Michael Moore Today
August 18th, 2005 6:58 pm
Sheehan plans return to antiwar camp
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- Although their leader had just departed because of a family emergency, antiwar demonstrators here didn't miss a beat, marching closer to President Bush's ranch to deliver handwritten letters.
The protest camp outside Bush's ranch resumed its activities Thursday shortly after Cindy Sheehan -- whose 24-year-old son Casey died 16 months ago in Iraq -- learned that her 74-year-old mother had a stroke in Los Angeles and made preparations to leave.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3763
August 19th, 2005 3:17 am
CINDY SHEEHAN LEAVES, OTHERS STAY ON TO KEEP PRESSURE ON BUSH FOR MEETING
Mother’s Illness Won’t Change the Agenda at Camp Casey; Prayer Vigil Tomorrow Will Take Place at 12 Noon CDT Friday
Meet With Cindy
Statement by Cindy Sheehan:
This afternoon around 4 p.m. Crawford time my sister DeeDee received a call that our mother has had a stroke and is in the emergency room at a hospital in Los Angeles.
As you can imagine, this is a devastating blow for my sister, my brother, my children and me.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3770
The Peaceful Occupation of Crawford (Day 16); Go home and take care of your kids
--a message from Cindy Sheehan
I have received dozens of emails with this heading: Go Home and Take Care of Your Kids. I think of all the name calling and unnecessary and untrue trashing of my character, this one offends me the most. What do the people who send me this message mean?
First of all, it offends me because it is so blatantly sexist. Would anyone think of emailing George Bush when he is out and about (now he is going on a vacation away from his vacation to make speeches in Idaho and Utah defending his killing policies), telling him to go and take care of his kids? Does anyone write to ANY man and tell him to go home and take care of his kids. I have news for all of these people, my children are adults and their dad is home to take care of them if they need any taking care of.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=463
Thousands Protest Bush, Iraq War In Salt Lake City
Associated Press
With the message that people can protest a war while supporting troops and veterans, a handful of speakers -including a Gold Star mom - addressed an anti-war rally in Salt Lake City Monday, the same day President Bush was in town.
Bush spoke to more than 6,000 people at the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, while three blocks away about 2,000 people gathered to protest Bush administration policies and the war in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3812
From Crawford, TX to Boise, ID: Gold Star Families Follow Bush to Demand Answers on War in Iraq
Idahoans tell the President: "Mr. Bush, Every Town Has a Cindy and Casey"
Crawford Update
Tuesday Noon Dedication of Iraq War Memorial to Feature Comments from Military Mom and War Widow
Boise, ID, Tuesday, August 23, 12:00 pm: While President Bush is mountain biking 100 miles north of Boise Tuesday, local citizens opposed to the Iraq war and supporting the efforts of Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan will gather in downtown Boise at 12:00 noon to dedicate a memorial to the Iraq War.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3813
They Are Stardust, And in Texas
At the Crawford Protest Camp, Growing Echoes of Woodstock
By Mike Allen / Washington Post
CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 21 -- Camp Casey, which started with one mom and a grievance, mushroomed over the weekend into a massive settlement with a party tent for 2,000, a shuttle-bus service and an elaborate catering operation that deposited a 26-foot-long refrigerator truck, generators, and restaurant-quality ranges and warming ovens in a field next to President Bush's ranch.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3807
Folk legend Baez joins protesters near Bush ranch
By Tabassum Zakaria / Reuters
CRAWFORD, Texas - Folk singer Joan Baez joined anti-war protesters near U.S. President George W. Bush's ranch on Sunday to meet with military families who want troops pulled out of Iraq.
"You know in the first march I went on against the war in Vietnam there were 10 of us," Baez said as she met with a group of women whose sons died in Iraq or were being deployed there.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3798
Camp Casey Photo Gallery
http://cryptome.org/brp3/bush-ranch3.htm
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Recycling of electronics encouraged
By ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Hey, you with the old cell phone in the utility drawer!
You with the obsolete computers and TVs gathering dust in the attic!
If you're like a lot of folks, you're wondering: How the heck am I supposed to get rid of this stuff, without it leaching toxic chemicals in a landfill or fouling the Third World?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/237638_ewaste23.html
Team to run Nov. 8 election
But Logan will be in charge of primary in September
By NEIL MODIE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A "turnaround team" of outside experts will run the November general election for King County.
In another sense, though, County Executive Ron Sims will run it.
