Just two months ago the State Theatre
was a black hole along an otherwise
bustling Front Street...
Sunday, July 31, 2005
The Economy of "The Truth" - Promises Kept
Just two months ago the State Theatre
was a black hole along an otherwise
bustling Front Street...
Debut Lived Up To It's Promise, ...
TC Film Festival debut lived up to its promise
Traverse City Record-Eagle
August 3, 2005
Just two months ago the State Theatre was a black hole along an otherwise bustling Front Street. Traverse City was bracing for another Cherry Festival and then a few more weeks of heat, humidity and visitors.
But straight out of a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland song-and-dance grinner from the 1930s, filmmaker Michael Moore and some friends had an idea: Hey, gang, let's put on a film festival!
Boffo.
By the end of the day Sunday, thousands had flocked to the first-ever Traverse City Film Festival to watch a four-day bill featuring 31 films, including seven world premiers, in three venues.
As many as 6,000 people a night crowded the Open Space for four nights of free movies on a giant, inflatable screen under the stars.
The State had been scrubbed and polished and willed back to life. And the feeling around downtown was as electric as the old theater's refurbished marquee, ablaze in its former glory.
It was a remarkable achievement, and not the least for the absolutely palpable feeling of camaraderie among the hundreds of people (and dozens of local businesses) who volunteered their time, effort, material and money to make it happen.
It was a community event in the most basic sense; the community created it, and it created a community.
From early June, when the whole thing was first proposed, a group that would grow to about 30 people started bringing the State back to life. They scrubbed floors and toilets, washed windows and patched holes. Painters painted, and electricians brought the place back to life.
When the big weekend finally came, about 400 people volunteered to pop popcorn, take tickets, sweep the floors and generally do whatever it took to make the festival a success.
Moore and his steering committee stuck to their promise to keep politics out and focus on one thing - great movies.
The "alternative" Freedom FilmFest mounted by a Suttons Bay woman and supported by conservatives in Texas proved to be little more than a trailer, three minutes of sound and fury.
Then to learn that they had to turn off one of their highly touted films, "Michael Moore Hates America," about 10 minutes in because it was full of profanity including the F-word? Turns out there are two versions of this film, one with "filth," as front woman Genie Aldrich said, and one for families.
Had Aldrich seen the film? Either version?
The shrill attacks by Aldrich on Moore - and by proxy anyone who didn't think the TC festival was the work of Satan - actually helped bring the rest of the community together.
People from across all political and social boundaries rallied around the idea of movies for movies' sake and leaving politics at the door.
Traverse City probably surprised itself last weekend. Retirees, teen-agers, yuppies, hippies, baby boomers, gen-Xers, tree-huggers and business types found themselves shoulder to shoulder watching Jaws at the Open Space or "Mad Hot Ballroom" on opening night.
No sniping, no griping. They were there to see great movies, and that's what they got. And they were proud of what their community had pulled off.
As we start counting the days to next year's festival, there are things to think about.
What next for the State Theatre, now that is has been awoken, at least for a time, from the dead?
Is there a better time than the end of July, when every hotel and motel room in the region is already booked anyway?
Big-time kudos to Moore, Doug Stanton, John Robert Williams and their steering committee. They did what they promised, with a little help from some friends. Mickey and Judy would be proud.
Traverse City Record-Eagle
August 3, 2005
Just two months ago the State Theatre was a black hole along an otherwise bustling Front Street. Traverse City was bracing for another Cherry Festival and then a few more weeks of heat, humidity and visitors.
But straight out of a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland song-and-dance grinner from the 1930s, filmmaker Michael Moore and some friends had an idea: Hey, gang, let's put on a film festival!
Boffo.
By the end of the day Sunday, thousands had flocked to the first-ever Traverse City Film Festival to watch a four-day bill featuring 31 films, including seven world premiers, in three venues.
As many as 6,000 people a night crowded the Open Space for four nights of free movies on a giant, inflatable screen under the stars.
The State had been scrubbed and polished and willed back to life. And the feeling around downtown was as electric as the old theater's refurbished marquee, ablaze in its former glory.
It was a remarkable achievement, and not the least for the absolutely palpable feeling of camaraderie among the hundreds of people (and dozens of local businesses) who volunteered their time, effort, material and money to make it happen.
It was a community event in the most basic sense; the community created it, and it created a community.
From early June, when the whole thing was first proposed, a group that would grow to about 30 people started bringing the State back to life. They scrubbed floors and toilets, washed windows and patched holes. Painters painted, and electricians brought the place back to life.
When the big weekend finally came, about 400 people volunteered to pop popcorn, take tickets, sweep the floors and generally do whatever it took to make the festival a success.
Moore and his steering committee stuck to their promise to keep politics out and focus on one thing - great movies.
The "alternative" Freedom FilmFest mounted by a Suttons Bay woman and supported by conservatives in Texas proved to be little more than a trailer, three minutes of sound and fury.
Then to learn that they had to turn off one of their highly touted films, "Michael Moore Hates America," about 10 minutes in because it was full of profanity including the F-word? Turns out there are two versions of this film, one with "filth," as front woman Genie Aldrich said, and one for families.
Had Aldrich seen the film? Either version?
The shrill attacks by Aldrich on Moore - and by proxy anyone who didn't think the TC festival was the work of Satan - actually helped bring the rest of the community together.
People from across all political and social boundaries rallied around the idea of movies for movies' sake and leaving politics at the door.
Traverse City probably surprised itself last weekend. Retirees, teen-agers, yuppies, hippies, baby boomers, gen-Xers, tree-huggers and business types found themselves shoulder to shoulder watching Jaws at the Open Space or "Mad Hot Ballroom" on opening night.
No sniping, no griping. They were there to see great movies, and that's what they got. And they were proud of what their community had pulled off.
As we start counting the days to next year's festival, there are things to think about.
What next for the State Theatre, now that is has been awoken, at least for a time, from the dead?
Is there a better time than the end of July, when every hotel and motel room in the region is already booked anyway?
Big-time kudos to Moore, Doug Stanton, John Robert Williams and their steering committee. They did what they promised, with a little help from some friends. Mickey and Judy would be proud.
Film festival boosts downtown business
Film festival boosts downtown business
Restaurants booked with reservations
TRAVERSE CITY - Lilli and Jim Shea exemplify the boon that business owners hoped would come with the Traverse City Film Festival. The couple from Marinette, Wis., read about the film lineup in their local newspaper, quickly booked a trip on the SS Badger car ferry and reserved a room at a Traverse City bed and breakfast.
"I read about this and said 'We have to do it,'" Lilli said. "Our goal is to go back and encourage other people to do it."
The Sheas purchased fistfuls of movie tickets Friday morning and rested on a bench outside the State Theatre while pondering which eateries and shops they might frequent between shows.
Local businesses, especially those downtown, said film festival traffic provided a boost in an already-busy time of year.
"Our reservation books are jam-packed every single night," Jessica Novorolsky said Friday afternoon while greeting diners at Amical, next door to the State Theatre. "We're usually busy, but yesterday we got busy at 11:30 and didn't calm down until 3:30."
The scene at Poppycock's has been much the same, said staffer Lindsey Muller.
"Thursday, we had a wait list all night," she said. "It was like a Friday or Saturday night."
Merchants say the festival is bringing in the kind of crowds they like - the kind that spends cash while they're here.
"There's a ton of people in town, and they've got money," said Mike Nolan, owner of a tobacco shop downtown. "It's not like the Cherry Festival."
Downtown nightspots are teeming with activity before and after the shows, workers said. Dave Brownlee is a manager at the U&I Lounge on Front Street across from the State Theatre and says he's "definitely" seen an influx of business from the film festival.
"We're getting people before they go to the movies and after ... (when) the movies let out, business picks right up," he said.
The event also creates a buzz among the clientele, he said.
"The other fun thing is the rumor mill - who's in town and who people saw," Brownlee said.
North Peak Brewing Company manager Ryder Anderson said the restaurant, which typically sees a lot of tourists, has seated more locals during the festival.
Wally Green of the Green House Cafe said people waiting for a seat at Thursday's panel discussion at the City Opera House popped in and out of the long line to grab a bite.
"It's working," Green said about festival organizers' hopes that the event's success would trickle downtown.
City officials said the 500-plus space downtown parking deck was nearly full on Friday - almost 200 vehicles above normal - and the downtown's streets and sidewalks seem just as packed.
"It's just been amazing - the number of people that are down here for it," said Rob Bacigalupi, deputy director of the city's Downtown Development Authority.
Erika Korndorfer, a server at Amical, said dinner tables are abuzz with patrons eager to talk about the films they've seen.
"That's all they talk about," she said. "They were just so pumped. It's really exciting."
Restaurants booked with reservations
TRAVERSE CITY - Lilli and Jim Shea exemplify the boon that business owners hoped would come with the Traverse City Film Festival. The couple from Marinette, Wis., read about the film lineup in their local newspaper, quickly booked a trip on the SS Badger car ferry and reserved a room at a Traverse City bed and breakfast.
"I read about this and said 'We have to do it,'" Lilli said. "Our goal is to go back and encourage other people to do it."
The Sheas purchased fistfuls of movie tickets Friday morning and rested on a bench outside the State Theatre while pondering which eateries and shops they might frequent between shows.
Local businesses, especially those downtown, said film festival traffic provided a boost in an already-busy time of year.
"Our reservation books are jam-packed every single night," Jessica Novorolsky said Friday afternoon while greeting diners at Amical, next door to the State Theatre. "We're usually busy, but yesterday we got busy at 11:30 and didn't calm down until 3:30."
The scene at Poppycock's has been much the same, said staffer Lindsey Muller.
"Thursday, we had a wait list all night," she said. "It was like a Friday or Saturday night."
Merchants say the festival is bringing in the kind of crowds they like - the kind that spends cash while they're here.
"There's a ton of people in town, and they've got money," said Mike Nolan, owner of a tobacco shop downtown. "It's not like the Cherry Festival."
Downtown nightspots are teeming with activity before and after the shows, workers said. Dave Brownlee is a manager at the U&I Lounge on Front Street across from the State Theatre and says he's "definitely" seen an influx of business from the film festival.
"We're getting people before they go to the movies and after ... (when) the movies let out, business picks right up," he said.
The event also creates a buzz among the clientele, he said.
"The other fun thing is the rumor mill - who's in town and who people saw," Brownlee said.
North Peak Brewing Company manager Ryder Anderson said the restaurant, which typically sees a lot of tourists, has seated more locals during the festival.
Wally Green of the Green House Cafe said people waiting for a seat at Thursday's panel discussion at the City Opera House popped in and out of the long line to grab a bite.
"It's working," Green said about festival organizers' hopes that the event's success would trickle downtown.
City officials said the 500-plus space downtown parking deck was nearly full on Friday - almost 200 vehicles above normal - and the downtown's streets and sidewalks seem just as packed.
"It's just been amazing - the number of people that are down here for it," said Rob Bacigalupi, deputy director of the city's Downtown Development Authority.
Erika Korndorfer, a server at Amical, said dinner tables are abuzz with patrons eager to talk about the films they've seen.
"That's all they talk about," she said. "They were just so pumped. It's really exciting."
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Saturday Night Films
Gunner's Palace
Director Michael Tucker spent two months in Iraq living with the U.S. Army's 2/3 Field Artillery unit, a.k.a. “The Gunners.” Their barracks? Uday Hussein's pleasure palace -- complete with swimming pool and putting green. In between dangerous missions around Baghdad and dealing with a war that seems to have no end, these young troops try to maintain some semblance of their life back home. Strangers in a strange land, Gunner Palace takes you inside the war in a way you've never been.
Les Miserables
Finally, a film version of the Victor Hugo novel, and it's a masterpiece. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, director Claude Lelouch takes this classic story and transports it to Nazi-occupied France. A Jewish family on the run is picked up by an illiterate ex-boxer named Fortin (played by the great French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo). Fortin searches for the strength to be the hero he never thought he could be in this rich, powerful and ageless story.
Time Out
A prize-winning film from the Venice Film Festival, this is our second film from French director Laurent Cantet. It tells the story of Vincent, a man who gets up every morning and goes to work. The only problem is, Vincent was laid off months ago. Too embarrassed to tell his wife and friends he no longer has a job, Vincent creates a series of lies which dig him in only deeper – with growing consequences and dangerous results.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
A high school wise-guy is determined to have a day off from school, and no meddling High School Principal is going to stop him.
Director Michael Tucker spent two months in Iraq living with the U.S. Army's 2/3 Field Artillery unit, a.k.a. “The Gunners.” Their barracks? Uday Hussein's pleasure palace -- complete with swimming pool and putting green. In between dangerous missions around Baghdad and dealing with a war that seems to have no end, these young troops try to maintain some semblance of their life back home. Strangers in a strange land, Gunner Palace takes you inside the war in a way you've never been.
Les Miserables
Finally, a film version of the Victor Hugo novel, and it's a masterpiece. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, director Claude Lelouch takes this classic story and transports it to Nazi-occupied France. A Jewish family on the run is picked up by an illiterate ex-boxer named Fortin (played by the great French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo). Fortin searches for the strength to be the hero he never thought he could be in this rich, powerful and ageless story.
Time Out
A prize-winning film from the Venice Film Festival, this is our second film from French director Laurent Cantet. It tells the story of Vincent, a man who gets up every morning and goes to work. The only problem is, Vincent was laid off months ago. Too embarrassed to tell his wife and friends he no longer has a job, Vincent creates a series of lies which dig him in only deeper – with growing consequences and dangerous results.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
A high school wise-guy is determined to have a day off from school, and no meddling High School Principal is going to stop him.
It's Saturday Night at The Traverse City Film Festival and Fahrenheit 911 is on Showtime at 11:00 pm.
JOIN THE ONES WHO KNOW THE TRUTH !!
FAHRENHEIT 9/11
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore ("Roger & Me," "Bowling for Columbine") crafted this incendiary piece of skillful agitprop, an exploration of the tragic chain of events before and after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001. Pointing his finger at a global conspiracy of war, greed, and media manipulation, Moore leaves no political figure unscathed in his most passionate, outraged condemnation of a president and policies he considers illegitimate and incompetent.
Traverse City Film Festival
Jul 28 - Jul 31, 2005
The Traverse City Film Festival will be an annual event in Northern Michigan. Indie flicks, foreign films and seldom-seen documentaries will deliver a whopping dose of movie magic to the Midwest when the first annual Film Festival debuts in July. The inaugural festival will feature 30 screenings at four venues throughout downtown Traverse City, such as the historic movie palace, the State Theatre, City Opera House, and Old Town Playhouse with a charge at these venues of $7 (excluding opening and closing night events). The Open Space Park is the 4th venue, where nightly admission-free classics will be projected onto an inflatable 40-foot screen along West Grand Traverse Bay as a gift to the community. Tickets will be available in July through the Interlochen Center for the Arts box office at (231) 276-7800 or (800) 681-5920, or in person at Bravo!, at 237 E. Front Street, Traverse City (next to the State Theatre). For more information call (231) 392-1134.
......................................
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Film festival brings Hollywood to Traverse City
Even though he didn't pick the movies, debut celebration has Flint's Michael Moore written all over it.
By Veronica Hutchinson / Special to The Detroit News
For information
What: Traverse City Film Festival.
When: Today- Sun.
Where: Traverse City.
Information: Visit www.traverse cityfilmfestival.org.
It wouldn't take a genius to guess who is the Hollywood muscle behind this weekend's Traverse City Film Festival. A perusal of the festival's four dozen-plus flicks should make guessing easy: "Enron," a documentary about corporate greed; Wim Wenders' "Land of Plenty," a take on post- September 11 America; and a beachside screening of "Jaws." This debut festival's got Michael Moore written all over it.
It would be easy to peg this festival, which runs through Sunday at three venues in Traverse City, to the curatorial vision of Moore. So many of the flicks seem to further conversations sparked by "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine."
But festival co-founder and best-selling author Doug Stanton says his audacious collaborator didn't set the festival's artistic agenda. "It's not Mike; it's the themes that are out there in the culture right now," says Stanton, a Traverse City native and author of the novel "In Harm's Way" (Henry Holt & Co., $25). "There was not a master plan because there was no time to put that together. These are just the hot releases right now, the movies that played well at Telluride and Sundance (film festivals)."
No one will deny Moore's Hollywood pull helped bring this festival together in very short order. According to Stanton, in mid-May the festival founders said, "Wouldn't it be neat to show a dozen films at a nearby theater?" Three weeks later, they'd lined up 31 films, 52 screenings, three venues and an impressive schedule of panels featuring directors and other industry folks.
Traverse City has responded with equal passion. More than 100 sponsors ponied up the funds, and many screenings are nearly sold out. Stanton says the festival sold 1,000 tickets on Tuesday alone.
He isn't surprised in the least. "People want to watch films that are meaningful, that are about being human. This festival is about the idea that stories can bring people back together."
Veronica Hutchinson is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.
FAHRENHEIT 9/11
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore ("Roger & Me," "Bowling for Columbine") crafted this incendiary piece of skillful agitprop, an exploration of the tragic chain of events before and after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001. Pointing his finger at a global conspiracy of war, greed, and media manipulation, Moore leaves no political figure unscathed in his most passionate, outraged condemnation of a president and policies he considers illegitimate and incompetent.
Traverse City Film Festival
Jul 28 - Jul 31, 2005
The Traverse City Film Festival will be an annual event in Northern Michigan. Indie flicks, foreign films and seldom-seen documentaries will deliver a whopping dose of movie magic to the Midwest when the first annual Film Festival debuts in July. The inaugural festival will feature 30 screenings at four venues throughout downtown Traverse City, such as the historic movie palace, the State Theatre, City Opera House, and Old Town Playhouse with a charge at these venues of $7 (excluding opening and closing night events). The Open Space Park is the 4th venue, where nightly admission-free classics will be projected onto an inflatable 40-foot screen along West Grand Traverse Bay as a gift to the community. Tickets will be available in July through the Interlochen Center for the Arts box office at (231) 276-7800 or (800) 681-5920, or in person at Bravo!, at 237 E. Front Street, Traverse City (next to the State Theatre). For more information call (231) 392-1134.
