Lighthouse that guards the entrance to Praia Bay, the Azores, Portugal
The New York Times
Sharon Says Diplomatic Progress Hinges on Palestinian Action
JERUSALEM, Feb. 27 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today that there would be no progress in peace efforts until the Palestinian leadership acted against armed factions, while Israeli security officials warned that they could resume strikes against Islamic Jihad, the group behind the latest suicide bombing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/international/middleeast/27cnd-mideast.html?hp>
Islamic Jihad Says It Was Behind Tel Aviv Bombing
By GREG MYRE
Published: February 27, 2005
JERUSALEM, Feb. 26 - The radical Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide bombing a day earlier in Tel Aviv that threatened a fragile truce, and the group suggested that more such attacks were likely.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/international/middleeast/27mideast.html
Sharon Says Diplomatic Progress Hinges on Palestinian Action
By GREG MYRE
Published: February 27, 2005
ERUSALEM, Feb. 27 -- Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today that there would be no progress in peace efforts until the Palestinian leadership acted against armed factions, while Israeli security officials warned that they could resume strikes against Islamic Jihad, the group behind the latest suicide bombing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/international/middleeast/27cnd-mideast.html?hp
Anti-Semitism
How the U.N. Can Help Fight Anti-Semitism
By Hillel C. Neuer
IHC Abstract
The U.N.’s unprecedented commemoration of the liberation of Nazi death camps may offer glimmers of hope for the Jewish people. The U.N. nonetheless remains a far cry from fulfilling a leadership role in communicating resolve to fight hatred against Jews. The U.N. cannot credibly fight antisemitism in the world when within its own walls it actually fosters it. Neuer provides a sobering reminder of the manifold ways in which the U.N. operates to exclude Israel from its many forums as well as to single Israel out for discriminatory treatment. Only when the U.N. takes certain measures to change the U.N.’s anti-Israel position can it truly boast leadership in confronting the global disease of antisemitism.
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=5/a/140220051
A World Without Israel
By Josef Joffe
IHC Abstract
A few years back some prominent historians took a stab at constructing “counter-histories.” Their task was not to retell a story from a different perspective thus adding balance to historical controversy, rather they were asked to approach a historical situation with a change in the underlying facts. For example, what would have been the outcome of World War II if Lord Halifax rather than Winston Churchill had succeeded Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister of Great Britain?
The exercise, as you can imagine, is speculative and the conclusions reached are very tenuous. Recently Josef Joffe used this devise to picture a world without Israel. “Imagine that Israel never existed. Would the economic malaise and political repression that drive angry young men to become suicide bombers vanish? Would the Palestinians have an independent state? Would the United States, freed of its burdensome ally, suddenly find itself beloved throughout the Muslim world? Wishful thinking. Far from creating tensions, Israel actually contains more antagonisms than it causes.”
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/b/iv/140220051
The Future of Judaism
By Daniel Pipes
IHC Abstract
Non-Orthodox Judaism in the U.S. is diminishing and Jewish Orthodoxy appears to be coming of age and gradually replacing the former. The Orthodox proportion of American synagogue members, for example, went from 11 percent in 1971 to 16 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2000-01. While Pipes notes the positive implications of this growth, he nevertheless marks the task set ahead for the Orthodox community, which for too long has been steeped in parochial interests and shirked wider communal responsibilities. With fewer non-Orthodox Jews to lobby the Jewish cause and combat antisemitism in the political arena, Orthodox Jews will have to broaden their agenda to include political activism that until now has been the domain of secular Jews.
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/b/viii/140220052
France Bans Iran's Sahar TV For Airing Antisemitic Programs
by MEMRI
As part of its mission, the MEMRI TV Monitor Project (www.memritv.org) focuses on antisemitism on Arab and Iranian television channels. From December 2004 through February 2005, MEMRI TV translated and released clips from 'Zahra's Blue Eyes,' an Iranian series on Sahar TV that depicts Israeli government, military, and civilian personnel (all dressed in the traditional clothing of religious Jews) conspiring to steal the eyes of Palestinian children. The series was produced by a former official of the Iranian Education Ministry.
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news/lateststories/?disp_feature=hz090f.var
Forward
Hip-hop Mogul's Ad Campaign Fuels Feud Between Groups
By Eric J. Greenberg
February 18, 2005
The announcement that hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons is spearheading a celebrity-driven campaign to fight antisemitism has triggered a feud between two national Jewish organizations dedicated to promoting tolerance.