Whatever the case, Dean Logan, Sims' embattled director of records, elections and licensing affairs, won't be in charge of the Nov. 8 election although he's running the September primary.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/237658_election23.html
Monorail leader's 'objective' -- moolah?
By ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
So, the monorail has a fresh savior -- John Haley, the just-named interim director for the foundering project.
Haley, who starts the job Wednesday, helped keep the Las Vegas monorail on track when it went on the blink. He has given his transportation expertise to other big cities such as Boston, San Francisco and Philly.
The guy gets around.
Beyond his glistening resume, a couple of things caught my eye.
Haley doesn't come cheap for a cash-strapped agency like the Seattle Monorail Project, which recently axed jobs in order to save money.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/jamieson/237656_robert23.html
Southwest to buy quiet jetliners
Airline says it will use 737-700s at Boeing Field
By JENNIFER LANGSTON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Hoping to head off concerns from neighborhoods under Boeing Field's flight paths, Southwest Airlines has committed to buying enough next-generation Boeing 737 planes to make its flights from the county-owned airport as quiet as possible.
The advanced Boeing 737-700s, which allow pilots to minimize ground noise by climbing quickly, would also enable the airline to fly a new approach over Elliott Bay that has generated few noise complaints from Magnolia and West Seattle residents
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/237635_southwest23.html
International Border: Focus on policy
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Focus on the prevention of terrorism has telescoped the government's attention on Canada's "soft border," while our border with Mexico remains a war zone for drug lords and human smugglers.
While the Bush administration finally has admitted that it needs to revise its immigration plan (to which we say: We have an immigration plan? Really?), we hope it'll keep a few things in mind.
First, that adopting a hard-line, anti-immigration policy in this case would be a mistake. Although Democratic Govs. Bill Richardson (N.M.) and Janet Napolitano (Ariz.) hope that building a 377-mile fence at the border would help with what they call an emergency in their states, we wonder how effective those measures would be.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/237557_bordered.html
Law Enforcement: The safer zap
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
When facing a potentially dangerous situation, police have few options: Shoot, beat, reason or Taser. Those 50,000-volt shockers can disable an armed suspect while keeping the officer as far as 21 feet away.
Anything with that much zap to it can cause harm. According to Amnesty International, 103 Taser-related deaths occurred in the United States and Canada over the past five years.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/237555_tasered.asp
The USA ended it's assassination policies a long time ago. Evidently the Christian Evangelical Right Party has not !!
Televangelist calls for Chavez' death
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this picture released by Miraflores Press Office Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, left, listens to President Fidel Castro, as they arrive in Cuba's Sandino province Sunday, Aug. 21, 2005. Chavez is on official visit in Cuba.(AP Photo/HO Miraflores Press)
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested on-air that American operatives assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."
"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club."
"We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Robertson%20Assassination
High court protects kids of Calif. gays
By DAVID KRAVETS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Emily B., second from left, holds her son, Ry, and daughter, Kaia, both 7 (twins), with her mother Jeanne, right, before speaking at a news conference at the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, Monday, Aug. 22, 2005. Same-sex couples who raise children are lawful parents and must provide for them if they break up, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday. Emily B., the El Dorado County woman whose former lover, Elisa B., must now pay to support the children, said she might be able to getoff of welfare now. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
SAN FRANCISCO -- In the latest ruling to recognize rights of same-sex couples, the California Supreme Court has said gay and lesbian couples who raise children are lawful parents and must provide for their children if they break up.
The state's custody and child support laws that hold absent fathers accountable also apply to estranged gay and lesbian couples who used reproductive science to conceive, the high court ruled Monday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Lesbian%20Custody
Conn. challenges No Child Left Behind law
By NOREEN GILLESPIE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal speaks at a news conference Monday, Aug. 22, 2005, in his office in Hartford, Conn., where he announced that the state of Connecticut filed a federal lawsuit challenging President Bush's No Child Left Behind school reform law, arguing it is illegal because it requires expensive testing and programs it doesn't pay for. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut became the first state to file suit against the federal government over the No Child Left Behind Act, claiming the Bush administration has not provided enough money to pay for new testing and programs.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Hartford against federal Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, asks a judge to declare that state and local funds cannot be used to meet the goals of the law.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=No%20Child%20Lawsuit
Pakistani leader accepts Jewish invitation
By EDITH M. LEDERER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has accepted an invitation from a leading Jewish organization to speak about his campaign to promote moderate Islam among Muslims around the world, the Council for World Jewry said.
