The Cheney Observer - Revisited
Bush moves to mend a chink in his armour
http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/Bush-moves-to-mend-a-chink-in-his-armour/2004/12/10/1102625537616.html
Bush to focus on tort reform at forum
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=Bush%20Economic%20Conference
Bush administration breaks silence to back Kofi Annan
* Mandela and prominent South Africans back Annan
* European Union invites Annan to summit to show support
UNITED NATIONS: The Bush administration expressed confidence in UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday and said he should stay in office, in a belated rebuff to demands from Republicans in Congress for his resignation.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-12-2004_pg4_3
New spy chief's power rests in Bush's hands
The bill creating a director of national intelligence left ambiguities about the power of the post. How much -- or how little -- power the chief wields is up to the president.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/nation/10381971.htm
A high price to say 'As I was telling the president ...'
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Tickets to all official inaugural events, including an "elegant" candlelight dinner with a special appearance by President Bush: $100,000.
Tickets to all official inaugural events, two additional tickets to an "exclusive" lunch with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, plus an all-access pass to any inaugural ball: $250,000.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/1204/11inaugural.html
Cheney Pushes for Permanent Tax Cuts
By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 11:21 AM
Vice President Cheney said Wednesday it is critical to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent during his second term while achieving broader reforms in the tax code and bolstering Social Security.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1401-2004Dec15.html
Cheney Pushes for Permanent Tax Cuts
By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 11:21 AM
Vice President Cheney said Wednesday it is critical to make President Bush's tax cuts permanent during his second term while achieving broader reforms in the tax code and bolstering Social Security.
Speaking at the start of a two-day White House conference on the economy, Cheney said the administration believed Bush's four tax cuts over the past four years had provided a badly needed boost to get the economy out of recession. But he said now the focus needed to be on making the tax cuts permanent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1401-2004Dec15.html
Yukos Files for Bankruptcy in U.S.
Russian Oil Giant Moves to Stave Off Auction of Assets Scheduled for Sunday
By Dmitry Zhdannikov and Douglas Busvine
Reuters
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 10:51 AM
MOSCOW -- Russian oil group Yukos has filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court in an attempt to stop Russia's government from auctioning off its main production unit on Dec. 19, it said Wednesday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A877-2004Dec15.html
D.C. Firefighters Investigate Charter School Fire
Blaze Is the Second in Two Weeks
By Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; 6:18 AM
A Northeast Washington charter school was hit by probable arson early this morning for the second time in two weeks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A773-2004Dec15.html
Anthrax Killer at Large
Wednesday, December 15, 2004; Page A32
AMONTH AFTER the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, letters tainted with the anthrax bacteria were sent through U.S. mail processing facilities, infecting people in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington and Florida. The worst bioterrorist assault in U.S. history left five people dead, 17 sickened and some 10,000 on antibiotics.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A93-2004Dec14.html
Cheniere Energy Awards Construction Turnkey Contract to Bechtel Corporation
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2004--Cheniere Energy Inc. (AMEX:LNG) announced that its wholly owned limited partnership, Sabine Pass LNG, L.P. (Sabine), and Bechtel Corporation executed a Lump Sum Turnkey Agreement for the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) of the Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification terminal to be located in western Cameron Parish, La. Sabine intends to give Bechtel Limited Notice to Proceed under the EPC agreement for off-site engineering and preparatory work to commence later this month. Construction at the site is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2005, and the terminal is scheduled to be operational in early 2008.
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20041220000142&newsLang=en
The Second Water War in Bolivia
Cochabamba, Bolivia -- Five years ago the issue of water privatization exploded here when massive public protests forced out the California engineering giant, Bechtel. Within weeks of taking over the city's public water company Bechtel hiked up rates by as much as 200%, far beyond what the city's poor could afford to pay.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=52&ItemID=6893
The big question
December 20, 2004
THE EFFORT to recover Central Artery costs should be taken away from the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and given to an independent panel created by Governor Romney and the Legislature. The Turnpike Authority chairman, Matthew Amorello, would be wise to go along with the move, which might speed money back to the project and would remove the debilitating effects of politics.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2004/12/20/the_big_question/
Asian $$ - Prince Neil Bush Gets Media Protection
Once upon a time Prince Neil Bush was making money hand-over-fist over in China and Taiwan and nobody even seemed to notice.