......................................
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Film festival brings Hollywood to Traverse City
Even though he didn't pick the movies, debut celebration has Flint's Michael Moore written all over it.
By Veronica Hutchinson / Special to The Detroit News
For information
What: Traverse City Film Festival.
When: Today- Sun.
Where: Traverse City.
Information: Visit www.traverse cityfilmfestival.org.
It wouldn't take a genius to guess who is the Hollywood muscle behind this weekend's Traverse City Film Festival. A perusal of the festival's four dozen-plus flicks should make guessing easy: "Enron," a documentary about corporate greed; Wim Wenders' "Land of Plenty," a take on post- September 11 America; and a beachside screening of "Jaws." This debut festival's got Michael Moore written all over it.
It would be easy to peg this festival, which runs through Sunday at three venues in Traverse City, to the curatorial vision of Moore. So many of the flicks seem to further conversations sparked by "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Bowling for Columbine."
But festival co-founder and best-selling author Doug Stanton says his audacious collaborator didn't set the festival's artistic agenda. "It's not Mike; it's the themes that are out there in the culture right now," says Stanton, a Traverse City native and author of the novel "In Harm's Way" (Henry Holt & Co., $25). "There was not a master plan because there was no time to put that together. These are just the hot releases right now, the movies that played well at Telluride and Sundance (film festivals)."
No one will deny Moore's Hollywood pull helped bring this festival together in very short order. According to Stanton, in mid-May the festival founders said, "Wouldn't it be neat to show a dozen films at a nearby theater?" Three weeks later, they'd lined up 31 films, 52 screenings, three venues and an impressive schedule of panels featuring directors and other industry folks.
Traverse City has responded with equal passion. More than 100 sponsors ponied up the funds, and many screenings are nearly sold out. Stanton says the festival sold 1,000 tickets on Tuesday alone.
He isn't surprised in the least. "People want to watch films that are meaningful, that are about being human. This festival is about the idea that stories can bring people back together."
Veronica Hutchinson is a Metro Detroit freelance writer.
Friday, July 29, 2005
Day Two of The Traverse City Festival and Micheal was Everywhere.
Sharks and Moore on first full day
Festival off to bustling start
By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - Moviegoers who came to the Traverse City Film Festival expecting to catch a glimpse of Michael Moore probably weren't disappointed.
Moore seemed to be everywhere on Thursday, the festival's first full day. He led a panel discussion on filmmaking at the City Opera House and introduced a screening of "Czech Dream" at the Old Town Playhouse.
The day was marked by a minor glitch or two - most of the earlier screenings began late, and some callers had trouble getting ticket information by phone - but there was lots of good news, too. Parking was plentiful, thanks to the downtown parking structure and all-day festival shuttles between venues; at least two screenings were sold out; and the festival and Traverse City received a nationwide plug on CBS Radio.
At the waterfront Open Space, boaters and curious spectators leaned against railings or sat on concrete walls for a noon preview of Thursday night's "Jaws" pre-show entertainment.
While a sound system broadcast the famous shark theme - duh-DUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH - four custom-made automated fins circled in the bay. Nearby, a rubber dinghy sped through the water towing a toothy "shark," giving the illusion the boat was being chased.
"Are there real sharks coming?" asked 6-year-old Liam Tank, a Central Grade School first-grader who watched with his mom, Jennifer Tank, and 4-year-old sister Molly.
Those arriving for screenings at the City Opera House also were treated to pre-show entertainment. A jazz and rock ensemble of Traverse City Central High graduates - veterans of the school's Chorale, Choralaires and other music groups - performed a 15-minute set before the start of each film.
As moviegoers lined up at the Old Town Playhouse for a showing of the Czech Republic film "Czech Dream," volunteers grabbed a quick bite to eat and anxiously awaited delivery of festival T-shirts to sell.
Jan Hinds took advantage of the lull to knit a scarf.
"You have to bring a book or something so you don't go nuts in between," said Hinds, who had just come from a volunteer stint at the morning's panel discussion.
Ken and Marge Philp drove from their summer home near Torch Lake to be first in line.
High school and university teachers who live in Texas the rest of the year, the Philps said they prefer counterculture films and films about the "human condition" and support the festival's intellectual diversity.
"Wherever you live, these kinds of films are so hard to find," said Marge Philp.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/29filmfest.htm
Up and Running
TC Film Festival off to a Hollywood start
By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - The Sundance Film Festival has been an important part of Park City, Utah, for nearly a quarter of a century.
Whether or not the fledgling Traverse City Film Festival will have a lasting impact here remains to be seen, but signs are hopeful midway through the inaugural event.
The five-day festival kicked off Sunday with a Founders Preview Party that featured a sneak preview of the film "The Baxter" at the Bay Theatre and a post-screening reception at Ciccone Vineyards and Winery, both in Suttons Bay.
About 200 local sponsors and others turned out for the event, dressed in everything from casual flip-flops and shorts to formal wear (festival founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore sported his usual T-shirt and baseball cap).
As an Interlochen ensemble played and a cooling breeze blew through the open doors, they sipped wine and nibbled on ethnic hors d'oeuvres in the vineyard's expansive barn overlooking West Grand Traverse Bay.
On Wednesday the scene was a little different, as movie-goers flocked downtown for opening night of the festival and their first glimpse of the newly renovated State Theatre on Front Street. After the sold-out 8 p.m. screening of "Mad Hot Ballroom," many strolled three blocks west to the City Opera House to mix and mingle at an elegant opening night reception.
As a jazz ensemble played, guests stood chatting at cocktail tables set with white cloths and fresh flowers or strolled between caterers' stations offering local beers and wines, cannoli and tiramisu.
Linda Wise and her daughter Loraine Steinbarger shelled out $50 each to attend the opening night events.
"We want to see what's happening; how they're going to handle this," said Wise, 61, who agonized over what to wear until finally settling for slim khaki pants and a sheer dressy blouse.
Besides Marilyn Agrelo, Andrew Wagner, Andrew Wagner and Alex Gibney, directors of "Mad Hot Ballroom," "The Talent Given Us" and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," those in town for the festival include screenwriter Larry Brand ("Halloween: Resurrection") producer Rob Tappert ("Spiderman," "Spiderman 2") and actor Richard Brooks ("Law and Order").
Brooks, who played Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette on the program for three years, is a 1980 graduate of Interlochen Center for the Arts, where he studied theater and voice. He is currently on the center's Motion Picture Arts Advisory Board and will conduct master classes with drama students at Interlochen Arts Camp while here.
He will participate in Saturday's free "Hollywood Confidential" film festival panel at the City Opera House at 11 a.m.
A major coup for the festival has been hiring Bill Hill, head projectionist for the Sundance Film Festival and "booth chief" at the Telluride Film Festival's Galaxy Theatre, and his crew of three.
Hill's Santa Fe, N.M. company, Hill Top Productions, has done production work for movies including "All The Pretty Horses" and "City Slickers," but focuses on providing technical support for film festivals across the country.
Hill said he wasn't looking to put on another festival this time of the year, especially one on such short notice. But he changed his mind and canceled his vacation when the festival committee came calling.
"What they're pulling off is just absolutely incredible," he said. "I've been involved lately in a lot of first-year festivals and what they take six or eight months to do, it seems like everyone here has been able to do in a couple of weeks."
Tracy Kurtz, spokesperson for the festival, said the area's natural beauty and the "legend" of the State Theatre helped serve as a draw for both industry professionals and audiences.
"The directors are eager to have their films shown here and people are excited about this (State Theatre) coming back to life after nine years," she said.
The festival has drawn broad-based community support from more than 400 volunteers and 100 sponsors including the Midwestern Broadcasting Company, which airs Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk shows on its Traverse City radio station WTCM-AM.
President Ross Biederman said the company is sponsoring the festival for the same reason it supports at least a half-dozen arts organizations in the region - because it's "good for the community."
"We are interested in the film festival because its a film festival, period," Biederman said. "This is not about anyone's politics."
The film festival runs through Sunday, with a total of 31 films. As of Wednesday morning, 13 screenings and four films had completely sold out, although standby ticket lines form 10 minutes before each sold-out show.
"It's an amazing event and I'm just happy to be part of it," said Hill.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/29tcfeech.htm
On the Net:
Festival Web site: http://www.traversecityfilmfestival.org
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_MOORE_FILM_FESTIVAL_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME
Festival off to bustling start
By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - Moviegoers who came to the Traverse City Film Festival expecting to catch a glimpse of Michael Moore probably weren't disappointed.
Moore seemed to be everywhere on Thursday, the festival's first full day. He led a panel discussion on filmmaking at the City Opera House and introduced a screening of "Czech Dream" at the Old Town Playhouse.
The day was marked by a minor glitch or two - most of the earlier screenings began late, and some callers had trouble getting ticket information by phone - but there was lots of good news, too. Parking was plentiful, thanks to the downtown parking structure and all-day festival shuttles between venues; at least two screenings were sold out; and the festival and Traverse City received a nationwide plug on CBS Radio.
At the waterfront Open Space, boaters and curious spectators leaned against railings or sat on concrete walls for a noon preview of Thursday night's "Jaws" pre-show entertainment.
While a sound system broadcast the famous shark theme - duh-DUH, duh-DUH, duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH-duh-DUH - four custom-made automated fins circled in the bay. Nearby, a rubber dinghy sped through the water towing a toothy "shark," giving the illusion the boat was being chased.
"Are there real sharks coming?" asked 6-year-old Liam Tank, a Central Grade School first-grader who watched with his mom, Jennifer Tank, and 4-year-old sister Molly.
Those arriving for screenings at the City Opera House also were treated to pre-show entertainment. A jazz and rock ensemble of Traverse City Central High graduates - veterans of the school's Chorale, Choralaires and other music groups - performed a 15-minute set before the start of each film.
As moviegoers lined up at the Old Town Playhouse for a showing of the Czech Republic film "Czech Dream," volunteers grabbed a quick bite to eat and anxiously awaited delivery of festival T-shirts to sell.
Jan Hinds took advantage of the lull to knit a scarf.
"You have to bring a book or something so you don't go nuts in between," said Hinds, who had just come from a volunteer stint at the morning's panel discussion.
Ken and Marge Philp drove from their summer home near Torch Lake to be first in line.
High school and university teachers who live in Texas the rest of the year, the Philps said they prefer counterculture films and films about the "human condition" and support the festival's intellectual diversity.
"Wherever you live, these kinds of films are so hard to find," said Marge Philp.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/29filmfest.htm
Up and Running
TC Film Festival off to a Hollywood start
By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - The Sundance Film Festival has been an important part of Park City, Utah, for nearly a quarter of a century.
Whether or not the fledgling Traverse City Film Festival will have a lasting impact here remains to be seen, but signs are hopeful midway through the inaugural event.
The five-day festival kicked off Sunday with a Founders Preview Party that featured a sneak preview of the film "The Baxter" at the Bay Theatre and a post-screening reception at Ciccone Vineyards and Winery, both in Suttons Bay.
About 200 local sponsors and others turned out for the event, dressed in everything from casual flip-flops and shorts to formal wear (festival founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore sported his usual T-shirt and baseball cap).
As an Interlochen ensemble played and a cooling breeze blew through the open doors, they sipped wine and nibbled on ethnic hors d'oeuvres in the vineyard's expansive barn overlooking West Grand Traverse Bay.
On Wednesday the scene was a little different, as movie-goers flocked downtown for opening night of the festival and their first glimpse of the newly renovated State Theatre on Front Street. After the sold-out 8 p.m. screening of "Mad Hot Ballroom," many strolled three blocks west to the City Opera House to mix and mingle at an elegant opening night reception.
As a jazz ensemble played, guests stood chatting at cocktail tables set with white cloths and fresh flowers or strolled between caterers' stations offering local beers and wines, cannoli and tiramisu.
Linda Wise and her daughter Loraine Steinbarger shelled out $50 each to attend the opening night events.
"We want to see what's happening; how they're going to handle this," said Wise, 61, who agonized over what to wear until finally settling for slim khaki pants and a sheer dressy blouse.
Besides Marilyn Agrelo, Andrew Wagner, Andrew Wagner and Alex Gibney, directors of "Mad Hot Ballroom," "The Talent Given Us" and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room," those in town for the festival include screenwriter Larry Brand ("Halloween: Resurrection") producer Rob Tappert ("Spiderman," "Spiderman 2") and actor Richard Brooks ("Law and Order").
Brooks, who played Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette on the program for three years, is a 1980 graduate of Interlochen Center for the Arts, where he studied theater and voice. He is currently on the center's Motion Picture Arts Advisory Board and will conduct master classes with drama students at Interlochen Arts Camp while here.
He will participate in Saturday's free "Hollywood Confidential" film festival panel at the City Opera House at 11 a.m.
A major coup for the festival has been hiring Bill Hill, head projectionist for the Sundance Film Festival and "booth chief" at the Telluride Film Festival's Galaxy Theatre, and his crew of three.
Hill's Santa Fe, N.M. company, Hill Top Productions, has done production work for movies including "All The Pretty Horses" and "City Slickers," but focuses on providing technical support for film festivals across the country.
Hill said he wasn't looking to put on another festival this time of the year, especially one on such short notice. But he changed his mind and canceled his vacation when the festival committee came calling.
"What they're pulling off is just absolutely incredible," he said. "I've been involved lately in a lot of first-year festivals and what they take six or eight months to do, it seems like everyone here has been able to do in a couple of weeks."
Tracy Kurtz, spokesperson for the festival, said the area's natural beauty and the "legend" of the State Theatre helped serve as a draw for both industry professionals and audiences.
"The directors are eager to have their films shown here and people are excited about this (State Theatre) coming back to life after nine years," she said.
The festival has drawn broad-based community support from more than 400 volunteers and 100 sponsors including the Midwestern Broadcasting Company, which airs Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk shows on its Traverse City radio station WTCM-AM.
President Ross Biederman said the company is sponsoring the festival for the same reason it supports at least a half-dozen arts organizations in the region - because it's "good for the community."
"We are interested in the film festival because its a film festival, period," Biederman said. "This is not about anyone's politics."
The film festival runs through Sunday, with a total of 31 films. As of Wednesday morning, 13 screenings and four films had completely sold out, although standby ticket lines form 10 minutes before each sold-out show.
"It's an amazing event and I'm just happy to be part of it," said Hill.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/29tcfeech.htm
On the Net:
Festival Web site: http://www.traversecityfilmfestival.org
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_MOORE_FILM_FESTIVAL_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Traverse City Film Festival
Special to the Record-Eagle/Greg UndeenLights from the State Theatre reflect off a limousine as the opening night show of the Traverse City Film Festival lets out. "Mad Hot Ballroom" received a standing ovation and wild applause that could be heard outside on the street by hundreds waiting for the next viewing.
Traverse City Eagle Record
Lights go up at State Theatre
By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - There was no red carpet and only one limousine arrival, but the excitement on Front Street was palpable as moviegoers arrived at the historic State Theatre for the opening film of the first Traverse City Film Festival.
Under the flashing lights of the newly polished marquee Wednesday evening, festival volunteers hawked popcorn and festival T-shirts, friends and families took snapshots of each other, and camera crews panned the growing line that had snaked nearly to the Cass Street intersection by 7:30 p.m.
Inside, ushers and concessionaires got last-minute instructions, donned vintage jackets and hats, and filled boxes with popcorn as fast as the machine could spill it out.
With two Traverse City policemen on mountain bikes providing security, Marilyn Agrelo, director of the opening film "Mad Hot Ballroom," stepped out into the street to snap a shot of the film title spelled out in large red letters on the marquee.
Meanwhile, Old Town Playhouse actor Thomas Pritchard as "Chief Brodie" entertained those waiting with his megaphone and bright yellow "Amity P.D." jeep festooned with sharks and nets to promote Thursday's showing of "Jaws" at the Open Space Cinema.
"Greatest thing that ever happened to Traverse City," remarked Chris Okoren of Pentwater, as she took her place in line. A part-time resident of Key West, Fla., Okoren compared the festival to ones she has been to there. "This is a gift to Traverse City, and Michael Moore should be patted on his back," she said.
Friends Carol Sullivan of Westland and Ann Ramroth of Livonia had plans to go to Stratford this week but canceled them to come to the film festival instead.
"We just thought it would be fun to be a part of something so exciting," said Sullivan.
Shortly after 8 p.m., when the sold-out audience had taken their seats, festival founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore took the stage unannounced with co-founders Doug Stanton and John Robert Williams.
"Welcome to the State Theatre!" Moore shouted to thunderous applause.
After thanking all those who are helping with the five-day festival, including the Herrington-Fitch Family Foundation, which put up a big chunk of the event's $250,000 budget, the often-controversial Moore made reference to the festival's broad-based community support.
"This is the America of liberty, where we can all have our different beliefs and opinions but where we can all come together for the good of the community," he said.
Organizers planned the festival in just two months. Among its 31 domestic, foreign language, independent and documentary films are seven premieres and four free classics that will be shown nightly at dusk at the waterfront Open Space Cinema.
Only one screening of "Mad Hot Ballroom" was originally scheduled for Wednesday but an extra showing was added after the first sold out last week. The 2005 documentary, introduced Wednesday night by Agrelo, follows a group of fourth- and fifth-graders as they participate in a ballroom dance program at their New York City public schools.
Agrelo told the audience before the show began not to leave before the credits because of a surprise.
