Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

White House Pulls Strings;

First Lady's Sesame Street Adventure
By Jefferson Morley / Washington Post
The world says "Guantanamo," and the Bush administration replies "Sesame Street."
Laura Bush's photo opportunity Monday with a puppet from the Egyptian version of the children's television program was a snapshot from the island of American innocence in a sea of Muslim hostility.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2752

Finds Laura gentler audience

Senate Votes to End Filibuster on Judge
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer 31 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to end years of delaying tactics that blocked the nomination of Priscilla Owen to a federal judgeship, the first fruit of a bipartisan agreement to break the logjam over
President Bush's judicial choices.
The vote was 81-18 with opponents of the Texas Supreme Court justice falling well short of the 60 needed to continue their filibuster. A vote to confirm Owen could come as early as Tuesday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050524/ap_on_go_co/filibuster_fight

U.S. Rockets Reportedly Kill 5 Pakistanis
American military says troops were pursuing guerrillas who attacked in Afghanistan, but does not confirm fatalities across the border.
By Zulfiqar Ali and Paul Watson / Los Angeles Times
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A battle between U.S. forces and militants in eastern Afghanistan spilled across the border into Pakistan during the weekend, and witnesses said American rocket fire had killed five Pakistani tribesmen.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2747

Tillman's Parents Are Critical Of Army
Family Questions Reversal On Cause of Ranger's Death
By Josh White / Washington Post
Former NFL player Pat Tillman's family is lashing out against the Army, saying that the military's investigations into Tillman's friendly-fire death in Afghanistan last year were a sham and that Army efforts to cover up the truth have made it harder for them to deal with their loss.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2744

Canada rights group to 'adopt' US soldier who refused Iraq
MONTREAL (AFP) - Amnesty International plans to defend Jeremy Hinzman, a US army soldier who refused to fight in Iraq and is seeking asylum in Canada rather than a US jail, the rights group said.
"It's absolutely essential that Canada now take all steps to protect him from the possibility that he could end up in a US a prison simply because of his conscientious belief," Alex Neve, director of Amnesty International in Canada, told the CBC television's Newsworld channel.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2749

10 Dead as Car Bomb Tears Apart Baghdad Restaurant
By Jeffrey Fleishman / Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD — As sweeps by U.S. and Iraqi forces captured nearly 300 suspected militants across Baghdad today, a car bomb ripped through a popular city restaurant, killing 10, wounding 107 and increasing anxiety in a nation unable to stop a wave of insurgent violence.
Fire coiled through the sky around lunchtime near a falafel restaurant in Baghdad's Talibya neighborhood in what has become a common scene since the Iraqi government took office last month.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2748

The Downing Street "Memo" is actually a document containing meeting minutes transcribed during the British Prime Minister's meeting on July 23, 2002—a full eight months PRIOR to the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003. The Times of London printed the text of this document on Sunday, May 1, 2005, but to date US media coverage has been limited. This site is intended to act as a resource for anyone who wants to understand the facts revealed in this document.

http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/

The New York Times

Orthodox Leaders Won't Recognize Irineos I
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 24, 2005
Filed at 12:13 p.m. ET
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) -- World Orthodox leaders voted Tuesday to stop recognizing the patriarch of Jerusalem, Irineos I, church officials said, asserting a rare unified position on the crisis facing the Church in the Holy Land.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Turkey-Orthodox-Holy-Land.html?hp

Eight U.S. Soldiers Killed Over Two Days in Iraq
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: May 24, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 24 - Eight American soldiers were killed in attacks by insurgents over the past the two days, the military said today, as a renewed wave of violence continued.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/international/middleeast/24cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1116993600&en=547bd56397c505af&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Senators Reach Deal to Avert a Showdown on Judicial Nominees
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 23, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Averting a showdown, centrists from both parties reached agreement Monday night on a compromise that clears the way for confirmation votes on many of President Bush's stalled judicial nominees, leaves others in limbo and preserves venerable Senate filibuster rules.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Filibuster-Fight.html?hp

Justices, for Now, Rebuff Mexican on Appeal of Death Sentence
By DAVID STOUT
Published: May 23, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 23 - The Supreme Court today turned away as premature the appeal of a Mexican on death row in Texas whose case has attracted international attention because he was convicted and sentenced long before officials of his country were notified of his situation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/23/politics/22cnd-treaty.html?hp&ex=1116907200&en=cdf720144aa5a628&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Iran's Leader Seeks Vote With Reformist Candidates
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 23, 2005
Filed at 1:12 p.m. ET
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's supreme leader ordered the hard-line constitutional watchdog council to reconsider its decision to bar senior reformist candidates from running in next month's presidential elections, state-run television reported Monday.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iran-Elections.html?hp&ex=1116907200&en=246768e842d5eafe&ei=5094&partner=homepage

China, the World's Capital

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: May 22, 2005
KAIFENG, China
As this millennium dawns, New York City is the most important city in the world, the unofficial capital of planet Earth. But before we New Yorkers become too full of ourselves, it might be worthwhile to glance at dilapidated Kaifeng in central China.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/opinion/22kristof.html

Sydney Morning Herald

It should be noted neither Australia or the USA have signed Kyoto Protocol. Their farmers are suffering due to the high levels of carbon dioxide concentration over their countries.

