
Updated 8:18AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Adam Tanner
SAN FRANCISCO - Confusion surrounded the relay of the troubled Olympic torch through San Francisco yesterday, as organizers completely changed the route at the last minute, bewildering thousands of China supporters and protesters converged along the planned route.
The first runner held the torch aloft and began the route, flanked by tall, blue-clad Chinese security officials.
But the group then promptly disappeared into a large waterfront warehouse for a last-minute change of route by authorities to head off trouble.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503194

Don't ban violent video games, says horror King
10:20AM Thursday April 10, 2008
SYDNEY - Horror writer Stephen King has criticised plans by a US state to ban violent video games, saying such a move would be undemocratic and it was up to parents to monitor their children's entertainment.
King, in a pop culture column he writes for Entertainment Weekly, said he was no videogame fan but was outraged when he heard that a bill in the state of Massachusetts could ban the sale of violent games to anyone aged under 18.
"What makes me crazy is when politicians take it upon themselves to play surrogate parents. The results of that are usually disastrous. Not to mention undemocratic," wrote King.
The move comes amid an ongoing debate in the United States, Britain and Australia about banning violent games. British and Irish authorities last year banning videogame "Manhunt 2" in which an insane asylum escapee goes on a killing spree.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10503228

Would nuclear power be a viable energy source for New Zealand?
11:24AM Monday April 7, 2008
Nearly one in five New Zealanders say nuclear power is a viable energy source, even though politicians have put it off limits. Wind power topped the poll as the preferred source of electricity generation, with 77 percent. In September, a Colmar Brunton poll found 36 percent believed the Government should consider developing nuclear power stations, 60 percent said "no" and 4 percent didn't know.
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/4/7/would-nuclear-power-be-viable-energy-source-new-zealand/?c_id=1501154

Chinese nurses could help shortage
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
By Craig Borley
The nursing shortage could be slashed by this week's signing of the free trade agreement with China.
Up to 1000 Chinese workers, in 20 trades classified as being understaffed in New Zealand, can now live here for up to three years, provided they meet qualification standards.
Nursing is one of those trades, and the expected influx of Chinese nurses will bring multiple benefits to the country's health system, experts told the Herald yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10502883

Will a Free Trade Agreement with China be good for us?
12:08PM Sunday March 30, 2008
New Zealand's largest bilateral trade agreement is due to be signed with China on April 7th by Prime Minister Helen Clark and China's Premier Wen Jiabao. It's the result of three years of negotiations and is believed to give New Zealand exporters increased access to the world's fastest growing economy.
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/3/30/will-free-trade-agreement-china-be-good-us/?c_id=1501154#message

Loud Aussie migrant goes quiet
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Craig Borley

Shy, elusive, retiring and quiet. Couldn't possibly be talking about Australians. Especially that most iconic of Australians, the kookaburra.
But Unitec researcher and senior lecturer John Perrott is finding the famously loud birds near-impossible to locate on this side of the Tasman.
In an attempt to understand why kookaburras, introduced to New Zealand at Kawau Island by Governor George Grey in the 1860s, have not thrived like other new avian arrivals, Dr Perrott first needs to find the surviving New Zealand populations.
"There's been quite a few sightings of them, but they're not the easiest birds to find," he said. "The nests themselves are very hard to find and access because they are so high up in the trees. So it's proving an interesting exercise."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10503118

Winter of discontent predicted for housing market
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008By Anne Gibson
House buyers are waiting for prices to drop, tenants are crying out against big rent hikes and sellers still have unrealistically high expectations.
These are some of the findings to emerge from the latest BNZ monthly confidence survey from chief economist Tony Alexander.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/8/story.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10502830


Blood donors 'healthier'
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
Frequent blood donation is not harmful to your health, a new study confirms.
"Blood donation may actually be good for you," said Dr Gustaf Edgren of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the study's lead author.
People who donate blood show lower cancer and mortality rates than their non-donating peers, Dr Edgren and his colleagues note in their report, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Association, but the fact that blood donors tend to be healthier overall could mask any ill effects of frequent donation.
There are also several mechanisms by which frequent blood donation could theoretically affect health, Dr Edgren noted.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10503101