When it comes to influence peddling by presidential relatives, nothing comes close to the financial activities of Neil Bush. But the comical part of this whole story is that with the media asleep at the wheel during the Bush presidency, Neil’s deals may have remained a secret for life if not for his equally shady violations of his marital vows, and his attempt to dump the wife and keep all the money for himself.
http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?fmedia_id=10173&fcategory_desc=Under%20Reported
RUMMY REACTS TO BAD 'SIGN'
December 20, 2004 -- After rubber-stamping condolences to many of the 1,000-plus families of soldiers killed in Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has decided to personally sign the letters, according to a military publication.
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/36824.htm
Bush confident in Iraqi elections - (Oops. Miscalculation on Iraqi Performance issues on the Police/Military side as well as the Rebellion side. See without the Rebellion the miscalculation of the Western Influenced Iraqi Police and military wouldn't be necessary.)
By RON HUTCHESON
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - President Bush on Monday acknowledged that efforts to replace U.S. troops with Iraqi soldiers have been hampered by the lackluster performance of Iraqi units, including instances in which they've fled rather than fight.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10461703.htm
Bush threatens Syria with new pressure - (Still more ways to Laugh at Bush.)
Iraqi prime minister warns of civil war as Shiites bury dead after twin bombings
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
U.S. President George W. Bush threatened Syria Monday with new diplomatic or economic measures to pressure the country over its suspected interference in Iraqi politics.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=11183
Bush short on Social Security details - (That's because the intent isn't to PROPOSE a plan to save Social Security. It is to GET THEIR HANDS ON "Mo' Money"!)
By LEIGH STROPE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush says Social Security's future financial shortfall is a crisis that Congress must tackle now, repeating Monday his demand for action but refusing to provide details of his top domestic priority that will cost trillions of dollars to implement.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10461868.htm
Should Bush be person of the year? (This is nothing but NEOCON Propaganda. Half the nation Hates the man and Yet TIME/WARNER responds in Admiration. Who Needs it? I am sure they weren't counting on Kerik's Poor Performance either.)
President George W Bush has been named "Person of the Year" by Time magazine for the second time in four years.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4111431.stm
Going for a Halliburton
By David Teather
04-10-04 It must have seemed like a terrific stroke of luck: Dick Cheney, the man who for the past five years had been the CEO of Halliburton, became the vice-president in 2000. The oil services and engineering company was given a direct line to the White House.
But Halliburton's relationship with the Bush administration is beginning to prove more problematic than it is worth. The company admitted that it was considering selling Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), the division carrying out billions of dollars worth of work for the US government in Iraq, in a desperate attempt to get out of the spotlight. It is considering a sale, spin-off or a separate listing for the business on the stock exchange.
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnn44338.htm
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Calif. landslide sends homes crashing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. -- A landslide sent six expensive homes and a section of street crashing down a hillside Wednesday and damaged a dozen or more other houses.
At least two people were taken to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries, officials said. Crews were apparently able to evacuate many other residents before the hillside collapsed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Laguna%20Beach%20Landslide
Seattle City Council targets pesticides
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The Seattle City Council approved a resolution yesterday encouraging more aggressive efforts to reduce pesticide and herbicide use by the city, especially near playgrounds and waterways.
The council also encouraged a voluntary reduction in pesticide use by private landowners and urged pesticide manufacturers to develop more environmentally friendly alternative products.
The city has been gradually reducing its pesticide use for several years with a goal of eliminating their use completely.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/226563_tl201.html
FBI hoping Till's body will yield clues
By MIKE COLIAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ALSIP, Ill. -- Federal investigators unearthed a concrete vault containing Emmett Till's casket at a suburban Chicago cemetery Wednesday, hoping to find clues into his 1955 slaying in Mississippi that became a key event in the civil rights movement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Civil%20Rights%20Killing
Boys won't be charged in school bus fight
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUNTA GORDA, Fla. -- No charges will be filed against two teenagers whose fight with a school bus driver was caught on videotape and broadcast nationwide.
