KOSHER DOT CALM for all your Passover needs. Orders have to be received no later than April 15.
http://www.kosher.com/Passover1.cfm
…isms
International conference on gender discrimination begins in Islamabad
ISLAMABAD: A three-day international conference to analyze gender discrimination and the UN's thousand years development program has started in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz inaugurated the three-day international conference reviewing gender discrimination and UN’s thousand-years development programme.
http://www.geo.tv/main_files/pakistan.aspx?id=71859
Summers, Women in Science Focus Of MIT Prof.
By Lucie Kroening
Columbia Daily Spectator
March 28, 2005
Dr. Nancy Hopkins, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology molecular biologist who exposed the university’s sex discrimination in the 1990s, spoke Friday on the trials faced by women faculty in the sciences. More recently, she’s been in the news for saying that if she hadn’t walked out of the speech in which Harvard President Lawrence Summers suggested that “innate ability” accounts for a lack of women in science, she would have “thrown up.”
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/28/4247bd44eb4b6
Sumitomo Metal ordered to pay for sexual discrimination
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 04:56 JST
OSAKA — The Osaka District Court ordered Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd on Monday to pay 63 million yen in compensation to four current and former female employees who suffered sexual discrimination in wages and promotions.
The ruling was handed down nine and a half years after a total of nine female employees sued Sumitomo Metal Industries, Sumitomo Chemical Co and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd in August 1995. This was the first ruling among the three cases that went in favor of the employees. (Kyodo News)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=3&id=332164
Discrimination case against Orleans DA winding down
NEW ORLEANS After weeks of testimony, closing statements are underway in the discrimination suit filed against Orleans Parish D-A Eddie Jordan.
Forty-four white ex-employees of Jordan's office are suing him, saying they were fired because of their race when Jordan took over the job in January 2003.
http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=3132994
Builders claim housing discrimination
By JEFF GEARINO
Southwest Wyoming bureau Monday, March 28, 2005
GREEN RIVER -- Only the rich will be able to afford new housing in Wyoming's Star Valley under Lincoln County's zoning regulations, a lawsuit filed last week alleges.
A trio of Lincoln County landowners contends in the lawsuit that the county has violated the federal Fair Housing Act by unfairly limiting the development of affordable homes and housing, particularly in north Lincoln County.
By limiting affordable housing options -- specifically because the county requires large lots for new home construction -- Lincoln County officials are discriminating against people because of their race, color, national origin or disabilities in violation of federal law, the lawsuit contends.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/03/28/news/5bb38ecd5932db1a87256fd100056a74.txt
New Orleans Probes Bias at French Quarter Clubs
by Susan Roesgen
Morning Edition, March 28, 2005 · New Orleans officials investigate charges of racial discrimination at French Quarter nightclubs. The death of a black tourist in an altercation over a club's dress code sparked the probe, which includes using undercover agents to test whether clubs have different standards for black and white customers. Susan Roesgen of member station WWNO in New Orleans reports.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4563340
FOUR WOMEN WIN 63 MILLION YEN RULING
Sumitomo Metal guilty of gender bias
OSAKA (Kyodo) The Osaka District Court ordered Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. on Monday to pay a total of 63 million yen in compensation to four current and former employees who suffered sexual discrimination in wages and promotions.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050329a3.htm
Our Agenda, By Nigerian Women
Posted to the web March 28, 2005
Paul Ibe
Abuja
Affirmative action'll spur devt, says Ezeilo
The issues of citizenship, good governance, social justice, equity, health, education and human rights, will top the agenda of women at the National Political Reform Conference (NPRC) a delegate representing South-east women, Barrister (Mrs.) Joy Ngozi Ezeilo has said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200503280505.html
Bush Decision to Comply With World Court Complicates Case of Mexican on Death Row
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: March 29, 2005
WASHINGTON, March 28 - At first glance, the Bush administration's decision to comply with an international tribunal's order for new hearings for 51 Mexican nationals on death row might have appeared to resolve, or at least simplify, a pending Supreme Court case.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/politics/29scotus.html
I think people are confused
Bigotry continues; only targets change
They just aren’t like us. They can’t be trusted. They have no moral values. They are an insult to God. They could be tolerated if they kept out of sight, but they shouldn’t have children. If we were meant to mix, God wouldn’t have made us different. They are unpleasant to look at. They didn’t work and sweat to build this country.