At issue is the participation of Simmons in the "I Am a Jew" ad campaign of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, a New York-based group founded by Rabbi Marc Schneier that has focused largely on improving black-Jewish relations. The Anti-Defamation League issued a press release this week criticizing Simmons, the legendary recording executive who serves as chairman of the foundation, for failing to publicly distance himself from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
http://www.forward.com/articles/2719
French, American Communal Aides in New Spat
By MARC PERELMAN
February 18, 2005
In the latest incarnation of trans-Atlantic Jewish tensions, the leader of the French Jewish umbrella organization is blasting a rich Californian philanthropist for accusing European Jewish groups of offering only a tepid response to antisemitism.
http://www.forward.com/articles/2717
Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial in the Iranian Media
By MEMRI
IHC Abstract
This article reveals the pervasive, tenacious and expanding role of antisemitism in Iran. All the common, horrific myths about Jews taking over the world, causing every cataclysm and giving rise to every known evil, crop up regularly in presentations aimed at the entire nation. The sources range from TV soaps to interviews with “experts” - university professors and Holocaust deniers from inside and outside the country. To this mendacious morass are added some new ingredients: many of the alleged Jewish evils are said to underlie Israel’s plot to deprive Palestinians of their land, their freedom and even their body parts! In particular, Holocaust denial is gaining ground, the major allegation being that the mass murder of Jews is a fabrication used by the West to cover up Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians.
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=5/d/240220051
Bush Mum After Saudis' Antisemitic Comments
By MARC PERELMAN
February 25, 2005
Democrats are slamming President Bush for failing to condemn antisemitic remarks made during a high-level counterterrorism conference in Saudi Arabia that was attended by his top homeland security adviser.
http://www.forward.com/articles/2748
Beyond Research: Ansky's Chronicle of Tenderness
NONFICTION
By Alyssa Quint
February 25, 2005
The Enemy at His Pleasure: A Journey Through the Jewish Pale of Settlement During World War I
By S. Ansky
Edited and Translated By Joachim Neugroschel
Metropolitan Books, 352 pages, $30.
On January 1, 1915, an article was published in a Warsaw-based Yiddish newspaper that appealed to its readers to record their experiences:
We must become the historians of our part... otherwise our account will be empty, and neither people nor history will owe us anything... others — total strangers — will write for us and in our names. And among those strangers we have so few friends.
http://www.forward.com/articles/2730
Private Health Care in Jails Can Be a Death Sentence
Brian Tetrault was 44 when he was led into a dim county jail cell in upstate New York in 2001, charged with taking some skis and other items from his ex-wife's home. A former nuclear scientist who had struggled with Parkinson's disease, he began to die almost immediately, and state investigators would later discover why: The jail's medical director had cut off all but a few of the 32 pills he needed each day to quell his tremors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/nyregion/27jail.html?hp&ex=1109566800&en=f814d917b2991c35&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The SAME, OLD, DUMB stupid stuff ALL THE TIME !!
For Bush, a Long Embrace of Social Security Plan
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Published: February 27, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 - The conservative economists and public policy experts who trooped in to brief George W. Bush on Social Security not long after he was re-elected governor of Texas in 1998 came with their own ideas about how to overhaul the retirement program. But they quickly found that Mr. Bush, who was well into preparations for his first presidential race and had invited them to Austin for the discussion, already knew where he was headed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/politics/27social.html?hp&ex=1109566800&en=1099b8d96c35e623&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Good Idea !
Kurds Vow to Retain Militia as Guardians of Autonomy
By EDWARD WONG
Published: February 27, 2005
SARAI SUBHAN AGHA, Iraq, Feb. 23 - The camouflage-clad militiamen marched down from the mountains in four columns of hundreds each, stomping their boots in unison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/international/middleeast/27militia.html
Air Quality Officials' Group Protests Senator's Actions
By MICHAEL JANOFSKY
Published: February 27, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 - At the end of his testimony on the Clear Skies Act of 2005 last month, an Ohio official representing two national groups of state and local air quality regulators told a Senate subcommittee on the environment that he would be happy to respond in writing to any additional questions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/27/politics/27enviro.html
Climate Change
CLIMATE CHANGE:
Colombia Gearing Up to Do Its Bit
Constanza Vieira
BOGOTA, Feb 24 (IPS) - Colombia is set to begin systematically measuring the impact of climate change on its remarkably diverse territory, which ranges from Caribbean and Pacific coastal regions to snow-capped Andes mountains and tropical Amazon rainforest, in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol.