As applause reverberated across the theater, a spotlight flashed on the stage and Moore led Elsa Melys Ulelio and Kelvin Munoz from the winning team out on stage. They danced as the audience clapped and cheered.
"This community should be so proud," said Nancy Osborne, a Fort Myers, Fla, resident who is visiting friends in Benzie County. "Do you know what it takes to do this, to bring those two kids here?"
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28filmfest.htm
Child stars, director of 'Mad, Hot Ballroom' in TC
All attend film's showing
BY GARRET ELLISON
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - After spending the last couple months touring the country promoting "Mad Hot Ballroom," Elsa Melys Ulelio and Kelvin Mu¤oz are still shaking their heads, wide-eyed.
"I was like, that's me! I don't believe it," Mu¤oz said when he saw himself on the big screen for the first time.
Mu¤oz and Ulelio are two of the children who star in the documentary, which follows a group of New York City children growing up and learning ballroom dancing as an elective at school.
"Mad Hot Ballroom" kicked off the Traverse City Film Festival last night with a sold-out show at 8 p.m. and an extra showing at 10 p.m. The film was released May 13.
Both children were attending the early screening, accompanied on the trip here by Mu¤oz's parents, Cecilio and Ana Taveras. Also on hand was director Marilyn Agrelo. The children were also expected to dance on stage at the State Theatre as part of the event.
Cecilio said he never would have believed it all.
"I see him in the movie and I'm like, 'Wow, that's my son,'" he said.
Mu¤oz and Ulelio attend P.S. 115 in Washington Heights, one of three schools where producers chose to shoot. Ulelio dances the rumba in the film.
"It wasn't tough," she said. "It was like one, two, three steps - it was easy."
Outside the State Theatre, Kathryn Wade of West Bloomfield recognized Mu¤oz from the film.
"I just saw it last week," she said. "I loved it, it was one of the best things I've seen lately - just fantastic."
The movie marks the directorial feature debut of Agrelo, a 15-year veteran of independent films, who also accompanied the kids to the film festival.
"To my surprise they called me from Paramount Classics to tell me Michael Moore wanted my film for this festival," she said. "It's really an honor to be the opening film for the inaugural festival."
Misconceptions were targeted in her film, which she describes as "my little love poem to New York."
"When I set out to make this film, I wanted to show what the neighborhoods of New York are really like," she said. "Not the places commonly associated with New York, like the Empire State Building, but the street vendors and the people."
She said in New York - like in Traverse City - there are old neglected theaters which the people have risen up to preserve.
"I think it's good for people to realize we're all really the same," she said. "That's why it makes me happy to bring this little New York story to Traverse City."
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28madhot.htm
Locals to perform prior to Opera House movies
BY LINDSAY VANHULLE
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - Several area teenagers will get a chance to perform for moviegoers prior to films at the City Opera House during this week's Traverse City Film Festival.
The musicians, which include two adults from Interlochen Center for the Arts, will each perform two numbers to help display local talent, said Robert Hughes, City Opera House venue manager.
"The idea originally was to bring in some local talent," Hughes said. "(It's) just to show anybody who's coming in from out of town that we've got some talented kids in this town."
The students will perform as moviegoers come into the theater and find their seats, he said.
Performing prior to all four Opera House shows Thursday are Kelly Sitek and Claire Gibbons on vocals, Jessie Aja on drums, Miles Kaufmann on piano and Jeff Cavistan on bass.
There will be no performances before the 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. shows Friday, but the two evening performances will include four members of the Traverse City Central High School 2004-2005 Choral-Aires - Sitek, Amanda Wyskochil, Gibbons and Kathleen Loup. The band again includes Aja, Kaufmann and Cavistan.
Saturday's shows at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. will feature Jack Fivecoate on harmonica, Reese Gallagher on guitar and John Tornga on bongos. All three will sing. The 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows will have Matt Harting on guitar and Wyskochil on vocals.
Harting will have a guitar solo at the 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday shows, and Interlochen instructors Rick and Lynn Church will sing and play piano at the 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows Sunday.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28fflocals.htm
A LOT OF THE VENUES ARE SOLD OUT. This is interesting though that most of us didn't pick up the content to the extent Mike did. They sound like great films. I hope they all come out on DVD eventually.
Tickets remain for Moore's top 5 'founder's favorites'
He says they focus on class and economy
FROM STAFF REPORTS
TRAVERSE CITY - Of the 31 movies being showcased during the Traverse City Film Festival, which are Michael Moore's favorites?
The ones that still have the most tickets left.
Of all of the screenings on the five-day schedule, showings for "The Ax," "Land of Plenty," "The Edukators," "My Summer of Love" and "The Talent Given Us" have more tickets than others remaining for sale. Those happen to be the festival founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker's favorites.
"There's a kind of thread that runs through these films," Moore said. "The thread is it's about class and the economy and the changing world that we live in."
"The Ax" is about a man who loses his job and after two years, has yet to find another. He proceeds to systematically eliminate some of the competition. Set in France, it's a dark comedy from director Costa-Gavras, who Moore described as "one of the greatest living directors in the world."
"It's not a violent film, though it sounds that way," Moore said. "It's the thing I like about any great movie - you never know what's going to happen next."
"Land of Plenty" is what Moore described as the rare film that tells a story grounded in post-Sept. 11 culture. It's about a security-obsessed man who drives around on the lookout for terrorists.
"It's one of the films that's in the festival where I had tears in my eyes at the end of it."
The German "The Edukators" was the one Moore said gave his "Fahrenheit 9/11" the most competition for grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival, though Moore's won. Moore didn't get a chance to see it himself until a few months ago.
"The Edukators" is about three 20-something have-nots who break into the homes of the well-to-do and rearrange the furniture, but don't steal anything.
"My Summer of Love" may be the most misunderstood among Moore's favorites, he said. A story about two teenage girls, one from a wealthy family and one working class, it does include the girls exploring a possible romantic relationship. But Moore said focusing on that misses the point.
"Everybody is focusing on the lesbian thing," he said. "Number one, they aren't lesbians, it's not a lesbian love story - they are two young girls who at one point in the film experiment with each other.
"But the film is really about the wealthy girl essentially uses the working class girl as her plaything. It's an allegory for those in power expecting those who are not in power to be at their beck and call."
"The Talent Given Us" was made by Andrew Wagner for $30,000 with a two-man crew. Wagner, who also wrote the script, got his parents and sisters to act in the story of a family traveling from Manhattan to Los Angeles to visit a son/brother.
Moore said the way it plays, it's hard to tell what's real and what's fiction. Besides that, he said, it's "a fun, well-acted wonderful story."
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28fftickets.htm
Odds and ends from the Film Festival
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The show must go on, but probably not on the big inflatable screen at the Open Space if there's lightning. That's the word from the Traverse City Film Festival, which will keep a close eye on weather with help from the festival's volunteer weatherman, Greg McMaster.
If any Open Space film must be canceled due to weather conditions, a decision will be made by 7 p.m. Area broadcast media will be notified, signs will be posted at the Open Space and other festival venues, and the information will be listed on the Film Festival Web site, http://www.traversecityfilmfestival.org.
-
To get festivalgoers in a shark state of mind for tonight's showing of "Jaws" at the Open Space, local builder Jake Anderson and Ed Mulcahy at Old Town Playhouse have been busy building sharks and shark components. Their handiwork will be featured in a show that will be held about 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today at the Open Space. It will be repeated tonight starting around 8:30 p.m.
Components include four mechanical sharks and 10 sharks that he said are "basically a fin on a stick," all circling the water with help from 10 divers. They're hoping for a boat with an old sea captain to be on the water during the morning event, when Sheriff Brody might even be on shore with a bullhorn calling warnings.
Plans were still being finalized Wednesday, but look for the action in the harbor at the Open Space and maybe even extending over in front of the volleyball courts.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28ffnoteb.htm
Good movies and politics mix well, Moore says
By JOHN FLESHER
Associated Press Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Bathed in spotlight on a darkened stage, Michael Moore sounded downright conciliatory toward his detractors while welcoming a capacity crowd to a film festival in his adopted hometown.
"This is the America we want to believe in, where we can all have our various beliefs but come together for the greater good of the community," the left-wing documentary filmmaker said to a thunderous ovation.
The Oscar winner, known for humorous but bitingly satirical productions such as "Roger & Me" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," described good movies as a bridge across the political divide for people "tired of the hate, tired of the yelling, tired of ... the screamfests, the talk radio."
But chatting with fans Thursday at the inaugural Traverse City Film Festival, Moore acknowledged putting aside political differences could be tough for him - especially when hearing that more U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.
"It's very hard to love a Republican at that moment," said Moore, who denounced the war and President Bush when accepting an Academy Award for "Bowling for Columbine" in 2003.
And he served notice that his next documentary, "Sicko," a critique of the nation's health care system, would pull no punches. The idea arose from a segment in one of Moore's former television shows with a mock funeral on the grounds of a health-maintenance organization refusing to pay for a dying man's surgery.
"Freaked-out" HMOs are warning employees what to do if approached by Moore and his camera crew, he said with a chuckle. "At this point we haven't shot anything yet and they're totally discombobulated."
Moore said he had no apology for making politically themed films: "When in this great democracy did 'political' become a dirty word?"
But such films are most effective when their primary goal is artistic excellence, he said, adding that liberals turn people off with too much "finger wagging" and too little humor.
"Comedy was the vehicle of the left a hundred years ago - Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, the Marx brothers," Moore said. When making "Roger & Me," which showed how auto plant closings devastated his native Flint, "I thought by letting people laugh a little bit, they would actually leave the theater more angry about what was going on."
Moore, who now lives near Traverse City, founded the film festival with local movie buffs. It began Wednesday night with two showings of "Mad Hot Ballroom," a lighthearted documentary about a dance competition between elementary school children in New York City.
More than 1,100 people packed a historic downtown theater that had been closed for years until volunteers refurbished it for the festival.
Thirty other films were being shown over the next four days, most of them independently produced documentaries, dramas and comedies. None of Moore's films are on the list.
The event has inspired a rival conservative "freedom film festival" scheduled for this weekend. Among the titles: "Michael Moore Hates America."
But leaders of Moore's festival insist it's not a political platform, but a celebration of high-quality cinema involving hundreds of volunteers and businesses representing a variety of beliefs.
A local radio station that airs right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh promoted the festival. State Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, a Republican elected last fall after Moore campaigned for his opponent, penned a supportive column in the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
"I have to admit I've never seen any of his movies," said volunteer Bonnie Willings, 59. "I'm just grateful he's using his connections to bring all these great movies here."
---
On the Net:
Festival Web site: http://www.traversecityfilmfestival.org
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_MOORE_FILM_FESTIVAL_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME
By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - There was no red carpet and only one limousine arrival, but the excitement on Front Street was palpable as moviegoers arrived at the historic State Theatre for the opening film of the first Traverse City Film Festival.
Under the flashing lights of the newly polished marquee Wednesday evening, festival volunteers hawked popcorn and festival T-shirts, friends and families took snapshots of each other, and camera crews panned the growing line that had snaked nearly to the Cass Street intersection by 7:30 p.m.
Inside, ushers and concessionaires got last-minute instructions, donned vintage jackets and hats, and filled boxes with popcorn as fast as the machine could spill it out.
With two Traverse City policemen on mountain bikes providing security, Marilyn Agrelo, director of the opening film "Mad Hot Ballroom," stepped out into the street to snap a shot of the film title spelled out in large red letters on the marquee.
Meanwhile, Old Town Playhouse actor Thomas Pritchard as "Chief Brodie" entertained those waiting with his megaphone and bright yellow "Amity P.D." jeep festooned with sharks and nets to promote Thursday's showing of "Jaws" at the Open Space Cinema.
"Greatest thing that ever happened to Traverse City," remarked Chris Okoren of Pentwater, as she took her place in line. A part-time resident of Key West, Fla., Okoren compared the festival to ones she has been to there. "This is a gift to Traverse City, and Michael Moore should be patted on his back," she said.
Friends Carol Sullivan of Westland and Ann Ramroth of Livonia had plans to go to Stratford this week but canceled them to come to the film festival instead.
"We just thought it would be fun to be a part of something so exciting," said Sullivan.
Shortly after 8 p.m., when the sold-out audience had taken their seats, festival founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore took the stage unannounced with co-founders Doug Stanton and John Robert Williams.
"Welcome to the State Theatre!" Moore shouted to thunderous applause.
After thanking all those who are helping with the five-day festival, including the Herrington-Fitch Family Foundation, which put up a big chunk of the event's $250,000 budget, the often-controversial Moore made reference to the festival's broad-based community support.
"This is the America of liberty, where we can all have our different beliefs and opinions but where we can all come together for the good of the community," he said.
Organizers planned the festival in just two months. Among its 31 domestic, foreign language, independent and documentary films are seven premieres and four free classics that will be shown nightly at dusk at the waterfront Open Space Cinema.
Only one screening of "Mad Hot Ballroom" was originally scheduled for Wednesday but an extra showing was added after the first sold out last week. The 2005 documentary, introduced Wednesday night by Agrelo, follows a group of fourth- and fifth-graders as they participate in a ballroom dance program at their New York City public schools.
Agrelo told the audience before the show began not to leave before the credits because of a surprise.
As applause reverberated across the theater, a spotlight flashed on the stage and Moore led Elsa Melys Ulelio and Kelvin Munoz from the winning team out on stage. They danced as the audience clapped and cheered.
"This community should be so proud," said Nancy Osborne, a Fort Myers, Fla, resident who is visiting friends in Benzie County. "Do you know what it takes to do this, to bring those two kids here?"
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28filmfest.htm
Child stars, director of 'Mad, Hot Ballroom' in TC
All attend film's showing
BY GARRET ELLISON
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - After spending the last couple months touring the country promoting "Mad Hot Ballroom," Elsa Melys Ulelio and Kelvin Mu¤oz are still shaking their heads, wide-eyed.
"I was like, that's me! I don't believe it," Mu¤oz said when he saw himself on the big screen for the first time.
Mu¤oz and Ulelio are two of the children who star in the documentary, which follows a group of New York City children growing up and learning ballroom dancing as an elective at school.
"Mad Hot Ballroom" kicked off the Traverse City Film Festival last night with a sold-out show at 8 p.m. and an extra showing at 10 p.m. The film was released May 13.
Both children were attending the early screening, accompanied on the trip here by Mu¤oz's parents, Cecilio and Ana Taveras. Also on hand was director Marilyn Agrelo. The children were also expected to dance on stage at the State Theatre as part of the event.
Cecilio said he never would have believed it all.
"I see him in the movie and I'm like, 'Wow, that's my son,'" he said.
Mu¤oz and Ulelio attend P.S. 115 in Washington Heights, one of three schools where producers chose to shoot. Ulelio dances the rumba in the film.
"It wasn't tough," she said. "It was like one, two, three steps - it was easy."
Outside the State Theatre, Kathryn Wade of West Bloomfield recognized Mu¤oz from the film.
"I just saw it last week," she said. "I loved it, it was one of the best things I've seen lately - just fantastic."
The movie marks the directorial feature debut of Agrelo, a 15-year veteran of independent films, who also accompanied the kids to the film festival.
"To my surprise they called me from Paramount Classics to tell me Michael Moore wanted my film for this festival," she said. "It's really an honor to be the opening film for the inaugural festival."
Misconceptions were targeted in her film, which she describes as "my little love poem to New York."
"When I set out to make this film, I wanted to show what the neighborhoods of New York are really like," she said. "Not the places commonly associated with New York, like the Empire State Building, but the street vendors and the people."
She said in New York - like in Traverse City - there are old neglected theaters which the people have risen up to preserve.
"I think it's good for people to realize we're all really the same," she said. "That's why it makes me happy to bring this little New York story to Traverse City."
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28madhot.htm
Locals to perform prior to Opera House movies
BY LINDSAY VANHULLE
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - Several area teenagers will get a chance to perform for moviegoers prior to films at the City Opera House during this week's Traverse City Film Festival.
The musicians, which include two adults from Interlochen Center for the Arts, will each perform two numbers to help display local talent, said Robert Hughes, City Opera House venue manager.
"The idea originally was to bring in some local talent," Hughes said. "(It's) just to show anybody who's coming in from out of town that we've got some talented kids in this town."
The students will perform as moviegoers come into the theater and find their seats, he said.
Performing prior to all four Opera House shows Thursday are Kelly Sitek and Claire Gibbons on vocals, Jessie Aja on drums, Miles Kaufmann on piano and Jeff Cavistan on bass.
There will be no performances before the 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. shows Friday, but the two evening performances will include four members of the Traverse City Central High School 2004-2005 Choral-Aires - Sitek, Amanda Wyskochil, Gibbons and Kathleen Loup. The band again includes Aja, Kaufmann and Cavistan.
Saturday's shows at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. will feature Jack Fivecoate on harmonica, Reese Gallagher on guitar and John Tornga on bongos. All three will sing. The 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows will have Matt Harting on guitar and Wyskochil on vocals.
Harting will have a guitar solo at the 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday shows, and Interlochen instructors Rick and Lynn Church will sing and play piano at the 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows Sunday.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28fflocals.htm
A LOT OF THE VENUES ARE SOLD OUT. This is interesting though that most of us didn't pick up the content to the extent Mike did. They sound like great films. I hope they all come out on DVD eventually.
Tickets remain for Moore's top 5 'founder's favorites'
He says they focus on class and economy
FROM STAFF REPORTS
TRAVERSE CITY - Of the 31 movies being showcased during the Traverse City Film Festival, which are Michael Moore's favorites?
The ones that still have the most tickets left.
Of all of the screenings on the five-day schedule, showings for "The Ax," "Land of Plenty," "The Edukators," "My Summer of Love" and "The Talent Given Us" have more tickets than others remaining for sale. Those happen to be the festival founder and Oscar-winning filmmaker's favorites.