Who are “they”? Whites, blacks, Jews, homosexuals, mixed-race couples, Catholics, Italians, Irish, Asians or perhaps you. Over the years these indictments of “them” have been used against one group after another. As time passes “they” changes with each new pronouncement by those who have the most recent, clearest understanding of God’s message. The moral outrage aimed at each newly designated “they” is surpassed only by the next message from those chosen few who interpret God’s intentions so loudly.
Bile-filled hypocrites preach intimidation and threats of doom if “they” are not eliminated, denied the rights of citizenship or in some way isolated from polite society. If these views are given continued credence, shame on us.
DIANE COOK
Fort Wayne
Don’t teach children tolerance of gays
Recently, there has been a debate about teaching tolerance of homosexuality to children. There are PBS shows under fire for promoting tolerance to the gay lifestyle, some geared to young children. I appreciate the stand that Education Secretary Margaret Spellings took regarding exposing young children to the gay lifestyle. She is right to question the wisdom of this kind of children’s programming.
My suggestion to tolerant and open-minded liberals who are pushing for homosexual lifestyles to be portrayed in children’s programming is this: Just be tolerant long enough to look at this issue from someone else’s viewpoint.
There are many parents who have a belief and value system based on biblical principles who feel strongly that homosexuality is not acceptable. Everyone has some sort of value system, and I wonder what system of values the people who want to push homosexual education on children have. I’m sure they would not want their children forced into learning to tolerate behavior that is against their morals and values. Is there anything that would fall into this category?
KAREN DEEMER
Edgerton, Ohio
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/11249034.htm
Children urged to combat bigotry
The scheme has been piloted across Scotland
School children are being enlisted in the fight to remove sectarianism from Scottish society.
A new online and classroom-based education package has been launched along with a series of training seminars for teachers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4371329.stm
Tackling the roots of bigotry
Editorial Comment
March 23 2005
Local News Search
-- please select -- All Scotland Aberdeen (City) Aberdeenshire Angus Argyll and Bute Borders Clackmannanshire Dumfries and Galloway Dundee (City) East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh (City) Falkirk Fife Glasgow (City) Highland Inverclyde Midlothian Moray North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire Orkney Perth and Kinross Renfrewshire Shetland South Ayrshire South Lanarkshire Stirling West Dunbartonshire We
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/35836.html
Haaretz
Ezra: Yesha official suggested collecting settlers' guns
By Nadav Shragai and Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service
Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra said on Tuesday that an official from the Yesha Council had appealed to him during the past several with a suggestion that Gaza settlers` weapons be collected prior to the disengagement.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/557935.html
Knesset finally expected to pass budget
By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
The Knesset renewed its debate on the 2005 state budget Tuesday morning and is expected to approve the second and third readings of the budget - totaling NIS 266.6 billion - and its accompanying Economic Arrangements Bill late Tuesday night.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/558009.html
Security sources fear anti-aircraft missile attacks
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters
Security sources said Tuesday they are concerned that anti-aircraft missiles the defense minister has said were recently smuggled into the Gaza Strip might be moved into the West Bank and used against commercial aircraft flying over central Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/558376.html
The Jerusalem Post
Netanyahu blasts Gaza pullout
A day after the Knesset soundly rejected a proposal to hold a national referendum on the Gaza withdrawal plan, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday blasted the proposed pullout, placing himself squarely at odds with the premier's major diplomatic plan and
repositioning himself as the prime minister's key
political rival.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1112066443900
Zionist rabbis convening in J'lem
"The State of Israel still has religious meaning even after disengagement," reads a press release issued in advance of a major conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday to be attended by hundreds of religious Zionist rabbis and educators.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111980179966
Major quake hits off Indonesian coast
A powerful 8.7-magnitude earthquake hammered Indonesia's west coast, flattening houses, killing up to 2,000 people and sparking widespread panic across Indian Ocean countries still traumatized by the December 26 quake and tsunami disaster.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1111980178090
Antisemitism
Iceland, the Jews and Antisemitism, 1625-2004
By Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson
IHC Abstract
This article offers a unique historical account of Jewish life in Iceland, as well as Icelandic attitudes towards the Jewish people and the State of Israel. A country in existence since the end of the ninth century, Iceland has seen relatively few Jews coming through, or attempting naturalization. Jews were but occasional visitors from the 17th century and those who sought to remain either converted to Christianity or effectively concealed their Jewish identity.