Bill gives civilians police powers, say critics
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Claire Trevett
The Police Association and Council for Civil Liberties say a new bill allowing civilian staff to be given traditional police jobs could transform the face of policing and result in an increasingly civilianised police force.
In his submission to the law and order select committee on the Policing Bill, Police Association head Greg O'Connor said the legislation could result in a force increasingly dominated by civilian staff who did not have the training or capability to deal with crises.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10503161

Stress played down as pregnancy risk
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
Being stressed out during the first half of pregnancy may be unhealthy, but it won't increase a woman's risk of developing a serious complication known as pre-eclampsia, Dutch researchers have found.
Stress also didn't influence a woman's likelihood of developing a related condition known as gestational hypertension, in which blood pressure climbs to dangerous levels during pregnancy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10503100

Japan beef ban leaves Hirst's cow art in a pickle
New 11:10AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Sophie Hardach
TOKYO - A cow preserved in formaldehyde, one of artist Damien Hirst's most famous works, ran into an unlikely obstacle on its way to a Tokyo museum: Japan's import ban on British beef.
Hirst's "Mother and Child, Divided", consisting of a cow and a calf each sliced in half, is part of a retrospective of Britain's controversial Turner Prize - and its eventful journey illustrates the challenge of taking increasingly complex works of modern art around the world.
Japan stopped beef imports from Britain after an outbreak of mad cow disease there. The Mori Art Museum had to convince customs officials that even the most adventurous gourmets are unlikely to tuck into Hirst's cow.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503240

World's largest guitar bike (+video)
New 12:03PM Thursday April 10, 2008
A German bicycle fanatic has invented what he calls the "biggest rideable guitar in the universe".
Dieter "Didi" Senft hopes the giant guitar-shaped bike will secure him another world record. He wants to register his latest creation as the world's biggest mobile guitar with Guinness World Records.
"I think it's the biggest rideable guitar in the universe. It's well over 14 metres long and is more than four metres tall, which means you can't ride it on public roads. But it will soon be put in front of my museum so tourists from around the world can come and take photos in front of it. Then you can see the difference in size between a person and a guitar," says Senft.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503245

IMF slashes European economic growth forecasts (+video)
8:45AM Thursday April 10, 2008
WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund slashed its economic growth forecast for Europe yesterday, warning that its financial markets were exposed to the troubled US housing sector and credit conditions were tightening.
"Exposure to the US subprime mortgage market - directly or through conduits and structured investment vehicles - has already strained banks' capital in a number of countries and forced them to expand their balance sheets," the IMF wrote in its World Economic Outlook.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503203

Tibet governor says 953 detained for riots
5:14PM Wednesday April 09, 2008
BEIJING - Chinese police have detained 953 people suspected of involvement in riots in Tibet last month, the head of the Himalayan region said on Wednesday but added that they were a minority who did not represent the Tibetan people.
Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region government, told a news conference in Beijing that prosecutors had also issued arrest warrants for 403 of those detained, a step that generally leads to formal prosecution.
But he added the rioters were only "an extremely tiny minority" of Tibetans and the monks who took part in protests were also "an extremely tiny minority" of the Buddhist clergy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503075

Rebels reject hostage plan
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
BOGOTA - France abandoned a mission to treat Colombian rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt in her jungle camp yesterday after guerrillas rejected the initiative in a setback to attempts to free scores of captives.
The rejection was a blow to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who made it a priority to secure the freedom of the French-Colombian citizen kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, in his 2002 presidential campaign.
Sarkozy said he was "deeply disappointed" and his foreign minister would travel to the region soon.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503142