"There's a kind of thread that runs through these films," Moore said. "The thread is it's about class and the economy and the changing world that we live in."
"The Ax" is about a man who loses his job and after two years, has yet to find another. He proceeds to systematically eliminate some of the competition. Set in France, it's a dark comedy from director Costa-Gavras, who Moore described as "one of the greatest living directors in the world."
"It's not a violent film, though it sounds that way," Moore said. "It's the thing I like about any great movie - you never know what's going to happen next."
"Land of Plenty" is what Moore described as the rare film that tells a story grounded in post-Sept. 11 culture. It's about a security-obsessed man who drives around on the lookout for terrorists.
"It's one of the films that's in the festival where I had tears in my eyes at the end of it."
The German "The Edukators" was the one Moore said gave his "Fahrenheit 9/11" the most competition for grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival, though Moore's won. Moore didn't get a chance to see it himself until a few months ago.
"The Edukators" is about three 20-something have-nots who break into the homes of the well-to-do and rearrange the furniture, but don't steal anything.
"My Summer of Love" may be the most misunderstood among Moore's favorites, he said. A story about two teenage girls, one from a wealthy family and one working class, it does include the girls exploring a possible romantic relationship. But Moore said focusing on that misses the point.
"Everybody is focusing on the lesbian thing," he said. "Number one, they aren't lesbians, it's not a lesbian love story - they are two young girls who at one point in the film experiment with each other.
"But the film is really about the wealthy girl essentially uses the working class girl as her plaything. It's an allegory for those in power expecting those who are not in power to be at their beck and call."
"The Talent Given Us" was made by Andrew Wagner for $30,000 with a two-man crew. Wagner, who also wrote the script, got his parents and sisters to act in the story of a family traveling from Manhattan to Los Angeles to visit a son/brother.
Moore said the way it plays, it's hard to tell what's real and what's fiction. Besides that, he said, it's "a fun, well-acted wonderful story."
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28fftickets.htm
Odds and ends from the Film Festival
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The show must go on, but probably not on the big inflatable screen at the Open Space if there's lightning. That's the word from the Traverse City Film Festival, which will keep a close eye on weather with help from the festival's volunteer weatherman, Greg McMaster.
If any Open Space film must be canceled due to weather conditions, a decision will be made by 7 p.m. Area broadcast media will be notified, signs will be posted at the Open Space and other festival venues, and the information will be listed on the Film Festival Web site, http://www.traversecityfilmfestival.org.
-
To get festivalgoers in a shark state of mind for tonight's showing of "Jaws" at the Open Space, local builder Jake Anderson and Ed Mulcahy at Old Town Playhouse have been busy building sharks and shark components. Their handiwork will be featured in a show that will be held about 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today at the Open Space. It will be repeated tonight starting around 8:30 p.m.
Components include four mechanical sharks and 10 sharks that he said are "basically a fin on a stick," all circling the water with help from 10 divers. They're hoping for a boat with an old sea captain to be on the water during the morning event, when Sheriff Brody might even be on shore with a bullhorn calling warnings.
Plans were still being finalized Wednesday, but look for the action in the harbor at the Open Space and maybe even extending over in front of the volleyball courts.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/jul/28ffnoteb.htm
Good movies and politics mix well, Moore says
By JOHN FLESHER
Associated Press Writer
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Bathed in spotlight on a darkened stage, Michael Moore sounded downright conciliatory toward his detractors while welcoming a capacity crowd to a film festival in his adopted hometown.
"This is the America we want to believe in, where we can all have our various beliefs but come together for the greater good of the community," the left-wing documentary filmmaker said to a thunderous ovation.
The Oscar winner, known for humorous but bitingly satirical productions such as "Roger & Me" and "Fahrenheit 9/11," described good movies as a bridge across the political divide for people "tired of the hate, tired of the yelling, tired of ... the screamfests, the talk radio."
But chatting with fans Thursday at the inaugural Traverse City Film Festival, Moore acknowledged putting aside political differences could be tough for him - especially when hearing that more U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq.
"It's very hard to love a Republican at that moment," said Moore, who denounced the war and President Bush when accepting an Academy Award for "Bowling for Columbine" in 2003.
And he served notice that his next documentary, "Sicko," a critique of the nation's health care system, would pull no punches. The idea arose from a segment in one of Moore's former television shows with a mock funeral on the grounds of a health-maintenance organization refusing to pay for a dying man's surgery.
"Freaked-out" HMOs are warning employees what to do if approached by Moore and his camera crew, he said with a chuckle. "At this point we haven't shot anything yet and they're totally discombobulated."
Moore said he had no apology for making politically themed films: "When in this great democracy did 'political' become a dirty word?"
But such films are most effective when their primary goal is artistic excellence, he said, adding that liberals turn people off with too much "finger wagging" and too little humor.
"Comedy was the vehicle of the left a hundred years ago - Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, the Marx brothers," Moore said. When making "Roger & Me," which showed how auto plant closings devastated his native Flint, "I thought by letting people laugh a little bit, they would actually leave the theater more angry about what was going on."
Moore, who now lives near Traverse City, founded the film festival with local movie buffs. It began Wednesday night with two showings of "Mad Hot Ballroom," a lighthearted documentary about a dance competition between elementary school children in New York City.
More than 1,100 people packed a historic downtown theater that had been closed for years until volunteers refurbished it for the festival.
Thirty other films were being shown over the next four days, most of them independently produced documentaries, dramas and comedies. None of Moore's films are on the list.
The event has inspired a rival conservative "freedom film festival" scheduled for this weekend. Among the titles: "Michael Moore Hates America."
But leaders of Moore's festival insist it's not a political platform, but a celebration of high-quality cinema involving hundreds of volunteers and businesses representing a variety of beliefs.
A local radio station that airs right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh promoted the festival. State Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, a Republican elected last fall after Moore campaigned for his opponent, penned a supportive column in the Traverse City Record-Eagle.
"I have to admit I've never seen any of his movies," said volunteer Bonnie Willings, 59. "I'm just grateful he's using his connections to bring all these great movies here."
---
On the Net:
Festival Web site: http://www.traversecityfilmfestival.org
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MI_MOORE_FILM_FESTIVAL_MIOL-?SITE=MITRA&SECTION=HOME
Opening Night
July 27, 2005.
The movie was "Mad Hot Ballroom" shown at 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM to sold out audiences.
Best Film, Chicago Film Festival. It's the most acclaimed documentary of the year -- and it will send you out on Front St. dancing a tango with a rose in your teeth! Inner-city kids from New York take up ballroom dancing and enter the big city-wide competition against children of all backgrounds. You will root and cheer, laugh and cry, in this uplifting, remarkable opening night movie for our first Traverse City Film Festival. Director and stars will be in attendance!
It was followed by an Opening Night Gala which was also sold out.
Special to the Record-Eagle/Greg Undeen
The State Theatre was full Wednesday night as patrons filled in for the opening of the Traverse City Film Festival,
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Crowing"
"Okeydoke"
History …
1586 Sir Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to Europe
1588 Spanish Armada sails to overthrow England's Queen Elizabeth I
1851 Total solar eclipse captured on a daguerreotype photograph
1862 Confederate forces defeated at More's Hill, Mo
1866 Metric system becomes a legal measurement system in US
1868 14th Amendment ratified, citizenship to exslaves
1882 The opera "Parsifal" is produced (Bayreuth)
1883 Shocks triggered by the volcano Epomeo (Isle of Ischia, Italy)
destroyed 1,200 houses at Casamicciola killing 2,000
1896 City of Miami incorporated
1898 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of the Retired Colourman"(BG)
1900 Hamburger created by Louis Lassing in Connecticut
1914 Austria-Hungary attacks Serbia-WW I begins
1914 Foxtrot 1st danced at New Amsterdam Roof Garden (NYC, by Harry Fox)
1915 10,000 blacks march on 5th Ave (NYC) protesting lynchings
1931 Congress makes "The Star-Spangled Banner" our 2nd national anthem
1932 Pres Hoover evicts bonus marchers from their encampment
1933 1st singing telegram delivered (to Rudy Vallee), NYC
1935 G Neujmin discovers asteroid #1386 Storeria
1938 K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1485 Isa
1942 Nazis liquidate 10,000 Jews in Minsk Russia
1943 Italian Facist dictator Benito Mussolini resigns
1943 Pres FDR announces end of coffee rationing in US
1945 US Army bomber crashes into 79th floor of Empire State Bldg, 14 die
1945 US Senate ratifies UN charter 89-2
1959 Hawaii's 1st US election sends 1st Asian-Americans to Congress
1962 Mariner I launched to Mars falls into Atlantic Ocean
1964 Ranger 7 launched toward the Moon; sent back 4308 TV pictures
1967 Pirate Radio Station 390 (Radio Invicta) (England) closes down
1973 Skylab 3's astronauts (Bean, Garriott & Lousma) launched
1977 Roy Wilkins turn over NAACP leadership to Benjamin L Hooks
1978 600,000 attend Watkins Glen Summer Jam in NY
1978 Perth Observatory discovers asteroid #3188 & #3422
1978 Price of gold tops $200-an-oz level for 1st time
1980 Fernando Bela£nde Terry becomes president of Peru
1986 NASA releases transcript from doomed Challenger, pilot Michael Smith
could be heard saying, "Uh-oh!" as spacecraft disintegrated
1987 Angel Cordero Jr becomes the 4th jockey to win 6,000 races
1988 Israeli diplomats arrive in Moscow for 1st visit in 21 years
1988 Jordan cancels $1.3 billion development plan in West Bank
1988 Winnie Mandella's home in Soweto, South Africa destroyed by arson
1990 Blackout hits Chicago
1991 Expo's Dennis Martinez pitches baseball's 15th perfect game (Dodgers)
1991 Miguel Indurain of Spain wins the Tour de France bicycle race
2061 31st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
Missing in Action
1966 MC SWAIN GEORGE P. MONTROSE CA 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
International Herald Tribune
Cricket: Games in Zimbabwe divide New Zealand
New Zealand's cricketers will begin their tour of Zimbabwe next week in little doubt of the disapproval felt by the bulk of their compatriots.
Their departure to a weeklong training camp in Namibia - they will not enter Zimbabwe until Aug. 4 and the first of the two five-day test matches does not start until Aug. 7 - was accompanied by a vote in New Zealand's Parliament that condemned the tour, 110 to 10.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/27/sports/CRICKET.php
The Jerusalem Post
PM wraps up 'very successful' French visit with call for aliya
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon concluded his Paris visited by meeting with French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon returns to Israel Friday following a four-day visit to Paris that he termed very successful.
Sharon wrapped up the visit on Thursday by meeting French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy at his Paris hotel and with French Jewish leaders at the Paris International Convention Center.
The prime minister raised the ire of the French government last year by connecting anti-Semitism in France to his standard call for Diaspora Jews to make aliya. Sharon made sure to separate the two issues this time, but he did not mince words in repeatedly calling upon the audience to move to Israel.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122518931272
Karadi: Protests won't wear us down
With settler leaders planning the largest-ever anti-disengagement march set to begin next Tuesday in Sderot, Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi convened the top police brass on Thursday to discuss how police would thwart the activist's plans to infiltrate Gush Katif.
During the evening meeting, Karadi and his officers refrained from making concrete decisions concerning the police's operational plan due to conflicting intelligence reports they had received on the Sderot plans.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448673715
Reporters on the Job: Pullout training
Jerusalem Post military correspondent reports from the fields of Re'em base tent city outside the Gaza Strip
Embedded with the Caracal Battalion: Playing mind games
By Arieh O'Sullivan, Jerusalem Post military correspondent
Posted: July 28, 2005
The Re'em base is a mammoth tent city outside the Gaza Strip with endless rows of canvas, screens and, yes, mud. For all the army's planning and checks, a burst water main has turned large swaths of the desert field into sticky mud flows.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122518929581
J'lem Summit heads to Seoul
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Reaching out to Christian supporters of Israel in Asia, a group of conservative Israeli thinkers and two parliamentarians from the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus are traveling to South Korea next month for the second annual Jerusalem Summit Asia to shore up support for Israel against the increasingly global forces of Islamic fundamentalism.
The two day pro-Israel conference, which will be hosted by the President of South Korea and the Mayor of Seoul as well as the largest Christian Church in Asia, is expected to attract more than 2,000 people from over ten east Asian countries.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448676791
IRA: We will abandon 'armed campaign'
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON
British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the IRA's announcement ending its armed campaign as a step of "unparalleled magnitude" and said the disposal of IRA weapons must take place as soon as possible.
"This may be the day when finally, after all the false dawns and dashed hopes, peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland," said Blair in a live televised statement at his Downing Street office.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122518928997
The Cheney Observer
Cheney's lecture
July 26, 2005
In "The Jukebox Queen of Malta" (a World War II novel by New Englander Nicholas M. Rinaldi), Maltese women attacked downed German airmen with pitchforks. The British, who were defending the Mediterranean island from a possible invasion, intervened to save the enemy airmen's lives.
It wasn't that the British had sympathy for the Germans who were, after all, bombing Malta almost every day. Rather, they feared that should any Germans be killed in this fashion, their own airmen would be risk a similar fate at the hands of civilians if they were forced to parachute over hostile territory.
And that's a principle the American people should keep in mind as they think about the way our government treats its prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detention facilities. For if our side is believed to abuse its prisoners, or to deliberately ignore the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, then we should not be surprised if our enemies feel justified in behaving in a similar fashion. Our misdeeds put our own troops at risk.
Yet the Bush administration does not seem concerned about this principle. It has launched an effort to block legislation that is supported by key Republican senators, legislation that would forbid the American military from engaging in "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of detainees. The senators also propose banning the hiding of prisoners from the Red Cross and from using interrogation methods that are not authorized by a new Army field manual.
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/NEWS/507260337/1021
The IMMORAL Tactics of the Right Wing
Cavuto Disses a "Liberal" Guest for the Third Time This Week
In March of this year, Paul O'Neill, President Bush's former Treasury Secretary and a man who told the truth about what it was like to work inside the Bush White House, was a guest on Your World w/Neil Cavuto. O'Neill was invited on, ostensibly, to talk about his plan to fix Social Security. Only problem was, Cavuto interrupted O'Neill no less than 24 times so he wasn't able to say much. Through his endless interruptions, Cavuto clearly communicated his dislike for O'Neill and his lack of interest in what he had to say.
Today (July 27, 2005), one of Cavuto's guests was a civil rights lawyer named Michael Gross. Gross was on to talk about the false sense of security created by putting cameras and police officers on every corner, in every mall, and on every bus and train. While Cavuto wondered "What's the big deal?" and argued that we haven't had another attack since 9/11, Gross tried to communicate that we must get to the reasons behind bombings. He said we must "understand the problem" because if we don't, the bombers will win because they will "have created totalitarianism."
Cavuto interrupted Gross 16 times.
Comment: "Fighting terror" by bombing, by profiling, by searches and seizures, by surveillance, and by the Patriot Act is discussed and encouraged day in and day out and day in and day out on Fox News. Voices such as Gross' are effectively missing. Apparently the definition of "fair and balanced" on Fox is to invite guests with opposing points of view to appear on screen, period. Having the body there is all that seems to matter because when a guest is interrupted 16 times (conservatives aren't treated like that), the Fox anchor talks more than the guest (mouthing administration propaganda) and the alternative point is effectively silenced.
Cavuto has used three different tactics this week to discredit "liberal" guests. Here and here are the other two.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/27/cavuto_disses_a_liberal_guest_for_the_third_time_this_week.php
Today (July 25, 2005), at the end of Your World w/Neil Cavuto, Cavuto read six emails about Kalb's Saturday appearance. Here they are:
Please give Marvin a happy pill. What a sour, dull person! If I wanted to hear a liberal monotone, I would listen to NPR.
In Marvin Kalb you were able to find a gust who knows less about economics and business than Bob Beckel.
It is good that you're fair and balanced, but that doesn't mean you should be fair and stupid.
Having a well respected, very intelligent, articulate liberal like Marvin Kalb adds to the depth of your show and demonstrates the fair and balanced advertising slogan.
We enjoyed Marvin Kalb's inaugural appearance on Cavuto on Business. However, did you pick out his shirt and tie?
Your constant interruption of your guests makes you the rudest, most arrogant person to your guests on the entire network. Your inclusion of Marvin Kalb about made me throw my shoe at my TV. If I was CEO of Fox News, you would be fired in a New York minute.
Comment: As I've said before, Fox is a well oiled machine. No "liberal" voice goes unanswered. Fox doesn't want its viewers to ponder anything a "liberal" says so it discredits "liberals" either during interviews, or afterward. Still, viewers like those above, continue to think that featuring the occasional, albeit discredited "liberal," means Fox News is "fair and balanced."
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/25/marvin_kalb_read_this.php
Cavuto moved on again: "Senator, let me ask, delving you, if you don't mind into politics a little bit. Ah, I remember when you, in the earlier Iowa caucus, ah, decided to back Senator Kerry. Howard Dean of course was pretty, or, backing Howard Dean and Senator Kerry was upset. What is the relationship with you and Senator Kerry now? I know a lot of water has crossed under that bridge."
Harkin said his relationship with Kerry, "is excellent. Always has been. Always will be. I have a great deal of friendship and respect for Senator Kerry. I gave him a full heads up when I ah, at that time endorsed Howard Dean. He knew about it. We maintained contact through the whole process."
Comment: Fox News portrays Howard Dean as a full-fledged lunatic. John Kerry is still a flip flopping, French girlie man. As soon as Cavuto reminded his viewers that Tom Harkin endorsed Howard Dean, and as soon as Harkin said he has a "great deal of friendship and respect" for Kerry, his credibility went out the window. He became one of them. Cavuto managed to link Harkin to two of Fox's most hated Democrats, and anything Harkin said before, or after, was forgotten.