http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=5/e/280320051
The New Zealand Herald
Up to 2000 dead on island after inevitable quake
An aerial view of damaged buildings in the town of Gunungsitoli on Indonesia's Nias Island. Picture / Reuters
29.03.05 3.00pm UPDATE
Until today the Indonesia's Nias island was known as a surfer's paradise for a fabled right hand break. Now the palm-fringed island which was at the epicentre of the 8.7 magnitude earthquake off Sumatra could well become a tomb for hundreds to thousands of people.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10117614
China plans gradual forex reform, says central bank
29.03.05 3.40pm
BEIJING - China will reform its exchange rate regime gradually on a schedule of its choosing and does not plan simply to revalue the yuan, the central bank governor said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10117632
Tearful Corby greeted by media frenzy at Bali court
Schapelle Corby
29.03.05 3.40pm
DENPASAR, Bali - A tearful Schapelle Corby has arrived at a Bali court for what may be the crucial day in her fight to avoid a possible death sentence for drug smuggling.
"Please help me, please help me," she told a crush of journalists as police helped her push through the surging crowd outside the Denpasar District Court.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10117636
Mugabe calls archbishop 'half-wit'
29.03.05 1.00pm
CHIVHU, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has denounced a prominent archbishop as a "half-wit" for calling for his overthrow and said the opposition in this week's parliamentary election were Western stooges.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10117568
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Cloudy
-17.0°
Updated Tuesday 29 Mar 8:59PM
Climate Change
Conference held on climate change
By Staff Reporter
CLIMATE destabilisation, the negative impacts on the ecosystems of the planet and the repercussions of climate change are the biggest threats facing mankind today said the Minister of Agriculture Timis Efthymiou, who was speaking a conference on climate change organised by the Environmental Services of Nicosia.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=17951&cat_id=1
Large extinction was caused by Global Warming
MIL, Jan 22, 2005. Monica Bhatia
New Delhi - The large mass extinction of Grand Dying, which occurred on the Earth about 250 million years ago, was most probably caused not by asteroid or comet but by global warming. It had wiped out 90 per cent of all marine life and nearly three-quarters of land-based plant and animal life going extinct.
http://internationalreporter.com/news/read.php?id=433
Global Warming Melts Winter Joy at Top German Resort
By: Erik Kirschbaum
Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:54 AM ET
GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (Reuters) - Global warming is more than just a theory to Germany's most famous winter resort, where a worrisome shortage of snow in recent decades has forced the Alpine village to reinvent itself.
http://www.maconareaonline.com/news.asp?id=9702
Global warming approaching point of no return, warns leading climate expert
By Geoffrey Lean, Environment Editor
23 January 2005
Global warning has already hit the danger point that international attempts to curb it are designed to avoid, according to the world's top climate watchdog.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=603752
Democrats' plan would stop trash from Canada
BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, February 22, 2005 3:11 PM EST
Democratic legislators, including Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Rudyard, on Monday announced a plan to stem the tide of trash from Canada and elsewhere into the state.
According to McDowell, the plan would slap waste companies with the nation's highest dumping charge, revoke certification for a year if municipalities send banned and dangerous items to Michigan landfills, strengthen enforcement and ban landfill expansions until 2010.
http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/2005/02/22/news/local_regional/news03.txt
UK ; Call for action on climate change:
22 Hours,51 minutes Ago
[UK News] The UK government is not doing enough to tackle climate change, according to a report by a parliamentary committee. The Environmental Audit Committee attacked ministers for believing that new technology and market mechanisms will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The committee says Britain and the developed world need to reduce emissions by 60-80% by 2050.
Committee chairman MP Peter Ainsworth called on the government to draw up a clear plan of action.
http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=164113
UK group reviews climate-change policies
By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 28 -- Energy efficiency is the fastest way of cutting carbon emissions and mitigating climate change but is not on the agenda of many policy-makers worldwide, a meeting of UK energy professionals concluded.
During a February review of the UK government's climate change program, the group called for stable and consistent energy policies globally. The Energy Institute hosted the meeting along with the UK Department of Trade and Industry and the UK Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
http://ogj.pennnet.com/articles/article_display.cfm?Section=ONART&C=GenIn&ARTICLE_ID=224153&p=7
Britain's top climatologist backs global warming claims
March 28, 2005
One of Britain's leading climate change experts has thrown his weight behind the claim that global warming is being caused by human activity in a report published today by the Institute of Physics.