NZ First ad tests party spending rules (+video)
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Audrey Young
Winston Peters' taxpayer-funded newspaper ads yesterday about New Zealand First's opposition to the China free trade agreement may be one of the more important test cases in the early days of the Electoral Finance Act.
The act, which came into effect on January 1, has become so confusing that many political parties have stopped producing taxpayer-funded literature - once regarded as normal publicity by them - for fear it might have to count as an election expense.
The view in Labour that all material with a parliamentary crest should not be attributed as an expense under a spending cap imposed on all parties is not shared by the Electoral Commission.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10503166


'Mutineers' gift $14,000 to copter services for rescue
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Alanah May Eriksen
Yacht crew members who sparked a $20,000 maritime rescue because they "mutinied" against their more experienced skipper have donated $14,000 to the helicopter services that saved them.
The crew were last night reluctant to speak about the donation as they were unsure if skipper Bill Heritage would bring any legal action against them after they made him leave his yacht - worth more than $24,000 - at sea.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10503169


Muslims lend help to NZ poor
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Simon Collins
A Muslim charity that provides relief after natural disasters throughout the Third World has delivered food and blankets to some of New Zealand's poor in a Mangere boarding house.
London-based Humanity First International delivered two carloads of supplies to Kiwiana Lodge in Bicknell Rd yesterday, after media reports that whole families were living in small single rooms, with blocked-up shared toilets and rat-infested rubbish.
Tenants such as beneficiaries Junior and Rangimarie Leato, who have lived there for five months with their now 10-month-old baby, welcomed the donation. "We've been on the waiting list for Housing New Zealand since we came here," they said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10503168

Kiwi ICT stacks up well in global survey
11:31AM Thursday April 10, 2008
New Zealand has again placed 22nd in a global survey that ranks countries on their ability to benefit from new information and communications technology.
The World Economic Forum's annual information technology report compiles information from 127 countries and aims to assess the impact of IT and telecoms on their development and competitiveness.
Switzerland-based WEF considered the business and regulatory environments in the countries it covered, the readiness of individuals, businesses and government to exploit opportunities and actual usage of the latest IT and communications technology (ICT).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10503243

Climate change could see pubs run dry - Niwa
11:27AM Tuesday April 08, 2008
Climate change could cause a drop in beer production within 25 years, a scientist has warned.
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger said climate change could see a decline of malting barley production in parts of Canterbury and across the Tasman.
"It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up," Dr Salinger said.
He said there could be an expansion of malting barley production in Otago and Southland.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502705

Brazil's Government taps into rubber for rubbers
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
Condoms produced in Brazil could benefit the rainforest and the country's people. Photo / Reuters
The Brazilian Government began producing condoms yesterday using rubber from trees in the Amazon, a move it said would help preserve the world's largest rainforest and cut dependence on imported contraceptives given away to fight Aids.
Brazil's first government-run condom factory, located in northwestern Acre state, will produce 100 million condoms a year, the health ministry said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502887

Seahorses found in the river Thames
10:15AM Tuesday April 08, 2008
LONDON - Marine biologists believe seahorses could be breeding in the Thames as the river becomes cleaner.
About five short-snouted seahorses, (Hippocampus hippocampus) have been spotted during routine conservation surveys, leading scientists to think they have probably established a resident population.
The news has been kept secret until now because the seahorse has not been protected.
But as of today, the marine creature and its environment will have protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502708

Climate change gives economy a warm glow
5:00AM Tuesday April 08, 2008By Adam Cox And Kristin Arna Bragadottir
If any country can claim to be pitched on the global warming front line, it may be the North Atlantic island nation of Iceland.
On a purely physical level, this land of icecaps and volcanoes and home to 300,000 people is undergoing a rapid transformation as its glaciers melt and weather patterns change dramatically.
But global warming is also having a profound effect on Iceland economically - and in many ways the effects have actually been beneficial.
Warmer weather has been a boon to Iceland's hydroelectric industry, which is making more energy as melting glaciers feed its rivers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502572