Democrats, liberals and progressives may appear on Fox, but Fox discredits them one way or another. Until Democrats educate themselves about how to appear on Fox News, this will continue to happen.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/26/fox_trashes_another_clueless_democrat_fox_technique_963.php
Abortions soar as careers come first
By Alexandra Frean
Rising rate among under-14s disappoints health officials
THE abortion rate hit a record high last year, according to government figures published yesterday that also show a sharp rise in terminations to girls aged under 14.
In 2004 the abortion rate rose by 2.1 per cent to 17.8 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, the highest recorded, according to the Department of Health. This resulted in 185,415 women resident in England and Wales having an abortion, compared with 181,600 in 2003.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1710854,00.html
Shell fined £900,000 over platform deaths
By Chris Hardy
SHELL UK has been fined £900,000 following a “substantial catalogue of failures” which led to the death of two workers on a gas and oil production platform, north east of Lerwick.
Invergowrie man Keith Moncrieff (45) and 22-year-old Sean McCue, from Levenmouth, were overcome by a massive gas escape when they were sent down into the utility leg of the Brent Bravo platform to check a temporary patch on a leaking pipe.
The failure to replace the temporary repair allied to a series of circumstances nobody at Shell had foreseen would be connected, were at the heart of yesterday’s case at Stonehaven Sheriff Court when the company accepted that it had failed to ensure the safety of the two men.
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2005/04/28/newsstory7068463t0.asp
19 July 2005 - Brent Bravo Decision Not to Hold Fatal Inquiry Overturned
The decision, by the Crown Counsel, not to hold a fatal inquiry into the deaths of two oil rig workers at the Shell Brent Bravo platform, namely Mr. Keith Moncrieff and Mr. Sean McCue, has been overturned by Scotland's Lord Advocate Mr. Colin Boyd and welcomed by both families of the deceased.
On September 11 2003, Mr McCue and Mr Moncrieff had been carrying out their duties within a utility leg of the platform, checking a temporary repair patch on a safety-critical pipeline within, when gas escaped and overcame the two men.
Shell admitted a series of health and safety breaches and was found to be in breach of health and safety regulations. A fine of £900,000 was imposed upon the company.
A statement from the Crown Office said:
"Crown counsel's original decision took into account the significant inquiry that had already been made in the course of investigations leading to the successful prosecution of the employer at Stonehaven Sheriff Court in March 2005.
"While fully understanding that approach, the Lord Advocate has concluded, on a personal consideration of the case, that it is in the wider public interest for a fatal accident inquiry to be held."
Article by Alexandra Johnston
http://www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk/NA/July_2005_News_Archive/190705Brent_Bravo_Decision_Not_to_Hold_Fatal_Inquiry_Overturned.htm
WPS Media Monitoring Agency
www.wps.ru
May 29, 2002
POLITICAL FORECASTS [press review]
The results of the summit and the fate of Russian democracy:
George Bush's preferences and expectations
According to a poll done by the National Public Opinion Research Center, on the eve of the presidential summit in Moscow most respondents (39%) expected the summits would have no substantial results at all. Slightly fewer respondents, 36%, hoped that the summit would be useful for Russia. Eight percent of respondents were convinced of this. And 17% of respondents were unsure. According to the [Vek] weekly, which published the results of the poll, the opinions of analysts showed very similar divisions.
Before the summit, [Profil] magazine decided to find out what regional leaders thought about Russia-US relations. The topic turned out to be very sensitive. Answering the question, "What would you talk to President George Bush about?" President of the Bashkortostan Republic Murtaza Rakhimov said, "At such a meeting I think I would say: Mr. President, do not try to rule the whole world and stop considering the whole planet as a zone of US interests. That will lead to no good, neither for the US nor for humanity as a whole." Chelyabinsk Governor Petr Sumin responded, "How should this be understood? Since September 11, Russia has supported the United Stated in fighting international terrorism, both morally and politically. You should appreciate it. However, as soon as we have a problem and the US might support us, it turns out that Russia 'does not have a market economy' and should be 'running errands' for the US." Governor of the Ulyanovsk region Vladimir Shamanov said, "Half-measures are not enough to stop terrorism.... It is a great mistake to underestimate the role and position of Russia in these terms. Moreover, it is becoming dangerous for both the US and its European allies.... Russia is full with Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's friendship with American and European leaders. That only deteriorated the situation. We live in a world of mutual compromises but not of unlimited concessions."
http://www.cdi.org/russia/208-12.cfm
Saudi Nuclear Intentions and the IAEA Small Quantities Protocol
Saudi Arabia’s recent signing of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Small Quantities Protocol on June 16, 2005, raises larger issues of possible nuclear ambitions on the Arabian Peninsula. With the cooling off of relations between Riyadh and Washington, and the resultant retreat of U.S. security assurances to the region, it would seem a logical conclusion for the Saudi government to begin to look for other means of self-preservation, especially when faced with two regional nuclear powers: Israel with a rumored 200-plus weapons, and Iran with a nascent program purportedly in development.
The controversy centers on Saudi Arabia’s request to the IAEA to sign the Small Quantities protocol in May, after an internal IAEA document came to light calling for a change in the status of the Protocol over concerns it may pose a proliferation risk. The Protocol allows states considered to be of low risk to opt out of more intensive inspection regimes in return for a declaration of their nuclear activities. In addition, the Protocol allows for the possession of up to 10 tons of natural uranium or 20 tons of depleted uranium, and 2.2 pounds of plutonium without reporting. While it does not appear that Saudi Arabia aspires to develop a domestic weapons grade uranium or plutonium-processing ability, 10 tons of natural uranium is still enough by most standards to produce between one and four nuclear devices (depending on their design). In theory, the Protocol is supposed to allow the IAEA to focus its efforts on other nations viewed as being of higher proliferation risk. Despite strong concerns of IAEA board members, the European Union, the United States and Australia that the Protocol may provide a loophole for would-be proliferators, the IAEA approved Saudi Arabia’s request to join the 75 other nations that are already Protocol signatories. Consequently, Saudi Arabia is exempt from normal UN inspections, effectively ceasing nuclear monitoring there, in exchange for a declaration tantamount to a self-policing agreement.
http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=3050&from_page=../index.cfm
Ledger Enquirer
Man killed weeks after wedding
Couple met when stationed at Fort Sill, Okla.
BY MELANIE BENNETT
Staff Writer
Just a few weeks after her wedding, Sgt. Nova Reeves is making plans to bury her husband.
She's also trying to figure out why two friends -- one who lived just down the street -- would want to shoot Haywood Anthony Royal in the head, then burn his car and body in the back of a school playground, as police have charged.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/12240301.htm
Officials say fire was intentional
Caused $100,000 in damage; no one was injured
BY JOEL GROSTEPHAN
Staff Writer
Arson is to blame in a fire that caused $100,000 in damage to three Baker Plaza Drive apartments early Wednesday, Columbus fire officials said.
"I was asleep. The guy in 102-B, Terry, woke me up," said Bernice Hall, whose apartment at E.J. Knight Gardens, 3811 Baker Plaza Drive, was not damaged. Her apartment is attached to the three that were damaged.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/12239956.htm
Wachovia announces commitment to black community partnerships
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp., which last month apologized for slave ownership by two predecessor banks, said Thursday it will contribute more than $10 million over five years to community partnerships aimed at benefiting black Americans.
The Charlotte-based bank said its partnerships will focus on preserving and promoting black history and culture and improving economic and educational opportunities for blacks.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/12247984.htm
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Army Mechanic Acquitted of Desertion
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
FORT STEWART, Ga. — An Army mechanic who refused to go to Iraq while he sought conscientious objector status was acquitted of desertion Thursday but found guilty of a lesser charge and sentenced to 15 months behind bars.
Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, also was given a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to private on the charge of missing movement. If he had been found guilty of desertion, he could have faced five years in prison.
http://www.ajc.com/hp/content/shared-gen/ap/US_Presidential_Cabinet/Objecting_Soldier.html
Tests Show Hair Not From Ala. Missing Teen
ORANJESTAD, Aruba — Strands of hair found in Aruba did not come from missing U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said Thursday.
The hair, which was found attached to duct tape on July 17, was subjected to genetic testing at the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, and the results showed they did not come from the 18-year-old who has been missing for two months, said spokeswoman Judy Orihuela.
http://www.ajc.com/hp/content/shared-gen/ap/Latin_America_And_Caribbean/Aruba_Missing_Teen.html
EPA delays report showing drop in fuel efficiency
NEW YORK TIMES
Published on: 07/28/05
DETROIT — With Congress poised for a final vote on the energy bill, the Environmental Protection Agency made an 11th-hour decision on Tuesday to delay the planned release of an annual report on fuel economy.
But a copy of the report, embargoed for publication Wednesday, was sent to The New York Times by a member of the EPA communications staff just minutes before the decision was made to delay it. The contents of the report show that loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed automakers to produce cars and trucks that are significantly less fuel efficient, on average, than they were in the late 1980s.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/0705/28fuel.html
continued...
"Okeydoke"
History …
1586 Sir Thomas Harriot introduces potatoes to Europe
1588 Spanish Armada sails to overthrow England's Queen Elizabeth I
1851 Total solar eclipse captured on a daguerreotype photograph
1862 Confederate forces defeated at More's Hill, Mo
1866 Metric system becomes a legal measurement system in US
1868 14th Amendment ratified, citizenship to exslaves
1882 The opera "Parsifal" is produced (Bayreuth)
1883 Shocks triggered by the volcano Epomeo (Isle of Ischia, Italy)
destroyed 1,200 houses at Casamicciola killing 2,000
1896 City of Miami incorporated
1898 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of the Retired Colourman"(BG)
1900 Hamburger created by Louis Lassing in Connecticut
1914 Austria-Hungary attacks Serbia-WW I begins
1914 Foxtrot 1st danced at New Amsterdam Roof Garden (NYC, by Harry Fox)
1915 10,000 blacks march on 5th Ave (NYC) protesting lynchings
1931 Congress makes "The Star-Spangled Banner" our 2nd national anthem
1932 Pres Hoover evicts bonus marchers from their encampment
1933 1st singing telegram delivered (to Rudy Vallee), NYC
1935 G Neujmin discovers asteroid #1386 Storeria
1938 K Reinmuth discovers asteroid #1485 Isa
1942 Nazis liquidate 10,000 Jews in Minsk Russia
1943 Italian Facist dictator Benito Mussolini resigns
1943 Pres FDR announces end of coffee rationing in US
1945 US Army bomber crashes into 79th floor of Empire State Bldg, 14 die
1945 US Senate ratifies UN charter 89-2
1959 Hawaii's 1st US election sends 1st Asian-Americans to Congress
1962 Mariner I launched to Mars falls into Atlantic Ocean
1964 Ranger 7 launched toward the Moon; sent back 4308 TV pictures
1967 Pirate Radio Station 390 (Radio Invicta) (England) closes down
1973 Skylab 3's astronauts (Bean, Garriott & Lousma) launched
1977 Roy Wilkins turn over NAACP leadership to Benjamin L Hooks
1978 600,000 attend Watkins Glen Summer Jam in NY
1978 Perth Observatory discovers asteroid #3188 & #3422
1978 Price of gold tops $200-an-oz level for 1st time
1980 Fernando Bela£nde Terry becomes president of Peru
1986 NASA releases transcript from doomed Challenger, pilot Michael Smith
could be heard saying, "Uh-oh!" as spacecraft disintegrated
1987 Angel Cordero Jr becomes the 4th jockey to win 6,000 races
1988 Israeli diplomats arrive in Moscow for 1st visit in 21 years
1988 Jordan cancels $1.3 billion development plan in West Bank
1988 Winnie Mandella's home in Soweto, South Africa destroyed by arson
1990 Blackout hits Chicago
1991 Expo's Dennis Martinez pitches baseball's 15th perfect game (Dodgers)
1991 Miguel Indurain of Spain wins the Tour de France bicycle race
2061 31st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
Missing in Action
1966 MC SWAIN GEORGE P. MONTROSE CA 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
International Herald Tribune
Cricket: Games in Zimbabwe divide New Zealand
New Zealand's cricketers will begin their tour of Zimbabwe next week in little doubt of the disapproval felt by the bulk of their compatriots.
Their departure to a weeklong training camp in Namibia - they will not enter Zimbabwe until Aug. 4 and the first of the two five-day test matches does not start until Aug. 7 - was accompanied by a vote in New Zealand's Parliament that condemned the tour, 110 to 10.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/27/sports/CRICKET.php
The Jerusalem Post
PM wraps up 'very successful' French visit with call for aliya
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon concluded his Paris visited by meeting with French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon returns to Israel Friday following a four-day visit to Paris that he termed very successful.
Sharon wrapped up the visit on Thursday by meeting French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy at his Paris hotel and with French Jewish leaders at the Paris International Convention Center.
The prime minister raised the ire of the French government last year by connecting anti-Semitism in France to his standard call for Diaspora Jews to make aliya. Sharon made sure to separate the two issues this time, but he did not mince words in repeatedly calling upon the audience to move to Israel.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122518931272
Karadi: Protests won't wear us down
With settler leaders planning the largest-ever anti-disengagement march set to begin next Tuesday in Sderot, Police Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi convened the top police brass on Thursday to discuss how police would thwart the activist's plans to infiltrate Gush Katif.
During the evening meeting, Karadi and his officers refrained from making concrete decisions concerning the police's operational plan due to conflicting intelligence reports they had received on the Sderot plans.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448673715
Reporters on the Job: Pullout training
Jerusalem Post military correspondent reports from the fields of Re'em base tent city outside the Gaza Strip
Embedded with the Caracal Battalion: Playing mind games
By Arieh O'Sullivan, Jerusalem Post military correspondent
Posted: July 28, 2005
The Re'em base is a mammoth tent city outside the Gaza Strip with endless rows of canvas, screens and, yes, mud. For all the army's planning and checks, a burst water main has turned large swaths of the desert field into sticky mud flows.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122518929581
J'lem Summit heads to Seoul
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
Reaching out to Christian supporters of Israel in Asia, a group of conservative Israeli thinkers and two parliamentarians from the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus are traveling to South Korea next month for the second annual Jerusalem Summit Asia to shore up support for Israel against the increasingly global forces of Islamic fundamentalism.
The two day pro-Israel conference, which will be hosted by the President of South Korea and the Mayor of Seoul as well as the largest Christian Church in Asia, is expected to attract more than 2,000 people from over ten east Asian countries.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122448676791
IRA: We will abandon 'armed campaign'
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON
British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the IRA's announcement ending its armed campaign as a step of "unparalleled magnitude" and said the disposal of IRA weapons must take place as soon as possible.
"This may be the day when finally, after all the false dawns and dashed hopes, peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland," said Blair in a live televised statement at his Downing Street office.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1122518928997
The Cheney Observer
Cheney's lecture
July 26, 2005
In "The Jukebox Queen of Malta" (a World War II novel by New Englander Nicholas M. Rinaldi), Maltese women attacked downed German airmen with pitchforks. The British, who were defending the Mediterranean island from a possible invasion, intervened to save the enemy airmen's lives.
It wasn't that the British had sympathy for the Germans who were, after all, bombing Malta almost every day. Rather, they feared that should any Germans be killed in this fashion, their own airmen would be risk a similar fate at the hands of civilians if they were forced to parachute over hostile territory.
And that's a principle the American people should keep in mind as they think about the way our government treats its prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detention facilities. For if our side is believed to abuse its prisoners, or to deliberately ignore the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, then we should not be surprised if our enemies feel justified in behaving in a similar fashion. Our misdeeds put our own troops at risk.
Yet the Bush administration does not seem concerned about this principle. It has launched an effort to block legislation that is supported by key Republican senators, legislation that would forbid the American military from engaging in "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" of detainees. The senators also propose banning the hiding of prisoners from the Red Cross and from using interrogation methods that are not authorized by a new Army field manual.
http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/NEWS/507260337/1021
The IMMORAL Tactics of the Right Wing
Cavuto Disses a "Liberal" Guest for the Third Time This Week
In March of this year, Paul O'Neill, President Bush's former Treasury Secretary and a man who told the truth about what it was like to work inside the Bush White House, was a guest on Your World w/Neil Cavuto. O'Neill was invited on, ostensibly, to talk about his plan to fix Social Security. Only problem was, Cavuto interrupted O'Neill no less than 24 times so he wasn't able to say much. Through his endless interruptions, Cavuto clearly communicated his dislike for O'Neill and his lack of interest in what he had to say.
Today (July 27, 2005), one of Cavuto's guests was a civil rights lawyer named Michael Gross. Gross was on to talk about the false sense of security created by putting cameras and police officers on every corner, in every mall, and on every bus and train. While Cavuto wondered "What's the big deal?" and argued that we haven't had another attack since 9/11, Gross tried to communicate that we must get to the reasons behind bombings. He said we must "understand the problem" because if we don't, the bombers will win because they will "have created totalitarianism."
Cavuto interrupted Gross 16 times.
Comment: "Fighting terror" by bombing, by profiling, by searches and seizures, by surveillance, and by the Patriot Act is discussed and encouraged day in and day out and day in and day out on Fox News. Voices such as Gross' are effectively missing. Apparently the definition of "fair and balanced" on Fox is to invite guests with opposing points of view to appear on screen, period. Having the body there is all that seems to matter because when a guest is interrupted 16 times (conservatives aren't treated like that), the Fox anchor talks more than the guest (mouthing administration propaganda) and the alternative point is effectively silenced.