Musharraf since 2003 has been urging Muslims to embrace a strategy of "enlightened moderation" as the best way to counter extremism and terrorism.
Council chairman Jack Rosen said Musharraf's speech next month in New York will be the first time a Muslim leader with international stature publicly calls for moderation in the Muslim world not only at an event for Americans but at an event sponsored by the Jewish community.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=UN%20Musharraf
Bangladeshis flee homes submerged by tides
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh -- Unusually high tides partially submerged two offshore islands Monday in southeastern Bangladesh, forcing nearly 20,000 residents to flee their flooded homes, a relief official said. No one was hurt or missing.
A gradual tidal surge submerged almost two-thirds of Sandwip island under 5 feet, Golam Rabbani of the Bangladesh Red Crescent said by telephone from the nearby port city of Chittagong.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Bangladesh%20High%20Tide
Feinstein to question Roberts on abortion
By BETH FOUHY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose vote on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts could guide other Democrats, said Monday she will scrutinize his views on abortion and congressional authority to set social policy.
She called the impending debate over Roberts' nomination a "big, big deal."
"I don't think in the last couple of decades there has been a Supreme Court appointment that could more tip the balance of the court," Feinstein said in a speech to several hundred Silicon Valley business executives. "That's how mega this vote is."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1153&slug=Roberts%20Feinstein
Husbands a hot topic in N.Y. senate race
By MARC HUMBERT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Is this a Senate race or country music?
Cheating husbands. An out-of-wedlock child. Prison bars. Strong, independent women standing by their wayward men.
The stuff of late nights, neon-lit jukeboxes and smoky roadhouses? Not quite.
These women are Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jeanine Pirro, both lawyers and both with homes in a tony suburb north of New York City, and they're on a possible political collision course.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apelection_story.asp?category=1134&slug=New%20York%20Senate%20Husbands
Wildfires force evacuations in Portugal
By JOANA MATEUS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LISBON, Portugal -- Wildfires fanned by high winds burned out of control Monday, destroying more than 10 houses on the outskirts of Portugal's third-largest city and forcing 50 people to leave their homes amid the country's worst drought in years.
The government, no longer able to cope with the more than 25 fires burning through forest and farmland, called on the European Union for help over the weekend.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Portugal%20Fires
Jews, some Muslims praise Pope's warnings
By NICOLE WINFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI on Monday won praise from Jews and respect from some Muslims for his blunt warnings about the rise of anti-Semitism and terrorism during his first foreign trip as pontiff - issues that are likely to define his papacy.
Commentators applauded Benedict for not hedging his words during his four-day visit to Cologne, Germany for World Youth Day, a tactic that Germany's Handelsblatt daily said may make his job as a peacemaker more difficult but that in the end showed his priorities.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Pope%20Jews%20and%20Muslims
Asians, Americans show perceptual divide
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
AP SCIENCE WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Asians and North Americans really do see the world differently. Shown a photograph, North American students of European background paid more attention to the object in the foreground of a scene, while students from China spent more time studying the background and taking in the whole scene, according to University of Michigan researchers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Different%20Views
China reports four have pig-borne disease
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING -- Four people have been reported infected by a pig-borne disease in southern China, including one who died of the illness, the government said Monday, a day after an epidemic elsewhere in China was declared under control.
The infections were reported in four different areas in Guangdong province, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing information released by the provincial government.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=China%20Pig%20Disease
N.Y. water park illnesses grow to 2,202
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, N.Y. -- A New York state assemblyman is launching an inquiry into the state-run water playground that may have spread more than 2,000 cases of gastrointestinal illnesses.
"All visitors to New York State Parks should be confident that they will have a healthy and safe experience," State Assemblyman Joseph Morelle said in a statement.
The number of reported gastrointestinal illnesses possibly spread by the water playground at Seneca Lake Park has grown to 2,202 cases across 24 counties in western and central New York as of Monday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=BRF%20Sprayground%20Illnesses
The Cheney Observer
KARL ROVE WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD
A Satirical Rant
By Peter Fredson
August 21, 2005
I just finished a long compilation of reasons why Bush invaded Iraq, using several hundred files from the past 5 years. There were many reasons alleged, some of them humorous, and others reaching the edge of criminality. The reasons seemed to shift and multiply as the administration gradually realizes things are not going as well as it had hoped. Then a fellow blogger asked me to identify the reason I thought was “really” in the back of the complicated group mind of George Bush and his co-conspirators.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=7763
Letter: Impeach Bush, Cheney
Find similar archived stories..