Farmers face a dry future
May 20, 2005
If money were all it took, the problems brought by the drought could be fixed tomorrow. It might not be cheap, but conceptually it would be a simple matter to give farmers precisely what they are seeking - financial relief from slow strangulation by debt - and nothing more.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Editorial/Farmers-face-a-dry-future/2005/05/19/1116361671321.html

Get serious about environment, sack Howard: Suzuki
May 24, 2005 - 7:52PM
Kyoto Protocol 'now international law': David Suzuki.
Prime Minister John Howard is making Australia an "environmental bandit" by failing to sign the Kyoto protocol, award-winning scientist David Suzuki says.
Dr Suzuki, visiting Australia this week for the Sydney Writers festival, says he was at Kyoto in 1997 when Australia was complaining about signing the protocol.
The protocol took effect in February, with 141 countries agreeing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2 per cent from 1990 levels.
Dr Suzuki said Australia's refusal to the ratify the protocol showed it wasn't serious about the environment.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Get-serious-about-environment-sack-Howard-Suzuki/2005/05/24/1116700706818.html

Blair's dash to shore up decaying climate agenda
By Patrick Wintour, Larry Elliott and David Gow in London
May 25, 2005
The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is to undertake a lightning tour of world leaders in the face of mounting evidence that his ambitious agenda for his G8 presidency on climate change and poverty in Africa is crumbling due to US opposition.
Downing Street confirmed on Monday that Mr Blair will see five world leaders personally and hold video conferences with the Japanese and Canadians in a bid to secure an elusive consensus ahead of the summit starting on July 6 in Gleneagles, Scotland.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Blairs-dash-to-shore-up-decaying-climate-agenda/2005/05/24/1116700712138.html

Bear in the backyard
May 24, 2005 - 6:30AM
A female black bear takes a swim in a backyard pool in LA.
Photo: AP
A 63-kilogram bear wandered into a suburban Los Angeles neighbourhood and took a dip in a swimming pool before being tranquilised and returned to the wild.
The female bear ambled into the San Fernando Valley's Porter Ranch area shortly after 6pm yesterday, bumping into doors and windows before taking a few splashes in a backyard pool, fire spokesman Brian Humphrey said.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Bear-in-the-backyard/2005/05/24/1116700676820.html

Schoolgirls killed in bus crash near Dublin
May 24, 2005 - 7:28AM
Five Irish schoolgirls were killed today when their bus and two cars collided, causing the bus to flip onto its side. Police said other children remained trapped in the bus.
The crash happened near Navan, a commuter town north-west of Dublin, about 4pm (1am AEST).
The bus, which had about 50 schoolchildren aboard, ended up in a ditch.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Schoolgirls-killed-in-bus-crash-near-Dublin/2005/05/24/1116700678455.html

Japan vows to continue whaling despite pressure
May 24, 2005 - 7:06PM
Tokyo will not yield to foreign pressure aimed at preventing Japan from whaling, a senior fisheries official said today.
Australia has stepped up a campaign against Japan's annual hunt in the name of scientific research, with Prime Minister John Howard taking the unusual step of intervening personally in the row.
He wrote to his counterpart Junichiro Koizumi, urging Japan to scrap reported plans to include species considered endangered among those hunted.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Japan-vows-to-continue-whaling-despite-pressure/2005/05/24/1116700705808.html

Koizumi unmoved by whale reproach
By Deborah Cameron Herald Correspondent in Tokyo and Cynthia Banham
May 25, 2005
Japan has brushed off an attempt by the Prime Minister to use the clout of his office to force a backdown over whaling.
A letter to Japan's prime minister, Mr Junichiro Koizumi, from Mr Howard saying that whales were a "great delight" for tourists and that there was no basis for killing whales as part of a scientific program, has failed to win diplomatic attention in Tokyo.
Mr Koizumi's office confirmed that it had arrived but deflected further inquiries to the Department of Foreign Affairs which, in turn, brushed it off.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Koizumi-unmoved-by-whale-reproach/2005/05/24/1116700712101.html