The report by Professor Alan Thorpe, who takes up his post as chief of the Natural Environmental Research Council next month, aims to tackle sceptics who doubt the models scientists use to predict future climate change.
Professor Thorpe outlines the scientific basis for climate change and explains how the climate models actually predict future change. According to Thorpe, "uncertainty" is one of the key issues in predicting climate change but is an aspect of the research which is very poorly understood by the public and policy-makers.
In the report, Professor Thorpe says: "Science in crucial in determining government and international policy on climate change but only some of the views on this issue are actually supported by the scientific models".
http://www.physorg.com/news3522.html
Global warming could hurt Colo. ski industry
Many view speculations as negative, unjustified
By Jim Erickson
Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
ASPEN — Colorado’s $2 billion ski industry could be dead by 2050 unless radical steps are taken to address global warming and save the state’s prized champagne powder.
http://www.longmontfyi.com/region-story.asp?id=1043
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
36 °F / 2 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
28 °F / -2 °C
Humidity:
81%
Dew Point:
30 °F / -1 °C
Wind:
10 mph / 17 km/h from the SSW
Pressure:
29.31 in / 992 hPa
Visibility:
9.0 miles / 14.5 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Mostly Cloudy 1300 ft / 396 m
Overcast 1900 ft / 579 m
A small, short-lived explosive event at Mount St. Helens volcano began at approximately 5:25 p.m. PST, March 8, 2005.
Airplane pilot reports indicate that the resulting steam-and-ash plume reached an altitude of about 36,000 feet above sea level within a few minutes and drifted downwind to the northeast. The volcano's rim stands at 8,325 feet.
"Plume in the Evening"
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Eruption04/framework.html
U.S. Geological Survey, Vancouver, Washington
University of Washington, Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network, Seattle, Washington
Monday, March 28, 2005 10:00 a.m. PST (1800 UTC)
MOUNT ST. HELENS UPDATE
Current status is Volcano Advisory (Alert Level 2); aviation color code ORANGE
Growth of the new lava dome inside the crater of Mount St. Helens continues, accompanied by low rates of seismicity, low emissions of steam and volcanic gases, and minor production of ash. During such eruptions, episodic changes in the level of activity can occur over days to months. The eruption could also intensify suddenly or with little warning and produce explosions that cause hazardous conditions within several miles of the crater and farther downwind. Small lahars could suddenly descend the Toutle River if triggered by heavy rain or by interaction of hot rocks with snow and ice. These lahars pose a negligible hazard below the Sediment Retention Structure (SRS) but could pose a hazard along the river channel upstream.
Potential ash hazards: Wind forecasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), coupled with eruption models, show that any ash clouds that rise above the crater rim today would drift eastward.
Potential ash hazards to aviation: Under current eruptive conditions, small, short-lived explosions may produce ash clouds that exceed 30,000 feet in altitude. Ash from such events can travel 100 miles or more downwind.
Recent observations: Storm clouds continue to obscure the volcano. The spate of larger earthquakes in the magnitude 2.5 to 3.2 range during the past few days appears to be waning. Those looking at PNSN webicorders will see an impressive signal beginning just before 8:30 a.m. PST from this morning’s magnitude 8.5 earthquake in Indonesia on most stations in the PNSN region, but not on stations near Mount St. Helens. That is because the sensitivity of seismic instruments near St. Helens has been turned down so that they will stay on scale and record well the entire size range of events that are occurring at the volcano during the ongoing eruption.
For additional information, background, images, and other graphics: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Eruption04/
For seismic information: http://www.pnsn.org/HELENS/welcome.html
For a definition of alert levels: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/CurrentActivity/volcano_warning_scheme.html
For a webcam view of the volcano: http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/
Telephone recordings with the latest update on Mount St. Helens and phone contacts for additional information can be heard by calling:
Media (360) 891-5180
General public (360) 891-5202
OTHER CASCADE VOLCANOES
All other volcanoes in the Cascade Range are all at normal levels of background seismicity. These include Mount Baker, Glacier Peak, Mount Rainier, and Mount Adams in Washington State; Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Three Sisters, Newberry, and Crater Lake, in Oregon; and Medicine Lake, Mount Shasta, and Lassen Peak in northern California.
USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory, the Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network at the University of Washington, and the USGS Northern California Seismic Network and Volcano Hazards Team in Menlo Park, California, monitor the major volcanoes in the Cascade Range of northern California, Oregon, and Washington.
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/CurrentActivity/current_updates.html
end