The Downing Street Memo clearly shows a conspiracy by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to mislead the American people into an unnecessary war with Iraq. These actions are high crimes against the American people, and Bush and Cheney deserve to be impeached.
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Billions of taxpayer dollars that could have been used for things such as education and health care have instead been given to corporations such as Haliburton. More than 1,700 Americans have died in vain.
As long as people like Bush and Cheney become leaders there will always be wars.
David Rivers
Johnson City
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/opinion/stories/op082205s185552.shtml
Weiner: A Cancerous Tumor in the Body Politic
Monday, 22 August 2005, 2:34 pm
Opinion: Bernard Weiner
A Cancerous Tumor in the Body Politic: Time for Surgery
By Bernard Weiner
The Crisis Papers
When White House Counsel John Dean in 1973 told Richard Nixon that there was a "cancer growing on the presidency," it wasn't totally clear if he was referring to the Watergate coverup inside the White House, or to the felonies committed by Nixon's closest aides, or, without coming right out and saying so, to the President himself.
But, clearly, something toxic was eating away at the President's legitimacy, Dean was suggesting, thus putting Nixon in potential legal jeopardy. Something had to be done to protect the presidency, if not the President, from the mortal danger symbolized by that cancer metaphor.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0508/S00141.htm
Political Leaders' Silence on Iraq War Is a Dereliction of Duty
Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a slain soldier who has been camping outside President Bush's Texas ranch, is an impassioned witness but an imperfect messenger. Her leftist foreign policy agenda is as unlikely to draw majority support as the militant unilateralism of the hard-core neoconservatives.
But Sheehan will have done the nation a service if she inspires, or shames, both parties to resume debate over the direction of the Iraq war.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-outlook22aug22,1,4456641.column?coll=la-utilities-politics
Summer of scandal for politicians across America
POSTED: Monday, August 22, 2005 10:56:06 AM
UPDATED: Monday, August 22, 2005 10:56:06 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ohio’s governor is hardly the only politician these days to be hit by scandal.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are under ethics scrutiny, and two congressmen are under investigation over financial dealings.
Some call it the summer of scandals.
Charles Lewis is the founder of the Center for Public Integrity.
http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_fullstory.asp?id=39624
Neil Clark: Wanted: A strongman to hold Iraq together
August 22, 2005
'LET sleeping dogs lie" is not the favourite maxim of neo-conservatives. Neither is "Better the devil you know". But events of the past 2 1/2 years in Iraq have proved once again the wisdom of these two old sayings, and the corresponding lack of wisdom of those who foolishly ignore them.
Before he was awoken by Shock and Awe, the sleeping dog of Iraq was a stable, contained dictatorship led by an ageing, Sound of Music-loving secularist. Now the Iraqi canine is foaming at the mouth, transformed, in the words of the US National Intelligence Council, into "a magnet for international terrorist activity" - a nightmarish world of car bombs and daily assassinations in which 3000 civilians have lost their lives in the past four months.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16336033%5E7583,00.html
Texas protest guarantees political fallout
Anti-war sentiment rallies around mother, but might be too extreme
By Ronald Brownstein
Los Angeles Times
Originally published August 21, 2005
WASHINGTON - The high-profile vigil near President Bush's Texas ranch by Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq last year, could scramble the politics of the war as much for her allies as for the target of her protest.
The most immediate effect could be to increase the pressure on liberal activist groups and Democrats, who have focused this year mostly on other issues, to challenge Bush more forcefully on the war.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.protest21aug21,1,994879.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true
Imperial claims of the commander-in-chief (by LINCOLN CAPLAN)
THE HISTORY of America’s crises is also a saga about the expansion of presidential power. At the start of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln centralised authority in the White House to mount a Union army and protect Washington, DC, from the Confederates, including by suspending habeas corpus. To address the Great Depression, Franklin D Roosevelt declared a national emergency, relying on a generation-old statute that was arguably inapt because it was intended for wartime and the country was not at war. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and provoked the United States into World War II, Roosevelt further asserted his presidential authority.