Cessna pilot feared he would be shot down
May 24, 2005 - 10:55PM
The pilot whose small plane flew over Washington this month and triggered a security scare that emptied the White House, Capitol and Supreme Court, said today he thought he was going to be "shot out of the sky."
Homeland security and military aircraft, including two F-16s and a Black Hawk helicopter, were scrambled to intercept the Cessna 150 turboprop and escort it to an airport in nearby Maryland on May 11.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Cessna-pilot-feared-he-would-be-shot-down/2005/05/24/1116700714115.html

Special deal may be struck to get Corby home
May 24, 2005 - 8:30PM
Feeling the strain: Corby.
Photo: Jason South
The Australian government is planning to get Schapelle Corby home one way or another, even if she is convicted by a Bali court on drugs charges.
Australia is negotiating a special agreement with Indonesia which will allow prisoners to serve their jail terms in their home country.
But Justice Minister Chris Ellison says the government will negotiate a one-off interim agreement to get Corby home if negotiations for the prisoner transfer scheme get bogged down.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Special-deal-may-be-struck-to-get-Corby-home/2005/05/24/1116700708012.html

Computer files 'held hostage' in internet extortion
May 25, 2005
Computer users already anxious about viruses and identity theft have new reason to worry.
Hackers have found a way to lock up the electronic documents on PC's and then demand $US200 ($260) over the internet to get them back.
Security researchers at San Diego-based Websense Inc uncovered the unusual extortion plot when a corporate customer they would not identify fell victim to the infection, which encrypted files that included documents, photographs and spreadsheets.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Computer-files-held-hostage-in-internet-extortion/2005/05/24/1116700711074.html

Injuries won't stop high rollers
Surfing's two flagship world tour events, held in Tahiti and Fiji, will continue running almost back to back despite a spate of injuries which has cruelled world title aspirations.
The two events are the most dangerous on the 13-event world tour, contested on the shallow reefs of Teahupoo and Cloudbreak.
Teahupoo, the world's most feared break, has injured finalists in three successive years, all of whom missed the next event in Fiji, ruining their world title aspirations.
The three -- Kelly Slater in 2002, Australia's Nathan Hedge last year and now Damien Hobgood -- were in the world's top five but unable to surf in Fiji.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Injuries-wont-stop-high-rollers/2005/05/23/1116700644096.html?oneclick=true

IT SEEMS TO ME the targets are taking on a specialized or spectacular focus.

Iraqi PM's aide assassinated
May 23, 2005 - 4:40PM
Two carloads of gunmen assassinated a top aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's cabinet and his driver in Baghdad today, police said.
Wael Rubaye was attacked in the main street in central Baghdad's Mansour district at about 8:15am as they were heading to work, said police Lieutenant Majid Zaki.
Zaki said two carloads of gunmen sprayed automatic weapons fire at Rubaye's vehicle, killing the official and his driver.
The slaying follows yesterday's killing of another senior government official, Trade Ministry auditing office chief Ali Moussa Salman.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Iraqi-PMs-aide-assassinated/2005/05/23/1116700644042.html

Secret service: Cosgrove's son injured in Iraq
Civilian clothes and a detachable name tag helped defence force chief General Peter Cosgrove keep one of the Australian army's most tightly guarded secrets - his son's deployment to Iraq.
Even when Private Philip Cosgrove, 25, was injured in a car bomb blast near the old Australian embassy in Baghdad, nobody outside the tightly-knit defence community knew that he was the son of Australia's most senior soldier.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Secret-service-Cosgroves-son-injured-in-Iraq/2005/05/23/1116700638064.html

Zarqawi group claims to have killed US pilot
May 23, 2005 - 7:11AM
The group of al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed today to have executed an American hostage, in a statement on the Internet accompanied by pictures of his driving licence.
"Your brothers in al-Qaeda in the Land of Two Rivers got their hands on a US pilot who turned out to have bombarded several mosques and the Sheraton hotel in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq, as well as several civilian homes," according to the statement.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Zarqawi-group-claims-to-have-killed-US-pilot/2005/05/23/1116700619421.html

Sunni leaders end boycott in name of liberation
By Ellen Knickmeyer and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad
May 23, 2005
More than 1000 Sunni Arab clerics, political leaders and tribal heads have ended their two-year political boycott, to unite in a Sunni bloc to help draft Iraq's new constitution and compete in elections.
Formation of the group on Saturday comes during escalating violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims that has raised the threat of sectarian war. The bloc represents moderate and hardline members of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the Iraqi Islamic Party and other main groups of the disgruntled Sunni minority toppled from dominance during the US-led invasion in April 2003.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Sunni-leaders-end-boycott-in-name-of-liberation/2005/05/22/1116700595280.html