Prosecutor Stephen B. Russell said in a statement Tuesday that the case against the boys could not be proven.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=School%20Bus%20Fight
Cleveland fire that killed 9 ruled arson
By THOMAS J. SHEERAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
The casket of a fire victim is carried from Public Hall in Cleveland Tuesday, May 31, 2005, after the funeral for eight of the nine people killed in the city's deadliest house fire. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
CLEVELAND -- The grieving relatives of eight family members killed in a house fire learned shortly after a group funeral that the deadly blaze was no terrible accident after all, the mayor said Wednesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Cleveland%20Fire
State elections director biased, GOP suggests
By GREGORY ROBERTS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
WENATCHEE -- The state elections director is biased against the Republicans in their legal challenge to the 2004 governor's election, a GOP lawyer strongly suggested in court Tuesday.
And when elections director Nick Handy repeatedly maintained his neutrality in the case, lawyer Dale Foreman was openly incredulous.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/226492_govtrial31ww.html
North Korea facing huge food shortages
By AUDRA ANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BEIJING -- World aid agencies called for food assistance to be stepped up to North Korea despite a stalemate in talks to end its nuclear program, saying the communist regime still faces tremendous shortages affecting millions of people.
The isolated North has depended on outside support to feed its 24 million people since the 1990s. An estimated 1 million North Koreans starved to death after the Stalinist regime's state farm system collapsed after decades of mismanagement and the loss of subsidies from Moscow.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=NKorea%20Hunger
The scandal that brought down a president
By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
President Richard M. Nixon and his wife Pat Nixon are shown standing together in the East Room of the White House, Aug. 9, 1974, where he made a farewell address to the members of the White House staff. The Washington Post said Tuesday May 31, 2005 that a former FBI official, W. Mark Felt, was the confidential source known as "Deep Throat" who provided the newspaper information that led to President Nixon's impeachment and eventual resignation. (AP Photo/Charlie Harrity)
WASHINGTON -- The scandal began with a botched burglary that initially attracted little attention but ended two years later with the first and only resignation of a president.
To many Americans, Watergate is a dimming memory, if that. A majority of living Americans were not yet born or were children when President Nixon was forced from office in 1974.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=What%20Is%20Watergate
Motorists polled on toll for viaduct replacement
State wants to know if users would pay up -- and how much
By LARRY LANGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Motorists who use the Alaskan Way Viaduct are being polled about why they use the elevated highway, where else they might travel if it's closed and how they feel about paying tolls to finance part of its replacement.
The state survey, taken among commuters at workplaces, vehicle-license outlets and Sea-Tac Airport, asks users of state Route 99 why they drive the viaduct and tells participants tolls would be collected electronically using a credit card-sized device placed on vehicle windshields. Tolls would be deducted from a prepaid account.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/226592_viaduct01.html
Anti-crime tax levy proposed
Seattle councilman wants more police, help for the addicted
By KATHY MULADY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A proposal to increase property taxes to raise money for more police officers and human services in an effort to fight crime in Seattle could be on the November ballot.
City Councilman Nick Licata laid out the plan for his council colleagues yesterday, drawing high interest but some wariness and skepticism. The plan would need City Council approval in July to gain a spot on the ballot.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/226566_council01.html
Iran tests solid fuel motor for missile
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran has successfully tested a solid fuel motor for its medium-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile, a technological breakthrough in Iran's military industries, the defense minister said Tuesday.
Minister Ali Shamkhani did not say when Iran tested the motor, one of two engines he said were developed for the Shahab-3, a weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iran%20Missile
Dutch vote on European Union constitution
By TOBy STERLING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The Dutch voted in their first national referendum Wednesday, choosing whether to accept a proposed European Union constitution just days after France became the first country to reject it. Polls indicated the Netherlands would be the second.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Netherlands%20EU%20Referendum
Wash. official: Vote errors 'inadvertent'
By REBECCA COOK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WENATCHEE, Wash. -- The state's director of elections testified he does not believe there was anything significant or sinister in a discrepancies during last year's gubernatorial election, but a lawyer said an e-mail he sent in January shows he was siding with the Democrats.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1134&slug=Election%20Challenge
Socialist leads U.S. Senate race in Vt.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAFF
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BARRE, Vt. -- Bernie Sanders jabs at the air, his flushed face a sharp contrast to his unruly white hair. Yet again, he pummels Washington, the Congress and the president.
"The government that we have today in the White House, the House of Representatives with Tom Delay, the Senate with Bill Frist, is the most right-wing, extremist government, perhaps in the history of the United States," he tells labor activists at a May Day celebration in the century-old Labor Hall.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1132&slug=Bernie%20for%20Senate
200 people break into Kyrgyz Supreme Court
By KADYR TOKTOGULOV
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- About 200 people, some throwing stones, broke into Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court on Wednesday and evicted activists who had occupied the building for more than a month in a protest on behalf of five losing parliamentary candidates.