Koalas under threat as excess CO2 makes eucalyptus leaves inedible
5:00AM Monday April 07, 2008
By Kathy Marks
The future of the koala, perhaps Australia's best-loved animal, is under threat because greenhouse gas emissions are making eucalyptus leaves - their sole food source - inedible.
Scientists warned that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were reducing nutrient levels in the leaves, and also boosting their toxic tannin content.
That has serious implications for koalas and other marsupials that eat only, or mainly, the leaves of gum trees. These include several possum and wallaby species.
"What we're seeing, essentially, is that the staple diet of these animals is being turned to leather," said science professor Bill Foley, of Australian National University, in Canberra.
"This is potentially a very significant development for the future of some marsupial populations. Life is set to become extremely difficult for these animals."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502412

White House set to go slightly green
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Peter Huck
For all the noise on the campaign trail about the war in Iraq, the perilous state of the United States economy and hot issues like immigration and soaring fuel costs, the coming tsunami that is global warming has so far hardly surfaced.
Former Vice-President Al Gore is agitating to raise awareness. His Alliance for Climate Protection that intends to spend US$300 million ($376.7 million) to force political action on climate change is in stark contrast to a presidential election season that has mostly ignored the issue.
"The climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public's sense of urgency in addressing the crisis," said Mr Gore.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10503090

Greenpeace slams proposed trading scheme
8:58AM Tuesday March 04, 2008
The Government's proposed emissions trading scheme is being savaged by Greenpeace.
The environmental lobby group argues it will do little to reduce New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions and will impede development of less carbon intensive production technologies.
Greenpeace also slams the timing of permit allocations and the fact the agricultural sector will not be required to participate until 2013. The report argues all sectors must be included if the trading scheme is to work effectively.
Co-author Dr Hugh Saddler says the scheme is fatally flawed. He says by being given up to 90 per cent of permits, businesses are not being landed with the true environmental costs of their consumption decisions. Dr Saddler says the trading scheme will likely deliver only incidental reductions in greenhouse gases.
Greenpeace also slams the timing of permit allocations and the fact the agricultural sector will not be required to participate until 2013.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10496030

Green turtles to be freed today
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
By Angela Gregory
A little green turtle hooked on a fisher's line under the Auckland Harbour Bridge is today expected to be swimming freely in a marine reserve off Northland's east coast.
The turtle was one of three to be released back into their natural environment this morning after about a two-year recuperative stint in Kelly Tarlton's aquarium.
The curator at Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World, Andrew Christie, said the three protected turtles were part of a threatened population. .
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=272&objectid=10502903

More planets discovered
5:00AM Friday April 04, 2008
Astronomers using robotic cameras have found 10 new planets outside the solar system, and a second team say they have found the youngest planet yet.
The findings add to a growing list of more than 270 so-called extrasolar planets, they told a meeting of astronomers in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The robot team is called "SuperWASP", for Wide Area Search for Planets, and the cameras look for planets transiting, or crossing in front of, their stars.
The light from the sun fades just slightly when this happens and astronomers can extrapolate the size and location of the planet.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10501912

Are we at risk from climate change?
1:48PM Wednesday March 26, 2008
An Antarctic ice shelf nearly 14,000 square kilometres in size has started to disintegrate due to rapid climate change. There is a new way to send in comments to Your Views and Blogs. You can click here and go straight to the registration page.
Are we at risk from climate change?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10500208

Knock knock knocking on Heaven's door
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
Professor Peter Higgs is expecting to find proof of an all-pervading force. Photo / Reuters
It is not everyday that someone's name becomes inextricably linked with God. But it is not everyday that someone comes up with a theory that could help to unify the many disparate forces of the universe.
All the more strange, then, for the man behind the sub-atomic "God particle" to be an unassuming grandfather living in modest retirement in one of the more sedate districts of Edinburgh.
Professor Peter Higgs, 78, is a theoretical particle physicist, and it took him 20 years before he could even bring himself to call the God particle by its more scientific name - the Higgs boson. Up to that point, he preferred the more prosaic term, "scalar boson".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10502798&pnum=0

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