Dancing with dictators
May 23, 2005
To American strategic planners Uzbekistan is a convenient lily pad in the Muslim heart of Central Asia: it is just a short hop for US military forces to Afghanistan, and on to the Middle East.
In 2002, Washington gave President Islam Karimov's despotic regime about $US500 million ($661.5 million) in aid, a thank-you for the use of Uzbek territory in the invasion of Afghanistan, and a down payment on future strategic co-operation in the war on terrorism.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Editorial/Dancing-with-dictators/2005/05/22/1116700590984.html

Bug man accused of $1m museum thefts
A former pest controller at the Australian Museum stole $1 million in historic and rare specimens and kept them at his property on the outskirts of Sydney, a court heard today.
Henk van Leeuwen, 55, was a passionate amateur collector and taxidermist, but his job at the museum since 1996 was to control insects in the museum's specimens collection.
With his unsupervised access to the museum's Marrickville storage facility, and to the museum itself, he was able to remove hundreds of valuable specimens.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Bug-man-accused-of-1m-museum-thefts/2005/05/23/1116700646238.html

Mitsubishi's $5.8 billion loss shock
May 23, 2005 - 4:04PM
Mitsubishi Motors recorded $5.8 billion in losses for the fiscal year ended March 31, its second straight year in the red.
As the scandal-ridden Japanese carmaker struggles to regain customer trust and sales, the company said today that Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors Corp had racked up a Y215 billion ($2.64 billion) loss the previous fiscal year.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Business/Mitsubishis-58-billion-loss-shock/2005/05/23/1116700642737.html

Cannes jury unimpressed
The quality of the movies at this year's Cannes Film Festival fell short of expectations, the president of the jury said today, casting a shadow over the annual cinema extravaganza.
As the credits rolled on the 11-day movie marathon, Emir Kusturica made no secret of his disappointment at the 21 films in the official selection.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Cannes-jury-unimpressed/2005/05/23/1116700630807.html

Star Wars smashes record taking $66m in first day
May 22, 2005
The Sun-Herald
The final chapter in the Star Wars movie saga grossed a record $66 million from its first 24 hours in North American theatres, the highest box office tally yet for a single day, 20th Century Fox said.
And police in two countries have seized thousands of pirated Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith DVDs, which hit the streets - and the internet - a matter of hours after the film's official release.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Film/Star-Wars-smashes-record-taking-66m-in-first-day/2005/05/21/1116533580510.html

Reality TV teenager found dead
The psychological effect of reality television shows on contestants will come under renewed scrutiny after it emerged that a 17-year-old girl who apparently committed suicide at the weekend was soon to appear on British screens in a series called The Colony, filmed in Australia.
Carina Stephenson, from Branton, in south Yorkshire, England, was found by police in woodland near her home on Saturday. The death is not being treated as suspicious.
The History Channel, which co-financed the series that sought to re-create the lives of convicts and settlers sent to Australia 200 years ago, said yesterday that it had yet to decide whether to broadcast the show in Britain, but would respect the wishes of the family.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/TV--Radio/Reality-TV-teenager-found-dead/2005/05/23/1116700652147.html

Laura Veirs likes things cold and miserable. And she's not even English.
LAURA VEIRS
The Basement, 29 Reiby Place, Surry Hills
May 27, 9pm
$30
Bookings 9251 2797
Laura Veirs is home in Seattle, drinking tea and staring out the window at "a beautiful, semi-cloudy spring day [where] it could rain any time".
"I really like it," Veirs says. "Sometimes I can find it really comforting to have cloud cover."
As Veirs showed with her album Carbon Glacier last year, cold and grey need not be depressing. Written during winter, Carbon Glacier was a sparse record of sombre country-folk songs full of meditations on the landscape Veirs looked at every day.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/Music/Ice-maiden/2005/05/19/1116361666568.html

Buenos Aires Herald

WOLFOWITZ

Change of attitude toward Cuba
"I will not travel (to Cuba) for now. It was not on the schedule and it will not happen for the time being, because I understand that not all the conditions are appropriate yet," Kirchner said in an interview with the daily Página/12.
Kirchner’s visit to Havana was meant to wrap...

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/argentina/note.jsp?idContent=166868&hideIntro=true

Surprise call to German elections
‘‘With this bitter election result for my party in North Rhine-Westphalia, the political support for our reforms to continue has been called into question,’’ Schröder said in a brief statement, referring to the economic reform programme on which he has long staked his chancellorship.
The photo shows Jürgen Rüttgers, the conservative...

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/the_world/note.jsp?idContent=166873&hideIntro=true

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