In these and other examples, the president relied on his power as commander-in-chief. The Constitution expressly grants Congress the power “to declare war,” as the legislature has done just five times since America’s start. Although the president was named commander-in-chief to ensure civilian control over the military, the founding fathers made it clear that he had what historian Arthur M Schlesinger Jr called “a limited and technical” authority to command America’s forces in battle only after Congress declared war. Lincoln’s take on his role as commander flouted those intentions. “I suppose I have a right to take any measure which may best subdue the enemy,” he wrote. Three-quarters of a century later, Franklin D Roosevelt took a similar stance “to avert a disaster which would interfere with the winning of the war.”
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/commentary/commentaryother.asp?file=augustcommentary592005.xml
Death of estate tax really means we'll pay more taxes
Neil Skene
My View
A majority of Americans support repeal of the estate tax, according to the polls, but I wonder if they understand that the repeal will actually increase the taxes everyone pays on inherited property.
Less than 2 per cent of the American population pays an estate tax now. Anyone with assets of less than $1.5 million (that's $3 million for a couple) can pass on their estates free of tax. The exemption rises to $2 million per person next year and $3.5 million in 2008.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/opinion/12417916.htm
Karl Rove's War Against Cindy Sheehan
Stewart Nusbaumer
August 21, 2005
To slander opponents so their political positions are discredited -- Karl Rove's doctrine has been immensely effective in defeating Bush's challengers; will it now be effective in defeating grieving mother Cindy Sheehan?
By Stewart Nusbaumer
Dirty fighting is in their political blood. It’s their modus operandi. It’s their crème de menthe. By slandering and lying and thrashing they decimate enemies and capture political office -- they win, which means everything to them. Now they are eyeing Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier tragically killed in Iraq, a grieving mother protesting the war from a ditch near George Bush’s ranch. They want to slaughter the mother lamb to destroy her resonating antiwar message. They want to win again.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m14910&l=i&size=1&hd=0
Could it be Bush's Watergate?
Adviser shows his Nixonian roots
By THOMAS PAUKEN
KARL Rove's favorite president is Richard Nixon. What a twist of fate it would be if Rove were driven from power as Nixon was over what both men would consider trivial matters — the leaking of a CIA employee's name to reporters by Rove in 2004, and the Watergate break-in of the Democratic headquarters at the instigation of Nixon campaign officials in 1972.
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Just as it was not the Watergate break-in per se (but the subsequent cover-up) that brought Nixon down, so it may be that what Rove said and did after the fact will prove his undoing.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3318170
Quantum Drilling acquires Halliburton service line
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Quantum Drilling Motors and Directional Services, an Oklahoma City-based oil and gas services provider, has acquired the shock absorber inventory and design drawings of the Security DBS Drill Bits product service line of Halliburton's Energy Services Group. The transaction is effective immediately.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15073041&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=474107&rfi=6
Cedar Park Man Convicted
A Cedar Park resident and former employee of a Halliburton subsidiary has pleaded guilty to accepting more than $100,000 in illegal kickbacks. Glenn Allen Powell was subcontracts administrator for KBR Inc., which provides engineering services for the military.
Prosecutors say Powell took payments in exchange for securing a US military construction contract for an Iraqi company . The 40-year-old Powell will be sentenced in November, facing 10 years in prison on each count and more than one million dollars in fines.
http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=3747408&nav=0s3ddZbo
Death of estate tax really means we'll pay more taxes
Neil Skene
My View
A majority of Americans support repeal of the estate tax, according to the polls, but I wonder if they understand that the repeal will actually increase the taxes everyone pays on inherited property.
Less than 2 per cent of the American population pays an estate tax now. Anyone with assets of less than $1.5 million (that's $3 million for a couple) can pass on their estates free of tax. The exemption rises to $2 million per person next year and $3.5 million in 2008.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/opinion/12417916.htm
Report says Olympics to boost growth by £1.9bn
By Cathy Newman, Chief Political Correspondent
Published: August 21 2005 21:58 Last updated: August 21 2005 21:58
Hosting the 2012 Olympic Games may boost Britain's gross domestic product by just £1.9bn over the next 15 years against a projected cost to the taxpayer of £4.9bn, according to confidential figures presented to the government.
Although the government is challenging the figures in the belief that its advisers may have underestimated the benefits from tourism, the early findings are expected to prompt ministers to redouble their efforts to keep a tight rein on costs.