A five-year Integral National Adaptation Pilot Project (INAP), to be designed this year and to go into effect in early 2006, will be ”the first climate change adaptation project in the world,” according to Colombian officials.
http://www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=27606
After Kyoto, winds of change will blow through the business sector
Western Daily Press, 23 February 2005 - Energy efficiency has muscled its way to the top of the business agenda in the early weeks of 2005. With the long-awaited Kyoto Protocol on climate change coming into effect last week, the issue was already at the front of West business leaders' minds. However, anticipated rises in energy costs of around 25 per cent in the pipeline this year and next mean that reducing electricity and gas consumption is now a key business objective for many companies, even if concern for the environment isn't.
http://www.sustain-online.org/plugins/DocSearch/details.asp?MenuId=1&ClickMenu=&doOpen=1&type=DocDet&ObjectId=MTMzMjI
Canada Green Building Council Praises Federal "Climate Change" Budget
"This budget contains a serious commitment to meeting our Kyoto obligations", says CaGBC president Alex Zimmerman
VICTORIA, Feb. 23 /CNW/ - The Canada Green Building Council today praisedthe federal government for their budget commitments to lowering domesticgreenhouse gas emissions and meeting Canada's Kyoto commitments."There has been a lot of talk up until now about meeting our Kyotoobligations but this budget contains a serious commitment in terms of dollarsand that is very positive", said CaGBC president Alex Zimmerman. "Canada canbe a world leader in greenhouse gas reduction and a world leader insustainable development. This is a win for the economy and for theenvironment."
Budget highlights include:
- $1 billion to establish a "Clean Fund" to encourage the mostcost-effective projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions andstimulate more action to reduce GHGs.
- $225 million to quadruple the number of homes retrofitted under theEnerGuide for Houses Retrofit Incentive program.
- At total of $1.81 billion over the next 15 years to encourageinvestment in wind other renewable energy sources.
- A recognition that greening the Government of Canada's buildings isthe lowest cost source of emission reductions as part of the FederalHouse in Order initiative, which seeks to lower direct GHG emissionslevels from federal government operations.
- $300 million provided to enrich the Green Municipal Funds, whichmake investment in innovative local green projects.
Zimmerman also pledged that the Canada Green Building Council willcontinue working with the Government of Canada to meet emissions targets. Thefederal government has played an important role in supporting the Council byproviding funding to sponsor the implementation of the LEED Canada ratingsystem. LEED is a voluntary, market-driven rating system developed to providea standard benchmark and certification for the design and construction ofgreen buildings. Research has shown that LEED certified buildings use onaverage 30% less energy than conventional buildings.
"Over thirty percent of Canada's greenhouse gases come from constructingand operating commercial and residential buildings", continued Zimmerman. "Webelieve that some of the lowest cost and most significant green house gasreductions will come from this sector."
"The Canada Green Building Council is working hard to educate thebuildings industry on the economic and environmental benefits of greenbuildings. The federal government must continue to pursue creative andinnovative ways to encourage green design and construction as well asretrofits of existing commercial and residential buildings across thecountry."
"Public and consumer demand for green buildings and healthier,sustainable communities is rapidly growing," concluded Zimmerman. "It's smartfor this government to respond to that demand."
The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) is a non-profit group thatexists to accelerate the design and construction of Green Buildings acrossCanada. The Council is a broad-based inclusive coalition of both public andprivate sector representatives from different segments of the design andbuildings industry.
For more information about green building and the Canada Green BuildingCouncil, please visit us at www.cagbc.org.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2005/23/c7947.html
Climate change summit set for Montreal
Thousands of delegates from around the world to arrive next December
By Francesco Veronesi
In December, Canada will play host to a world summit on climate change. The announcement came last week from Prime Minister Paul Martin in Montreal, the city designated as the seat of the event that will bring together over 6,000 delegates representing 160 countries. "Here in Montreal," said Martin, "the nations of the world will work together to tackle the problems of climate change. I'm convinced that this initiative will lead to very important results."
http://www.tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4971
Gambling on global warming
February 25, 2005
INSURANCE Australia Group's Mike Hawker and QBE's Frank O'Halloran have sharply contrasting views on the likely pattern of future weather-related insurance disasters. One of them must be wrong.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12362371%5E16946,00.html
Coming in from the cold over global warming?
Fiona Harvey
2/25/2005
THE latest study to suggest that global warming is a real phenomenon, and one caused by human action, adds further weight to a body of scientific evidence that has been accumulating steadily in recent months, as research institutions and governments have made the issue a higher priority.
http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=2/25/2005§ion_id=4&newsid=13500&spcl=no
Aspen Looks To 'Canary Initiative' In Global Warming Effort
Feb 24, 2005 7:37 am US/Mountain
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) Aspen could become a showcase town in the fight against global warming if a far-reaching, multimillion-dollar campaign currently being considered by city and local environmental leaders is implemented.
http://news4colorado.com/localnews/local_story_055094322.html
Ski Areas Lead in Addressing Global Warming
Lakewood, CO (Thursday, February 24, 2005) - Ski resorts across the U.S. are educating guests about the potential impacts of global warming on snow sports, enlisting athletes to help spread the word, and spotlighting solutions to global warming in their own operations.