Cavuto has used three different tactics this week to discredit "liberal" guests. Here and here are the other two.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/27/cavuto_disses_a_liberal_guest_for_the_third_time_this_week.php
Today (July 25, 2005), at the end of Your World w/Neil Cavuto, Cavuto read six emails about Kalb's Saturday appearance. Here they are:
Please give Marvin a happy pill. What a sour, dull person! If I wanted to hear a liberal monotone, I would listen to NPR.
In Marvin Kalb you were able to find a gust who knows less about economics and business than Bob Beckel.
It is good that you're fair and balanced, but that doesn't mean you should be fair and stupid.
Having a well respected, very intelligent, articulate liberal like Marvin Kalb adds to the depth of your show and demonstrates the fair and balanced advertising slogan.
We enjoyed Marvin Kalb's inaugural appearance on Cavuto on Business. However, did you pick out his shirt and tie?
Your constant interruption of your guests makes you the rudest, most arrogant person to your guests on the entire network. Your inclusion of Marvin Kalb about made me throw my shoe at my TV. If I was CEO of Fox News, you would be fired in a New York minute.
Comment: As I've said before, Fox is a well oiled machine. No "liberal" voice goes unanswered. Fox doesn't want its viewers to ponder anything a "liberal" says so it discredits "liberals" either during interviews, or afterward. Still, viewers like those above, continue to think that featuring the occasional, albeit discredited "liberal," means Fox News is "fair and balanced."
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/25/marvin_kalb_read_this.php
Cavuto moved on again: "Senator, let me ask, delving you, if you don't mind into politics a little bit. Ah, I remember when you, in the earlier Iowa caucus, ah, decided to back Senator Kerry. Howard Dean of course was pretty, or, backing Howard Dean and Senator Kerry was upset. What is the relationship with you and Senator Kerry now? I know a lot of water has crossed under that bridge."
Harkin said his relationship with Kerry, "is excellent. Always has been. Always will be. I have a great deal of friendship and respect for Senator Kerry. I gave him a full heads up when I ah, at that time endorsed Howard Dean. He knew about it. We maintained contact through the whole process."
Comment: Fox News portrays Howard Dean as a full-fledged lunatic. John Kerry is still a flip flopping, French girlie man. As soon as Cavuto reminded his viewers that Tom Harkin endorsed Howard Dean, and as soon as Harkin said he has a "great deal of friendship and respect" for Kerry, his credibility went out the window. He became one of them. Cavuto managed to link Harkin to two of Fox's most hated Democrats, and anything Harkin said before, or after, was forgotten.
Democrats, liberals and progressives may appear on Fox, but Fox discredits them one way or another. Until Democrats educate themselves about how to appear on Fox News, this will continue to happen.
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/07/26/fox_trashes_another_clueless_democrat_fox_technique_963.php
Abortions soar as careers come first
By Alexandra Frean
Rising rate among under-14s disappoints health officials
THE abortion rate hit a record high last year, according to government figures published yesterday that also show a sharp rise in terminations to girls aged under 14.
In 2004 the abortion rate rose by 2.1 per cent to 17.8 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44, the highest recorded, according to the Department of Health. This resulted in 185,415 women resident in England and Wales having an abortion, compared with 181,600 in 2003.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1710854,00.html
Shell fined £900,000 over platform deaths
By Chris Hardy
SHELL UK has been fined £900,000 following a “substantial catalogue of failures” which led to the death of two workers on a gas and oil production platform, north east of Lerwick.
Invergowrie man Keith Moncrieff (45) and 22-year-old Sean McCue, from Levenmouth, were overcome by a massive gas escape when they were sent down into the utility leg of the Brent Bravo platform to check a temporary patch on a leaking pipe.
The failure to replace the temporary repair allied to a series of circumstances nobody at Shell had foreseen would be connected, were at the heart of yesterday’s case at Stonehaven Sheriff Court when the company accepted that it had failed to ensure the safety of the two men.
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2005/04/28/newsstory7068463t0.asp
19 July 2005 - Brent Bravo Decision Not to Hold Fatal Inquiry Overturned
The decision, by the Crown Counsel, not to hold a fatal inquiry into the deaths of two oil rig workers at the Shell Brent Bravo platform, namely Mr. Keith Moncrieff and Mr. Sean McCue, has been overturned by Scotland's Lord Advocate Mr. Colin Boyd and welcomed by both families of the deceased.
On September 11 2003, Mr McCue and Mr Moncrieff had been carrying out their duties within a utility leg of the platform, checking a temporary repair patch on a safety-critical pipeline within, when gas escaped and overcame the two men.
Shell admitted a series of health and safety breaches and was found to be in breach of health and safety regulations. A fine of £900,000 was imposed upon the company.
A statement from the Crown Office said:
"Crown counsel's original decision took into account the significant inquiry that had already been made in the course of investigations leading to the successful prosecution of the employer at Stonehaven Sheriff Court in March 2005.
"While fully understanding that approach, the Lord Advocate has concluded, on a personal consideration of the case, that it is in the wider public interest for a fatal accident inquiry to be held."
Article by Alexandra Johnston
http://www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk/NA/July_2005_News_Archive/190705Brent_Bravo_Decision_Not_to_Hold_Fatal_Inquiry_Overturned.htm
WPS Media Monitoring Agency
www.wps.ru
May 29, 2002
POLITICAL FORECASTS [press review]
The results of the summit and the fate of Russian democracy:
George Bush's preferences and expectations
According to a poll done by the National Public Opinion Research Center, on the eve of the presidential summit in Moscow most respondents (39%) expected the summits would have no substantial results at all. Slightly fewer respondents, 36%, hoped that the summit would be useful for Russia. Eight percent of respondents were convinced of this. And 17% of respondents were unsure. According to the [Vek] weekly, which published the results of the poll, the opinions of analysts showed very similar divisions.
Before the summit, [Profil] magazine decided to find out what regional leaders thought about Russia-US relations. The topic turned out to be very sensitive. Answering the question, "What would you talk to President George Bush about?" President of the Bashkortostan Republic Murtaza Rakhimov said, "At such a meeting I think I would say: Mr. President, do not try to rule the whole world and stop considering the whole planet as a zone of US interests. That will lead to no good, neither for the US nor for humanity as a whole." Chelyabinsk Governor Petr Sumin responded, "How should this be understood? Since September 11, Russia has supported the United Stated in fighting international terrorism, both morally and politically. You should appreciate it. However, as soon as we have a problem and the US might support us, it turns out that Russia 'does not have a market economy' and should be 'running errands' for the US." Governor of the Ulyanovsk region Vladimir Shamanov said, "Half-measures are not enough to stop terrorism.... It is a great mistake to underestimate the role and position of Russia in these terms. Moreover, it is becoming dangerous for both the US and its European allies.... Russia is full with Gorbachev's and Yeltsin's friendship with American and European leaders. That only deteriorated the situation. We live in a world of mutual compromises but not of unlimited concessions."
http://www.cdi.org/russia/208-12.cfm
Saudi Nuclear Intentions and the IAEA Small Quantities Protocol
Saudi Arabia’s recent signing of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Small Quantities Protocol on June 16, 2005, raises larger issues of possible nuclear ambitions on the Arabian Peninsula. With the cooling off of relations between Riyadh and Washington, and the resultant retreat of U.S. security assurances to the region, it would seem a logical conclusion for the Saudi government to begin to look for other means of self-preservation, especially when faced with two regional nuclear powers: Israel with a rumored 200-plus weapons, and Iran with a nascent program purportedly in development.
The controversy centers on Saudi Arabia’s request to the IAEA to sign the Small Quantities protocol in May, after an internal IAEA document came to light calling for a change in the status of the Protocol over concerns it may pose a proliferation risk. The Protocol allows states considered to be of low risk to opt out of more intensive inspection regimes in return for a declaration of their nuclear activities. In addition, the Protocol allows for the possession of up to 10 tons of natural uranium or 20 tons of depleted uranium, and 2.2 pounds of plutonium without reporting. While it does not appear that Saudi Arabia aspires to develop a domestic weapons grade uranium or plutonium-processing ability, 10 tons of natural uranium is still enough by most standards to produce between one and four nuclear devices (depending on their design). In theory, the Protocol is supposed to allow the IAEA to focus its efforts on other nations viewed as being of higher proliferation risk. Despite strong concerns of IAEA board members, the European Union, the United States and Australia that the Protocol may provide a loophole for would-be proliferators, the IAEA approved Saudi Arabia’s request to join the 75 other nations that are already Protocol signatories. Consequently, Saudi Arabia is exempt from normal UN inspections, effectively ceasing nuclear monitoring there, in exchange for a declaration tantamount to a self-policing agreement.
http://www.cdi.org/program/document.cfm?DocumentID=3050&from_page=../index.cfm
Ledger Enquirer
Man killed weeks after wedding
Couple met when stationed at Fort Sill, Okla.
BY MELANIE BENNETT
Staff Writer
Just a few weeks after her wedding, Sgt. Nova Reeves is making plans to bury her husband.
She's also trying to figure out why two friends -- one who lived just down the street -- would want to shoot Haywood Anthony Royal in the head, then burn his car and body in the back of a school playground, as police have charged.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/12240301.htm
Officials say fire was intentional
Caused $100,000 in damage; no one was injured
BY JOEL GROSTEPHAN
Staff Writer
Arson is to blame in a fire that caused $100,000 in damage to three Baker Plaza Drive apartments early Wednesday, Columbus fire officials said.
"I was asleep. The guy in 102-B, Terry, woke me up," said Bernice Hall, whose apartment at E.J. Knight Gardens, 3811 Baker Plaza Drive, was not damaged. Her apartment is attached to the three that were damaged.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/12239956.htm
Wachovia announces commitment to black community partnerships
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp., which last month apologized for slave ownership by two predecessor banks, said Thursday it will contribute more than $10 million over five years to community partnerships aimed at benefiting black Americans.
The Charlotte-based bank said its partnerships will focus on preserving and promoting black history and culture and improving economic and educational opportunities for blacks.
http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/12247984.htm
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Army Mechanic Acquitted of Desertion
By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press Writer
FORT STEWART, Ga. — An Army mechanic who refused to go to Iraq while he sought conscientious objector status was acquitted of desertion Thursday but found guilty of a lesser charge and sentenced to 15 months behind bars.
Sgt. Kevin Benderman, 40, also was given a dishonorable discharge and a reduction in rank to private on the charge of missing movement. If he had been found guilty of desertion, he could have faced five years in prison.
http://www.ajc.com/hp/content/shared-gen/ap/US_Presidential_Cabinet/Objecting_Soldier.html
Tests Show Hair Not From Ala. Missing Teen
ORANJESTAD, Aruba — Strands of hair found in Aruba did not come from missing U.S. teenager Natalee Holloway, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said Thursday.
The hair, which was found attached to duct tape on July 17, was subjected to genetic testing at the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia, and the results showed they did not come from the 18-year-old who has been missing for two months, said spokeswoman Judy Orihuela.
http://www.ajc.com/hp/content/shared-gen/ap/Latin_America_And_Caribbean/Aruba_Missing_Teen.html
EPA delays report showing drop in fuel efficiency
NEW YORK TIMES
Published on: 07/28/05
DETROIT — With Congress poised for a final vote on the energy bill, the Environmental Protection Agency made an 11th-hour decision on Tuesday to delay the planned release of an annual report on fuel economy.
But a copy of the report, embargoed for publication Wednesday, was sent to The New York Times by a member of the EPA communications staff just minutes before the decision was made to delay it. The contents of the report show that loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed automakers to produce cars and trucks that are significantly less fuel efficient, on average, than they were in the late 1980s.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/0705/28fuel.html
continued...
Daniel Pearl was brutaly murdered in Pakistan leaving his expecting spouse, Marianna. This is she and her son, Adam. We are lucky to have them. Since, his murder The Daniel Pearl Foundation has grown to inspire dialogue with Muslim communities, a music festival and much of the diplmatic work accomplish by the Foundation has been lead by Daniel's father. He much loved and admired.
Morning Papers - continued ...
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
New consultant holds out hope for monorail project
Phelps says cutting costs can reduce future debt
By LARRY LANGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Reducing the cost of the monorail may be one way to salvage the troubled project, says a former Sound Transit board member hired to critique the system's finances.
Tacoma businessman Kevin Phelps said yesterday that reducing the monorail's cost will be the big factor because that could reduce the amount of money to be borrowed and, eventually, reduce what could be a staggering debt.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/234319_phelps28.html
This should be the decision of the people of Seattle. If I were them I'd want an independent assessment. I am sure the administration in DC is handing out all kinds of advice on how to stop rail stations from being built opting for airline travel. Etc. If a rail station can't be put there than a bus stop or terminal with connections to rail needs to be considered.
First Hill light rail station opposed by chief of Sound Transit
Earl cites tunneling problem
By JANE HADLEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The First Hill light rail station should be deleted from the proposed line from Westlake Center to Husky Stadium, Sound Transit Chief Executive Officer Joni Earl recommended yesterday.
Earl said the recommendation is "unwelcome news" to many Sound Transit board members, but an exhaustive analysis of the technical, cost and other factors made the decision inescapable. Poor soils mean the tunnel must be built 210 feet underground, eliminating conventional tunneling methods.
"The risk of building the First Hill station is too large for the taxpayers and the agency," Earl said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/234310_transit28.html
Ressam receives 22-year sentence
But U.S. judge lashes out at Bush policies on suspectsTERRORIST AHMED RESSAM IS SENTENCED
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The case of Ahmed Ressam, convicted terrorist and would-be airport bomber, ended yesterday with a 22-year sentence and a stern lecture from a judge that America can fight terrorism without abandoning the Constitution.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour handed out a sentence to the 38-year-old Algerian that was about midway between the prosecution and defense requests. Ressam was arrested in Port Angeles with explosives found in the trunk of his rental car. His intent: bomb Los Angeles International Airport in 1999 during the busy travel days between Christmas and New Year's Day.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/234304_ressam28.html
Outside oversight urged in county elections
Sims likes idea of 'turnaround team'
By NEIL MODIE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A "turnaround team" of outside experts should take over management of King County's dysfunctional elections division, a task force said yesterday in the wake of the county's bungled 2004 election.
In a report to County Executive Ron Sims, the independent panel emphasized the urgency of taking that radical step to change the county's "seriously flawed organizational culture."
It also said the county should institute a vote-by-mail system with regional voting centers in 2006, urge the Legislature to move the September primary election to early June, automatically restore voting rights to former felons upon release from prison and reduce to four from six the number of annual elections.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/234318_elex28.html
Authorities crack down on crime family
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Federal agents and police on Thursday arrested about 20 members and associates of the Genovese organized crime family on racketeering charges, authorities said.
The suspects included longtime capo Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello, the FBI said. He and the other suspects were to be arraigned later Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. No further details were immediately available.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Mob%20Arrests
WHERE HAVE WE SEEN THIS BEFORE? There is no deterrent to domestic violence.
Pregnant Philadelphia woman still missing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA -- Community leaders asked for help in finding a pregnant woman who has been missing for more than a week, offering a $10,000 for information about her whereabouts.
LaToyia Figueroa, 24, is five months pregnant and has a 7-year-old daughter, and friends and relatives said she would never abandon the girl voluntarily.
She was last seen walking from a friend's house in Philadelphia on July 18 after going to a doctor's appointment. Police said she remained missing Thursday and have declined to speculate about what happened to her.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Missing%20Pregnant%20Woman
Judge gets in swipe at Bush administration
By GENE JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEATTLE -- The sentence itself was fairly straightforward: An Algerian man received 22 years for plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium. It was what the judge said in imposing the term that raised eyebrows.
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said the successful prosecution of Ahmed Ressam should serve not only as a warning to terrorists, but as a statement to the Bush administration about its terrorism-fighting tactics.
"We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant or deny the defendant the right to counsel," he said Wednesday. "The message to the world from today's sentencing is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our nation apart."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Millennium%20Terror
Bomb on crowded train in India kills 7
By JOY BANERJEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LUCKNOW, India -- A bomb exploded Thursday on a crowded passenger train in northern India, killing at least seven people and injuring 50, a railway official said.
The train was traveling from the eastern city of Patna to New Delhi when the bomb exploded, said R.K. Singh, the top official for Indian Railways. He did not elaborate.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=India%20Train%20Blast
Record rains kill more than 500 in India
By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BOMBAY, India -- Rescuers searched for survivors buried under debris Thursday and rushed aid to villages cut off by record-breaking rains that have paralyzed Bombay and its surrounding state and killed more than 500 people this week.
Officials said 273 people have died in Bombay since Tuesday when the hectic, cosmopolitan city that is home to India's financial and movie industries was hit by an unprecedented deluge of up to 37.1 inches of rain, the highest one-day total recorded in India's history. Much of it came over a few evening hours.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=India%20Monsoon
Pakistani police arrest Pearl suspect
By ASIF SHAHZAD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LAHORE, Pakistan -- An Islamic militant who set up the initial meeting between Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and his kidnappers has been arrested in eastern Pakistan, a senior police official confirmed Thursday.
Pearl was abducted Jan. 23, 2002, and later beheaded in the southern city of Karachi - believed to be a hotbed for Islamic militants - while he was researching a story.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Pearl%20Killing
U.N. to help prosecute Afghan drug cases
By DANIEL LOVERING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A team of anti-drug investigators, lawyers and judges will start prosecuting major narcotics cases in Afghanistan - the world's largest opium and heroin producer - as part of a new U.N. program launched Thursday.
The Criminal Justice Task Force, which includes 36 investigators, 33 prosecutors and 15 judges - all Afghans - will assist in the arrest and trial of serious drug offenders, said Elizabeth Bayere, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Afghan%20Drugs
Rice asked if Bolton testified in leak case
By LIZ SIDOTI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- A Democratic opponent of John Bolton asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday whether the nominee for U.N. ambassador had testified to a grand jury about the leak of CIA operative's identity.