Tessa Jowell, the minister in charge of preparations for the Olympics, is expected to draft in a project manager from the private sector in an attempt to avoid cost overruns. Construction companies such as Bechtel, KBR and Amec would be expected to bid for the contract, which is likely to be advertised in the autumn.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/d7abcfda-1275-11da-8cc3-00000e2511c8.html
Chris Edwards: Going hog wild -- with taxpayer money
07:55 AM CDT on Saturday, August 20, 2005
Federal pork spending has exploded in recent years. The highway bill passed in July was bloated with 6,371 pork projects, or earmarks, inserted by members of Congress. Overall, the number of pork projects has increased tenfold during the past decade.
Many politicians see no problem with that. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay argues that it is better for members to earmark money for their districts than to leave spending to the "bureaucrats." Then there is Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who, when asked whether Congress would cut pork, said, "I hope not. ... Pork barrel is in the eye of the beholder."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/viewpoints/stories/DN-edwards_20edi.ART.Dallas.Edition1.230773bb.html
Habitual lies to promote a war against the guiltless are pretty telling...
by Mary MacElveen
I still say that this statement is ludicrous and just plain nuts.
I am of the belief we go after those who not only attack us as a nation, but also personally. I am not of the belief of excusing horrific behavior and actions by terrorists or mere criminals in this country.
If you are guilty of a terrorist attack or any crime is that you do the time and are prepared for the consequences of your actions.
* I am however against going after the wrong people and blaming them as in the case where we invaded Iraq.
While Karl Rove asserted that liberals would offer therapy to those who attacked us, my assertion is that people like Karl Rove, Pres. Bush and those who support the war in Iraq are the ones in need of therapy. Habitual lies to promote a war against the guiltless are pretty telling.
What leads me to say this a quote I read in Newsday by Marcella Minucci whose son Sgt. Joseph Minucci II was killed in Iraq. She stated "Sheehan’s vigil undermines support for the troops" and went on to say "If she wants an explanation from the president, she needs to see a psychiatrist first."
While those are her feelings and she has every right to say that, I do find a problem following statement made by Mrs. Minucci: "She should be very proud to know her son died to help keep our freedom."
Those that still believe that this "Bush War" is founded on keeping our freedom are the very ones in need of therapy ... those that still believe we are bringing freedom and democracy to this country are suffering from a mania that has taken hold of this country.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=7755
Cheney Says Honor Troops By Finishing War
August 20, 2005 10:21 a.m. EST
Joanna Wypior - All Headline News Staff Reporter
(AHN) - Vice President Dick Cheney has suggested that the best way to honor troops that have died in Iraq is to finish the war, and not through protests and candle-light ceremonies.
"Every man and woman who fights and sacrifices in this war is serving a just and noble cause. This nation will always be grateful to them and we will honor their sacrifice by completing our mission," Cheney says.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/cgi-bin/news/newsbrief.plx?id=2249095398&fa=1
The New Zealand Herald
NZ gives $1 million for Afghanistan elections
23.08.05 1.00pm
A day after New Zealand stages its own election, it will also be helping with another -- in Afghanistan.
Aid Minister Marian Hobbs has announced New Zealand will contribute $1 million to the United Nations to help with running democratic elections in Afghanistan on September 18.
She has met Afghani Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah who noted during his visit here that New Zealand had offered significant support to Afghanistan during a difficult time.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10342089
Tax cut policy ignites a row
23.08.05 1.00pm
National's tax cuts have sharply defined the positions of the main parties in the election campaign.
Labour says they are unaffordable and favour the rich, the business community has warmly welcomed them, and except for Act the other parties in Parliament are not enthusiastic.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10342092
Mediation hoped to bring end to hospital strikes
23.08.05 1.00pm
Mental health nurses and district health boards should know by the end of today whether they have seen the last of industrial action for the near future as mediation talks resume.
About 3000 nurses, represented by the Public Service Association, picketed throughout New Zealand yesterday as they pushed for wage increases and terms beyond what has been offered by the boards.
Boards have offered rises averaging about 20 per cent, but the workers object to parts of it, including cuts in penal rates for some.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10342081
Caffeine drinks may contribute to obesity
23.08.05 1.00pm
Energy drinks containing high levels of sugar and caffeine may be contributing to New Zealanders' expanding waistlines, new research suggests.
The project, headed by Auckland University of Technology Professor of Nutrition Elaine Rush, has found an energy drink containing sugar, added caffeine and guarana (which also contains caffeine) causes the body to convert sugar into fat more rapidly than lemonade.