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/news/stories/110922701553182.shtm
New York Governor Announces Milestone In Protection Of The Albany Pine Bush Preserve
Land Acquisitions Help Fulfill Governor's Goal of 3,000 Acres for Preserve
February 23, 2005 -- Governor George E. Pataki today announced the State has reached a milestone in its conservation of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve with the addition of 70 acres in the Town of Colonie, expanding the size of the Preserve to a total of 3,010 acres. The announcement exceeds the goal set by Governor Pataki to protect 3,000 acres in the Preserve.
http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-news+article+storyid-6676.html
THIS is Global Warming. It gets much colder before it gets 'HOTTER' because the ice caps are attempting to cool Earth down. Once the Ice Caps and Ice Fields of Earth can no longer compensate for the heating it won't be cold anymore.
Global warming or global cooling?
SWAMINOMICS/SWAMINATHAN S ANKLESARIA AIYAR
[ SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2005 12:14:16 AM ]
Almost as soon as the Kyoto Protocol on global warming came into effect on February 15, Kashmir suffered the highest snowfall in three decades with over 150 killed, and Mumbai recorded the lowest temperature in 40 years. Had temperatures been the highest for decades, newspapers would have declared this was proof of global warming. But whenever temperatures drop, the press keeps quiet.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1034077.cms
Face facts on global warming
It amazes me to no end how willfully ignorant people can be. It is appalling how many people completely disregard the serious threat global warming poses to our planet, our posterity and ourselves.
http://www.chicoer.com/Stories/0,1413,135~27922~2733680,00.html
Ski Resorts Celebrate Winter, Fight Global Warming
February 25, 2005
Lakewood, Colo. (Ski Press)-Ski resorts across the country are educating guests about the potential impacts of global warming on snow sports, enlisting athletes to help spread the word, and spotlighting solutions to global warming in their own operations.
http://www.skipressworld.com/us/en/daily_news/2005/02/ski_resorts_celebrate_winter_fight_global_warming.html?cat=Resorts
Middle School Kids Hold Global Warming Protest
52 Horizon Academy Students Line Streets On Isleta
POSTED: 1:27 pm MST February 25, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Dozens of seventh- and eighth-graders took to the pavement Friday morning to protest the threat of global warming.
About 52 Horizon Academy students lined the streets along Isleta Boulevard to have their voices heard.
http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/news/4233722/detail.html
Global warming threat increasing
Environmental Agenda
By Kristin Plys
February 25, 2005
Many days this past winter have been unseasonably warm. Often, we on the East Coast have reached record high temperatures. In the news-media, meteorologists exclaim how great it is that we're having a mild winter season this year and citizens are content to keep their coats and hats stored away.
http://www.jhunewsletter.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/02/25/421e663d785be
The New Zealand Herald
Washington in u-turn over Iran’s nuclear programme
27.02.05 1.00pm
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
The US is embarking on a major rethink of its policy towards Iran, which could see it dropping the strategy of confrontation and threat, instead offering Tehran incentives for abandoning its suspected nuclear ambitions.
The striking change of policy emerged during President Bush’s fence-mending trip to Europe last week, when for the first time he indicated that Washington endorsed the tripartite effort by France, Britain and Germany to reach a deal with Iran, offering technology in return for an end to its uranium enrichment programme.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10112834>
Pope misses Sunday prayers for first time
27.02.05
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul will remain in his Rome hospital room on Sunday while for the first time in his papacy an aide will preside at his weekly Angelus prayer and bless crowds for him miles away at the Vatican.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10112826>
Sketchy science of quake prediction
26.02.05
By MAGGIE FOX
Think scientists are close to being able to predict earthquakes? Well think again, US experts said this week.
The magnitude 9 quake off Sumatra that triggered the devastating Boxing Day tsunami was a potent reminder that while it is easy to say where big quakes will happen, pinning one down to a day, a week or even a decade has proved impossible, they said.
That quake apparently gave no warning whatsoever, researchers told the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10112661>
The weather in Antarctica (Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Clear
-13.0°
Updated Monday 28 Feb 2:59AM
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/tools/weather/international.cfm?intlareaID=10
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park is (Wind Chime) is:
34 °F / 1 °C
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity:
93%
Dew Point:
32 °F / 0 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
29.80 in / 1009 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Mostly Cloudy 7000 ft / 2133 m
end