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee say they want to determine whether Bolton was truthful when he wrote on a questionnaire for his confirmation hearing that he has not been interviewed in any recent investigations.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=UN%20Ambassador
UNDERSTANDABLE. The Repuglicans are obstructionists to their own nominees.
Dems warn of delay in Roberts confirmation
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- In the eight days since President Bush nominated John Roberts to the Supreme Court, senators have fought more over access to the conservative judge's legal writings than over the candidate himself.
Even though no Democrat has announced plans to oppose Roberts' confirmation, Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats are digging in their heels on getting access to Roberts' paperwork from his time in the solicitor general's office. They say the Bush administration's withholding of those documents may cause a delay in getting Roberts confirmed to the seat being vacated by retiring Sandra Day O'Connor.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1154&slug=Roberts
Oh, so what !
Soldier who refused Iraq duty faces charge
By RUSS BYNUM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
FORT STEWART, Ga. -- Sgt. Kevin Benderman turned his back on war, but he insists he never deserted the Army whose uniform he continues to wear six months after refusing to deploy to Iraq for a second tour.
Benderman served in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, but says he decided he could no longer be a part of the destruction he witnessed, even if that meant choosing his conscience over his commitment to his fellow troops.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Objecting%20Soldier
Egypt holds 15 in Sharm el-Sheik attacks
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CAIRO, Egypt -- Police have detained at least 15 men in and around Sharm el-Sheik in connection with the weekend terrorist attacks on that Sinai Peninsula resort, security officials said Thursday.
Police are also searching for a green pickup truck in northern Sinai that may have been the getaway vehicle for some of those responsible for Saturday's three bombings that hospital officials said killed up to 88 people.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Egypt%20Resort%20Attacks
Two U.S. troops killed by roadside bombs
By TINI TRAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Insurgents launched coordinated attacks Thursday against Iraqi army checkpoints northeast of Baghdad, killing six Iraqi soldiers, police said. Roadside bombs killed two U.S. soldiers and ignited a train carrying fuel in the south of Iraq's capital.
The attacks began about 2:30 p.m. against four Iraqi checkpoints along a road between Baqouba and Baghdad, 35 miles to the southwest, police Col. Mudhafar Mohammed said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq
How is any agenda going to be brought forward if the party disintegrates into individual interests?
Clinton urges party unity, tough stance
By MIKE GLOVER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, on Monday pressed Democrats to adopt a tough stand on national security and urged the party to show a united front to counter "the hard-right ideology in Washington."
Speaking to the Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist group that helped her husband, Bill Clinton, secure the White House, the senator delivered a broad speech that touched on foreign policy, health care, education and fissures within her own party.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1131&slug=Hillary%20Moderates
NASA pessimistic about solving debris woes
By MARCIA DUNN
AP AEROSPACE WRITER
SPACE CENTER, Houston -- NASA may never be able to prevent threatening chunks of insulation foam from breaking off the shuttle's fuel tank during launch, the agency's chief said Thursday, a day after future flights were ordered grounded because of the problem during Discovery's liftoff.
"We are trying to get it down to the level that cannot damage the orbiter," NASA administrator Michael Griffin told NBC's "Today."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Space%20Shuttle
Zimbabwe wraps up crackdown on slums
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's government on Thursday announced the completion of a crackdown on slums and street traders that left up to 2.4 million without homes or livelihoods, but the opposition said demolitions continued.
The campaign has sparked domestic and international criticism, with a U.N. envoy on Wednesday presenting a report condemning the crackdown and calling for urgent assistance to help those who have lost their homes and jobs.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Zimbabwe%20Crackdown
U.N. envoy presents report on Zimbabwe
By EDITH M. LEDERER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- Despite opposition from China, Russia and African countries, a U.N. envoy presented her report condemning Zimbabwe's sweeping slum clearance to the Security Council Wednesday and called for urgent assistance to help those who have lost their homes and jobs.
China, which has close ties to President Robert Mugabe's government, and Zimbabwe's African neighbors had managed to keep the crisis in the African nation off the council's agenda, arguing that it was not an issue of international peace and security.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=UN%20Zimbabwe
Nine women unofficially ordained in Canada
By JANIE GOSSELIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TORONTO -- Nine Roman Catholic women were unofficially ordained Monday as priests and deacons, undeterred by the threat of excommunication from their church.
The women - seven Americans, a Canadian and a German living in the United States - were ordained by Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger of Austria and Gisela Forster of Germany, who were unofficially declared bishops in 2003. The ordinations are not valid within the Catholic Church and seven women who tried it in 2002 were excommunicated by the Vatican.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apcanada_story.asp?category=1101&slug=Canada%20Woman%20Priests
Opponents want Bush barred from summit
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Opponents of President Bush launched a protest drive Wednesday urging court authorities to keep him from attending a November summit in Argentina, saying his presence would raise security concerns.
Lia Mendez, a candidate in Argentina's upcoming congressional elections, rallied with other members of the small Humanist Party outside the court complex where they sought a court order barring Bush from the Summit of the Americas.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Argentina%20Summit%20Security
Brazil leader offers solace over dead man
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRASILIA , Brazil -- Brazil's president on Wednesday expressed his condolences to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian man shot dead by British police after being mistaken for a terror suspect in London.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke over the phone with Menezes' father and brother who live in the victim's hometown of Gonzaga, a statement released by the president's press office said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Brazil%20Britain%20Shooting
Global Struggle: War no more
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Forget the war on terror. Now the Bush administration has a new description: "A global struggle against violent extremism."
That's a mouthful. But the issue is not just semantics; it will help define what resources ought to be used in that "struggle."
The U.S. government does not have a rich history of success when it calls one of its programs a "war" unless it involves a real military operation. We've had the "war on hunger," "war on poverty," "war on crime," "war on obesity" and our all-time least-successful, "war on drugs."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/234205_wared.html
Michael Moore Today
Definitely check out the 'Trailer'
Don’t forget the airing of Fahrenheit 911 on Showtime
SYNOPSIS:
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore ("Roger & Me," "Bowling for Columbine") crafted this incendiary piece of skillful agitprop, an exploration of the tragic chain of events before and after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001. Pointing his finger at a global conspiracy of war, greed, and media manipulation, Moore leaves no political figure unscathed in his most passionate, outraged condemnation of a president and policies he considers illegitimate and incompetent.
UPCOMING AIRDATES:
Click on THE LITTLE CLOCK for aire time reminders.
Showtime Saturday 11:00 PM
Showtime Too Sunday 11:15 PM
Showtime Aug 14 11:00 PM
Showtime Aug 22 11:00 PM
Showtime Aug 30 11:00 PM
http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product_page.do?seriesid=0&episodeid=123757
Steele Fundraiser Draws Rove, Democratic Attacks
Event Nets Money for Possible Senate Bid
By Matthew Mosk / Washington Post
Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele hosted the first major fundraiser in his as-yet-undeclared bid for U.S. Senate last night, attracting presidential adviser Karl Rove to headline a $1,000-a-person cocktail party in Washington.
The private affair was an attempt to introduce Steele to the ranks of national GOP donors who might not have encountered a man whose candidacy has become a top priority of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the arm of the party that recruits candidates.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3476
Fewer early sign-ups as Army struggles to recruit soldiers
By Dave Moniz / USA Today
The Army, which expects to miss its 2005 recruiting goal by about 12,000, already is falling behind for next year.
The pool of recruits who sign up as much as a year before they report for training is dwindling. So far, 3,100 have signed up for 2006, according to Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky. The Army says it hopes to have 7,200 recruits in the pool by Oct. 1, when the 2006 recruiting year begins. By comparison:
The Army started the 2005 recruiting year with about 14,700 recruits in the delayed entry pool. It is making up some of the shortfall in recruiting by re-enlisting soldiers at a higher-than-expected rate. But the Army also has tried to trim this year's shortfall by rushing many delayed entry enlistees into basic training.
In 2004, the Army had more than 33,000 enlistees signed up ahead of time. It met its recruiting goals.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3475
Iraq Wants Quick Withdrawal of U.S. Troops
By Robert Burns / Associated Press
Iraq's transitional prime minister called Wednesday for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops and the top U.S. commander here said he believed a "fairly substantial" pullout could begin next spring and summer.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3471
US aims to sharply cut Iraq force within a year
By Peter Graff / Reuters
BAGHDAD - The United States hopes to sharply reduce its forces in Iraq by the middle of next year, its top commander on the ground said on Wednesday.
The remarks by General George Casey appear to have been the first time since the insurgency worsened sharply in April that top Pentagon officials have suggested a timeline for withdrawal.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3472
Tell the House - We Need an Iraq Exit Strategy
Contributed by Working Assets
The invasion of Iraq is quickly turning out to be the deadliest and most expensive mistake of the Bush presidency.
Despite the President's claims before he launched the invasion, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq -- and we have now officially given up the search1. The capture of Saddam Hussein has not made us any safer here at home, or our soldiers any safer in the field. Our troops now face a growing insurgency with a seemingly endless supply of suicide bombers and increasingly sophisticated tactics.
The occupation is now costing us approximately $177 million per day, a total of close to $180 billion2 with no end in sight and very little reconstruction progress to show. American and Iraqi casualties continue to mount, and instead of being greeted as "liberators," our presence in Iraq seems only to inspire more anti-American violence.
It's time for a reality check on our Iraq policy -- we need an exit strategy. Representatives Abercrombie (D-HI), Jones (R-FL), Paul (R-TX), Kucinich (D-OH) and others have introduced "Homeward Bound," a resolution calling on the President to develop and implement a plan for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=19245
Rumsfeld tells Iraqis to get on with it
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Visiting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Iraqi leaders to "get on with it" in preparing a new constitution, while an Iraqi official said US-led forces could hand over security for 10 cities by December.
Rumsfeld, on an unannounced visit to Baghdad, called on Iraqi leaders to draft and approve a constitution without delay, warning that any hold-up would fan the insurgency.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3474
Panel: Bush Was Unready for Postwar Iraq
By Barry Schweid / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- An independent panel headed by two former U.S. national security advisers said Wednesday that chaos in Iraq was due in part to inadequate postwar planning.
Planning for reconstruction should match the serious planning that goes into making war, said the panel headed by Samuel Berger and Brent Scowcroft. Berger was national security adviser to Democratic President Clinton. Scowcroft held the same post under Republican Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush but has been critical of the current president's Iraq and Mideast policies.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3478
Abu Ghraib Dog Tactics Came From Guantanamo
Testimony Further Links Procedures at 2 Facilities
By Josh White / Washington Post
Military interrogators at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq learned about the use of military working dogs to intimidate detainees from a team of interrogators dispatched from the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to court testimony yesterday.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3470
The New Zealand Herald
Police arrest nine under terrorism laws in London
Police earlier today arrested three women after an armed raid on a public housing estate in south London. File picture / Reuters
29.07.05
LONDON - Police said on Thursday they had arrested nine men under anti-terrorism laws in south London as part of the investigation into bomb attacks on the capital.
A police spokeswoman said the suspects held in Tooting were not the three suspected bombers still being sought after the botched July 21 attacks on London's transport system. The fourth bomber was captured on Wednesday, police said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10338044
Nasa grounds shuttle fleet
28.07.05 1.00pm
By Irene Klotz
HOUSTON - Nasa today halted future shuttle flights after learning that a large chunk of insulating foam broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during launch, an echo of the problem that doomed sister ship Columbia and its crew 2-1/2 years ago.
The falling debris does not appear to have hit or damaged Discovery, which took off on Tuesday on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, the agency said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10338017
PM promises to create 5000 more apprenticeships
Prime Minister Helen Clark
28.07.05 11.30am
Labour has tossed another carrot the way of younger voters, promising to create 5000 more apprenticeship places.
Prime Minister Helen Clark announced the latest of her party's pledges in a speech to the Industry Training Federation Conference in Wellington this morning.
She said the additional apprentice places under the Government's Modern Apprenticeship scheme, which Labour introduced shortly after being elected, would bring the total to 14,000 in 2008 and showed the Government was committed to sustainable and quality growth in industry training.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10338015
Bombay paralysed by record rainfall as death toll rises
People walk back to their homes as traffic came to a standstill in Bombay after heavy rains. Picture / Reuters
28.07.05 9.00pm UPDATE
By Justin Huggler
DELHI - More than a third of Bombay was under water and the death toll was rising after the city suffered the heaviest rains ever recorded in India.
The BBC reported that at least 430 people had died in Bombay (Mumbai) and the Maharashtra state after catastrophic rain. Parts of suburban Bombay received almost three feet of rain in a single day.
Reuters reported that rescuers searching in Juigaon village, 150km south of Mumbai, estimated that 100 people were killed when a mudslide flattened more than 30 houses, bringing the state death toll to 270.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10338067
TOO BAD !!
US-Israel tensions rise over arms sale
28.07.05 1.00pm
JERUSALEM - Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has cancelled a trip to Washington because of a dispute with the United States over Israeli arms sales to China, the Haaretz newspaper said on Wednesday.
The United States, Israel's closest ally and provider of US$2 billion ($2.96 billion) in annual defence aid, was still restricting arms deals with Israel as a result of the disagreement. Washington demands Israel adhere to US regulations.
Asked about the report, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters during a visit to France: "We definitely have a certain problem but I am convinced that we shall overcome this matter."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10337987
LAIR !
Mugabe says UN envoy was pressured over report
Robert Mugabe
28.07.05 1.00pm
HARARE - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says a special UN envoy told him she was under pressure to produce a damning report on the demolition of illegal homes and businesses, the official Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday.
But Anna Tibaijuka, the envoy sent by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to assess the crackdown, said on Wednesday the report spoke for itself, while British UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry denied any outside attempts to influence her findings.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10337983
Monster mice on the rampage
One of Gough Island's "monster mice" feeds on a dead seabird chick. Picture / Reuters
28.07.05
Giant mice are running amok on a small South Atlantic island, eating metre-high albatross chicks alive and threatening the world's most important seabird colony.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said rapacious rodents - ordinary house mice who have "evolved" to three times their normal size - are orchestrating avian carnage on Gough Island, home to about 10 million birds.
A society spokesman said it was not clear how the birds were killed: "The chicks weigh up to 10kg and the mice weigh 35g - it is like a tabby cat attacking a hippopotamus."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10337893
US aims to sharply cut Iraq force within a year
28.07.05
BAGHDAD - The United States hopes to sharply reduce its forces in Iraq by the middle of next year, its top commander on the ground said.
The remarks by General George Casey appear to have been the first time since the insurgency worsened sharply in April that top Pentagon officials have suggested a timeline for withdrawal.
Casey's comments came as a new poll showed most Americans now think the United States will lose the war in Iraq.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10337970
continued…
New consultant holds out hope for monorail project
Phelps says cutting costs can reduce future debt
By LARRY LANGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Reducing the cost of the monorail may be one way to salvage the troubled project, says a former Sound Transit board member hired to critique the system's finances.
Tacoma businessman Kevin Phelps said yesterday that reducing the monorail's cost will be the big factor because that could reduce the amount of money to be borrowed and, eventually, reduce what could be a staggering debt.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/234319_phelps28.html
This should be the decision of the people of Seattle. If I were them I'd want an independent assessment. I am sure the administration in DC is handing out all kinds of advice on how to stop rail stations from being built opting for airline travel. Etc. If a rail station can't be put there than a bus stop or terminal with connections to rail needs to be considered.
First Hill light rail station opposed by chief of Sound Transit
Earl cites tunneling problem
By JANE HADLEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The First Hill light rail station should be deleted from the proposed line from Westlake Center to Husky Stadium, Sound Transit Chief Executive Officer Joni Earl recommended yesterday.
Earl said the recommendation is "unwelcome news" to many Sound Transit board members, but an exhaustive analysis of the technical, cost and other factors made the decision inescapable. Poor soils mean the tunnel must be built 210 feet underground, eliminating conventional tunneling methods.
"The risk of building the First Hill station is too large for the taxpayers and the agency," Earl said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/234310_transit28.html
Ressam receives 22-year sentence
But U.S. judge lashes out at Bush policies on suspectsTERRORIST AHMED RESSAM IS SENTENCED
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The case of Ahmed Ressam, convicted terrorist and would-be airport bomber, ended yesterday with a 22-year sentence and a stern lecture from a judge that America can fight terrorism without abandoning the Constitution.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour handed out a sentence to the 38-year-old Algerian that was about midway between the prosecution and defense requests. Ressam was arrested in Port Angeles with explosives found in the trunk of his rental car. His intent: bomb Los Angeles International Airport in 1999 during the busy travel days between Christmas and New Year's Day.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/234304_ressam28.html
Outside oversight urged in county elections
Sims likes idea of 'turnaround team'
By NEIL MODIE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A "turnaround team" of outside experts should take over management of King County's dysfunctional elections division, a task force said yesterday in the wake of the county's bungled 2004 election.
In a report to County Executive Ron Sims, the independent panel emphasized the urgency of taking that radical step to change the county's "seriously flawed organizational culture."
It also said the county should institute a vote-by-mail system with regional voting centers in 2006, urge the Legislature to move the September primary election to early June, automatically restore voting rights to former felons upon release from prison and reduce to four from six the number of annual elections.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/234318_elex28.html
Authorities crack down on crime family
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK -- Federal agents and police on Thursday arrested about 20 members and associates of the Genovese organized crime family on racketeering charges, authorities said.
The suspects included longtime capo Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello, the FBI said. He and the other suspects were to be arraigned later Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. No further details were immediately available.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Mob%20Arrests
WHERE HAVE WE SEEN THIS BEFORE? There is no deterrent to domestic violence.
Pregnant Philadelphia woman still missing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA -- Community leaders asked for help in finding a pregnant woman who has been missing for more than a week, offering a $10,000 for information about her whereabouts.