"These results could have huge implications when you think about how much sugar and caffeine people consume these days, and the high rates of inactivity," Prof Rush said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10342079
Australia defends terrorism summit 'guest list'
23.08.05 1.00pm
CANBERRA - Australia's attorney-general Philip Ruddock today defended the composition of delegates at a terrorism summit in Canberra, saying the government wanted speedy advice it could take to the premiers' conference.
Muslim leaders will meet Australian prime minister John Howard today to discuss how to deal with extremists preaching in their communities.
Mr Howard has defended the guest list, which has 14 moderates but no radical leaders, saying he wants to marginalise extremists.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342091
Swiss downpour brings floods and landslides
23.08.05 11.20am
PERLEN, Switzerland - Torrential rain has lashed Switzerland non-stop for nearly three days, unleashing landslides and floods which have cut off villages in central Switzerland and killed two firefighters.
Flooding stretches from the Bernese Alps in central Switzerland to the city of St Gallen in the northeast, as rivers burst their banks and lakes overflow.
Two fire-fighters were killed in a landslide during the night in Entlebuch in the canton (state) of Lucerne, Swiss television said on Monday, adding the region remained cut off after roads and rail tracks were flooded.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342069
Man becomes Spain's first married priest
23.08.05 3.20pm
By Elizabeth Nash
MADRID - A former Anglican pastor who is married with children became Spain's first family man to become a Catholic priest at the weekend, despite Catholicism's fervently held dogma of priestly celibacy.
Zimbabwe-born Evans David Gliwitzki, 64, was accompanied by his wife, two grown-up daughters, son-in-law and granddaughter when the Bishop of Tenerife ordained him on Saturday in the Church of Notre-Dame de la Concepcion in the town of La Laguna.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342101
Million flock to Pope's 'Woodstock'
23.08.05
By Tony Paterson
Pope Benedict XVI ended a visit to his native Germany yesterday with a ringing appeal for a return to basic Christian values as he presided over an open-air Mass attended by hundreds of thousands of jubilant young Catholics from throughout the world.
The event was one of the largest Catholic celebrations Germany has witnessed. The vast crowd of flag-waving pilgrims gathered on the site of the Mass, a former open-cast mine near Cologne, was estimated at between 800,000 and a million.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342003
Bosnian gay movie wins hearts at Sarajevo film festival
23.08.05
By Daria Sito-Sucic
SARAJEVO - "The worst thing in the Balkans is to be a gay," says Kenan Dizdar, a character in Bosnian war film "Go West" which has sparked angry debate about one of the great taboos of Bosnian society.
Hatred of gays will persist even after Serbs, Muslims and Croats stop fighting, he says: "They will lay down their weapons, but they will continue to hate homosexuals."
Go West was controversial long before it was even made. The film follows two gay men, a Muslim and a Serb, who flee the besieged Bosnian capital at the start of the war and try to preserve their love.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342012
Swazi virgins end chastity ritual despite AIDS threat
23.08.05
LUDZIDZINI, Swaziland - Thousands of Swazi virgins on Monday took off the traditional tassels they have worn to signify chastity, ending a five-year ritual reintroduced in 2001 to fight the country's Aids crisis.
"I have worn this since 2001. No boy has touched me but for on the lips. This has made me stronger as an individual, and I have honoured Swazi custom," said Penelope Dube, 20, who lives close to the royal village of Ludzidzini, 15km east of Mbabane, the country's capital.
The tradition, known as Umcwasho, has a customary period of five years. It has been observed periodically but had not been practiced for decades before it was reintroduced in 2001 as officials sought to turn the tide on HIV/Aids.
An estimated 40 percent of adults in Swaziland carry the HIV virus, the highest infection rate in the world.
Girls between the ages of 16-24 were instructed to wear the tassels to advertise their chastity.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342011
Stem cells created from skin without human embryos
23.08.05 1.00pm
By Steve Connor
Scientists have made a major advance in overcoming the principal ethical objection to the medical use of stem cells derived from human embryos. They have generated embryonic stem cells - which might eventually be used to treat chronically ill patients - from a person's skin without creating or destroying human embryos in the process.
Although the breakthrough is still in its early stages, the researchers believe they may one day be able to generate embryonic repair cells for a range of incurable illnesses from Parkinson's and heart disease to diabetes and spinal injuries.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342072
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