Police reported scuffles between the two groups, and a woman who was ejected from the building said two of her fellow activists received head injuries. The court building had broken windows and few bottles of flammable liquid littering its grounds.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Kyrgyzstan
200 people break into Kyrgyz Supreme Court
By KADYR TOKTOGULOV
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- About 200 people, some throwing stones, broke into Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court on Wednesday and evicted activists who had occupied the building for more than a month in a protest on behalf of five losing parliamentary candidates.
Police reported scuffles between the two groups, and a woman who was ejected from the building said two of her fellow activists received head injuries. The court building had broken windows and few bottles of flammable liquid littering its grounds.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Kyrgyzstan
Children suffer middle-age health woes
By EMMA ROSS
AP MEDICAL WRITER
ATHENS -- About half a million children in Europe are suffering classic middle-aged health problems because they are too fat, according to new estimates released Wednesday.
Obesity among European children has been on the rise over the last 15 years, but experts are now starting to see the health consequences emerge on a large scale.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=Europe%20Fat%20Children
Cloning pioneer envisions stem cell bank
By JI-SOO KIM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korean cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said Wednesday he plans to open a stem cell bank by the end of the year to help speed up the quest to grow replacement tissue to treat diseases.
The bank would consolidate current stem cell lines in one research location. To treat a patient, researchers would look for a cell line that provides a close match to a patient's immune system, Hwang said in an interview with The Associated Press. It would resemble the process now used in finding donors for organ transplants.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=SKorea%20Stem%20Cells
Canada troubled U.S. sent suspect to Syria
By BETH DUFF-BROWN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Mahar Arar, who was arrested by U.S. authorities and deported to Syria, takes part in an inquiryl related to his arrest in Ottawa on Monday May 30, 2005. Canadian Defense Minister Bill Graham testified Monday that he was upset that Washington did not consult Ottawa before deporting Arar, Canadian citizen to Syria for questioning on suspicious of terrorism. Arar maintains that, once imprisoned in Damascus, he was tortured into making false confessions of terrorist activity. (AP Photo/CP, Fred Chartrand)
TORONTO -- Defense Minister Bill Graham testified Monday he was upset Washington did not consult Canada's leaders before deporting a Canadian citizen to Syria for questioning on suspicious of terrorism.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apcanada_story.asp?category=1101&slug=Canada%20Torture%20Inquiry
Zimbabwe police torch vendors' shacks
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Police torched six miles of shacks and kiosks in an opposition stronghold near Victoria Falls on Monday during an ongoing operation critics says is aimed at scapegoating street traders for Zimbabwe's near-emergency economic crisis.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Zimbabwe
Bolivian congressional session suspended
By ALVARO ZUAZO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- Thousands of demonstrators prevented Bolivian legislators from reaching the congressional building Tuesday, forcing the suspension of their first session after a weeklong recess caused by continued street protests.
Some 65 senators and congressmen protected by police made it through the crowd, but a quorum of 79 was needed for the joint session.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Bolivia%20Unrest
Mexico extradites two in exploitation case
By JOHN RICE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MEXICO CITY -- Two men accused of exploiting deaf Mexican immigrants - luring them to New York and then forcing them to sell trinkets on subways - have been extradited to the United States, the attorney general's office said Tuesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Mexico%20US%20Captive%20Workers
Fox's remarks on border slayings draw ire
By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MONTERREY, Mexico -- President Vicente Fox said Tuesday a majority of 12 years of killings against women in the border city of Ciudad Juarez had been solved, angering activists and victims' family members still upset over his suggestion the deaths had been blown out of proportion.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Mexico%20Border%20Slayings
'Bio agent' found at Indonesian embassy
By ROD MCGUIRK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CANBERRA, Australia -- Indonesia's embassy in Australia was closed Wednesday after a package containing what authorities described as a "biological agent" was delivered there. Officials linked the incident to outrage over the conviction in Bali of an Australian woman on drug charges.
Prime Minister John Howard, who apologized to Indonesia for the incident, said the agent was a powder sent in an envelope addressed to the Indonesian ambassador, Imron Cotan.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apaa_story.asp?category=1106&slug=Australia%20Indonesia
continued. . .