LaToyia Figueroa, 24, is five months pregnant and has a 7-year-old daughter, and friends and relatives said she would never abandon the girl voluntarily.
She was last seen walking from a friend's house in Philadelphia on July 18 after going to a doctor's appointment. Police said she remained missing Thursday and have declined to speculate about what happened to her.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Missing%20Pregnant%20Woman
Judge gets in swipe at Bush administration
By GENE JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEATTLE -- The sentence itself was fairly straightforward: An Algerian man received 22 years for plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport on the eve of the millennium. It was what the judge said in imposing the term that raised eyebrows.
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour said the successful prosecution of Ahmed Ressam should serve not only as a warning to terrorists, but as a statement to the Bush administration about its terrorism-fighting tactics.
"We did not need to use a secret military tribunal, detain the defendant indefinitely as an enemy combatant or deny the defendant the right to counsel," he said Wednesday. "The message to the world from today's sentencing is that our courts have not abandoned our commitment to the ideals that set our nation apart."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Millennium%20Terror
Bomb on crowded train in India kills 7
By JOY BANERJEE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LUCKNOW, India -- A bomb exploded Thursday on a crowded passenger train in northern India, killing at least seven people and injuring 50, a railway official said.
The train was traveling from the eastern city of Patna to New Delhi when the bomb exploded, said R.K. Singh, the top official for Indian Railways. He did not elaborate.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=India%20Train%20Blast
Record rains kill more than 500 in India
By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BOMBAY, India -- Rescuers searched for survivors buried under debris Thursday and rushed aid to villages cut off by record-breaking rains that have paralyzed Bombay and its surrounding state and killed more than 500 people this week.
Officials said 273 people have died in Bombay since Tuesday when the hectic, cosmopolitan city that is home to India's financial and movie industries was hit by an unprecedented deluge of up to 37.1 inches of rain, the highest one-day total recorded in India's history. Much of it came over a few evening hours.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=India%20Monsoon
Pakistani police arrest Pearl suspect
By ASIF SHAHZAD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LAHORE, Pakistan -- An Islamic militant who set up the initial meeting between Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and his kidnappers has been arrested in eastern Pakistan, a senior police official confirmed Thursday.
Pearl was abducted Jan. 23, 2002, and later beheaded in the southern city of Karachi - believed to be a hotbed for Islamic militants - while he was researching a story.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Pearl%20Killing
U.N. to help prosecute Afghan drug cases
By DANIEL LOVERING
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A team of anti-drug investigators, lawyers and judges will start prosecuting major narcotics cases in Afghanistan - the world's largest opium and heroin producer - as part of a new U.N. program launched Thursday.
The Criminal Justice Task Force, which includes 36 investigators, 33 prosecutors and 15 judges - all Afghans - will assist in the arrest and trial of serious drug offenders, said Elizabeth Bayere, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Afghan%20Drugs
Rice asked if Bolton testified in leak case
By LIZ SIDOTI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- A Democratic opponent of John Bolton asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday whether the nominee for U.N. ambassador had testified to a grand jury about the leak of CIA operative's identity.
Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee say they want to determine whether Bolton was truthful when he wrote on a questionnaire for his confirmation hearing that he has not been interviewed in any recent investigations.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=UN%20Ambassador
UNDERSTANDABLE. The Repuglicans are obstructionists to their own nominees.
Dems warn of delay in Roberts confirmation
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- In the eight days since President Bush nominated John Roberts to the Supreme Court, senators have fought more over access to the conservative judge's legal writings than over the candidate himself.
Even though no Democrat has announced plans to oppose Roberts' confirmation, Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats are digging in their heels on getting access to Roberts' paperwork from his time in the solicitor general's office. They say the Bush administration's withholding of those documents may cause a delay in getting Roberts confirmed to the seat being vacated by retiring Sandra Day O'Connor.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1154&slug=Roberts
Oh, so what !
Soldier who refused Iraq duty faces charge
By RUSS BYNUM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
FORT STEWART, Ga. -- Sgt. Kevin Benderman turned his back on war, but he insists he never deserted the Army whose uniform he continues to wear six months after refusing to deploy to Iraq for a second tour.
Benderman served in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, but says he decided he could no longer be a part of the destruction he witnessed, even if that meant choosing his conscience over his commitment to his fellow troops.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Objecting%20Soldier
Egypt holds 15 in Sharm el-Sheik attacks
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CAIRO, Egypt -- Police have detained at least 15 men in and around Sharm el-Sheik in connection with the weekend terrorist attacks on that Sinai Peninsula resort, security officials said Thursday.
Police are also searching for a green pickup truck in northern Sinai that may have been the getaway vehicle for some of those responsible for Saturday's three bombings that hospital officials said killed up to 88 people.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Egypt%20Resort%20Attacks
Two U.S. troops killed by roadside bombs
By TINI TRAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Insurgents launched coordinated attacks Thursday against Iraqi army checkpoints northeast of Baghdad, killing six Iraqi soldiers, police said. Roadside bombs killed two U.S. soldiers and ignited a train carrying fuel in the south of Iraq's capital.
The attacks began about 2:30 p.m. against four Iraqi checkpoints along a road between Baqouba and Baghdad, 35 miles to the southwest, police Col. Mudhafar Mohammed said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Iraq
How is any agenda going to be brought forward if the party disintegrates into individual interests?
Clinton urges party unity, tough stance
By MIKE GLOVER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, on Monday pressed Democrats to adopt a tough stand on national security and urged the party to show a united front to counter "the hard-right ideology in Washington."
Speaking to the Democratic Leadership Council, the centrist group that helped her husband, Bill Clinton, secure the White House, the senator delivered a broad speech that touched on foreign policy, health care, education and fissures within her own party.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1131&slug=Hillary%20Moderates
NASA pessimistic about solving debris woes
By MARCIA DUNN
AP AEROSPACE WRITER
SPACE CENTER, Houston -- NASA may never be able to prevent threatening chunks of insulation foam from breaking off the shuttle's fuel tank during launch, the agency's chief said Thursday, a day after future flights were ordered grounded because of the problem during Discovery's liftoff.
"We are trying to get it down to the level that cannot damage the orbiter," NASA administrator Michael Griffin told NBC's "Today."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Space%20Shuttle
Zimbabwe wraps up crackdown on slums
By MICHAEL HARTNACK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's government on Thursday announced the completion of a crackdown on slums and street traders that left up to 2.4 million without homes or livelihoods, but the opposition said demolitions continued.
The campaign has sparked domestic and international criticism, with a U.N. envoy on Wednesday presenting a report condemning the crackdown and calling for urgent assistance to help those who have lost their homes and jobs.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Zimbabwe%20Crackdown
U.N. envoy presents report on Zimbabwe
By EDITH M. LEDERER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- Despite opposition from China, Russia and African countries, a U.N. envoy presented her report condemning Zimbabwe's sweeping slum clearance to the Security Council Wednesday and called for urgent assistance to help those who have lost their homes and jobs.
China, which has close ties to President Robert Mugabe's government, and Zimbabwe's African neighbors had managed to keep the crisis in the African nation off the council's agenda, arguing that it was not an issue of international peace and security.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=UN%20Zimbabwe
Nine women unofficially ordained in Canada
By JANIE GOSSELIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TORONTO -- Nine Roman Catholic women were unofficially ordained Monday as priests and deacons, undeterred by the threat of excommunication from their church.
The women - seven Americans, a Canadian and a German living in the United States - were ordained by Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger of Austria and Gisela Forster of Germany, who were unofficially declared bishops in 2003. The ordinations are not valid within the Catholic Church and seven women who tried it in 2002 were excommunicated by the Vatican.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apcanada_story.asp?category=1101&slug=Canada%20Woman%20Priests
Opponents want Bush barred from summit
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Opponents of President Bush launched a protest drive Wednesday urging court authorities to keep him from attending a November summit in Argentina, saying his presence would raise security concerns.
Lia Mendez, a candidate in Argentina's upcoming congressional elections, rallied with other members of the small Humanist Party outside the court complex where they sought a court order barring Bush from the Summit of the Americas.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Argentina%20Summit%20Security
Brazil leader offers solace over dead man
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRASILIA , Brazil -- Brazil's president on Wednesday expressed his condolences to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian man shot dead by British police after being mistaken for a terror suspect in London.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke over the phone with Menezes' father and brother who live in the victim's hometown of Gonzaga, a statement released by the president's press office said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Brazil%20Britain%20Shooting
Global Struggle: War no more
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Forget the war on terror. Now the Bush administration has a new description: "A global struggle against violent extremism."
That's a mouthful. But the issue is not just semantics; it will help define what resources ought to be used in that "struggle."
The U.S. government does not have a rich history of success when it calls one of its programs a "war" unless it involves a real military operation. We've had the "war on hunger," "war on poverty," "war on crime," "war on obesity" and our all-time least-successful, "war on drugs."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/234205_wared.html
Michael Moore Today
Definitely check out the 'Trailer'
Don’t forget the airing of Fahrenheit 911 on Showtime
SYNOPSIS:
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore ("Roger & Me," "Bowling for Columbine") crafted this incendiary piece of skillful agitprop, an exploration of the tragic chain of events before and after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center of September 11, 2001. Pointing his finger at a global conspiracy of war, greed, and media manipulation, Moore leaves no political figure unscathed in his most passionate, outraged condemnation of a president and policies he considers illegitimate and incompetent.
UPCOMING AIRDATES:
Click on THE LITTLE CLOCK for aire time reminders.
Showtime Saturday 11:00 PM
Showtime Too Sunday 11:15 PM
Showtime Aug 14 11:00 PM
Showtime Aug 22 11:00 PM
Showtime Aug 30 11:00 PM
http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product_page.do?seriesid=0&episodeid=123757
Steele Fundraiser Draws Rove, Democratic Attacks
Event Nets Money for Possible Senate Bid
By Matthew Mosk / Washington Post
Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele hosted the first major fundraiser in his as-yet-undeclared bid for U.S. Senate last night, attracting presidential adviser Karl Rove to headline a $1,000-a-person cocktail party in Washington.
The private affair was an attempt to introduce Steele to the ranks of national GOP donors who might not have encountered a man whose candidacy has become a top priority of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the arm of the party that recruits candidates.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3476
Fewer early sign-ups as Army struggles to recruit soldiers
By Dave Moniz / USA Today
The Army, which expects to miss its 2005 recruiting goal by about 12,000, already is falling behind for next year.
The pool of recruits who sign up as much as a year before they report for training is dwindling. So far, 3,100 have signed up for 2006, according to Army Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Ky. The Army says it hopes to have 7,200 recruits in the pool by Oct. 1, when the 2006 recruiting year begins. By comparison:
The Army started the 2005 recruiting year with about 14,700 recruits in the delayed entry pool. It is making up some of the shortfall in recruiting by re-enlisting soldiers at a higher-than-expected rate. But the Army also has tried to trim this year's shortfall by rushing many delayed entry enlistees into basic training.
In 2004, the Army had more than 33,000 enlistees signed up ahead of time. It met its recruiting goals.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3475
Iraq Wants Quick Withdrawal of U.S. Troops
By Robert Burns / Associated Press
Iraq's transitional prime minister called Wednesday for a speedy withdrawal of U.S. troops and the top U.S. commander here said he believed a "fairly substantial" pullout could begin next spring and summer.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3471
US aims to sharply cut Iraq force within a year
By Peter Graff / Reuters
BAGHDAD - The United States hopes to sharply reduce its forces in Iraq by the middle of next year, its top commander on the ground said on Wednesday.
The remarks by General George Casey appear to have been the first time since the insurgency worsened sharply in April that top Pentagon officials have suggested a timeline for withdrawal.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3472
Tell the House - We Need an Iraq Exit Strategy
Contributed by Working Assets
The invasion of Iraq is quickly turning out to be the deadliest and most expensive mistake of the Bush presidency.
Despite the President's claims before he launched the invasion, no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq -- and we have now officially given up the search1. The capture of Saddam Hussein has not made us any safer here at home, or our soldiers any safer in the field. Our troops now face a growing insurgency with a seemingly endless supply of suicide bombers and increasingly sophisticated tactics.
The occupation is now costing us approximately $177 million per day, a total of close to $180 billion2 with no end in sight and very little reconstruction progress to show. American and Iraqi casualties continue to mount, and instead of being greeted as "liberators," our presence in Iraq seems only to inspire more anti-American violence.
It's time for a reality check on our Iraq policy -- we need an exit strategy. Representatives Abercrombie (D-HI), Jones (R-FL), Paul (R-TX), Kucinich (D-OH) and others have introduced "Homeward Bound," a resolution calling on the President to develop and implement a plan for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=19245
Rumsfeld tells Iraqis to get on with it
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Visiting US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told Iraqi leaders to "get on with it" in preparing a new constitution, while an Iraqi official said US-led forces could hand over security for 10 cities by December.
Rumsfeld, on an unannounced visit to Baghdad, called on Iraqi leaders to draft and approve a constitution without delay, warning that any hold-up would fan the insurgency.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3474
Panel: Bush Was Unready for Postwar Iraq
By Barry Schweid / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- An independent panel headed by two former U.S. national security advisers said Wednesday that chaos in Iraq was due in part to inadequate postwar planning.
Planning for reconstruction should match the serious planning that goes into making war, said the panel headed by Samuel Berger and Brent Scowcroft. Berger was national security adviser to Democratic President Clinton. Scowcroft held the same post under Republican Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush but has been critical of the current president's Iraq and Mideast policies.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3478
Abu Ghraib Dog Tactics Came From Guantanamo
Testimony Further Links Procedures at 2 Facilities
By Josh White / Washington Post
Military interrogators at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq learned about the use of military working dogs to intimidate detainees from a team of interrogators dispatched from the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to court testimony yesterday.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3470
The New Zealand Herald
Police arrest nine under terrorism laws in London
Police earlier today arrested three women after an armed raid on a public housing estate in south London. File picture / Reuters
29.07.05
LONDON - Police said on Thursday they had arrested nine men under anti-terrorism laws in south London as part of the investigation into bomb attacks on the capital.
A police spokeswoman said the suspects held in Tooting were not the three suspected bombers still being sought after the botched July 21 attacks on London's transport system. The fourth bomber was captured on Wednesday, police said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10338044
Nasa grounds shuttle fleet
28.07.05 1.00pm
By Irene Klotz
HOUSTON - Nasa today halted future shuttle flights after learning that a large chunk of insulating foam broke off Discovery's external fuel tank during launch, an echo of the problem that doomed sister ship Columbia and its crew 2-1/2 years ago.
The falling debris does not appear to have hit or damaged Discovery, which took off on Tuesday on a 12-day mission to the International Space Station, the agency said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10338017
PM promises to create 5000 more apprenticeships
Prime Minister Helen Clark
28.07.05 11.30am
Labour has tossed another carrot the way of younger voters, promising to create 5000 more apprenticeship places.
Prime Minister Helen Clark announced the latest of her party's pledges in a speech to the Industry Training Federation Conference in Wellington this morning.
She said the additional apprentice places under the Government's Modern Apprenticeship scheme, which Labour introduced shortly after being elected, would bring the total to 14,000 in 2008 and showed the Government was committed to sustainable and quality growth in industry training.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10338015
Bombay paralysed by record rainfall as death toll rises
People walk back to their homes as traffic came to a standstill in Bombay after heavy rains. Picture / Reuters
28.07.05 9.00pm UPDATE
By Justin Huggler
DELHI - More than a third of Bombay was under water and the death toll was rising after the city suffered the heaviest rains ever recorded in India.
The BBC reported that at least 430 people had died in Bombay (Mumbai) and the Maharashtra state after catastrophic rain. Parts of suburban Bombay received almost three feet of rain in a single day.
Reuters reported that rescuers searching in Juigaon village, 150km south of Mumbai, estimated that 100 people were killed when a mudslide flattened more than 30 houses, bringing the state death toll to 270.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10338067
TOO BAD !!
US-Israel tensions rise over arms sale
28.07.05 1.00pm
JERUSALEM - Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has cancelled a trip to Washington because of a dispute with the United States over Israeli arms sales to China, the Haaretz newspaper said on Wednesday.
The United States, Israel's closest ally and provider of US$2 billion ($2.96 billion) in annual defence aid, was still restricting arms deals with Israel as a result of the disagreement. Washington demands Israel adhere to US regulations.
Asked about the report, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters during a visit to France: "We definitely have a certain problem but I am convinced that we shall overcome this matter."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10337987
LAIR !
Mugabe says UN envoy was pressured over report
Robert Mugabe
28.07.05 1.00pm
HARARE - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says a special UN envoy told him she was under pressure to produce a damning report on the demolition of illegal homes and businesses, the official Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday.
But Anna Tibaijuka, the envoy sent by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to assess the crackdown, said on Wednesday the report spoke for itself, while British UN Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry denied any outside attempts to influence her findings.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10337983
Monster mice on the rampage
One of Gough Island's "monster mice" feeds on a dead seabird chick. Picture / Reuters
28.07.05
Giant mice are running amok on a small South Atlantic island, eating metre-high albatross chicks alive and threatening the world's most important seabird colony.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said rapacious rodents - ordinary house mice who have "evolved" to three times their normal size - are orchestrating avian carnage on Gough Island, home to about 10 million birds.
A society spokesman said it was not clear how the birds were killed: "The chicks weigh up to 10kg and the mice weigh 35g - it is like a tabby cat attacking a hippopotamus."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10337893
US aims to sharply cut Iraq force within a year
28.07.05
BAGHDAD - The United States hopes to sharply reduce its forces in Iraq by the middle of next year, its top commander on the ground said.
The remarks by General George Casey appear to have been the first time since the insurgency worsened sharply in April that top Pentagon officials have suggested a timeline for withdrawal.
Casey's comments came as a new poll showed most Americans now think the United States will lose the war in Iraq.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10337970
continued…
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